I know Abby Blachly

the LibraryThing librarian. Well, not really, but I did sit next to her at the Kevin Henkes author luncheon at WLA in the Wisconsin Dells last year. And we did joke about how we have ducks in the Dells and they have ducks in Boston (see, I do know her, I know she lives in Boston!). She was very cool. Abby Blachly=Cool.

So in honor of ABC (Abby Blachly=Cool), I created a fun alphabet library for this week's Project Play assignment.

Some thoughts on LibraryThing:

Strengths
LibraryThing is a beautiful concept. You can organize like crazy! You can catalog your personal collection, books that you have read, books that you would like to read, books that you have reviewed (there is a MADreads LibraryThing group) and on and on. It is easy to use and has tons of information available without being overwhelming. It is also fun to find out what your peers (and total strangers) are reading.

Weaknesses
This is too much work for me. I do not have my home library cataloged in any discernible way (horrors!). It is loosely shelved like so: young adult fiction, adult fiction, cookbooks, film books, all of my husband's books, oversize and so on. I focus my talents on color coordinating my closet - this truly gets me out of the house more quickly in the morning.

Unsuggestor
This is plain weird. But amusing. I typed in The Joy of Cooking and clicked on the Unsuggestor box to get some bad recommendations. The list was weird, and included quite a few biblical titles and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell. Unrecommendations noted. It should also be noted that the Suggestor provided a lot of really useful, sensible titles like Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (one of my favorites by Mollie Katzen).

Silly Dummiez Book Cover Maker


Play more. Learn more. Fear less. Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It is without a doubt the best alphabet book ever written.