Mercer County Library Blog

Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor that started in 2012 and has since exploded into a bona fide franchise, spawning its own podcast network, live shows, merchandise, and books. Mercer County Library System has all of the books in the Night Vale family. If you’re a fan of the charming, surreal podcast or just enjoy the unusual, you may want to read (or listen to - some of these books are in audiobook form) what the creators of Night Vale and their collaborators have to offer. Welcome to Night Vale (the podcast) is set in the town of Night Vale, a desert community where all manner of paranormal and supernatural things happen, but are treated like common everyday occurrences. The podcast is a fictional radio show set in this bizarre community and hosted by Cecil Palmer (voiced by Cecil Baldwin). This year is Welcome to Night Vale ’s 10th anniversary, so I thought we should look at what the Night Vale books have to offer. The first book that was ...

A friend at our feeder!! Zip, zip, zoom! This post started out as one on kids’ sign language books… but new visitors to my backyard prompted a quick change of plans. Meet my hummingbirds: tiny, speedy, beautiful birds who have recently begun zipping in and out of my family’s daily lives. Very exciting! My husband has been an avid gardener these last few years and has been increasing the footprint of our raised garden beds annually – two, then four, now six. This gardening has brought an increased awareness of nature in general, and we’ve started to plant bee- and hummingbird-friendly plants around our yard. When a friend told me about her dollar-store hummingbird feeder, I filed the info away for future reference but had no immediate plans to get one. (I was also a bit skeptical of the idea of a dollar-store feeder!) However, a few months later, my daughter and I added one to our cart...

There’s nothing like a fresh New Jersey tomato. Growing up, I was assigned the easy summer chore of picking the tomatoes. Each summer we’d plant six cherry tomato plants in the backyard. I’d go outside daily in August and September to pick… but they never made it into the house. I’d end up eating all of them, warm and fresh, right there in the garden. My sister would always wonder why weren’t there ever any fresh tomatoes for the salad? Lesson learned: six plants is simply not enough. This year I planted… well, let’s just say I planted a lot of tomatoes. Maybe too many. Seven different varieties, too. There’s still a lot of eating fresh from the garden, but now’s the time to start looking for new methods to use or store this beautiful bounty. Luckily for me, I found this fun book at the library: The Tomato Festival Cookbook has fantastic recipes for using fresh tomatoes, but it goes beyond that with history, seed source suggestions, and gardenin...

I love to travel to other countries. I love to experience different cultures from my own by immersing myself in them, eating them. To me, you can experience so much by learning about and trying local foods from places you visit. Alas, with the ever-growing price of airfare these days, it’s much harder to visit the many countries on my bucket list. I know I’ll get there someday, but in the meantime, I still want to learn about different cuisines and try new things on a regular basis. Which brings us to: cookbooks. Cookbooks full of cuisines from all over the world are available from the Mercer County Library System, which makes it incredibly easy (and cheap) to bring other nations to the comfort of your own home. Although some ingredients may be harder to find, like ones that are rarely exported from their home nations, alternatives can be found in the international aisle of your favorite store, international grocery stores, or online markets. Here a...

The database committee at MCLS has been hard at work locating new databases that deliver fun, information, and piece of mind to our patrons. Let’s take a look at the latest additions. Black Freedom Struggle In The United States is a primary source database that includes public and personal documents that are arranged according to pivotal moments in African-American history, from slavery to the contemporary era. Each era has subsections detailing key individuals and moments from that time period, using statistics, diary entries, editorials, and legal documents to tell the story. Bluebird Languages bills itself as the world’s largest audiobook library dedicated to language learning. Over 150 languages are included, with learning tools such as quizzes, lessons, and personalized study guides. Log on to the website to create an account or connect your Pronunciator account, then get the PIN for the library and use the Bluebird app on your device for language learning on the go. Creative...