Author: Mr. X

from parts unknown, weight, unknown

Guru Gobind Singh

On January 6, 2025, Sikhs in Canada and around the world celebrate Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, a chance to observe and celebrate the birth of Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru was born in 1666 in Patna, India. He was the 10th and last of the (human) Gurus of Sikhism. He established the Khalsa, the organization of men and women baptized into the Sikh faith. He also established the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism, as the final Guru for the Sikh people.

GuruGobindSingh
source: discoversikhism.com

For more on Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikh faith, check out:

Songs of Peace: Alice’s Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends, family and neighbours! Along with Turkey and football games, another staple of American Thanksgiving for many is listening to the 18 minute classic, “Alice’s Restaurant.”

November has been Peace month in the School Library, with an emphasis on understanding peace education, the antiwar movements, civil disobedience and other non-violent means of social change. Such themes overlap with American Thanksgiving in “Alice’s Restaurant.”

source


Originally released in 1967, Arlo Guthrie’s 18 minute long recording of “Alice’s Restaurant” has become on of the most famous protest songs against the Vietnam War.  The events described in the song, beginning with a Thanksgiving celebration amongst friends during the sixties, were the inspiration for a film which was released in 1969.

More than 50 years later Guthrie’s signature song is a staple of classic rock radio stations on and around American Thanksgiving.

Find out more:

source: Arlo Guthrie / You Tube via Warner Records

November is Peace Month at your School Library. Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Songs of Peace: Blowin’ in the Wind

Bob Dylan has written many songs that are prominent in lists of the greatest protest songs of all time. One of his greatest is “Blowin’ in the Wind” from 1962.


How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Over the years song has been performed with some iconic covers. In fact, just weeks after Dylan’s version debuted, Peter, Paul and Mary released their cover.

Other great cover versions include those from Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, and Joan Baez, who has performed and recorded solo versions and duets with Bob Dylan.

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Songs of Peace: War Pigs

Fans of metal and hard rock know that some of the most overt anti-war songs have come from bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Going way back to the roots of metal, in 1970 Black Sabbath gave us “War Pigs,” a scathing indictment of war.


Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death’s construction

In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord, yeah!

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Songs of Peace: Fussing and Fighting

Many of Bob Marley’s Songs show up on lists of the greatest songs about peace and critiques of war. We previously featured “One Love.” In 1971 Bob Marley and the Wailers gave us “Fussing and Fighting.” The lyrics are simple but the message combined with the music is deeply compelling.


We should really love each other
In peace and harmony, ooh
Instead, we’re fussing and fighting
And them workin’ iniquity

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Halloween Fun Facts

Halloween is just a week away. Here are some articles to learn more about Halloween. Shout out to Mental Floss as our source for most of these links!

Ursula K. Le Guin

Legendary American writer Ursula K. Le Guin was born on this day in 1929. Le Guin is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of her generation. She is probably best known for her Fantasy novel A Wizard of Earthsea (1968). Le Guin was also a master of Science Fiction, winning numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards. Her novels The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974), both achieved the double honour, winning both the Hugo and the Nebula. Ursula K. Le Guin died in 2018.

Richard Wagamese

Richard Wagamese, the celebrated Indigenous Canadian writer, was born October 14, 1955. Wagamese was Ojibwe and a member of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations. He was born in Ontario and lived there for much of his life. In later years he lived in British Columbia, where he died in 2017 at the the age of 61. Keeper’N Me was his debut novel, published in 1994. Richard Wagamese was perhaps best known for his 2012 novel Indian Horse.

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. As we celebrate CLM and ISLM each year, we highlight notable librarians who have made significant contributions to libraries and librarianship. We also celebrate librarians who have raised the profile of libraries and librarianship with their fame in other fields. Here are the 2024 inductees into our Library Hall of Fame:

Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood (source)

Ed Greenwood is a library clerk from rural Ontario. He is more famous for his prolific creativity in the world of role playing games and fantasy literature. He is the creator of the Forgotten Realms game world, which he first developed as a young child and integrated with Dungeons and Dragons. He would go on to develop intricate role playing game worlds, and write myriad novels, novellas, short stories and articles for fantasy and gaming magazines. He has won numerous awards and honours, including induction into the Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

Leslie Weir

Leslie Weir (source)

Since 2019 Leslie Weir has served as Librarian and Archivist of Canada. She is the first woman to hold this post. Weir has served in many important roles in Canada’s academic libraries, including President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and University Librarian at the University of Ottawa. She has been honoured with numerous awards during a distinguished career.

Ken Roberts

Ken Roberts (source)

Ken Roberts is a Canadian librarian. He had distinguished career in many positions, including President of Canadian Library Association, and Chief Librarian in the Hamilton Public Library. He is also a well known as an award winning writer of books for children and young adults, including Past Tense, a Governor General’s Award nominee. Roberts has won numerous honours during his career. One supporter offered this high praise of Roberts, “What stands out for me with Ken is that, in spite of all his accomplishments, he is a librarian first and foremost, and a humble man.” (source)

Find out more:

Ed Greenwood

Leslie Weir

Ken Roberts

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:

Brian Deer
Zoia Horn
Nancy Pearl
Gene Joseph
Jessamyn West
Zenodotus

A Favourite Book

What is one of your favourite books? That is the question we asked teachers and other staff at Lord Tweedsmuir.

The response was excellent. There are some pretty cool books that were brought up. Ms. Perez loves Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. If you haven’t read it, maybe you should check it out. (We have it here in the school library for you to borrow.)

We’ve asked the adults in the building. How about the students? What are some of your favourite books?

Look for more examples of favourite books in the coming weeks.