Hobbit Day is Around the Corner [Special Guest Emily Campbell]

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Emily Campbell, Community Events Coordinator for Danville Parks and Recreation. We discuss the meaningful companionship of books, the simple joy of reading children’s literature, and the importance of whimsy in all stages of life.

Books/Authors we discuss include:

• “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper
• “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “The Twilight Saga” series by Stephanie Meyer
• “The Guardians” series by William Joyce
• Lewis Carrol
• “Kon-Tiki” by Thor Heyerdahl
• “The Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins
• “Into the Wild” and others by Jon Krakauer
• “Star Wars: The Dark Lord Trilogy” by James Luceno, Matthew Woodring Stover
• “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” by Alan Dean Foster
• “Tress of the Emerald Sea” and others by Brandon Sanderson
• “The Chronicles of Narnia” and others by C.S. Lewis
• “The Kane Chronicles” series by Rick Riordan
• “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” by Annie Dillard
• “Theo of Golden” by Allen Levi
• “Impossible Creatures” series by Katherine Rundell
• “Janitors” series by Tyler Whitesides

**Join us for “There and Back Again: A Hobbit Day Celebration” at Riverfront Park on Tuesday, September 22 from 5:30-6:30PM. Register here!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

You are listening to Russell Reads with the Rachels, brought to you by Danville Public Library. I'm Russell.

SPEAKER_04 0:07

I'm Rachel. And I'm also Rachel.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

And our special guest today is Emily Campbell, Community Events Coordinator at Parks and Recreation. Woohoo! I'm getting better and better at this. Emily uh has been in the department for six years. Five years.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

I had my five-year anniversary on July 1st. Congratulations. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

She started here and then moved over to parks. And so Emily uh moves freely about the building because once you're a librarian, you're always a librarian.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Yeah, and the new folks definitely look at me funny. Like, why are you just walking into Russell's office?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

One of us. One of us. So Emily is uh an avid reader, Star Wars fan, fits in well here. Um, so we're excited to have you on the show, and we're just gonna jump right into our favorite question, or my favorite question, and you guys just come kicking and screaming along. Uh, what was the book that got you started?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Like for like ever? Or just that that made you know that I'm um probably the little engine that could.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Waddy Piper, get a Wadi Piper.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

I have a picture of me, it's probably 1983. I'm sitting in a rocking chair. Like it was one of like, you know, JCPenney photos. Um, and I'm reading to my cabbage patch kid. And that was my book.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

That's like iconic 80s. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

I'm gonna rumble dress a wish book with a pinafore. Um but yeah, I think that was, and you know, my mom often said, like, the only way like I couldn't play by myself, like unless I was reading. That's the only thing I could do alone.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Other than that, you needed constant attention. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Sounds sorry. Again, that's why we all joined.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, like that's that makes sense. That's awesome. Was it the copy? I assume that there's only one version of this book, and it has the clowns and the polka dot suits in the draft hanging out of the yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

It's hardcover. It's blue. Yeah, it's blue. Yeah. There are more coming out of the box. Are there other pictures? There are more illustrated editions. Those aren't canon.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

The clowns of the polka dots are canon. Yeah, agreed. So after that, it was off to the Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

I I I always had a fairly high reading level. Um, I remember reading like longer books by the I can't remember the first time I read The Hobbit, but it would have I would have been maybe 10 or 11. I know Rachel hates the book, but not Rachel, not me, Rachel.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

Right. I love it. Don't put that on me.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

It's just not her family.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Don't put that on me. Which is okay. You can like what you like and don't know. And that's okay. It's all right. You're still friends.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Um, but yeah, there was just a my grandfather was a teacher, um, and so there were just books everywhere. Just and it was that was my life.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

But that's have you guys seen Ted Lasso? And the guy's like, soccer is live, football is live, books are live, books are live. Books are live. We do. Books are live.

