Last week I was in New York for the ABAA New York Antiquarian Book Fair and also the Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Show. As always, New York offered amazing bookstores and a buzzing city.

I had some spare time, and in keeping with the book theme, decided to visit the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. For me, this building is the very best of what a library can be; beautiful architecture, unique books and a great children’s book collection.

Walking down Fifth Avenue, my first glimpse of the library was the iconic lions (top left), Patience and Fortitude. The library lions are instantly recognizable and mark the library as a special place. On this visit, there were two Lego replicas of the beloved lions (top right) inside the building – definitely worth a look for Lego lovers!

The NYPL is the second largest library in the US and the third largest in the world, with at least 53 million items. The building was designed by John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings between 1897 and 1911 and is stunning example of Beaux-Arts design. At the time of construction, the library was the largest marble structure ever built in the US.

In a corner of the children’s library I discovered an exhibit of the real Winnie the Pooh animals: Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Tigger and Pooh. The animals belonged to Christopher Milne, son of the author, A.A. Milne and the books were donated to the New York Public Library in 1987 by the publisher of the Pooh books (aside: if you don’t know the origins of Winnie the Pooh, they are fascinating).

When you look at these animals you can see they were well loved, with worn patches and bits of fur missing, this makes them that much more endearing . Knowing that the stories were based on treasured and well-loved toys makes them even better to read, I can’t wait to rediscover these tales with my daughters.

The real animals of Winnie-the-Pooh: Piglet

Guest post compliments of Maria Hutchison, AbeBooks Account Manager for our rare and collectible segment.

Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle, was released in 1982. She wrote 14 more novels throughout her career, with the most recent, Minding Frankie, released just two years ago in 2010.

People mourn her worldwide today, with fans and literary figures alike sharing their memories and thoughts via Twitter. Author Ian Rankin tweeted:

 ”Maeve Binchy was a gregarious, larger than life, ebullient recorder of human foibles and wonderment. I’m taking a drink to her.”

For those mourning not only the woman and the person, but also the skill and knowledge she takes with her, don’t worry – she did leave behind some secrets to share about being a writer, and how to write a good book.

“With writing, the secret is to set yourself down, and do not stand up until you have five pages written. And you do that again another day of the week. And then if you can do ten pages a week, then you have 520 pages at the end of the year. And you don’t give yourself time off for Christmas, or Easter, or Labor Day….”

For those unfamiliar with the book, it is entirely characteristic of Seuss in terms of rhyme and scansion and all that good stuff, but it’s surprisingly devoid of ting-tanglers and whizz-whatsits. It’s actually fairly deep and serious, a lighthearted but meaningful poem meant to inspire a young person to be brave and take heart as they embark on a new adventure. It’s hard to read the poem and not be moved by it, as it so perfectly encapsulates what we’d wish and hope for the young people we love as they start to make their way in the world.

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

That’s how the poem starts, and it goes on from there, not shying away from trials and tribulations, even touching on loneliness and challenges and fear and confusion and all the rest. In short, it is a perfect gift for graduation. And as a result, it has been rather done to death and as a result, perhaps that meaning has been somewhat diluted by the same message being handed to grads all over the place (yes, I know, I’m a cynic and a bad person).

So how did Bryan Martin neatly sidestep that issue, and create one of the most special and irreplaceable gifts a person can receive?

He bought the copy of Oh, The Places You’ll Go! 13 years ago, when Brenna was five. And didn’t tell her about it. And for the past 13 years, as he watched her grown through kindergarten, through elementary and middle school grades and on to high school, and watched her grow up and no doubt meet and lose friends, try things and succeed, try things and fail, and be afraid to try things, he has been secretly slipping the book to her teachers, her coaches, important people in her life, so that this book, already full of an inspiring poem by Dr. Seuss, was also full of deeply personal, encouraging messages meant for Brenna alone. So that when she opened the book, it became a time capsule of sorts, from people who had meant the world to her at different stages in her life, urging her forward and cheering her on. What an absolutely fantastic treasure for her.

