I know in this day and age, we as parents are all nervous about what our children will discover on the internet that we don’t want them to. There are whole industries that develop search filters: apps that promise only child-friendly content, “curated” lists of videos, movies and websites that we can feel safe allowing our children to access…  and yet, we know that eventually they will stumble upon (or seek out) content we don’t want them to see.

I regularly hear many people pontificating about how simple things used to be, and how the past was just so much “better!” I am here to remind us: yeah, not really.

There has always been scary, weird stuff out there, and children, who may have no context for what they are seeing or hearing, have always completely freaked out.  We cannot control this. We can only try to be there to explain things as best we can.

My son, for instance, is rarely freaked out by movies or TV. Ghostbusters, Harry Potter – fun! Learning, extensively, about tornadoes and the sinking of the Titanic – interesting! No complaints or nightmares. But do you know what did freak him out? A giant puppet “terrordactyl” he saw once in a Scooby Doo movie. 

When I was a kid, my dad was late picking me up from a friend’s house. He was stuck at work, but my friend’s mom also had to go out, so she drove us down to her parents’ house, an old farmhouse connected to their dairy farm. I had never met my friend’s grandparents before. As we walked into the dark house, and through the empty kitchen, we could see a light coming from the living room. Two elderly people sat in armchairs, their backs to us, and they didn’t say hello or even turn their heads as they heard us come in. There, on the screen, they were watching a strange show that seemed to hypnotize them. And the show itself seemed to come from another century (now of course it does, but this was the 80s.) Altogether, it gave me chills and left me permanently shaken. It felt otherworldly, and I still dislike the show they were watching: The Lawrence Welk Show.

This is not to mention the legitimately horrible stuff – many friends have a movie or show they stumbled upon that upset them. Remember when the only way to find out what was on were just listings in the newspaper, or, if you were fancy, you looked in the TV Guide? If you didn’t have these or were a kid and didn’t read, you just turned on the TV and flipped around. Who knows what kind of “entertainment” you would stumble upon?

There are multiple blogs and websites that collect these kinds of memories. For example, there is a site called Kindertrauma, where people post stories about movies, shows, books, and toys that bothered them as kids. Many people report seeing adult horror movies they were definitely not old enough to watch. You know, stories like that one babysitter who let them watch Jaws and then they wouldn’t swim in the ocean all summer. Maybe an animated movie that looked safe at Blockbuster, but when you watched it, it was about the character’s family being turned to stone and how they were left alone – forever. Or maybe you were terrorized by Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka? Really, it could be anything.

If I had to pick my number one TV show or movie that messed me up, it would be a mostly forgotten British horror movie called Paper House. I was home sick, old enough to be left by myself, but really too young and sensitive for most scary things. I remember just laying on the couch and putting on this movie, where a little girl about my age was also home sick. I had no idea what it was called or how long it had already been on, but I decided to watch. Though I barely understood it at the time, the kid had glandular fever and was very ill. She loved to draw, but in her fever she kept having bad dreams where her drawings came to life, but in an eerie, sort of wrong, way. She drew a normal house, but in her dreams, the house was warped and frightening. She drew a picture of her father who was away on business, but when she couldn’t get it the way she wanted, she scratched it out with her pencil. When she falls asleep, a man with a “scratched out” face is trying to find her. So yeah, the kid draws stuff, and it comes alive, and eventually it gets very fuzzy on what is a dream and what is reality. As a young artist, I would forever remember these scenes, part of me needing to be careful when drawing in case they ever became something else. Years later, I found out this movie was actually based on a children’s book called Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. 

I will always try to shield my child, and other children, from upsetting and scary things.  The problem is, you never know what they may find truly frightening. You are looking out for Voldemort, but they are scared of pterodactyls.

Nicole Guerra-Coon  is the Assistant Children’s Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the September 23, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

What happens to old books when they die? Many would argue they don’t; books live forever and there is always a home for an old book! Believe me, you need not convince librarians of the sacred nature of books, however we do recognize that they are not immortal and may need to be retired in style or euthanized with dignity and respect. It can even be irresponsible to keep certain literature around, if it contains inaccurate medical or historical information, for instance. We do not want to teach kids that “someday ‘man’ will walk on the moon.”

We populate our stacks with carefully chosen selections, given that we have a finite amount of space in our beautiful historical building. As many of our regulars know, we receive brand new titles hot off the presses and scurry to make them available to borrowers ASAP. We cannot continually add the new without getting rid of anything, so, in gardening nomenclature, we “weed” our collection, just like you do in your own yards, closets, and bookshelves.

When downsizing, moving, or spring cleaning, many folks generously donate books to the library. Marie Kondo, author of the bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, claims to keep only about 30 volumes at any given time. While I cannot imagine reducing my collection this drastically, I do recommend culling the home collection to keep it fresh and interesting. The library gratefully accepts donations, albeit with some caveats. If you want to get rid of something because it smells moldy, has pages falling out, fell in a puddle, or has been too “well loved” by your child or dog, safely assume that we don’t want it either. Likewise, we will say “thanks, but no thanks,” to decades-old encyclopedia sets, multi-year runs of National Geographic magazines, and those old-school Time-Life reference series.

