tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126089502024-03-25T09:58:19.290-04:00The Sassy LibrarianThe personal blog of Courtney Lewis, an independent school library director in Richmond, Virginia and a very sassy librarian.The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-52315954939093516392015-12-06T17:04:00.000-05:002015-12-06T17:04:44.268-05:00Because We Do Judge Books By Their Covers: Canva and Its Role in Library Branding<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Background public domain image via <a href="https://pixabay.com/" target="_blank">Pixabay</a>;<br />
created by Courtney Lewis using <a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank">Canva</a></td></tr>
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Signage.<br />
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It's a pet peeve of mine when it comes to libraries, mainly because the majority of libraries (public, school, academic, you name it) have atrocious signage. The endcaps signage indicating call numbers looks like it came from the Exxon station around the corner from my house in the 1980s, where the 17-year-old gas attendant in his Metallica t-shirt would painstakingly change the price each morning using a pole and those plastic letters. Most library signs are a triumph of our Microsoft Word abilities, tasting of the 1990s even if we troop out Helvetica for our bold, colored keywords or *shudders* employ Comic Sans to show how hip and now and happening we are. The truly egregious signs utilize clip art and have one of those forbidden red circles with the slash over said clip art. To paraphrase someone else from decades long past, "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097493/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Clip art is <i>sooooo</i> 1997</span></a>."<br />
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Did you ever wonder why <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/48843/9-very-specific-rules-real-libraries" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">we can't shake the cat's eye glasses and mean librarian stereotype</span></a>? Hold on to your sensible cardigan, but often it's due to the language and style of our signs, which reflect an outdated library culture where librarians were guardians of the warehouse of knowledge rather than the current servant leaders of the people who use their library. Not everyone talks to the library staff each day, and even if they do, one friendly face in a sea of "Don't!" signs isn't going to stem the tide. <a href="http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2014/03/24/signs-signs-everywhere-signs/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Annoyed Librarian wrote a very pithy <i>Library Journal</i> article about just this phenomenon</span></a> and the unstated messages your patrons absorb. <a href="http://librarylostfound.com/2014/12/11/dont-do-signage-like-this-5-negative-library-signs/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Library Lost & Found blog highlighted library signs bordering on the ridiculous</span></a> (if not crossing that line - how much headphone cord chewing actually happens and wouldn't it be better to just say something?). These signs librarians blushingly laugh over aren't just horrible, they are also downright ugly and dated looking.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIgrhCBIQBPXbNZl7mULiwLnavdspBbJthrNSo1B2UaKEQHXCUsg-pnDwJhCKry_O2_r-nFBFRjHFjc4rpKfcFzh_pv_cjobtwjBJJO0n2wBJDNj8UI6CWIwpxlX_oOQzcI6deg/s1600/Night+of+Writing+Dangerously+jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIgrhCBIQBPXbNZl7mULiwLnavdspBbJthrNSo1B2UaKEQHXCUsg-pnDwJhCKry_O2_r-nFBFRjHFjc4rpKfcFzh_pv_cjobtwjBJJO0n2wBJDNj8UI6CWIwpxlX_oOQzcI6deg/s1600/Night+of+Writing+Dangerously+jpg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A flyer for a popular program made with <a href="http://www.apple.com/mac/pages/" target="_blank">Pages</a></td></tr>
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Message aside (I'll get to that later), in peddling dated imagery, how are we supposed to be taken seriously as technology and programming leaders if the images that represent us are so forgettable? <a href="http://www.apple.com/mac/pages/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">When Apple released Pages in 2010</span></a> with its slick flyers designed by turtleneck-wearing graphic designers, I was elated...until I ran out of different flyer options and had to begin recycling them (taking great care to have four different Pages posters per recurring event so my students would never realize as they had graduated prior to my reuse).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9s-o_-r194JBCHt2wcmN9RPthRSrhDogxlo3rZuGJV7YNxgqA7D3WKVLLRU7fpA9OT6XIdtcFZ47fYaIy39G4dcuNAcNeniDqMKBK7FYIUNx3hzC6BIFI5DGYzOIUtD3upmg5xA/s1600/Week+A+Wednesday+first+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9s-o_-r194JBCHt2wcmN9RPthRSrhDogxlo3rZuGJV7YNxgqA7D3WKVLLRU7fpA9OT6XIdtcFZ47fYaIy39G4dcuNAcNeniDqMKBK7FYIUNx3hzC6BIFI5DGYzOIUtD3upmg5xA/s320/Week+A+Wednesday+first+page.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A simple but elegant daily schedule, <br />
branded with the school logo and library name using <a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank">Canva</a></td></tr>
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Thank heavens that <a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Canva</span></a> arrived on the scene just when I was at risk as being exposed as a very unhip sign designer. Not only are there a variety of fabulous designs (both free and some with a small fee attached), but it's ridiculously easy to upload pubic domain and personally generated images to replace backgrounds. Fonts are plentiful and there are text shapes and colors that would take me wielding some serious Photoshop prowess (that I don't have) to produce. Canva often whimsically refers to its "elves" and after looking at how many products they help you produce, I'd say there are about 100 of them, all with degrees from <a href="https://www.pratt.edu/academics/school-of-design/undergraduate-school-of-design/ug-communications-design/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pratt</span></a> or the <a href="http://www.risd.edu/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rhode Island School of Design</span></a> shining above them. Thank you, elves!<br />
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I not only like the ease of use of the site and the fact that so much of it is completely free, but I love the fact that it's more functional to the work of a modern librarian than other programs. Not only can I produce signage to be posted around my library, but it's insanely easy to create Twitter and Facebook banners as well as gorgeous infographics. I don't need to remember the pixel size of anything because they've already done the heavy lifting, meaning that keeping a consistent look to my library brand is easy and the results are gorgeous (like in the case of this blog banner and my Twitter header, both produced in <a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Canva</span></a>). Special event requiring a 24 x 36 inch poster? Want to create a kick-butt presentation background that people haven't seen before? They've got a template to use. I've yet to find a need <a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Canva</span></a> can't fill for me and I get showered with compliments, which I deflect to the site. And the time I save is spent on working with teachers and students, i.e., the important parts of my job, not swearing <i>sotto voce</i> at Pages or Word.</div>
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But what does this have to do with our work as librarians? A library should reflect both the people who use it and the attitude of the people who work in it. <a href="http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/09/opinion/aaron-schmidt/positive-signs-the-user-experience/#_" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Aaron Schmidt put it best when phrasing the idea of signage in the context of the overall user experience</span></a>. My preference is that the signage in my school library be colorful, fun and informative, as well as geared toward the girls who attend my school. Think about branding, whether it be repeating logos, using the same key colors (your school colors are a given as long as they are attractive!), and/or maintaining friendly yet directive language. Someone is far more likely to remember your message if they smile about it than if they frown.<br />
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Smiling patrons are also more likely to help you shift your library's culture (if it needs shifting). We do battle that mean, shushy librarian stereotype, every day, whether we realize it or not. The media loves it too much to ever let it go, <a href="http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=140" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">as documentaries like <i>The Hollywood Librarian</i> show us</span></a>, even while offering up dynamic examples of the current profession. This means that each one of us is potentially a change agent, whether we are actively altering our library culture in order to serve our population better, or if we are working within a dynamic and responsive library but are faced with individual patrons who have an outdated perception of librarians and libraries that needs altering.<br />
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Signage is a part of library culture over which we have total control. Let the 1990s go. Say no to "no" signs and use modern tools like <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Canva</span></a> </span>to produce attractive, vibrant library signage that informs and entertains your audience while creating a library culture you can be proud of.<br />
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<br />The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-12258633878517438132015-11-20T08:48:00.001-05:002015-11-20T08:48:18.022-05:00VAASL 2015 - Is My High School Senior Ready to Be Your College Freshmen?<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/G4u49skzqMntKP" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="595"> </iframe> <br />
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<b> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/SassyLibrarian/vaasl-2015-is-my-high-school-senior-ready-to-be-your-college-freshman" target="_blank" title="VAASL 2015 - Is My High School Senior Ready to Be Your College Freshman?">VAASL 2015 - Is My High School Senior Ready to Be Your College Freshman?</a> </b> from <b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/SassyLibrarian" target="_blank">SassyLibrarian</a></b><br />
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Busy at my new school, doing a renovation while acclimating to a new job wasn't quite enough for me - I had to also decide to do a research project about tools and techniques that, in addition to a quality information literacy program, would help students during their transition to college level research that first year. This is the preliminary data that I presented on November 20, 2015 at the Virginia Association of School Librarians in Williamsburg. I'm going to write a longer blog post, breaking down each slide that covers the elements of my talk in this upcoming week, as well as offer up the final data when the collection is complete (I've still got a few schools to solicit for participation).<br />
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I'm hoping I could have an ALA proposal accepted for annual this year in Orlando since the obvious next step is to see how the data prompts faculty discussion and curricular change, which I imagine would be far more interested to school librarians. Stay tuned for more, and please feel free to reach out with any questions!<b> </b> </div>
The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-4865566738943886842013-07-07T23:50:00.003-04:002013-07-08T00:11:33.934-04:00New Adult: It's Not Just the Sexy Times<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Public domain image via Pixabay</td></tr>
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While I enjoyed all my sessions at the ALA Annual Conference (woo-hoo, Chicago!), the best program I attended was facilitated by the fabulous threesome of Kelly Jensen, Sophie Brookover, and Liz Burns. These outstanding librarians took time out of their busy Monday morning to present "New Adult: What Is It & Is It Really Happening?"<br />
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YA with Sexy Times</h3>
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This fun and information filled session gave me enough to ponder over the course of a few posts, but one of the stand out points made by Liz Burns in particular was the idea that right now, New Adult is currently synonymous with Contemporary Romance starring the 18 to 24 age group. She made a point of saying that this growing genre was more than just "YA romance with sexy times added" but instead included elements of living away from authority figures, beginning to conceptualize the independence that comes with college or living independently, while also exploring sexuality and relationships in a more frank and explicit way. It's all about forming an identity as an adult, and you really can't do that successfully until you start living away from home.<br />
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No judgement was offered by the panelists regarding this trend, but it was suggested that the genre might gain more legitimacy when readers (and librarians and publishers) began associating it with other genres, broadening the scope of the label. I think this is actually the usual stigma against romance and when you add in more explicit sexual content, someone is going to get their panties in a bind about it, but I understood what she was saying. As much as I hate it and I feel it's very anti-woman (if men were the predominant readers of romance it would be a mark of an intellectual mind to have your shelves filled with it), the public has trouble thinking young adults (or new adults) falling in love has any kind of value. Luckily my days are largely spent with the intended audience, so I can enjoy like-minded enthusiasts who do think this is valuable topic!<br />
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Liz actually went on to say that the much bigger issue surrounding the perceived legitimacy of New Adult was the fact so much of it is currently self-published, with the accompanying poor editing this entails, but she imagined that as publishers finally opened their hearts and wallets to the authors with books to sell, the quality of the work should rise accordingly.<br />
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But for now, I wanted to make the point that there are certainly books and series which fall outside of contemporary romance (and do not have two eighteen year old laying down with each other or embracing with plenty of skin showing). Here were a few ideas that came to mind.<br />
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New Adult Beyond Contemporary Romance</h3>
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So what books might fit the definition of New Adult but fall outside the realm of Contemporary Romance? Here are a few that were discussed at the ALA session or that occurred to me would feel right at home in this category.<br />
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<i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1421990.Halfway_to_the_Grave" target="_blank">Halfway to the Grave</a></i> by Jeaniene Frost and it's immediate sequel, <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2168860.One_Foot_in_the_Grave" target="_blank">One Foot in the Grave</a></i>, is fabulous urban fantasy paranormal romance, with the nineteen year old Cat Crawfield, the half-vampire offspring of a woman raped by a newly turned vampire, bent on teaching herself how to kill the undead. She does a pretty good job of it, too, but finds her world derailed when the incredibly hot and deadly 300 year old master vampire Bones, catches wind of what she's doing. While I would call the entire series urban fantasy, the first two books really fit the New Adult category. The romance with Bones is on equal footing as Cat's acceptance of herself and the fight between good/evil and the first book does NOT have a happy ending (I recommend getting both of them if you're beginning to read this series to prevent a bad case of <i>agita</i>). The sensuality level is very high, but it's extremely appropriate as Bones was a professional male prostitute before he was turned (and the man has skills, let me tell you). Their sexual intimacy is a big metaphor for Cat breaking down the walls she's built to protect herself over the years and vital to the storyline. So "neh" anti-sexy times contingent!<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/41536-secret-society-girl" target="_blank">Diana Peterfreund's <i>Secret Society Girl</i> series</a> has several of the New Adult markers, and clearly Dell Publishing is smart enough to know this as they have rewritten the introduction on Goodreads and elsewhere to this series to include a reference to "fans of <i>Beautiful Disasters</i>." The Ivy League college setting, the protagonist's struggle to define herself and often fight for her education amid the demands of the secret society to which she belongs and finally the drama surrounding various mysteries and her romantic entanglements put this firmly in the New Adult genre without being contemporary romance. <a href="http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/new-adult-the-2012-edition/" target="_blank">Peterfreund even comments on her blog</a> about how she was contacted by numerous would-be new adult writers eager to hear her tips since this series was so clearly New Adult, yet she makes a point of how she has purposely focused on writing about younger teens <b><i>or</i></b> about late twenty something, specifically because the New Adult market wasn't robust enough to support sales of literature for this age group.<br />
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Historical fiction is where New Adult hits a roadblock, largely because the cultural definition of adult has varied throughout time. Yet if we dissect the markers listed above for the genre, there will undoubtedly be historical fiction or other genres with historical elements that fit this category. One series that immediately came to my mind was <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/46785-the-agency" target="_blank">The Agency series by Y. S. Lee</a>. In the first novel, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Agency-House-Y-S-Lee/dp/076365289X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373229950&sr=8-1&keywords=a+spy+in+the+house" target="_blank">A Spy in the House</a></i>, Mary Quinn is seventeen and has graduated from her training at Miss Scrimshaw's (where she has been groomed to be a spy). Posing as a companion to a spoiled young woman gives her the entrance she needs to the suspicious parties in question, but a keen-eyed and handsome engineer becomes first an obstacle and then an unlikely ally. While the burgeoning romance is a strong plot element, far more compelling in this series is Mary's posing as "Irish" when in actuality she is half-Chinese. Originally condemned to death as a child by the arcane Victorian justice system, she wrestles with her identity and the confines of society which would eagerly dictate her future. I love this series (so much so that purchased the third book in England since it came out months ahead of the US date and had it shipped to me) and it's readily apparent how the quest for identity makes this series - which I believe takes Mary up to about age 20 or so - New Adult.<br />
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Finally, it was mentioned in the session that all too often New Adult has become synonymous with "white, college bound" protagonists (even the books with the hero being the underground MMA fighter who also has a band - but that's for another post!). Yet, a close examination of "street literature" or what is also called "urban fiction" puts it firmly in the New Adult category. These young men and women are usually finished with high school and are in the process of negotiating their future in a gritty urban setting. African American and Latino characters are the norm and crime and poverty motivating factors for behavior and choices. Authors like <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61150.Nikki_Turner" target="_blank">Nikki Turner</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2843599.Ashley_Antoinette_Snell" target="_blank">Ashley Antoinette Snell</a>, and<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4456731.Deja_King" target="_blank"> Deja King</a> are incredibly popular. Often, the protagonists are determined to make something of themselves or help their families, often while defining what real love looks like.<br />
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I'd be interested to hear what other people feel fall into New Adult but are not contemporary romance. What is out there that would appeal to this transitioning age group?The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-12043389022058935642013-05-25T08:00:00.000-04:002013-05-25T08:00:11.893-04:00Show Me The Awesome: Librarians as Catalyst in a STEM/History Collaborative Project<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Public Domain Image via Pixabay</td></tr>
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Brace yourself, I'm going to compare librarians to eggs.<br />
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On the surface, I realize that doesn't make sense, but if you understand the chemistry of cooking, you'll figure out where I'm going with this. I am a cook, who not only enjoys the physical act of making great food, but who also insists on understanding <i>why</i> and <i>how</i> dishes work. In baking, eggs play the key role of binder, allowing other ingredients to not only meld together, but also to physically hold them in place while the outside forces of friction (think your mixer paddle) or heat work a reaction.<br />
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I think school librarians are like eggs.<br />
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We have a cross-departmental reach allowing us for a broad understanding of the curriculum, an understanding which gives us that eagle's eye view of where teacher content and projects might overlap. Backing innovative teacher ideas, particularly when they are in their infancy is a moral obligation, one I take seriously in order to encourage risk-taking and to establish a supportive professional climate. Librarians bind together teachers, departments, and students, making collaboration bloom into something completely new which hopefully enhances student learning.<br />
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<h4>
Eggs Like to Sit in the Carton Together</h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20Q3od-1xLm5StlvlOeUm_-Ea4Fga7aEA7x9Tb8QwHJpuVyjJBcySfuHiWL4TUrdoEarHHzX9YF9d7b-54Y4NFRK-4WEEExY3ZORMaUycwlN_C3u33XbhL_8kbZL96xj42IpLtg/s1600/showmetheawesome2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20Q3od-1xLm5StlvlOeUm_-Ea4Fga7aEA7x9Tb8QwHJpuVyjJBcySfuHiWL4TUrdoEarHHzX9YF9d7b-54Y4NFRK-4WEEExY3ZORMaUycwlN_C3u33XbhL_8kbZL96xj42IpLtg/s320/showmetheawesome2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Artwork by John LeMasney, <a href="http://lemasney.com/" target="_blank">lemasney.com</a></span></span></td></tr>
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When I read the <a href="http://www.stackedbooks.org/2013/04/show-me-awesome-30-days-of-self.html" target="_blank">Stacked Books blog post </a>on the concept of "Show Me the Awesome," the idea immediately resonated in my librarian soul. Librarians are usually friends with other librarians and we certainly read each other's blogs and Facebook statuses as well as occasionally get together to chat.<br />
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But chances are good that we don't actually discuss every cool thing we do and I've found that a few of my programs or projects that I think are run of the mill, fascinate other librarians who want all the details. Similarly, I've heard about an amazing hacker program or fundraiser that a friend has done forever in her library, never having experienced the brainwave about how cool it is and that she should share it with other professionals.<br />
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So when a good friend of mine sent me the blog post link with a "Have you seen this? You should do it!" note, I put the brakes on my "What on earth do <i>I</i> do that's so special?" reaction and really looked at what was on my plate. I think the best way to determine if a project is something others will want to read about is to figure out what you are doing that genuinely excites you. My happy energy was targeted at a particular project combining our new STEM program and a talented World Civilizations teacher looking for a meaningful end of year research project for her students.<br />
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I thought you might like to hear all the details. :-)<br />
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<h4>
STEM Isn't Just an Acronym, It's a Philosophy</h4>
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I don't know how many schools are jumping on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) bandwagon, but my school was lucky enough to have a donor who felt that our science and mathematics program could use funding to explore disciplinary opportunities in the field of STEM education. <a href="https://www.wyomingseminary.org/page.cfm?p=1560&LockSSL=true" target="_blank">The Louis Maslow School of STEM</a> was born from this donation, and in its initial stage it has brought a series of guest lecturers to our school and begun conversations among the faculty about how to bring this interdisciplinary approach to teaching into the classroom.<br />
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We have<a href="http://www.wyomingseminary.org/page.cfm?p=1661" target="_blank"> a talented director of the program</a> who has done a terrific job of spreading the word about what STEM actually is. Begun in higher education, the movement for stronger, cross-disciplinary education came about as a result of pressure from science/engineering corporations lamenting that they had to hire so many employees from abroad when they wanted domestic workers (Raju & Clayson, 2010, p. 25). Due to the actual practice of professions related to these subject areas, the ideal STEM program moves away from a teacher-centered classroom and transforms into a problem-solving, inquiry-based space requiring students to engage in situations in order to find solutions (Fiorello, 2010).<br />
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A large part of our school's thinking about STEM has taken place outside of formal meetings and instead proliferated among the lunch tables where teachers in all subject areas debate the pros and cons of interdisciplinary teaching. It's not surprising, in an environment where we are empowered to try new projects and experiment in our courses, that an intrepid World Civilizations teacher considered how to further her goals in the classroom while also supporting the burgeoning STEM program. Lucky for me, both these wonderful educators brought me on board immediately and, together, we brainstormed how STEM would look in a history classroom.<br />
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<h4>
The Third Industrial Revolution Inspiration</h4>
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Inspired by <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21552901" target="_blank">an article in The Economist on the third industrial revolution</a>, my wonderful history teacher was struck by the theme of manufacturing, particularly utilizing 3D printer technology, as being a leveler which will promote another major revolution. Because she uses the themes of revolution (agricultural, scientific, First Industrial, Second Industrial) as a vehicle for understanding world history throughout her course, we began the conversation of what would reinforce the students' research skills while also bringing in a critical thinking component regarding technology in the everyday lives of students. She was also looking for a spring term research project (we had done the 5 to 7 page research paper in the winter to transmit key information literacy skills) that would engage students and bring home the idea that history isn't something which ends with the last page of a textbook.</div>
