Never forgetting

I was driving home from work yesterday and for some reason I started thinking about the fact that the next day was September 11.  Probably no American who was old enough to know what was going on will ever forget where they were when they learned about the planes hitting the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  But what I was thinking about were the kids who have grown up completely post-9/11.   As of today, any kid who's younger than 9 years old has lived exclusively in a post-9/11 world.

If I have kids, someday they're going to ask me if I remember where I was when the planes hit the towers, just like I asked my parents where they were when Kennedy was shot.

I was asleep, actually.  And then I woke up, and everything had changed, only we didn't know yet how everything had changed.  That would come later.

But I was asleep.  I was in my dorm room at Indiana University.  It was my sophomore year of college and I shared a room with my best friend.  I woke up to the phone ringing.  Of course, it was across the room on its charger, so I frantically hopped down from my top bunk to grab the phone.  My roommate was a notoriously light sleeper and I hated to wake her up if I could help it.

I grabbed the phone and saw that it was my ex-boyfriend calling.  He told me to turn on the news.  I didn't want to turn on the TV because I didn't want to wake B, so I logged on to some online news sites.  I saw the pictures, but I honestly didn't know what a big deal it was.  Before that day, I didn't know what the World Trade Center was.  I didn't know it was in New York.  I probably thought, "Oh, that's too bad.  A plane accidentally hit a tower somewhere."

I gave up and turned on the TV, plugging in headphones in an attempt to keep from waking up my roommate.  We had a tiny little TV and it was on top of our tall dresser.  The headphone cords weren't very long, so I was standing up, in my pajamas, watching the news.  I can't remember at what point I tuned in, but I think it was just after the second plane hit the tower.

My roommate woke up.  What a thing to wake up to.

We turned on the news properly and we learned what had happened.  We saw the towers fall.  I wasn't in New York.  I was in Indiana.  I can't even imagine what it must have been like for the people in New York.  But everything changed for us that day, too.

Maybe I was naive, but hey, I was 19 years old.  Before 9/11, it was inconceivable that something like this could happen to us.  Suddenly, it had happened.  The United States had been attacked.  On our own soil.  And suddenly, anything was possible.

IU didn't cancel classes that day.  At the time, I was in two statistics classes and in my first class, our professor told us she didn't know how to deal with an event this catastrophic except to concentrate on mundane things like statistics.  So we did math.

Rumors flew wildly over campus that day.  Large universities were a target.  The bombs were coming for us next.  Looking back now, I can see that it was ridiculous.  But was it?  That's how everything changed on that day.  Suddenly, all things were possible.  Suddenly, we knew things like terror alert levels and jihad.  Suddenly, terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center.  On purpose.  To destroy them.  So, suddenly, it wasn't all that inconceivable that the bombs could be coming for us next.  It didn't make any sense, but none of this made any sense.

We were too numb, then, to even feel angry.  That would come later.  The anger and the how dare they.  But violence is no answer to violence.  Even then, I knew that.

After watching the news all day long, we couldn't take it any more.  B and I went down to a friend's dorm room and we watched some really stupid movie (I can't remember what movie we watched) just to take our minds away for a bit.  But it was too late.  Everything had changed.

Someday, if I have kids, they'll ask me where I was on 9/11.  And I'll tell them how everything changed.  Because none of us will ever forget.

And hey, go over to The Reading Zone and read Sarah's post.  

The Candymakers

The Candymakers by Wendy Mass.  (Grades 4-7.)  Little, Brown, October 2010.  450 pages.  Reviewed from ARC snagged at BEA.

Congratulations, future candymakers!  You have been accepted to compete in the Annual Candymakers Contest!

The Life is Sweet Candy Factory will be host to four 12-year-olds preparing to enter this year's Candymakers Contest.  They'll get a tour of the factory, access to the finest ingredients, and help from experts who work in the factory.  Logan, Miles, Daisy, and Philip each entered the contest for very different reasons.  As they tour the factory and get to work on their creations, they'll each learn things about the other contestants - and about themselves - that will change everything.  But after all, if there was no change, there would be no butterflies, right?

The Candymakers is just like a Kit Kat bar.  At first, we're hearing the story from Logan's perspective as the kids arrive at the factory, get their tour, and start working on their projects.  This is the chocolate.  Then, just as something mysterious begins to happen, we're taken back to the beginning and we hear Miles's version.  Here's the wafer.  And then again, we go back and we hear from Daisy and then from Philip, each point of view adding to the story, just like the layers in the Kit Kat bar add up to something delicious.  And as each layer is added, the story grows richer and we understand each of the characters a little better.

