Summerween | Christy, Kim, Stephanie, & Kate

The Russell Library is full of Halloween loving librarians, so we jumped on the chance to celebrate early! If you, too, enjoy the spooky season, you'll love our Summerween conversation. The term “Summerween” comes from the animated mystery TV series "Gravity Falls". The show has inspired fans of the macabre to celebrate this holiday anytime from June through August. Whether you're carving a jack-o-lantern out of a watermelon or throwing a pool party with inflatable skeletons, Summerween reminds us that cooler days and darker nights are right around the corner. So grab your iced pumpkin spice latte and settle in for a spooky chat full of spine-chilling reads!

Book Recommendations

The Clackity by Lora Senf, illustrated by Alfredo Cáceres

Cackle by Rachel Harrison 

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.

Intro Music by nikitsan

Transcript

Summerween Ep

Christy: [00:00:00] Cheers. Welcome to Top Shelf with the librarians of Brussel Library. I'm Kristy Billings, and I'm joined today by Kim Kate. And Stephanie. Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for joining us on Top Shelf. You'll hear about compelling reads from the people who know books best. Our librarians will share titles that connect to a unique theme each episode.

Christy: This show will also invite you to learn about the many services offered here at Russell Library. If you're not local, no worries because chances are high that your local library will have similar gifts to offer. The focus of today's show is Summer Ween. We've decided to talk about this because who doesn't love getting to celebrate Halloween twice a year?

Christy: So a little background history, the idea of summer ween. Came about from an animated [00:01:00] show called Gravity Falls, and I know I've got some fans of Gravity Falls stand. Kate and I actually just found out that we're both Gravity Falls heads. I love that the director, Alice Alex Hirsch, came up with the idea of resident of Gravity Falls celebrating Halloween on June 22nd, so he could get away with doing a Halloween episode.

Christy: Despite the fact that the show is set in the summer, so since the show has aired I know, right? Like he was just like, just I will make up a holiday. You can't tell me I can, I love Halloweens. What's gonna happen? I was gonna say, it's like 

Kim: Chris Monica from the OC back in the day dating myself. 

Stephanie: Yes, yes. You can make up whatever love want.

Stephanie: Because they're all made up and I feel like I've heard this term term so much lately that I forget. It's pretty recent 

Christy: that this happened. Yeah. This show is only 

Stephanie: from like 10 years ago, so this is a 

Christy: relatively new term, but since this, this has happened, this has become a very popular trend, especially among Halloween enthusiasts who of course like us embrace the idea of celebrating Halloween [00:02:00] twice a year.

Christy: So, um, do you guys have favorite Gravity Falls episodes? Have you seen the Summer Ween episode? I've seen the Summer Ween episode. Okay. 

Stephanie: I think it's scary for an animated TV show. I think it's a little creepy. The first time I saw it, I was a little, I got chill a little bit and I'm hard to spook. But yeah, for an animated show, I wasn't expecting it to be that creepy.

Kate: Because I, on my 

Stephanie: face, 

Kate: I don't think I've seen that 

Stephanie: one. You would know if you saw it. 

Kate: Yeah. Yeah. I've seen the one where, um, some dude falls in love with Mabel and is stalking her. Oh yeah. And then it turns out to be something completely different. I don't know if I can say, 'cause I don't, you don't wanna spoil it.

Kate: Yeah. I don't wanna spoil it, but it. Totally, totally, uh, unexpected. But yeah, my kids love, love Gravity falls and my oldest daughter Chaley dressed up as Mabel one year. 

Stephanie: Mabel's my favorite character. Yeah, she's hilarious. And she's very like, unhinged for a 12-year-old girl. She's, and I say that lovingly [00:03:00] like, she's so fun, but she is.

Stephanie: She's got a lot going on and she has some ideas about the world that are, uh, interesting. Yes. I'll leave it there. So it's just very 

Christy: complimentary all around. 

Stephanie: Yes. No, I love her. And she's always wearing a sweater with like a cat on it or a unicorn on it. Rainbow or rainbow. And I'm like, I love this girl.

Stephanie: Oversized sweater with a graphic. Yes. Her aesthetic. I know. Yes. It's by like every year I think. Should I go to Mabel for Halloween? Maybe this year I will. 

