We’ve talked a few times in passing before about the “Books Aware of Their Own Bookishness” collection here at Butterflies & Aliens North, that includes such classics as The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The Monster at the End of This Book. Well Give This Book Away, written by Darren Farrell and illustrated by Maya Tatsukawa, could have been considered the latest addition to this collection, except for that fact that it’s no longer in our collection. Never really even made it in, in fact…

Today I had the joy of having several of my worlds and nerddoms collide – bookbinding, the book as object, libraries, library friends, possibly some future book arts. It was also the unexpected culmination of a project that began back in the fall of 2022 as a class assignment. Introducing the latest iteration of Contemporary Issues in Collections Management…

And here we are, January 1, 2025, and celebrating the fourth birthday of the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities & Rarities!

So… crazy year has followed crazy year — even less posting in 2024 than in 2023! — but we are still here, and what began as our little digital refuge back in 2021 will continue to be just that, a place we can escape to once in a while to be unabashedly nerdy and bookish, and we hope you can too…

I mentioned one of these books in a post back when we were still doing a Book of the Week but now have to give another shout out because the deluxe editions are out! Introducing the beautiful new editions of Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree…

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Now with this direct link to the galleries!

In honour of this fine Friday the 13th, thought I’d take the opportunity to make a proper post about a highlight discovery of this past summer, Demon Potatoes by L. A. Cunningham… a mini-comic, and possible curse, acquired during the 2024 When Words Collide festival…

“The required capping exercise for the MLIS degree at the University of Alberta School of Library & Information Studies (SLIS) is an ePortfolio representing examples of the student’s course work, leadership and innovation potential, communication skills, and involvement in professional life”…

Here’s our Head Alien’s…

So if you’re a regular patron of the Butterflies & Aliens Library, you probably know that I have a particular fondness for alphabet books and also miniature books.

Well imagine my delight at discovering that Bruce Peel Special Collections has as part of its collection a miniature edition of The Eclectic Abecedarium by Edward Gorey…

So, yeah, it’s been another hot minute since we’ve added something the stacks here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library but life is like that sometimes. And while we’re still in the thick of things, we thought we’d better pop our heads up and at least say hi…