Chronicles of a Mountain Librarian

Audiobook Review: Angel Literature

2012-02-15T14:36:00.000-05:00

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly (Candlewick Press, 2011 - Brilliance Audio)

Read for: High school new book adventure

My rating: 2/5 stars

Willow has always been on the outskirts of the high school social scene. In part because her mother is ill and she lives with her harsh and unloving aunt, in part because she fixes and knows about cars, and in part because she can see the future. It is this last quality that gets her into trouble when she does a reading for a fellow student, only to see an angel slowly draining the life of this girl. The girl refuses to believe Willow, however, and runs to tell the angel she met about the horrible things that Willow has reported.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Alex is hunting angels. He knows they are not out to help people, but rather to drain their life force. Trained from a young age to spot and eliminate angels, he is inexplicably drawn to Willow when sent to assassinate her, though she doesn't seem to be an angel at all. Willow and Alex are then forced into a trip across the country with one another, running for their lives from unknown forces. A predictable romantic drama follows, with the two at odds with one another until they fall in love amidst the battle scenes.

Cassandra Campbell, who narrates this book, has a breathy and dramatic voice that makes even the most mundane scene into a tragedy. Every aspect of the novel is over-narrated and over-wrought, making a story that is weak into an annoying and repetative tale for those listening to the audio version. Weatherly's descriptions and scenes are often cliche and by the middle of the novel I never wanted to hear another word about Willow's haunting green eyes. Though there is certainly an audience for this novel among teens looking for a paranormal romance story, it is best to avoid the audio version of this title. It's possible I would have been less annoyed if I had only been reading it.

Book Review: John Green's newest work of beauty

2012-02-13T11:18:00.000-05:00

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton Books, 2012)

Read for: High school new book adventure

My Rating: 5/5 stars

I loved this book. But it also made me sob. My husband kept walking by yesterday, eyeing me warily, suggesting that I could put the book aside if it was making me that upset. Me: "No no, it's honestly a really good book (sniffle) and I want to finish it today (sniffle)."

That the book is sad is in no way a spoiler: the main characters are teenagers with cancer. Bound to be some sad moments in there.

Hazel is 16 and living with cancer. Her lungs don't work properly, so she pulls around a small oxygen tank. At her regular meeting with other teens living with cancer, she meets Augustus, a cancer survivor who has lost part of one leg to the disease. A tragic love story follows this meeting.

That description in no way sells the book, I know. What makes this novel is not the story itself, but the way Green tells the story. Hazel and Gus are both very intelligent teenagers who have spent time thinking about serious issues, dealing with serious issues, and not being real children in the normal sense. Green nails the dialogue and the way teens in these situations would behave. They don't like the cliche comfort and remarks that they hear over and over again because of their situation, so they are able to joke in ways that people not living with cancer would find difficult to understand. They joke with their friend Issac who has lost his eyes to cancer. Some of the moments are laugh out loud funny.

Gus falls in love with and shares his Wish (from the foundation that grants wishes to dying kids) with Hazel - the opportunity to travel to Amsterdam to meet her favorite author. The trip and their adventures highlight and celebrate life as they try to work out their unique relationship. Most of us don't sit around appreciating the fact that we can sit around enjoying life, and Green's characters push us to look at the world from Hazel and Gus's perspective.

Another aspect of Green's story that I loved was the relationship both Hazel and Gus had with their respective parents. They were supportive, close and showed love in a strong, wonderful way. Hazel is worried about what will happen after she dies to her parents and their relationship. Her mother is her best friend. And through the actions of her mother, it is clear why this relationship is so strong. Gus's parents are just as wonderful. Despite the dire circumstances, it is a relief to read a YA novel with good parents due to the rarity with which it exists in the genre.

And this is not just a YA novel. Adults and teens alike will enjoy and be challenged by this book. It is rich in humor, love, and deep thinking that pushes us to view the world differently and reflect on our own lives. Everyone should read this book.

Friday with Joy and Love: Books about Africa for young readers

2012-02-10T14:31:00.000-05:00

I love Atinuke's books.

I have been searching for quality children's chapter books about Africa because our school is doing a K-12 immersion in African culture at the end of March. We're having visiting musicians and artists in to do workshops with students, expose them to different ideas and cultures and open their eyes to a larger world. But we need to build background knowledge first.

For the high school, the English teacher and I are teaming up to create big displays of books set in or about Africa that will count as double points for outside reading during the month of March. For grades K-2, there are folktales and nonfiction titles about African animals, as well as general continent books.

But for grades 3-6? Very little.

And what there is happens to often be outdated or provide a rather negative look at Africa.

That is, until I discovered The No. 1 Car Spotter and Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke. Both are fantastic chapter books for grades 3-4 and although neither specifies the country of setting, both talk about having a home in Africa in a very positive light. Anna Hibiscus lives with her extended family somewhere on the Atlantic coast. Her mother is from Canada and her father from Africa, while she has an aunt who lives in the US. Her four stories within this first book show the power of living in an extended family group, that people in Africa have some similarities to the US (cell phones, family vacations, difficult younger siblings), while at the same time have different cultural rules and customs. Atinuke does a great job of showing the reader instead of telling, for instance how food is eaten and clothing is worn.

The No. 1 Car Spotter has young boy at the center of the story. He lives in a more isolated location than Anna and has gotten his name for his ability to see travelers coming from a long distance in a village where there are no running cars. His story also stresses the importance of family ties, while at the same time being humorous and entertaining with some of the situations he finds himself in.

Both books are essential to elementary collections not only for their quality, but also because they help begin to fill a gap in the literature about Africa for young readers. The 3rd and 4th grade classes will get to enjoy both next month. For more on Atinuke, read today's post at the Brown Bookshelf.

If anyone has any other suggestions for titles about Africa for any age, I'd love to hear suggestions!

adult books with teen characters

2012-02-09T11:10:00.000-05:00

Annie Cardi has a great post that relates to the issue I brought up with Mal Peet's most recent novel, Life: An Exploded Diagram. She's trying to define what differentiates an adult book with a teen protagonist from a YA book. Check out the discussion, read my post, share your thoughts!

February New Book Party!

2012-02-09T09:41:00.000-05:00

We had our bi-annual new book party in the 7-12 grade library this morning. As usual, there were cookies and milk, accompanied by blueberry muffins and bagels with Nutella. (Many students had never had Nutella and a conversation about this a few weeks ago inspired this addition to the menu). It's wonderful to have everyone in the library, it's fun to talk about books and put the ones I've loved recently into the hands of those who will read them, and it's reassuring to be reminded that I work in a very special school where all the students read and most are excited about the prospect of a good story.

Elementary Monday: 5th Grade Reading

2012-02-06T14:34:00.000-05:00

During the review week in our reading program, the 5th grade and I are reading Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. First published in 1975, this wonderful novel will allow us to review all the major components of our unit (sequencing, visualizing, predicting and setting a purpose for reading, graphic sources such as time lines, facts versus opinions) while diving in to a quality, long work of literature. This is my main concern with the reading program, we are never reading long pieces. I'm thrilled to be using this text in order to do that. It's relatively short and read over the course of the week brings up many wonderful discussions and issues. Is it good to live forever? Is it ever okay to lie? What should Winnie's decision be at the end of the novel? We're only 4 chapters in and already we are predicting, asking questions and anxious for what comes next! We have my 5th grade reading teacher to thank for this selection, you can read more about her influence on my choices here.

Friday with Joy and Love: Kindergarten Edition

2012-02-03T15:10:00.000-05:00

In our continuing study of fiction and nonfiction in kindergarten (also known as books with stories and books with information, though we use the proper terms as well) we read Corduroy by Don Freeman this week, accompanied by a nonfiction book about bear cubs. As you can see, we have a stuffed version of Corduroy in the library. The kindergartners took turns holding him throughout the story, passing him on to the next person every few pages. They were kind and generous with one another and let the birthday boy hold him the longest. It was a wonderful display of patience and sharing and they loved the story. We will be reading A Pocket for Corduroy next week with another nonfiction bear book. It's really lovely that part of my job involves reading the best children's literature aloud to eager listeners. I am also very pleased that an older story (first published in 1968) continues to resonate and appeal to young readers.

upcoming books from Maggie Stiefvater

2012-02-03T08:43:00.001-05:00

I have loved everything by Stiefvater - the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy and The Scorpio Races, which just won a Printz Honor last week. So I am thrilled to see that we'll have a new book by her so soon. Read about it here.

Book Review: Is this YA fiction? Let me know.

2012-02-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet (Candlewick Press, 2011)

Read for: High School New Book Adventure

My Rating: 4/5 stars

I want to start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The language was fantastic, the storytelling engaging, and Peet's way of explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis and the reality of JFK's presidency were unusual in their honesty. But I am not convinced this is a young adult novel.

The first 100 pages or so follow Clem's parents, Ruth and George, and their relationship after George returns from WWII. Clem was conceived during the war when they were both young, but George returns to reality with his bitter mother-in-law and a wife who is cold and distant. Peet uses only as many words as necessary to give the reader a feel for this time period, and the effect is stunning and deep. "After the war, it took him eight years to get his farm back to full strength, eight years during which many of his fields lay fallow and women and awkward boys did the work of experienced men who had died. The landscape itself seemed to grieve" (pg. 30).

But back to the question of whether or not this is a YA novel. The first 100 pages are about adults. Clem doesn't become a teenager until well into the novel and throughout this reading, I kept wondering why this is YA fiction. When Clem's story really takes off, it is certainly a classic teenage tale. He, a lowly scholarship student, falls for the daughter of the manor owner, and she for him. They meet in secret, risking his father's job and her reputation and place in her family. Peet begins to mix their tale with the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is going on as the background of their courtship. Peet's view of JFK is ungenerous, stark and true to life. Using real quotes from the secret tapes of conversations, he rightly paints those involved in the decision making as crazy war enthusiasts and JFK as unfocused and unqualified for the job. The novel is a wonderful way to see how this historic event effected the lives of those throughout the world.

Clem and Frankie's relationship heads towards an inevitable disaster, as readers could have predicted from the start and the details of which I won't mention to avoid spoilers. The novel ends many decades in the future with the state of their lives long after this time period and connects briefly to 9/11.

So, back to my question. With the first 100 pages about adults, with a narrator who is an adult and is telling a part of his teenage years but also the rest of his life story as well, with an ending that includes the characters at middle age, why is this YA fiction? Why is this not an adult novel than happens to include the narrator's younger life as well? Though I really enjoyed it, I don't think it is a novel I'm going to be able to sell broadly to teens, as most won't make it through those first 100 pages. Furthermore, most teens aren't interesting in reading a novel in which the characters are adults at the end. The adult perspective throughout this novel may impede many readers' ability to engage with the tale.

Thoughts? Tell me why you think this is or isn't YA fiction.

Book Review: New YA Fiction

2012-02-01T14:34:00.000-05:00

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler (RazorBill, 2011)

Read for: High School New Book Adventure

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

It's 1996 and Josh and Emma are finishing up their sophomore and junior years of high school, respectively. When a free sample of AOL software arrives at his house, Josh walks across the street to give it to Emma for her new computer. Though they've been friends forever, their relationship has been strained since the summer when Josh tried to kiss Emma and she pushed him away.

But when a website called Facebook is linked to her sign-in page, Emma calls Josh frantically. Did he make it? Is it some kind of joke? Though neither know what it is, the site seems to show the future 15 years from now. As they continue to piece together information from status updates, Emma and Josh realize that by saying or doing something in the present, they can change the state of the future. A dangerous game ensues as the friends untangle their present and their future together, with an inevitable love story involved.

This was a pleasant, easy, fun read that will attract both male and female teens. There are moments of hilarity, such as when the status update says, "Poor Pluto" and both characters wonder what in the world happened to our outermost planet. The love story with its inevitable conclusion will appeal to readers who favor a little romance in their tales. The ease of reading will attract teens looking for a light story that will move quickly.

Mackler and Asher also get credit for throwing in a cool librarian, we always appreciate breaking out of the stereotype. "The librarian has a pink streak in her hair and two silver hoops at the top of one ear...She's definitely one of the cooler teachers at Lake Forest High," (pg. 103-104).

Elementary Monday: A Little Known Title

2012-01-30T18:59:00.000-05:00

In 5th grade I was in a small, advanced reading group of 8 students and my teacher for this class (not the classroom teacher) was phenomenal. I still love many of the books she used and teach with them either in my reading classes or my library classes. Most are familiar titles, such as Bridge to Terabithia and Tuck Everlasting and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. My favorite, then and now, however, is a book that most people no longer recognize.* The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson is a science fiction story in which a plague kills all people over the age of 12. I have often wondered if Michael Grant was aware of this novel before he began his wildly popular YA series that begin with Gone, based on the exact same premise.

Nonetheless, The Girl Who Owned a City is a fantastic story with strong male and female characters, but a girl named Lisa is at the head of a plan to keep everyone in her neighborhood safe and alive as gangs spring up around them. It was the first story I ever finished before I was required to do so, and it was the first story I ever read with a female protagonist whose character was proactive and adventurous. I didn't know at the time that these were my reasons for liking the story, but I LOVED it.

The 5th and 6th grade library class will begin reading it this week. We'll incorporate many 21st-Century learning skills into the unit as well, with focus on narrowing search terms, searching online by domain type in order to find reliable sources, and continuing work on website navigation. All these skills will be directly connect to story content to avoid learning these skills in isolation. More than anything though, I think we're all excited to begin a new novel, as they've been asking me daily what we are going to read next.

*As I searched for the book on Powell's, I discovered that there is a graphic novel version of the story coming out soon. Who knew? What I really wish is that they'd rerelease the original novel with a decent cover, jeez. Why are their heads so big?

sequel to...

2012-01-28T07:09:00.000-05:00

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor will come out in Fall 2012! The waiting is going to be terrible. Here's some of the art courtesy of her blog:

Friday with Joy and Love: Attention School Librarians!

2012-01-27T12:24:00.001-05:00

School librarians: if you haven't read this book yet, read it, then give it to your phys ed. teacher:

Born to Run: A hidden tribe, super athletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen by Christopher McDougall (Knopf, 2009)

I read this book shortly after it came out, then read it aloud to my husband, then gave it to my sister and my father and anyone else who was willing to humor me. I'm a runner, so I was interested in the subject matter, but the book will interest almost anyone. It is one of the best narrative nonfiction pieces I have ever read. McDougall doesn't just fill you in on the tribe in Mexico where everyone runs miles every day, their entire lives. ("We don't stop running because we get old, we get old because we stop running.") He also gives an enormous amount of background on human history and why we're built to be runners in the first place. But he does so in a way that allows non-scientists to follow, understand, and even exclaim, "Of course!" occasionally.

All that said, one of the other people who humored me and borrowed the book was our school phys ed teacher. And he loved it. He told me it was the first book he's read in a decade. He's been walking around school in Vibram 5-Fingers and talking about barefoot running.