SPEAKER_04 3:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So I know, okay, so I mean, you still might like picture books, but yeah, what chapter books do you like? Weird way to address it. What big kid books make like I say that weirdly because I just had this conversation with a bunch of uh parent friends yesterday, uh, or whatever day it is now that you guys are listening to this, and we're talking about I like to listen to books, and they're like, we don't like to listen to books. I'm like, you need to listen to children's books because it's easier.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Yeah, like juvenile.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

And so this dude, the first day of school, um, I see a friend of mine who dropped their daughter off for the first time at kindergarten. So I'm texting her, I'm like, Are you okay? And she's like, We've been waving at you for five minutes, but you were not even looking. You must have been reading a book.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

And I was like, No, like in the car line.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And she was like, Are you reading a children's book again? I'm like, you know it.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So that's why I asked that weirdly. Yeah, it's on my brain today. But what chapter books didn't have to be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, besides the hobbit.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Besides the hobbit, yeah. So I like you, Russell, read a lot of like juvenile fiction, I guess. Um, and so I I thought they were grown-up books, but they weren't. Like the Twilight series, I really enjoy. I didn't think I would like them. I really, really enjoy them. Um there is, and I cannot remember the author, but um it's a it's a group of stories uh about like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, and um and it's I I know exactly where they are here in the library. Absolutely fantastic. It's kind of their backstories and how they're sort of hero. It's it's the guardian of childhood series. Um, like from the movie? Yes, but the movie don't, don't, just don't. It's not like it does not encompass any of it. Jack Frost has his own book. Um so I think any kind of books I read a lot, like I've led read Lewis Carroll, I've read like and but uh when I find something I read, I kind of stick to it, which is problematic, which is why I've read The Hobbit like 25 times. Contikey is probably my other like favorite book. Um for Rugn's stall. I can't even pronounce his last name. Um, which is so so good and encompasses adventure and it's real and like all of the things. So that's a chapter book that I come to again and again and again. Um Hunger Games, like I just yeah, I don't know if there's a lot of grown-up books besides like um I don't know, biog biographies and kind of things like that that I read.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

You read um John Krakower.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

I ha yes, yes. I have read Into the Woods and The Mountain One and Um or Into the Wild, that's what it's called. In the wild.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

The Gone to the Woods is Gary Pawson, but I was thinking, oh, you've read Gary Pawson. Yeah, it's in Mountain One.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

There's also one hero Into Thin Air. And that's the Mountain One. Yeah, yeah. Such a good titles are hard. Um Into the Woods.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

That's another killer. It's the last minute.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

It's the festival.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

The festival?

SPEAKER_02 6:11

The festival. Um, yeah, one of my first recordings actually is Into the Woods from PBS that a neighbor of ours had recorded. And I always thought it ended at intermission. Yeah, I thought for years I would just stop at intermission because it was over. Right. And I was, I don't know, probably 15 at this point now when I'm like, there's a whole second eye.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

That's how I felt about the sound of music because my parents didn't turn it off um after the wedding. Yes, yeah, and send us all to bed. Right. And I didn't realize until I was older there's a whole nother part with the Nazi.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

The extended version. Yeah. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

So I know we talked, we've talked about this before, but so you're a big Star Wars fan. Yes. Do you read Star Wars?

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Uh it Star Wars. So we haven't ever talked about this on the show. Star Wars books are so strange because some are canon, yeah, and some are not, and some are fan fit. It's a fairly complicated world to wade through. I quit I quit doing it.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yeah. I um I think I read kind of piecemeal. Um I know people who have read sort of the canon ones with Luke and Leia's kids and all that kind of stuff. I actually stuck to the lore around Darth Vader. Like there's a whole book. Um the comic series is really good.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Okay. Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Um, I think it's called Rise of the Dark Lord. It and it's just, oh, it's so famous. And it kind of follows the movie in a way like where there's the the outskirts that you're just not seeing when you're watching the movie. That's more in the book. You're getting the thought processes a little bit more. Um I don't read a whole lot of the Star Wars universe because like you said, there's millions.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Yeah, you know, in the beginning, George Lucas really wanted his world to take hold culturally, and so he gave authors a lot of license to write about his world. Um, and that's that's one of the big reasons. And they ran with it. As a kid, my father had a copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which is the very first Star Wars book ever written. And I had read that a billion times before I ever really knew what Star Wars was. And I was very confused because in Splinters, Splinters of the Mind's Eye, Luke and Leia are a couple. Because it was written before it was written directly after the first book, and he didn't tell anyone, like he didn't even tell people on set about certain things that were gonna happen in the series who didn't directly need to know. Oh my goodness. Anyway, fun to read the words.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Oh spice in this movie, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 8:55

I wonder how that author felt after watching the movie like watching that movie because I was very confused.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

That's amazing. That's amazing. That's great. Have you are you a Brando Sando? Have you read any Brandon Sando?

