Write Fifteen Minutes a Day Challenge

I'm joining Laurie Halse Anderson in her Write Fifteen Minutes a Day (WFMAD) Challenge this August and I just finished my first 15 minutes. I wrote about running into my 7th-grade crush at Half-Price Books yesterday. And how it made me feel like I was 12 years old all over again. It was very unsettling. 

I feel like I write WAY more than 15 minutes a day, but it's blog posts, tweets, and emails. And that's fine, but it's probably not something that's ever going to turn itself into anything. So, I'm trying to use this challenge to get some things down that I might actually be able to work on if I ever decided I wanted to write, say, a YA novel or something. 

Plus, I am already excited for November and this year's National Novel Writing Month. I'm obviously not writing that book already (because that is cheating!), but this'll tide me over until Nov. 1. 

Are you doing the WFMAD Challenge? Are you working on something particular? What are you writing about today? 

AudioSynced July Roundup!!

Audiobooks!!!!! Y'all reviewed them and posted about them and I'm here to round up all the links for you. I am sure there are links I'm missing, so please feel free to add links in the comments or email me at abbylibrarian@gmail.com and I'll add 'em to the post. So let's see what everyone was listening to this July...

Audiobook News and Links


Remember that Sync has free audiobook downloads every week this summer! One of this week's offerings is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, so hurry over there before August 4 to get the mp3!

Mary of Audiobooker linked to Full Cast Audio's YouTube channel, where you can get a glimpse inside the audiobook recording studio. I love getting the inside scoop on the process behind creating audiobooks! Check out Mary's blog for lots more links and info about audiobooks.

Susan of Audiobook DJ pointed me to Crossroad Press, an audiobook publisher looking to build a network of blog reviewers. Interested in reviewing Crossroad Press titles? Check out their website for details!

Kelly told me about We Read 4 You, which looks to be a new audiobook distributor launching this month. If nothing else, you can register for a chance to win an iPod shuffle or free audiobooks.

Nick Owchar of the LA Times reviewed several audiobooks in his article Summer Listening.

Publisher's Weekly has a fairly comprehensive preview of some of the audiobooks coming out in Fall 2010.

Reviews: Children's Books


I've got a review of Strider by Beverly Cleary, read by George Guidall (Recorded Books, 1992).

Brenda of proseandkahn reviewed a TON of audiobooks this month, including The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (read by Kevin R. Free and Katherine Kellgren [!!]), Gossamer by Lois Lowry (read by Anne Twomey), The Summoning by Kelly Armstrong (read by Cassandra Morris), and Keeper by Kathi Appelt (read by the author). She's got reviews of children's, young adult, and adult titles, so make sure you click through and check those out!

Lee of Reading With My Ears reviews Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell (read by Jessica Almasy) and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (read by Mary Beth Hurt).

Lisa of Shelf-Employed reviews Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, read by Dion Graham (Brilliance Audio, 2010). She says, "The challenge of narrating a novel consisting of letters from only one person is a great one, and Dion Graham's reading rises to the test." 


Reviews: Young Adult Books


Mel of Mel's Books and Info reviews Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready (read by Khristine Hvam), Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (read by Erin Moon and Michal Friedman), and White Cat by Holly Black (read by Jesse Eisenberg). 


Reviews: Adult Books


Susan of Audiobook DJ reviews The Not-Quite-Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs & the Currently Accepted Habits of Nature by David Niall Wilson, read by Joe Goeffrey (Crossroad Press, 2010). She says, "Narrator Joe Geoffrey does his part to make this unlikely story come to life. His work especially shines when voicing the good ol’ boy characters that Cletus enlists to help him investigate the mystery." 


Carin of Caroline Bookbinder posts about some of her favorite books:


Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor and 
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, read by Barrett Whitener.


Amanda of A Patchwork of Books gives us mini-reviews of several titles, including Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (read by Grayce Wey), Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (read by Hope Davis), The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer (read by Emma Galvin), and The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker (read by Carrington McDuffie). 


Lee of Reading With My Ears reviews Death's Jest Book by Reginald Hill, read by Shaun Dooley. 


Kelly of Stacked reviews Goldengrove by Francine Prose (read by Mamie Gummer) and I Thought You Were Dead by Pete Nelson (read by Josh Clark).