Kate: Yeah. Stay tuned. We could do a Gravity Falls. We'll do a Gravity falls du I love that. 

Christy: So I'm gonna go ahead and start with staff. Mm-hmm. And, um, can you tell us what we're, what you are reading along the lines of Summer Ween, and if you can just tell us a little bit about the title, the author, and the description of the book.

Stephanie: Sure. So today I brought the Blight Harbor Trilogy by Laura sth, but I'm only gonna focus on book one, which is called the Clackity. Um, I actually mentioned this title in the lobby earlier and Noah was like, the what now? The, I was like, trust me, I'll explain it. So here's the setup. It's summer in Blight Harbor, [00:04:00] the seventh most haunted town in America, and Evie lives with her Aunt Des, a local paranormal investigator.

Stephanie: When Aunt Dez disappears, Evie sets out to find her and encounters ghosts, witches, and monsters, as she must play a game to save her aunt. And maybe more, oh, this just screams summer ween. It's happening in the summer, but in a haunted location. So it feels like the perfect combination. And this is just like a delightful middle grade horror book, which I know Kate, you also like.

Stephanie: Mm-hmm. Middle grade horror is. When you get it right in that sweet spot, it's so good 

Christy: and it's huge right now. Yeah. Really big. This is a very popular topic for kids to be reading. 

Stephanie: Yes. We keep getting young readers who are like, I'm out of scary books, and Kate and I have ordered as many as we can. Yeah.

Stephanie: And sometimes I have to send 'em to the YA section and the topics get a little bit more. Mature over there, so we're careful, but they are reading us outta house and home. I love that. So what, what drew you to 

Christy: this book? 

Stephanie: So my friend Mary actually recommended this book several times, and at the time I hadn't picked it up 'cause I was like, I'm not really in the mood for that.[00:05:00]

Stephanie: And then I just waited for the right time. I picked it up and then I read the second one. Literally after I finished the first one, I went and I picked it up and I just kept on going. 

Christy: So there's three total. 

Stephanie: There's three total. Yep. And they're all out. So I have the box at Trilogy, so you can read all three back to back to back.

Stephanie: So how did, what, um, resonated with you with this book? It gave me genuine chills. So like that episode of Gravity Falls for a kid's book or like a kid's program. It actually is creepy. Um, so I love the story, but it's hard to scare me in a book, as I've mentioned on the podcast before. Um, and this story also features a smart female main character, which I love to see, especially in a middle grade story.

Stephanie: I love a smart, capable female character, and this book also blends fairytale lore in logic. In a way that is modern and actually scary. Um, you don't see that a lot in kids' literature either. It's fairy tales and it's not that scary or it's scary, but there's not a lot of logic. This had both, it was kind of a puzzle that she's trying [00:06:00] to figure out the whole time, and you're also trying to solve the puzzle with her.

Stephanie: And I should probably tell you the creature's name is the clackety, and it's named that because it ha, it's like spidery kind of legs and it makes a clackety sound when it moves. So it's creepy, the cl, it's terrifying, actually. Very scary creature. He gives me chills. Yes. Yes. And the cl, he talks in like a very creepy voice, or I guess you read it in the creepy voice.

Stephanie: But no, this book genuinely gave me the creeps. Which I was delighted by, right? Yes. 

Christy: Good. Scary. Yes. Good. Scary. Yes. Would you recommend this book and to whom? 

Stephanie: I'm gonna recommend it with a caveat. So I would recommend this to middle grade lovers who like scary stories, but I will say this is definitely on the upper side of that middle grade range content wise.

Stephanie: So my husband Darren, started reading this aloud to his fourth grade class because I was like, please read this to your class. Um. And he actually found that some of the elements were a little too mature for some of his kids. So there's a ghost of a serial killer that features prominently in this first book, right?

Stephanie: Yeah. [00:07:00] Kate's remembering 'cause she read it too. And it doesn't shy away from the fact that this is a ghost of a serial killer. So I wouldn't hand this to your 8-year-old unless they, unless you know them as a reader. But this is really good for like a 12, 13, 14-year-old who really wants a scary story. Um, so just be mindful of who you give it to, but as a recommendation for this kind of reader.

Stephanie: Totally. 

