Mercer County Library Blog

 It’s that time of year again! In my house, both of my kids are going back to school and I am in my final semester of graduate school.  Between schedules for various school and work obligations, time is about to be in very short supply.  I am fortunate that my husband is a very good cook and often takes care of dinner when I work in the evening, but the local pizza places have also seen an increase in business from us in the last couple of years.  While we love to support local small businesses, our waistlines and wallets would appreciate more meals prepared at home.  Enter meal prepping. Meal prepping can take multiple forms.  One approach is batch-cooking large meals, then portioning out individual servings.  You can also prepare components to allow for quick final preparation at mealtimes.  My mom was ahead of her time in the 80’s and took this tack with “The Sauce”.  My dad immigrated from Italy and red sauce was a fixture on our table mu...

(from Wikimedia commons ) What’s both a snack and a meal, has near-infinite variety and widely available (especially here in New Jersey)? It’s pizza! Pizza’s roots go back a long way. Flatbreads with toppings historically date back to the 6th century BCE. Wikipedia tells us that the word itself might come from a Latin document from 997 CE from the town of Gaeta, where someone needed payment in "twelve pizzas, a pork shoulder, and a pork kidney on Christmas Day, and 12 pizzas and a couple of chickens on Easter Day". But the modern pizza would have to wait until the arrival of tomatoes, brought back from the Americas by the Spanish in the 16th century. Even then, sources are vague as to the modern pizza’s origins; signs point to it appearing in Naples, Italy sometime in either the 18th or early 19th century. In the latter time is when Italian immigrants brought pizza to the United States. It finally took off in the 1940s at the end of the Second World War.  What makes a pizza...

October brings plenty of opportunities to celebrate the season, discover new interests, and connect with your community at MCLS. Enjoy Halloween-themed programs, join us in celebrating 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh, and explore programs for Reading Group Month. To celebrate Friends of the Library Week, we’re also highlighting programs sponsored by our Friends groups, whose support helps make additional programming and events possible at MCLS branches. Visit our website to learn more about our Friends of the Library and how you can get involved. As we continue commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence , there are a variety of ways to learn, celebrate, and connect at your library. Below are selected events and programs taking place throughout the Mercer County Library System in October. For a complete list of events at your local branch, visit the MCLS Events Calendar . Halloween Programs for Kids Halloween Parade and Concert Thursday, October 22, 10:00 am   Lawren...

Pete the Cat is a beloved children’s book character created by artist and illustrator James Dean, and a personal favorite of mine.  As I sit here writing, Pete is watching over me, quite literally; there is a Pete the Cat poster hanging in the children’s department across from my desk, and a Pete the Cat stuffie is on the shelves behind me.   Pete is featured in over 100 children’s books. It all started in 2008 with Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes . Initially self-published by James Dean and author Eric Litwin, it was later picked up and widely distributed by HarperCollins publishing. I clearly remember reading this book for the first time.  Back then I was a young youth services librarian at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch.  I was going through the new picture books and Pete stood out to me.  There was something about that quirky cat in the white high tops on the cover that caught my attention and I absolutely loved the moral of the story, “No matter...

 A few months ago, my family and I were looking for a long weekend getaway. Our requirements were: it could be no more than a five-hours’ drive from our home; it had to be a place that we had never been before; it had to be near water. We settled on the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. For those of you who are not familiar with the Finger Lakes, it consists of eleven long, narrow lakes (of various sizes) that resemble human fingers (hence its name). Based on the books I had read, I knew that this scenic destination catered to outdoor enthusiasts, wine lovers, and history buffs alike. It seemed right up our alley!  So, on a Friday morning this past July, we headed out for a 4.5-hour car ride to our base of operations (an Airbnb) in Lansing, New York.  Nature takes center stage in the Finger Lakes with dramatic geological formations, and we spent most of our time exploring the state parks near Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. Watkins Glen State Park was our first hiking destinatio...

Come one, come all to the second Mercer County Library System Book Festival! Held Saturday, September 26 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch, readers and authors of all ages will come together to celebrate books, stories, and creativity.  Enjoy lively programs, crafts and activities, family-friendly performances, and opportunities to talk with the authors behind the books.  Featured programs include a panel discussion on writing and publishing with authors Mickey Flagg (paranormal fiction), Maria Imbalzano (romance and women’s fiction), Delia Pitts (crime fiction), and Tom Tracy (children’s books). Other guest speakers include young adult author Colby Cedar Smith; writer and New York Times editor Ken Jaworoski on Boxing as Craft: What Getting Punched in the Face Taught Ken Jaworowski about Writing; and Cartooning Lessons with illustrator Mike Dawson. Tim Hoh Music for Kids will hold two concerts to round out the event. You won’t want to miss it!  ...

 It is widely discussed that the rise of short-form content is associated with reduced attention spans. Before the death of Vine, videos on the platform were only 7 seconds long. 7 seconds to be funny, then on to the next thing. Even after Vine was shut down, people migrated to Instagram, YouTube, and eventually TikTok, but the sentiment still stood. Videos got longer, but not by much. 7 seconds became 30.  But the videos needed to be obviously interesting right at the beginning, or they got passed over. The terms “doomscrolling” and “brainrot” started cropping up. Doomscrolling refers to the excessive consumption of negative content, usually news.  Brainrot refers to the short, low-quality content that has overrun short-form platforms.  It’s the perfect storm: some comedy, some depressing news. Short, low-quality, easily digestible. Keep scrolling, more, more, more. Sure, some of these videos are only 30 seconds long, but if you scroll through enough of them, you ca...

My father infected me with watching the FIFA World Cup matches when I was a teenager. It was the year 1982 and his excitement in front of the TV screen was contagious. I joined his company and while he was explaining the rules to me, words such as “corner”, “fault”, “out”, and “goal” were among the first to enter my English language vocabulary. It was the year when even if Argentina didn’t become a champion, the star of Diego Maradona (October 30, 1960 – November 25, 2020) came to shine. Fast forward to 1994 when even if Bulgaria didn’t become a champion (but made it to the semi-finals!), the star of Hristo Stoichkov (February 8, 1966 -) came to shine on the USA stadiums. Final exams were in full swing and our heads were buried in textbooks and notes, but for the games we would gather in a room with a TV screen (we knew the dorm rooms that had a TV!) for yet another exhilarating experience. New friendships were built and Bulgarian city streets turned into party scenes during that memo...

Book clubs are the ideal combination of solitary pursuit and social activity! First read the book on your own—at your own pace, in your favorite places, and in your preferred format (print, ebook, or audiobook). Then attend the book discussion to share your viewpoints and to hear others’ perspectives. Usually, a moderator leads the discussion, keeping the participants on track and making sure everyone has an opportunity to speak. At Mercer County Library System, we offer a variety of staff-led book discussion groups to pique your interest.  NONFICTION If you enjoy reading nonfiction, you’ll find a good fit at Ewing, Hickory Corner, or Twin Rivers Branch. At my branch (Hickory Corner), the nonfiction titles that we read are typically selected by the group members. We recently discussed The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness , by Michelle Alexander. Originally written in 2010, the book was updated in 2020 with a Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition. The...