And that's all I've got for you this month! Did I miss something? Leave me a link in the comments or send me an email and I'll add the link. Didn't review or talk about audiobooks  this month? No problem - Kelly will have another roundup next month at Stacked. 

End-of-Summer Giveaway!

Thanks to all who participated. The giveaway is now closed! 

Today is the LAST DAY of our Summer Reading Club! It's been super fun, but also busy and stressful at times. And now it's over!!! (Until next year...)

I know y'all love book giveaways and I've recently gotten a few copies of books that I picked up at BEA, so what better way to celebrate than to give away some ARCs?!

I have one copy of each of the following ARCs available:

Annexed by Sharon Dogar (Houghton Mifflin, October 2010).

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (McElderry, August 2010).

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales (Simon Pulse, October 2010).

Fill out the form below to enter. Each person will be eligible for one drawing, so pick which book you'd like to be considered for. You have through midnight on August 3 to enter. On August 4, I will use the random number generator to pick one lucky winner for each book!

Good luck!


The giveaway is now closed! Thanks for stopping by!

Around the interwebs

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5 cover and title revealed!! The book is slated to be released November 9. Thanks to Travis of 100 Scope Notes for the link.

And speaking of massive book releases, have you seen the Mockingjay book trailer?



And you won't want to miss the Hunger Games Facebook page! See beautiful international covers, test your trivia knowledge, and send gifts to your friends. Oh, August 24, where are you?!

Ohhhh, it's funny because it's true: check out Jen's Ballad of a Children's Librarian. (I would like to state for the record that tomorrow is the last day of our Summer Reading Club and so far, I'm still alive...)

So you want to be a teen librarian? Check out this post where Sarah of Green Bean Teen Queen tells you what it takes.

This has been all over the (librarian) interwebs, so maybe you've seen it: a New Jersey library pulled a GLBTQ anthology from its shelves without a formal complaint (there was an informal request to pull the book), citing "child pornography". Censorship is the pits. LIBRARIANS censoring books just breaks my heart. If anyone's fighting for the right of every person to read what he or she wants, it should be librarians.

Earlier this week, I reviewed a book that tells the story of Anne Frank from a different point of view. Now, thanks to Super Librarian, I found out that Anne Frank's diary is going to be made into a graphic novel. There is a graphic version of Anne Frank's diary already published, but this will be the first one authorized by the Anne Frank House. Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography will be released Sept. 14.

This is just hilarious:



Thanks to bookshelves of doom for pointing me to that bit of awesome.

And that's all she wrote. Today, anyway. Have a great weekend!
OH. And tune in tomorrow for a fabulous end-of-summer-reading giveaway!

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson. Grades 5-8. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, October 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher at BEA.

Taking place after the events in Chains, Forge continues the story of Curzon, an African-American boy during the Revolutionary War. After being fired from his work with a crooked businessman, Curzon finds himself in the middle of a battle between British and Revolutionary troops. He saves the life of a young American soldier by throwing one stone and he's chosen his side. Curzon gets swept up into the army life, joining a troop bound for Valley Forge. It'll be a hard winter and just when he thinks his luck has turned, surprising twists of fate will send Curzon back to where he started. So many Americans are fighting for freedom, but will they ever fight for the freedom of all?

I loved, loved, loved Chains and I've been eagerly anticipating this sequel since I finished that book in 2008. The good news is that it absolutely doesn't disappoint. The bad news is that it's only made me want the third book just as badly as I've wanted this book!

Just like Chains, this book explores a part of the Revolutionary War that we might not always think about - the roles of slaves in the fight for American freedom. And like Chains, the book is compulsively readable with characters that feel like real people. It's less like reading a historical novel and more like your good friend Curzon is sitting there and telling you about his adventures.

Not only is it compulsively readable, but the book is rife with historical details that bring the Revolutionary War to life. Ms. Anderson starts each chapter with a quote from primary source materials. This is something that kids might skip over in their hurry to continue the story, but it adds so much when you take the time to read them. I'm reviewing from an early bound galley, so I didn't see the author's note, but I would bet a million dollars that it'll be fantastic (the author's note for Chains made my heart skip a beat).