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Bringing in our STEM director, the three of us brainstormed our ideas on a Google Doc, honing this concept from hazy vision into concrete project. My history teacher was kind enough to not want to saddle kids, the week before finals week, with an actual paper, so we decided that a group presentation fit the bill, one that hopefully utilized the Prezi and PowerPoint skills they had learned in other courses. We wanted to bring not only a STEM topic to the table, but also the STEM principles of working collaboratively, working creatively, researching effectively, and creating strong hypotheses into these student projects.</div>
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Here were our goals for students by area:</div>
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<b>World Civilizations Goals</b>: To understand recent digital technologies in both a historical perspective and also as another potential revolution which is changing society; to demonstrate the ability to critically think about a specific technology and develop a contextual argument discussing the pros and cons it offers humankind</div>
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<b>STEM Goals: </b>To understand that science and technology is not only all around us, but integrated so firmly into everyday life as to make its true impact often invisible; to further promote a concrete understanding of the science behind these technologies and to forecast where these technologies are likely to take society</div>
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<b>Library Goals</b>: To reinforce the information literacy skills taught World Civilization students throughout the year, particularly the ability to locate quality resources <a href="http://www1.youseemore.com/wyomingseminary/Kirby/linkinclude.asp" target="_blank">using the library's subscription databases</a> and <a href="http://www.noodletools.com/" target="_blank">Noodletools</a> as a vehicle for proper Chicago-style citations; to promote the use of collaborative technologies like Google Docs for effective group work; to demonstrate proficiency in using presentation technologies effectively</div>
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<h4>
Drones, Google, Handheld Devices and GPS</h4>
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The above four topics were the student groups' choices for their projects and we (the faculty) had reservations about some of them, but with it being the first year of the project we were willing to experiment. My concern was that, with the exception of GPS, these topics were broader than an actual technology (drones should maybe be artificial intelligence, Google would be search engine algorithms, and handheld devices should be cellular or wireless technology or the microchip) so the students were perhaps unintentionally complicating their topic.<br />
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Students spent a couple of days in their classroom brainstorming ideas, working in groups to hammer out roles, interspersed with three days in the library finding materials which would support the project's parameters. We watched each group carefully, circulating and reminding them to use the databases and cite their sources as well as occasionally helping with technology questions like using Google Docs or Prezi. Because I have a history of science background, two of the groups (Google and GPS) interviewed me for my perspective on these two technologies and I gave them quite an earful which they used to varying degrees. The drones group interviewed our school president, the former head of the Engineering program at West Point, and someone amply qualified to explain that particular technology and its impact.<br />
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The presentations were variable in quality. For the most part they all looked very nice (although they had too many bullet points!! *<i>gnashes teeth</i>*) and it was clear which students had bothered to seriously read versus the internet skimmers. My wonderful history teacher and I were struck by the fact that each group essentially had the same thesis although none of them seemed to realize it - namely, that technology is changing so quickly that the law, particularly surrounding privacy and personal liberties, can simply not keep up. A little more chilling was how easily students seemed nonplussed by the idea of their privacy being sold so cheaply, especially considering how they flip out if their parents insist on being a Facebook friend, but maybe that's me editorializing.</div>
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<h4>
What We Are Going to Change for Next Year</h4>
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We learned a lot for next time. I'm wondering if we shouldn't bump the project to a little earlier in the spring term since 9th grade brains seem to flash "FULL" in those last couple weeks of school. There were some very specific points that we realize we can work to emphasize next time that will make the kids focus on the key points better, namely the following:</div>
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<ul>
<li><i>Thesis needed from each group</i> - as a school, we focus in that first year of helping students move from a "report" mentality to one of constructing an argument; I think we sort of assumed they would do this, but we need to clearly state it as an expectation so they don't dance around their own critical thinking</li>
<li><i>Tie the technology more strongly to the "revolution" theme</i> - Each group should define “revolution” at beginning of presentation and explain how their technology fits this idea</li>
<li><i>Use the freaking databases!!!</i> - Three days of in library research, we stated it in the project description, said umpteen times in class only to have one of the groups explicitly state their use of quality sources. I realized that we can use our SIRS Researcher debate database to elucidate on pros/cons requirement of the project.</li>
<li><i>State the information's authority</i> - While the majority of students have had our required public speaking class and/or (if they've attended our Lower School) lived through our 7th and 8th grade speech projects, they still didn't seem to understand that we weren't to be snowed when it came to presenting information. Students should refer to authoritative sources within their presentation “According to an article in <span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wired</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine...” and we are going to insist they do this next year. </span></li>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Stronger historical context</i> - Considering it was a history project, I was dismayed by how few students made an effort to explain the before and after piece of their technologies. Posing some key questions - What was the world like before the technology in question appeared and what is the world like with it? - will hopefully help with that. </span></li>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Better understanding of group work</i> - It became readily apparent which groups had actually worked together and which ones hadn't in creating their presentation. Repetition of information, actually looking surprised at other people's slides, and kvetching about group members in my hearing were all keys to realizing that some groups didn't have this piece down. Since next year we are implementing a 9th grade STEM science course that has as one of its many goals teaching effective group work, we are hoping that we can reiterate these themes across other classes and help students understanding our expectations. </span></li>
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<h4>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A Philosophical Reflection: Pigeons and Why We Need STEM</span></h4>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pigeonholes. Literally.</td></tr>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If there is one student commonality I've noticed as a librarian regularly teaching information literacy skills, it's that students pigeonhole the skills and content they learn from one class to another, as if each 45 or 90 minute block exists without reference to another. When we introduce the history term papers and teach effective outlining, the history teachers and librarians co-teach the "rule of three" concept (three sections to support your thesis, three body paragraphs with evidence for each section, three pieces of evidence for each body paragraph, etc.), an idea we think should be astonishingly easy for students to grasp since they have pretty much mastered the 5 paragraph essay at this point which has three body paragraphs. </span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">But they don't. We get cocked heads and "whaaa?" facial expressions. You compare hypotheses and theses and a similar reaction occurs. Why is this? My sinking suspicion is that we simply don't ask students to make cross-connections, unconsciously rewarding them for mastering individual subject material in largely traditional assessments (tests and papers). Since each student's goal is to get the best grade possible so they can have a transcript that will get them into the best college possible, it's not exactly shocking they aren't putting in the effort to make a ton of cross-curricular connections for which no teacher will reward them from a grade standpoint.</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Hence, our needing a STEM approach in the worst way. Interdisciplinary teaching that has a project, problem-solving focus and which attempts to show relationships between <b><i>subjects</i></b> (and I truly believe that each individual teacher in their classroom is successfully showing relationship between material every day) will do more for helping students engage their world and develop a strong intellect than almost anything else we can offer. A few of the US History teachers (traditionally a largely 10th grade class) are discussing partnering with Sophomore English to see if they could align elements of their individual curricula and develop common themes. I've got my fingers crossed this could result in some interdisciplinary paper topics which would involve these talented teachers working together more frequently. The fewer pigeons in the individual cubbies, the better, in my opinion.</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And pigeons lay eggs, right? See? It all comes full circle. I've got my fingers crossed that as our STEM program takes further root in our school culture, we are going to see more collaboration between teachers, departments and particularly the library. I for one love the opportunity to help bind ideas and skills together with the result of stronger, quality teaching and increased student learning.</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">What's your awesome?</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<i><u>References</u></i></span></h4>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span></div>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fioriello. P. (2010, November 2). Understanding the basics of STEM education [Web log post]. Retrieved from Dr. Patricia Fioriello Consults: <a href="http://drpfconsults.com/understanding-the-basics-of-stem-education/">http://drpfconsults.com/understanding-the-basics-of-stem-education/</a><br />
Raju, P. K., & Clayson, A. (2010, October). The future of STEM education: An analysis of two national reports. Journal of STEM Education, 11(5 & 6), 25-28. Retrieved from <a href="http://ojs.jstem.org/%E2%80%8Bindex.php?journal=JSTEM&page=article&op=view&path[]=1508">http://ojs.jstem.org/index.php?journal=JSTEM&page=article&op=view&path[]=1508</a></span>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-35464530004822968062013-03-14T14:32:00.000-04:002013-03-14T14:32:51.052-04:00Review: Poison Princess Opens Up YA Market for Kresley Cole<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1)<br />by Kresley Cole (New York: <br />Simon & Schuster, 2012)</td></tr>
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The other day one of my colleagues, a psychologist and an avid reader of YA literature, walked up to me in the library and said, "If I read one more book blurb about a girl discovering her abilities who finds herself 'strangely drawn' to the local bad boy, I'm going to scream."<br />
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I hear you, Kathy.<br />
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It's become an obnoxious device in paranormal romance that a young woman with "new" powers or abilities ends up transforming her personality, often with the assistance of the recently arrived bad boy who knows more than she does (yes, the sexual implication is obvious even when it goes unexplored). Even when the guy is hot and compelling, it would be an easy step to falling into the trope that a woman needs a man to draw out her best, most powerful self, and many authors have tumbled into that ditch with abandon. Yuck!<br />
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The good news? <a href="http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/author/" target="_blank">Kresley Cole</a>'s awesome new book, <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13450339-poison-princess" target="_blank">Poison Princess</a></i>, <b>isn't like that</b>. Set in a post-apocalyptic world (through extended flashbacks we actually experience the apocalypse), <i>Poison Princess</i> is the first in Cole's new series, <a href="http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/books/" target="_blank">The Arcana Chronicles</a>, and her first foray into the world of young adult literature.<br />
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I offer this introduction and caveat because the cover (which is lovely) and the jacket blurb could easily give this impression based on the reader's advisory conversations I've had with students. But be aware that Cole's well-written novel is actually an amazing blend of apocalyptic fiction, paranormal romance, and occasionally horror. It's populated with flawed, interesting characters who keep the reader guessing through the course of the novel and who, I'm sure, will be further fleshed out as the series progresses.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Live vines in the bayou</td></tr>
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Evie Greene lives in a beautiful house in one of the oldest and most beautiful houses in her Southern town. She's gorgeous, popular and dating a lovable and talented football player, but she's also just returned from a summer in a mental hospital. Her mother is walking on eggshells and Evie has managed to tell no one - not her boyfriend, not her best friend - about the horrifying nightmares which fill her nights as she worries she might end up back in that horrifying place. She fills sketchbooks with these disturbing images in an effort to purge them but worries that all the drugs and doctors in the world aren't going to give her a normal life.<br />
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At school, things aren't looking up either. Yes, her friends are great and her boyfriend attentive (particularly during their discussion about Evie losing her virginity to him) but a recent group of kids straight from the bayou have just transferred in and their poverty and their Cajun French immediately marks them as outsiders, even before their hostile attitudes register with students and teachers. That the ringleader, Jackson Deveaux, is as hot as they come doesn't make up for the chip on his shoulder. He can't stop staring at Evie but also clearly can't stand her.<br />
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When bizarre flare reduces most people and places to ashes, Evie and her mother are struggling to just survive and the outlook is not good...until Jack Deveraux turns up like a bad penny on his motorcycle offering a chance of a future. But now that Evie knows to trust her visions and has recently figured out one of her abilities (and it's one that would have her even more hunted in the world she now lives in), she doesn't trust Jack's intentions but she does believe in his survival skills, so they embark on the road to finding Evie's grandmother together.<br />
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Evie can't stop thinking about her grandmother, who kidnapped Evie when she was just a little girl, and who understood Evie's visions and tried to convince her of the magic in her blood. A tarot reader, Evie's grandmother explained a great deal to Evie but she realizes she's forgotten a lot of it and the doctors brainwashed another chunk of it out, so Evie realizes that she needs to get to this long-lost woman who might have valuable answers. Considering that her mother took a restraining order out against her after Evie's kidnapping, this isn't going to be easy.<br />
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What I think is so brilliant about Cole's writing is the romance between Jack and Evie. Jack is a total ass and Evie can acknowledge to herself that he's handsome and there's a physical attraction but that he's given her no reason to like or trust him. Readers are able to figure out that with Jack's horrible home life and role models (or lack thereof) it's entirely likely that he has no idea how to communicate his feelings at all to a girl, instead relying on cryptic conversations and anger. <a href="http://www.thearcanachronicles.com/fun-stuff/#cajun" target="_blank">His Cajun French is wicked sexy</a> but until the last part of the book, it's hard to figure out the depth of his feeling for Evie.<br />
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The other Tarot card figures are enigmatic at best and few seem to fall into the fully good or fully evil category which I love. The fact that there are still a few characters who have been seen in visions but not yet appeared in person (particularly Death, who sounds like he's going to throw a real wrench, both from a fighting perspective and a romantic perspective) makes me chomp at the bit for the next book!<br />
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My only complaint regarding this novel is that it's written in the first person (another common YA device) and I sorely miss hearing Jack's perspective, even when I agree with Cole's writer decision to give us events as they come to fruition inside Evie's head. The only time we are not with Evie's POV is when we are in the mind of the psycho serial killer, whose experience bookends <i>Poison Princess</i>, offering a brilliantly tight ending with the Tarot theme.<br />
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Of concern for librarians is the fact that Kresley Cole is an established adult romance writer whose excellent <a href="http://kresleycole.com/books/immortals-after-dark-series.html" target="_blank">Immortals After Dark series</a> is incredibly popular among adult paranormal romance readers. I wish she had taken a slightly different name for the Arcana Chronicles, because I can see a lot of teen readers eager to read more of her work picking these up. These adult romance books are also unbelievably well-written and actually hilariously funny, but<a href="http://torimacallister.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/how-racy-exploring-levels-of-sensuality-in-romance-novels/" target="_blank"> on the sensuality scale</a>, they fall between "scorcher" and "erotic" romance with their level of explicit description.<br />
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It's gratifying to see a terrific author like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KresleyCole" target="_blank">Kresley Cole</a> not only branching into young adult paranormal but also kicking butt with her great writing and compelling characters. Her female leads definitely don't need men to help them realize who they are and they don't put up with being treated badly. With <i>Poison Princess</i>, Cole has created a dark new world populated by individuals readers will want to follow to the end of the series. I for one, am glad that she has embarked on this new adventure!The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-30584202788872448112013-02-07T20:00:00.002-05:002013-02-07T20:02:54.287-05:00YALSA Throws Down the Gauntlet with the 2013 Reading Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It always happens when the book awards are announced at ALA at the end of January, a mixed reaction of shock and gratification at the announcements depending on my opinion of the books of read, followed by an overwhelming sense of "Oh, no! I need to get on the stick and read lots more books. NOW."<br />
<br />
But it's often not that easy to get started. Leave it to YALSA to offer just the incentive I needed with their <a href="http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2013/02/03/yalsas-2013-hub-reading-challenge-begins/" target="_blank">2013 Reading Challenge</a>. They even have put together a fantastic pdf of all the books who have won all those YMA awards, organized by author and indicating which awards the book has won. I love the range of books represented - not just your typical fiction books, but the <a href="http://www.ala.org/glbtrt/award" target="_blank">Stonewall Book Award</a> winners to beef up my GLBTQ list, nonfiction, audiobooks and the best graphic novels.<br />
<br />
So I need to read these books by June 22nd (should not be a problem considering how great they look) and I love that the contest is open to ANYONE, so teens and teachers will be hearing about this from me! Participants write a comment on the blog post with all the rules and indicate their blog, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>, <a href="http://www.librarything.com/" target="_blank">LibraryThing</a>, YouTube or some other link to the tracking device the person will be using. It looks like you can keep a list some other way but you might want to email them how best to do it. Every Saturday they'll publish a check in post and you leave a comment with the books you've read that week and include links to your reviews or give your opinion about them in the comment. Once you finish the challenge you get a special "Conqueror's Badge"!<br />
<br />
So join me in tackling the best of YA literature from this past year. You'll be glad you did!!!The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-20203823737988503732013-02-04T11:13:00.000-05:002013-02-04T11:15:46.528-05:00Untraditional Book Formats Prove Popular...But What Does It Mean for Schools Moving to Digital Collections?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348603623l/11101772.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348603623l/11101772.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt</i> by<br />
Caroline Preston (New York: HarperCollins, 2011)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been having quite a few conversations recently involving how or when independent school libraries will move over to a collection model based largely on ebooks. A lot of factors drive this conversation - wanting to remain competitive in the market, the many schools moving to a 1:1 BYOD model for computing, etc. - but administrators often seem eager to get rid of print.<br />
<br />
A mistake? Yes and no.<br />
<br />
My first thought is automatically cost. While some companies actually have you 'buy' the book using a one-time fee, you are still at their mercy since access is determined by them (you don't physically store the book on a server you own). The majority of ebooks, however, are made available using subscription services like <a href="http://www.overdrive.com/Solutions/Schools/" target="_blank">Overdrive</a> or various databases, meaning that you are paying thousands of dollars each year to provide your students with access to these volumes.<br />
<br />
Thousands of dollars a year can create a pretty good print collection at any school, but you do have the limitation that only one student at a time can use the print volume you've purchased (some ebook providers have a single check out system as well, but others allow unlimited access). But these pros and cons aside, if a school (for various reasons) chooses to move to a more electronic collection, I still feel that a portion of the collection should be available in print form. Why?<br />
<br />
<b>Serendipity</b> and <b>format </b>result in greater <b>access</b>.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Serendipity</i></b> is the first issue. Particularly with recreational reading, teenager selection styles seem to be geared toward wandering stacks and displays and picking up books with attractive covers to read the dust jackets. I think there is also a tactile pleasure for many students (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesthetic_learning" target="_blank">tactile-kinesthetic learners</a>, maybe?) to handle books when making a decision to read them. Think of how many students love to go to Barnes & Noble and sit in comfy chairs with a stack of books to browse and a coffee - there is something about that shopping experience which appeals. You have one book in your hand and suddenly a few others in the vicinity look terrific, so you read those. Serendipity resulting in <i>more</i> recreational reading has taken place due to instant access.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbclJADnFXcPTRY30e-1Lvfxax2RXA114zsx_Hh_j1LmnR23LeuqNE9siYmZFRnRUqTFHzakxZNrVdBMx47G7t1lQGrQjwV1SAqFKQpluFZT7B1Qi6or14S4ockJsWqlu-CCGN/s1600/goodreads_f.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbclJADnFXcPTRY30e-1Lvfxax2RXA114zsx_Hh_j1LmnR23LeuqNE9siYmZFRnRUqTFHzakxZNrVdBMx47G7t1lQGrQjwV1SAqFKQpluFZT7B1Qi6or14S4ockJsWqlu-CCGN/s1600/goodreads_f.png" height="139" width="320" /></a></div>
I do think that sites like <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>, its YA sister site <a href="http://www.teenreads.com/" target="_blank">Teenreads</a>, <a href="http://www.shelfari.com/" target="_blank">Shelfari</a>, and <a href="http://www.librarything.com/" target="_blank">LibraryThing</a> are taking the place of (or highly supplementing the process) of this browsing experience. More and more students are coming to the library with a list of books they've found via <a href="http://www.amazon.com/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> or one of the above sites. I personally push Goodreads like there is no tomorrow since I think its algorithm for suggesting books after you've rated the ones you've read is the best out there.<br />
<br />
As a collection development and display tool Goodreads can't be beat either. Want a reminder of all the football fiction books for a Super Bowl display? There's probably a list on Goodreads to help you. And since in the end what readers want most in a sense of community, the review process on these sites have a built in sense of seeing what people really like or dislike about a book or series, with users easily able to friend others and see what they are reading as well. In fact, when you look at a book to read more about it, your Goodreads friends have their reviews and ratings show first on the book's page. Really helpful.<br />
<br />
Even if serendipity can move to a more electronic version of itself, there is the other sticky issue of <b><i>format</i></b>. Most fiction and recreational nonfiction translates very well to an e-reader format. It's just one page after another of text, right? As long as that's the case, the reader is just processing that text, but in the case of nonfiction with figures or images, the image can get really wonky (sidebars are notorious for wreaking havoc). There is also a growing body of fiction and nonfiction which uses nontraditional formatting for a different experience and this can be a huge problem when translated to an e-format, if it gets translated at all.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fictionwritersreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/scrapbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fictionwritersreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/scrapbook.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This double page format with varying type size would be<br />