Christy: Love it. And so, wild card question for today. Uh, would you be a werewolf romance reader or a Vampire romance reader? 

Stephanie: I mean, 

Christy: neither, 

Stephanie: but you guys know I have complicated feelings about Monster Romance, but if I had to choose. I think about when I was reading Twilight, all my TWI hearts out there.

Stephanie: I've read the series multiple times. We can talk about that another time. I'm gonna go with werewolf because I hate being cold and I have a reason and. If you've read Twilight or are any in any way aware of werewolf characters, they're warm, they're like a space heater, and [00:08:00] vampires tend to be really cold, like a concrete slab or a block of ice, and I'm just not about that.

Stephanie: Okay, so 

Christy: sparkly or warm? I know. Warm. Warm every time. I hate being gold, so I love that werewolf for that reason. That's perfect. So Kate, I'm gonna, uh, ask you some of these questions as well. Ooh, sorry. 

Kate: Oh god, that's hilarious. 

Christy: So Kate, can you tell us what you are reading along with a brief description of the book for Summer rain?

Kate: Yeah, so I am reading Cackle by Rachel Harrison. Annie has had a breakup with her boyfriend Sam, and after a night of drinking and a spur of the moment visit to a psychic. Who seems terrorized by her reading is off to her new life in upstate New York. At first, the picture perfect town full of friendly people, seems like a great place to land.

Kate: When Annie meets Sophie, she's drawn to her beauty and her charm, but everyone else around Sophie seems afraid of her. What is it about Sophie that draws [00:09:00] Annie into her circle, and more importantly, why are the townspeople so afraid of her? 

Christy: Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna guess that this is not a kid's book, 

Kate: not a kid's book.

Kate: It's a grown, I read a grownup book. 

Christy: I know. Good call though, because Kate does bring a lot of middle grades. Yes. Well it was the drinking. I'm like fair. Usually the books that you bring don't have that. I didn't talk that, but I knew 

Kate: Lemonade. I dunno. Right. But no, this is, this is. Grownup drinks. Yeah. Oh, grownup books.

Kate: I love that grown 

Christy: book. No, that's awesome. Yeah. So what drew you to this book? 

Kate: So in our last podcast meeting, we were talking about different genres and Kim had mentioned cozy horror. Yes. And I kind of like the idea of horror, although I know there's some horror that's just so like. Too much for me. I mean, I like psychological thrillers, so that cozy horror genre kind of interested me.

Kate: So we were kinda slacking each other about different titles. Yeah. And you had mentioned cackle and you had put [00:10:00] cackle in a book bundle. For cozy horror. I think you had mentioned that, and if I'm wrong, just scratch that. Thanks. And it's also listed on good read, so I decided that of all the books I looked at, this one seemed the least horrific sounding, and it also felt like something I could enjoy.

Stephanie: I remember you came to me and told me the book, you were starting for this, and I was like, no, sorry. Not a Kate book. Yeah, and the more we talked about it, you were like, no, I think I'm gonna read cackling. And I was like, yeah, yeah. Grady Hendrix is probably not for you. 

Kate: Yeah, it was a Grady Hendrix title, and I was like, oh boy.

Kate: Okay. Yeah. I mean, it looked okay, but then I was like talking, after talking to Stephanie, I was like, no, nevermind. 

Stephanie: Yeah. I 

Christy: have a Grady Hendrix on my, on my desk. Yeah. Actually to read which 

Stephanie: one. The haunted house one, because that's the one Kate was 

Christy: starting and I was like, mm-hmm. Don't do it. 

Stephanie: Hi. I'm in the background friend.

Stephanie: Oh. Oh. The wayward wishes. Best friend Exorcism or something. Thank you. That's my favorite. I read that one. Okay. That's my favorite. That 

Kate: was good. That's my favorite. 

Stephanie: That's, 

Christy: that's not as dark on, but how 

Stephanie: to sell a haunted house is [00:11:00] really gory. So that's why I was like, maybe not for this reader, because I didn't want Kate to get into it and be like, what have I gotten myself into?

Stephanie: And I 

Kim: remember we talked about that one a little bit too, and we weren't sure if it was more cozy or more. Horror. I mean, it's always hard to get that balance. 