Can you read Forge without having read Chains? Yes, I think you can. Curzon occasionally gives the reader glimpses into some of the events of Chains with brief flashbacks and you don't need much back story for the events in Forge to make sense. But why in the world would you deny yourself the pleasure of reading Chains?

Teachers, if you do a Revolutionary War unit for middle-schoolers, DON'T MISS THESE BOOKS. I can't think of a more accessible way to introduce the time period and get your students thinking.

Go ahead and pick up Chains today, but Forge won't be on shelves until October 19.

A Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

8:45a - Arrive at work. Turn on computer and put stuff away. Start setting up the room for this morning's program. I print out the words to the rhymes so that I can post them for the parents to read, I collect books for display, and I make sure I've got all my props ready.

9:30a - Check email. 

9:40a - Talk to coworker about tomorrow's daycare storytime. We figure out which books we're going to read, who's going to read what, and we pull together stuff for the craft. 

10:00a - Time for Mother Goose on the Loose, our weekly program for kids under 2 and their caregivers. We share rhymes, songs, books, and activities and then bring out some toys for a short playtime.

10:45a - The program's over and I chat with a coworker about how it went. We had quite a large crowd and I'm thinking about opening another session. We talk about when we would offer it. 

10:55a - I draw up a quick survey for my patrons to fill out, so I can figure out when to open a new session of the program. I'll give it to my patrons next week to get their input. 

11:10a - It's time for my break and on my way to the lounge I stop at the desk and check in a kid for the Summer Reading Club. Then it's lunch time! 

11:45a - Back from lunch, I clean up the small meeting room from this morning's program. 

12:00p - This morning's meeting in the auditorium is over, so I start putting that room together for... our Percy Jackson party! We move tables and chairs around and decorate the room. We set out snacks and get the craft supplies ready, sharpen pencils, set out trivia sheets, get the attendance sheet ready. H planned the program, so I go over the plan with her and make sure I know how she wants me to help. 

2:00p - Percy Jackson time! We have almost 30 very enthusiastic kids. We do a trivia contest, serve blue snacks, and do a camp necklace craft.

3:00p - The program's over and we take down the room. Lots more moving of tables and chairs, taking down decorations, and putting away supplies. 

3:30p - Back in my department, I talk with a couple of my staff members at the desk and we look at the cart of new books brought over by Technical Services. 

4:00p - Check email and call the group that's scheduled to come tomorrow to confirm the time with them. 

4:10p - Straighten up the department. I pick up toys and blocks and fill the displays. 

4:30p - Check email and read and respond to some PUBYAC messages. 

4:50p - Make my to-do list for tomorrow. 

4:55p - I go sit at the reference desk with A, helping out with checking in kids for the Summer Reading Club and answering questions. 

5:30p - Time to head home! 

Annexed by Sharon Dogar

Annexed by Sharon Dogar. Grades 8 and up. Houghton Mifflin, October 2010. Reviewed from ARC snagged at BEA. 320 pages.

It's 1942 and Europe is at war. For the Jewish van Pels family, this war means almost-certain death and they have no choice but to go into hiding with another family, the Franks. For sixteen-year-old Peter van Pels, sharing a tiny space with seven other people, this means no privacy. It means that he has to sit around instead of going to fight like a man. And it means he has to put up with Anne, a thirteen-year-old chatterbox who's constantly writing about him in her diary. As the years wear on, Peter and Anne become friends... and then maybe something more. What was life like for Peter in the Annex?

Sharon Dogar's come under some fire for writing this novel, a fictionalized speculation about what Peter may have gone through in the secret annex during World War II. We know many of Anne Frank's thoughts - they're meticulously documented in her diary - but what of Peter? How did he feel, trapped in the annex, as life Outside continued without him, as more of his friends disappeared, as people starved in the street?

Okay, let me start by saying that Peter and Anne do not have sex. Yes, they start to care for each other. Yes, they steal moments together, some of which are intimate. And yes, Peter has sexual desires. But Peter and Anne don't go farther than a kiss. Read Sharon Dogar's response to the articles about her novel.

Now, that's out of the way. I thought Ms. Dogar did a fantastic job with this novel.

No doubt that this is a massive undertaking. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is a book that people cherish. It's beloved by so many, you can bet that Ms. Dogar didn't enter into this project lightly. And it's obvious she's done her research.

