Lego recently introduced a librarian minifigure holding a copy of Oranges and Peaches, which is a bit of an inside joke for librarians (though really, in the age of Google, are there any truly inside jokes any more?).
Oranges and Peaches (a misunderstood Origin of Species) is an imaginary book made real; full story here. (The tale almost certainly originated in the 1995 movie Party Girl; a reference to it appeared in a scholarly article the following year.)
The description of the Lego librarian leaves something to be desired: it contains references to overdue books and shushing, not most librarians’ idea of the important part of our work. But of course, the librarian minifig has already been repurposed: Kristin Bell has made a Lego Viking librarian (something we all need in our minifig collection). I might also like to see mash-ups with the Warrior Woman or Medusa, but maybe not the Street Harassment Construction Worker.
Thanks, Joan Petit!
All credit goes to Kristin Bell, the brilliant mind behind the Viking Librarian on my library’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PortlandStateLibrary/posts/10151535573928666?notif_t=like
The Librarian in Middletown, by Will Eno, shushes another character, but I took that to be kind of an in-joke, actually.
Disturbingly, there was another take on the Party Girl reference. I found a book called _Oranges and peaches: or Why Evolution?_ c. 2000 by Richard L. Horner on WorldCat. Given his other publication, I am guessing that the author is a creationist. If so, his book is the opposed to the work it references. Well, I haven’t seen Party Girl, but it’s opposed to Darwin’s theory. 🙂
I scored two librarian Legos today. My son is a huge Lego fan. So he was tickled that I was going shopping for toys for myself. My sister gets the other one. She’s a librarian like me.
I do prefer the Viking Librarian, however, now that I see her. 🙂
Thanks!
Oh shoot! The “other publication” is by a different author. Since I searched by the author’s name link on Amazon, I assumed ithey were both by the same author. I can’t guess the content of this book, then.
I am quite creeped out that a Creationist would reference Party Girl. It seems like those two circles — Creationists and people who have seen Party Girl — wouldn’t overlap in a Venn diagram. I wonder what Parker Posey would have to say about it. Of course, when she doesn’t recognize the title Origin of the Species, she is showing her ignorance. Maybe the Creationist is, too.
I have read Oranges and Peaches. Although published in 2000, the book was written several years prior. I know the professor who encouraged him to publish it (E. Sigward), and I’m sure the party girl overlap is entirely coincidental. Dr. Horner is in his eighties- he doesn’t even have cable! Lol
I also bought a lego librarian, but I also bought the socialite with the smart phone (and puppy). My lego librarian now carries the smartphone in one hand with the shhh cup in the other and the book by her side.
Alison, if you send me a picture, I’ll post! jessyrandall [DUH] yahoo [DOY] com.
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