And he's teaching all of the students, K-12, to run landing on the balls of their feet, not their heels.

Talk about a book making an impact.

So my message to school librarians today: read this one and pass it on to your phys ed teacher.

poetry for middle grade readers

2012-01-26T11:31:00.001-05:00

Roots and Blues: A Celebration by Arnold Adoff, paintings by R. Gregory Christie (Clarion Books, 2011)

Read for: School Library System Book Reviews

My Rating: 4/5 stars

I'm currently finishing up with my box of books for the bi-annual book review run by my school library system. When we meet for our bi-annual meeting, other librarians and I will have the opportunity to peruse the books and reviews of hundreds of titles, and then the books that I reviewed will be sent back to me for our library collection. It's a wonderful way to acquire new titles, but it's great for other reasons. With this title, the opportunity to read a book I might otherwise not come across is the most important. This excellent collection of poetry, which has received rave reviews from many trade journals, somehow flew under my radar. It's beautiful and I'm going to speak to the 5th/6th grade teacher, as well as the high school English and social studies teachers, about incorporating it into studies of Black History, slavery and blues music. Poetry is often missing from our units, but this collection is so directly connected to topics we already teach that incorporating it should be a pleasure. And it is a stunning collection. Here's the review I wrote for the library system:

Adoff has created a book of beautiful and moving poetry that begins with the history of Africans brought across the ocean and sold into the slave trade and moves through to the blues tradition and some of the most famous artists. In between poems titled by topic, such as “Chained” about the trip across the Atlantic, are poems titled “Listening,” which describe the sounds of the experiences in the poems on the previous pages. Sounds of shackles, sounds of the Mississippi River, and sounds of everyday life after slavery ends are included. All poems are free-verse and the shape of the poem on the page often creates an image for the reader. “The Mississippi River” is almost a concrete poem, long, with curves of one and two word lines. Many poems end with four or five lines of only one word each. This techniques slows the reader and gives the feeling of blues music during the reading.

Gregory’s paintings are sometimes two page spreads between the poems, while at other times accompany a poem on the page next to the writing. They are powerful, moving, and often dark, such as those of the slave ships and chain gangs, and they greatly enhance the text.

This collection would work very well for middle and high school grades learning about Black History or the history of the blues. The poetry could accentuate the learning and give students the feel for the time period to supplement nonfiction reading of the history.

Audiobook Review: YA Apocalyptic Fiction

2012-01-25T11:40:00.001-05:00

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Mayer (Feiwel & Friends, 2012) - (audio by Macmillan and read by Rebecca Soler)

Read for: High School New Book Adventure

My Rating: 3/5 stars

The reader's view of New Beijing begins when a android drops a machine-like foot on the table of Cinder's stall in the market. Cinder interrupts her current machinist/technology project to pry her old, too-small-foot from her ankle and attach the adult-size model. Cinder is a cyborg, saved from an injury by new technology that can add machine parts to a human body. She also has a computer connection in her head and a light in her vision that turns on when someone lies to her.

Cyborgs in this future world, post World War IV, are despised by everyone. In keeping with Cinderella tales, even Cinder's step-mother and sister are full of loathing and disrespect for their family member. Her younger sister is one of Cinder's only allies, and early on in the story she comes down with the plague that is ravaging the country and is taken to an isolated hospital to die. Meanwhile, Cinder has met Prince Kai, who needs his android fixed in a desperate way. Cinder is the best mechanic in the city, after all and the android has information that may save the country and the entire planet from an invasion by the evil Lunar queen and her forces on the moon.

Prince Kai and Cinder find themselves falling for each other, though all the while Cinder knows that if he learned the truth about her cyborg nature, he would flee her company in a second.

While all this sounds far-fetched and rather predictable, the story is engaging and the writing strong enough to push the reader into deeper engagement. Any Cinderella adaptation is bound to be predictable, but Meyer's writing makes the characters strong, the place interesting and dynamic and the story interesting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. So much so that I was very disappointed to discover that the novel is the beginning of a series and the reader is left desperately hanging at the finish of the book, wondering what the outcome will be (this despite knowing what it must be if it is in keeping with the traditional tale). Soler's reading was an excellent way to enjoy the story, but readers in grades 8-12 who like fantasy and science fiction will enjoy this novel as well.

I won books!

2012-01-23T14:48:00.001-05:00

Presenting Lenore is a blog I read regularly, so naturally I entered the Apocalypsies Love! Starter Pack Give Away #3 a few weeks back. Lo and behold, I won! I'm not sure I've ever won anything like this. I was so thrilled. Thanks Lenore! It really brightened my day.

Elementary Monday: The ALA 2012 Youth Media Awards

2012-01-23T11:39:00.000-05:00

The ALA announced the winners of the Caldecott, the Newbery, the Coretta Scott King and the Printz Awards this morning, among others. A Ball for Daisy, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011) is the winner of the Caldecott. I just reviewed this picture book for the bi-annual school library system reviews, and this is what I wrote:

Raschka tells the story of the dog Daisy, her person and her ball in a wordless format, bright with primary colors. Daisy’s love for her ball is shown in sequential panels on the first several pages, giving readers an idea that she not only plays with her toy but also sleeps with it. One day at the park, another dog begins playing with the ball, only to put a hole in it. Daisy’s dismay is evident through Raschka’s watercolor spreads. The next day, however, the owner of the dog who damaged the ball returns to the park with a new, blue ball for Daisy. The story concludes with a feeling that both the girls and the dogs have become friends. This is an excellent picture book to use in order to teach young students about what an illustrator does or to have them write the text that could be included with each page of the story. It is also just a lovely, bright story that would work well for a lap read between parents and young children.

An excellent choice for the Caldecott winner.

The Newbery went to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011), a middle grade book that is still on my to-read pile.

a weird, irregular week

2012-01-22T18:50:00.000-05:00

It's been a weird, irregular week in more ways than one. I failed to do either of my "regular" posts (see comments on the right). The only reading I did was finishing an adult book for my book club, as opposed to reading chapter books or young adult fiction. Our family lost my cousin this week, which was unexpected and terrible and in the aftermath I had to make sub plans so I could be out at the end of the week to attend his funeral. The bright moment was sitting and eating pizza at my brother's house after the service with the family on a Thursday night and having my 10-year-old nephew turn to me and say, "Do you have a sub right now?" My nephews understand my job so much better than most adult jobs, so we had a lively conversation about our favorite substitutes and what makes them good. The sub that was able to cover my days is my favorite - in my house we refer to her as my "assistant" with a chuckle. She does a lot of work that gets backed up in a library with only one librarian, like covering books, organizing magazines, and shelf reading. After she's been in, I never feel that time has been lost and it's wonderful.

But I'll be back in the swing of things come tomorrow. I've finished my book club book, so we can meet, chat, eat, and choose our next novel. Often these books are titles I wouldn't have picked up on my own and I really enjoy the process, even if they're not always stunning. Our title this time was Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (Viking, 2011). There were two pieces of the book I enjoyed the most: the first was the picture of New York City in the 30s and the second was frequent, wonderful quotes that seemed right on point. My favorite: "It is a lovely oddity of human nature that a person is more inclined to interrupt two people in conversation than one person alone with a book, even if it is a foolish romance" (pg. 79).

further ideas on dystopian texts

2012-01-18T14:31:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who has contributed titles and ideas to the dystopian project I'm working on with our high school English teacher. One post was shared in comments, but I wanted to put it in a place of more prominence because I think it is very useful for continuing the discussion. Over at Teach Mentor Texts last week, they did a post on dystopian vs. post-apocalyptic books, which explains why I didn't put Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer on my list. Read the post here.

Audiobook Review: Middle Grade Fiction

2012-01-18T14:17:00.000-05:00

First Light by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, 2007; Listening Library, 2010, narrated by Dan Ackroyd and Coleen Marlo)

Read for: Elementary Library Chapter Books

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Peter is thrilled when his father convinces his mother that they should both accompany him on one of his many journeys to Greenland. Peter's father is studying global warming and the trip will allow Peter to miss 6 weeks of school and leave Manhattan for an exciting adventure in the outdoors. The only problem seems to be Peter's increasingly bad headaches and his fear that he might be starting to hallucinate during them.

Meanwhile, Thea is living in a futuristic community below the ice in a town called Gracehope. Although the exact location is not disclosed, the reader suspects she is somewhere in the Arctic. At 14, Thea is trying to convince her community to explore the wider world above the ice, while her grandmother, a strong village politician, repeatedly thwarts her efforts.

I purchased this book with my order for the upper elementary in the beginning of this school year for two reasons. The first was simple: positive reviews from a variety of sources. But I only read those reviews after finishing Stead's latest middle grade novel, When You Reach Me, which won the Newbery in 2010. While this novel is not as stunning as the award winner, the mystery will easily capture readers of both genders. In the audio version, Ackroyd and Marlo alternate chapters between Thea and Peter's perspectives. Each chapter leaves you wondering when the characters will connect and if they live in the same or different time periods. The curiosity this produces, along with well-imagined characters and a strong sense of place make the novel vivid and quick. Give this one to readers in grades 5-8 who like mysteries or have concerns about the environment.

Friday with Joy and Love: New books soon!

2012-01-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

No photo with the cute dogs this week because I'm writing this post in a hurry. I want to get out of the building and on the road to NYC (seeing my sister!) in a timely fashion, as I think the drive is going to be a little slow going in this snow. That said, the most pleasant event for the week was placing the second-half-of-the-year order for the 7th-12th grade library. We are always in desperate need of new titles by January and it's that weird time of the year, when I've been reading ahead by ordering from the public library, so when students come in asking for books, I exclaim, "I've got the perfect thing!" and then realize and tell them, "You can have it in a few weeks." Blah, I hate that. So it is lovely to know the books are currently being processed, they'll be here soon and we can have our biannual new book party. Yay!

dystopian novels for young adults - please add to the list!, 2nd Edition

2012-01-12T14:05:00.002-05:00

The 7th-12th grade English teacher and I sat down again this week to discuss her dystopian unit with the 12th grade class. As they're beginning with 1984 and Brave New World and then moving on to a novel of their choice, we're really looking for titles that are set in the future with a big government control of life. Some of the suggestions made so far have been great and I've updated the list, but please add any more that you may think of in comments!

· Anderson, M.T. Feed.
· Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale.

· Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games.

· Condie, Ally. Matched.

· DeStafano, Lauren. Wither.

· Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden.

· Lancaster, Mike A. Human.4.

· Lowry, Lois. The Giver.

· Lu, Marie. Legend.

· McCafferty, Megan. Bumped.

· Malley, Gemma. The Declaration.

· Oliver, Lauren. Delirium.

· Pearson, Mary. The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

· Roth, Veronica. Divergent.

· Shusterman, Neal. Unwind.

· Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies.

· Young, Moira. Blood Red Road.

· Zevin, Gabrielle. All These Things I’ve Done.

Comment Challenge!

2012-01-12T13:42:00.000-05:00

Over at MotherReader, the Comment Challenge is going on for most of January. Basically, it's a way of getting bloggers who write about children's and young adult lit to comment on each other's posts, share information, ideas, support, etc. While the challenge is for 5 comments a day, MotherReader tells people like me in the FAQ that it is okay to begin with a smaller goal for yourself. I myself have days when I don't even sign in to Google Reader, so I'm trying to make at least one comment a day on the blogs I'm perusing. So far, it's been great. There's been more response to my posts and questions and a feeling of community, which is always reassuring.

Book Review: YA Literature

2012-01-10T13:39:00.000-05:00

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Little, Brown, 2011)

Read for: mid-year order, grades 7-12

My Rating: 5/5 stars (see Goodreads links to the right for more info)

The novel opens with 17-year-old Karou walking through the streets of Prague, morning coffee in hand, to attend classes at her high school for the arts. The city feels magically old and inviting despite the winter weather and the reader can imagine morning in this real-world European city. But the feeling of the real world doesn't remain long. Karou's real life is one outside the one she inhabits by day. She fills her notebook with sketches of chimaera - part animal, part human creatures - that are not imagination, but her "parents" of sorts. Behind secret portals live the four creatures who have raised her, including Brimstone, a ram/human who traffics in teeth. Karou runs his errands throughout the world, gathering the various types of teeth that humans exchange for wishes in varying denominations. Karou is rarely granted a wish beyond a scuppy, the smallest of wishes. She's used them to dye her hair permanently bright blue. Brimstone has granted her various languages as gifts, but beyond that her wishes have been small and Brimstone has never shared with her the reason why the teeth are gathered.

Karou has lived with this mystery her entire life and never pressed for more information, until the day she is attacked by a dazzlingly beautiful seraph, Akiva, who has every intention of taking her life. Recognition flickers through him at the last moment, however, and Karou escapes into a portal to heal her wounds. Here begins a romance that rings with deja vu. Akiva can't stay away from Karou and seeks her out in the human world to find the truth of who she is. Both Karou and Akiva seem to remember each other, though they've never met before. Karou's past and the background of the chimaera and the seraphim begin to emerge in an action-packed, nail-biting story that will keep readers turning the pages without stop.

This novel has it all, romance, fast pace, action, mystery, a beautiful setting, both the real and the imagined, and a story that feels original and utterly alluring. While young adults who have a difficult time with fantasy aren't the audience for this novel, any teen (or adult for that matter) who enjoys fantasy should read this one. One of the best of 2011, hands down. I'm sorry to say, it is the beginning of a trilogy with no date yet mentioned for the second installment. But it is worth reading now and rereading again when the second arrives.

Elementary Monday: Kindergarten Edition

2012-01-09T14:41:00.000-05:00

Last week when we returned from the Christmas break, most of my elementary library classes transitioned into the second unit of the year. For the kindergartners, this transition began a unit on the two basic types of books: books with stories and books with information. We dive right in to using the words "fiction" and "nonfiction," as they are posted above the shelves and all over the library. Even the kindergartners already know where to find a true book about dogs or where to find a story in the library. This week we'll read two books with a similar animal, as we did last week with owls (see that lesson here) and we'll talk about which is fiction and which is nonfiction. Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic will be accompanied by the nonfiction title Ducks by Hollie Endres. We seem to be enjoying a bird theme at the moment, though that wasn't planned.

dystopian novels for young adults - please add to the list!

2012-01-09T11:54:00.010-05:00

I'm compiling a list of dystopian novels to use on a project with the English teacher. She's beginning a unit with the seniors during which they will read Brave New World and 1984 and then a dystopian novel of their choice. I've put together a list of the titles I could think of and that I've read (or will have read in a month when I have to booktalk them). But I know I'm forgetting some! Please add any titles you can think of in the comments.

· Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale.

· Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games.

· Condie, Ally. Matched.

· DeStafano, Lauren. Wither.

· Lu, Marie. Legend.

· McCafferty, Megan. Bumped.

