Impact

Last month for our homeschooler program, we shared some Native American stories and one of the stories I told was Coyote's Crying Song from the book Twenty Tellable Tales by Margaret Read MacDonald.

Now, when I was telling this story, I had to pretend to fall down.  Ideally, I would not trip over my own feet and actually fall down, but, well, ideally librarians would pull in six-figure salaries and we all know that's mostly not happening.  So the first time I pretended to fall down, I actually fell down and skinned my knee on the carpet.  Um, ow. 

That was the first impact. :)

But the greater impact came today at this month's homeschooler program.  After the program, a mom brought her two 5-year-old boys up to me and they told me how much they enjoyed the "wolf singing the song" from last month.  I was so happy to hear that the story had stuck with them and they had enjoyed it enough to remember it a month later.

Librarians, we have an impact on the kids we serve.  Maybe a small impact sometimes, but lots of times it's a big, huge impact (just ask published authors if they went to the library as a kid and more often than not you'll get a happy earful, I'd bet). 

Good for you for doing what you do.

Good for you for reading stories, playing video games with teens, providing a safe place to be and to learn, and spreading a love of literacy throughout your community. 

What you do is important.
Good for you.
Good for us.

Hate List

Hate List by Jennifer Brown.  (Grades 9+)  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009.  405 pages.  Reviewed from ARC picked up at ALA.


Valerie created the Hate List, a list of people and things that she hated, including the kids who bullied her and her boyfriend Nick.  When Nick opened fire on their classmates, killing several students and a teacher, Valerie was implicated in the crime, even though she was the one who stopped the massacre, getting herself shot in the process.  Now, she's returning to her school, a school that's supposedly mended its ways and embraced forgiveness.  Only, everything's the same.  And everything's different.  And Valerie just has to figure out how to live with what happened.

Okaaaay, this book sat on my shelf for ENTIRELY TOO LONG.  I am now kicking myself for not picking it up before because it is WONDERFUL.  Once I (finally!!) picked it up, I did not want to put it down.

What drew me in initially was the unveiling of the tragic school shooting from different points in time.  When we first join Valerie, she's procrastinating getting ready for her first day back at school after the summer.  In alternating chapters, we get her point of view as she faces everyone at school and flashbacks about the actual event.  We also meet the students and teacher who were killed and injured in a series of newspaper articles.  It's a very effective way of painting a complete picture of the event, through Valerie's eyes.

Valerie is a layered character with a lot going on.  She's dealing with her own guilt, facing the blame of everyone around her, and also missing her boyfriend. She loved Nick.  She knew he was angry (she was angry, too), but she had no idea he'd actually do something like this.  So, not only is she dealing with the aftermath of the shooting, but she's doing it without her boyfriend by her side.

I just loved the many facets of Valerie and she seemed utterly real to me.  I also loved the many, layered supporting characters, especially Valerie's parents.  They, too, seemed utterly real, trying to move on with their lives after something like this happened, never certain about what their daughter's role in the tragedy was.  Of course, there's Jessica, a popular girl who might have been killed except that Valerie pushed her down.  Jessica seems to have really changed since the incident, but after what Nick did Valerie can't trust her own judgment enough to know if Jessica's faking it.  And Dr. Hieler, Valerie's wonderfully supportive and non-scary psychiatrist.

The writing is excellent in that it disappears, leaving just the story and the characters for the reader to experience. It's perfectly suited to this book, which is all about self-reflection and coming-to-terms.  Not once did I pause over clunky phrasing or unrealistic dialog.  Instead, I felt like Valerie was there in front of me, telling me her story.

This is a moving portrayal of a tragic event and the road to recovery and forgiveness.  I highly recommend it for anyone who's concerned with the welfare of today's teens.  If you're looking for a book that will spark discussion, look no further.

This would make a great readalike for Amy Efaw's After (which I loved) and Laurie Halse Anderson's edgier books like Speak and Wintergirls.

Read more reviews at The Reading Zone, Persnickety Snark, YA Librarian Tales, A Patchwork of Books, Reading Rants, Everyday Reading, and Galleysmith (among many others).    