Or maybe The Candymakers is just like a Jawbreaker.   Because as each character shares his or her version of the same events, our entire perception of the story changes just a bit.  We start to understand why characters act disagreeable or strange.  We realize that something tragic happened at the factory years ago and the pain from that incident is still there.  And, most of all, we realize that each character is dealing with some issue, going through some kind of change, and their time in the factory is a catalyst for some soul-searching.

But wait, maybe The Candymakers is more like Gummy Worms.  Wendy Mass paints a picture of the candy factory and all the marvelous (and delicious) things inside that pops off the page like technicolor.  It's all so clear and yet there's something undeniably magical about Life is Sweet.  The story's sweet and a bit tart at times and definitely wacky, almost edging into magical realism.  Comparisons to Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be inevitable, but this is quite a different book.

In fact, The Candymakers reminds me of Pez because it's not the glossy, candy-filled  center that's the real draw of the book (although the candy parts are extremely yummy), but it's the individual characters that hold the appeal.  This is definitely a character-driven story and a big part of my enjoyment of the book was in discovering how the same events can look completely different, depending on the perspective.  It was also delightful to watch each character grow and change, influenced by newfound friends and new realizations.

No matter which candy you want to compare it to, The Candymakers was a yummy read.  Wendy Mass delivers just what her readers have come to expect from her - a sweet story with a lot of heart.  And I especially liked the details about candy-making that are inserted so organically into the story.  This is a book that'll make a great gift for your favorite young reader.  Pair it with ingredients or candy molds and a promise to spend time together in the kitchen concocting your own confections.

Read more reviews at KidsReads, Book Aunt, and Dog Ear.

The Candymakers will be on shelves October 5!

Sneak Peak of a Messy Craft

Piñata prep

On Friday, I'm holding a piñata-making workshop for homeschoolers.  And yes, I've been making piñatas at home for the past week.

And YES, it's messy.

Here's a little sneak preview and if all goes well on Friday, I'll do a post about this easy, cheap, messy craft program.  (Hey, maybe if all doesn't go well, that'll make for a good post, too...)

Piñatas drying in my kitchen

Spaceheadz Giveaway!

Be SPHDZ, save the world!

You know our former Children's Laureate, Jon Scieszka?  Of course you do.  Want a chance to win a copy of his latest book, Spaceheadz?  Of course you do!

Michael K. just started fifth grade at a new school. As if that wasn't hard enough, the kids he seems to have made friends with apparently aren't kids at all. They are aliens. Real aliens who have invaded our planet in the form of school children and a hamster. They have a mission to complete: to convince 3,140,001 kids to BE SPHDZ. But with a hamster as their leader, "kids" who talk like walking advertisements, and Michael K as their first convert, will the SPHDZ be able to keep their cover and pull off their assignment? (Plot summary from publisher)


If you've got young patrons who love wacky stories with plenty of humor (pickle phones, anyone?), you're going to want to check this book out.

Check out the work of the Anti-Alien Agency and check in on Mrs. Halley's 5th grade classroom.

Take a look at the book trailer and then fill out the form below to enter the giveaway.  The contest will be open through September 21 and then two winners will be randomly selected to win a copy of Spaceheadz and a neon Spaceheadz pencil.  This giveaway is open to United States residents only.



Giveaway is being provided by the publisher.

To enter, please fill out the form below.  (Please enter only once!)

In My Mailbox #45

It's in myyyy mailbox time!!!!  In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren.  Each week bloggers post about the books they received in the mail (or purchased or checked out from the library, etc.) so as to share the books they're excited about.

Let's see... I did get a couple of books in the mail this week.

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh.  (Atheneum, August 2010).  I bought this one because a friend of mine from high school wrote it!  I've been looking forward to reading it, so I'm glad it's finally out!!  Here's the summary from Good Reads:

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look. 

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. 

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares. 

His life depends on it.

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2010).  I received this ARC for review.  Here's a summary from Good Reads: 


Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home: her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power — and the courage to battle her own inner demons?

Big Nate Strikes Again by Lincoln Peirce (HarperCollins, November 2010).  Boy howdy, the boys at my library are going to be happy when November rolls around and we get this title on our shelves.  The first Big Nate novel is hardly ever on our shelves. 

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb (HarperCollins, August 2010).  

 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  Yes, if you remember that I posted about receiving Mockingjay last week, too, you are absolutely right.  Funny story.  Several months ago, I heard through the grapevine that The Book Depository had the publication date for Mockingjay listed as several weeks before its August 24 US release date.  It was free shipping, so I figured I'd take a chance.  Yeah, it didn't actually come out earlier (darn!).  So, now I have a copy with the British cover.

So... anything good in your mailbox?