· Malley, Gemma. The Declaration.

· Oliver, Lauren. Delirium.

· Pearson, Mary. The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

· Roth, Veronica. Divergent.

· Shusterman, Neal. Unwind.

· Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies.

· Young, Moira. Blood Red Road.

· Zevin, Gabrielle. All These Things I’ve Done.

Friday with Joy and Love: 1st Grade Edition

2012-01-06T13:30:00.001-05:00

The highlight for me this week occurred on our first day back from break during my library class with the 1st grade. We've been working through our folktale unit and we're getting closer to beginning fractured tales (think: The Stinky Cheese Man and The Wolf Who Cried Boy). I created a laminated graphic organizer that I can use again next year for the unit, which features the author, illustrator, front cover, moral and the call number of each book. Eventually it will include whether it is an original or fractured tale, but we're not that yet. That aside, the most challenging concept is the moral of the tale, which is the new concept for the unit, everything else is review. This week, after only five stories (see Joy's view of the chart), almost all the students were able to connect the word "moral" to its synonym "lesson" and tell me the morals of the previous stories. Yay! Plus, I'm secretly teaching about call numbers and authors' last names and they don't even know it. Sly prep for the next unit...

independent bookstores and winter vacation

2012-01-03T06:09:00.000-05:00

I've been absent from the blog for the last week or so because we were traveling all over New York State and Vermont for the holiday. Our New Years and the three days before has been spent in southern Vermont for the last three years with my husband's college friends. During that time there's always one great day when half the group goes skiing (not including me) and the other half spends the day in Manchester, Vermont (including me!). While others walk around and shop various stores, I spend the entire time in the fabulous independent bookstore, Northshire Bookstore. Three floors plus a cafe and a terrific selection of titles make it a place I can easily dedicate hours to wandering. I seemed to be in a nonfiction mood this year. When exactly I'll get to these titles is anyone's guess, as we're back at school again today. But they'll wait for me on my shelf until I'm ready.

Book Review: New from Maggie Stiefvater

2012-01-02T10:47:00.001-05:00

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater (Scholastic, 2011)

Read for: Upcoming High School Book Order

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Puck, also known as Kate, is just getting by on the island of Thisby with her older brother Gabe and her younger brother Finn. Their parents were killed in the way many are lost on the island, by the water horses that come ashore in November. At that time of year, many foolhardy tourists fill the island and race the water horses in the Scorpio Races, a notoriously bloody day. Without their parents, money is tight and when Gabe declares that he's going to the mainland, Puck finds herself reeling. Without any thought but to keep Gabe around longer and to maybe save the house from being taken, Puck enters her horse, Dove, in the races.

No regular horse and no girl have ever ridden in the Scorpio Races.

Somehow, however, Puck has caught the eye of Sean Kendrick, four time winner of the races and a horse whisperer of sorts with the water horses. He may just help make the difference between whether she survives the races or meets the same fate as her parents.

One of the only reasons I didn't give this novel a straight 5/5 stars is because I believe I enjoyed it slightly more than the average reader because I love horses. But even without a love of horses, I think teens both male and female will eat up this novel. Steifvater gives the reader the reality of vicious horses that emerge from the sea within the first 10 pages of the novel, but she has already convinced the reader so much of this reality that it doesn't seem strange. The animals came to life in my mind as I read and I almost forgot it was fantasy.

Sean Kendrick is full-bodied character who slowly reveals himself through his actions, not his words. Stiefvater has written him in such a way that it seems as if we know him by the end of the story and certainly those romantically-minded readers are hoping for a connection between he and Puck. The thrill of the race and the threat of the horses will keep any reader interested in adventure on the edge of their seat. Those young feminists will root for Puck as the island men seek to disqualify from the races because of her gender. These qualities combined with the light fantasy (still based in the real world with fantasy animal additions) will capture the attention of almost any reader and make this a novel that is passed from hand to hand in the library, but never meets the shelf.

For those wondering where they've heard this name before, Maggie Stiefvater wrote The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, the fantastic trilogy about werewolves.

Book Review: New YA Fiction

2011-12-20T11:01:00.000-05:00

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber (Houghton Mifflin, 2011)

Read for: Mid-Year High School Book Order

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Perry, a senior in high school, has been patient and kind to his family's Lithuanian exchange student all year. He's been kind even though she talks little, acts awkwardly around other students, and is not the beautiful European girl that he'd hoped for when his family decided to host an exchange student. All this patience begins to wane, however, when Perry's father insists that he take Gobi to the prom. Perry's band has a gig in New York City the same night and he does not want to miss it. But Perry always gives in to his big-shot lawyer father, partly because he plans to follow in his footsteps and eventually become a part of his firm.

In this case, however, Perry's father has made a giant mistake. Midway through the evening, Perry discovers that Gobi is not in fact awkward or unattractive, but an undercover assassin who sheds her disguise and becomes a 24-year-old killer on a rampage throughout the city, with Perry as her driver. Throughout the evening she imparts insight and information that begin to shift Perry's view of and relationship with his father as well as his view of himself.

I cannot wait until the mid-year order comes and I can put this book into students' hands. Perry tells the story in a fantastic, snarky, realistic 18-year-old boy narrative that is hilarious and entertaining. The entire novel happens over the course of one non-stop evening and the pace is fast and will keep the interest of almost any reader. This is a gem of a novel that will appeal to both male and female high school students with a wide variety of reading interests.

Book Review: YA Science Fiction Series

2011-12-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

Crossed (Matched #2) by Ally Condie (Dutton Books, 2011)

Read for: Mid-Year High School Book Order

My Rating: 3/5 stars

At the end of Matched, which I finished last year, Ky had been taken to an undisclosed location and Cassia had decided to follow him. Though she was matched with her childhood friend Xander, Cassia slowly fell in love with Ky throughout the first book in the series and vows to throw her life into chaos to escape the Society and be with him no matter what it takes.

When Crossed opens, Cassia is in a work camp away from her family to try to reform her behavior. Ky, meanwhile, has been sent to the outer provinces of this future world. There he and other boys pretend to be farmers in order to convince the Enemy that there are still people living in this area. Essentially they are cannon fodder and few live long enough to notch more than a dozen marks on their boots, much less the months required to regain status in the Society.

As Ky escapes into the canyons from his latest placement, Cassia also runs off, and eventually the two are reunited. They accomplish all this only to discover unavoidable differences when it comes to joining the Resistance and all the future time their lives may hold.

The novel transitions back and forth between Ky and Cassia chapters and fans of the first book will also eat this one right up. Their perspectives feel real and most their conflicts are believable, though some readers might have a difficult time understanding how the two could work so hard to be together only to be driven apart so quickly through lack of communication. But most teens will simply enjoy the conflict that will fuel book #3 in the trilogy.

Elementary Monday: Gooney Bird Greene

2011-12-19T12:10:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Lois Lowry's Gooney Bird Greene with the 2nd grade library class for years. Gooney is a stand-out character in a room full of fascinating and silly characters. She loves to tell absolutely true stories, all the while teaching readers and listeners the important components of a story. In the first book, she also uses the main reference books - encyclopedias, dictionaries and atlases - to round out her stories. Because the 2nd grade began the year with National Geographic Wild Animal Atlases and a continent study, this book is an excellent transition. We're reinforcing use of the atlases while adding other reference books to our repertoire.

I have also used another Gooney Bird Book in previous years during National Poetry Month in April, this one titled Gooney Bird is so Absurd. Here Lowry introduces readers to various types of poetry and another wonderful story. Two other Gooney books come sequentially between the one focused on poetry and the original, which are Gooney Bird and the Room Mother and Gooney the Fabulous. Room Mother simply allows Gooney to tell more stories with difficult vocabulary that would reinforce reference book work, while Gooney the Fabulous focuses on fables and would be a great starting place for a classroom teacher who wanted students to write fables. Unfortunately I skip these two, as I just don't have enough time to teach all the books in library class.

What I am very excited about today is the newest addition to the Gooney Bird repertoire, Gooney Bird on the Map. This story takes place in February when many students are going away for winter break and combines the geography of all their locations. I'm going to try to work this novel in to my curriculum for the 2nd grade this year if possible, because they are loving the antics of this fellow-second-grader.

a day to be a librarian only

2011-12-14T19:35:00.001-05:00

The elementary school was on a field trip this morning, which means that I didn't teach 3rd and 5th grade reading for the normal two hours this morning. Student council has just finished the most recent fundraising endeavor (poinsettia sales), so I had no work on that front. I had the pleasure of being only a librarian today, and it was exceedingly satisfying. Here's my morning:

7:40am: drop off a pile of new professional titles to the high school social studies teacher; they were just returned by the 6th grade teacher - trying to make sure everyone knows what we have when it's new!

7:45am: Check in Rick Riordan's The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) for the 6th grader who has been eagerly awaiting its arrival through interlibrary loan; also check in Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz, the 8th book in the Alex Rider series, also eagerly awaited through interlibrary loan by another 6th grader who has read only this series over the course of this school year, and is almost done with #7

7:55am: Put Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games #2) into the hands of a high school student who just finished the first novel

8:00am: interlibrary loan professional title for a teacher who sent me an email request

8:10am: kindergarten library class; we read Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh and discussed illustration techniques

8:45am: weeded the elementary biography section. This area connects to the history section, which is a rich part of the elementary library full of US history and world history as well as continent books and other titles that are used frequently by grades 3-6. Of late, the books haven't been fitting on the shelf and for about 3 weeks I've walked by this area, knowing that I need to address it, and knowing that I'm not going to have time anytime soon. Today I did! I weeded biographies that have never been read, titles about people that were modern at one point but not of lasting historical interest, and titles that are above the heads of most elementary students. Of those that are at too high a reading level but discuss important individuals (think JFK and Harriet Tubman), we now have more reader-friendly titles, but the less appealing ones simply haven't been removed prior to today. Success! This area of the library now looks lovely and is far more user-friendly.

10:20am: elementary circulation and shelving

10:50am: high school study hall. During this period I did collection development with the new December issue of School Library Journal (personal subscription) and with Library Journal (loaned through my school library system's journal exchange). I got to explore SLJ's list of the best books of 2011, put them on our to-order list if they fit our school, look at the latest releases, examine the adult books for young adult lists for 2011 that have just come out, and interlibrary loan a few audio titles that have received starred reviews (the print books themselves are on my mid-year to-order list for the high school library).

11:45am: printed the webquest worksheets for the 5th and 6th grade that will help conclude our library unit with the novel The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. We're reviewing topics we've covered during this unit that help build toward independent research and inquiry, such as browsers, search engines, keywords, reliable websites, databases and website navigation, all using the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

11:55am: checked out laptops and netbooks for use in the 5th and 6th grade library class this afternoon.

Such fun! This was one of those mornings that made me feel exceedingly accomplished and on task.

excellent middle grade audio

2011-12-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements, audio narrated by Daniel Passer (Philomel Books, 2002)

Read for: Middle Grade Books

My Rating: 4/5 stars

15-year-old Bobby Phillips wakes one morning in February, gets up, showers in the dark to extend the illusion of sleep just a little longer, turns on the light to look in the bathroom mirror and sees...nothing. Bobby can feel his body, but it seems he has become invisible. Though his professor parents take a little time coming around to the idea that they can talk to and touch but not see their son, they eventually do admit the reality of the situation. Bobby's father scientist begins making theories, his mother steps up and tries to be supportive, and Bobby explores their Chicago neighborhood sans clothing (the clothing is visible when it's on his body).

At the university library one afternoon a few days after his "disappearance," Bobby accidentally bumps in to a girl his age who feels him and begins talking to him as if everything is normal. And for Alicia, it is. She's been blind for two years and doesn't know there is anything strange about Bobby. Here begins a friendship with great potential to help them both. Bobby can't talk to anyone but Alicia, who eventually learns the truth of the situation. Her dad is also a scientist and wants to theorize with Bobby's father. Add to that the fact that Bobby treats her more like a "normal" person that others do because of her condition and this is an excellent pairing. She also is able to help him as he tries to discover the source of his invisibility before social services arrest his parents for his apparent disappearance. This conflict picks up the pace of the second half of the novel and has the reader avidly waiting for the conclusion.

This novel will appeal strongly to both girls and boys in grades 6-9. Passer's narration on the audio is excellent and captures Bobby's anger, frustration and confusion in a way that makes the listener feel that he is telling his own story, not reading novel aloud. That aside, the print version should appeal thoroughly to readers because Bobby is an interesting, honest character with a fascinating problem and creative ideas about what to do about it and with it. We've had this one on the shelves for a while and I'm glad I listened to it, because now I think my book talking will cause it to circulate far more frequently and give a little attention to an older, but excellent title.

Elementary Monday (on Tuesday) - Grad Class is Over!

2011-12-13T10:51:00.000-05:00

Forgive me for not posting yesterday, as I was preparing for my final presentation in my "Teaching Literacy through Literature" grad course. This is one of the required courses for my birth - grade 6 Literacy Specialist masters. And it has been a LONG semester. That said, the presentation went well on Monday night, the class is officially over and all of my work has been turned in! Yay!

The final project for my group was a unit plan of what I'm already doing in library adapted to a traditional classroom with grades 5 and 6. We presented The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg for a rural audience. Through a variety of technology and background building books, the students are introduced to New York City and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The lessons we designed are excellent, if only I had that much time for library class! Alas, most of my focus has been incorporating the technology pieces and not the larger, art based, creative projects and writing assignments that would suit classroom instruction better. I'll be happy to share ideas with anyone interested. They're all designed with the Common Core Standards, which makes them timely.

Friday with Joy and Love - Kindergarten Edition

2011-12-09T22:11:00.001-05:00

Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen (Sandpiper, 2002)

The kindergarten and I have been discussing illustration techniques of late - and in most schools this might consist of a discussion of markers, crayons, pens, and pencils. Because they are a wonderfully bring group, we've been able to broaden our discussion to include photographs and collage, but I was astounded this week when they were able to look at the illustrations in our read-aloud and declare that the illustrator used oil pastels. Kindergarteners! I don't think I knew what pastels were before high school! So that knowledge, combined with the beautiful and creative artwork that they produce with those tools, was the highlight of the week for me (and thus photographed with mitten/puppet Joy, who celebrates the highlights of the week). All this thanks to our wonderful art teacher, who is able to draw out the artist in every student and who was my collaborator last year in the graphic novel course. Her work is much appreciated.

speaking of the common core standards

2011-12-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

I posted earlier in the week about how the goals of the common core echo the instruction librarians have been doing for years, and here is proof: the AASL (American Association of School Libraries) has done a crosswalk of their standards and the Common Core Standards.

this is a quote i love...

2011-12-08T11:31:00.002-05:00

and the comments below are food for thought as well.