Hate List is on shelves now!  And lucky us, we won't have to wait tooooo long for Jennifer Brown's next novel.  Bitter End is slated to hit shelves in May 2011.  I will definitely be looking for it!

Fridays are Fantastic for Homeschoolers

A commenter on this blog wanted to know a little more about our programming for homeschoolers, so I'm here today to tell you about Fantastic Fridays, our monthly program for homeschoolers.

Fantastic Friday is held the second Friday of every month at 10:00am and we do something different each month.  We talked with some of the homeschooling families that frequent the library to figure out what would be a good date/time to try some programming for homeschoolers and found out that Friday mornings are usually pretty open (no religious meetings, etc.).  In addition to our normal program publicity (press releases to newspapers, library program calendar, library website), we send information to local homeschooling groups.

We started Fantastic Fridays in January 2010 and it's been quite a success.  We usually have between 10-30 kids each month, which is a great turnout at our library.  We advertise it for ages 5 and up, but the whole family is welcome and we really try to be flexible about allowing younger kids to participate if they come.  Sometimes we split the kids up into two groups and do a program for the younger kids and a different program for the older kids, but lately we've been leaning towards keeping everyone together.  For the times we split them up, we had a storytime and craft for the younger kids (approximately ages 5-8) and another activity for the older kids (book discussion, database workshop, tour of the teen area, etc.).  If we split them up, we let parents and kids decide which group they'd like to be in.

For the past few months, we've been keeping everyone together in one group and our attendance has been skewing younger.  We typically have kids ages 5-8 and maybe a few older kids (usually older siblings attending with younger ones).

The programs we've done include:

• Bug stories and coffee filter butterflies (for younger, while the older kids had a tutorial on how to use the library's databases)
• A "trip to Ireland" where we shared information, food, and music from Ireland
• Superhero stories and making a superhero flip book (for younger, while the older kids had a book discussion) 
• A family piñata workshop
• Native American stories and making "totem poles" out of paper towel tubes 

In December, two of my staff members are doing "A Pioneer Christmas" and making corn husk dolls and cinnamon bread.  For next year, I'm planning a storytime and craft on snow in January and a Black History Month program where we'll share the work of black illustrators and do art in the same style.  The Indiana State Library has a collection of Big Idea Kits with materials for sharing math and science concepts with young children, so we may use one or more of those in the spring.  I'm also thinking about science projects or a poetry program...

Here's the secret: programming for homeschoolers doesn't have to be any different from your typical programming for the public.  We hold it on a weekday morning and we advertise it in specialized avenues, but otherwise it's exactly what we'd plan for the general public.  Sometimes (like the piñata program), we'll offer a program for our homeschoolers and then repeat it on an evening or afternoon for the general public. 

I do think it's a good idea to talk to some of your homeschooling families and get an idea of what dates and times might be best.  There may be special events at local museums, zoos, parks, churches, or other religious facilities that you don't know about that would affect your attendance.  

For our community, it's worked to have the program on the same day each month (second Friday).  We also have a signup sheet for the next month at each Fantastic Friday program.  That way if people have had a good time and want to go ahead and reserve their spot for the next month, they can!  We encourage registration because we leave it open for all ages and that way we can get an idea about how old the kids coming will be.

Who else does programming for homeschoolers?  What do you do?  How has it turned out? 

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner.  (Grades 7+)  Dial, June 2010.  259 pages.  Review copy provided by my local library.

A car crash.
Julia died in a car crash.
No one saw it coming, least of all Cass.  Julia was her best friend.  Julia was the one she shared inside jokes with.  She loved Julia.  And now that Julia's gone, Cass is not sure where she fits in.  Yeah, she's kind of got theater friends, but they were Julia's friends, really.  And after they decide to put on the musical Julia had been writing, Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad, and Julia's boyfriend casts the evil Heather Halloway as the lead, Cass has to get away.

When she returns, Cass works on the musical, designing sets and catapults and booby traps.  And Heather works on costumes next to her in the theater basement.  Cass is sure she can never forgive Heather for the horrible way Heather treated her in middle school... but then they start getting to know each other.  And Cass starts to fall for Heather.