a major pain to negotiate with an ereader, which is<br />
probably why you can't buy it that way.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Case in point, the book I placed up at the top of this post, <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11101772-the-scrapbook-of-frankie-pratt" target="_blank">The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt</a></i> by Caroline Preston which isn't available in ebook format for good reason. I enjoyed this pictorial work of historical fiction centering on a young woman from Cornish, New Hampshire with dreams of becoming a writer. The main character chronicles her journey to Vassar, then to Greenwich Village and Paris, by using typed text as well as ads and other snippets to illustrate her journey. Despite a small amount of text, a very complete picture of this story is transmitted but e-reader audiences would be denied the experience.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327889093l/10710392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327889093l/10710392.jpg" height="320" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10710392-chopsticks" target="_blank">Chopsticks: A Novel</a></i> by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo<br />
Corral (illustrator) (New York: Razorbill, 2012)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
An incredibly popular book in my library right now is the book <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10710392-chopsticks" target="_blank">Chopsticks</a></i> by Jessica Anthony, which illustrates a tempestuous love story between a piano prodigy and the boy next door. Similar to Preston's book, the design is evocative of a scrapbook with the pages slowly revealing the madness of the young woman whose world unravels for myriad reasons. Students cannot get enough of pouring over the images and text of this story. With a size that is definitely unusual in its dimensions (about 8 by 9 inches), this book stands out from others on the shelf, by format and by ambition. Naturally, it also is not available in ebook format despite its popularity.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780060899196_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780060899196_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87640.PostSecret" target="_blank">PostSecret</a></i> by Frank Warren (William Morrow, 2005)<br />
The first in a popular series.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Both of these volumes' appeal remind me of the nonfiction <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/58832-postsecret" target="_blank"><i>PostSecret</i> series</a> which students not only read regularly but also <a href="http://www.postsecret.com/" target="_blank">follow the website</a> with enthusiasm. Started by Frank Warren as a community art project, contributors send him anonymous postcards with highly personal secrets on them, with the result being a moving, funny, poignant and disturbing journey. Multiple volumes are the result and I've been begged to buy all of them (I happily acquiesced). Listening to students discuss not just the text but the artwork always reminds me of discussions of <a href="http://www.humanities.umd.edu/vislit/" target="_blank">the importance of visual literacy</a> - why not start with fun fiction and nonfiction to get students used to interpreting images and reading deeper into an author's intent? While other visual literacy exercises would be available via a tablet computer or laptop, some e-readers clearly would not lend themselves as easily to this skill development. With all of the above books unavailable in any electronic format, students solely dependent on a digital formats for reading via their library would be denied access to these works.<br />
<br />
And in the end, that's what librarians are all about - <b><i>access</i></b>. Access to great information, great recreational reading and caring adults who can help students and teachers.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Until access is more guaranteed digitally (and perhaps more affordable in that format) to as many options as exist in print, school libraries will undoubtedly need to be a hybrid of print and electronic options. </span></blockquote>
In a world where we feel digital formats open up our horizons, it's vital to remember that, as of right now, they limit them as well. Our job as librarians is to be ever vigilant so we can guarantee the joy of serendipity (electronic and in person), a variety of formats and continual access to the best information to our communities.The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-47982071119151615132013-02-01T13:06:00.000-05:002013-02-01T13:06:00.083-05:00Strong Female Protagonists and Norse Mythology: Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1332247199l/13034113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1332247199l/13034113.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyrie-Rising-Ingrid-Paulson/dp/0062025724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359733092&sr=8-1&keywords=valkyrie+rising" target="_blank">Valkyrie Rising</a></i> (Valkyrie #1) by <a href="http://www.ingridepaulson.com/" target="_blank">Ingrid Paulson</a><br />(New York: HarperTeen, 2012)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With the rise of mythology in the paranormal world it's nice to see the direction turn not only to Norse mythology, but to highlighting a strong female protagonist. Debut author <a href="http://www.ingridepaulson.com/" target="_blank">Ingrid Paulson</a> is a writer to watch as she grips you from the first page of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyrie-Rising-Ingrid-Paulson/dp/0062025724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359733092&sr=8-1&keywords=valkyrie+rising" target="_blank">Valkyrie Rising</a></i> and barely lets go on the last one.<br />
<br />
Ellie is sixteen and has always lived in the shadow of her perfect, handsome, athletic brother, Graham. He's actually a good guy but overprotective and thinks he can chime in and make decisions about Ellie's life whenever he feels like it. She's just thrilled that he's graduating and heading off to college. Better yet, they are making their annual trek to visit her Swedish grandmother and Ellie gets to go first, getting some great alone time before Graham comes to join them. One tidbit that has taken the shine off her vacation is the news that her brother's best friend, the annoying and all-too-charming Tuck, will be joining them.<br />
<br />
Her grandmother's farmhouse is wonderful as is the attention Ellie seems to be getting from the male population. She didn't think her height and long blond hair would stand out in this country, but something about her seems to be drawing people's eye. When she realizes that there is no small amount of malice directed toward her youthful-looking and feisty grandmother, a tension that seems to be related to the disappearance of handsome young men in the area, Ellie figures out that something big is going on. After she catches sight of the stunning, supermodel women doing the kidnapping - women who cause Ellie to hear voices and feel strength she never thought possible while they hypnotize their victim - she also begins to wonder what's going on with her.<br />
<br />
Graham and Tuck arriving only complicate the situation. Graham is prime material for kidnapping (good-looking, athletic hero-types are the victims) and Tuck not playing by the rules of their previous friendship, awakening all kinds of feelings that Ellie would rather not contemplate since she knows he'll never go against Graham's wish to keep all boys away from her. But Tuck seems to be the only one who understands that there is something seriously sketchy is happening with Ellie at the center of it. Even her grandmother is trying to ignore her questions, although the older woman definitely has the answers.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneig8nr5sIb8zjNA5GMcGlpVoXGA-vAp4N55MZGV4KZ1AYIGtXDC0XyyB9jsUEbn8pqxvB8Y9IVS19bovUdtR9J1pEjVlGHiSiBRZOuUqIg8tX4KDIQuCBuj1jRuZPxJxFkeqtw/s1600/Valkyrie+Symptoms+(Valkyrie+%230.5)+-+Ingrid+Paulson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneig8nr5sIb8zjNA5GMcGlpVoXGA-vAp4N55MZGV4KZ1AYIGtXDC0XyyB9jsUEbn8pqxvB8Y9IVS19bovUdtR9J1pEjVlGHiSiBRZOuUqIg8tX4KDIQuCBuj1jRuZPxJxFkeqtw/s320/Valkyrie+Symptoms+(Valkyrie+%230.5)+-+Ingrid+Paulson.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyrie-Symptoms-HarperTeen-Impulse-ebook/dp/B009R4Q82O/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1359733092&sr=8-9&keywords=valkyrie+rising" target="_blank">Valkyrie Symptoms</a></i> (Valkyrie #0.5) by Ingrid<br />Paulson (New York: HarperTeen, Feb. 5, 2013)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As events come to a crescendo, Ellie not only has to deal with the new awareness of her heritage and what it may mean for her, with saving the brother she loves from death, but also must face the fact that the boy she's fallen for might have betrayed her in a way she'll never get over.<br />
<br />
I loved Ellie's voice throughout this novel. She's smart and a little unsure of herself at the start, making this really a novel about a young girl finding herself. What differentiates it from the typical-teenage-girl-becoming-more-confident storyline is that this particular young woman happens to the granddaughter of a Valkyrie. This means the emergence of a lot of anger and power within Ellie and as much as power is something we see in paranormal YA literature, <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/from-the-library-100-young-adult-books-for-the-feminist-reader" target="_blank">anger is a feeling often denied to young women in the popular canon</a>, but one that feminist readers often would like to see written about.<br />
<br />
Because of this focus, the romance with Tuck is a wonderful addition, but I liked that it was <b><i>not</i></b> the focus of the book. He's a terrific character and it's nice to have a paranormal book where the female lead is not compellingly drawn to the "mystery boy" and then falls in love with him in a matter of hours. I also appreciate that Paulson has a prequel to <i>Valkyrie Rising</i> (timed a few days prior to the start of that book) written solely from Tuck's perspective, entitled <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyrie-Symptoms-HarperTeen-Impulse-ebook/dp/B009R4Q82O/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1359733092&sr=8-9&keywords=valkyrie+rising" target="_blank">Valkyrie Symptoms</a></i>. While <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/110306077/Valkyrie-Symptoms-by-Ingrid-Paulson" target="_blank">this was released in free form by the author</a>, don't think you shouldn't buy the ebook - that free look is only 20 pages, and the Amazon.com ebook novella is listed at 56 pages, so I have happily forked over the $.99 for my pre-ordered copy and will be waiting with baited breath for more Tuck-time on February 5th!<br />
<br />
I also appreciated that, in a world of writers who leave you on the cusp of something at the end of a book prior to priming you for the next and you are dying in the meantime, wanting the author to stop his/her life so they can just write the sequel already. Paulson has certainly left doors open for further development of the storyline and characters, but managed to provide enough closure to the reader that there is sense of satisfaction when finishing the last page.<br />
<br />
My one caution is that Ingrid Paulson needs to get on the bandwagon in terms of <a href="http://www.ingridepaulson.com/" target="_blank">her website</a> and social media. This talented author is going to generate a following of teens who want to see these characters and hear about the writer's ideas and interests. Right now her website is very bare bones without much recent content and the same goes for her social presence. It's hard for writers transitioning between a previous job and working as a writer full-time (and that transition can last a few years) to keep up with this type of obligation, but building a fan base based on Facebook, <a href="https://twitter.com/ingridepaulson" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>, and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5322924.Ingrid_Paulson" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> posts cannot be overestimated.<br />
<br />
I'd encourage anyone interested in Norse mythology (<i><a href="http://thor.marvel.com/" target="_blank">Thor</a></i> fans, anyone?) and/or strong female leads to check <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyrie-Rising-ebook/dp/B007HCAWPW/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1" target="_blank">Valkyrie Rising.</a></i> You'll be hooked, I promise!!The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-13281527444071922482012-12-25T14:57:00.000-05:002013-01-10T10:35:03.749-05:00Celebrating the Holidays, Library Style!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG1wLiZQ1cpzdRXdcXKc43rIzJjqoSoZZn0EuXmCS_RAiehZvRl3kGoFk-5Wg57-ZtxCHdms8YZhfFsvaay2OQWopOuGpivPenqLktx0hebsaSWe-bDfXjScDTJROYGFwvuLg3fQ/s1600/IMG_0287.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG1wLiZQ1cpzdRXdcXKc43rIzJjqoSoZZn0EuXmCS_RAiehZvRl3kGoFk-5Wg57-ZtxCHdms8YZhfFsvaay2OQWopOuGpivPenqLktx0hebsaSWe-bDfXjScDTJROYGFwvuLg3fQ/s400/IMG_0287.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
We are big <a href="http://pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> fans in my library and before the holidays, we were busy thinking about cool ways to ramp up our winter decorations. Our artificial garland had been around for ten years and was just limply phoning it in - even the tartan wired ribbon had lost its brogue. So when we stumbled upon <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/402298179183444513/" target="_blank">book tree examples</a>, we knew we had to make our own.<br />
<br />
A lot of book tree creators wrap their books with a solid color paper or use books of a series that are the same color and size for ease of stacking (way to use those old solid green tax codes, librarians!). Most of them appeared to be green, but I thought red would be far more festive, so I hunted up books with spines in a shade of red that came from topics not likely to be used for research this time of year (we are in the midst of World Civ and U.S. History term papers, but they have a limit on how modern the topic can be). Modern China and the feminism section of the 300s yielded major dividends, so I pulled those and plenty of others so I had a nice smorgasbord of red to choose from.<br />
<br />
Students, eager to <strike>procrastinate</strike> help, leapt on my spreading out over a hundred books around the table (I wasn't sure I could support a full book tree). I was happy to supervise, and we decided to separate out the books by size and width to insure stability and I think our STEM program would have been impressed with the degree of physics utilized to make this happen. We did a nice stack, taking about an hour and half to complete it. It took us until the next day to figure out how to top it, but we finally saw a close up picture of the smaller books stacked to a point. Some awesome gold sparkle mistletoe picks from Joann Fabrics, our leftover lights from a decade ago and a huge gold bow and we were in business!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GWx3vzqeikuDDCcS803neCEajYxwRhyIba3QVnF0_k6WKYZBBvWbnjXcWzUYyK70Zog_VqHRccHSKSZafnR_yAb4DUfkmZQOElg26ck-IVw2Cp6AyHTrrlRL-Avk_7Lu5J__Zg/s1600/IMG_0288.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GWx3vzqeikuDDCcS803neCEajYxwRhyIba3QVnF0_k6WKYZBBvWbnjXcWzUYyK70Zog_VqHRccHSKSZafnR_yAb4DUfkmZQOElg26ck-IVw2Cp6AyHTrrlRL-Avk_7Lu5J__Zg/s400/IMG_0288.jpg" width="297" /></a></div>
But we got ambitious, and before I knew it we had the fake snow with donated little houses (one of them a book shop) nestled underneath. The kids visiting the library each day LOVED the tree and when we were looking at other book trees and comparing them unfavorably to our wonderful tree, we saw a picture of a book fireplace and the race was on.<br />
<br />
Our bound National Geographic magazines stretch back to the 1920s and the bindings are in varying shades of red, just like bricks! To offer the right about of stability to the stacking, we did two rows of books on each side, sliding in a piece of black foam core to emulate the inside of a fireplace. I got a perfect piece of stiff foam at Joann's for under $10 (we used this to measure the distance of the books for the fireplace) and I covered it with a couple yards of cheap red felt, secured with quilting pins. A three dollar red sparkle bow, also secured with pins, polished up the mantle into a showpiece and I had to get a little doormat that looked like a carpet at Kmart. It was perfect for our menorah, and I love the feature of the kraft paper wrapped books for logs and with the construction paper flames coming out of them (a good use for a few reference discards).<br />
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Around this time, we discovered that some of our playful colleagues decided to have a department Christmas tree contest, so we pitted our tree against the development, admissions, class deans, and college guidance departments. Once a prize was in our sights, I'll confess we got a leetle competitive, perhaps urged on by the cheeky smack talk from our colleagues (<i>ahem</i>, class deans!). We made letters from famous authors writing as children to Santa (J. D. Salinger, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, and Samuel Clemens) using characteristics of those authors.<br />
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We won the contest and our kids were SO proud of the display and made a point of dragging other students over to see it if they hadn't been in the library for a day or two. When I went to our main school building to hear the results of the contest, the kids knew that the day of reckoning had come - I didn't realize they were all lingering in the library to hear who had won after school. When I walked in with the trophy (a spray painted ugly tree from Goodwill that will now be our Stanley Cup equivalent in years to come), the whole library broke out into spontaneous cheering! We even made a triumphal video (only available to Facebook users since it's so embarrassing how we are hamming it up dancing to "Eye of the Tiger").<br />
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I'm already thinking (and pinning ideas) about what we can do next year. This was such a fun "before holiday break" activity at a time when we most need a little focus and lift in the school year.The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com3Kingston, PA, USA41.2617481 -75.896863541.2140066 -75.9775445 41.3094896 -75.8161825tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-76350872018591877282012-11-17T18:41:00.000-05:002012-11-17T18:41:45.849-05:00Predicting a Great Short Story - Foretold: 14 Stories of Prophecy and Prediction<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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After taking a look at the authors who contributed to the anthology, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13533758-foretold" target="_blank"><i>Foretold: 14 Stories of Prophecy and Prediction</i></a>, edited by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.carrieryan.com/" rel="homepage" title="Carrie Ryan">Carrie Ryan</a>, it wasn't hard to see that this grouping of short stories was going to be terrific.<br />
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I adore short story anthologies, for a couple of reasons. I usually read the collections that have a few writers I love (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.richellemead.com/" rel="homepage" title="Richelle Mead">Richelle Mead</a>, <a href="http://www.lainitaylor.com/" target="_blank">Laini Taylor</a> and <a href="http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/" target="_blank">Diana Peterfreund</a> were my draws in this one) just so I can get my fix while waiting for their next book. But short story anthologies are also like trolling for new authors. After all, if I'm reading a collection, it's usually built around a theme I like and I've noticed that authors, young adult ones in particular, have a tendency to form close bonds with writers of a similar quality. Get one great YA author in a collection and chances are you've hit the jackpot.<br />
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<b>"Gentlemen Send Phantoms" by<a href="http://www.lainitaylor.com/" target="_blank"> Laini Taylor</a></b> <br />
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<a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0154384c655f970c-320wi" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0154384c655f970c-320wi" width="131" /></a>What a perfect story to start the collection! This terrific, romantic tale is set in a time where superstition and minor witchcraft was still a part of daily life. Three friends take advantage of the idea that on October 6th, a future husband's phantom will visit his destined wife. All three girls want the handsome Matty, much to Pippin's dismay. She and Matty have been friends since childhood, but she's small and not as womanly as the others. When she breaks the rules to save her friends, events transpire to make her think that she has no chance with Matty after all, or does she?<br />
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I didn't realize that the author who wrote the dark and haunting book, <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i>, could pen such a sweet romance but her chops come through yet again as she showcases her ability to have you buy into a fantastic setting with no reservations. It's an incredible ability not a lot of writers can boast.<br />
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<b>"Burned Bright" by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/" rel="homepage" title="Diana Peterfreund">Diana Peterfreund</a></b> <br />
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<a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/12/author-rave-diana-peterfreund.html" target="_blank">It's no secret that I adore Diana Peterfreund</a>; she always blows me away with the power of her writing and this short story was no exception. Alternating points of view between the charismatic daughter of a cult leader predicting the end of the world and the boy who loves her, this contains an utterly chilling ending. I love stories where I am uncertain about what is really happening - where it's uncertain what is the "truth" - and Peterfreund weaves a complex web in this tale that has me still thinking about the characters a few days later.<br />
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The quality I love the most about Peterfreund's writing is her unbelievably strong female characters. These girls are powerful, realize it, and aren't afraid to use their gifts. I always forget how rare this is in young adult literature until I read her work. Anyone who hasn't read her <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/46379-killer-unicorns" target="_blank">Killer Unicorns series</a> needs to get their butt in gear and do so. It's amazing.<br />
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<b>"The Angriest Man" by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.lisamcmann.com/" rel="homepage" title="Lisa McMann">Lisa McMann</a></b> <br />
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I've never read anything by this author before. Set in an ambiguous semi-fantasy world with an estranged and neglected boy born with a supernatural quality, this story was beautifully written - you enjoyed the feeling of the words in your mouth all the while trying to figure out the truth. Was this unnamed protagonist truly a result of something highly supernatural? Should his mother be blamed for neglecting him? If he really was somehow endowed with otherworldly qualities, how did other people not notice and point it out?<br />
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This short story made such an impression on me that I'm definitely going to read McMann's <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/44553-dream-catcher" target="_blank">Dream Catcher series</a> (I've bought it for the library, I've just yet to read it). <br />
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<b>"Out of the Blue" by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://megcabot.com/" rel="homepage" title="Meg Cabot">Meg Cabot</a></b> <br />
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There exists an entire generation of girls who have been literally raised on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/43768-the-princess-diaries" target="_blank">The Princess Diaries series,</a> or the gagillion other Meg Cabot books which she's published to acclaim. This short story combines Cabot's signature sense of humor and cutting insight into teen relationship dynamics (the litigious psycho ex-girlfriend? Hilarious!). Cabot's whimsical and creepy tale is conveyed via interview transcripts clearly taken by "the men in black" about fraternal twins who have an encounter with a spaceship when they are six and then another, much more interesting one, when they are sixteen.<br />
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Meg Cabot has proven she can handle scifi and paranormal elements as demonstrated in her successful <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/57816-abandon-trilogy" target="_blank">Abandon trilogy </a>and the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/41667-the-mediator" target="_blank">Mediator series</a>, so it's not a surprise that she paints a creepy, dark antagonist who is all the more menacing (to say nothing of the looming and unnamed government agency questioning the kids) for the occasional injections of humor. <br />
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<b>"One True Love" by <a href="http://www.malindalo.com/" target="_blank">Malinda Lo</a></b> <br />
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No one can ever go wrong reading Lo (I <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/07/promoting-teen-reading-with-web-20.html" target="_blank">was privileged to hear her speak at a YALSA pre-conference a few years ago</a>), and this story lived up to my high expectations. With clearly strong ties to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus" rel="wikipedia" title="Oedipus">Oedipus</a> story, this work is set in a fantasy world with a princess prophesied to bring down her father the king at the time she meets her "one true love". Her heartless father sequesters her with a nursemaid for her entire life, bringing her out for royal events heavily veiled so there is no chance of her spotting a love interest or being seen by someone who might fall in love with her. When her father (who goes through wives like Kleenex), is awarded a new bride from a country negotiating peace terms, he sends the gorgeous young woman to the same tower as her daughter, who is about the same age.<br />
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Lo is renowned for her skillful handling of GLBTQ themes in young adult literature, but, while the princess falls in love with her father's young bride, this beautiful story felt to me like it was more about finding strength and power when you thought you had none. The transformation of the main character from an isolated royal to a young woman filled with the power of love was heartwarming and inspirational. Lo's writing was also sweet, strong and sensual and, as such, was a delight. Anyone who hasn't read her stunning book, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6472451-ash" target="_blank"><i>Ash</i></a>, or <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2884780.Malinda_Lo" target="_blank">one of her many other novels</a>, should pick them up immediately.<br />
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<b>"This Is a Mortal Wound" by <a href="http://themichaelgrant.com/" target="_blank">Michael Grant</a> </b><br />
