Greenwood Public Library Blogs

April is National Car Care Month

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The Greenwood Public Library has resources available to help you take care of your car while you are at home, including ChiltonLibrary.  National Car Care Month brings attention to the importance of car repair and preventative maintenance. Because it is always good to get your car ready for spring and winter, there are two car care months: National Car Care Month in April and Fall Car Care Month in October.  

Use our auto repair database ChiltonLibrary to find diagnostic and repair information on tons of vehicles.  Resources offered are automotive diagnostic and repair information, technical service bulletins, printable wiring diagrams, and ASE test prep quizzes for the most popular certification exams. A print button is available which allows you to easily print out what is needed. Select your year, make, and model, and you can start problem solving from the comfort of home by logging in with a GPL Evergreen library card at http://www.greenwoodlibrary.us/online-databases

Also, if you are in the market to purchase a new or used car you can visit the “Buying Guides” from Consumer Reports and use their ratings to select a new or used car.  Consumer Reports not only reviews cars, they also provide reviews and ratings on tires, car batteries, wiper blades, and more. Available for free through Inspire at http://www.greenwoodlibrary.us/online-databases

 

Where Has All the Charmin Gone? STEAM Play During a Pandemic

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I stood in the grocery store aisle not long ago perusing the long rows of empty shelves that, just a few weeks before, had been stacked high with hundreds of packages of extra strong, extra soft, ultra absorbent, pillowy, billowy, good enough for angels and bears toilet paper. This “white gold” was suddenly at the top of everyone’s shopping list, and I wondered what exactly everyone was doing with all that excess tp.   It struck me that, as we shelter in place, someone had stumbled upon one of the best kept secrets of the paper goods trade—the educational and entertainment value of toilet paper.  A little research confirmed this versatile household product will provide hours of fun for the whole family!

So what exactly can you do with a collection of toilet paper rolls?  Have a TP Engineering Throwdown Challenge!  Who can build the tallest tower?  The biggest wall?  The best castle?  How high and wide can you build a tower using a single roll as a base?  Who can knock it down first with a well-lobbed wiffle ball?

Sharpen your pencil or pull out your calculator and get ready to do Toilet Paper Math!  Skip the 9=36 and 12=48 claims for the moment and go straight for the sheet count (listed on the package.)  How many sheets are in a roll?  How many rolls are in a package?  What is the total number of sheets in a package?   Pull out your ruler and get ready to measure!  What are the dimensions of  a single sheet?  How many sheets are on a roll?  How many feet long would a roll be if unrolled?  How many rolls would it take to reach a mile? 10 miles?  The moon?

If you have a kitchen scale you can weigh two different brands or types.  Is there a weight difference  between a roll of ultra soft compared to a roll of ultra strong?  Which roll contains the most sheets?

We won’t need a lab coat to run this kitchen science experiment to discover how absorbent a certain brand is.  Our friends at Lemon Lime Adventures have an easy To Do at Home experiment using 3 jars, several squares from two or more brands of toilet paper, 3 rubber bands, 3 cups of water and a handful of pennies.  Check it out here:   

And of course, toilet paper rolls begat toilet paper tubes. With spring here, one of my favorite recyclable uses for these handy little leftovers is to use them as seedling pots.  They are easy to make, and you can find a quick tutorial here from the folks at Kitchen Counter Chronicles.

You can easily make a fun toy launching machine as well using 2 toilet paper tubes (or 1 paper towel tube cut in half), 2 rubber bands, a pencil, some tape, and a cotton ball.  Challenge someone to a Cotton Ball Launching Contest to see just how far you can send your fluffy missile flying.

Or, come up with your own projects and share!  Let us know what fun and creative ways you find to use this staple with other common, household items at hand.   If you are interested in learning more about engineering and inventing, toys and games, science projects or even planting and seeds, please check out the wonderful resources of Overdrive  hoopla and kanopy kids on the GPL website.

Teen Digital Reads

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Hello out there! We hope that you’re healthy and safe hunkering down at home! And we know that you’re probably looking for something to read! Since searching through all of the ebooks out there can be a little overwhelming, I thought I’d send some recommendations your way. Here are a few of my favorite teen books available through Overdrive! 

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Fantasy – Magic School

White Rose by Kip Wilson

Historical – World War II 

In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund

Mystery – Thriller

Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita

Fairytale Retelling – Disney

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen

Science Fiction – Space

Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi

Contemporary – Diverse

The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais

Romance – #OwnVoices

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson 

Graphic Novel – Superheroes

How Reading Can Make You a Better Leader

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What was the last book you read? Has a busy schedule and the ease of electronic devices made you into a scroller and a skimmer rather than a reader? Do you find yourself digesting information in tweet-sized bites or find it difficult to sit and give your full attention to a book? 25% of adults say they have not read a book in the last year. But research is proving that regular reading has a real impact on your life at home and at work. In fact, it might just make you a better leader.

 

  1. It will make you smarter! Just like a workout routine for your body improves your physical fitness, reading is a workout for your brain. It not only helps you expand your knowledge, but it can help you be more empathetic, and improve your emotional intelligence and ability to work with others.
  2. Reading reduces stress. Listening to an audio book on the way home or reading before bed can reduce your stress, lower your blood pressure, improve your quality of sleep, and leave you more rested for the next day.
  3. Fiction can improve your creativity. Studies by the University of Toronto show that readers of fiction showed more creativity in problem solving than readers of non-fiction essays. Fiction readers showed less need for closure and were more open-minded.
  4. If you read, your kids are more likely to read. Everyone wants their children to read, and to do well on standardized tests. The best way to encourage your children to read is for them to see YOU reading. Put down your device and pick up a book. Better yet, read together with your children and aloud to each other. Listen to audio books in the car and discuss what you’ve read. You will be amazed at the results.
  5. And, you could live longer. If you combine the effects of the first four on this list, you might not be surprised that Yale researchers have also found that people who read live longer. Their study of 3,635 people found that people who read for 30 minutes a day lived 23 months longer than those who didn’t read or who read magazines.

So, you could be smarter, more creative, more understanding, less stressed, have more successful kids, and live longer. Ready to start? Here are some quick picks you might enjoy:

Inspiring: Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People by Bob Goff

Moving forward: Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Community focus: Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg

Cautionary tale: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyou

Fun and fiction: Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes  (NPR Pop Culture Correspondent);
News of the World by Paulette Jiles

 

 

(Note: The Greater Greenwood Chamber asked me to write a guest article for their weekly newsletter, and I am sharing it again here. If you are a business person in the Greater Greenwood area, I highly recommend getting in touch with the Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce for their networking events, informative lunches, and other events. It’s more than handing out business cards – it’s getting connected with your community. )

Review: I’m Trying to Love Spiders

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I’m Trying to Love Spiders
by Bethany Barton
5 stars

Age Group: Kids 4 – 8 years
Other: Lexile Measure AD510

This Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee is a refreshingly hilarious nonfiction selection. The narrator is terrified of spiders and works her way – page by page- trying to learn about and appreciate them without squashing them…..UNSUCCESSFULLY!!! This wonderful selection is illustrated with comical ink and digital images which relay scientific facts in a humorous way.

 

Read-alikes

Animal Grossology by Sylvia Branzei