Alternating between Cass's present, working on the musical, and her past, biking to California in memory of Julia, A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend pieces together Cass's path from grief to acceptance to moving on with her life.

Note: This book is not about zombies!  I guess I don't know why I kind of thought that it was.  But it's not!  At all!  There is not even one single zombie in this book (I don't think...).  And as a member of Team Unicorn, I appreciate that. :)

Ohhh, there were many things I loved about this novel.  First of all, I love the title and the cover.  They're eye-catching and will definitely attract teens to pick up the book.  I love Cass's circle of theater friends and their devotion to Julia.  I love the musical that they're putting on.

One of the things I love most is that it's a GLTB love story that doesn't center on the experience of coming out.  And it's more than a love story - it's about friends and grief and finding your place in the world.  The love story is just a part of what this book is.

Here's the thing, though.  I felt like Cass did not have a strong voice.  She kind of reminded me of DJ Schwenk from Dairy Queen in her self-deprecating way, but where DJ has a voice you can identify anywhere, I never really felt like I heard Cass's voice.  I kept getting the dialog between Cass and Heather mixed up and I didn't have a strong connection with Cass.

Bottom line: I think that Emily Horner is definitely an author to watch and I hope to see more from her in the future.  If she keeps the geeky-cool humor and intriguing situations and adds a more distinctive voice for her characters, we're all in for a treat.

Check out more reviews at The Story Siren, The Happy Nappy Bookseller, The Compulsive Reader and Forever Young Adult (among others).

And don't miss Emily's guest post at The Story Siren, part of her GLBT Lit Days feature that ran earlier this year.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend is on shelves now!

Yucky Worms

Yucky Worms by Vivian French, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg.  (Grades K-3.)  Candlewick Press, February 2010.  29 pages.  Review copy provided by publisher for Cybils consideration (this review reflects only my own opinion).

Who knew that a book about worms could be so darned cute and interesting?  Vivian French and Jessica Ahlberg have paired up to make it happen.  Our story starts as a young boy is helping his grandma in the garden and she finds a worm.  "Yuck!", he says. "Throw it away!"  Grandma does not throw it away, but proceeds to tell him why worms are basically awesome.

Worms not only help put nutrients back into the soil, but their tunnels allow air and water to get down to plants' roots.  As Grandma's explaining this to her grandson, we see a cutaway of the worms moving below the soil, completely with additional wormy facts and cute commentaries from the worms themselves.

Illustrations include the anatomy of a worm, a cutaway showing worm tunnels underground (easy to see how they help plants get water and air), and a picture showing worms gathering deeper underground when it gets cold.  Funny little details make the illustrations interesting and humorous.  One of my favorites is a spread where Grandma's telling about the worm's many predators and the picture shows a mole holding a shopping list that reads: "Shopping List: Worm, Worm Worm, Worm".

Included in the back of the book are tips for observing and experimenting with worms (including a reminder to be respectful, as worms are living creatures).  This is a great choice for kids who love bugs or for anyone starting a garden.

Worms are definitely not yucky here, and this information-packed book provides a super introduction to these "underground farmers".

Yucky Worms is on shelves now!

Happy Nonfiction Monday!  Check out this week's roundup over at The Reading Tub!

In My Mailbox #59

It's Sunday, which means it's time to take a look in my mailbox and see what books arrived... (Kristi at The Story Siren hosts In My Mailbox - head over there for this week's roundup!).

This week I got one book for review:

Saraswati's Way by Monika Schroder (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010).

From the jacket flap: 

Twelve-year-old Akash knows that there is nothing he can do to change his situation.  It doesn't matter how easily he can find patterns of numbers in his head, or how badly he wants to know more than he will ever be able to learn from the village math teacher, Mr. Sudhir.  If the gods wanted a poor Indian boy to get a scholarship to go to the city school, it would happen.  At least that's what Akash has always been told. 

So Akash prays to the one god he thinks might be on his side - Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom.  But it seems even Saraswati doesn't want Akash to succeed.  And when things in his home life take a dreadful turn for the worse, he suddenly finds himself given away like the runt of the litter to work off his family's debt in the landlord's quarry.  Now Akash must make a decision.  Should he leave his fate in the hands of the gods, or fight to take charge of his own life? 