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Michael Grant is the successful young adult author probably best known for his <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/45284-gone" target="_blank">dystopian Gone series</a>. With his facility with science fiction already established, it's unsurprising that he has chosen to include a story in this anthology set in the near future. As an educator, this storyline did make me REALLY uncomfortable, and - while I haven't known a teacher who has completely snapped - this was all too easy to believe!<br />
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This is a tale of a sadistic teacher set in a future where education is more dominated by technology than it is today. I did think it stretched the premise of "prophesy and prediction" although clearly it was meant to highlight the real future of education as needing to keep up with the fast pace of scientific discovery and change. I couldn't decide if I liked Tomaso or not, but I loved the climatic scene where his teacher gets her comeuppance as he proves to her that technology offers better quality information than his textbook. That said, the absence of an actual good teacher - one that has expertise and uses technology to help <i>guide</i> student learning - made me sad, but I'm sure this would be a cathartic short story for a student who has suffered with a horrible teacher (and, let's face it, we've all had at least one).<br />
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<b>"Misery" by <a href="http://www.heatherbrewer.com/" target="_blank">Heather Brewer</a></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/42770-the-chronicles-of-vladimir-tod" target="_blank">Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series</a></td></tr>
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The <a href="http://www.twilightzone.org/" target="_blank"><i>Twilight Zone</i></a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056777/" target="_blank"><i>Outer Limits</i></a> episodes I remember most as a child were the ones were protagonists found themselves in a strange town or surrounded by menacing neighbors. The show usually had some tremendous twist, a la <a href="http://www.americanliterature.com/Jackson/SS/TheLottery.html" target="_blank">Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery,"</a> which would make me gasp. If I was lucky, it would possess enough of a resolution that I could go to sleep that night, not worrying about the fate of the characters.<br />
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Heather Brewer's short story instantly brought this scifi infatuation of mine to mind. Set in a mysterious town that no one could quite remember moving to, Alek awaits to hear of the "gift" the year would bring him, a gift predicted by the town psychic, Jordan. Jordan predicted the arrival of Alek's best friend, Sara, at a time when he was lonely, but he feels a tremendous weight bearing down on him; this year's gift might be more than what he bargained for.<br />
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<b>"The Mind is a Powerful Thing" by <a href="http://www.mattdelapena.com/" target="_blank">Matt de la Pena</a></b><br />
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Joanna is a constantly worried sixteen-year-old. Despite celebrating her birthday with her close friends in West L.A., she nevertheless sees the worst around every corner and to her, the worst means assault and murder. After imbibing a little too much, the party gets out of control and Joanna might have irreparably damaged the one really good thing in her life.<br />
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I have a bunch of de la Pena's books in the library, but they are still on my "to-read" list. His unique voice was a refreshing change in the middle of this anthology and I loved the inclusion of Latina characters and an urban setting in a genre usually dominated by white protagonists. Diversity aside, however, I was wowed by how de la Pena conveys the idea of Joanna's paranoia, yet simultaneously gives you reason to believe she might just be worried for a valid reason. This duality kept me guessing and questioning my assumptions for the whole read. I love it when a good writer does that to me.<br />
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<b>"The Chosen One" by <a href="http://saundramitchell.com/" target="_blank">Saundra Mitchell</a></b><br />
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Saundra Mitchell's fantasy story was a standout in this collection, largely due to her choice to have a scarred protagonist, yet show us this character's inner beauty from the beginning. Corvina may be the daughter of the king of Vernal, but she was born on the wrong side of the blanket and is relegated to be the servant of her legitmate sister, the stunning Lucia. Lucia is wonderful, however, and about to embark on a search for a fiancee worthy of her, so Corvina is all the more bereft when her sister falls prey to a virilent disease. Not content to stand by and do nothing, Corvina decides to embark on a quest to find a magical cup that could cure Lucia.<br />
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Isn't all good fantasy centered on an individual's quest? Corvina's fight through obstacles, her finding a handsome ally to aid her, and a wonderful resolution had me eagerly turning the pages of this tale. I know Mitchell has done paranormal and mystery, but has she done other fantasy? I'm dying for more.<br />
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<b>"Improbable Futures" by <a href="http://www.kamigarcia.com/" target="_blank">Kami Garcia</a></b><br />
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I've only read Kami Garcia's work which she's written partnered with Margaret Stohl, so it was super to be able to hear her voice separate from that collaboration.<br />
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Ilana has been a carney since she was a child, destined to follow in her mother's footsteps to tell people their "fortunes" at the run down circus they've followed for her lifetime. She hates lying to people every night, but she does it, both because it is the only life she knows and because of the very real threat the owner poses to her. But one night, something happens to the prophecies Ilana tells her customers, and she never could have foreseen the results.<br />
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This tale was dark, dark, DARK and so rich with despair that I felt heavy after reading it. Yet I was delighted to see such a wonderful writer emerge on her own at the same time. Garcia has a new book coming out this year and this short story guarantees I'm buying it for the library. <br />
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<b>"Death for the Deathless" by <a href="http://www.margaret-stohl.com/" target="_blank">Margaret Stohl</a></b><br />
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Did you know that I actually have heard both Stohl and Garcia speak? They were <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/07/promoting-teen-reading-with-web-20.html" target="_blank">a dynamic twosome during the same YALSA young adult literature presentation where I also heard Malinda Lo</a>. Attendees actually got a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Creatures-Kami-Garcia/dp/0316077038/ref=pd_vtp_b_1" target="_blank"><i>Beautiful Creatures</i></a> as one of the take-away gifts for the workshop. I read it in one fell swoop on the plane and <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-isnt-there-more-southern-gothic.html" target="_blank">loved the gothic feel and strong Southern sense of place that pervaded the novel</a>. The highly successful series established both Garcia and Stohl's reputations, so it's great to see them both writing on their own, yet enjoying each other's company in the same anthology.<br />
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If this short story doesn't become a full-fledged book or series, it's a waste of a terrific idea. Beginning in the dark recesses of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, we meet two immortals, Luc whose job it is to use the enigma machine to receive prophecies from an unknown dimension, and the beautiful Adrienne, who must communicate them, good or bad, to the head immortals. Sorcerers, vampires, and werewolves abound in this world, and when Luc receives a communication about death to immortals, he and Adrienne are terrified to see the repercussions when she delivers the message, and for good reason.<br />
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I loved that the POV switched between the two characters and this world is so rich and nuanced, it left me wanting much, much more. I hope I get it!<br />
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<b>"Fate" by <a href="http://simoneelkeles.com/" target="_blank">Simone Elkeles</a></b><br />
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I'm not sure I would have put a second short story which also alternates POV between the male and female protagonist, but Ryan did. Luckily the two stories couldn't be more different. While Stohl plays to her strengths (and established fan base) in paranormal romance, Elkeles knows her forte is undoubtedly contemporary YA romance and she delivers.<br />
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Carson is an eighteen-year-old recently homeless and from a rough background; his father is in jail and his mother abandoned him when he was young, seeing him sporadically but always with little commitment. A loan allows him to rent a run-down RV in a trailer park and while it's not much, it's home, even if it comes with a chattering sixteen-year-old redhead girl next door. Willow doesn't seem to know how to take a hint, but she is determined to help Carson and he discovers that maybe it's time he opened up a little after all.<br />
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Sweet romance but it felt highly compressed to me - I would have enjoyed this in a longer book!<br />
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<b>"The Killing Garden" by <a href="http://www.carrieryan.com/" target="_blank">Carrie Ryan</a></b><br />
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Carrie Ryan was on the cusp of the zombie resurgence in YA literature and her books always kept me wide awake waiting for the pandemic that would turn us all into cannibals. I think she has an ability to draw a world that has you believing this could be yours under different circumstances, a chilling view of alternate history that is the fuel of nightmares.<br />
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While there are no zombies in this short story, the premise is equally as frightening. Tanci is the first female heir born to a long line of gardeners to the emperor, and her birth is a tremendous disappointment to her father, who does not feel she will be strong enough to carry on his legacy. Not just in charge of the elaborate royal gardens, the gardener is also responsible for weeding the court of enemies and threats, a weeding that consists of racing the condemned through the gardens and then strangling the accused on the execution platform.<br />
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Tanci trains her entire young life, casting aside any doubts and toughening her body. When she proves her strength, beating her father at the age of fifteen, she feels that there should be more than the numb emptiness she carries. But she doesn't really begin to question her role until she comes in contact with a particular prisoner who has her rethinking her vocation.<br />
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What chills you to the bone about this story is a society in which a teenage executioner is completely accepted and how Tanci can divorce herself from any doubts or feelings and make her work merely a test of skill and strength, even as she snuffing out the life of another person. Ryan's pacing is pitch perfect, so much so that this story gives the impression of a longer novella as it takes the reader on its main character's emotional journey.<br />
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<b>"Homecoming" by <a href="http://www.richellemead.com/" target="_blank">Richelle Mead</a></b><br />
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Finally, the story I actually purchased the book to read! I am a gigantic fan of the <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-wish-i-was-librarian-at-vampire.html" target="_blank">Vampire Academy series</a> and it's companion <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-details-about-vampire-academy-spin.html" target="_blank">Bloodlines series</a> (<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8709526-the-indigo-spell" target="_blank"><i>The Indigo Spell</i></a> #3 is coming out on February 12, 2013!). In all of YA literature (and most of adult romance), I defy you to come up with a hotter male lead than Dimitri Belikov. YOU CANNOT DO IT. I've got lots of teenage readers backing me up on this, people, trust me (and a few adult ones, as well).<br />
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After Rose Hathaway, the protagonist of the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/42114-vampire-academy" target="_blank">Vampire Academy series</a> helps free Dimitri of his Strigoi fate (and they have an eventual happily ever after, at least enough that the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/54340-bloodlines" target="_blank">Bloodlines series</a> can begin), you next "see" them in <i>Bloodlines</i>, getting Jill settled in with her Alchemist handler, Sydney, our protagonist for that series. I knew, somewhere along the line, that Rose and Dimitri must have gone back to Siberia to visit his family. Rose's time in that landscape with the Belikov's were some of the most moving emotional scenes of the series as she wrestled with her grief and the knowledge that she had promised to hunt him down, and I wanted to see them all again.<br />
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I was not disappointed. Not only did I revel in seeing my two badass lovebirds together in Russia but it was wonderful to see all of Dimitri's relatives, even his witch grandmother, the cryptic Yeva. Yeva annoys Rose once again (Yeva claims she new that Rose would be Dimitri's salvation, information Rose would have enjoyed having prior to trying to hunt him down and kill him) when an Alchemist arrives to tell them about a dangerous Strigoi nearby, the Blood King. The Alchemist convinces Rose and Dimitri to try and rid the area of this menace as so many humans are getting killed. Naturally, they head off to do just that.<br />
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Rose and Dimitri are just as fabulous a couple as they always were and Mead has chosen to showcase them at their loving best - fighting Strigoi. This is a story which will not disappoint fans of the series, particularly with all the hints that Dimitri is set on convincing Rose to marry him.<br />
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<b>So Who Wins the Blue Ribbon?</b><br />
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With fourteen short stories, I feel like I should at least highlight the best quality stories in this anthology. Naturally, my favorite is Mead's "Homecoming" but I'm willing to admit that someone who was unfamiliar with the <i>Vampire Academy</i> series would not get as much out of this story as I have (although I think they'd be tempted to read more of the series). "One True Love" by Malinda Lo and Saundra Mitchell's "The Chosen One" are stellar examples of strong female fantasy characters. Margaret Stohl's "Death for the Deathless" has also been staying with me for days, and I really do have my fingers crossed that this is a precursor to a series.<br />
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Carrie Ryan should get a bruise from patting herself on the back for this collection. She has successfully corralled some of the best quality writers in the young adult genre, building a terrific anthology of short stories which delivers to readers, not only an excellent taste of each of these authors, but also fourteen compelling emotional journeys.<br />
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I hope I can prophesy that she'll do this again for us.<br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-40317968918288433752012-11-12T15:15:00.000-05:002012-11-12T15:15:33.980-05:00Inspiring Writers: The Night of Writing Dangerously<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the most important parts of successful library program relates to serendipity. By being among students in unscripted settings (for me, it's sitting out at the desk with kids casually hanging out at our "information bar"), I hear their interests and can bounce ideas off of them. I think of it as my "daily zeitgeist" reading.<br />
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A few weeks ago, I was speaking with the head of our creative writing group (a group who are resurrecting our school's defunct literary magazine). A bunch of my writers are taking part in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Novel_Writing_Month" rel="wikipedia" title="National Novel Writing Month">National Novel Writing Month</a>, known to devotees as <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" rel="homepage" title="NaNoWriMo">NaNoWriMo</a>, where participants pledge to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. Impressive, yes?<br />
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I was exploring the site's companion <a href="http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">Young Writer's Program</a> as well as the main site and reveling in all the information. Granted my teenagers seemed to fall between the YWP and the adult version of the program, but the flyers and free supplemental materials were terrific (<a href="http://files.content.lettersandlight.org/nano-2012/files/2012/10/Facebook_cover.png" target="_blank">awesome Facebook banner</a>, anyone?). That's when I stumbled on "<a href="http://nanowrimo.org/en/writeathon" target="_blank">The Night of Writing Dangerously</a>."<br />
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Seemingly meant as both a motivator to write in a party-like atmosphere and as a fundraiser for the nonprofit that runs NaNoWriMo, The Night of Writing Dangerously seemed to have food, fun and writing all in one package. Why couldn't we have a writing party at school? When the kids and I began talking, we quickly made the connection to the fact that November is the end of our fall term semester - and it's crunch time for a lot seniors working with December 1st college deadlines. This was one event that could combine creative writers, kids working on term papers, and our college-bound seniors in one fell swoop.<br />
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It was just crazy enough to work. I <a href="https://store.lettersandlight.org/merchandise" target="_blank">bought some prizes from the NaNoWriMo website</a> which was for the creative writers at the party (so popular!!) and contacted by Director of Student Life since this would be a nighttime student activity. He said that end of term activities the weekend before exam week were always tough to plan since we want kids to relax but also don't want to distract them from studying, so this fit the bill. He was happy to provide the pizza and soft drinks and I would handle the sweet stuff.<br />
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Anyone who knows me is aware that I take sugar very seriously. "Teenager" is synonymous with "hungry wolf-like human who loves chocolate" in my opinion and I have enough of an established reputation as a baker to draw kids in. But I wanted to make this extra special and pull out the stops. We had a sign up sheet (exclusivity gives it a little more cachet and helps you predict how much food to make) and I was astonished to have 60 kids sign up in two days! I actually had to turn people away since more than 60 kids makes the library kind of zooey. I could have easily added 10 more students if my library could have accommodated them. Here's what to make for 60 kids:<br />
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<li>Order 12 pizzas</li>
<li>Have a case of bottled water and a couple boxes of soda</li>
<li><a class="zem_slink" href="http://keurig.com/" rel="homepage" title="Keurig">Keurig</a> hot beverage maker and a couple boxes of the entertaining assorted cups for hot drinks</li>
<li><a href="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/06/10/dark-chocolate-cupcakes-with-peanut-butter-frosting/" target="_blank">Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes</a> (12)</li>
<li>Vanilla w/Vanilla Bean Frosting Cupcakes (24)</li>
<li>Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes w/Lemon Frosting (24)</li>
<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HBgD7FO4VAitYfr4oV-QaKPS6wUY4_4tqO5FOzglRB0/edit" target="_blank">Chocolate Chip Cookies</a> (48)</li>
<li>Brownies (36)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/05/07/toffee-pretzel-bark/" target="_blank">English Toffee Pretzel Bark</a> (2 1/2 pounds)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/09/25/cake-batter-sprinkles-chocolate-bark/" target="_blank">Cake Batter Bark</a> (2 pounds)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/homemade-marshmallows-recipe" target="_blank">Homemade marshmallows</a> (for the hot chocolate K-cups)</li>
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Because I wanted to make sure everyone who came understood they needed to work, I built off of NaNoWriMo's idea of "Guilt Monkeys". In actuality, I have no idea what the heck these are, but my local NaNoWriMo leader threatened people with them. I decided to create <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3qR1GmpjcGtZnpBRU5ra1FRMEU" target="_blank">Guilt Monkey stickers</a> (Avery label 22807) that we would slap on people if they weren't working. Three Guilty Monkeys and you were out of the library. Kids loved the Guilt Monkeys so much (I only gave out two and each to a different person) that they actually asked to have one to keep at the end of the night, which made me laugh.<br />
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The night was incredible. To see between 50 and 60 students diligently working on their writing projects on a Friday night from 6 pm to 10 pm was so gratifying and they seemed to love having the opportunity to work. We took a break midway through to run around the library (literally - see below video) and then got back to business. I interviewed the kids between helping students, so here's the video of their feedback about the night (it's about fourteen minutes).<br />
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I think we will definitely do this at the end of each semester - I might be ready to collapse from all the baking but it was so helpful (this number of kids represent about 15% of our school population) that I can't deprive them of this opportunity.<br />
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I'm glad that NaNoWriMo managed to inspire me to reach out to all kinds of writers and that I have a student body willing to immerse themselves in the fun of a work night. I ended up having a ball with all the sugared up enthusiasm floating around and cheerfully look forward to future Nights of Writing Dangerously.<br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-1336440303318025662012-11-06T22:28:00.000-05:002012-11-06T22:28:13.307-05:00Libba Bray Channels the Lost Generation in Her New Paranormal Series, The Diviners<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336424966l/7728889.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336424966l/7728889.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7728889-the-diviners" target="_blank"><i>The Diviners </i></a>(<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/52550-the-diviners" target="_blank">The Diviners</a> #1) by <a href="http://libbabray.com/" target="_blank">Libba Bray</a></td></tr>
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It's not a gigantic secret that I love Libba Bray. Like "light candles to her image" kind of love. She's brainy, funny and a brilliant writer, as evidenced by not only her kick-ass <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/44586-gemma-doyle" target="_blank">historical paranormal Gemma Doyle series</a>, but also <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/06/anti-corporate-pageant-satire-is-best.html" target="_blank">such amazing books as <i>Beauty Queens</i></a> and <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/going-bovine-by-libba-bray-is-next-cult.html" target="_blank"><i>Going Bovine</i></a>. I loved Libba Bray before Libba Bray was cool.<br />
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So when I heard over a year ago that she was writing a new series, inspired by 1920s icons like <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Fitzgerald" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Zelda Fitzgerald">Zelda Fitzgerald</a> and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Dorothy Parker">Dorothy Parker</a>, I practically wept with happiness. If anyone could capture the zeitgeist of the era and employ her brand of funny and poignant, it was Libba.<br />
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Why did it take me until page 180 to really begin to like this book then?<br />
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There were a couple of reasons. First, this book is dark and I mean DARK. No one is a happy person in this book and Libba Bray does the best job of capturing the frenetic attitude and sense of doom which characterized the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Lost Generation">Lost Generation</a> since <a href="http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/fitzgerald.asp" target="_blank">F. Scott Fitzgerald</a>.<br />
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But these brittle, jaded, impossibly sad people don't make it easy to connect with them. Evie, the main character, jangles the nerves with her flippant flapper slang and odor of desperation as she tries to drink herself into oblivion, succumbing to the need for attention with her "gift" of reading objects which reveal their owner's secrets to her. It got her kicked out of her hometown in Ohio, and she's much more content to be spending her exile in Manhattan with a preoccupied uncle who runs an unsuccessful museum of the occult.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Diviners-UK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Diviners-UK.jpg" width="202" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The U.K. version of the cover</td></tr>
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While I struggled to like Evie (I finally warmed up to her around that page 180 when she started to show she had a brain investigating the mystery), I was also initally distracted by all the other characters in the book. Once again, you have to patiently wade through the first 200 pages before we begin to see below their surface, but the three-dimensional quality Bray endows them with is worth it. Memphis, <a href="http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/harlem_gangs/3.html" target="_blank">the Harlem numbers runner</a> trying to care for his younger brother; Theta, the stunning <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziegfeld_Follies" target="_blank">Ziegfield girl </a>who lives in the same building as Evie and has a violent past; Uncle Will, a professor running a strange museum who seems to understand all too well the mysterious happenings going on; Mabel, the neglected daughter of radicals who tries to be good but is tempted by Evie and Theta's jazz baby ways; Jericho, Uncle Will's faithful assistant whose stolid demeanor hides an incredible secret; and Sam, the pickpocket fascinated by Evie who has an agenda of his own, namely finding the mother stolen from him as a boy.<br />