The tone of the book was spot-on. Peter ruminates on his feelings of helplessness as he hides while others outside fight. He's frustrated and depressed, obsessed with thoughts about the girl he left behind - a girl who was taken away. As I read it, I felt compelled to grab my copy of Anne's diary and follow along to see what Anne was thinking at different points in the story.

I think this book will appeal to the many teens who are fascinated by Anne's diary. I don't know if it would work as well for someone who hadn't read Anne's book. (But that's hard for me to judge since I have read Anne's diary. I'd be interested to know if the book would make sense to someone who didn't know Anne's part.)

I mean, it's just fascinating. Obviously, we can't know exactly what Peter van Pels was thinking during his time in the attic. But Ms. Dogar's done her research and carefully crafted this book that explores what might have been going through his head. I think it's an excellent work and adds much to the selection of YA literature available today.

Read more reviews at Good Books & Good Wine, Insert Book Title Here, and Yay! Reads.

Annexed will be on shelves October 4.

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese, illustrated by John O'Brien. Ages 7-10. Henry Holt & Company, March 2010. 40 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

"You can call me Blockhead. Everyone else does."

So begins this imagined tale of the life of Leonardo Fibonacci (a.k.a. Leonardo of Pisa), medieval mathematician. Fibonacci. He spread the use of Hindu/Arabic numerals in Europe (to replace the more cumbersome Roman numeral system) and he observed and wrote* about the numbers that make up a spiral pattern seen in nature. The pattern was named after him, though it had been written about before by Indian mathematicians.

Very little is known about Fibonacci, who lived circa 1170-1240, so Mr. D'Agnese fills in the gaps to bring the tale to life. The story is written in the first person as if Leonardo is telling us about his life. It's a very effective way to make the story accessible and interesting.

My favorite thing about this book is the fabulous pairing of text and illustrations. I have to admit that I am not generally a fan of John O'Brien's work (I find the beady eyes to be creepy), but from the first spread, I knew I was in for a treat with this book. In the spread, Leonardo sits alone on a bluff overlooking a farm, sketching a spiral that's laid out before him in the pattern of the fields. Throughout the book, we see spirals everywhere - in people's curls and clothing, the objects that surround Leonardo on the pages (flowers, shells, etc.).

A bit of additional biographical information is included at the end of the book and kids are encouraged to look through the pages and spot particular objects that sport a Fibonacci sequence.

Check out the book trailer:



Read the story of the book's journey to print.

Check out interviews with Joseph D'Agnese at GottaBook (don't miss Greg's Fibonacci poems) and Sarah Campbell's Blog.

Check out an interview with illustrator John O'Brien at My Cat Eats Bananas and Flies and the Saturday Sketch interview at the MacKids Blog.

Read more reviews at Greg LS's Blog and NC Teacher Stuff.

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci is on shelves now!

Today's Nonfiction Monday! Head on over to Shelf-Employed for this week's roundup!

*According to Wikipedia, Indian mathematicians had already described the pattern, but Fibonacci introduced it to Western Europe. 

In my Mailbox #42

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren in which bloggers post about the books they received in the mail (or bought or checked out from the library) during the week.

Here's what I got!

Annexed by Sharon Dogar (Houghton Mifflin, October 2010).

The Trouble with Half a Moon by Danette Vigilante (Putnam, January 2011). *2011 debut!*

Forged by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum, October 2010).

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (McElderry, August 2010).

The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi (Simon & Schuster, September 2010).

The Limit by Kristen Landon (Aladdin, September 2010). *debut!*

Blank Confession by Pete Hautman (Simon & Schuster, November 2010).

Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg (Aladdin, September 2010).

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales (Simon Pulse, October 2010). *debut!*


Now, a few of these are titles that I picked up at BEA, so I just might have to have a giveaway... Stay tuned...

How was your week? Anything good in your mailbox?

Reminder: AudioSynced is coming up!

Have you reviewed or posted about audiobooks in July? Remember to submit a link for our July AudioSynced Roundup! The Roundup will be posted right here at Abby (the) Librarian on Sunday, August 1. If you have links to submit, leave them in the comments on this post or email them to me (abbylibrarian @ gmail.com)!

Haven't reviewed or posted about an audiobook this month? There's still time! Or you can always catch us next month when the roundup will be hosted by Kelly at Stacked.