Sounds like a great book and I'm excited to read it!

How about you?  What did you get in your mailbox? 

Not at all book related...

But I can't stop listening to this song:




Happy Hanukkah!

Around the Interwebs

CC: RonAlmog

Happy Hanukkah!  Celebrate by picking up some great Hanukkah books, as recommended by Margo of The Fourth Musketeer. 

Speaking of gift-giving holidays, MotherReader shares a bunch of ways to wrap a book.  (You also won't want to miss her 105 ways to give a book.)   

The ladies at STACKED give us ten truths about blogging.  Which ones resonate with you? 

Hey, New York librarians!  Want to blog about it?  Urban Librarians Unite is soliciting submissions on a variety of topics.  If you've got something to say, here's your chance! 

Medallion Press has a new imprint, Ya-Ya, which will publish “young adults writing for young adults."  Seems to be a growing trend, eh?  Thanks to Leila of bookshelves of doom for the link. 

And Chad Beckerman's got a really neat post about the making of the book cover for Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes by Lisa Greenwald.  I love peeks into the process.  Um, and those yummy cookie photos?  They are making me hungry... :) Thanks to Travis at 100 Scope Notes for the link. 

Will do readers' advisory for brains.  'Nuff said. 

Want to know what books kids are into?  Check out the hold shelves!  Travis of 100 Scope Notes is soliciting photos of your school and children's library hold shelves for an ongoing series.  Check out his first roundup: On Hold @ the Library: November '10. 

Go you have games at your library?  If your collection might need a little updating, check out posts by Franki at A Year of Reading where she talks about several games she has in her school library: Pentago, math games, Gobblet Gobblers and Square Up, and two Bingo games.    

Librarians, what do you wear to work?  If you've ever been curious about the dress codes in different types of libraries across the country, you're in luck!  Check out Librarian Wardrobe, a blog that features photos of real librarians' work outfits.

ALSC members, don't forget to submit your nominations for the Children's Notables lists!  Nominations for titles to be considered for these lists will be accepted until December 10 (that's a week from today), so make sure you get 'em in. 

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

8:40am - Arrive at library, put stuff away.

8:45a - Check email, work on a short article for the newsletter about upcoming holiday programs (Holidays in the Library and the Gingerbread House Workshop).

9:10a - Get my program room set up for Mother Goose on the Loose (baby storytime) and look over the materials I planned.

9:12a - Decide I don't like the book I chose for this week and pick out another.  You can never go wrong with The Wheels on the Bus by Paul O. Zelinsky!

9:20a - Talk with one of my staff members about creating a story prop for our visits to local afterschool programs.  She's great at figuring out how to make stuff.

9:25a - Continue getting ready for Mother Goose on the Loose.  (Get my felts in order, pull a CD for intro and playtime music, set up book display, etc.)

9:45a - Read email from listservs and make a to-do list for today.

10:00a - Mother Goose on the Loose!  Afterwards one of the moms tells me that her daughter has been talking about me at home.  I stay out in the department after the program and play with the kids for a little longer... alas...

11:00a - Go back to the office and sort through some surveys that we've been handing out to help one of our local early childhood organizations.

11:10a - Practice Coyote's Crying Song for the staff in the office.  I'm telling it for our homeschooler program later in the week.  They like it!

11:20a - Take the surveys upstairs to mail.

11:25a - Clean up the program room from MGOL.

11:30a - Work on book order.

12:10p - Chat with Anthony Nava, a local Cherokee and Pascua Yaqui Indian, who brings me some information about the programs he offers.  It's too late to book him for this November (we plan and publicize our programs at least a couple of months ahead of time), but I'd like to have him in the summer when we celebrate One World, Many Stories!

12:25p - Work on book order.

1:10p - Guess I'd better eat lunch, eh?

2:00p - Meet with the staff association (I'm the Vice President, which sounds more impressive than it really is... we're an association of four and we're all officers...).  We're planning the library's holiday party, so we discuss food, door prizes, entertainment, invitations, etc.

