Special Guest Presentation at Mustard Seeds Library

By Rahul Basu

Bobby and Sunny are two library members who also come sometimes on weeknights to learn basic computer skills.  Last week we were working on a Power Point presentation all about their rabbits and we had the idea to introduce the rabbits to other library members.  My mother and I went over to Bobby and Sunny's house to meet the rabbits  and to talk with their mother about doing a presentation with live rabbits at the library.

At 11:00 we all left the library session and went to collect the rabbits.  We placed their hutch on the verandah when we got back and showed the Power Point presentation to everyone.  My mother, Mauraunty, explained that we do not want to scare the rabbits in the new place so everyone should be gentle around them.  People liked how we made the rabbits hop around on the Power Point show; and they like to see them hop around the library too!

We all tried our hand at sketching the rabbits, some people did real-to-life images and others drew cartoonish images.  We all would have been more satisfied if the rabbits stayed still and posed!  It was fun to watch them groom themselves and relax with their legs spread straight out behind them!  At the end, Mauraunty put all the rabbit pictures together like a sandwich between two sheets of yellow paper.  She stapled them together and wrote "Raja and Rani Go to Mustard Seeds Library" on the front cover.  Raja and Rani (King and Queen) are the rabbits' names.  We presented this book of rabbits to Bobby and Sunny to say thank you for introducing us to their loveable little pets.

Letter from a Visitor

Random Sunday at Mustard Seeds

The following is excerpted from a note we received from two young girls who visited our library while visiting relatives in Kolkata:

Dear Mustard Seeds,

Than you very much for loaning us the books!  I managed to read almost all of them.  I had to stop halfway through "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," which I must say is incredibly interesting.  I very much enjoyed the other books as well.  It seems ironic to me that back in the US we have a city library with thousands of books, yet I found the selection in this little library far better.

The board game was also great fun.  My sister and I had an excellent time with it.  Plus, now I finally know where all the cities that people talk about actually are!  I hope your kids enjoy it as much as we did.  Hopefully, we will be able to get it in the US and play.  Mom, in the end, did not play with us (which you probably could have foretold), but even with only two people it was still great fun.

Thank you again and best wishes for your library.

Tara and Maya

I bet some of you didn't know that in addition to great books, we also loan games out at Mustard Seeds!

MOSAIC DEMONSTRATION

M Seeds welcomes mosaic artist, Barbara, and her daughter

We thank Barbara and her daughter, Coco who visited Mustard Seeds Library a few Sundays back to give us a quick demonstration on how to make a mosaic with cracked tiles, broken cups and saucers, marbles mirrors and white cement.

All members helped to glue pieces into place and Barbara carefully applied the cement once the pieces were dry.  Cement can get into your eyes and be very dangerous so she used gloves and asked us to protect our eyes.

The result is a beautiful little wall hanging that we have on display in the library!

tiles after placement

covered in cement

finished product

One Million Giraffes

onemilliongiraffes.com

Last week at Mustard Seeds Library we spent our activity time making giraffes in all shapes, sizes, and media to send into the One Million Giraffes site. A zany kind of guy has created this site because he made a bet with his friend that he would try to collect 1,000,000 giraffes over the course of the year. It's a nice effort and so we thought we'd  enjoy giving him a helping hand. He's also asking that everyone who participates spread the word so that he reaches his target number. There is an underlying goal: to get people to be creative and use their hands to create things, so no computer generated giraffes allowed. I think all the kids came up with great giraffeworks and you can view our gallery online at:

http://www.onemilliongiraffes.com/search?name=Member%20Of%20Mustard%20Seeds%20Library

I WOULD LIKE TO GO

Mustard Seeds Library will be closed from 16 May to 19 June. We will be on a trip.

In his excitement of the upcoming trip, R. Basu, age 9, penned a nice poem that takes the imagination to great heights!


I WOULD LIKE TO GO
- by Rahul Basu

I would like to go
Where ancient Egyptians grow
Their papyrus reed along the Nile
I would like to go there…
For a while.
I would like to see
Where the pyramids stand high
Against a pretty blue sky where the falcons fly

I would like to go
Where French people say hello
With a word that is “Bonjour!”
I would like to go there…
On a grand, grand tour
I would like to see
The magnificent Eiffel Tower
Staring back at me
And climb its mighty stair up into the air

MSeeds Goes to Watch the Latest Harry Potter Film

MSeeds Library • HPotter trip
Originally uploaded by dalbhat

The idea of taking all the older kids who come to Mustard Seeds Library was in my head since the ads first started to appear in the papers. When I looked at my upcoming weekend schedule I realized this was the day so on 1 August Srijata and I made a lot of phone calls and ran about making a list of all those members who wanted to come along. That evening, I purchased a total of 16 tickets and there was excitement in the air.

On Sunday (2 August), all the kids gathered in the library at 11:15, just as they were told to, and we walked over to City Center in a big gaggle to see the 11:40 showing of Half-Blood Prince. Although this movie was one of the darker episodes so far, it was thankfully peppered with humor and love potions so there was something for everyone. My how Harry has grown! We all had popcorn and drinks and were out of the theater by 2:15 – chit-chatting away as we made our way back home just in time for lunch.

Thanks to everyone for coming along, and especially to Srijata without whose organization skills we would not have made this happen -- we really should take ourselves out of the library together more often!