Kate: Exactly right. Exactly right. So cackle seemed to kinda fit more of what I was into. So 

Christy: yeah, which is why you should always ask your friendly neighborhood librarian for Yes, we know, 

Stephanie: especially with horror.

Stephanie: To Kim's point, you don't always know how it's gonna come off until you've read it. And also. As horror readers know everyone's threshold is very different. 

Kate: Yes. 

Stephanie: Mm-hmm. And horror can be a lot of different things. It doesn't have to be scary, it doesn't have to be gory. It can be all those things. But yeah, until you read it or unless you know someone who's read it, it's really hard to know what you're getting into.

Christy: So to that point, yeah, I'm reading the Bat Eater and um, and other names for Cora Zang. Yay. Because you recommended it. 

Kim: Yay. I've heard of that one too. Yeah. It's supposed to be good. It's [00:12:00] amazing. 

Christy: Definitely very well written, but there, it's a horror book, so, and it's very 

Stephanie: gory 

Christy: right 

Stephanie: upfront. 

Christy: Right. Um, so it's very interesting.

Christy: So it's always good to have a librarian to bounce this off of, or Yes. A database or a book bundle. Exactly. Right. Or just a good friend. Yeah. Yeah. Just to ask, so how did, how did this book resonate with you, Kate? 

Kate: So it. Definitely cackle definitely hits the ground running with the storyline, building at quite a nice pace, but there's a constant sense of unease throughout the whole book.

Kate: Mm-hmm. I mean, you're like, okay, what, what, where is this going? And I mean, there's things popping up out of a pool and I mean, there's like, there's like jump scares of stuff going on. A little bit of jump scare. Yeah. But there's like some kind of between, um, Sophie and Annie, there's like. Some, something happening, you don't find out till the very end, but it's just, there's this constant sense of unease that like, just kept, [00:13:00] I don't know, just kept pulling me along.

Kate: I was like, oh my God. So I, I really, I really enjoyed it. It, again, I think it was. I like the fact that it didn't sound so like after our discussion about the other one. 

Christy: Yes. And I think that is a big part of why we read horror is that sense of unease. Mm-hmm. Like being off balance a little bit. 

Kate: Yes. I think 

Christy: that is like really what draws people to the genre, 

Kate: right?

Kate: Because you know, you've got this character who's like. Broken up with her boyfriend and she's taken on a new job and she's moving into a new town. And then here comes this person that like everybody else is feeling very like, I don't know, tense about her and they like bow to her and I mean, not literally.

Kate: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what I'm saying? She has a presence. She has a presence about her, and so that's. That's what was really kind of interesting. Like, 

Stephanie: I have a question, but I don't know if it's a spoiler, so if it's a spoiler, don't answer it. Okay. Is it a spoiler to ask if this is a witch [00:14:00] book?

Stephanie: Okay. Kate is silent, so I don't wanna, oh. 

Kate: You could, you could say, okay, I 

Stephanie: just don't want it to be a spoiler, but I, I know like Rachel Harrison always has like a big theme. So it's like she has a witch book, she has a werewolf book, she has a vampire book. And I'm like, is this, this is her witch book? I think kind of.

Stephanie: Okay. 

Kate: Kind of. I mean, 

Stephanie: it's called cackle, so I assumed it was a witch. Yeah. Kind of. Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Well, now I have to read it. I can 

Christy: figure out what kind of I love it. Yeah. Yeah. So would you recommend this book And to who? 

Kate: Okay. So I would say yes, but again, with the caveat, um, it's, it's a really good book.

Kate: I just really enjoyed it for my first foray in ta, cozy Horror, it was, it was really good. However, I would watch out for the spiders if you're not a fan. Yeah. I wasn't expecting what happened. But if you, if you do not like the creepy crowleys, like you absolutely do not like. Creepy Crawleys. Um, I would stay away from this book.

Kate: That's interesting because you guys might not be the book for you. Um, I personally don't like the creepy crawleys, but I [00:15:00] actually like this book. And you know, there's things that happen. 

Stephanie: Kim, does 

Kate: your book have spiders 

Stephanie: too? 

Kim: Because I feel like you had spiders. I had a spidery creature. Yeah, I was about to say.

