Sarah Recommends...

Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks

click here to place a hold on this great GN!

Are you ready for a zombie invasion?
Joss is. A college student studying for exams, Joss is more interested in watching her favorite zombie flicks than memorizing mind-numbing facts and figures. But when zombies invade campus, suddenly all of the time she’s spent watching zombie movies matters a lot more than any time spent over books in the library.
Joss knows she can save herself and protect her friends by following the rules of zombie movies, but things take a turn for the worse when they break the number one rule: Do not leave the mall! Armed only with a spork and newly obtained, totally rockin’ combat skills (another rule of zombie movies), will Joss prevail against the ravenous hordes? At least she’s not scared. Zombies wanting to eat your brains vs. student loan debt? Well, student loans are definitely more frightening!
Hicks’ black and white inked artwork is drawn in a busy, expressive style that moves the story along quickly while providing enough detail to really get a handle on the characters. This is a fun, quick read. You’ll enjoy plenty of action with a little political and social commentary thrown in, as well as some jabs at zombie movie conventions.
Also check out Hicks’ website [link to http://www.faitherinhicks.com/zombies/ ] for the original Zombies Calling comic and more of her fantastic work.

Post your book recommendation for an ASRP prize slip!

The Middleton Public Library Adult Summer Reading Program has added an additional way to enter a prize slip for our $100 Book Sense gift certificate (there will be lots of other smaller--but really good!-- prizes, too, for people when we do the drawing on Friday, July 31!).

If you enter a blog entry here on a good book that you recommend & include your full name, you can stop by the Reference Desk and fill out an extra prize entry slip.

For more information about the Adult Summer Reading Program, stop by the library's Reference Desk, email mid@scls.lib.wi.us , or call 827-7403.

Ever heard of Esperanto the "universal language?"

In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build a Perfect Language by Arika Okrent

“Requests for information on Esperanto will be answered with a form letter prepared by the Library Director. There is no Esperanto library in Middleton.” -- Middleton Public Library Reference Services Policy

The first Esperanto grammar, published in 1887, introduced what was meant to be a universal language to help bridge international differences. In the just over five years I have worked here, I’ve only had to field one inquiry about Middleton’s no-longer-in-existence Esperanto library, but it stuck in my memory and it’s one of the reasons I picked up Okrent’s In the Land of Invented Languages. (The other reason was for the coverage of Klingon. Hey, you have to admit that when a language invented for a fictional race becomes a language in which non-fictional wedding ceremonies are performed, it’s an interesting phenomenon, right?) This fascinating book is not just about how Esperanto, Klingon, and other deliberately designed languages were developed and received by the world, but also about what they can teach us about the illogical, difficult, naturally evolving languages the vast majority of us speak.

If you’re still not convinced this book is worth reading, consider this excerpt from Chapter 26: “One of the most popular presentations was by Don Boozer, a librarian at the Cleveland Public Library. His language, Dritok, was born when he began to wonder if it was possible to make a language out of chipmunk noises.” --Sarah