Around the interwebs

It's Cybils season!!  Yes, that's right.  The call for volunteer Cybils judges has been called.  Last year I was on the nominating panel for Middle Grade Fiction and in 2008 I was on the nominating panel for YA Fiction.  It's definitely a blast (and a lot of work - be prepared!).  Interested in participating?  Head over to the Cybils site, read the rules, and put in your application!

Also, the 2010 KidLitosphere Conference fast approaches!  Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this year, but if you should totally go if you can.  I went last year and it was great to meet up with my bloggity friends and talk books and blogs.

Speaking of conferences, the Anderson's YA Literature Conference is coming up in a couple of weeks.  If you're in the Chicagoland area and love YA lit, you will definitely want to look into it.

Or if you're down south, you might want to check out the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN.  Thanks to A Fuse #8 Production for the link.

Where's the line between fact and fiction?  The Allen County Public Library Mock Sibert blog is asking that question.  Head on over there and put in your two cents.

I think I can speak for all public children's librarians when I say that this pretty much sums up how we feel about school starting:

That's from LOLCats, obvs.

And I think that's all the kidlit stuff I have for you this week.  This is not related, but pretty cool:



Thanks to dooce for the link.

To all in the States, have a wonderful holiday weekend!  I will be heading to Cincinnati on Saturday to spend some time with my besties watching fireworks and drinking beer.  Good times, that.

Empty

Empty by Suzanne Weyn. (Grades 7 and up.) Scholastic Press, October 2010. 182 pages?* Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Fossil fuels are running out.  No, not in decades.  Not in years.  NOW.

As countries declare their oil reserves to be empty, the price of oil (and along with it, gasoline, electricity, food, plastic products, and pretty much everything else) is skyrocketing.  Only the super rich can afford to drive anywhere or keep the air conditioning on.  When tragedy strikes, three teens from very different backgrounds, will have to figure out what it takes to survive.  And if they can survive in a world that is empty, they just might find some hope for the future.

The premise of this book is AWESOME.  I can't remember where I first head about it (maybe the Scholastic librarian preview?), but ever since then I've had it on my TBR list and I've been crossing my fingers that Scholastic would send me an ARC (thank you!!).  It's right up my alley - speculative fiction, a threat that could very well be real, apocalyptic-ness = all things that are awesome!

And I will say that I actually learned some things (they use oil products to make shampoo and toothpaste?!) and I definitely think that teens will learn some things from this book.  Fossil fuels, energy conservation, and global warming are all hot topics right now, that's for sure, and the book definitely predicts dire consequences if we don't change our ways.  I can definitely see classroom applications.  Reading Empty might add to a science discussion about global warming, for instance.

However, I couldn't get over the stock characters and the unrealistic dialog.  Seriously, some parts of the book read just like a textbook on fossil fuels. I appreciate that the author needed to get this information across to readers (and actually, the informative-ness of the book is one of its strengths, in my opinion), but the way the info is included just didn't feel organic.

Outside of the classroom, I think this'll have limited appeal to teens.  To me, it reads like a novel that was written for the express purpose of teaching teens about fossil fuels and what might happen if we don't change our ways.  That said, every book's got its audience, and I would try it out on teens who are interested in this issue and/or teens who have enjoyed other current-events-inspired disaster novels like maybe The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd or Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci.

A note on the cover: I love the cover of this book and I find it very appealing.  It definitely made me want to pick up the book, but I wonder about its teen appeal.  Any teens reading want to weigh in?  Does this cover make you want to pick up the book?  Or is it only us old fogeys who won't stop talking about gas prices?

Empty will be on shelves October 1.

*The ARC I have is 182 pages. Good Reads and Amazon say it's 256 pages. So... yeah. 

CYPD 10 Part 2

Yesterday I posted about the keynote speakers at the ILF Children's and Young People's Division Conference. They were great, and there were some great breakout sessions, too.  I love the breakout sessions for practical ideas that librarians can take back and use at their libraries.

On Sunday, I attended a session on El Dia de los Ninos/ El Dia de los Libros, an ALA/REFORMA initiative to celebrate diverse cultures and books.  One thing I didn't know is that the celebration is not limited to Latino culture, but strives to serve whatever cultures are present in your community.  The celebration is held in late April and 2011 will be the 15th anniversary, so they're planning some special stuff, including a website renovation.  Libraries are a great place to celebrate the many cultures found in our country and around the world.  Check out the website and the Dia Facebook page for many ideas on how to celebrate diverse cultures.  These would be great ideas for anyone participating in the One World, Many Stories summer reading theme! 