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Because all of these people, and many of the equally as well-drawn secondary characters, are "diviners" or people with supernatural abilities who will be crucial in the upcoming conflict, although we really don't know what form that storm will take, even after almost 600 pages. The last 400 pages of the book contain a real rip-snorter of a mystery (now that the foundation for the time period and character basics are laid) and, <a href="http://www.thedivinersseries.com/" target="_blank">since I imagine that this series is at least a trilogy</a>, that first third of the book is probably a reasonable dedication of resources. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.blogo.it/booksblog/c/c29/la-stella-nera-di-new-york-bray-fazi-lain-280x403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://static.blogo.it/booksblog/c/c29/la-stella-nera-di-new-york-bray-fazi-lain-280x403.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spanish language version</td></tr>
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Let me tell you, there is some kind of a creepy mystery involved. A cult, gruesome murders described in detail, and the further unraveling of each characters abilities send nonstop chills down your spine. Alongside the mystery, we finally go in depth with each character, getting a sense of what makes them tick and, as in all her books, Libba Bray does not shy away from reality for her YA audience.<br />
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Theta's abuse is clearly detailed and as the attraction between her and Memphis ramps up, it's clear in this era that this budding romance could end in tremendous racial violence. The distrust of government - as seen through the eyes of Sam, whose mother is part of the mysterious Project Buffalo (to be explained in more detail in a future book) and Jericho who was literally made a human experiment, as well as the sinister blind man, Bill, who seems to have had repeated exposure to an early version of "Men in Black" - actually fits the tone of the Lost Generation post-<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i" rel="historycom" target="_blank" title="World War I">WWI</a> era perfectly.<br />
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Librarians: this book is going to be a hot property when <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343092/" target="_blank">the new <i>The Great Gatsby</i> film comes out</a> in 2013 and everything twenties becomes new again. Libba Bray's research is meticulous and exhaustive and it shows - every detail is so pitch-perfect for this era that I just sat there, utterly dazzled reading all these amazing references. The afterword in the book says that <a href="http://thedivinersseries.com/" target="_blank">the companion website to the series</a> would have a bibliography, but I couldn't find one at this point on there.<br />
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This book possesses Libba Bray's usual writing skill, particularly in the historical details and slow reveal of character depths, and I'm going to definitely read the next book in the series, particularly after seeing how the book progressed in pacing. The story arc laid is sufficiently fascinating that I think this series has a lot of potential to live up to her reputation. I'm glad I stuck it out through those first 200 pages!<br />
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<i>Book trailer from Little, Brown & Co</i></div>
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-39498934933437637362012-11-04T11:00:00.000-05:002012-11-04T11:00:03.367-05:00Beth Revis Gives Me a Kick in the Pants, YA Literature Style<center>
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I've been feeling guilty. While I've been keeping up with all my professional reading, I've been horribly neglecting my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young-adult_fiction" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Young-adult fiction">YA literature</a> as anyone who follows me on <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.goodreads.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Goodreads">Goodreads</a> can attest. I've got a separate Goodreads account for my all my racier romance and mystery books, but naturally I want to keep it professional since kids like to follow teachers on that social reading network.<br />
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Well, I've read 529 mystery and romance books, and while some of them are totally appropriate for my teenagers (and I've recommended them and gotten them for the library where they've been devoured), clearly I've not been doing a good job of dividing my attention appropriately. Thankfully, award-winning author <a href="http://www.bethrevis.com/" target="_blank">Beth Revis</a>, author of the YA science fiction <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/56124-across-the-universe" target="_blank"><i>Across the Universe</i></a> trilogy, is reminding me of all the great books out there that I have yet to read.<br />
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She's <a href="http://bethrevis.blogspot.com/2012/11/celebrate-books-win-library-of-signed.html#" target="_blank">offering a dazzling selection of autographed YA books</a> as a prize (which I would love to give as prizes to my kids if I win) that highlight some of the most outstanding quality literature to be published in the last year or two. Thankfully, I've read several, but it's a good reminder of all the well-reviewed books out there I need to read.<br />
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So thanks, Beth, for offering such a treasure trove to one of your readers, but more importantly, for getting me back on the ball where I belong! <br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com0Dallas, PA 18612, USA41.3459438 -75.981156441.2505793 -76.1390849 41.4413083 -75.8232279tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-56743736603678273952012-11-03T21:35:00.000-04:002012-11-03T21:35:16.000-04:00Celebrating International Games Day in the Library<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGKUvCrjfQkmT_fUovXGQUtoJN1qCXieWPX4QvT1RYrNL1_chQvOvCDk0s9lqe0-Nm5do1lnUZ1gt0m_kOIMsxcEyiasiMw-ym9t_J9pVjQprJkAP-2Kwmiq1yKCRgTRk_ESQWA/s1600/IMG_0236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGKUvCrjfQkmT_fUovXGQUtoJN1qCXieWPX4QvT1RYrNL1_chQvOvCDk0s9lqe0-Nm5do1lnUZ1gt0m_kOIMsxcEyiasiMw-ym9t_J9pVjQprJkAP-2Kwmiq1yKCRgTRk_ESQWA/s320/IMG_0236.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A portion of our <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Board game">board games</a> collection. </td></tr>
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A few months ago I read the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Libraries" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="American Libraries">American Libraries</a> Association announcement that Saturday, November 3rd was <a href="http://ngd.ala.org/" target="_blank">International Games Day</a>, and it made a significant enough impression that I wrote it in my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://google.com/calendar" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Calendar">Google calendar</a> and contacted the new (and very collaborative) Director of Student Activities to see what he thought. This just screamed "ready made library program" to me since, hey, I was prescient enough to have the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://wii.nintendo.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Wii">Wii</a> and a ton of board games. Would the kids go for it?<br />
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Heck, yeah, they did and I'm sure a big piece of the adolescent welcome those games received was due to the fact that my students are mentally fried - we have one more week of class prior to fall term exam week and this week was only three days long because of us being shut down for Hurricane Sandy. While most of our day student families escaped personal injury, there was still a ton of cleanup with some people having days without power. People who don't work at a school always think that it must be cushy to have days off, but I've got news for them - when it's not a planned vacation day, you end up doing five days of work in those three days of school (this is true for both students and faculty!).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SICSQh0psMt0a2u47_ZKVdEasORs_-4TaBO2EaJdibD6QFCm7yE2orULrFeKHd38ukMyl_lgroroS-EmERnxyhajuS3RyAbRgaETMD8Gl5Opu4SIEx2wmUZMJ951pSzrqBDw9A/s1600/IMG_0232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SICSQh0psMt0a2u47_ZKVdEasORs_-4TaBO2EaJdibD6QFCm7yE2orULrFeKHd38ukMyl_lgroroS-EmERnxyhajuS3RyAbRgaETMD8Gl5Opu4SIEx2wmUZMJ951pSzrqBDw9A/s320/IMG_0232.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictionary, and its high-octane sister, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.cranium.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Cranium (board game)">Cranium</a> are popular.</td></tr>
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So board games on a Friday afternoon were just what the doctor ordered
for these overtaxed synapses; my kids leaped on the games like starving wolves when the
final period concluded and they saw the boxes and the Wii all set up in
one of my classrooms (playing until after 6 pm). <br />
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First to go was <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_%28game%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Monopoly (game)">Monopoly</a>, which ended up being an eight-person extravaganza complete with good-natured smack talk! <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictionary" target="_blank">Pictionary</a> and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Scrabble">Scrabble</a> were next, my Wii controllers were snatched up for a waterboarding fiesta, and the noisy rustle of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggle" target="_blank">Boggle</a> (with a lot of laughing) ensued in the corner. My new favorite game, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spin-Master-Games-20042851-Quelf/dp/B00421AGGG" target="_blank">Quelph</a>, was purchased by the Activities Director (be sure you have a high embarrassment threshold prior to playing this one!<br />
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Over 45 kids ended up relaxing over games in one form or another, and it was one of the easiest programs I ever administered. No food, no direction on my part, just friendly encouragement to the kids and the occasional walk around to take a picture or two. Minor effort on my part and over 10% of my student population entertained.<br />
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One startling surprise was that the Activities Director, genius that he is, also picked up a 550-piece <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_puzzle" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Jigsaw puzzle">jigsaw puzzle</a> and it was a HUGE hit. Kids were talking about having a puzzle club since they loved sitting and working together on different portions, high-fiving and cheering when one of them saw a way to fit sections together. I'm wondering if the best collaboration would be for libraries in a given county or consortium to each buy four or five puzzles (the 500+ pieces ones can be found for under $10 online and at places like Kmart or toy stores) and then rotate them around. Garage sale divas could probably find amazing bargains, but I'd always worry that there would be pieces missing - maybe if you could find unopened boxes?<br />
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In reflection, there is no way I won't be doing Games Day, and more frequently than once a year. This provided a relaxing, cheap way for my library to use resources it had already and de-stress my student population. A perfect ending to a rough week!<br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-86352214378756571902012-10-14T16:32:00.000-04:002012-10-14T16:33:21.311-04:00Paint Your Nails Pink in Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Library Programming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjKHec09Oo-2INxEu15Z5y5D60s6hNsAlQWHZ7jTzDqz980XRjV50C4Ps5IBI4YliSczUlJZh8R__Y8Ck5OCaRTSi2zLSRq6uaTLbTwFtHAMZyCTKvFMIIIJcn1vh5FpcappsiA/s1600/541139_10152143520595123_1119250052_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjKHec09Oo-2INxEu15Z5y5D60s6hNsAlQWHZ7jTzDqz980XRjV50C4Ps5IBI4YliSczUlJZh8R__Y8Ck5OCaRTSi2zLSRq6uaTLbTwFtHAMZyCTKvFMIIIJcn1vh5FpcappsiA/s200/541139_10152143520595123_1119250052_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
When I realized during my Hunger Games Party last spring that the nail art table was the most popular craft, the thought occurred to me that this was an ideal library program. Okay, yes, it's a bit stinky with the acetate and nail polish fumes, but usually no one minds and the fun the kids have (and associate with the library) goes a long way to making students feel the library is a comfortable, welcoming place to spend their non-nail polishing time.<br />
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Every October, one of my wonderful colleagues - who is a teacher, athletic trainer, class dean and dorm parent, no less - takes in upon herself to organize our school's <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_awareness" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Breast cancer awareness">Breast Cancer Awareness</a> fundraisers during the month of October. This fundraising has at its center the selling of that year's t-shirt, which the students can wear on a set day and dress down, always a welcome break from dress code.<br />
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I wanted to make sure that the library had some kind of tie-in programming that would ramp the kids up and encourage them to buy their t-shirt. Having a bunch of supplies left over from the Hunger Games nail art table (like the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/OPI-Rapid-Dry-Spray-4oz/dp/B0002RUMIG" target="_blank">OPI drying spray</a>, which is pricey but a must-have and it lasts forever), I realized while browsing in my local <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.ulta.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Ulta">Ulta</a> that I could easily drop $30 dollars on pink nail polish and have a snazzy little programming afternoon (and supplies for the future). The store was having an October special where if you purchased two pink OPI polishes you would get a free top coat or base coat, so I choose six shades of pink (Japanese Rose Garden and Pinking of You were popular favorites) and got my freebies. Piles of pink <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jolly-Rancher-Watermelon-160-Piece-Box/dp/B000ES40MM" target="_blank">Watermelon Jolly Ranchers</a> to snack on and we had a fun party in progress!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHR09ILu_SlPz0DLnW5fH_pzp8vb9zx256EQ2b5y-mEDv8gImK3YVaFHkXx8tkEW4P-Q8RJ02_H3SA_IIyruDIKrrXBzf-JEUJiHR1drMYLst05Zdfu1KAxg8s9eMzBuXIeHAzyw/s1600/IMG_0199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHR09ILu_SlPz0DLnW5fH_pzp8vb9zx256EQ2b5y-mEDv8gImK3YVaFHkXx8tkEW4P-Q8RJ02_H3SA_IIyruDIKrrXBzf-JEUJiHR1drMYLst05Zdfu1KAxg8s9eMzBuXIeHAzyw/s200/IMG_0199.jpg" width="148" /></a> The terrific aspect of doing a nail program is that you don't have to be an expert about the technique. I rely heavily upon sites like <a class="zem_slink" href="http://pinterest.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Pinterest">Pinterest</a> for <a href="http://pinterest.com/sessumst/nail-art" target="_blank">nail art boards which possess oodles of inspiration and links to the actual sites</a> that contain the DIY components. With the addition of glass head pins and toothpicks to your program, and/or <a href="http://www.sephora.com/nail-design-pen-P288818" target="_blank">nail art pens</a> if you want to get fancy with effects. I was amazed at how many students used the toothpicks and pins I had left over from previous craft programming to make this terrific breast cancer ribbons on their nails.<br />
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I know that other librarians will instantly note that anything involving nail polish is programming that leans heavily to our female patrons. Since so many students had expressed an interest, I still felt it was a good idea and I was pleasantly surprised to see plenty of boys. Granted most of them were watching and flirting with the girls, but more than a few boys were cajoled into having a single nail painted pink since it was "for breast cancer awareness."<br />
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When our Lower School bus let out at the Upper School campus, a bunch of little kids (faculty children) joined us, and since a bunch of the high school students present were babysitters for these little ones, the energy really jacked up a notch. The little girls LOVED having their nails done by the big girls and were particularly entranced by the nail art and sparkle effects that some of the students brought to the party. I asked a bunch of kids if they would put their hands out so we could capture all the pretty nails, and I love the picture (left) which was the result. Little hands and big hands, with lots of different skin tones, but all perfectly showcasing the pink. Over 40 students (out of a 420 student population) ended up having their nails done and they are still talking about how much fun it was. I'm going to have to think up other tie-ins (like Halloween nails for Teen Read Week 2012) that let my nail creators to express themselves.<br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-42510271186625708052012-02-24T12:21:00.001-05:002012-02-24T12:21:54.944-05:00Book Review: For Russian History Buffs, The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was probably not a normal teenager. (Is there such a thing?) While my friends were reading Judy Blume, I was reading Robert K. Massie's page-turning nonfiction work, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Alexandra-Classic-Account-Romanov/dp/0345438310/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330100093&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Nicholas and Alexandra</a>, along with a lot of other history. Monarchs were my focus, and if they had a connection to Queen Victoria, then so much the better.<br />
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Even I didn't have this historical reading background, I'm honestly not sure I would have been as involved with <a href="http://www.robinbridges.com/" target="_blank">Robin Bridges</a>' new work, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Katerina-Trilogy-Vol-Gathering-Storm/dp/0385740220/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330100953&sr=1-2" target="_blank">The Gathering Storm</a>. The Russian monarchy and aristocracy, particularly as it intersects with other European royal families, is pretty complicated, to say nothing of mastering the naming nomenclature and understanding who is who. Bridges doesn't shy away from describing multiple members of the Romanov family and the intricately related members of the aristocracy, and I definitely relied on my background knowledge to escape confusion.<br />
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That caution aside, I thought her depiction of late 19th century aristocratic Russia to be outstandingly accurate in reference to the nonfiction I've enjoyed about the period, but Bridges takes this interest a step further by adding in a paranormal element. This addition works incredibly well since the mysticism that is such a part of Russian culture of this time lends a dark and sinister quality to reading about these historical figures (hello, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin" target="_blank">Rasputin</a> anyone?). <br />
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In 1888, Katerina Alexandrova, Duchess of Oldenberg, is a pretty debutante in one of the most exclusive finishing schools in St. Petersburg, but she has aspirations to become a doctor, a goal supported by her loving father and reviled by her mother who would like to see her married well. Unknown to her family is a dark secret Katerina has kept since she was a child. She can raise the dead.<br />
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Like so many paranormal protagonists, she decides to go the denial route for a little while, but naturally it backfires as her coming out to society exposes her to powerful figures with an understanding of magic. To these individuals, Katerina's dark power is obvious and she finds herself first being judged by the handsome but critical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_George_Alexandrovich_of_Russia" target="_blank">Grand Duke George Alexandrovich</a>, the tsar's son, no stranger to magic himself. She also discovers that several prominent friends of the family also have magical alliances and vampires exist (although necromancers like Katerina are extremely rare) at the highest levels. Despite evidence being stacked against her, it becomes apparent that Katerina loves her tsar and wants to help however she can, even if her power frightens her as much as the people who want to control her.<br />
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Having a leg up on the history and naming piece made me understand some of the subtleties of what was going on (like how <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia" target="_blank">Tsarevitch Nicholas</a> will undoubtedly end up with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alix_of_Hesse" target="_blank">Princess Alix</a>). There were a few pieces that bothered me in the reading. At one point while in the hospital, the nurse comes in to hang another <b>bag</b> of <b>plasma</b>. Um...really? In 1888? I know that transfusions would have been common but <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/blood/chapter1.htm" target="_blank">I can't find a lot of evidence</a> which supports that the separation of plasma took place often in this time period, to say nothing of plasma transfusions being routinely given until World War I. Maybe they were, but I can guarantee that if the <a href="http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=mash" target="_blank">M*A*S*H</a> episodes I watch in reruns still are using glass bottles, I'm betting late 19th century Russia would be using a similar technology. Because the book is written solely from Katerina's perspective, the romance between her and George feels a little uneven but I still think he is royally cute. I'll be interested to see how far she sticks to his actual life. Is he going to do the royal yacht tour with his brother the tsarevitch in 1890? Will he still die mysteriously in a motorcycle accident in 1899 or will it be magic related? The possibilities are endless.<br />
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The second book in the trilogy has a release date of October 9, 2012, and the cover for <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13414829-the-unfailing-light" target="_blank">The Unfailing Light</a> is even more beautiful than the first book. Katerina is bound for medical school but must stay home and spend another year at finishing school because of a supernatural threat to the tsar that only she can help repel. The dark forces battling for power want to not only topple him but also use her in their bid for supremacy.<br />
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<a href="http://robinbridges.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Bridges' blog</a> (also published to the front page of <a href="http://www.robinbridges.com/" target="_blank">her website</a> and to <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4094048.Robin_Bridges" target="_blank">her Goodreads account</a>) and she posts regularly on <a href="ahttp://www.facebook.com/people/Robin-Bridges/1344548089" target="_blank">her Facebook account</a>. I'm looking forward to following her work and see how this trilogy lends a new perspective on Russian history.The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-77121171087979851682012-02-20T13:49:00.000-05:002012-02-20T13:49:58.360-05:00Book Review: A Treatment of Faith or Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been waiting to read this book for two years. How can that be? <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/07/promoting-teen-reading-with-web-20.html" target="_blank">I heard Melissa Walker back in 2010</a> talk about the concept of basing a book around the evangelical Christian concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house" target="_blank">Hell Houses</a> and how that event could be a catalyst for a protagonist's personal growth. <a href="http://hellhousemovie.com/" target="_blank">Having just watched a documentary about Hell Houses at the time</a>, I was reeling at just how the beliefs and passions of evangelical teens get channeled through this medium.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Small-Town-Sinners-Melissa-Walker/dp/1599905272/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329761577&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Small Town Sinners</a> is a brilliantly written novel about the moment when a teenager begins to move away from their family, bonds with their peers and begins to undertake the important work of questioning what is important in their lives in order to understand what they, not their parents, believe. Lacey Anne Byer lives as the dutiful daughter of a preacher and his wife, but at the age of 16 and on the cusp of her junior year, she is poised to find an opportunity to be in the limelight for once. She believes that her church's upcoming Hell House is the opportunity she needs, by trying out for the most difficult part, "abortion girl."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A suicide scene from a Hell House</td></tr>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house" target="_blank">Hell Houses</a>, for those of you who don't know, are many evangelical churches answer to traditional Halloween haunted houses. While they originally took various incarnations, by the 1990s, many churches (and later the huge mega-churches or parachurches) particularly in the West began putting on complex, themed Hell Houses, which take visitors via a guide through a variety of staged vignettes depicting "sins" such as homosexuality, abortion, suicide, premarital sex, and occultism. At the end of the tour, visitors are usually presented with a scene of hell and suffering and then taken into (or given the choice to enter) an all white serene environment in which church and youth leaders ask each individual if they are ready to accept Jesus Christ or consider learning more about fundamentalist Christianity.<br />
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<a href="http://www.melissacwalker.com/" target="_blank">Melissa Walker</a>, who as a writer has shown a tremendous amount of diversity with the topics she has tackled (some light and fun and others deep), had pitched the concept of Hell Houses as a magazine article she wanted to write. <a href="http://www.ekristinanderson.com/?p=3337" target="_blank">She interviewed dozens of various teenagers involved in this life and with various perspectives on their faith </a>and felt that their voices and personalities resonated so much with her that she decided to write a book showing what it would be like to wrestle with faith in a modern world.<br />
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I think the reason that I was so wowed by this book was because Lacey Anne was a compelling voice. Often quieter characters in YA literature are either painfully shy or about to undergo some huge personality change and unleash their inner extrovert, but Lacey was terrific just the way she was. Yes, she was interested in showing what she was capable of in testing her limits with her acting for the Hell House but was essentially the same thoughtful, observant person she always was.<br />
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When Ty Davis moves into town, Lacey is drawn to him and he to her. Ty was a FABULOUS love interest. He belongs to the same church as Lacey (his aunt is the church librarian) but he has a mysterious past. Ty models to Lacey that she can question the inconsistencies or hypocrisy of the people around them who all espouse the ideals of Christianity (but who often fall short of that goal) including Lacey's parents. He's not disrespectful, nor is Lacey's having faith ever in question, but the message is more button Lacey's father takes up on the bulletin board "Love is the Answer...Now what is the question?"<br />