SPEAKER_04 9:12

Oh somehow you would like to do it. I think you should start with Tress of the Emerald. Yeah, okay. Okay, because it's a standalone. It's a good way to like kind of dip your toes into the Brando Sando world before going full bore. Do we have it? Is it checked in? Okay. Well, I don't know if it's checked in, but it's also on, you can listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

It's both on Hoopla and Libby as well.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

It's a great audio listen as well. If you like to do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

I th I actually I should I actually thought about you when I read The Sunlit Man. So he has this was it the Missborn saga series? Saga.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

Um saga at this point. It's a saga.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

So he's got this series, but he also has what he called the secret works or something. He has his name for it, but they're like little standalones.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

They all take place within his Cosmere universe, but some are standalones that you don't have to know anything about Cosmere. I need that.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

So yeah, the Sunlit Man is, and I know that you would know this reference, the sunlit man is on this world where they have to constantly move their society in front of the sun because it burns the world. It reminded me of Chronicles Erritic. Narnia, yep. Well, now I'm saying Chronicles Eritic.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Oh, I haven't read that one. No, so in in Narnia, Magician's Nephew, the the world is dying because of the sun. Yeah. That's yep.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Well, it'd be more sophisticated because I went straight to Vindoozle.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Have not, I don't know. So sorry to disappoint.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

That was like a great movie. I thought everybody would get that. Yeah, we have, yeah, Nimley, yeah. Uh we've had a lot of conversations about Narnia and all those worlds and realms. So those are good too.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Yeah. Love that, like I said, I I don't read a whole lot of adult books. I was just thinking I read a lot of Rick Reardon, um, his Egyptian series. Oh my gosh, so good. Um, of all the chronicles of Narnia. Um, I guess, well, his C.S. Lewis's older stuff. I've read Screw Tape Letters, that kind of stuff. Um, I need a an author who's not going to put me to sleep. Like I tried to read uh uh Tinker Creek or the di something Tinker Creek, and it's you know, thick. I just couldn't get any any somebody. I wanted to love it and I didn't. Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah. I'm working on Theo of Golden, which is like, you know, being checked out like wildfire right now. And I was listening to it, and it's good, but it is it kind of slow, so I slow ride a little bit. It's the sleepy book. And um and it's great, and I'm just loving it, but I didn't read it quick enough um because I went on vacation and didn't read. I was when I go to the beach, I like to read books that involve piracy. It's like I have to deviate.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Like I have to deviate from what I'm reading to read, like, you know, like I read um there's a children's book, Atlantis, and I had to read.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

You like to be immersed in the setting where you are and imagine the lighthouse keeper, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

So, you know, so I had to deviate. So I I didn't get back to it. But so my mom had the hard copy and she's like, here, just take the hard copy. And I'm like, Well, I could fast forward this. She's like, What are you talking about? I was like, You fast for you don't fast-forward your eyes when you read, and she's like, No. So that's a skill set. I just read, or my my favorite series that uh is coming out slowly. I think I've talked about it on the show, is Catherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Uh you you probably like that. That's similar to Narnia. Um, there's two, there's a third one coming out pretty soon. Uh, those are really good. Those are good books. I like anything that's kind of Narnia.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Yeah, well, I just heard um one of your podcasts when you're talking about janitors. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, I think I need to read that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

That's a fun yeah. I can't, I do. When I'm when I have to do something in the children's section, like I need to clean or rearranging shelves. I'm constantly like, ooh, I I'm gonna read that. And then like my list of TBRs gets and then I never go back and revisit it. But that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

That's all right.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yeah. So uh we won't say this to the end, we'll go ahead and jump into it. Uh, one of the things that Emily is working on, uh, and one of the reasons why we wanted to have her on the show is Emily is uh kind of severe hitting Hobbit Day this fall. And so we're really excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Again is the second year.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Oh, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Again this fall, new location this year.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