Then I went to a session about a Guys Read book club held at an elementary school in Mooresville.  Fourth-grade teacher Wayne Venable started a weekly Guys Read club to encourage boys to read (and enjoy reading!).  He combines reading aloud with student booktalks, "guy snacks" (no tea parties here!), projects like model-building, and physical activity (dodge ball!).  He rewards students who reach certain AR points goals with field trips to places like an armory museum and local caves.  Some of the things they do in their club would be hard to do in a library (like field trips and dodge ball), but he did share many ideas that librarians could incorporate into programs.

He gives out Yorkie candy bars (not for girls!), plastic cockroaches, and Whoopie Cushions as small prizes for games or AR points.  He starts each session with a readaloud, a short story or passage from a book.  He ends each session with a preview of what's to come the next week.  And he invites guest speakers like fencers and falconers to do demonstrations and teach the boys about what they do.  Every week they do something hands-on, like making paper models that he purchases at Fiddlers Green.

On Monday, the breakout fun continued with Why Not Create?: Using Art in Children's Programming.  This might have been my favorite session of the conference.  Librarian Vicki Parker from the Westfield Washington Public Library shared with us the importance of encouraging creativity and including art (not crafts!) in children's programs.  Now, I must confess that I am not one (yet!) for messy crafts in storytime, but I think Vicki might just have changed my mind.  She points out that most schools are not set up to promote creativity and that children are naturally creative.  All you have to do is provide the space, the materials, and leave them alone!!

This is not always easy for parents (and librarians!) to accept, but Vicki has a few pointers:

- Don't create a sample or parents and kids will feel that their creation has to look "right".  And there is no right or wrong in art!
- Quality supplies go a long way.  Vicki recommends Crayola paint and springing for the pump top, which makes it easy for even young kids to get paint refills for themselves.  She recommends adding a couple of drops of mild dish soap to tempera paints to make cleanup easier and using a little mild dish soap for cleaning brushes (also, always lie them flat to dry!).  Vicki gets most of her supplies from United Art.
- Keep a rubbermaid "treasure box" with odds and ends that you can put out for the kids to use in their art.  Anything can go in the box from broken toys to bits of ribbon to pop tabs to scraps of fabric or paper.  Kids will use this stuff in amazingly creative ways!
- And always keep in mind that young children are process oriented.  They may not care about their end project and that's okay!  The benefits come from thinking creatively (which children will do naturally) and doing it!

So, I think we may try this out in the spring with our storytime sessions.  I'll embrace the mess (remember: art supplies are NOT dirty, they are messy!) if it means encouraging creativity in our kids. :)

And I ended the conference with Be Twixt and 'Tween: What is a Tween Anyway?, a panel program about services and programming for 'tweens.  Tweens can be defined as kids anywhere from age 8 to 14 and a 2001 study showed that these kids control up to 75% of family buying power.  So, more and more products are being marketed to them, while at libraries they often fall through the cracks.  They're too old to be "children", but not quite ready to run with the high-schoolers (though they might think they want to).  Tweens need programming and library spaces designed and reserved for them if we're going to hang on to them as library regulars.

So, what kind of programs are libraries doing for tweens?  Crafts (think hemp jewelry, beading workshops, or no-sew pillows... nothing babyish!), murder mysteries, duct tape fashion shows (I so want to do this at my library!), and making chocolate candies.  Need ideas about what tweens are into?  Check out betweentalk.com, a heavily moderated (read: safe from predators) discussion forum exclusively for tweens.  You have to be a tween to register, but anyone can read the forums.

And that wraps up the 2010 CYPD Conference.  It was a good conference.  I learned a lot and had fun with a lot of great librarians.  Anyone else attend CYPD?  What did you think?

Painting picture is from Flickr Creative Commons. 

CYPD 10 Part 1

I spent this past Sunday and Monday in Indianapolis attending CYPD.  What's CYPD, you ask?  CYPD is the annual conference for the Children's and Young People's Division of the Indiana Library Federation.  It's a chance for Indiana children's and YA librarians to gather, network, meet authors, and learn.  It's great to get together with other local librarians and share ideas.

Every year, they have fabulous authors.  Fred McKissack, Jr. presented our first keynote speech and he talked about his book, Shooting Star, being challenged in Oklahoma.  The book was challenged for inappropriate language, but McKissack asked "What is it that we're afraid of?" and urged everyone not to be afraid of language or ideas.  He quoted Robert Cormier, saying:

There are no taboos. Every topic is open, however shocking. It is the way that the topics are handled that's important, and that applies whether it is a 15-year-old who is reading your book or someone who is 55.