Please note when bringing us gifts: the majority of materials donated to the library do not actually end up on our shelves. We consider collection development to be an art and a science, and our librarians work diligently to curate a collection that best serves our community. We aim to provide relevant and up to date materials to support the interests, viewpoints and hobbies of the wide range of citizens in Norwood. In other words, our shelves are not populated by hand-me-downs. 

We have immense gratitude for donations though, as our Friends of the Norwood Library group sells most of them on our library sale carts and in bi-annual book sales to raise funds in support of our collections, programming, and activities. For amazing deals on reading, viewing and listening material check out our first floor sale carts anytime, or come to our first post-pandemic in-person book sale, happening from October 22nd to 24th.

In addition to the Friends’ book sales, the library collaborates with a couple of other entities to make sure that books get re-homed rather than discarded. BetterWorld Books accepts some of our de-accessioned and unsold books and even pays for packing boxes and shipping costs. A “triple bottom line” company, BWB maintains commitments to environmental and social impacts, rather than financial profit alone. Savitz and Weber describe this framework in their 2013 book, The Triple Bottom Line: How Today’s Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success. The company sells books online, and also donates them to hundreds of charity organizations, issues literacy-related grants, and uses environmentally sustainable practices. Furthermore, they donate a portion of the profits from sales of our items back to the Friends of the Norwood Library non-profit organization! Locally, Discover Books comes in person to collect boxes of books from the MML. The removal costs us nothing, and the company sells books and also gives them to literacy and community-based organizations nearby. As for anything beyond salvation, the MML, BWB and Discover all recycle, hoping to keep books out of landfills when their lifecycles comes to an end.

We love to see pre-owned books find new loving homes, but some creative types also experiment with “upcycling” them in fun and interesting ways. Upcycling Books by Julia Rubio shows how to make lampshades, decorations, baskets, and organizers by altering retired literature. In Playing With Books, Jason Thompson teaches how to make beads, boxes, and bags out of book pages, and also highlights fine artists who have made beautiful and intricate sculptures with this unusual medium. Explore Etsy, Pinterest, or our brand new Craftsy database to gain inspiration for countless book-based arts and crafts projects. In just a few months it will be time for our librarians to put together the MML’s annual Christmas tree made of books, decorated with handmade origami star ornaments, derived from colorful pages. Books may not live forever, but there is no shortage of options for extending their lifespans as long as possible.

Lydia Sampson is the Assistant Director at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the September 9, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

While brainstorming ideas for a possible Staff Day activity, a colleague suggested Goat Yoga. This was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing. What is Goat Yoga? My mind went through several options: watching goats do yoga; doing yoga with a goat Yogi; watching goats skip blissfully around an enclosure while performing yoga poses. Whatever it was, it sounded interesting and I was keen to try, so my husband and I headed out to Happy Goats Farm, located in Holliston, MA. This little farm is owned by Diana and Lee Phillips and features not only Goat Yoga but is also a mini farm that specializes in fresh eggs, goat milk, soap and other items which they sell in a tiny store. Diana told me that Happy Goats Farm has been offering Baby Goat Yoga for about three years now.

Lee, the co-owner and Diana’s partner, greeted us and gathered the 12 or so people together and led us on a short trek down to the goat pen. I was very excited… everyone there was, especially as this was the last Goat Yoga session of the year. We soon came upon the goats’ area and Lee mentioned to us that the goats will be very playful, so be prepared. He also introduced his daughter as our “Goat Wrangler.” She did a marvelous job of keeping the goats interested in the people, even though there was delicious grass to be had on the edges of the enclosure. At this point, everyone went in and laid their towels down on the grass (mats were discouraged, as the goats had taken to eating them), and the goats immediately came to greet everyone. It was a beautiful, serene setting and one immediately felt a sense of peace.

It turns out that Goat Yoga was similar to what I had imagined (well, except for the goat Yogi). Our Yogi, Nissa Dianatina led the class while the goats frolicked around and jumped on people’s backs while they were in the table pose (or any pose, as it turns out). They were about 4 months old and probably 25-30 pounds, so not tiny babies, but still babies! They were so playful, and so well trained!

The goats would wait for their moment and then: Table Pose and boom! Goat on your back. I couldn’t stop laughing. The owners had recommended that anyone with long hair tie it up, as it’s a favorite of the goats to munch on. I’m in the pose, goat on my back and chewing on my bun, and I’m giggling like a little kid. It was just so comical. The best part for me, though, was the very end, when we got to feed the babies their bottles of fresh goat milk. They were greedy little things and would try to butt each other out of the way, but eventually everyone drank their fill. Lee graciously allowed us to take pictures and everyone slowly walked back to their cars. It was an experience very well worth the $33!

In closing, I want to mention that Lee and Diana care very much about their goats. When the goats are older, they are adopted out to good families that are carefully screened. The farm is aptly named, as not only are the goats happy but also the folks participating. I plan to attend another class in the spring, right after the new babies are born. No kidding!

You can borrow:  The Little Book of Goat Yoga

Carla Howard is the Senior Circulation and Media and Marketing Assistant at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the August 26, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.