I hope she’s got something good in mind for next Father’s Day.

More on MSNBC

The book worth all that attention and acclaim? A Monster Calls, written by Patrick Ness and illustrated by Jim Kay. The original idea for the story came from Siobhan Dowd, author of A Swift Pure Cry, who died at age 47 of breast cancer. She began the book, which tells the story of a yong boy trying to come to terms with his mother’s lengthy and terminal illness, but sadly did not have the time to finish it. Ness took over the story, and with his skill and talent for dark, emotionally relatable storytelling (his Chaos Walking trilogy is tremendously popular with young adults) and the dark, skillfully frightening illustrations of Jim Kay, the story lived to tell itself and touches everyone who reads it.

The titular monster is of course, the cancer that is slowly stealing young Conor O’Malley’s mother, but manifests itself physically for the little boy, as real and terrifying and baffling as any nightmare monster any of us could conjure. The story perfectly communicates the sorrow, rage and helplessness of the loss of a loved one, in language anyone can understand and feel, and the illustrations complete the package. Ness and Kay (and Dowd, posthumously) are to be congratulated for creating such a moving and memorable story. And it’s certainly no small feat to be the first book ever to win both the Carnegie Medal AND the Greenaway Medal – the prizes were established in 1936 and 1955 respectively, and this is a first.

Kate Greenaway was a fixture in Victorian-era children’s illustrations, though her drawings hearkened back to the Regency era – watch the video to learn more about her influence on the culture and fashion of the time.

The original edition of Wife Dressing by Anne Fogarty from 1959 is becoming rather hard to find for obvious reasons. However, this cult book was republished in 2008 and can be still read in utter amazement.

Today AbeBooks is launching a new service for its customers. Introducing BiblioCupid – our new dating service for lonely lovers of literature where AbeBooks matches customers according to their taste in books.

BiblioCupid uses a complex love algorithm that matches bibliophiles according to the books they have bought on AbeBooks. Although the exact formula is a strict business secret, the algorithm incorporates preferences for genres, writers, publishers, illustrators, hard or softcover, new or used, and other key elements important to bookish people.

The love algorithm is expected to revolutionize dating in the literary world.

A six-month pilot program has resulted in two marriages so far – Sebastian Defoe and Stacey Spillane (pictured right), and Bruce Blyton and Annabel Michener (pictured below). AbeBooks believes BiblioCupid has the potential to help many more couples hear wedding bells in the future.

To learn more about BiblioCupid and to sign up, click here.

Three years later, it seems they might have taken our advice, as first lady Michelle Obama has a book set for release in April 2012 called American Grown: How the White House Kitchen Garden Inspires Families, Schools, and Communities, which talks about childhood obesity and the importance of affordable, nutritionally sound food in schools for children.

Through telling the story of the White House Kitchen Garden, First Lady Michelle Obama explores how increased access to healthful, affordable food can promote better eating habits and improve health for families and communities across America.

Filled with gorgeous full-color photography, American Grown will include stunning photos of the White House garden and Mrs. Obama throughout the seasons, as well as other community and school gardens from around the country.

There were probably 20 – 30 books neatly stacked with a variety of genres including some self-help books, fiction, a handful of romance novels and a couple of classics. My daughter wondered why there weren’t any children’s books available to borrow and asked if we could set up our own book lending box in our front yard.

Do you have something like this in your neighbourhood? If yes, what’s the best book you’ve borrowed? Send us a picture of your local book lending box. Would you consider setting up book lending box? I love this idea and will soon be making another visit to the Blackwood Book Exchange.

My colleague Julie reviews a long forgotten book from 1947 – What To Make For Children by Popular Mechanics. Blimey – take a look at the complexity of these projects. Look at the portable baby crib (a sort of wooden coffin) that sits on the backseat of a car! They put people in prison for less nowadays.