And new partnership with the Devil Public Library. Yeah, so we're going there and back again. Yes. See what you did that yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

That was good. That was great. So tell us a little bit about Hobbit Day. I didn't want to wait too late in the show because I didn't want it to get lost.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

And we could talk a while, yeah. Um, just with everything. So yeah, Hobbit Day. It's uh there and back again, a Hobbit Day celebration. Um, we started it last year at Anglers Park, and we kind of realized that there was a lack of um fantasy programming and regular parks programming. We do a lot of sports, we do a lot of like when we have an event, it's there's a DJ and a bounce house, and like that's kind of your typical community event. And there a lot of the people we know cosplay, they go to Comic Cons. There's this, they LARP, you know, uh live action um role-playing, a lot of DD players in my group, and there was nothing for us. And so just kind of thought, hey, we're gonna have a really on Bilbo's birthday, September 22nd. We're just gonna do a quick little celebration for Hobbits. Didn't know how it was gonna turn out. We had a Hobbit hike where we had a trail lit. Um, and it was great. People dressed up. We had ring wraiths and elves, and they made um one girl was dressed up as an elf, and we had fantasy maps that they could make, and she spent the entire time making this map for her DD group.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Oh, that's fun.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Um, and I like making the maps. That's one of my favorite activities. Yeah, we're gonna do it again this year. Yeah. So this year, I thought originally in my planning, like this would be so good to pair clearly with the library. Like it just, it's like, you know, peanut butter and jelly. And um, so we are moving it to Riverfront Park, the brand new Riverfront Park. We'll be doing it during the week of the Reflection of Homes uh festival, kind of tying all of that in. Um, and we are just so excited to bring some fantasy programming to downtown Danville. Um, we got a lot of good stuff planned. I'm gonna let Rachel talk a little bit about some of that.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Uh yeah. So besides our fun arts and crafts and making cool stuff, there will also be like a little Hobbit story time provided by Krislin, our youth services librarian. And um, and I've also got our wonderful fiddle fiddling friend from North Carolina, Lily Harwell, who we've had at our Scottish festival before. Um, she's gonna grace us with her amazing musical talent. So whimsical and lovely. Um and we're gonna have a drum circle. Sherry Tuck is gonna be providing a drum circ circle towards the end of the evening as like our little homage to um drums in the deep, kind of in the hobbit. So um, yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

And uh we'll have another Hobbit hike. Portions of the Riverwalk Trail will be lit up. Um, and again, of course, it's on Bilbo's birthday. We will have um some pre-packaged birthday cake um for to celebrate Bilbo.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Pre-packaged birthday cake.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

Yeah, yeah. Specify that for the health department.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

That's fair. Okay. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Choking up on that, yeah. And we are again, are just so excited to bring some fantasy programming back to Danville um and and something for grown-ups and kids alike to be able to dress up and just um I wrote something about it recently, and I I wrote that it's we're pairing, we're marrying whimsy and recreation. And I don't know that those two things always go together.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

So whims reation.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Whims reation. Yes. Whims.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yes, recro whimsy. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

That's the rest of my day figuring out what that word's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah, so September 22nd from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Riverfront Park, and we just want everyone to show up. Even if the Hobbit's not your thing. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Like you just not your thing yet.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

Right. Even if the Hobbit's not your thing, if you love fantasy, nerding out on stuff, just come dressed as your favorite fantasy guest. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I love that we're moving into a society in which you don't have to mask that their nerdiness, you know? Because like I remember there's been times where I'd be talking about something. Like one day I was talking about Star Trek to a buddy of mine and he's like, What what do you know about Star Trek? And I'm like, all of it.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Like, what do you mean? What do I know about Star Trek? And he's like, I didn't know you watched Star Trek, like you played ball and all this. I'm like, Well, we had to hide it, right? But I love there was a cool, there's always these cool little stories from like NFL training camp where the players are like, I'll trade you my shoes for that, you know, Charizard card and stuff like that. Like it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

