Library School: Hurts So Bad

Too much of this video - fixing paper jams, the idealism of library students (which I still maintain!), the lack of understanding from outsiders as to why on earth anyone would want to become a librarian - rings true for me not to post this...



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Like the Butterfly Emerges From the Cocoon...

...so too shall I emerge as a leader.  An ALA 2011 Emerging Leader, that is.

I am so honored to not only have been selected as a member of ALA's 2011 class of Emerging Leaders, but also to be sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians*!

I can't wait to head to San Diego in January for the ALA Mid-Winter Meeting to meet my classmates and get down to work on our projects.  I'm not entirely sure what to expect, but am eager to see what lies around the bend.  I'm also thrilled that I'll be able to be in the room when the 2011 Youth Media Awards are announced, and will hopefully be able to do some live blogging.

For any readers who just might happen to be fellow Emerging Leaders, congratulations!  And for any past Emerging Leaders, what can I expect?

*As a librarian at an independent school who works with middle schoolers, I sometimes feel like my job puts me somewhere between your average YALSA and AASL affiliated librarian, and it's so so good to feel the AASL love!


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Review in a Few: As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth

In the middle of nowhere Montana, en route to summer camp via a train, Ry learns that “a statistically improbable number of things have gone wrong,” and camp has been cancelled.  When Ry steps off the train in an attempt to get cell phone service and contact home, the train leaves without him.  So begins his adventure where a statistically improbable number of things to go wrong for him as he tries to get back home.

At 352 pages, Ry's journey home has more twists and turns over a few day's time than statistically probable.  Some points of the story drag, leaving the reader to wonder if Ry will ever get home.  The inclusion of occasional illustrations of Ry's journey are both a welcome addition, but also so sporadic that it feels incomplete.  Brief chapters telling the "related stories" of the simultaneous happenings in his grandfather's, parents' and dogs' lives keep the story moving and the peril building and add a little something to the overall narrative.  The dogs' story, told through illustrations and dog thoughts are especially enjoyable.  An overall satisfying story and something to recommend to older middle schoolers and high schoolers in the mood for a road (water, airplane, train, foot) trip.

As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth
by Lynne Rae Perkins
Published by Harper Teen
Copy borrowed from my middle school library.

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All My 8 Year Old Self Wants for Christmas...

is a Little Librarian kit!

Heck, my adult self wants this.

Am I reliving my childhood too vicariously if I buy one of these for my niece?

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The Future of Books?

So, picture books are dead and libraries don't need books, but we hear today that college textbooks are alive and well?

I'd like to think all of these articles are a result of slow news days, but with less than two weeks to the midterm elections and confusion about what's included in the First Amendment, it feels like journalists might be focusing on the wrong things.

Can't we just all agree that the publishing industry is undergoing a lot of change due to advances in technology and the economic crisis and that we're not yet sure where the chips will fall in the end?

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National Book Award Finalists Announced!

The National Book Foundation, which bestows the annual National Book Awards, announced the 2010 award finalists.  In the category of Young People's Literature, the five finalists (with accompanying LC descriptions) are:

Shipbreaker by Paulo Bacigalupi
In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

I haven't read this one yet, but I've heard the "buzz." It's just moved up to the top of my TBR pile.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

Such a great book. It's short and sweet, yet somehow it manages to create a meaningful story about a girl who is misunderstood because of her disability.  This is one of my favorites from this past year, and I hope it sees some additional awards love.  (Newbery, I'm looking at you!)


Dark Water by Laura McNeal
Living in a cottage on her uncle's southern California avocado ranch since her parent's messy divorce, fifteen-year-old Pearl Dewitt meets and falls in love with an illegal migrant worker, and is trapped with him when wildfires approach his makeshift forest home.


Here is where I admit that I haven't heard a single word about one of the finalist novels.  None of the blogs I read have reviewed it, and I haven't seen anything about this title on any library listservs either.  Kirkus gave it a starred review, noting "well-drawn characters, an engaging plot, and, especially, hauntingly beautiful langugage."  A possible Printz candidate, perhaps?  I'm placing my library hold on this one right.....now.

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

Teenage Reese, serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past.

Walter Dean Myers just might be the most prolific young adult fiction author ever. When you write as much as he does, and as well as he does, it is inevitable for honors to come your way.  I haven't read this one, but a student of mine read the ARC (which I received at a conference) and loved it. Another one to add to the TBR pile!

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia
In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

This one has been all over the blogs (and the NY Times) and has been loudly talked about as a possible Newbery winner. It hasn't been checked in at my library since we got it in, so I haven't had a chance to read it, but I'll remedy that shortly.

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It Gets Better

I've been wanting to post about the recent suicides of young LGBT men and women, but I wasn't sure what I had to add to the conversation.  Then I realized I didn't have to have something unique to say, as long as I said something to vocalize my disgust at the bullying that goes on in our schools and communities and add my voice to the chorus reminding young LGBT men and women that It Gets Better.  It really, really does. I promise.

You are not alone.  There thousands (millions?) of young people who feel just like you do.  The people who make you feel like "less than" do so out of fear, ignorance and their own insecurities.  Yes, even the popular kids and the jocks - especially the popular kids and the jocks - are insecure.  Adolescence and young adulthood are a doozy of a time.  But you don't have to take my word for it.  You can hear it from Sassy Gay Friend (who loves YA lit!):



or Dan Savage, or Glee's Chris Colfer, or Ellen DeGeneres or Neil Patrick Harris, or any number of celebrities and regular folk who are making videos to show their support.

Oh, and today is National Coming Out Day.  If you're already out, then mad props for facing fear and intolerance in the face and demanding to be accepted for who you are.  If you're not out yet, think about telling someone you can trust, and do it - either today, or when you're ready.

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The Internet is Awesome: Muppets Under Pressure

This video of a homeless man performing with two Kermit puppets (one acting as David Bowie and the other as Freddie Mercury) is fairly awesome, and since I love Kermit, I had to pass it along. It gets really good at about 2:30.



Thanks to Best Week Ever for the link.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Twilight Zone: Give This Woman A Hand!

Why should the stars of the Twilight movies be the only ones having fun?  What about Kimbra Hickey, whose hands grace the original cover of Twilight?  Without that awesome cover, featuring those awesome hands, would Twilight have become the phenomenon it is?

I think not.





Thanks to Leila at bookshelves of doom for the link.


The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Hogwarts 2.0

I saw this linked to today on Kristin Cashore's blog and thought it was just too funny to not to re-post.  You may have seen the mock Facebook wall posts for Jesus, Galileo, etc., which are pretty humorous.  But what if our favorite wizards had access to web 2.0?

The result.

Hilarious! (...especially the Dobby wall posts.)

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.