Kim: Well, I have a spoiler in my title. Fair? Fair. Yeah. Um, no spiders. Okay. Oh, good. Okay. Spider free. But I appreciate you 

Stephanie: saying that because it, I don't like snakes and I always wanna know if there's snakes in a book. So I think for readers it's helpful to know that they're spiders was not expecting the spider.

Stephanie: Okay, good. 

Kate: They play heavily in the story. 

Christy: That's good to know. 

Kate: Oh, okay. 

Christy: So for summer ween, we're asking werewolf, romance or vampire. 

Kate: Okay. So like Stephanie, I don't, I'm not really a werewolf or a. Vampire fan. I mean, I read, uh, the, it's wi I, no, no, no. Interview with a vampire. Yes. Oh yeah. But I just, that kind of, Ooh, I didn't like that.

Kate: Um, but I guess if I have to choose, I mean, you have a point. We are, wolves are warmer telling you, and you know, in those cold winter, not [00:16:00] I'm telling you. 

Christy: And a vampire is forever. Right. A werewolf at least shoots only once. That is true. 

Kate: That is very true. That's true. They are 

Christy: immortal, Christie. Mm-hmm. Good point.

Christy: So I guess that's my answer. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. So Kim. What was the book that you brought? I know you said there's sort of a spoiler in the title, so go for it. 

Kim: Well, I mean, to Stephanie's point, it's kind of a spoiler, but, um, when I think of Halloween during the summer, my first thought is about witches, but not the traditional scary Crohn's of fairytales.

Kim: Mm-hmm. Um, with that in mind, I chose the very secret society of irregular witches by Sangu manana, and it kind of gets into the trope of. Fairytales and the protagonist is Mika, a self-described internet witch who finds herself tasked with caring for three children in a crumbling British manner. She encounters an eclectic group of characters who have come together over time to protect the children using whatever skills they [00:17:00] have, and they include a retired actor, two long-term caregivers who are also a couple and a librarian.

Christy: Nice. Ooh, we do love our librarian characters and books. Yes, we do. Can 

Kim: I ask what an internet witch is? You'll have to read the book. Okay. Alright. I'm intrigued. The internet was, Steph, you are 

Christy: sniffing out. All the spoilers say, well, they, 

Kim: they say pretty early on. Um, but you know, there's a lot of, this book moves very quickly.

Kim: Okay. But it is a lot about the secrets that we keep and the language that we use and the imagery that we use to hide ourselves. So I'm thinking that the internet is. Is a metaphor for all of that. Okay. 

Christy: What drew you to this book? 

Kim: You know, um, I, it was recommended to me by a friend who had read it a couple of months ago, and yeah, I always like, uh, eclectic groups of people coming together for a single purpose and finding family.

Kim: So how did this book resonate with you? Well, you know, it was, it was a bit of fun. Uh, it moves very quickly. It's [00:18:00] definitely something you can read. Um. Probably, well, if you have more time than me, you can probably read it in a weekend. Fair. Um, but yeah, I just thought it would be a little bit of fun. Um, a little bit of laughter and yeah, it was good.

Christy: And who would you recommend this book to if you would recommend the book? 

Kim: Um, let's see. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I would, I recommend, I enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it to somebody who is interested in, in found families, and you know, the idea of creativity and using what you have to do in order to keep your secrets, but then moving beyond them.

Stephanie: I love that to make a bond. The found families got me hooked and this what is an internet witch also has me hooked now. Yes, it's, it's funny you said that. I hate spoilers, but I'm like really cur, I have all these questions. I guess I have to read these books and we all picked books that had witches in them.

Stephanie: Mine, I didn't go into a lot of detail about it, but there's witches in my book too. Well, it makes sense. I mean, yeah, some ween [00:19:00] We all, I 

Christy: think summer we, we, you know, we definitely think about Yeah. That kind of piece of it. 

Stephanie: Yeah. We all gravitated towards witchy stories. I love that. Yes. Yeah. 

Christy: So now the, the question is yours.

Christy: Would you do vampire romance or werewolf romance? Oh, gosh. 

Kim: Um, based on the, I mean, I have to agree. I really don't consider myself one or the other. These days. I tend to run hot rather than cold, so I probably would want to hug a vampire. 