2:45p - I leave with one of my staff members for a visit to one of our YMCA Afterschool programs.  We've been visiting all the afterschool programs over the past couple of months and it has been great fun!  Our after school programs at the library have not had great attendance, so we're trying this out and it's been much more successful!

3:05p - Arrive at school and do our program.  We share stories for 15-25 minutes (length really depends on the kids - after sitting down at school all day they don't always want to sit and listen to many stories).  Then we do a simple craft.  Here's what we read:

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey

Some Thanksgiving jokes from Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving by Connie Roop

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard (the kids *love* this book!  Even if they've already heard it, they love to hear it again.  Which is good because I could read this one over and over and not get tired of it...)

Shark in the Park by Nick Sharratt

And then we pass out paper, crayons, and leaves and do leaf rubbings with the kids.  Some of them have already done it (I say, "Great!  Then you're an expert!  Will you help your friends if they don't know how to do it?"), but many of them haven't.  It's simple, not messy, cheap, and the kids can be creative with their choices of colors.  I get leaves from the many, MANY different trees in my apartment complex to offer them lots of shape choices.

3:45p - We pack up and leave the school.

4:00p - We're back at the library and I leave a little early to make it to my choir rehearsal!

Just another day in the life...

AudioSynced November Roundup!

Yes, it's time for AudioSynced, a monthly roundup of audiobook reviews from all around the blogosphere!  I was not very on the ball about reminding people this month, so if you've posted a review of an audiobook in November and I missed it, please leave me a comment and I'll add it to the roundup!!

Didn't review an audiobook this month?  That's okay!  AudioSynced will be back next month at STACKED!

Right here at Abby the Librarian, I reviewed Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce, read by Trini Alvarado (Listening Library, 2003).  If you haven't read the Alanna books, I highly recommend the audio recordings!

Kim at STACKED reviewed First Light by Rebecca Stead, read by David Akroyd and Colleen Marlo (Listening Library, 2010).

Lee at Reading With My Ears reviewed the following titles:

Scumble by Ingrid Law, read by David Kremenitzer (Penguin Audio, 2010).
Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson, read by Tim Cain (Brilliance Audio, 2010).
The Collected Stories of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, read (dramatized) by a bunch of people (Hodder Children's Audio, 1997; reissued by Listening Library, 2009).

Swapna at S. Krishna's Books reviewed Earth by Jon Stewart and the Daily Show (Hachette Audio, 2010).

Jen at Devourer of Books reviewed The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasure of Obituaries written and read by Marilyn Johnson (HarperAudio, 2010).

Laura at Ramblings of a (Future) Librarian reviewed a bunch of titles, including the following:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, read by Roxanne Hernandez & Blas Kisic (Brilliance Audio, 2009).
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, read by Mike Chamberlain (Listening Library, 2007).
Dark Life by Kat Falls, read by Keith Nobbs (Scholastic Audio, 2010).
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, read by Ari Graynor (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2007).

There are tons of audiobook reviews posted at Audiobook Heaven, including the following:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, read by Sissy Spacek (Recorded Books, 2006).

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, read by Joshua Swanson (Penguin Audiobooks, 2008).
The Brethren by John Grisham, read by Frank Muller (Random House Audiobooks, 2000).

Bryce at Only the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy reviewed Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card, narrated by a full cast (Macmillan Audio, 2005) and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, read by Carolyn McCormick (Scholastic Audio, 2010).

Sophie at Mundie Moms reviewed Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, read by Jennifer Ehle (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2010).

Patti at Peppermint PhD reviewed The Kite Runner written and read by Khaled Hosseini (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2003).

Travis at 100 Scope Notes reviewed Toby and the Secrets of the Tree by Timothee de Fombelle (Brilliance Audio, 2010).

proseandkahn's got a review of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (Harper Audio, 2010).

What audiobook reviews from November am I missing?  Leave me a link in the comments and I'll add 'em.  And hey, if you like our monthly AudioSynced roundups, help us spread the word!  We collect and post links to audiobook reviews around the blogosphere on the first of every month.  Links and Tweets are appreciated!