Friday, October 31, 2008

Ooooooooo

Gregory McNamee on the Britannica Blog offers a link to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Very appropriate for today!

Thinking about Washington Irving led me to look in Credo Reference. When was he born, where did he live? Portraits, facts, information about Washington Irving are noted in reference works like the Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English.

Which led me to wonder about the number of Washington Irving titles available for children. I went to GALILEO to look in NoveList.

NoveList noted 40 titles in an author search for Washington Irving. There are many variations of the Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle stories, plus collections of ghost stories. I learned Mr. Irving wrote Bracebridge Hall, tales of a traveller, the Alhambra. That didn't sound otherworldly.

Clicking on the WorldCat link showed libraries that owned the print title. NMTC didn't show up.

I wondered if NMTC had any Washington Irving titles that were not listed in WorldCat. Searching the NMTC catalog turned up Bracebridge Hall as well as A Tour on the Prairies , both in our netLibrary collection. I started reading A Tour on the Prairies and was drawn in to his description of the west in 1832.

All this wondering and wandering around started with a scary story. Where does a story lead you? Don't be afraid - wander down that crooked path to a new adventure.

Get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian. Pick up the password to use Credo from the NMTC librarian.

-kls

1 comment:

The Librarian said...

Reluctant readers do need that extra spice in a story to catch their attention and keep them reading. Thanks for writing in a way that catches that boy.

-kls