I have started Pokemon Going again. It's the 10th anniversary. I love Pokemon Going. I am almost 50. Like I am 46 years old, and we were at the zoo on Friday, and legitimately, I am the only one in my group playing Pokemon Go. I had a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old with me, and I'm like, oh, there's a pony tar.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Uh that's also what I like to do when I go on vacation to the beaches. Like, I don't constantly do poke, and I'll tell you why, is because the library is a Pokestop. And so easily get really stuck on your phone. Yeah. Like, oh, I gotta get me some more maxing out your your pack.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

So like when I go to the beach, I'm like, well, I gotta get because the original, the only way you could get the sea creatures was to go to the it's different now, but so like now when I go to the beach, I I still download it and catch some things in the water.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

And I think, you know, I grew up in San Francisco and we were just kind of a different, different vibe there. But I can remember being 14, 15, still doing Halloween, and we were dressing up as Mortal Kombat combat or Mortal Kombat characters, and a good friend of mine wore her red Star Trek uniform. And I think that we we kind of still nerded out, but I think as I got older too, though, there was that mask about like you just can't.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

It was not cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Whimsy isn't you can't be whimsical anymore as a grown-up. And I reject that.

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Exactly. I think a lot of us are rejecting that, and it's shifting the cultural norms, which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

When I came over here to the library, I thought these people are gonna find out I'm a strange cat.

SPEAKER_04 20:03

And then you found out we're all strange, they're all strange.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

And then they did, and they were like, Oh yeah, now that's fair. Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

You fit in.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah, I went to the point where like I was the out normal, and I was like, This is this is strange.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Right. Yeah, I think I think that there is a a like, and I think the library is a really good example of it. We are a microcosm of like I wouldn't say the weirdos, right? Because I think we're the normal ones. I think that people who are like neurotypical are actually the outliers.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Unabashed, normal 100. Yeah. I every time I think about LARPing, I think about this actually not very nice movie, role models. I always think about because there's all these like LARPing scenes. Paul Rudd like role models. Paul Rudd's in it. And you know, but there's always this one scene where they go and there's a guy teaching them how to LARP, but he always walks up to him and goes, rub-a-dub dub. I just can't. That's always in my mind. That's always in my mind.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

I'm gonna have to watch that now. I think I'm very much into LARPing. I don't like I think I do it at home without meaning to. Like we were the children were attempting to teach me Magic the Gathering recently. It didn't go well. I sent Rachel a picture. Um, but I had like a pirate card. You had a whole pirate deck, and I'm like, you like, I've got the pirate and whim. And there were kids, the kids were like, Yeah, wrong, wrong thing. Um I think you need to be in DD. Like, this isn't all the way.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

I need the voices.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

This isn't it. But if you're not doing voices, are you having fun even? Not gatekeeping how you play magic the game.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Yeah, lose it or lose it. Um I I wasn't playing as much as losing.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

I struggle, I struggle with that because it's like like I like games, but I like Cootie and Don't Spill the Beans.

SPEAKER_05 21:49

Yeah, okay. You know, yeah, like Uno. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

And they're like, if you put this down and then it's like this and then this and then this, and I'm like, I just can't what?

unknown 21:58

Right. Like

SPEAKER_01 22:00

I downloaded the game on my phone and I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

Russell just wants to not wake daddy. Yes. Yes. I want to get you should probably unpack that with the therapist.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

Icebreaker. Is that what it's called?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I don't like that game. Oh, you don't like icebreaker? No, because after a while the ice isn't as sturdy. And so like you can hit four pieces out at one time and it it makes me mad.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

He doesn't like it because he's played it too much. Yes, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

I did there was also a game called Bed Bugs.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Uh and you had these little tweezers and you had to catch the bed bugs. Yeah. That sounds absorbing.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

Those of us who grew up on stressful 80s board games. Yes. Like that one where you have to put the shapes in before the thing perfection. Yeah. This is why we're kind of damaged. Yeah. Full of anxiety.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

You can keep your magic together.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Sorry, trouble, all of that's an absolute mess. I had Mousetrap.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Oh, yes. Love Mousetra. So stressful. No, I don't like Mousetrap.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

I just liked building it and watching it, not playing it.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

What is that kind of what is that Rubebarb machine?