The Kirkus List of Best Teen Books 2011

2011-12-08T11:18:00.000-05:00

Check out the list here. I'm having so much fun reading through the list in detail. Many of the novels we own and I've read, many are on the to-order list for January, and a few have managed to escape my notice until now.

Book Review: Middle Grade Fiction

2011-12-08T08:26:00.000-05:00

The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh, audio narrated by Ric Jerrom (Chicken House, 2010)

Read for: New-ish elementary library books

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Will Paynel is gathering wood for Crowfield Abbey, his new home. After his entire family dies in a fire in 1347, the monks are willing to take him in for the free labor he's able to provide. While in the woods, Will discovers an animal caught in an illegally placed trap, but on closer inspection, it is not an animal. Somewhere between a person and an woodland creature, the hob is able to speak English and ask for assistance. After Will brings the hob back to the abbey to recover from its injuries, the entire world as he knew it begins to shift. Magic and mystery abound as visitors come to the abbey searching for an ancient legend that the monks are desperate to keep secret. The hob accompanies Will on his journey into the magical world that resides in the shadows behind the human world.

When I first began listening to the audio version of this novel, I was extremely skeptical. I don't usually enjoy novels written in this time period in England, it always feels dark and oppressive. Will's character, however, captivated me. His willingness to explore the unknown and to challenge the traditional Christian beliefs of the monks when confronted with other realities made me invested in his story and rooting for his success. The magical hob, or Brother Walter as Will names him, is a sarcastic and fascinating character who moves the story and challenges assumptions held by both Will and the reader.

This is a book solidly in the middle range of younger readers grades 5-8, though the audio version may be enjoyable for older readers as well. The second installment in the series, The Crowfield Demon, is due out at the end of February 2012.

Elementary Monday: Animal Research Projects

2011-12-05T13:08:00.001-05:00

At a recent meeting with fellow school librarians in my area, we had a discussion about how librarians are the "common core" - the new standards that New York State is adopting. These standards work to build inquiry and thinking skills into the curriculum, make nonfiction a larger part of ELA instruction, build cross-curricular connections, and tie in real-life skills that will make students college-ready.

More than anything, when students have a hand in what they're learning - when they're able to choose the topic and lead the process to find information to answer their questions - they learn better and they're more engaged. We as teachers know this.

Today I spent a period in the 3rd and 4th grade classroom to continue my collaboration with that teacher on the students' animal research projects. After studying about animals in science class, students are undertaking a project that combines science and ELA to write a report on an animal of their choice. Trying to build on what they have already learned about animal classification, students were encouraged to choose animals outside the mammal family. Their choices included cobras, platypuses, electric fish, anchor fish, arctic foxes and tigers (some mammals are included, obviously).

They are conducting research. They are choosing sources, writing and organizing note cards, making sure not to plagiarize, creating bibliographies, writing topic sentences and contemplating main ideas - and they are LOVING it. They love the process because they got to choose the animal, because they're interested and invested in their choice, and because they are becoming experts and sharing with their peers. And because reading informational nonfiction texts can be a lot of fun. Every one of these skills is included in the common core standards.

I have been doing this project with this teacher since I took the job five years ago. The common core are excellent, but we librarians have been doing this all along. For more info, check out the standards here. Meanwhile, I'm going to go learn more about these animals, all of which are amazing.

Elementary Monday: Audiobook Review

2011-11-28T21:21:00.001-05:00

The Emerald Atlas (Books of the Beginning #1) by John Stephens, narrated by Jim Dale (Knopf, 2011)

Read for: New Elementary Library Chapter Books

Kate was 4 when her parents disappeared and all she can remember is her mother asking her to look after her two younger siblings, Emma and Michael, and the vague form of an older man waiting to take them away.

Ten years later, as the three siblings are transferred yet again to a new orphanage, this time across the lake from Westport, NY, they stumble on the magical history that might begin to explain their parents' disappearance. The town seems utterly dismal, with unfriendly people and no apparent children. The orphanage is in a state of high disrepair and there are no other children in residence. As the siblings explore the house, they find a book that transports them into the past, 15 years earlier in the same town. In that time, an evil witch, in disguise as a Russian countess, has taken over the town, kidnapped the children in order to force the men to mine for an ancient magical book that has been lost beneath the city. The very book that the children now have in their possession. As the children begin to unravel the past and the time travel, it becomes clear that it is they, and they alone, that can save the town from the fate they've seen.

This book has everything a fantasy reader could want. Nonstop action, magical creatures, complicated but clearly explained time travel, an alternative world right beneath the real one, moments of utter hilarity amid a serious tale, missing parents that make the beginning of a quest that will fuel the series - I could go on and on. Add to that the narrator from the Harry Potter audio books and this is a read-aloud that any person, young or old, can enjoy. This is absolutely the beginning of a series that is going to be sought by 5th - 8th grade fantasy readers everywhere. The sibling dynamic makes the book work for both genders, but it is nice to have a strong female character as the main heroine.

No release date on the second book yet, so I'll have to wring my hands and wait, as I'm sure many others are doing.

Friday with Joy and Love - To-Read Pile

2011-11-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

I *heart* my public library system! On Tuesday after leaving school for the long weekend, I stopped by to pick up my pile of books. I ordered them through interlibrary loan online and they magically appeared within the week. All are previews of books I'll order mid-year for the high school library, and all are books that have been reviewed positively in a variety of places, from School Library Journal to various library/book blogs (see the ones I'm following to the right). Now I'm lounging on this wonderful, sunny morning with several days of weekend in front of me, finishing the adult novel I've been reading for months and contemplating which wonderful novel I will begin next. Thanks public library!

Book Review: YA Graphic Novel

2011-11-22T11:27:00.001-05:00

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (First Second, 2011)

Read for: Upcoming High School Order

Since last year's graphic novel course concluded, I haven't been reading many stories in graphic format. This one is on my to-order list for midyear, however, and I've been reading wonderful reviews about it. I was not disappointed.

Anya is a Russian immigrant trying to fit in with the teenagers at her private school. Though she's worked to rid herself of her accent and any other features that would make her different from her peers, she still feels isolated, unpopular, chubby and outcast. Her efforts are not helped when another Russian immigrant, a boy who is a friend of the family but a complete nerd at school, tries to publicly befriend her.

When Anya falls down an abandoned well and meets a the ghost of a young woman who died there 90 years before, she thinks she's found a friend worthwhile. Just by holding one tiny bone of Emily's, the ghost can join Anya at school, help her take tests, learn details about her crush and offer other assistance. Everything seems to be going fine until Emily begins to change.

The black and white illustrations, the immigrant perspective, as well as the creepy ghost story aspect, make this a fabulous graphic novel. It is easy to like and root for Anya, even when she's making poor choices. Emily begins to be a scary ghost simply with visuals before she begins to articulate anything, giving the depth and foreshadowing that is only possible in graphic format. This title will be one for students, both male and female, who like novels in graphic form, need to finish a novel in a short amount of time, or like ghost stories.

Elementary Monday - Thanksgiving

2011-11-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

My favorite Thanksgiving book to read with 2nd grade and up is Laurie Halse Anderson's Thank you, Sarah: The woman who saved Thanksgiving. It tells the account of Sarah Hale, who petitioned President Lincoln to make the day a national holiday. It offers both women's history, background into the making of a holiday, and more information about our heritage. This is a nice alternative to the traditional holiday books for this time of year.

Friday with Joy and Love

2011-11-18T18:47:00.000-05:00

The happy doggy puppets are with me this weekend, bringing Joy and Love (their names) to everyday walks outside in cold weather.

The highlight of the week that is along the same lines of cheerfulness that these puppies can generate has to do with this wonderful book: The Monster at the end of this Book by Jon Stone. This was one of my favorite books growing up and I recently purchased it in board book form for a friend with a newborn.

During a reading session with the third grade this week, one of the students began to explain that her favorite book has to do with a monster who keeps trying to get you to stop turning the pages because there is a monster at the end of the book. He builds brick walls, puts up ropes, pleads with the reader to stop - until we get to the end of the book and learn that the monster was him - Grover, and he is not scary at all!

Obviously, I knew exactly what she was describing and exclaimed, "I love that book!" She said, "Me too!" and we had a lovely moment about how fabulous it is, how everyone should read it, and we then wrote post-it reminders to ourselves. She will bring that book to share with the rest of the class on Monday, while I will bring my other favorite Sesame Street book from childhood to share:

In this one, Bert returns home and Ernie tells him that he has to wear a pot on his head. On further inquiry, this is because Ernie broke his piggy bank and had to put his money in the cookie jar. Obviously, the cookies then had to be moved to another location, up until Bert's cowboy had was used for storage. It is a fabulous book and both are excellent examples of books based on TV or movie characters that are still high quality stories worth sharing for the humor.

But more than anything, the moment of excitement about sharing the love of a great book with someone else was a joy this week.

What does 20 circulations look like?

2011-11-16T09:18:00.000-05:00

The love, wear and tear is appropriate, given that some students have re-read the series while waiting for the 4th movie release this weekend.

brainstorming and "Breaking Dawn"

2011-11-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

I've been remiss with this blog lately and full of ideas I feel I have no time to share. Lately I've been:

1) attending grad class for my literacy masters degree

2) taking certification tests and applying for my supplimental literacy degree

3) running major student council events (did I ever mention I'm the advisor?) like the Halloween Carnival and a cookie dough fundraiser

4) organizing the senior trip (also the senior class advisor)

5) teaching two reading groups in addition to being a K-12 librarian

6) collaborating on research projects with the 12th grade English class and the high school health class

7) and lots more!

Thus, even though I've been reading and listening to books, I'm not always even reviewing them here in a timely manner.

To address this, I brainstormed during my drive home from class last night while listening to the "Breaking Dawn" soundtrack(!). (I'm not ashamed - I can't wait to see the movie this weekend!) I'm going to pick up Elementary Mondays again and try to do them consistently, even if it's only a little blurb about what I'm loving in the small library lately.

But I'm also going to add a regular Friday edition in an effort to be cheerful and positively focused. In winter, one of the most cheerful things for me each morning is putting on a lovely pair of puppy mittens my husband picked out for me. Obviously, I named them Love and Joy. They like to hold books, meet new people, and help out when you're feeling sad. Thus, they're going to help out with feel-good posts on Fridays highlighting the best library event or material of the week.

Here they are holding a graphic novel called Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol. I plan to read it this weekend while I chaperone a music field trip, along with a several other titles that have been stacked on my kitchen table waiting for attention.

an argument for reading classics

2011-11-02T11:20:00.000-04:00

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, Scholastic Books, 2011

Read for: New High School Books

I am always for the inclusion of more recent, relevant young adult books in the 7-12 English curriculum. I support a shift away from teaching only classics because I believe that students learn how to read by being engaged with the material and through teachers who are excited by the material, both of which are easier to achieve with modern YA lit (most of the time). Many teachers have a hard time pulling off enthusiasm about The Scarlett Letter or even Shakespeare. Kelly Gallagher argues repeatedly that if you can't get excited about the literature you're working with, neither will the students. And if there's no interest and excitement, there's no learning.

That being said, classics do provide background knowledge and a shared cultural literacy that make other experiences more accessible. As much as I wish we had not spent two months reading The Scarlett Letter my junior year of high school, I do get the reference now when someone says Hester Prynne's name.
And last month, I was able to make connections between Libba Bray's new novel Beauty Queens and Lord of the Flies, only because my 9th grade English teacher chose that novel for us to read. If he hadn't, Bray's novel would have less punch and (slightly) less hilarity.

Basically, this is Lord of the Flies with beauty pageant girls. A flight headed to the Miss Teen Dream Pageant crashes on a deserted tropical island. All the adults die and 12 teen girls are left to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, the Corporation, who sponsors the pageant and has secret operations on the island is plotting the destruction of all the survivors.

This novel will work best for older high school students who are willing to stick with a more complex plot. Race, feminism, the beauty industry and corrupt politicians all play a role in the story and will challenge readers to examine their lives more closely. Bray's loyal fans will celebrate the addition of another fabulous book to her canon and those who've read Lord of the Flies will like this new take on the story.

Elementary Monday: Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T14:38:00.000-04:00

In celebration of Halloween, the combined 3rd and 4th grade library class listened to The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg last week. We are doing an author/illustrator study and we just love Chris Van Allsburg. This time of year is a perfect time to study him, as he not only has this fantastic title that can coincide with Halloween due to the content of the story, but also The Stranger, a fantastic fall story, and The Polar Express, which we'll read in December.

In addition to reading his works, we're creating a timeline of his life and books using print and online resources, discussing how to locate online resources, identifying genre and drawing conclusions, as all of his books require the reader to determine what happens at the end of the story.

This author study = total joy.

fairy tale retellings

2011-10-20T14:28:00.000-04:00

Entwined by Heather Dixen (audio read by Mandy Williams), Greenwillow Books 2011

Read for: New High School Books

I am normally a great fan of fairy tale retellings. I loved McKinley's Beauty and Spindle's End. I devoured A Tale Dark and Grimm. Shannon Hale's The Goose Girl inspired me to read the entire series that followed. And reviews of Entwined, a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses led me to believe I would feel the same about this title. I wanted to feel the same about this title. But I just couldn't make myself like it.

Azalea is the oldest of 12 princesses born to a ailing queen who eventually dies giving birth to the youngest daughter, Ivy. All sisters are named after flowers or plants and in alphabetical order, allowing the reader to easily clarify the age of the many characters. Although the time period is never explicitly stated, it's closer to modern day than to a time of castles and knights.

For this reason, the palace is rather run down. Parliament has control of the purse strings and the King and father of the girls is gruff and unapproachable. Upon the death of his wife, he declares a mourning period of one year, in which the girls must wear black, cover the windows and avoid their two favorite pleasures, the garden and dancing. Rebelling against this edict, the girls discover a secret passage that leads to a magic garden beneath their bedroom. There they go to dance all night long, little suspecting that Keeper, the caretaker of the garden, is secretly plotting their demise.

I felt that the story dragged in parts and that the scene-scape in my mind was boring. Relegated between the girls' bedroom, the magic world below, and the occasional trip to the kitchen, the setting offered little in the way of variety. Certainly this fits with the limitations of a mourning period, but after nearly 500 pages it becomes monotonous.

Furthermore, although this title made Booklist's Top Ten Romance Titles for Youth for this year, I felt that the romance between Azalea and Mr. Bradford was unconvincing. Very little happens to give the reader the impression of real love; in fact the two have very little in the way of interaction at all. Overall, a title I will only recommend to those who really love a fairy tale.

Regents Advisory Council Recommends Mandating Elementary School Librarians

2011-10-18T13:04:00.000-04:00

In New York State, certified librarians are required at the secondary level, but not at the elementary level. This means that in response to recent funding cuts in public schools, elementary librarians can be let go and aides hired to fill the positions at a reduced cost.