And McKissack definitely got it right when he said (I'm paraphrasing here) that, while parental involvement in what kids read is paramount, communities need to let librarians do their jobs.  Parents can and should be involved in selecting materials for the kids to read, but librarians are trained to select books and materials for the entire community.  Let us do our jobs!

He ended with a quote from Judy Blume, who said something just perfect for your Banned Books Week displays:

...it's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.

With Banned Books Week coming up at the end of this month and the Humble, Texas fiasco fresh on our minds, it was the perfect talk to start off our conference.  Thanks, Fred!!

After a few breakout sessions (which I'll talk about later) and a delicious dinner (so rare for a conference - good food!),  Jack Gantos, author of the Joey Pigza books and A Hole in My Life (among other books), had us all in stitches with stories of his family and his path to becoming a writer.  He talked about how reading a book is such a special experience because the story becomes part of you, part of who you are.  The books become YOUR books.  And, honestly, I was laughing too hard to take many notes, so all I'm going to say is that he's a fabulous, funny speaker and if you ever get the chance to hear him or invite him to your school or library, DO IT.

Monday morning, we were back at it for another keynote, this one from Beth Galloway, a 2006 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, who talked about about gaming in the library.  From board games to card games to video games and role playing games, Beth talked about the literacy connections and programming possibilities with gaming in the library.  Games are not only a way to have fun with your library patrons, but they require literacy and math skills, as well.  Playing video games requires kids to use the scientific method by trying different methods to reach a goal until they are successful.  Have you ever thought of video games like that?

Beth encouraged librarians to invest in gaming equipment and use it for regular programs.  It's a great return on investment.  Think about how much you spend to book a performer at your library.  For less than $500, you can get all the equipment you need to run many, many programs and bring in many, many kids!  She's got the slides and handouts available on her blog, so make sure you check them out if you're interested in gaming at the library or wondering where to start.

(We have a Wii and we've done a few gaming programs for the teens at my library, but I admit to being intimidated by video games since I don't play them much myself.  Whenever I find myself intimidated by something, though, I think that means I ought to do it, so maybe this will be the Year Abby Learns About Video Games...)

After another breakout session, we gathered for more good food (and o.m.g. fabulous desserts) and a talk by nonfiction author April Sayre.  I love, love, love her chant books about animals (Trout, Trout, Trout: A Fish Chant, etc.) and many of her other books.  You know how I love nonfiction, so I was really psyched to hear what she had to say.  Well, I'm happy to report that she's a wonderful speaker, as well.  She shared with us her family's tradition of keeping oral histories and said that the voice in nonfiction literature is "the voice of discovery" and encourages us to ask questions.  An author's nonfiction voice often doesn't have to be fancy, but just has to "get out of the way of the wondrous".  (I'm quoting from my notes here!  I hope someone will correct me if I've got it wrong!)

April shared with us the path of her book Meet the Howlers from its inspiration on a family trip to Panama, through many, many edits (and hundreds of emails!) to its final publication.  I love learning about an author's process, so this was right up my alley.  April also shared with us many photos and videos she's taken of plants and animals in the natural world.  It's quite obvious that she loves nature and loves writing about nature to share its wonders with children.   I am very happy to report that she's got two more chant books on the way - one about vegetables and one about fruits (!!) and she gave us a sneak peek at a book about squirrels due out in 2012.   It looks fabulous!

So, the keynotes were great, and there's much more, but I'm beat, so tune in tomorrow for recaps of the four breakout sessions I attended, including programs on El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros, Guys Read, using art (not crafts!) in your programs, and programming for 'tweens!

(Also, I apologize for the lack of original photos.  I brought my camera, but my camera's not so good, so I took one horrible picture of Fred McKissack, Jr. and then promptly deleted it and forgot about my camera for the rest of the time.)

Anderson's YA Lit Con

Oh, Anderson's Bookshop.  The things you do to me.  I was all set to skip this year's YA Lit Conference because I'll be in Chicagoland the weekend before for a bunch of festivities related to a friend's wedding.  And then you sent me this:

It's kind of dark, but you can see that David Levithan and John Green are going to be there, right?  And, honestly, if it was just John, I might have still skipped it.  Not because I don't love him (I do), but because I get many more opportunities to see him now that he has moved to Indy.  But David Levithan?!  YES, PLEASE.  He's on my list of Authors I Really Want to See Someday.

And, apparently, someday is Saturday, September 25. :)

There will be other authors there that I am very excited about: Dana Reinhardt, Kenneth Oppel, Simone Elkeles, Kody Keplinger, and more.

I registered this morning and I'm aiming to convince as many of my buddies as I can to register also.  I've been to the YA Lit Con before and had a great time.  It's a great chance to hear authors speak.  So, who's with me?!