Stephanie: I am so glad that this question was posed. That was, we had really fun answers for that, 

Christy: and I did not see body temperature as being a part of that.

Christy: That's 

Stephanie: I came down to baby. 

Christy: I love it. Body temperature, baby libraries are so much more than books, so we want you to know what's happening off the shelf this month at Russell Library. So I'd like to talk a little bit about book bundles. Thank you, Kate, for mentioning that earlier. So book bundles are in our lobby and they are a grab and go selection picked by a librarian.

Christy: There are groups of three books that have [00:20:00] similar type themes. Um, there's broad themes like shoes or movie themes for fans of sinners. Hmm. Or barbecue, uh, takes place in an amusement park or more serious, uh, a trio of women's biographies. So definitely if you're not quite sure what you wanna read, uh, stop by the book bundles and kind of browse.

Christy: You don't have to take all three of them. And it might just be just what you're looking for, uh, kind of like Netflix, where you're kinda like browsing and you just, I don't know what I wanna watch tonight, but I, I want this genre. So it's, it's sort of helpful that way. Have any of you guys tried any of the book bundles?

Christy: I know Kim, you put a lot of them together. Mm-hmm. So is there, um, a theme that you look for or is there something that you think, well, this is happening right now and I wanna highlight this? 

Kim: Well, the great thing about book bundles is actually a lot of. People on our staff put them together. So, um, everybody has a slightly different perspective.

Kim: Mm-hmm. It's an [00:21:00] opportunity for us to look at some of the older books in our collection and pair thi, you know, pair books on a theme with sort of well-known authors, but then authors that, you know, you may not have tried somebody with a different perspective, somebody with a different background. So, yeah.

Kim: Um, we find that they go out for all sorts of reasons. And yeah, I mean a lot of people seem to like them, like when they're choosing books for somebody else. 

Kate: Mm-hmm. 

Kim: And they don't know what the person wants to read or what they have read, so, and they just wanna get something quick 

Christy: and it's probably a good bet they haven't read all three of them, so I love that.

Kim: True. Absolutely. They might have read one sometimes if somebody finds something like a book that they like that they wanna take. That's great too. 

Stephanie: So that's, that's what happened to me. I, this is actually gonna sound funny since we just talked about this, but I was looking for a vampire book that happened to be in one of the bundles, and I only wanted the one book, um, but I felt bad not taking all three.

Kim: So you did? 

Stephanie: I did. I checked out all [00:22:00] three. So all three of them got the circ number, and then I returned to the two that I didn't want, and I thought, well, maybe I'll try these. And I only wanted the one. And I read it and I liked it, but I took all three 'cause I felt bad, 

Kim: no shape. I was about to no shape.

Kim: Absolutely no shame if you find something you like. Well, it was my first 

Stephanie: time, so I was like, I don't know. I work here and I don't know the protocol, so I was just like, I'm just gonna take all three to get those circulation numbers. 

Kim: I was about to say, well I think it's like finding something on one of the displays that you like.

Kim: True. You know? True. Yeah. It draws you in. 

Stephanie: Well, so I, I did a search for the book and it said it was in a bundle and I was like, oh, that means I have to go like find it. But that means that somewhere on display. So I picked up the whole bundle. So patrons who are listening, you do not have to take all the books, 

Christy: and if you're not sure where they live, we are happy to show you where that is.

Christy: It's okay. Yes. You will 

Stephanie: not hurt the book's feelings if you don't take all three unless you want to like me. 

Christy: I'm going to give a little public library plug here for our library card crawl, which is coming up Saturday, September 20th from 10 to one. Our card crawl is multiple fun experiences. [00:23:00] All in one day here at Russell Library, and one of the people that we are going to have that day, September 20th, 10 to one, is the Eastern Connecticut Paranormal Society.

Christy: They're coming back. They stayed at the library overnight. They are a group of paranormal investigators. They have come together to find the truth through in-depth. Investigative techniques, and as they say in their mission statement, it is not their goal to dramatize or sensationalize the experiences, but simply to find the truth.

Christy: So if you are a summer ween person looking for something fun to do, Saturday, September 20th, definitely stop by our card crawl. It's time to close the book on today's episode. If you like what you've heard here, please subscribe to the show. This ensures you won't miss any episodes. And if you have a moment, kindly rate and review the podcast.