The New York State Regents Advisory Council on Libraries released a service plan this month for all New York State libraries. They state that their purpose "is to provide the Board of Regents with a clear vision of what excellent libraries should look like and to offer models of success that may be emulated by libraries throughout New York." The Board of Regents is responsible for overseeing all educational avenues in New York State and thus has the power to alter or augment the path of current libraries.

Among the recommendations for school libraries, which included creating a PreK-12 curriculum framework and incentives to open school libraries for evening, weekend and summer hours, was the recommendation to "Mandate an elementary school librarian in every school to strengthen instructional leadership in meeting the P-12 Common Core Learning Standards, and enforce library staffing regulations in all public schools."

Upon reading this, I let out a giant "WHOOP!"

Wouldn't we all love to see this happen and have certified elementary librarians staffing and teaching classes in school libraries across the state!

See the entire document and full recommendations here.

National Book Award Error

2011-10-18T11:27:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Lauren Myracle withdrew her name from a list of six finalists for the National Book Award. Typically, the foundation lists only five books as finalists, and though Myracle's novel Shine was originally on the list, it seems the National Book Award Foundation intended to name Chime by Franny Billingsly instead. How such a massive error could possibly occur (the titles were announced, authors called, etc.) is a bit confusing. The foundation's original plan was to go forward with the six titles, but yesterday they asked Myracle to remove herself from consideration. Seems as if this is going to be the only title discussed in conjunction with the National Book Award for a while, so I grabbed the copy from our library shelves yesterday and began reading. It is clear even from the first chapters that it is a powerful and important novel for young adults, so I'm beginning to understand why many are upset at the foundation's handling of this situation. Read more here at School Library Journal.

Elementary Monday - A Classic Turns 50

2011-10-17T14:36:00.000-04:00

This month a children's classic turns 50 - The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Jester and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Several years ago I read it in one sitting while finishing graduate school to be a certified school librarian and crossing my fingers that I would get a job, somewhere, anywhere. During that time it was a fabulous escape, and today as the rain continues to pour down in this rather dismal season, I will pick it up again in order to be taken to another world. It is a book that has shown it will stand the test of time, as Adam Gopnik explains in his article in The New Yorker. He says, "the fifty-year birthday of a good children’s book marks a real passage, since it means that the book hasn’t been passed just from parent to child but from parent to child and on to child again. A book that has crossed that three-generation barrier has a good chance at permanence." More on the authors can also be found in October's School Library Journal article, "The Buddy System."

High School Redecoration

2011-10-13T11:04:00.000-04:00

One of my goals for the past several years has been to create a more teen-friendly space in the high school library. This past summer I convinced custodial staff to move my monstrous desk, switched to a tiny computer desk in the corner, and created a teen reading space. It's hard to believe that those photos even show the same corner of the library. Students are naturally flocking to the new space, as evidenced above. Success!

School Library System Book Reviews

2011-10-07T09:27:00.000-04:00

Flip by Martyn Bedford

Read for: School Library System Book Reviews

Twice yearly I receive a box of books from my school library system. It's a terrifically delightful day, because despite knowing how many I signed up to review, I never know exactly what titles they'll send. I review the books before the next SLS meeting and after all the librarians at the meeting read the reviews and use the information gathered for collection development, my review books are sent back to our library free of charge.

Flip was one of the YA fiction titles in my most recent batch. The story begins as 14-year-old Alex opens his eyes in the morning. Scanning the room, he wonders what happened the previous night. Why does nothing look familiar? Did he fall asleep at a friend's house? Who is that calling the name "Philip" up the stairs?

What both the reader and Alex discover as soon as he leaves the bedroom is that he has woken up in someone else's body. Philip, also 14 but residing in another part of England, has disappeared in all ways but the physical, and Alex is in his body. Philip's parents and sister don't know the difference, but Alex wants to go home and he worries about what has happened to his body, but he doesn't know how to get back.

This rather slim but fast-paced novel is a fantastic read and I'm thrilled to be adding it to our high school collection. Bedford does an excellent job of creating a character that the reader cares for and wants to succeed, all the while creating immense tension around the major conflict. Is it possible for Alex to go back to his body and life? And what kind of life will he lead if he can't? Readers, both male and female, will be on the edge of their seats for the duration of this novel.

Elementary Monday - Chris Van Allsburg

2011-10-03T12:11:00.001-04:00

I began exploring Chris Van Allsburg's works after my elementary librarian read us The Polar Express years ago when I was in 2nd grade. So many of his titles make excellent read-alouds for older readers because they demand that the reader be able to make inferences and draw conclusions - the perfect challenge for 3rd and 4th grade students.

In order to teach this difficult skill, and reinforce the ability to identify genre, the combined 3rd and 4th grade library class has undertaken an author study of Chris Van Allsburg. We read The Garden of Abdul Gasazi as an introduction because students must draw a conclusion at the end of that story. Best of all, based on the conclusion they draw, the genre of the story changes from realistic fiction to fantasy.

We also have been exploring Van Allsburg's website, talking about internet browsers and search engines, and learning to mark websites as favorites to explore in the future. His website provides a terrific timeline of his works that we used in conjunction with his biography to begin building a picture of his life as an author.

Van Allsburg is also great to study at this time of the year. This unit will span several months, which allows us to read The Stranger in the fall, The Widow's Broom at Halloween time and The Polar Express at Christmas. In between, we'll also check out Zathura, Jumanji, The Queen of the Falls, Two Bad Ants, The Sweetest Fig, and The Wreck of the Zephyr. All the while we will draw conclusions, talk about science fiction, fantasy, biography, and realistic fiction and learn online navigational skills. This unit is a great blend of excellent read-aloud, 21st Century learning skills, and reading comprehension skills. And best of all, the students are thrilled to listen to and talk about his stories.

a (relatively) new YA series

2011-09-17T07:46:00.000-04:00

White Cat (Curseworkers #1) by Holly Black (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010)

Read for: new 2011 high school novels

Two years ago at the Teen Book Festival in Rochester, I heard Holly Black speak. White Cat was about to be released, but her talk about pulling off a con did not give me enough insight into the plot of the novel to send me right out after it. Hence, I've only recently finished it because it came in with my order of books for the new school year. But I'm delighted by it and eager to read the second installment in the series, Red Glove, which was released in April of this year.

Black creates a world that is similar to ours in every way except for the fact that everyone must wear gloves. The gloves provide protection to all, because occasionally a person is born a Worker, someone able to change circumstances just through the touch of fingers. While the government has not yet succeeded, there is a movement to force all workers to register with their particular type of magic. In the meantime, however, Cassel is 17 and the only non-worker in an entire family of workers: his mother can make people love through just a touch, his brother can change other's memories, his grandfather the most dangerous of all, a death worker.

Cassel's family's magic is illegal and his mother is in jail for her last love crime. He himself is in boarding school trying to forget his past. When he was fourteen he murdered a girl his age named Lila. Though his family covered up the crime, Cassel is haunted by his past. The novel becomes intriguing when Cassel begins to question the reality of the murder and his memories of the event.

Though the end of the novel happens quickly and a little rereading may be required to avoid confusion, the plot moves swiftly and will capture all those who are able to suspend disbelief. This novel will appeal to both male and female teens who enjoy real-world-based fantasy.

to the best librarian and the best reading teacher

2011-09-14T20:12:00.000-04:00

There are two people who stand out in my memory of learning to read, of the joy of books and the world that was available on library shelves. The first was my elementary librarian, Mrs. Peatrakowski, who could recognize the avid and passionate reader laying in wait inside me and slipped just the right books into my hands to make her come out. The other was my fifth-grade reading teacher, Mrs. Tariano-Fox. That class was an advanced group, taken out of the normal classroom and there were only 8 of us grouped in a circle made for literature discussion.

Mrs. Peatrakowski was a magical librarian. Excellent at reading stories aloud, she was so able to captivate a circle of students facing her that we would simply forget where we were. She didn't sit in a chair in front of us, but on the floor with us, as if we were all doing something together, not her performing for us to watch. I read dozens of books in my library classes that she read to me because I can still remember the magic she made them convey, and I can pass it on.

Mrs. Tariano-Fox, on the other hand, took hold of us with both hands in our 5th grade year, seemingly with the clear intention that we would graduate to middle school passionate about reading. With me, she succeededly roundly. In her class I read the first book I ever finished before I was required, the first book that ever made me cry, and the first book that ever caused me to debate with another student. I memorized and recited my first poem and I learned that there were endless worlds outside my own that I want to explore. Every single book I am able to remember reading in her class, I use with my students now.

I'm inspired to write about these women today for two reasons. First, my 5/6 library class is about to dive into The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg and we're reading it because Mrs. Tariano-Fox read it with me. Much like almost every book she chose, it has two main characters, one male, one female. In this way, no one in the audience gets left behind. But it also creates a child's world without parents, where the characters make their own decisions and get to see the outcome they bring. Certainly in a library class I'm teaching it somewhat differently than she did - we'll still have lots of discussion, but we're also going to tie in knowledge of cities (the story takes place in New York and our rural students need this exposure) and knowledge of online navigation and website reliability (through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website). Though I'm building in other useful skills, I still believe that the most important information I'm imparting is a love of literature.

I also am inspired to write today because I am taking a graduate class for my literacy degree titled "Teaching Literacy through Literature." I've mentioned this to more than one person who's responded, "Well, how the (insert explicative here) else do you teach it?" A reasonable question, I think. Certainly there's word work to be done in the lower elementary grades, but how do you create readers in the long run? You read aloud to them (or read with them later on) great books (fiction and nonfiction) that make them want to read. You hand them books they can't put down. I have readers now who tell me they're not picky, they just want one of those, you know, books that hook you. I do know. I am ready.

The experience I had in my 5th grade reading class is one most students aren't having anymore. Most are learning to read with a packaged program that features a short selection each week for them to read, never allowing them the experience of reading a novel or a longer nonfiction work and applying skills to a text that adapts, changes, requires more than a day to breeze through. And I'm not the only one to believe this lost style is valuable, as my grad class professor has given us Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it by Kelly Gallagher as the only textbook for the semester. The author is making all the same points as I have above about how to create readers. To balance our reading program for the reading groups I teach, I plan to use the built in review week of each unit to read a novel and tie in the skills we need to focus on. And of course I'm still reading novels to my library classes.

I'm going to keep posting about the materials I'm still using from my elementary school days in my classroom now - it'll be an interesting bibliography at the end of the school year.

YA Book Review

2011-09-13T13:41:00.000-04:00

Shade (Shade #1) by Jeri Smith-Ready

Read for: Review of new YA titles in library
Vampires, angels and now ghosts. These are the recent themes of YA literature that involve love stories with non-humans.

In this new series, 16-year-old Aura is able to see ghosts, along with everyone else younger than her. She was the first to be born post-Shift, the time when the world changed and ghosts became visible to people.

Aura's boyfriend, Logan, is in a band that's about to be signed at their next gig. Unfortunately, that will be the night her world will change forever. The fact that she was the first in the world to see ghosts combines with the fate of her boyfriend to create a love triangle involving a ghost, a Scottish boy named Zachary and a lot of spy intrigue.

The plot of the story is sure to capture readers, though the writing often feels cliche and simple. Another drawback is that most boys will not be interested in this title - Smith-Ready definitely had a female audience in mind while writing. With the audio version, the narrator does a great job with the Scottish accent, but a less than appealing job with Aura's voice. Reading the print book would work better in this case.

The First Week of School

2011-09-10T23:00:00.001-04:00

New book party! Note the reach in for the cookies on the left!
And you can almost see the new sitting area in on the left
with the magazine stand.

I love fall and the first week of school! I hosted a new book party for the 7th-12th grade on Thursday morning, one day earlier than last year's fall party. But because I work in a tremendous school where all the students are readers, half had wandered in on the first day (Wednesday) and already taken a book, making the new book party attended by only a little more than half the students. Next year we'll do it on the very first morning they arrive.

Nonetheless, almost every (perhaps actually every single one!) student in grades 7-12 had checked out a book by the end of our first school week. I was pleased seeing the books displayed and realizing how many I did manage to get through prior to the year beginning - I'm always a little concerned that I haven't read every single book! My new library arrangement, with my desk in the corner and a reading area for students upfront will encourage more free browsing as well (wait for a future post with pictures after all the new bean bag chairs arrive!).

As for elementary, most library classes will happen for the first time this coming week, though grades 3-6 have already been to visit and choose books. We're going to have new routines and ideas with elementary lessons this year, so look forward to more posts about what we're up to.

series for middle school readers

2011-08-30T10:06:00.000-04:00

Cruisers (#1) by Walter Dean Myers

Out of Sight, Out of Mind (The Gifted #1) by Marilyn Kaye

Books written specifically for middle school readers often find themselves in the abyss of our school libraries. With an elementary library that runs K-6 and a high school library 7-12, they are stuck in the middle and separated from one another based on my judgement of whether they are 6th grade titles or ones mature enough to find their way into the high school collection. In the second half of sixth grade, students often find themselves making the trek upstairs with me for a title I think would work better than any in front of us in the elementary library.

Both the titles above I read this summer for a preview of new books this year and both will be solidly in the location above stairs.

I purchase everything that Myers writes because he writes specifically for boys, his settings are urban, and he writes in multiple genres. His books always circulate and I think Cruisers will be no exception. Set in a gifted middle school in a city, Zander and his friends are running their own newspaper for expressing their ideas. They call it "The Cruiser." It becomes a vehicle for division between students, however, when the school begins a mock Civil War. Students are assigned sides but take their studies beyond what is comfortable for Zander and his friends. This short, historic read will capture a wide audience.

The first novel in the Gifted series will also capture a wide middle-school audience, though this audience will be decidedly female. Amanda is the most popular girl in Meadowbrook Middle School and she stays that way by being the meanest girl there. She has a secret motivation to do so - when she sympathizes with another person, she often finds herself inside that person. Though it has only happened on a few occasions for minutes at a time, Amanda is determined to keep everyone around her at a far emotional distance.

And she was right to be scared. Tracey, a girl in the same grade who is widely ignored, walks by in the cafeteria one day. Amanda doesn't control her thoughts and poof! she's inside Tracey's body. But not only for a moment this time, she can't get out. Amanda then has to follow Tracey's schedule, live in Tracey's home, and attend her "gifted" class where she begins to learn that there are other students in the school with "powers," Tracey among them, all the while trying to figure out how to get her own life back. This is a fun, easy beginning of a series that will work well for middle school girls interested in fantasy.

summer reading ambitions

2011-08-27T21:28:00.001-04:00

Earlier in the summer I wrote a post describing an undertaking of Eudora Welty's body of work along with her biography in a self-designed class/book club with my sister and friends. The second half of my summer took a turn I wasn't expecting, so as I begin preparation for the new school year, reading both chapter and YA books in order to be familiar with titles to hand students on September 7th, I'm still working in spare moments with Welty's bio.