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Walker is a special author (and a great speaker, FYI) who has really mastered how an author can have a successful online presence. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/melissawalkerauthor?ref=ts&sk=wall" target="_blank">Her Facebook page</a> has regular posts (and not just about upcoming books) and <a href="http://www.melissacwalker.com/blog/" target="_blank">her blog is well-written and often showcases other excellent authors</a>. She also contributes regularly to the <a href="http://readergirlz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Readergirlz blog</a>, which is another great resource I have in my RSS reader which helps me keep up with the latest and greatest in books. I'm sure most libraries have a copy of this book, but for kindle owners, keep in mind the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Small-Town-Sinners-ebook/dp/B005CVMI20/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329763143&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Kindle edition </a>is only $2.51! Bargain!The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-6612748806022927342012-02-16T10:49:00.000-05:002015-10-12T20:58:13.473-04:00Love Your Library: A Valentine's Day Library Event<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvviVKrwy9poiPaHL6g4DlIKwKCGZCeacA6U2NXuUBlQTw4eDTwLqzP-Fo7lsMW5uskyMJ8z9y2pqHxIcEv6qRV8WfOWcVq1JFMzs8djStxCvMCh-oYvd6E77q1laCFMojM5S5OA/s1600/IMG_0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvviVKrwy9poiPaHL6g4DlIKwKCGZCeacA6U2NXuUBlQTw4eDTwLqzP-Fo7lsMW5uskyMJ8z9y2pqHxIcEv6qRV8WfOWcVq1JFMzs8djStxCvMCh-oYvd6E77q1laCFMojM5S5OA/s320/IMG_0056.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Information Bar of Kirby Library Post-<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day" rel="wikipedia" title="Valentine's Day">Valentine's Day</a></td></tr>
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I am a big proponent of catching people doing something right - I like it when my colleagues and supervisors do it to me and I love the blush of recognition students get when you let them know how much you admire them for something they are doing. So why not have an event whose sole purpose is thanking your patrons?<br />
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For me, an obvious day was Valentine's Day. February 14th is designated "Love Your Library" day at <a href="http://www.wyomingseminary.org/" target="_blank">Wyoming Seminary's Upper School</a> (yes, we wear pink or red at the desk). If students, faculty or staff want to come over to the library and fill out a heart about what they love best, the library thanks them by giving them a fresh-baked cookie (mostly chocolate chip, but I do make a batch of oatmeal craisin for the people who don't like chocolate or are allergic). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHF2bqUB97y1Njimo89ND2L3GB8OHBlmrNivDR5hmGlmaLwAYUpB9PDoFUaGS2rsd1FBDepaU7mBRAqqBH4vjsSF97g0MYBgFE5f2q5gZqb3Ek04FEmrDQvDG0dSU-3NtxHaE85Q/s1600/IMG_0050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHF2bqUB97y1Njimo89ND2L3GB8OHBlmrNivDR5hmGlmaLwAYUpB9PDoFUaGS2rsd1FBDepaU7mBRAqqBH4vjsSF97g0MYBgFE5f2q5gZqb3Ek04FEmrDQvDG0dSU-3NtxHaE85Q/s320/IMG_0050.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My kitchen prior to beginning - 200 cookies were made in 3 hours</td></tr>
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I will admit, the cookie baking is not an insignificant undertaking. Luckily, as a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_school" rel="wikipedia" title="Boarding school">boarding school</a> veteran I have developed an excellent system of cranking out large quantities of cookies in a relatively compressed period of time (so I can go to sleep before midnight). My <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HBgD7FO4VAitYfr4oV-QaKPS6wUY4_4tqO5FOzglRB0/edit" target="_blank">chocolate chip cookies</a> are really popular, so I focus on those, with just one batch of oatmeal for the people with allergies. I made about 200 cookies this time, and they were all gone by the end of school, so I probably could have made 240 and it would have been perfect for the after school crowd as well, but I ran out of chocolate chips! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gtvkb5xBPqt7MoCKUKz0s4s42UGvzH9MpmL3ywWTpHlbeREzYZBrq1FG1acZhHMZOciUZ9MGwNroBhtCWQk-JWyXrnur67Ima1KZTYiD5QmeBV7If9QXZIdRyIKZoluNYN_OXQ/s1600/IMG_0052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gtvkb5xBPqt7MoCKUKz0s4s42UGvzH9MpmL3ywWTpHlbeREzYZBrq1FG1acZhHMZOciUZ9MGwNroBhtCWQk-JWyXrnur67Ima1KZTYiD5QmeBV7If9QXZIdRyIKZoluNYN_OXQ/s320/IMG_0052.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
Publicity is important to any well-attended event and word of mouth among teenagers is total gold for publicizing library events. I had one of my LAB seniors make an announcement the day before and I also emailed and hung up flyers (<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TcnpT2PfB0JS0ywQkFofJIdGVEmc2nxcNmQTRnkNKnc/edit" target="_blank">which you can view for yourself on my Google Docs</a>). Just using pale pink and lavender paper, I printed out simple hearts with a question: "Why do you love the library?" (Important note: be sure you only print as many hearts as there are cookies - that way the end of valentines directly correlates with no more cookies and you don't run out.)<br />
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This could seem like asking the kids to jump through a hoop to just get a cookie, but we actually collect these and use them as data to take an informal read on our program. My golden retriever usually wins the most mentions, paws down (you can see one of our student's rendition of him looking up at me reading a book, something I never get to do in the library) but usually my fellow librarian and I are a close second (and we don't have big egos, so the dog being ahead of us is fine).<br />
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Points I noticed this year that seemed unusual from other years where the notice of the "ambiance" of the library or the "warmth" of the library and I'm thinking this was related to more adjectives to describe our professional staff ("helpful librarians" or "friendly librarians"). <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUirki7uKdt4qOxo1Aukj6ll8CTwgcUCs9hBN6TJTSZ0exv6jOEVBBDFl_t1e7YHJ1_qWls9-GX2psODqAkC6kQE5cww5_9B7wWNH92zBXyCQKFyQLA9cyKLxSqlf1cjPFnxSfhw/s1600/IMG_0060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUirki7uKdt4qOxo1Aukj6ll8CTwgcUCs9hBN6TJTSZ0exv6jOEVBBDFl_t1e7YHJ1_qWls9-GX2psODqAkC6kQE5cww5_9B7wWNH92zBXyCQKFyQLA9cyKLxSqlf1cjPFnxSfhw/s320/IMG_0060.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
Our kids are wonderful at our school (really, I'm not making this up - I know that I am lucky, almost every one of the 200 kids who did a valentine thanked me so politely when they took their cookie, or they enthusiastically spoke about how much they were looking forward to eating it!). You can see from this valentine (bullet points seemed another theme and we thought it was super that kids had so much to say they wanted to make a list!) that we were nicely listed first, followed by the books (our circulation has been up this year), then my dog, then the cookies (so impressed those weren't first), then "friends". <br />
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The "friends" part is of particular interest - this came up on a few valentine's or "the great people who hang out here" was listed as the reason the person loved the library. And that begs a point I'd like to make about creating a welcoming library environment. If a library space becomes identified with one group of students, it can become exclusionary as students who do not include themselves in that category decide the library isn't for them. Several valentines mentioned the "ambiance" or "stress-free environment" of the library as the main reason why they loved.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1SHyxxkJJG3uvmQwA6VfUtZEOsHbWaRy9y9bmo2gw59IYVGcqL1r2wEIVaIMEBjD9FCUdMIC0ZAJiFmkqBjfv-gBd3gGjTYaIac2YPf_QuMnzJmqLEOMfVCdrdaSoeR4PMJ0xw/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1SHyxxkJJG3uvmQwA6VfUtZEOsHbWaRy9y9bmo2gw59IYVGcqL1r2wEIVaIMEBjD9FCUdMIC0ZAJiFmkqBjfv-gBd3gGjTYaIac2YPf_QuMnzJmqLEOMfVCdrdaSoeR4PMJ0xw/s320/IMG_0062.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The blizzard of valentines on our Center Classroom glass</td></tr>
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We often say that the library has a "no-guilt" relationship with students - we don't charge fines, we don't believe in a quiet library, we don't block or forbid certain websites or games (just wear headphones if it's noisy), and we are happy to proofread papers or listen to a student vent about their romantic relationship gone awry. Our theory is that students who are comfortable hanging out in the space to relax with friends and warmly banter with us when they get a laptop from the cart behind the desk, is going to understandably be more comfortable coming to us with an academic problem or question. "We don't judge" would be a possible t-shirt logo for us.<br />
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Anyway, Love Your Library is always a huge success. We gave out every one of the 200 cookies and had that equal number of valentines hanging up - all by 2 pm. Reading the valentines became a spectator sport with faculty and students munching their cookie while they walked around to look at all of them. <br />
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A few administrators stopped by (actually to schedule classes) so it was nice for them to see the reasons students gave for loving our program. While it's a lot of work to crank out all those cookies, I think making our students feel great about using the library and having a recognition party where all participants are thinking about why the library is so terrific, makes the sweat and tears well worth it.<br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-77885694738827330652012-02-06T13:41:00.000-05:002012-02-06T13:41:52.282-05:00Every Reader's (Urban?) Fantasy: The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sometimes I read books that I think are under the radar of other librarians or YA readers and it's so sad. It's not that I mind reading yet another review of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Smoke-Bone-Laini-Taylor/dp/0316134023" target="_blank">Daughter of Smoke and Bone</a>, but I occasionally get the impression that there are only twenty top young adult novels and everyone is talking about them. I appreciate having a short list of must-reads, but the aspect of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young-adult_fiction" rel="wikipedia" title="Young-adult fiction">young adult literature</a> I enjoy the most is that it is a consistently good subset of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing" rel="wikipedia" title="Publishing">publishing industry</a>. So what about the quietly good books that are popping up less on the blogosphere?<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Stalker-Allison-Van-Diepen/dp/0545283752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328194686&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Vampire Stalker</a> by <a href="http://www.allisonvandiepen.com/" target="_blank">Allison Van Diepen</a> is definitely one of these little gems. I know, I know. You are thinking, "NO, Sassy Librarian, I cannot handle ONE MORE BOOK about vampires!" Fear not, because despite the title vampires barely factor into this novel. No elaborate world building, creation backstory, or sparkling, I promise.<br />
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The protagonist is incredibly easy for any reader to identify with. Amy lives in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago" rel="wikipedia" title="Chicago">Chicago</a> in a small apartment with her mother and her bitchy younger sister who is acting out since their dad left them for a younger woman. With her two best friends, Amy is a huge fan of the <i>Otherworld</i> series, which takes place in a dark, alternate Chicago populated by vampires preying on humans. One of the heroes of the series, Alexander Banks, is a brooding but honorable vampire hunter who is bent on destroying the vampire Vigo, who slaughtered his family when Alex was a child.<br />
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While her friends are jonesing for Alexander's good friend James, the non-violent peacemaker bent on healing rifts between humans and vampires, Amy's heart belongs to Alexander. She understands that he's a character in a book series but can't believe how well-drawn he is. When she is attacked on her way home, a handsome young man rescues her and after some initial disbelief, she realizes he is her Alexander. Unfortunately, the incredibly strong, fast blond guy who attacked her is Vigo and both of them came through a portal between their worlds under a Chicago bridge.<br />
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As he realizes that this Chicago is different from his own, Alexander grows closer to Amy who does a good job hiding how dazzled she is and just focuses on helping him find Vigo. Ms. P, Amy's school librarian, plays a prominent role in both believing and helping Alexander, and I loved seeing the way Alexander begins to express his attraction for Amy using the code of his more proper and restrictive world.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dreamforgemedia.com/vandiepen/images/1x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dreamforgemedia.com/vandiepen/images/1x2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author Allison Van Diepen</td></tr>
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I've been buying Allison Van Diepen's books for the library for years - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Street-Pharm-Allison-van-Diepen/dp/1416911545/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1328203475&sr=8-6" target="_blank">Street Pharm</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Snitch-Allison-van-Diepen/dp/1416950303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328203475&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Snitch</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Raven-Allison-van-Diepen/dp/1416974687/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1328203475&sr=8-4" target="_blank">Raven</a>, among others - but hadn't read any of them (I've since checked out Raven). I can understand why <u>The Vampire Stalker</u> ended up on so many <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fantasy" rel="wikipedia" title="Urban fantasy">urban fantasy</a> lists. First, a definition of urban fantasy. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fantasy" rel="wikipedia" title="Urban fantasy">Urban fantasy</a> is often confused with paranormal romance and while a romance might be part of the subplot (or even a rather largeish part of the main plot), the main point of an urban fantasy is that a healthy part of the story happens in an urban (city) environment and that paranormal elements are present in the story. Protagonists find themselves possessing special skills which prove useful as they find themselves involved in some type of battle/war between paranormal elements. Urban fantasy doesn't necessarily mean the present day - it can also include books set in the past (Victorian London, for example). I have noticed that it's almost a requirement that urban fantasy be written in the first person. Usually this is a conceit which makes me CRAZY, but in this genre it really works.<br />
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Familiar young adult examples include <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Instruments-Bones-Ashes-Glass/dp/1416997857%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1416997857" target="_blank">Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series </a>or P. C. and Kristen Cast's <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/11/tempted-by-p-c-cast-and-kristen-cast.html" target="_blank">House of Night</a> books (which people consider YA but has enough sexual content that libraries need to know their audience before putting them in a teen section). Adult urban fantasy standouts would be <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Marr_%28author%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Melissa Marr (author)">Melissa Marr</a>'s <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Lovely-Melissa-Marr/dp/0061214655%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0061214655" rel="amazon" title="Wicked Lovely">Wicked Lovely</a> series (which people say are YA, but I think they are so dark and delicious that they are totally adult section-worthy) and the ever wonderful <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Halfway-Grave-Night-Huntress-Book/dp/0061245089/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328552064&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Night Huntress series</a> by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://jeanienefrost.com/" rel="homepage" title="Jeaniene Frost">Jeaniene Frost</a> (yay, Cat and Bones!).<br />
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It makes sense that with Van Diepen being known for the gritty realism of troubled teens lives in <u>Street Pharm</u> and <u>Snitch</u>, that she would be able to rock the urban fantasy vibe. <u>The Vampire Stalker</u> is an excellent gentle introduction into this genre since our protagonist doesn't have special powers but instead aids her literary hero in their battle against the escaped vampire. I like Van Diepen's writing style - her voice for Amy is sympathetic and her writing efficient since she paints strong supplemental characters with just a few strokes. Amy was bookish, but not a geek and she had friends with varying interests. It's obvious Van Diepen is a real teacher since she doesn't fall into the trope of having every kid be part of a defined clique.<br />
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If there is any criticism I can have of the author, it's that she seems very busy - unlike other YA authors who have published as much as she has, Allison Van Diepen appears to have spend less time on promoting <u>The Vampire Stalker,</u> with the blog tours and accompanying information on her website a little on the skimpy side. I was intrigued to see her inspiration for this book <a href="http://www.bookscompleteme.com/2011/06/vampire-stalker-by-allison-van-diepen.html" target="_blank">in a brief interview</a>. She was watching the A-ha video "Take on Me" which (amidst its delicious 80s cheese) features the band members having a book character come to life, and wondered what that would look like in a novel. Watch more videos, Allison!!<br />
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I think Allison Van Diepen is an author to promote and to watch. She clearly offers consist writing, good romance subplots, and sympathetic characters that any reader would enjoy. For more information, take a look at her <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/498980.Allison_van_Diepen" target="_blank">Goodreads page</a>, her <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527175020" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> or follow <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/allisonvandiepe" target="_blank">her Twitter feed</a>.<br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=75821ded-92f6-4b69-9be2-b05fc6707763" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-61575774185645276892012-01-24T12:31:00.000-05:002012-01-24T12:31:13.275-05:002011: 334 Books or A Reader's Year in Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://consumerist.com/2010/01/18/011810-002-goodreads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://consumerist.com/2010/01/18/011810-002-goodreads.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As a reader, 2011 was the year I totally rocked <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.goodreads.com/" rel="homepage" title="Goodreads">Goodreads</a>. A <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network" rel="wikipedia" title="Social network">social network</a> comprised of readers, Goodreads provides one stop shopping for customized lists based on my tastes (their suggestion algorithm is better than Amazon.com for me), for reliable reader reviews, and for accurate lists of series, including the prequels and interbook novellas that need to be read in the right order. Yes, you can have friends and network just like any other social network, but for me it's more important to have the above key needs met when I'm choosing what to read next. Oh. One other thing. Did I mention the data?<br />
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*Cue <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_Part_II" rel="wikipedia" title="Messiah Part II">Hallelujah chorus</a> here!!*<br />
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That's right - DATA. Librarians live for data. Did you know know that? Did you think we were all cat's eyeglasses-wearing, shushy frowners in cardigans? You are sadly mistaken. Librarians are <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_professional" rel="wikipedia" title="Information professional">information professionals</a> and we heart data in all its forms, particularly when it informs us of our patron's needs and helps us understand our libraries better. <br />
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I find my love affair with data is part of my personal life as well. Because of my profession, I follow numerous blogs, read several professional journals a week, and get alerts to the new publications of authors I trust. This results in a continual bombardment of books that I need to read just to keep up with my profession, to say nothing of those books that I simply WANT to read (a list overwhelming on its own). Then I want to keep track of the books after I've read them, either by remembering my rating or review and maybe keeping an overall idea of my statistics. I'm curious about the numbers!<br />
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Goodreads not only helps me keep track of the long, long list of books I want to read, but also allows me to organize that information in a valuable way. One of my biggest issues has always been when I think of a book, where do I find it? Is it on my shelf waiting for me? In electronic form on my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.apple.com/ipad/" rel="homepage" title="iPad">iPad</a>? Did I buy it for the library, so I'd find it there? Was a friend talking to me about it and she has a copy I can borrow? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP5GNDune4sDe-QCSDKEGuyctNMPIYZX4xaE56YKGzkJj41n92xxD8ff-IxLORy_Un8EDVJUMSGqTuy00QYMjWt8NuOKkdR2vMiBKsKp1Gez-02Hc1M6ovPP_-H9fRI96C87a-A/s1600/Shelf+Data.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP5GNDune4sDe-QCSDKEGuyctNMPIYZX4xaE56YKGzkJj41n92xxD8ff-IxLORy_Un8EDVJUMSGqTuy00QYMjWt8NuOKkdR2vMiBKsKp1Gez-02Hc1M6ovPP_-H9fRI96C87a-A/s200/Shelf+Data.jpg" width="150" /></a>The screenshot here shows the "shelves" available on my Goodreads account. The first three, <b>Read</b>, <b>Currently Reading</b>, and <b>To-read</b> are default settings for everyone's Goodreads account, but you can add your own customized shelves. You can see that my shelves are mainly about location and mirror the questions I ask myself in the previous paragraph about where I can locate the book. <b>The-latest</b> is a shelf that mirrors my widget for this <a class="zem_slink" href="http://blogger.com/" rel="homepage" title="Blogger">Blogger</a> account which displays the titles I've read recently. Now when I want to choose a book from the to-read pile, I can easily skim my shelf and see at a glance where to find the book as well as the summary and the reviews I need to remind myself what it was that drew me to this book in the first place.<br />
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Once I've read them, I change the main shelf from <b>to-read</b> to <b>read</b> and add in the date I finished the book. (This date read piece is actually my major pet peeve with the <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodreads/id355833469?mt=8" target="_blank">iPad Goodreads application </a>- you can change the shelf easily on any book but it doesn't have a place for you to put in the date read. So frustrating for me to have to log on to the site on Monday and change all my weekend reading to the right date.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8yKfbH7iz8PlHN9Riv7M4WJ_NXvAoSCSrkjDU4kEX6-sDAomy4uyxToVOaDYGqGiOQZ_9wnMSoiuOYqXDW5iplJXk_yUQSz8UVlockXi_yScToQjbucK89OSBHJuDrF-K2FTSA/s1600/stats+view2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8yKfbH7iz8PlHN9Riv7M4WJ_NXvAoSCSrkjDU4kEX6-sDAomy4uyxToVOaDYGqGiOQZ_9wnMSoiuOYqXDW5iplJXk_yUQSz8UVlockXi_yScToQjbucK89OSBHJuDrF-K2FTSA/s400/stats+view2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Here you can see how Goodreads displays your year's statistics. Your total books displayed across the bar at the top with your longest book highlighted in a box on the side. (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0385319959/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1327424987&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Outlander</a> by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.dianagabaldon.com/" rel="homepage" title="Diana Gabaldon">Diana Gabaldon</a> for me, although with deference to those people who love that series, I really didn't like it.) I do like the little book covers displayed and love that my books are all separated out by my star rating. This has actually made it much easier for me in choosing blog-worthy books or series to write about.<br />
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Things I would wish for? I would love to be able to pull reports from my shelves - customizing the year, star levels, etc. Sorting by genre (paranormal, romance, mystery, historical fiction, etc.) would be a great help for when I want to recommend something to a reader or look for themed lists for my library website. Being able to see how many books I've read by month would also be nice (and not have to use Goodreads app in Facebook to put my titles in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://facebook.com/" rel="homepage" title="Facebook">Facebook</a> Timeline feature). I suspect I'm more productive over the summer, but then there are weeks where I think that's not true. Customized numbers by shelf would be a help, too. A woman can dream, right?<br />
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So 334 books later, I'm happy that I met my goal of reading 300 books for 2011, particularly because I only committed to that number in March and felt REALLY pressured during December vacation to read, read, read! Probably about 15 of those books are short stories or novellas read in ebook form, but the number does NOT include my rereads (which would bring the number to over 400 but I was only counting new books read). My <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_novel" rel="wikipedia" title="Romance novel">romance novel</a> kick made reaching this number easy since fiction has always been quicker for me to read than nonfiction (which I also love). I would really love to set goals for myself in different genres, but without the ability to easily access the data (ahem, Goodreads!) I think that's creating a lot of work for myself.<br />
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My goal for next year? To read 366 books - essentially one for each day during our leap year - which I don't think should be a problem. With Goodreads at my side, heavyweight reading is practically effortless.<br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=39f65996-ee99-4d74-ad94-702b5f61e16f" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-91520376946664731392011-12-14T11:04:00.000-05:002011-12-14T11:17:25.014-05:00Book Review: The Queen of the Love Triangles, or Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPHb90ouFjXdGS3R03SrlG1qdwKbvNQNJ8FxPL3HJXKR8C6fiW3daWuFVQIVHIN4h6Qdd7DaR7cyFuNTmZDX58EUxF2Gf2f9maRTNnZTOAv8cupQfjKNCoApzMbSX5sNde04/s1600/Clockwork-Prince.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPHb90ouFjXdGS3R03SrlG1qdwKbvNQNJ8FxPL3HJXKR8C6fiW3daWuFVQIVHIN4h6Qdd7DaR7cyFuNTmZDX58EUxF2Gf2f9maRTNnZTOAv8cupQfjKNCoApzMbSX5sNde04/s1600/Clockwork-Prince.jpg" /></a></div>