SPEAKER_03 23:05

Rube Goldberg machine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah, Rubebarb is a pie.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Yes, Rhubarb is a rubebell.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Not a pie machine. Well, we've really lost track of what we can do.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

We can eat our Brussels sprouts before we eat our rhubarb pie.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Things happen here.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

We need to make sure not to forget to ask if Emily has any library crimes.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Oh, let's jump into that.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

Library crimes?

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

Confess. This is your confessional.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

So jumped right in. She was not saying that.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

So right after I got hired at the library, I checked out a brand new book. Um I I can still see the cover. It was a woman of of interest. I can't remember what it was. Anyway, I lost the book. Like, I mean, it was brand new. Like no one had touched it. I was the very first one. Yes. And, you know, so I had I did pay for it, so it's legal, but then I found it. So now I have my contraband library book. Um I did also get coffee. I was reading a biography on Shackleton. And I didn't think it was all that much of a coffee stain. But when this was before I worked here, but I had to pay for that one too. Oh, yeah. Um it's always embarrassing when they call you back and be like, we can't. You've got to come pick this up.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Good try.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Right. So now you own it. You own it. I do. I haven't stolen anything. Um when the kids were little, there was a lot of like your discs aren't put back in. But those are, you know. But yeah, I I I brand new book. Brand new book.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Well, as someone who you used to bring your kids to county library story times, I I can I can attest to the fact that you were a lovely patron even before I knew you in this.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Even though you tore up our stuff.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

So no, no, no. So fun Rachel Rachel story um about your kid, Eva. Yes. So I didn't know that that was when they were little and maybe just when the twins were little. Eva was a baby, probably, yeah. So we were at a program and Eva was there. It was our Taylor Swift program. Right. And Eva we were just chatting or whatever, because Eva played DD with me. So and um indicated she didn't know anyone else there. And I said, Oh, well, you know Rachel, right? And she looks me dead in the eyes and says, Yes, I do know you.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Do you know you? We've met.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

I can see that look like oh low. She has lost her mind too.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

As it turned out, she did not know. She did not remember the baby. Yes, she was a baby. The twins were probably three or four when we went to Mount Herman. Um because this is before Russell's time. The Danville Library just wasn't, it wasn't it. Um wasn't the place to be. It was not the place.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Well, that was before all of our time. I think it's a good one. This wasn't just all of our time.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Yes, it was a little bit of a rough patch. Yes, but now we're it. We are it because books are live.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

All libraries are it. I just thought books are life.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Okay, we've come full circle. I don't know if we can circle top that.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah, books are life. So, okay, yeah. Well, that's we we are kind of getting long in the long in the tooth here. Uh so if you haven't checked out the parks and recreation play Danville brochure, do so. There is a community programs section, and Emily has a hand in many of those and has brought a lot of gems, including adult uh field day and is that what I that's what it was called.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Well, we have adult recess, adult recess, and but we are having a field day August 28th at Grove Park, okay, so which everyone is welcome. Um geocaching. Oh, I'm so glad. Oh, that's right. We've we've introduced geocaching.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

I I love geocaching.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Have you found our caches yet?

SPEAKER_01 26:58

I have not gone out into the Danville ones yet. And yeah, I have a buddy of mine who does it all the time and sent me pictures of like, oh, I found this one. And I'm like, I'd okay. Thanks.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

Oh, thanks a lot. So much so much for that. That's like sending someone the wordle before they've done it. Yeah, well, don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Yeah. No, but I'm uh really excited to bring community events to Danville and make sure people are out in their green spaces, which are near their houses, and make sure that they feel that there's recreation at home.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Well, you're so good at it, and you're very welcoming and very approachable. So the work that you do to help the community come together is really, really valuable. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

And thank you guys so much for having me.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

This has been awesome. We'll have you back sometime.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Oh, and uh just one last plug come to Hobbit Day. Yes. Yep, come to Hobbit Day. Uh I hope to give the intro where I tell everybody I like them as half as much as they deserve. Yes. That's my favorite character. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

That's amazing. Yes. It'll it'll happen. It shall be done.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

You have been listening to Russell Reads with the Rachels, brought to you by Danville Public Library. I'm Russell.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Bye. Autopilot.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

And then thanks for listening.