I spent the afternoon in a coffee shop today sinking back into the beauty that is a well-written biography and loving that the story is told in large part through Welty's correspondence with her friends, family and agent. Such a story forces me to slow down, to think, and to want to write myself. It inspired me all through travels in July to write letters frequently and reflect and I appreciate the few hours of reflection garnered again today, even if such time will be sporadic in the coming weeks.

We had a wonderful summer trip in July, beautiful weather up the coast of Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Only on our last two days, which were supposed to be spent exploring Fundy National Park, (home to the highest and lowest tides in the world) were we rained out. Seriously rained out in a way I am anticipating for tomorrow as Hurricane Irene heads our way. It poured for 48 hours straight, causing us to become very friendly with the local coffee shop staff in Alma, New Brunswick, right outside the park.

On our way to said coffee shop, as the rain was just beginning, we popped into a wonderful used bookstore. It was my favorite kind of used bookstore - the selection was excellent and the shop well organized. I perused and ultimately only chose to pick up a hardcover copy of my all-time favorite book, Paradise by Toni Morrison (I gave my own copy away a bit ago). Not usually a fan of coffee table books, I didn't even glance at that table, but my husband pulled me aside and to ask me about a certain title he found there. Wasn't I reading the works of this woman? he inquired. Indeed, I was in the middle of the biography of Welty at that point, and also reading the short stories as they were published, so he had been watching me cart around two 500+ page books for weeks. There on the table was a beautiful copy of Welty's photograph book, a collection published much later in her life during the 1970s though most of the photos were taken in the 1930s and 40s. It was fate and it came home with us, adding to the unreasonable amount of books squirreled away underneath the backseat in some attempt to protect them from the hiking books, damp tent, camp stove, and other items required for a camping road trip.

I've just reached the point in the bio where the book of photographs is about to be published and I am delighted that I get to look through it again while reading about it in the biography. It's a wonderful package, reading about her life and reading the works published at the same time. I'll take the next few hours to revel in works written for an adult audience and savor the last few minutes of summer before I dive back into middle school fiction. Perhaps I will do the same tomorrow as we are pounded with rain and the electricity inevitably goes out.

P.S. - I did finish the other two books chosen for my book club with women I work with at school. Some progress has been made, even if I am behind in the Welty book club!

bullying, gossip, teen suicide

2011-08-22T20:07:00.001-04:00

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher (Razorbill, 2007)

Read for: High School Bookshelf

I'm years behind in reading this novel, I know. I've meant to get to it any number of times, but was inspired by the article in Entertainment Weekly in June to make it a priority this summer. It's just come out in paperback (a black and white version of the cover shown here) but I listened to the audio version, and with a strong female narrator for Hannah and great male narrator for Clay, the audio version is a great choice as well.

Hannah Baker committed suicide. Two weeks after the traumatic event, her classmate Clay receives a package in the mail. Inside are 7 cassette tapes, which Clay has to go to the garage to listen to, using the outdated stereo that will still play tapes. There he discovers that Hannah has left behind a diary of sorts, along with a map, to take the listener on a trip through her tumultuous years of high school that eventually led to her death. The tapes offer 13 reasons, or 13 people, who are in part responsible for her action.

Clay is not the first recipient of the tapes, as all 13 people will receive them and he is not the first individual described in the story. As he listens to how his classmates created an environment of emotional torture for Hannah, he leaves the garage, takes up his friend's Walkman, and follows the map of events and people that Hannah tells about. He anxiously waits for his name to come up, worried about what he did to contribute. In the end, it turns out to be what he didn't do that mattered more.

Hannah's story is honest and clear. She accurately covers the path of the gossip chain, how a reputation is formed out of lies and half-truths, and the near impossibility of changing it once the progression has begun. She chronicles fellow students' poor choices, in both purposely hurting her or choosing to take no action to stop it. She even includes the poor advice of a counselor and the consequences of such advice.

We hear the story from Clay's perspective as he interrupts Hannah's narrative to offer his own memories of events or express his heartache. Both characters are terrifically well-written and honest.

Jay Asher has written a powerful novel about the consequences of the choices teens make daily, and how small insults can build to a breaking point for individual teens. This book should be read in school - be it in health or sociology classes, so that teens have the opportunity to discuss how bullying and gossip can create desperation in some students, even if it seems relatively harmless to a student who only sees one individual piece of the story. Hannah brings the entire story together, showing the interconnected strain of high school life.

thrillers without blood

2011-08-21T22:09:00.001-04:00

Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick, 2011)

Read for: 2011-2012 High School New Book Preview

Despite what you may imagine, Blink and Caution are nicknames. Both teens are living in Toronto and waiting for their lives to inexplicably entwine, though only the reader knows that.

Blink's story begins in 2nd person narrative as he walks through the doors of a nice hotel downtown and heads upstairs to scrounge the breakfast leftovers of the occupants. Blink has been living on the street for months and is always hungry. Unfortunately, there is a kidnapping happening in one of the hotel rooms, and Blink becomes both a witness and a participant in the crime.

Meanwhile across town, Caution is waking up in the bed of her boyfriend, a drug dealer much older than she. Also a runaway, she is waiting for Merlin to simply kill her, she knows it is what she deserves. Meanwhile she will take the beatings, until she discovers some secrets he is keeping that motivate her to steal his cash and run.

Here the two stories of Blink and Caution begin to intertwine. Between 3rd person narrative in Caution's chapters and 2nd person narrative in Blink's, we discover the motivations behind their mutual escapes from their homes. So while they try to keep Blink out of trouble from both kidnappers and police, background begins to provide the reader with information about their larger stories.

This is an excellent YA novel, full of thrill but without blood and guts. I was motivated to keep turning the pages by nervous anticipation, but was not worried that gore would become involved. Both female and male teens will love this story and keep reading in anxious pursuit of the conclusion. The shift back and forth between characters and the unusual 2nd person narrative might take some getting used to, but Wynne-Jones does an excellent job indicating changes in perspective and action that will assist readers.

Printz Award Honoree

2011-08-20T18:57:00.001-04:00

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Knopf, 2010)

Read for: New Books for the 2011/2012 School Year and Printz Award Winners

Vera Dietz had a best friend and then she lost him, twice. First she lost Charlie in her senior year to the detention-heads, a group of drinking, drug-using kids who harass her and generally make her life miserable. And then she lost him for real when he died.

As a reader, we know of Charlie's death, but not the circumstances. Vera offers bits of the present as the tells the story in a 1st-person narrative, giving insight into the pizza delivery business and her budding alcohol addiction. Then she'll offer a "history" chapter in between the present-day tale. These begin early in Vera and Charlie's next-door-neighbor friendship and eventually catch up to the present and help reveal what really happen. Vera's father Ken and the dead kid, Charlie himself, occasionally interrupt Vera's narrative to give insight and opinions.

Vera is clearly imploding, but she's laughingly sarcastic and honest while it's happening. Charlie's death is certainly mysterious and the small details provided make you keep turning the pages for a resolution. Vera's father and the background about alcoholism and her mother leaving feel real and the after effects seem believable. All in all, this is an absolutely excellent story, great for teens looking for realistic fiction and a 1st person narrative. Certainly deserving of the Printz Honor Award in 2010.

The audio version, which is the format I read this book in, is excellent, with a narrator that is acting as Vera, not reading Vera's story. An great option for this title.

The Wolves of Mercy Falls

2011-08-18T12:17:00.001-04:00

Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press, 2011)

Read for: New High School Books Fall Preview

Despite being the final edition in the series, Forever picked the story up quickly and ran with it at a clip. The novel would be a challenge to follow or appreciate without having read the others in the series, but for those who hate the first 40 pages of review that series novels often have, it is perfect.

The last time we saw the main characters, Grace had turned wolf and Sam was now fully human. Cole was still depressed and Isabel was both trying to see him and trying to avoid him. The story is also complicated by the fact that the entire town, including Grace's parents, believe that Sam has either kidnapped or killed Grace, though in reality she's right in the woods behind the house.

I listened to the first two books in the series before Forever was released mid-July to refamiliarize myself with the tale. The audio books do the series justice as Grace's character has a perfect voice. Sam's voice, however, is a different person in the second audio than the first and listening to them back to back is a little disconcerting.

The resolution to the series is a great story in its own right and this remains the best series about werewolves that has come out in the last few years, in my opinion. It stands alone with its own romance and lore and with excellent storytelling. Stiefvater has a new YA romance novel out in October titled The Scorpio Races and I'm looking forward to it.

Planning for the Fall

2011-08-17T15:57:00.000-04:00

Fall is my favorite season and I am delighted to still be in the school system as an adult and thus able to experience the fresh excitement autumn promises. I adore the planning of a new school year and how fresh all students and teachers are when the year begins. Full of excitement and promise and not yet exhausted by responsibility and workload. New decorations, new books, new classes, new ideas...

It's been quite a while since my last post, so I need to catch up on book reviews of titles I've read this summer and begin posts on my curriculum plans for this new year. I'm also beginning another grad class for my reading degree at the end of the month titled "Literature Based Literacy Instruction," which promises to be useful and fun and tie directly in to both teaching reading and library classes. I'm in the process of cataloging new books for both the elementary and secondary libraries, creating a new reading space in the high school library, preparing to teach a 5th grade reading group, tweaking library curriculums across the board, and focusing on a PreK curriculum as their numbers demand that they not be combined with the kindergarten this year for library class.

There's also lots of new YA titles that I'm thrilled to be reading and want to share. More posts to come!

New YA Series - Dustlands

2011-06-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

Blood Red Road (Dustlands #1) by Moira Young (Margaret K. Mcelderry Books, 2011)

Read for: YA 2011/2012 school year book preview

Saba, her twin brother Lugh, and their younger sister Emmi live with their father in the middle of a dying land. The lake is drying up, it hasn't rained in months, and they are isolated from all other people. They live in the time after the Wreckers, the people who ruined the planet and left behind devastation.

While 18-year-old Saba is extremely close to her twin brother, she still blames 9-year-old Emmi for her mother's death and her father's deteriorating sanity. So when Lugh is kidnapped by Tonton, a private military force, Saba commits to finding him without much concern for what will happen to Emmi when she leaves.

The adventure of Saba's journey takes her out of isolation and gives her a better picture of what other life and settlements exist in her world. Travel is on horseback, which evokes a time in the past, though some "Wrecker tech" remains to remind readers that we are in the future - binoculars are rare and sought after, the desert hides old air strips with carcasses of planes lined up. Rarely does the novel require the reader to suspend disbelief as this future is believable and well-developed, though dark in its reality. Saba is a complex character with plenty of flaws that make her more appealing and dynamic. It is easy to root for her and bite your nails when her temper's gotten her into trouble.

This series will rival The Hunger Games and the first installment is a perfect novel to hand to teens who are still frustrated that they have finished that series. This is on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading with a satisfying conclusion that still leaves you longing for the next installment. I'm so excited to have another series that has so much to offer and is so thrilling.

Elementary Monday - book review

2011-06-27T08:30:00.001-04:00

The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (HarperCollins, 2010)

Read for: 2011/2012 school year elementary book preview

Familiars are specially-trained animals that help magicians with their spells. Those magical people are then referred to as loyals, as they are always loyal to the animal who provides them support and a supreme connection, which allows familiars and loyals to talk to one another.

The problem, however, is that the stray cat Aldwyn is not a familiar, he just happened to be hiding in the seller's shop when Jack came into the shop to choose his familiar. Aldwyn has been a stray cat in the city for as long as he can remember and was hiding from an exterminator who was chasing him for stealing food. But when Jack takes Alydwyn back to his school in the forest, the cat takes a liking not only to the surroundings, but also to the other familiars there. Skylar, a blue jay, and Gilbert, a tree frog, add a great deal of humor to the story. They also help lead the hunt then Jack and two other students at the school are kidnapped and only their familiars can save them.

This fast-paced story, populated with both animals and magic, will appeal to a wide range of fantasy fans in 4th and 5th grade. The second novel in the series, Familiars #2: Secrets of the Crown, is due out in September.

Summer Book Clubs

2011-06-26T13:44:00.034-04:00

Summer has officially begun (our school year ended Friday!) and I'm delighted by the reading that is piled on my kitchen table. In addition to lots of books I want to preview before next school year, I'm a part of two book clubs this summer where we are reading books written for adults! I say this with excitement because though I love children's and YA literature, there are moments when I feel as if my brain is becoming soft by not reading anything written for people my age! To have the time and the group support to spend most of my summer doing such reading is something I am greatly looking forward to.

One of my book clubs is a group of faculty from school and we generally read about a book a month together throughout the school year. Our summer picks, because we have a bit more time, are:

Under Fishbone Clouds by Sam Meekings (Thomas Dunne Books, 2010) and

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a world where girls are not for sale, an activist finds her calling and heals herself by Rachel Lloyd (Harper, 2011)

My second book club is with my sister and some friends. Our self-designed syllabus is going to take us through the writings of, and the writings about, Eudora Welty. During graduate school, my sister and I worked through this type of study with Edith Wharton and Zora Neale Hurston. I'm excited to take on another female author, this time one I know very little about. Here's our course list in order:

Eudora Welty: A Biography by Suzanne Marrs (Harvest Books, 2006)

Eudora Welty: The Complete Novels: Library of America #101 by Eudora Welty (Library of America, 1998)

One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty (Harvard University Press, 1998)

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty (Harcourt Brace, 1982)

On Writing by Eudora Welty (Modern Library, 2002)

What There is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell by Suzanne Marrs (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)

As I said, they're all lined up on the table in the kitchen, sending out happy summer reading energy every time I walk by. I will begin officially July 1st after I get a few other children's and YA titles out of the way and return them to the public library. I can't wait!

Elementary Monday - book review

2011-06-20T17:06:00.000-04:00

The Time Travelers (Book #1 of the Gideon Trilogy) by Linda Buckley-Archer (Simon & Schuster, 2007)

Read for: elementary preview for 2011/2012 school year

My door prize at a recent school library system meeting was the third book in this trilogy. I've eyed it in bookstores before, but owning the last title in the series moved the book up on the to-order list for next school year and motivated me to shift it to the top of my elementary chapter book to-read pile.

Peter and Kate are 12-year-old British kids with drastically different lives. The morning of their fateful meeting, Peter's dad breaks an important promise, prompting a huge argument that his absent mother isn't available to help resolve. In contrast, Kate's rural family is close-knit and supportive. When Peter finds himself unwillingly at Kate's family's farm instead of on a promised trip with his father, the two immediately begin bickering. Peter is reluctant to accompany Kate and her father to his research lab, in part because the two seem to be so close.

While at the lab, Kate and Peter take off down a hallway after the family dog Molly and have an encounter with an anti-gravity machine. Unbeknownst to the researchers working on anti-gravity, the machine can take people (and animals) back in time. Peter and Kate disappear, prompting a fruitless country-wide manhunt. The pair have gone back in time to 1763, where their time travel machine has been stolen by the nefarious Tar Man and they have been befriended by Gideon the cut-purse who believes their extraordinary tale and is interested in seeing them safely returned to their own time.