Christy: This helps other bookish people like yourself. Find the show. Tune in next month to find out what else is on the shelf. Bye bye bye.[00:24:00]

Stephanie: Okay. That buy was really cute. It sounded harmonized. I was gonna say, it sounded like a barbershop quartet. Bye bye. Okay, that was just under a half an hour. That was good on time. Oh yeah. Fun. Sure. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, just under half an hour. Good on timing. Yeah, 

Christy: this was fun. It was fun. I really enjoyed it.

Christy: I enjoyed like trying something a little bit different. Yeah. Um, I, I had the bat eater. We were putting together a display for beach reads and I thought it would be fun to have different kinds of beach reads than just your typical ones that are either by the seashore or by a pool. So we ended up, um, Brianna and I ended up putting together.

Christy: Like a section of horror that you might take to the beach and people have been checking them out. Out gone. They've been checking them out. Yes. We had a section of mystery, section of horror, section of beach reads, um, some biographies. 'cause any book you take 

Stephanie: to the beach, there's a beach read. It's 

Christy: a beach read.

Christy: Yes. [00:25:00] I handed 

Stephanie: one to a patron the other day because I was like, oh look, horror here. Here you go. 

Christy: Absolutely. So it's right there on the, like the display. I love it. And, and they're, we've, that's the one we've had to. Replace. Good. Constantly. Good. I love it. So we are not the only summer we fans. Well, 

Stephanie: yes.

Stephanie: Every couple, every couple days. The past couple weeks everyone's like, 4th of July is over. It's Halloween time and I'm like, oh boy. We're starting early this year. Okay. 

Christy: That is okay. 

Stephanie: I mean, it's Halloween all the time at my house, so 

Christy: Yeah. So does anybody, we didn't talk about this to do. Yeah, this is blooper stuff, but yeah.

Christy: Does anybody have like favorite decorations that, like you have like a giant 

Stephanie: Uh, we have several giant skeletons in our yard that we found out. If you go to the Google image. Like Google Maps, image of our house. You can see the skeletons. That's hilarious. Because they took the photo in October. That's wild.

Stephanie: So our house, you can barely see the house, but you can see, uh, you can see Skelly and Dana Skelly. Dana Scully hanging out in the yard. 

Christy: So for the Halloween house. So they stay up all [00:26:00] year. They stay up all year. Yeah. That makes the most sense. And they 

Stephanie: get, they get decorated for Christmas too. 

Christy: Nice. I love that.

Christy: That's great. Any, anybody else have like favorite Halloween decorations? 

Stephanie: I don't know. 

Christy: No, they're all at my house. Yeah. Sorry. Do you get any trick or treaters? Nope. Yeah, we do not. No. 'cause you guys are kind of a little far from, and there's 

Stephanie: no sidewalks on our street. Yeah. And the lighting is not good. So we do not get trick or treaters.

Stephanie: No. All the Halloween stuff is for us. I love that. But people stop and take pictures of our house. There you go. 

Kate: So I, I have full disclosure. So a couple of years we're like last minute decorators for outside and so we had gotten some pumpkins and Halloween night we're like trying to carve a pumpkin. We just stabbed the knife into the pumpkin because we couldn't, it was like, you know, Halloween was starting, you know, whatever.

Kate: Right. An hour or something. We're like, oh my God. So we just kind of gave up, but we put the pumpkin out with the knife. Amazing. That's a Halloween decoration? Yes. [00:27:00] Nice. I don't know that we left it up, but we did take a picture of, of it. In our front yard. That was the one year we were just like Halloween.

Kate: We just kind of gave off 

Christy: and making the most of it. Yeah, exactly. It was a fitting theme. I think it was a butter. I love that. Yeah. And I know 

Stephanie: Kim, I know you like to dress up for Halloween. I know you love a costume. You have Tattoo Best Love the costume. Yeah. Some of the best costumes. Yeah. Yeah. I look forward every year to what you're gonna come in.

Stephanie: 'cause I know it's gonna be really creative. And 

Kim: say, we have a lot of creative people. We do this. I'm just happen to be looking at you. Yes. I was about to say, yeah, I love a wig. It really transforms a hat too. You love a hat, everything. Yeah. About, you know, and working at the adult services desk, I try to be festive, but sometimes they look at me like, I really feel sorry for you.

