Dad's Amazing Race Birthday: Part One

Dad is 60 today! I'm sure he's thrilled I told you. To celebrate, I set up an Amazing Race-style series of challenges for him. It started Saturday afternoon, when I presented him with a clue envelope.

I had prepped all the envelopes and written out instructions and driving directions ahead of time. To make everything look really professional, I adapted free printables I found online. Here's what I used. I changed the envelopes to say "birthday" instead of "date," because it would have been creepy otherwise.

His first challenge was a Detour (a choice between two tasks): Shape Up or Ship Out. For Shape Up, he would have to complete the minimum requirements to join the fire department. He'd have to do sit-ups and push-ups, monitored by the fire chief (The Brother). For Ship Out, he'd need to take out our kayak and use an improvised paddle to cross the river, retrieve a leaf, and return to the other side.

He chose to Ship Out.

He fell down the bank at one point, and I thought the race had ended prematurely with a trip to the emergency room, but he was okay. Thankfully.

When he returned with his leaf, he received a Roadblock called Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day. Dad had to write a sonnet (following the official structure of a sonnet--no cheating allowed), directed to his lady love (Mum). If she liked it, she would give him his next clue. If she hated it, she could spurn him and send him back for a rewrite.

Then we sent him to the library for Dewey or Don't We?, a test of his library skills. Dad needs to work on his library skills.

He had to assemble a card from pieces of paper found in books I'd picked out. They all were about things that had happened during Dad's life, or about topics he found interesting, about being aged, that sort of thing.

When he put them all together, he had a quote and another Roadblock, We Like You a Latte.

Dad memorized the quote and walked to Modoc's Market, where the management had kindly agreed to work with me. Dad would walk in, repeat the quote, and receive a latte. I'd prepaid for the drink and left a card with Dad's picture and a copy of the quote. Dad was so speedy, Mum and Paul missed this and I didn't get any video!

We took pictures on Modoc's elephant statue when we finished.

Then, Dad got more route info, which took him to dinner at The Rusty Dog in Huntington. That was the pit-stop for this leg of the race (although not really, because we let him come home to sleep and didn't leave him to fend for himself in Huntington).

Blind Date with a Book

I spent all of last week working and working on bringing Blind Date with a Book to the library. I love how it turned out! This is just one of the many ways our library is celebrating National Library Week.



To make it work properly, I first collected books from YA and had Polly, my coworker who buys adult fiction for the library, pick adult books. We chose books with lots of great editorial reviews and good buzz that nonetheless seem to have fallen through the cracks at our library. In other words, awesome books that people around here need to discover! I also picked a few from some of my favorite writers that just deserve to be read, OFTEN.

Next I wrapped all of the books in brown paper. Because we're a library and these books have to be circulated, I photocopied the barcode of each book and attacked it to the back of the wrapping. And because we have to know where each book is, just in case, I numbered all the books and kept a log sheet of which number corresponded to which book. That way if someone demands Book X and insists Book X is on Shelf Y, we can actually find it for them, even though it's wrapped up and "hidden."

Being a librarian is complicated.



I also made up signs, and my student assistants and I cut out HUNDREDS of hearts to decorate the circulation desk, displays, and YA shelving.



I'm particularly pleased with how well the circulation desk turned out. And I learned to use my iPhone to take a panoramic picture, which is pretty awesome.



Each book has a few descriptive words or phrases on the wrapping, to help you figure out if it's the sort of book you want to get to know better.



When I researched Blind Date with a Book online, I had a lot of fun guessing what books the other librarians had chosen based on the keywords they wrote on the wrapping paper they used.



My space in YA is much more limited, so I had to confine the display to the side of one shelf and the top of another.



I really like how it all turned out. I have to admit, I'm proud of myself!

Before I wrapped the books, I tucked a little postcard in each one encouraging the reader to rate their date. I think, if I get any turned back in (you never can tell), I'll use them to make up another display of reader recommendations.