The story is unique and full of fast-paced adventure. Descriptions of the time period feel accurate and paint a detailed picture. At times the story dragged and the overall length of 400 pages seemed a bit much, but I think avid readers of fantasy in 5th and 6th grades will thoroughly enjoy the series. One of the novel's strong points is that both the male and female protagonists have equal and dynamic roles in the story, so this series works well for both genders.

WSJ and YA Literature

2011-06-16T14:35:00.004-04:00

There has been much attention paid in the young adult literature world over the past few weeks to an article written by Meghan Cox Gurdon on June 4, 2011 in the Wall Street Journal. For those who've not read the article, find it here. Basically, Ms. Gurdon questions whether contemporary young adult literature is too "dark" for teens.

I cannot write as eloquently nor with as much experience and background as some of my favorite young adult authors, so I will simply ask that after reading the article, you read both Laurie Halse Anderson's response, as well as Sherman Alexie's response. With them I concur one hundred percent. Young adult literature saves lives every day through its honesty and intensity, and those in my profession are well aware of that fact, even if Ms. Gurdon is not.

Elementary Monday - My Weird Classroom Club

2011-06-13T14:22:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Dole is Out of Control! (My Weird School Daze #1) by Dan Gutman (Harpercollins, 2008)

Read for: elementary book preview for 2011/2012 school year

I was inspired to pick up this title in the beginning of my preview reading for next year because the author and his publisher recently launched a companion website with teacher resources, biographical info on the author, and background on several different Gutman series.

It's a quick, fun read for 2nd-3rd graders with plenty of action, hijinks and a smattering of amusing illustrations. The PTA president has decided that the 2nd grade needs an elaborate graduation ceremony that includes a petting zoo and a fly over by the US Air Force. Chaos ensues and laughs are guaranteed. Gutman includes information about various literary tools, such as footnotes, though they are not used in a traditional manner and may result in confusion. That fact combined with frequent mischaracterization of acronyms (PTA, among others) may give independent readers a challenge in following the story. Some of the resources online may help teachers get students into this series, however, and they can then explore it in more depth with a little support - there are 12 so far.

Amor deliria nervosa

2011-06-10T13:50:00.000-04:00

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Harper, 2011)

Read for: 2011/2012 High School Book Preview

Amor deliria nervosa has spread through the United States as an epidemic, characterized first by fixation, lack of focus, inability to make clear choices, obsession, passion, and ultimately, death. In answer to the sickness of love, all 18-year-olds now undergo a procedure that removes passionate feelings and allows everyone to live without pain.

Lena, our 17-year-old protagonist, tells her story of growing up in Portland, Maine within this new world. In a first-person narrative she shapes herself as a resourceful and thoughtful character. She's been looking forward to her procedure since childhood when her mother told her she loved her (highly forbidden in this future state) and then fled to the sea and committed suicide. When Lena's aunt takes her in, she is sure to impress upon Lena the sickness how ill her mother had been and explain that the cure never worked for her. Lena grows up conflicted between her aunt's lessons and the warmth she feels when remembering her mother, especially when she sees other parents cold and removed from their children.

Still, Lena is looking forward to her cure and then being assigned her mate by the government until her best friend Hana begins to ask questions about choice and the future. She convinces Lena to attend forbidden parties where uncured boys and girls mingle. And naturally, Lena meets Alex and begins to come down with the sickness. All the while rumors of the Wilds and Invalids (uncureds who live there) begin to circulate and a romance between Alex and Lena begins.

Although the beginning was slow and the premise hard to imagine, Oliver does an excellent job of painting the picture of this world. The reader almost becomes convinced that love is a disease - after all, Romeo and Juliet are excellent examples of the dangers of love. It does cause rash and often poor choices. It does lead to depression and madness. And beyond that, Oliver makes clear through the story the larger issue of choice that all citizens now lack. The choice to have pain, fear, love, passion, poetry, history, truth, rights, privacy - all these are stripped in this current society to promote a dim world where there is nothing to fear because there are no ups or downs, no unpredictability.

Oliver also weaves a great romance that will appeal to many teens. Detail is provided, the path is not always smooth between Alex and Lena, and readers will believe in and support the match while rooting for their freedom. Overall, it is an excellent dystopia that will have a broad appeal for both male and female YA readers. I look forward to putting this novel, the first in a series, in students' hands in the fall. And also to the frustration and anticipation we will all feel while waiting for the second to be published.

Breaking Dawn

2011-06-07T15:38:00.000-04:00

During a particuarly stressful period recently, I allowed myself to watch all three Twilight movies over the course of a week, an undertaking I've not managed before. The experience motivated me to begin rereading Breaking Dawn because I no longer remember the more subtle plot details. And admittedly, the trailer from the MTV Movie Awards has made me really look forward to November...

Tags: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

What do school librarians do?

2011-06-07T10:11:00.001-04:00

AASL (American Association of School Librarians) has done a post titled One Hundred Things Kids Will Miss if They Don't Have a School Librarian in their School. This is it, there's nothing more to say, but it expertly describes my day, my job, and my position's importance.

literature for middle school boys

2011-06-04T11:48:00.007-04:00

The Devil's Breath by Dan Gilman, narrated by David Thorn

Read for: Young Adult Literature

I finished listening to this title yesterday on my drive to New York City and I am relieved to be done with it. I see the appeal this title has for boys in grades 6-9 who like action-adventure stories, especially those who have enjoyed the Alex Rider series.

That being said, I really didn't care for this book. David Thorn does excellent narration on the audio version and the story is fast-paced, but I couldn't get over some of the major and troublesome plot points.

Max Gordon is a 15-year-old English boarding school kid whose father disappears. Clues lead Max to Namibia, Africa, where he decides to follow the trail to his father. Tom Gordon has discovered a secret plot and the evil-doer behind the plan is holding him hostage.

Along the way, Max needs assistance. He's not cut out for the Namibian bush and a native bushman teenager his own age offers to assist him in the hunt. Soon Max is describing !Koga as his brother and they couldn't be closer. I found it hard to believe that Max would so quickly garner the respect and friendship of his bushman companion in the search for his father. Max can't keep up, he can't start a fire, he can't find water, what exactly earns him the respect? Oh, right, it's the fact that Max's coming was foretold through ancient cave drawings - they show that a white boy will come and save the bushmen. I find this hard to swallow, not to mention insulting. The out of body experiences and magic of the bushmen also put the story slightly over the top of believable adventure. I can handle him flying a plane, battling crocodiles, fending off monkeys and killers with guns, but actually becoming an eagle to thwart his enemy? I would recommend Anthony Horowitz's adventure stories for middle school boys over this particular novel, though interested readers can also find further adventures of Max in Ice Claw and Blood Sun (out this December).

The Library is Not an Archive: Notes on Weeding

2011-06-02T14:40:00.001-04:00

It is that time of year. I spent an inordinate amount of my day yesterday shifting the high school fiction collection to make space. School libraries differ from public libraries because there is a time of the year when all our books have to be on the shelves. Most libraries don't have to worry about this and have more wiggle room.

The influx of books is due in part to my end of the year "Please Return the Books Buried at the Bottom of Your Lockers" note to all 7-12 students. And while getting these books back on the shelves, I inevitably begin weeding. During this time, when others walk through the library and look at the stacks of books piled on floors and tables, bound to stamped "discard" and donated to various organizations, some become upset. They are perfectly readable books, after all. My response is:

A library is a living thing.

My library is not an archive.

If a book is 10 years old and has never circulated, or is 15 years old and has not circulated in the last 10 years, it owes its shelf space to a more deserving, interesting and likely-to-be-read title. Along these same lines, this is the reason that we don't keep all back issues of National Geographic (or accept donations of 20 years worth of National Geographic - honestly, you would be amazed how often this comes up). Magazine and newspaper articles are online through various databases we subscribe to and books need to be fresh, updated and have appealing covers. No matter what the inside of the book is like, teens pick up books based on the covers (don't we all?) and they need to grab attention.

Plus, I myself enjoy the purging and cleaning and shelving. The more often I do it, the more I realize how much I've grown to know the collection really well. It's becoming a more teen-friendly space.

Elementary Monday

2011-05-31T10:53:00.000-04:00

Life Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya, Kristin Earhart and Toyofumi Fukuda

More Life Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya, Kristin Earhart and Toyofumi Fukuda

Life Size Aquarium by Teruyuki Komiya, Kristin Earhart and Toyofumi Fukuda

Just a quick post this morning on a series that has become one of my favorites to use with the kindergarten class. These three titles come to us via translation from Japan. The authors use life-size illustrations of zoo and aquarium animals from a zoo in Japan to give children a sense of the scope of the creatures. Sidebars tell the name, age, gender and other details about the animal. Questions are listed and instruct readers to look for particular features of each animal. They are perfect titles to use in a zoo unit for kindergarten, it almost brings the zoo to the library.

the first spider I've know that wasn't creepy

2011-05-28T22:31:00.000-04:00

The Cabinet of Wonders (The Kronos Chronicles #1) by Marie Rutkoski

Read for: Elementary Chapter Books

Petra Kronos's father is adept with both metalwork and magic. He built his twelve-year-old daughter a tin spider named Astrophil, who accompanies her by riding in her hair behind her ear, out of the sight of curious eyes. Although magic is common in Petra's land of Bohemia, not everyone possesses its power, so the tin animals that Mikal Kronos creates are in high demand. So are his magical clock-working skills, which attract the attention of the prince of this ancient, revisionist, fantastical Bohemia.

When Petra's father goes to make a magic clock for the prince that will control the weather, the prince realizes that her father may be able to share the information with others, and so steals his eyes before sending him home to his family. Petra, outraged, schemes an escape to Prague to steal back her father's eyes and bring a level of normalcy back to her family. Astrophil accompanies her, making the adventure both entertaining (he is an insomniac, book-hungry spider, after all) and safe, as he provides the voice of reason in Petra's impulsive adventure.

This unique fantasy is both engaging and thrilling, though some background may be necessary for students unfamiliar with the area of the world where it takes place. Other students may need an explanation in a book talk prior to reading about the combination of history and fantasy in the novel. This first in a series is sure to draw fantasy enthusiasts in grades 5-6 who will long for the next installments.

Elementary Monday - Our Author Visit!

2011-05-23T10:22:00.000-04:00

Our visit with Natalie Kinsey-Warnock was wonderful!

Natalie presented to grades K-6 from 9-10am and kept them rapt and engaged for the entire hour. After talking about herself and showing pictures of her horses, dogs and cats (a great strategy for roping in this age group!), Natalie moved on to a discussion of family stories (this is when she showed some family quilts that have made appearances in her books). She talked about how her ideas for books come from old family stories and that often there are great stories in your family that you have never heard. She encouraged students to ask parents, grandparents and great-grandparents about the stories they have from growing up. She showed students books by other young people their age and told them they could write.

After telling them they could write, Natalie then spent the afternoon working with smaller groups in writing workshops. She showed them that they can write. Grades 4-6 were given old black and white photos of people and they had to answer questions about their person. What was his/her favorite toy as a child? What is in his/her refrigerator? What does he/she have in his/her pocket? What is his/her biggest secret?

The students ran with it and had wonderful responses. Natalie moved from each student, encouraging, giving ideas and helping those who needed a push. Grades 2-3 worked on writing about the senses with vivid language, a lesson that nicely complemented the work that is happening in the classroom with creative writing. Grades K-1 also worked on the senses, writing down their favorite things to touch, taste, smell, hear and see.

We ended the day with an ice cream party, during which Natalie did sign some books. Mostly, however, she was wrangled by a group of students eager to talk with her and ask more questions. At the end of the day, I had many students asking when she was coming back, but also when we would have another author come. I am so pleased that after several changes in the schedule, the students were still so excited and the visit went off so well.

*An extra special thank you to Long Lake Student Council and Arts-in-Education Programming for funding the visit with Natalie. It was a wonderful way to encourage students in the elementary to read and write and be inspired and we greatly appreciate the support.*

Why are libraries still important?

2011-05-17T14:03:00.001-04:00

On a regular basis, people ask me about the relevance of libraries considering that we now have the internet for all our research and reading needs. While I often speak at great lengths in response to this question, the American Library Association has answered it very concisely here.

In addition to their wonderful response, I would add that PEOPLE STILL WANT TO READ BOOKS - and for free! And they also want to rent DVDs, audiobooks and other media and cannot afford the massive costs it would take to buy each item personally. Furthermore, our public libraries offer a respite for teens, travelers and other folks who need a public place to go that doesn't require the purchase of a beverage or food item in order to sit down. They are an amazing treasure of American culture that we should be proud of, support and cherish.

Steampunk

2011-05-17T12:17:00.000-04:00

Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Read for: High School New Book Adventure and Steampunk knowledge

Fever Crumb has been on my to-read list for some time, in part because it was purchased with our new high school books mid-year, in part because it was reviewed broadly and positively with many starred reviews, and in part because it is the newest addition to the steampunk genre, which I have been wishing to become more familiar with.

Reeve has created an alternative world in this novel that takes place in London. The city sounds and feels like Victorian London, but the character Fever is actually growing up with the Order of Engineers, a group of men who work to make clockwork-type inventions based on lost knowledge. As the plot unfolds, readers realize that this novel is actually set in the future when humans have forgotten how to use the technology our current world possesses. In addition to having lost this knowledge, Fever's world varies from ours due to Scriven, a race of people with dark-colored patterns and blotches on their skin. They've all but been exterminated by the Skinners, a group of "normal" humans who went on a genocidal rampage before the book opens, but some still remain. This proves to be the beginning of Fever's conflict, when an old Skinner notices that her eyes are of two different shades, accuses her of being a Scriven, and comes after her.

Fever Crumb is actually a prequel to Reeve's successful series, "Hungry City Quartet," which picks up where this novel leaves off.

While I am glad that I've explored this genre through a handful of novels (Incarceron and Airborn by Kenneth Oppel), I have to say that it's not really my cup of tea. Such novels tend to be a little too dark for my taste. I don't care for the scary machinery or the dismal alternative futures that feel as if they are set in the past. I can, however, see the appeal for a certain type of reader and I'll keep my eyes open in the future to such tastes.

Elementary Monday - Rescheduled Author Visit

2011-05-16T19:27:00.000-04:00

Natalie Kinsey-Warnock has now tried twice to join us at school. The first time we were thwarted by a blizzard, the second time by a flood. Students in grades K-6 have begun making jokes about hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados. But we're determined that she will join us this Friday, May 20th.

Natalie will begin the day at 9am with a group presentation to the elementary school, followed by small group writing workshops and will end the day with book signing at 2pm and an ice cream party. Parents are invited to join us at 2pm to meet our author and celebrate.

