AT THE LIBRARY: Get a Caleb Diederich coloring book free

Published 8:19 am Thursday, September 24, 2020

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Fans of circulation manager Caleb Diederich (and there are many who often call to check DVD availability with him and to get his movie recommendations) will be thrilled to know they can get copies of coloring pages he drew for “Daisy, You Crazy!” a story about a fun-loving and feisty English bulldog.

Caleb and Tasha Perkins, who works in the library’s youth department, created the coloring book as a prize for last summer’s Youth Summer Reading Program.

When distributing the coloring book became problematic because of COVID-19, the project was shelved.

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Now, the library is making all kinds of coloring pages available for patrons who would like to while away some time coloring, and Caleb is letting the Library distribute his book, too.

If you’d like to get Caleb’s book or other coloring pages, call the library, specify if you would like a packet of random pages or Caleb’s book, and they can be added to your curbside pickup order.

Today is the autumnal equinox, and the birthdays of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins.

If you want to start the perfect reading adventure for this time of year, wander off with Bilbo and Frodo through “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

The library has most of Tolkien’s works, and it’s worthwhile to get into the online catalog to search other Tolkien volumes in the collection.

There are treasures like “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from The Red Book” (call No. 821.91 Tolk) — “The Red Book” referring to “The Red Book of Westmarch,” the Hobbits’ name for the Ring Trilogy manuscript.

In the library catalog you will also find “Tree and Leaf” (call No. 809.3 Tolk). If you’re a Tolkien fan and you’ve never read this book, well, it’s highly recommended because it contains Tolkien’s 1938 essay “On Fairy-Stories.”

Tolkien delivered that essay at St. Andrews College in Scotland, and in it he fully elaborated his conceptions of fairy tales and the realm of fairy.

In the introduction to “Tree and Leaf,” he explained its relationship to The Trilogy:  “they were written in the same period (1938-39), when the Lord of the Rings was beginning to unroll itself and to unfold prospects of labour and exploration in yet unknown country as daunting to me as to the hobbits.  At about that time we had reached Bree, and I had no more notion than they had of what had become of Gandalf or who Strider was; and I had begun to despair of finding out.”

World War II was inevitable.  If you’re a writer wondering what’s the use because of COVID-19,  keep in mind Tolkien’s predicament in 1938.  Write on.

“The Hobbit” and The Ring Trilogy are available in e-book and audio-book formats through Overdrive and Hoopla in Clark County Public Library’s online library.

In regard to CCPL’s online library, catalogers Pat Taylor and Taylor Duncan have transferred many OverDrive/Libraries Unbound digital items to the catalog.

If if you’re looking for library books and all the physical items are checked out, digital copies may appear in the search, alerting you to another option for quicker access.

Please understand that downloading and cataloging those files is tricky and time-consuming because there are thousand and they have to be done a few at a time. Not all the records have been transferred.

If you don’t see a digital record for a book or audiobook, still check Overdrive, Hoopla,and RB Digital in the Online Library.

Have a splendid “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as Keats said, and stay healthy by wearing a mask, social distancing and washing your hands.

John Maruskin is director of adult services at the Clark County Public Library. He can be reached at john.clarkbooks@gmail.com.