I checked my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.goodreads.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Goodreads">Goodreads</a> account for verification, and my instincts were right that I've had <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Prince-Infernal-Devices-Cassandra/dp/1416975888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323706359&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Clockwork Prince</a> by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://cassandraclare.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Cassandra Clare">Cassandra Clare</a> on my "to-read" shelf since the cover debuted back in September. I've been teetering on a razor's edge since then in anticipation, since I am head over heels in love with the <a href="http://www.theinfernaldevices.com/" target="_blank">Infernal Devices</a> series (I love it much more than <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Instruments-Bones-Ashes-Glass/dp/1416997857%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1416997857" rel="amazon" target="_blank" title="The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass">Mortal Instruments</a>, but more on that later).<br />
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My December 2nd (my half-birthday, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FYI" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="FYI">FYI</a>) was characterized by my driving home, leaping out of the car before it came to a full stop, grabbing the Amazon box insouciantly leaning against the door with its smile/arrow, and racing inside for a full-fledged cardboard frenzy. My husband looked on indulgently, wisely not trying to talk to me during this episode, only to perk up as I was squealing at the cover (it is even more AWESOME in person than what you see on screen). His response was along the lines of "Wait, isn't that the next one in that series? When do I get to read...." *voice fading as I run upstairs to hide book from him*. Sorry, sweetheart. Librarians first.<br />
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I decided to reread <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=clockwork+angel&x=0&y=0&sprefix=clockwork" target="_blank">Clockwork Angel</a> first, since I remembered that, as with all Cassandra Clare novels, it was an intricately plotted work with a decent amount of characters (nothing a reader can't handle) and lots of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era" rel="wikipedia" title="Victorian era">Victorian England</a> references. I wanted it all fresh in my mind for when I tackled the next book in the series.<br />
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It was a good thing I did (husband is re-reading it as we speak in preparation for <u>Clockwork Prince</u>). Not only did I enjoy it tremendously, but it reminded me how much I liked and admired Tessa as a protagonist who is trying to find out - literally - who and what she is. Kidnapped in a nefarious plan involving her brother who has moved from New York to London ahead of her, Tessa finds herself in the custody of two horrifying women and forced to regularly shape-shift, a talent she didn't know she possessed.<br />
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Saved by Shadowhunters, Tessa is brought to their home, known as the London Institute, quickly becoming a part of their lives because she is a Downworlder, or supernatural creature, although <i>what</i> kind of Downworlder no one really knows. At first she is kept with them out of kindness and the fact that she obviously holds the key to understanding a potential threat, but relationships begin to form. While searching for her missing brother, Nathaniel, she finds herself having feelings of friendship toward the gentle and handsome James Carstairs while his best friend William Herondale stirs up more tumultuous emotions. Diving deep into the parts of London where the occult overlaps the mundane world, Tessa is faced with the forbidding knowledge that someone knows more about her than she does about herself - and that they want her at any price.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Prince-Infernal-Devices-Cassandra/dp/1416975888/ref=pd_sim_b_6" target="_blank">Clockwork Prince</a>, Tessa is still a hot property, pursued by the "Magister" who continues to develop frightening clockwork automatons to serve his evil intentions. Her brother continues to be at large and seems to have an insider from the Institute working with him. Will is possessed by the desperate need to push Tessa away while secretly enlisting the help of warlock <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Mortal_Instruments_characters" rel="wikipedia" title="List of The Mortal Instruments characters">Magnus Bane</a> (who is a fabulous character that only gets better with a better acquaintance) to determine the origins of his "curse." Will's family situation is revealed with startling results, but his alienation of Tessa has unforseen consequences as she and Jem (James) become closer, igniting feelings in Tessa which begin to compete with her turbulent feelings for Will. Political machinations in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowhunter" rel="wikipedia" title="Shadowhunter">Shadowhunter</a> world add dimension and layers to a fabulous story. <br />
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<b>Tessa vs. Clary.</b> I think a big reason I love Tessa as a protagonist (versus Clary who really gets on my nerves - a lot, see mini-rant below*) is not only due to her love of literature and poetry, a love she shares with Will, but the fact that she wants to find answers to her questions - questions about herself, her family, about Jem's addiction and Will's family problems, about what the Magister is really up to and about what the Shadowhunter world is doing to the people she cares about at the Institute. Tessa is curious, in the best possible way because she wants to use her knowledge to help the people she cares about. She makes Clary seem like an intellectual lightweight. I'd love to see a Clary/Tessa cage match. Clary might be a Shadowhunter, but Tessa has real grit and the shape-changing thing.<br />
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<b>It's Gaslight not Steampunk.</b> Here's an interesting tidbit. The unbelievably talented <a class="zem_slink" href="http://meljeanbrook.com/" rel="homepage" title="Meljean Brook">Meljean Brook</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Duke-Novel-Seas/dp/B004X8W3W8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323740972&sr=1-1" target="_blank">The Iron Duke</a> (a favorite steampunk reread of mine) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Steel-Novel-Iron-Seas/dp/0425243303/ref=pd_sim_b_1" target="_blank">Heart of Steel </a>as well as some great novellas, <a href="http://meljeanbrook.com/blog" target="_blank">has an equally as arresting blog </a>and she published the following image <i>which blew my mind</i>. <a href="http://thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/06/steampunk-romance-serves-up-steamy.html" target="_blank">In past blog posts</a>, I had categorized the Infernal Devices series as <a href="ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" target="_blank">steampunk</a> because of the clockwork automatons. Was I wrong! It turns out that steampunk with acknowledged supernatural elements (like the vampires, werewolves, and warlocks of Clare's Shadowhunter world) make the book fall into the gaslight genre. I love this name (it sounds so much more romantic, doesn't it?) and I would say that with my love of paranormal, I would probably rank my love of gaslight above my love of <a href="ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" target="_blank">steampunk</a>. <br />
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<b>Queen of Love Triangles...and Love Scenes.</b> I honestly wish that Clare wrote adult books because her ability to write love scenes that sizzle is BAR NONE. Clare even says, <a href="http://www.theinfernaldevices.com/faq.php" target="_blank">"All my books are, in some sense or another, love stories. And complicated, passionate, maybe-it-will-work-out-maybe-it-won't romance is my favorite kind."</a> I read plenty of adult romance and the ability to truly capture yearning and sexual tension is actually very hard to do. Passion, yes. The physicality of who is touching what when, you bet - plenty of authors do a terrific job of doing just that. But <i>yearning</i>, aching, heart-stopping, breath-stealing yearning is very rare and extremely special. <br />
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A big piece of why she is so good at this is her concept of who romantic characters should be.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There is little sexier than watching someone excel at something they do
extraordinarily well — the difference between a bad boy is that they
know they do it really well and that it’s turning you on; the good boys
don’t. And there should be a dash of vulnerability. Your boy doesn’t
have to be tormented but the girl or boy who he loves has to be able to
get under his skin and pierce that armor, or it’s no fun. (Cassandra Clare from <a href="http://www.diversityinya.com/2011/12/interview-with-cassandra-clare/" target="_blank">Malinda Lo's interview</a> with her.)</blockquote>
Combine this piece with her propensity for compelling gay/bi characters and Clare becomes an author who understands love and passion in all its forms. I adored Magnus Bane in the Mortal Instruments series (its wonderful to watch the progression of his relationship with Alec and his patient understanding waiting for Alec to come out to his parents has my total devotion) and the friendship and assistance he offers to Will in this series continues to develop his complex character.<br />
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<b>*Mini-rant*</b> After rereading the first three of the Mortal Instruments series in preparation for reading the fourth book,<a href="http://www.amazon.com/City-Fallen-Angels-Mortal-Instruments/dp/1442403543/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323707916&sr=1-3" target="_blank"> City of Fallen Angels</a>, I had to actually put the book down and not finish it. I want to go on record as saying I unequivocally admire Cassandra Clare and love her writing, but she does something that really bothers me as a reader. She tortures her characters.<br />
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I'm totally serious about this. It often feels like no one is allowed to just be happy and this makes me crazy. I'm not saying anyone would enjoy reading about happy people, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to have characters who can actually be happy in a relationship while tumultuous, horrifying things (like armies of scary clockwork automatons after you, for example) are happening to you and the person you love. I am not trying to infer that I don't enjoy a juicy love triangle with the best of them, but I find myself emotionally wrung out after reading them. Mortal Instruments gave me nightmares and I ended up really getting cranky with Clary, although I know it's not her fault the poor thing isn't given a moment's peace. I'm absolutely going to pick up the book again and read it, but now I'm annoyed that I have to be in a more patient mood to do it. <b>*end mini-rant*</b><br />
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Cassandra Clare is a fantastic author who ranks high on my list of all-time fantasy/action/gaslight greats. <b> </b>A wonderful bonus to those who admire her is the fact that she is also an author who regularly reflects on the writing process and her craft (in addition to feeding us terrific tidbits about upcoming books and ideas). <a href="http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Her blog </a>is one I always enjoy reading in my Google Reader as a result of this outlook. Other great sources of information about Clare's work is <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/cassieclare" target="_blank">her Twitter account</a> since she posts regularly, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Cassandraclare?sk=app_176217385757369" target="_blank">her Facebook page</a>. Pick the source of information that best fits your fandom.<br />
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There are plenty of great future books we can look forward to: <br />
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May 2012 - <u>City of Lost Souls</u> (Mortal Instruments series)<br />
September 2013 - <u>City of Heavenly Fire</u> (last in the Mortal Instruments series) and <u>Clockwork Princess</u> (the last in the Infernal Devices series)<br />
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Clare <a href="http://twishort.com/acrer" target="_blank">has spoken of a future series</a>, The Dark Artifices, set five years after the last Mortal Instruments book (so around 2018) which would be set in the Los Angeles Institute (Clare lived in L.A. when she was an entertainment writer). Since Mortal Instruments characters would presumably be in their twenties, she has said she could envision them doing cameo appearances so we can see how they are doing. <br />
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Suffice it to say, my Goodreads account is always going to include Clare's books on my to-read list, subsequent cardboard frenzy guaranteed. <br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=cbcbe47f-d700-4c63-8ac7-97a51d7e3b2f" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-12400288321027202152011-11-16T09:42:00.000-05:002011-11-16T09:42:27.351-05:00Create Great Library Usage Reports from Google Calendar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVY6f6LMoorcicm2VPch39jmCSJjkWyxfQgvpBZI9swe4doWJIITIsKH4kS6cBquqWhZFaVIa9uFduASeTfY6_0LL2Q0Qb6Of_4s0QJcDifLYBLdErPY5jv01jooYMar73XTDhQ/s1600/calendar+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVY6f6LMoorcicm2VPch39jmCSJjkWyxfQgvpBZI9swe4doWJIITIsKH4kS6cBquqWhZFaVIa9uFduASeTfY6_0LL2Q0Qb6Of_4s0QJcDifLYBLdErPY5jv01jooYMar73XTDhQ/s400/calendar+shot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Every librarian should love data. LOVE it. Data is our life's blood because it allows us to keep track of what direction (intentional or unintentional) our program takes. Not only is data beneficial for us, but is the unfortunate case that many an administrator responds better to seeing actual numbers associated with key talking points as we go over programmatic highlights.<br />
<br />
In my library, a big piece of our data tracking is our shared <a class="zem_slink" href="http://google.com/calendar" rel="homepage" title="Google Calendar">Google calendar</a> which records all our classroom usage (we have three classrooms in our space and we also sometimes schedule classes on the library floor). We moved away from our shared <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.microsoft.com/mac/outlook" rel="homepage" title="Microsoft Outlook">Outlook</a> calendar because we kept getting frustrated that if our computer crashed, the formatting and some of the data would be lost, which made us crazy. As early Google adopters, Google calendar (which my fellow Upper School librarian and I were using personally) seemed like an obvious substitute.<br />
<br />
We can see each other's personal calendar (to remember doctor's appointments, etc.) and decided that we would set up each classroom with its own calendar, largely because we can control the color coding and see usage at a glance when teachers want to set up an appointment to come to the library.<br />
<br />
But there has always been one annoying part when it comes time to collate the data. We have had to input the data from each class (teacher, class name, number of students, collaboration level, skills taught, laptop usage) into a Filemaker database in order to generate usage reports. Gah! So tedious to do, especially since we do it at the end of each semester, when we are usually exhausted. <br />
<br />
We started off our day this morning kvetching about needing to crunch the data and wondering if there was an easy way to get the reports in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://docs.google.com/" rel="homepage" title="Google Docs">Google Docs</a> rather than using the class by class input technique. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of librarians reading this going "duh," but in my end of trimester haze, I had the brainwave of doing a search on extracting data from Google calendar and discovered (for FREE!!!) <a href="http://www.gtimereport.com/">GTimeReport.com</a>. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpL0DvEjkzQmVJlMPDU6QTbduc2p4QAAog29-0tw1PdxjJjSMZ6Pt-83eyiq-u_YY_k9GxTeI3NR_EiSVNSSck3SCUvTjX0TdiyR3S3Bgb2WQyvbvkyFjzC-s4fKuedm8MaJUqWg/s1600/GTimeReport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpL0DvEjkzQmVJlMPDU6QTbduc2p4QAAog29-0tw1PdxjJjSMZ6Pt-83eyiq-u_YY_k9GxTeI3NR_EiSVNSSck3SCUvTjX0TdiyR3S3Bgb2WQyvbvkyFjzC-s4fKuedm8MaJUqWg/s640/GTimeReport.jpg" width="570" /></a></div><br />
It couldn't be simpler to use. You just have your calendar/Google docs open and give GTimeReport permission to access your Google account. You get this snazzy window (you can see all my various calendars in each different colors) and you can simply choose the time/date parameters for your report. Here's what you get:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGbUg1m0nH3k9uc5oTKoNahgbipUYXazLLJS6vcKX8rWtD1jE43kvU3kMfirpE2I0QSWb1Cn_Mll4sjpcvWBsN0zdL8mpYkaeEBHvYtXh2AbYsh6eJ7aHyB94bJithm4u5-8fFA/s1600/KRoomReport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGbUg1m0nH3k9uc5oTKoNahgbipUYXazLLJS6vcKX8rWtD1jE43kvU3kMfirpE2I0QSWb1Cn_Mll4sjpcvWBsN0zdL8mpYkaeEBHvYtXh2AbYsh6eJ7aHyB94bJithm4u5-8fFA/s640/KRoomReport.jpg" width="570" /></a></div><br />
Give it a few seconds and POP! It opens up Google Docs and we get the above beautiful report. You can see how we can sort by date, time, duration, the bell, and you can even see our occasional listing of skills taught. Now that I realize how it formats the report, I think we will use the "where" field (which we can ignore since our "where" is taken care of by the calendar name) for indicating the number of students or our collaboration levels (L1 = students are in library without teacher and no joint instruction, L2 = teacher is with student but no collaborative instruction is taking place, and L3 = teacher and librarian instruct students together and assess lesson's efficacy throughout project).<br />
<br />
Anything that gives quick and easy (and FREE!!!) data is a boon to any librarian's heart and if you are already using Google calendar, then this might be a helpful addition to your repertoire. Next up for us - enabling the appointment feature so teachers can book themselves. :-)<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=4ae6fa66-5eb0-4ea2-b9fa-27c9fcf153e4" /></div>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-34644214852397346172011-09-28T10:51:00.000-04:002011-09-28T10:51:01.588-04:00How to Have a Library When Your School Is Evacuated<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-110908-flood-jb-02.photoblog900.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-110908-flood-jb-02.photoblog900.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Market St. Bridge between Kingston and Wilkes-Barre</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I'll be honest. I don't actually think about the fact that my school's campus is about a mile from the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susquehanna_River" rel="wikipedia" title="Susquehanna River">Susquehanna River</a> unless I am actually driving over one of bridges. But that is undoubtedly due to the fact that I am not a native of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Valley" rel="wikipedia" title="Wyoming Valley">Wyoming Valley</a>, or even originally from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_Pennsylvania" rel="wikipedia" title="Northeastern Pennsylvania">northeast Pennsylvania</a>.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://home.epix.net/%7Ecaptclint/flood.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://home.epix.net/%7Ecaptclint/flood.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Wilkes-Barre during the Agnes Flood of 1972</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Because those natives are scarred from the many devastating floods that this area has regularly experienced. With the campus devastation from the Agnes Flood of 1972 fresh in their mind, many of the school's senior teachers and administrators do not take the threat of the river reaching flood level lightly. After the Agnes Flood, there was a concerted effort to bring in a massive <a href="http://www.rivercommon.org/levees">levee system</a> to protect towns from this economic and emotional devastation in the future. Some of the towns, because a gigantic concrete hill would obscure the views to the river, voted to not build one, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/us/12flood.html">with unfortunate results</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/photos/large_6_180.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/photos/large_6_180.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wyoming Seminary campus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As the news outlets began to make predictations of the river reaching <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_stage" rel="wikipedia" title="Flood stage">flood stage</a>, <a href="http://www.wyomingseminary.org/">Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School</a> realized that it had to evacuate our campus. We are a boarding/day school, so while our day students were evacuating with their parents if they were in the floodplain, or just kicking back in their house, elated school was canceled if they were high and dry in the surrounding mountains, almost 200 boarders and residential faculty kicked into high gear, moving furniture and paperwork to the second floor of all buildings and packing their belongings.<br />
<br />
It's a testimony to our community that day students immediately opened their homes to boarders, with over half of them being quickly brought into day student houses for a three to four day stay. The rest of them (largely newer students only at school for a couple of weeks and therefore with a smaller friend network) were taken with residential faculty to the beautiful facilities of <a href="http://www.camporchardhill.com/">Camp Orchard Hill</a>. A skateboarding park, climbing tower, lake facilities, beach volleyball court and air conditioned cabins make this location a veritable paradise for evacuated teens! Especially considering that a large percentage of the students were new to the school, the bonding that took place probably gave these kids a better start to the school year than simply being in class would have.<br />
<br />
Another great benefit of Camp Orchard Hill's location was purely a selfish one. It happens to be two-tenths of a mile from the house my husband and I purchased three years ago when we moved out of the boys dorm. Commuting to work could not have been easier!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://robaroundbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Keep-Calm-and-Read-a-Book500.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://robaroundbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Keep-Calm-and-Read-a-Book500.png" width="218" /></a></div>We got the text that school was closed Wednesday night and an email from the Dean of the Upper School that all on campus faculty and any off campus faculty who could make it (roads were beginning to close) should come to a meeting in our main auditorium to get further instructions on how best to help. Buses were coming at 2:30 that day to take everyone on campus up to Camp Orchard Hill since Kingston was subject to a mandatory evacuation no later than 4 pm, with anyone lingering risking arrest. <br />
<br />
Faculty and students were busy moving furniture and files up (all of admissions was spread around the 2nd floor library). Since the heavy lifting was well in hand, I began to think: what were students going to do for three to four days in the middle of a camp in the country? We weren't sure about wifi access at the time, so reading material was a necessity. How could I create a library on the move?<br />
<br />
Kirby Library has a great supply of board games, so naturally all those went into my car trunk, as did the library's Wii and four color-coded controllers. I pulled about 30 popular magazines off the magazine wall - all the fashion, news, music and entertainment, sports, and a smattering of science and literary magazines (I was thinking about the faculty). The bigger challenge was the books. What to choose when the clock was ticking?<br />
<br />
It felt almost like those game shows they had where contestants were given a shopping cart and told to dash through a supermarket, throwing items into a cart to achieve a certain dollar amount.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Linger-Wolves-Mercy-Falls-Book/dp/0545123291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316539223&sr=8-1"><u>Linger</u></a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shiver-Wolves-Mercy-Maggie-Stiefvater/dp/0545123275/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316539249&sr=1-1"><u>Shiver</u></a> by Maggie Stiefvater<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-Donna-Tartt/dp/1400031702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317217489&sr=8-1">The Secret History</a> by Donna Tartt<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-50th-Anniversary-Vol/dp/0618640150/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217556&sr=1-1">Lord of the Rings</a> by J.R.R. Tolkien<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Nancy-Werlin/dp/B004EYUDLY/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217685&sr=1-2">Impossible</a> by Nancy Werlin<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Dead-Daniel-Waters/dp/B0025VL966/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217717&sr=1-1">Generation Dead</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Dead-Kiss-Daniel-Waters/dp/B0058M6AKE/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2">Kiss of Life</a> by Daniel Waters<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rucker-Park-Setup-Paul-Volponi/dp/0142412074/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217826&sr=1-1">Rucker Park Setup</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rikers-High-Paul-Volponi/dp/0142417785/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217853&sr=1-1">Rikers High </a>by Volponi<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kind-Funny-Story-Movie-Tie-/dp/1423141911/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217903&sr=1-1">It's Kind of a Funny Story</a> by Ned Vizzini<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Snitch-Allison-van-Diepen/dp/1416950303/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217951&sr=1-1">Snitch</a> by Allison Van Diepen<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375842209/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317217991&sr=1-1">The Book Thief</a> by Zusak<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Uglies-Scott-Westerfeld/dp/1442419814/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218021&sr=1-6">The Uglies series</a> by Scott Westerfeld<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Help-ebook/dp/B002YKOXB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218054&sr=1-1">The Help</a> by Kathryn Stockett<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Wife-Novel-Curtis-Sittenfeld/dp/0812975405/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218080&sr=1-1">American Wife</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prep-Novel-Curtis-Sittenfeld/dp/081297235X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2">Prep</a> by Curtis Sittenfeld<br />