Kim: Yeah, that's, 

Stephanie: you can get away with much more at the children's desk than you can elsewhere, 

Christy: because I think one year you and Amy were each other. 

Kim: Gosh, that's a long time [00:28:00] ago. But that's, yeah, that's when we were both part-time and um, nobody could tell who we were, even though we were, were very different.

Kim: Amazing. So we just thought it was funny. 

Stephanie: Yeah. You know, Hannah and I should go to each other this year 'cause people all already get us mixed up. 

Christy: That's a fun thing. Thing should go to each other for hilarious. Oh no, wait, we already 

Stephanie: talked him. We're gonna 

Christy: go as gravity. 

Stephanie: False. 

Christy: Yeah.

Christy: So last thing yet, is there a favorite costume that maybe your family member has done or that you have done that you liked? Kate and I were talking about this earlier, that we've dressed up. Many years here at the library. Mm-hmm. We've done witches quite a bit. Yeah. And that's always been fun 'cause we do have to still work, so.

Christy: Yeah. Right. We still have to man the desk. I was a happy camper one year, so I had my backpack and like my camping gear and I had a little badge that said happy camper. Um, I, yeah, I think. Like we also try to put, make it so that you can move. You can't be, yeah, can't have to. Yeah. You can be able to move in it here.

Christy: Yeah. 'cause you still have to go help folks with books 'cause that's what we're here for. 

Kate: I was Captain [00:29:00] Books one year, still for a couple years. 'cause I would go to my daughter's elementary school and do reading. So I'd go into her, her classroom. So one year when as Captain Books, I had my pirate outfit on and I had my books.

Kate: Cute. That was really fun. And then one year my youngest and I went to Comic-Con. Yep. Nice. And I got a little, um, headband. I still have it on my desk. It was like, it was a homemade headband, but it had like horns and then it had like 

Stephanie: the bobs on it. Right. The Bobs, yes. Its beautiful. 

Kate: Went as. The, what did I have that 

Stephanie: two years ago?

Kate: Two years ago you had 

Stephanie: the, the paddle, right? Oh, 

Kate: the paddle. I was like the ocean or something. Yes. Oh, I love that. 

Stephanie: There 

Christy: you 

Kate: go. And then one other question I did that was really fun that I really liked. I don't know. 

Christy: It's cool. But I was max one year from where The wild things are Fun. Yeah, really fun. I think that was my favorite.

Christy: That's fun now that we're talking about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just like white sweatsuit from the will. Oh yeah. Just like on onesie. Yeah. And I made the, [00:30:00] the. Big, tall ears that he has. And the crown I had, the crown and a tail. 

Stephanie: I'll say the one thing about dressing up at work is that you can't really be anything scary.

Stephanie: Yeah. Especially in the kids department. So every year I'm like, mm, no, you can't be Michael Myers. You will scare the children. It will scare the children. Um, but yeah, comfort is key. Like last year I was. Uh, Ripley from Alien and Aliens. And so I had like a full body like, um, jumpsuit and it was with a cat, comfy with, with a little cat puppet, but it was just so comfortable all day.

Stephanie: Yes. And then Kelsey also came as an astronaut, so we were just like comfortable. 'cause we were just like in a, a jumpsuit. That's the way to do it. It's the best. 

Kate: Diane and I were Wednesday. I was Wednesday. Yes. And she was, um, Edith Edith two years ago. That was really 

Christy: cute. That was two years ago. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Christy: That was the year I was 

Stephanie: Barbie. I was President Barbie that year. 

Christy: That's it. Awesome. 

Kate: Yeah. So yeah, so we've had some really fun, 

Stephanie: I like that we dress up here too. Like every time I get a new job, I always ask what your, what the Halloween policy is. Because I'm like, I need to know, because I came from [00:31:00] schools and most of the time the schools let you dress up.

Stephanie: Some schools don't. But when I got here, I was like, what's the vibe? Do we dress up for Halloween? And everyone was like, yes, a 

Christy: hundred percent. 

Stephanie: I was like, well, if we don't, I'm still gonna dress up. So just saying.