Winston Pei 2022-11-06 Winston Pei 2022-11-06

Lego Lost at Sea

On February 13, 1997, the cargo ship Tokio Express encountered a one-in-a-hundred year storm that knocked sixty-two shipping containers off its deck and into the waters of the North Atlantic. One of those containers contained 4,756,940 pieces of LEGO, many of which soon started washing ashore, especially on certain beaches in the UK.

imagine my delight at discovering a beautiful little book on the topic, a meeting of nerdoms, a moment of Books & Bricks out in the wild…

Winston Pei 2022-08-09 Winston Pei 2022-08-09

Finally, time for some summer reading…

Yeah, it’s been a hot minute, but between work and school and life we here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library may have gotten a bit sidetracked from our (ir)regularly scheduled additions to our digital stacks.

But we have not forgotten you, beloved patrons!

Winston Pei 2022-05-08 Winston Pei 2022-05-08

The Art of the [_]: A Life in [_]

I just finished reading a great book, but I don’t want to tell you what it is.

Or rather, I don’t want to share the full title or the name of the author of it, just yet. I think the full title distracts from what the book is really about, which is the part of the title I am sharing as the title of this post: The Art of the [_____]: A Life in [_____].

Stacey and Winston 2022-01-01 Stacey and Winston 2022-01-01

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!

A year ago today, we launched the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities and Rarities… “to celebrate our shared delight and curiosity in books, about books, over books”… so not only are we celebrating a happy new year, but also the first birthday of our little pandemic project that could.

Winston Pei 2021-11-10 Winston Pei 2021-11-10

Happy Sesame Street Day!

Premiering on November 10, 1969, Sesame Street has been a cornerstone of my reading life for my entire life. “C is for Cookie” is one of my earliest alphabet memories and The Monster at the End of This Book helped set me on the path that led to a Master of Arts on the design of books and now has me going back to school again for a Library degree.

Stacey and Winston 2021-10-12 Stacey and Winston 2021-10-12

Yeah, no, we’re still here!

Life has been a bit crazy here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities & Rarities. But we couldn’t let too much time pass without popping in to our beloved library and saying hi!

So for today, a quick gallery post of some of our recent acquisitions to share with all of you.

Stacey and Winston 2021-02-17 Stacey and Winston 2021-02-17

Happy I Read Canadian Day 2021!

Today is a day of celebration across our country, a celebration of Canadian books for young people. People across the nation are being challenged to Read Canadian for 15 minutes and to share their experience. We are celebrating by sharing a small photo gallery of some our personal copies of Canadian books for young readers, and a video from Marty Chan!

Winston Pei 2021-01-28 Winston Pei 2021-01-28

Books and Bricks

On this day back in 1958, Danish carpenter Godtfred Kirk Christiansen submitted his first patent for the original Lego brick, and children of all ages have rejoiced ever since.