The first five books of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Louise-Rennison-Collection-Withering-Entrancers/dp/1780483058/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218173&sr=1-5">Georgia Nicholson series </a>by Louise Rennisen<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Special-Gift-Tatiana-Rosnay/dp/1250004217/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218209&sr=1-1" rel="amazon" title="Sarah's Key">Sarah's Key</a> by Tatiana de Rosnay<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Tricksters-Choice-Daughter-Lioness-Book/dp/0375828796/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218233&sr=1-1" rel="amazon" title="Trickster's Choice (Daughter of the Lioness, Book 1)">Trickster's Choice</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tricksters-Queen-Aliane-Tamora-Pierce/dp/0375814736/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b">Trickster's Queen</a> by Tamora Pierce<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Club-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393327345/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218300&sr=1-1">Fight Club</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Choke-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0307388921/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4">Choke</a> by Chuck Palahniuk<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adoration-Jenna-Fox-Chronicles/dp/0312594410/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218449&sr=1-1">The Adoration of Jenna Fox</a> by Mary E. Pearson<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Faith-Novel-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0061991546/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218510&sr=1-1">Keeping Faith</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pact-Love-Story-P-S/dp/0061765236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218542&sr=1-1">The Pact </a>by Jodi Picoult<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dairy-Queen-Catherine-Gilbert-Murdock/dp/0618863354/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218774&sr=1-1">Dairy Queen trilogy</a> by Catherine Gilbert Murdock<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shooter-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0064472906/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218816&sr=1-1">Shooter</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0064473120/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218853&sr=1-1">Crystal</a> and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Over-Fallujah-Walter-Myers/dp/0439916259/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218893&sr=1-1" rel="amazon" title="Sunrise Over Fallujah">Sunrise Over Fallujah</a> by Walter Dean Myers<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seth-Baumgartners-Love-Manifesto-Luper/dp/B005K6TFG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218924&sr=1-1">Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto</a> by Eric Luper<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Lovely-Quality/dp/0061214671/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4">The Wicked Lovely series</a> by Melissa Marr<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Season-Sarah-MacLean/dp/0545048877/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219079&sr=1-2">The Season</a> by Sarah MacLean<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Virgin-Valentine-Carolyn-Mackler/dp/0763626139/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219127&sr=1-1">Vegan, Virgin, Valentine</a> by Carolyn Mackler<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Misery-Stephen-King/dp/0451169522/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219153&sr=1-1">Misery</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-King/dp/0451169514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219191&sr=1-1">It</a> by Stephen King<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Macbeths-Daughter-Lisa-Klein/dp/1599905221/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219216&sr=1-1">Lady MacBeth's Daughter</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ophelia-Lisa-Klein/dp/B0057D9KTC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219251&sr=1-1">Ophelia</a> by Lisa Klein<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sister-Wife-Young-Adult-Novels/dp/1551439271/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219278&sr=1-2">Sister Wife</a> by Shelley Hrdlitschka<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Physick-Book-Deliverance-Dane/dp/B002U0KO0O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317219347&sr=1-1">The Physik Book of Deliverance Dane</a> by Katherine Howe<br />
<br />
For someone quickly pulling books off shelves, I think I must have been aiming for a good mix that would appeal to adults (the faculty supervising the students) and the kids themselves. In retrospect, I could kick myself for not including graphic novels since the boarding population is very international (over 20 countries are represented at Wyoming Seminary) and our Asian population in particular love manga.<br />
<br />
I created a user "Evacuation Flood" in the software and checked out all the books to that account. Kids were told that they could take whatever they wanted back to their cabins, they would just be responsible for returning anything to the library (which they did). I picked up everything on the morning they headed back to campus and packed it in my trunk (unloading it on Monday morning).<br />
<br />
There was a little lounge cabin that I spread all the materials out in (as well as bringing 72 fresh baked chocolate chip cookies from the house). They were used and rummaged through, and I certainly saw kids laying on benches and reading library books.<br />
<br />
While it was a minor contribution, I felt really great thinking that the library went with the students on the evacuation - I always like to say that "library isn't a place, not a state of mind" and I think I lived up to that motto. <br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=7a0fcea9-d656-41be-9c96-2d0e822a8632" /></div>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-41929091847650356452011-09-15T22:45:00.000-04:002011-09-15T22:45:06.662-04:00Throwing Down the Gauntlet...or Don't Tell Me Catholic School Girls Aren't in Rock Songs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.apexexposure.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/thestranger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.apexexposure.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/thestranger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This morning, I was listening in the car to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.billyjoel.com/" rel="homepage" title="Billy Joel">Billy Joel</a> classic, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_the_Good_Die_Young" rel="wikipedia" title="Only the Good Die Young">Only the Good Die Young</a>," and it struck me, what are the songs that have Catholic School girls in them? There must be a decent number, because any girl (like me) who has actually been a teenager walking around in a Catholic school uniform can relate how many obscene statements men and boys make toward you. The myth of the "wild" Catholic school girl is embedded in the American heterosexual male psyche, much to our dismay.<br />
<br />
Because it was about music, I said something to my husband, <a href="http://icarusanybody.blogspot.com/">Icarus P. Anybody</a>, <a href="http://icarusanybody.blogspot.com/2011/09/playlist-posts-1-songs-about-radio.html">who had just written a post about all his favorite songs that are about the radio,</a> and he had the audacity to SCOFF at me saying he couldn't think of any references to Catholic school girls besides the Billy Joel song. I hate it when he scoffs, so I decided to do a little research to see if I was entirely deluded. Plus, I had my reputation of a Catholic school survivor, the last four years all-girls at <a href="http://ichslodi.org/">Immaculate Conception High School</a> in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://lodi-nj.org/" rel="homepage" title="Lodi, New Jersey">Lodi, New Jersey</a>, to defend. <br />
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I suppose it's nice to know that the idea is inspirational for artists, even if we are just talking about musicians and writers of a certain film genre. Billy Joel definitely counts as an artist who I can admire (at least for his work, I don't know him well-enough personally), and he clearly had the hots for a Catholic school girl at some point. Take a look at some of the lyrics of "Only the Good Die Young" which came off his 1977 album, <i>The Stranger</i>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Come out Virginia, don't let me wait<br />
You Catholic girls start much too late<br />
aw But sooner or later it comes down to fate<br />
I might as well be the one<br />
<br />
well, They showed you a statue, told you to pray<br />
They built you a temple and locked you away<br />
Aw, but they never told you the price that you pay<br />
For things that you might have done.....</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm guessing that the choice of "Virginia" for her name works at the syllable level as well as the symbolic one since we're all clear on what he's looking for (shame on you, Billy!). The only aspect of the song that worries me is trying to figure out how old Virginia is. I mean, read them yourself.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">You got a nice white dress and a party on your confirmation<br />
You got a brand new soul<br />
mmmm, And a cross of gold<br />
But Virginia they didn't give you quite enough information<br />
You didn't count on me<br />
When you were counting on your rosary <br />
(oh woah woah)<br />
<br />
They say there's a heaven for those who will wait<br />
Some say it's better but I say it ain't<br />
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints<br />
the sinners are much more fun... </div><br />
Was the confirmation recent?! That happens in middle school. Let's hope he's referring to a few years before his relentless courtship of poor Virginia. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if she was at least a junior, after all.<br />
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<a class="zem_slink" href="http://redhotchilipeppers.com/" rel="homepage" title="Red Hot Chili Peppers">The Red Hot Chili Peppers</a> are another group fascinated with the sexuality of the girl in a plaid skirt. Their song, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_School_Girls_Rule" rel="wikipedia" title="Catholic School Girls Rule">Catholic School Girls Rule</a>" of the <i><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Freaky-Styley-Red-Chili-Peppers/dp/B000002UTH%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dthesaslib-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB000002UTH" rel="amazon" title="Freaky Styley">Freaky Styley</a></i> album (1985) is extremely risque. Some of the tamer lyrics (which still manage to convey the gist of the song) are:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">From the cross she's raised her head<br />
This is what the sister said<br />
Give no love until you're wed<br />
Live no life until you're dead</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">The good books says we must suppress<br />
The good books says we must confess<br />
But who cares what the good books says<br />
Cause now she's taking off her dress<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><i>Is</i> she taking off her dress? Really Chili Peppers? In your fantasies, possibly, but it sounds a little like you're complaining about religion thwarting your adolescent desires if you don't mind my saying so. There is no way that I'm linking to the video - it manages to be both bad and obscene simultaneously and no one needs that mental image.<br />
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<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.zappa.com/" rel="homepage" title="Frank Zappa">Frank Zappa</a>, also not known for his highbrow culture or finesse although respected by many as a musician, published his Catholic school girl tribute "Catholic Girls" on his compilation album, <i>You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 6,</i> which is a two-disc set of live performances recorded between 1970 and 1988. Here's is the least raunchy stanza in the whole song:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">In a little white dress<br />
Catholic girls<br />
They never confess<br />
Catholic girls<br />
I got one for a cousin<br />
I love how they go<br />
So send me a dozen<br />
Catholic girls<br />
Ooooooh!<br />
Catholic girls<br />
Ooooooh! </div></div></div><br />
I can't speak for who is in heaven, but I guarantee you that whereever Frank Zappa is, he is not accompanied by a dozen Catholic girls right now. Let's hope he grew out of this particular fetish.<br />
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One of my favorite videos featuring a Catholic school girl (which I've always thought of as quite romantic) is the 80s power ballad, "Sister Christian," by the band Night Ranger. Originally published on their 1984 album, <i>Midnight Madness</i>, the song was actually written by drummer Kelly Keagy for his sister, which is probably why it's actually lovely and not obscene. "Sister Christian" has actually been named one of the top 100 songs of the 1980s by VH1 and it's theme about making choices when you are young is universal. It holds up well today. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Sister Christian<br />
Oh the time has come<br />
And you know that you're the only one<br />
To say O.K.<br />
Where you going<br />
What you looking for<br />
You know those boys<br />
Don't want to play no more with you<br />
It's true</div><br />
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While the lyrics don't mention Catholic school girls explicitly, no one can forget the video of the Bon Jovi classic, "Runaway," from their debut album Bon Jovi released in 1984. I think the choice of having the protagonist of the song come from a Catholic school background was clearly to contrast with her present situation, namely drugs and prostitution, which is inferred by the lyrics and her nightmare dream sequence. Warning: the hair is REALLY big in this video and I am sadly not just talking about the actress/model playing the runaway.<br />
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I think it's interesting that people have commented on the fact that the school uniforms in "Sister Christian" and "Runaway" are actually authentically long, not the tarted up miniskirts (that would have gotten me a smack and instant penance from the nuns) that say "Catholic uniform" to most video producers. The Bon Jovi video still makes the actress soaking wet, for no apparent reason other than to turn her blouse see-through, so I'm not saying that it's high art, but I think it's worth noting.<br />
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A well-known video featuring Catholic school girls (although not in the lyrics) is in the early 1990s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_%28Aerosmith_song%29">"Crazy" by Aerosmith video</a>. One of the reasons it's so well-known is because it stars two later famous actresses, Alicia Silverstone (of <i>Clueless</i> and Batgirl fame) and Liv Tyler (LOTR, anyone?), who happens to be Steve Tyler's daughter (which wasn't known to the casting director when he asked her to do the video). One again, the uniform seems to be more to confirm the stereotype of wild Catholic girls, while offering contrast to their girls naughty choices along their journey. Tsk, tsk, ladies.<br />
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While it's not necessary identified as a Catholic school, most younger people today would probably remember the famous Brittany Spears video, "...Baby, One More Time" as embodying the sex appeal of the school uniform. With neither nuns or teachers to enforce the dress code in this video, it's hardly shocking that all the students have taken liberties with their uniforms, tying off shirts and wearing skirts waaaayyyy too high (do you know how uncomfortable that is sitting on cold chair in the winter?). This is from 1998, but I find myself shocked at how unbelievably young Spears looks. I want to give her a hug and a long talk about doing her homework.<br />
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<div style="background-color: black; width: 520px;"><div style="padding: 4px;"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" base="." flashvars="" height="288" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:10671/cp%7Eartist%3D501686%26vid%3D10671%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideo%3Amtv.com%3A10671" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512"></embed><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding: 4px; text-align: center;">Get More: <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/spears_britney/artist.jhtml" style="color: #439cd8;" target="_blank">Britney Spears</a>, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/" style="color: #439cd8;" target="_blank">Music</a>, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/video/" style="color: #439cd8;" target="_blank">More Music Videos</a></div></div></div><br />
With the exception of "Baby, One More Time" all of the songs and videos on this list came out during my middle school/high school/college years, so I guess it's only right I would have been a little more aware than the average person about the role Catholic school girls play in the rock scene. It's been quite a little trip down memory lane.<br />
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Thanks, Icarus P. Anybody, and BTW, you might want to not throw down a gauntlet to your librarian wife next time. The research thing comes pretty easy, after all. *kisses*<br />
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<div class="zemanta-pixie"><img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=23049890-d8af-47ec-92cd-cabc3289fb06" /></div>The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12608950.post-34283996365845292332011-07-04T15:00:00.000-04:002011-09-15T09:53:31.289-04:00Victorian Deliciousnesses With a Dash of Steampunk: The Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Knowing that <a href="http://gailcarriger.com/">Gail Carriger</a>'s latest novel in the<a href="http://gailcarriger.com/shop.php"> Parasol Protectorate series</a> was due out this week (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heartless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316127191?ie=UTF8&tag=thesaslib-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Heartless</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thesaslib-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316127191" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />), I decided to make a point of reading all her books in the month of June to gear up for the release. I had a feeling these books were going to jibe with my recent steampunk foray and I was right.<br />
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But I ended up getting so...much...more.<br />
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I'll confess it took me a good 60 pages to get into the first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soulless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316056634?ie=UTF8&tag=thesaslib-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Soulless</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thesaslib-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316056634" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, not because the world was so hard to understand, but because there is a distinctive rhythm to the main character's thoughts and it is her voice which predominates.<br />
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Alexia Tarabotti is a fine young Englishwoman, genteel and proper. Unfortunately, her intelligence and her appearance (a darker complexion inherited from an Italian father combined with an, ahem, ample figure) render her decidedly unfashionable. In a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" rel="wikipedia" title="Steampunk">steampunk world</a> in which mechanicals abound, Alexia's England also has a unique feature - the acceptance of supernaturals. Vampires and werewolves (ghosts abound as well, but they are really second class citizens) are in the upper echelons of society, with carefully drawn lines around their respective boundaries according to etiquette of the time. The individuals who become vampires and werewolves - who survive the death to become immortal - have an excess of soul and therefore have enough soul lingering after their death to inhabit their new immortal bodies. Alexia herself is the ultra-rare preternatural, or a person born without a soul. This makes her especially dangerous in the eyes of supernaturals bent on showing their power as her very touch makes them mortal and vulnerable to killing.<br />
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Alexia's curiosity, combined with an unfortunate and unprecedented vampire attack at a party, throws her in the path of Lord Conall Maccon, the Earl of Woolsey, a major player in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria" rel="wikipedia" title="Queen Victoria">Queen Victoria's</a> government (the supernatural investigative kind) and the Alpha male of the Woolsey pack of werewolves. They are both attracted and slightly baffled by one another, but as their case progresses, they not only uncover a conspiracy of scientists, but realize their love for one another.<br />
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The second book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Changeless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316074144?ie=UTF8&tag=thesaslib-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Changeless</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thesaslib-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316074144" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, is one that caused a tremendous brohaha upon publication (it has one hell of a cliffhanger and I would have been LIVID if I had read it when it first came out). Alexia is married to Lord Maccon and trying to find her feet in her marriage and newfound position amidst her love match. During all this, a large part of London is affected by a baffling mystery - the supernatural creatures in it cannot go about their usual business because they have become mortal (and the ghosts have all been oddly exorcised). It's as if Alexia's preternatural power is everywhere, but she has nothing to do with it. When her husband has to head north to Scotland to investigate a similar situation with his former pack (who he left under difficult circumstances), Alexia hops the nearest dirigible and follows him to help. Several murder attempts later, she does end up solving the mystery, but is given a major blow with some news that impacts her marriage to Lord Maccon. Hence the sucky cliffhanger.<br />
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Lucky for us, the next book has been out for a while. (Thank heavens.) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blameless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316074152?ie=UTF8&tag=thesaslib-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thesaslib-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316074152" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> picks up right where <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Changeless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316074144?ie=UTF8&tag=thesaslib-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Changeless</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thesaslib-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316074144" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> left off, with Alexia's marriage in the scandal sheets. She becomes the target of even more murder attempts than usual, which prompts her to surround herself with friends and flee to Italy where she thinks she will find the answers she needs (or at least good food). She does find answers, but also a seriously demented version of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar" rel="wikipedia" title="Knights Templar">Knights Templar</a> who consider her, as someone born without a soul, to be an abomination, but one they are willing to exploit to their purposes in order to harness her power. The revelation that her father also had dealings with the Templars puts her a little closer to unraveling the mystery surrounding him, but only so far. As Lord Maccon comes to his senses and follows her to Europe, Alexia's pragmatism and fashion sense help her see what is really going on, even if she can't necessarily fix it.<br />
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In the most recent book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heartless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316127191?ie=UTF8&tag=thesaslib-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Heartless</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thesaslib-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316127191" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, Alexia is still being hunted by vampires, visited by demented ghosts, and having to decorate a new London townhouse to survive the occasional werewolf change, all while eight months pregnant. So vexing. She is so distracted by having to eat and empty her bladder all the time that it's a challenge to figure out what the cryptic messages mean about the "queen" and "danger". Add to this some disturbing behavior by a good friend and Alexia has to solve the mystery, pregnancy or no pregnancy.<br />
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The fun in the parasol protectorate series is the rompy, witty style of the writing. It's true that Carriger occasionally gets a little bogged down in the Victorian detail, and there is the scene or plot point that could have been rendered shorter (we can say that for almost every author out there, were we honest about it), but for steampunk enthusiasts, this is a super fun series worthy of consideration. Alexia's character and that of her husband's are well-drawn and lovable (if occasionally frustrating in their pig-headedness). I love several of the minor characters, particularly the fabulous and independent vampire, Lord Akeldama, as well as the scientist/milliner Madame Lefoux. It's a fascinating feature of steampunk that gay characters not only abound, but are accepted in the alternate steampunk universe without too much startled eyelash batting. I haven't decided if it's an author connection linking modernity in machines to sexual tolerance or if, in this case, if you acknowledge vampires and werewolves and what they do in the privacy of their homes, who really cares about the gay issue? It's a shame we can't take that philosophy to Washington to forward the cause of the gay movement. I bet the religious right would have a much bigger problem with vampires. MUCH bigger problem.<br />
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Author Gail Carriger (who has <a href="http://gailcarriger.livejournal.com/">an extremely witty blog</a> as part of <a href="http://gailcarriger.com/">her author website</a>) is the pen name of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Carriger">Tofa Borregaard, an archeologist/anthropologist</a> (which explains all that attention to cultural detail). Her website has TONS of interview questions that she answers in a thorough and funny manner, so any detail about her writing would be more than answered using the resources on her website. Readers new to the<a href="http://gailcarriger.com/steampunk.php"> steampunk genre will find Carriger's introduction to be a good one</a> (and her novels are excellent crossover books for librarians interested in hooking the romance or historical fiction reader into something a little more fantasy). I was especially appreciative of her outstanding costuming resources listed - be prepared to spend a good hour noodling around these sites and thinking of your next Halloween costume!<br />
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It's safe to say that in the many steampunk books I've read, humor - really fun, playful humor - is in short supply. Thankfully we have Gail Carriger to help us see that steampunk is not just an interesting, sexy mashup genre for the intellectual fantasy/historical fiction reader, but downright funny as well. <br />
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The Sassy Librarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777578602407636655noreply@blogger.com1