The Beats

2011-05-15T19:16:00.000-04:00

In college I had a lot of friends, mostly male, who absolutely loved Beat literature. Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kerouac - they were idolized and the paperback copies of their books were worn and marked with frequent reading.

At SUNY Geneseo, an English major, like myself, had the option of taking a "Major Author" course with various professors who chose different concentrations. My favorite was a Willa Cather course. But because of the influence of the Beats on a college campus, I once tried to take this course focused on Beat authors. I lasted two classes.

Over and over I have believed that it is I who is missing something about these authors and repeatedly try to read the Beats. This time I tried to work it in to my general knowledge of graphic novels by reading (beginning to read) The Beats: A Graphic History by Harvey Pekar. I made it through the Kerouac section and had to put it away. Here is a generation of men who are sexist, racist, alcoholics/drug addicts with no goals, no drive, and no willingness to actually edit their work. As my friend Whitney said, "There might not be a more overrated group of writers." Enough said, I'm officially done with the Beats.

Elementary Monday

2011-05-09T11:09:00.000-04:00

I've noticed that many of my posts have connected to teen books and programs lately, so I've decided to begin a weekly posting that will keep me focused on sharing elementary events, lessons, and books. Thus, welcome "Elementary Monday," a weekly post that will share more info about our youngest library users.

Kindergarten lessons are focused on literature appreciation, library organization, book care, and understanding the difference between fiction and nonfiction. By this point in the year, most the students have a firm grasp of these concepts and we are reviewing using fun books and ideas. Last week was one of my favorite lessons and perfect for our slow-to-arrive spring time.

In order to explore the idea of eggs, I combine the books Guess What is Growing Inside This Egg by Mia Posada (nonfiction) with Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen (fiction).

Posada's book is an amazing look at all the different animals that lay eggs, but also allows the students to participate in the read-aloud. Each animal features is shown first in a close-up that is more difficult to distinguish, followed by a zoomed-out drawing of the entire nest or area. Beginning with an Emperor penguin's feet around an egg, Posada moves on to alligators, ducks, sea turtles, spiders, and octopuses, with a final page that compares each egg's actual size. It is a wonderful title and connects well to spring.

I like to use Posada's book at this stage in our fiction and nonfiction elementary lessons because it drives home the point that nonfiction books don't have to have photographs, but can also have drawings. That concept can be difficult in the beginning of the year.

Guji Guji is our fiction connection and tells a story of a little crocodile egg that rolls down a hill and is hatched by a mother duck who takes no notice of this "duckling's" appearance and raises it as her own. When some crocodiles notice Guji Guji living with a duck family, they encourage him to eat his siblings. It is a story that has kindergartners on the edge of their seats. It also allows a tremendous amount of compare and contrast when the crocodiles explain how Guji looks like they do, not like a duck. Students were rivited and couldn't stop talking about this combo, but they also clearly understood the difference between the titles and were able to point to exactly what sections of the library each book would be found in. Success!

a preview of YA titles for next year

2011-05-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

Chime by Franny Billingsley and Matched by Ally Condie

Read for: YA Preview for Fall 2011 Purchases

Chime creates a world early in the 1900s outside London where magic and witches are real, though misunderstood and loathed by the general public. For that reason, 17-year-old Briony Larkin hides the fact that she is a witch, especially after her stepmother explains to her that as a child she caused the accident that left her twin sister brain damaged. This accident combined with her stepmother's knowledge makes Briony believe herself evil. After her stepmother's death, a young man named Eldric comes to live and be tutored with the family and begins to help unlock the actual history of Larkin family and the town of Swampsea. It is a tale intermingled with romance, mystery and fantasy and will have a large and receptive following of teens.

Matched is another mysterious and romantic title but instead of fantasy, it is a modern-day Brave New World. Cassia has just turned 17 and has been "matched" - connected to the man she will marry at 21. The Society makes all these decisions for its residents: whom to marry, what job to have, what hobbies to have, what to eat, how much to exercise, where to live, when to die. Everyone is equal and healthy but lacks all autonomy.

When Cassia's match chip shows a different face on her screen than her long term best friend whom she believed to be her match, she begins to question the Society's plan. She also begins to look more closely at Ky, the boy who was on her computer chip by mistake. Ally Condie sets Cassia up to challenge the society, seek real love, and find the truth of the world she lives in. Instead of a clear ending, like we find in Chime, Condie has begun a series and readers will be chomping at the bit for the second installment, out this November.

the blessing/curse of series books

2011-05-04T19:37:00.000-04:00

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, Book #1) by Patrick Ness (on audio read by Nick Podehl)

Read for: Young Adult Literature

I began reading the print version of this book on three different occasions and had to walk away from it. The story felt so dark that each time I simply wasn't in the right place to continue. Then one of the teen boys in my high school finished it and begged for the second and then the third in the series, so I knew I needed to undertake it despite hesitation. (This is exactly what happened with the Twilight series 4 years ago).

Listening to it was the way to go. Nick Podehl does an amazing job giving the main character Todd the right voice, accent and attitude. He made Todd a likable character despite his flaws, so I was able to stick with the story.

Set in an undisclosed future time, Todd has grown up in a place very similar to Earth, though it seems that his people colonized it from somewhere else. During the wars and colonization, a sickness ravaged the settlers, leaving all the women dead and creating "noise." All men are able to hear each others thoughts in the "noise" and Todd is constantly walking away from his town to the woods and swamp in order to escape the racket. Out in the woods, with only his dog's noise (men can hear animals too), he is able to take a break and think about his upcoming birthday, on which he will officially become a man. It is one such walk in the woods that changes his entire world.

I can't say any more about it, or I'll ruin the story. Suffice it to say that I just spent the last 20 minutes walking around the house making jobs for myself so I could finish listening to the story. At which point I was sorely tempted to download the second novel in the series (The Ask and the Answer followed by Monsters of Men) but I didn't because I have other stories to listen to first. A steampunk title I've been wanting to get to in order to explore the genre further (see previous post concerning steampunk) along with some for review of older titles on our library shelves. I have a drive ahead of me to the SLMS (School Library Media Section of the New York Library Association) Conference tomorrow evening in Buffalo, so I can get through another audiobook I already have and be that much closer to the next title in the series.

I will say, however, that though the story moves of its own accord due to constant action, Ness also does a really good job avoiding black and white scenarios. His characters are complicated, the situations are challenging and everyone is both guilty and excused for various infractions. But nothing is neat and clean. I think he really tackles this issue in a way that isn't seen often in teen literature. Plus, the story is so exciting that it will appeal to a wide audience - anyone willing to undertake a longer title, because I know from experience that 479 pages can be too much for some teens. But it will work for many and will force them (happily) to continue the series.

epistolary novels

2011-05-02T08:01:00.000-04:00

Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

Read for: Young Adult Literature

I first learned the term "epistolary novel" when reading Samuel Richardson's Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. I was taking a undergraduate British literature course called "The Rise of the Novel" and we spent quite a bit of time discussing how Richardson was the first to create a novel told through letters. Pamela, however, was not nearly as fun as the young adult novel I've just finished.

Wrede and Stevermer go back and forth writing as cousins in England in 1817. Kate is off having her season in London while Cecelia is stuck at home with their stuffy aunt. Everything seems relatively normal and historical until a wizard is mentioned and through this introduction we learn that despite appearances, there is quite a bit of magic in this world.

Kate has an encounter with a magical woman who almost kills her and the result is that she meets a young man who is a Marquis and was the intended victim of the woman's poison. Cecelia, meanwhile, is on watch for a different young man who seems far to interested in her other cousin Dorothea and is often caught sneaking around.

As the letters unfold, the stories of the cousins intertwine through characters, action and romance. It is a lovely combination of the styles of Jane Austen and Tolkien, whom the authors thank on the dedication page for inspiration. The love story certainly takes on an Austenian-type quality, while the magic feels fresh and lively.

The best part of the novel was when I reached the end and learned that the authors began writing it as a fun way to exchanged letters over a summer. They really did correspond as the characters, neither having knowledge of where the other would take the story in her next letter. As the story unfolded, they worked out the details separately and changed the tale with each installment. This is apparently an old pastime called the letter game. Only a small amount of editing was done before the work was published as a whole.

I think this is such a wonderful idea! What a great way to write a story and have your creative imagination working in conjunction with a friend! I am really looking forward to reading the next installment, titled The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia.

mass market paperbacks rant

2011-04-26T19:49:00.000-04:00

Mass market paperbacks are the roughly 7 inch by 4 inch paperbacks that romance novels are always published in, mystery novels are often published in, and quality literature are published in for movie tie-ins and when they reach prominent enough recognition and popularity to reside in grocery store aisles.

While I understand the convenience of a small, lightweight paperback, from a librarian's point of view, these books are a nightmare. They can handle one reading, maybe two if you're careful. When I say careful, I mean you don't actually open the book when you get to the middle, but rather read carefully with the pages extended only so far. Open that sucker all the way and the spine breaks, followed shortly thereafter by large chunks of the book simply falling out. This problem is exacerbated by a warm climate, which actually helps melt the spine glue thus freeing the pages more quickly. Considering that these books are often used for vacation and travel, this is a hazard.

I just have no patience for these books. Trade paperbacks cost more (trade paperbacks are the size of a normal hardcover) but you can loan them to a friend when you're done or finish reading them without having to round up pieces. Furthermore, the print is actually large enough to see. Mass market paperbacks are so tiny in font and margin size that every page becomes a daunting task to read. Add to that the fact that you're trying not to open the book too far to spare the binding and the things are pretty much useless.

I am not taking mass market paperbacks on vacation anymore. Enough said.

teen audio

2011-04-25T17:26:00.002-04:00

Trash by Andy Mulligan
Read for: High School New Book Adventure

I begin this post by saying that I believe it possible that I would have enjoyed this title slightly more had I read it instead of listening to it. But only slightly more.

It received really rave reviews [YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2011), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2011), Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of the Year for Fiction (2010)] but I thought that the story moved slowly and it took far too long for the reader to become invested in the plight of the main characters.

Raphael, Gardo and Rat are three young teens living in a poor community in an undisclosed third-world-country (though the reader suspects Mexico or Central America from the accents and names). They live in the world of trash, spending their days going through the city's dump in the hopes of finding items to sell or trade. The poverty is stark but does not belong to this world, but rather a world in the future at some point. This fact is never explained, however, and some teen readers might find themselves wondering if a real world is being described. No endnotes or preface make this clear, however.

Early in the novel, Raphael discovers a wallet and note in the dump which change the course of all the boys' lives. They begin following a mystery to find out who wrote the note, what it leads to, and why the police are so keen to find it. Despite much pressure by the police, the boys manage to keep the secret and eventually discover that it connects to the theft of millions of dollars by one of the country's leading politicians.

The story is told back and forth between the boys, the teacher at their school and occasionally another small character, such as a social work volunteer who plays a role in the story. At times these switches can be confusing and the narrators on the audiobook do not have the type of voices or reading style that create smooth oral narrative.

Although the novel may appeal to adults for its Robin Hood-like qualities, I think most teens would find that it moves slow. The action is dampened by the first person narratives in past tense that make it more plodding and less exciting. The conclusion is neat for the characters themselves (maybe too neat) but doesn't address the larger issues raised by the politician's theft in any way. Nor does it address the poverty at a root level that the boys experience or that of any of their families. I'm hard pressed to imagine who I would recommend this title to.

Reading like the Victorians

2011-04-09T11:10:00.000-04:00

Joyce Carol Oates spoke at the New York State Library Association conference a few years back. She explained to the audience that she had been reflecting on how we as a society no longer read the way our forebears used to. That even in college classes, professors have begun choosing shorter works by well-known authors because it is too much strain for both students and teachers to read longer texts. She said that she wanted to "read like the Victorians" - in that she wanted to spend an entire day on a divan, poring over a 500-page novel and discussing it passionately. She wanted us to go back to dedicating large portions of time to finishing one novel and seeing the satisfaction in such an endeavor.

I'm remembering this talk in part because it had quite an effect on me - I myself wish for such a state of affairs. I wish we read more as a pastime than we do in our country. I wish it was more often our go-to activity when rain impeded outdoor play, before bed, when we wanted to do something together as a family.

The other reason her words are coming back to me is that I am reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for the third time. This time, however, I am reading the beautiful Penguin Classics version of the story. I gave this version to one of my good friends a while back when I learned she had never read it. We've begun it recently because I am determined to reread it and have her read it for the first time before either of us sees the new movie version. Though I think the writers and producers of the new movie have worked to make Mr. Rochester more palatable (and more power to them, the movie will be more appealing that way), Mr. Rochester is generally a creepy guy and the experience of reading his character is absolutely necessary before seeing the film.

My copy of the book, however, looks as if it is from a different age, it is bound in cloth and has a heft befitting a novel of this length (521 pages in this version, not counting introduction and end notes). And I find that as I sit and read it, I don't want to do anything else. I want to spend my entire afternoon reading like the Victorians, getting lost in a wordy story that I am nowhere close to finishing and that will take my time for the next week or more. I want the world Joyce Carol Oates imagines for readers.

Author Visit Rescheduled

2011-04-05T17:37:00.000-04:00

Natalie Kinsey-Warnock was supposed to join us last Friday, April 1st for our PARP (Parents as Reading Partners) Night Celebration.

But we feared a giant snowstorm and postponed the event.

And the snow never came.

We are moving forward, however! Our author has rescheduled with us for the end of the month on April 29th. She will spend the school day with our students doing presentations and writing workshops. At 2pm we will invite parents into the school to join us for an ice cream party and book signing.

After disappointing many students with the change, I can say that there is now a broad understanding in our elementary school of the difference between "postponed" and "cancelled." And we're still greatly looking forward to her visit!

a review of recent (but not brand new) YA titles

2011-04-01T12:31:00.000-04:00

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

Read for: Young Adult Fiction Review

Both the novels listed have been circulating regularly from our library, so I decided to undertake reading them and discover the appeal.

Fallen is a compelling story for the crowd that is interested in a romantic tale with fantasy elements. Ultimately the reader discovers that the main character has developed a relationship with a fallen angel. While the story moves along at a clip and many mysteries keep interest high, the plot is so similar to Twilight that some readers might find it familiar and/or tedious. It seems as though the author tried to create a stronger female character in Luce, but simply mentioning that she is a good student does not in fact make her much different than the love struck and boy-centered Bella. Certainly there are those who will be interested in this trilogy, however, and its popularity attests this fact.

Touching Spirit Bear, on the other hand, is a unique and stand alone story that will interest a wide range of readers. Cole is 15 and is facing possible jail time as a result of senselessly beating up his classmate. Peter, the student in question, suffers permanent damage as a result of Cole's anger. Cole's social worker, Garvey, works to place Cole in a traditional native Alaskan form of justice that would isolate him for one year on a remote island. Cole follows through not with the intent of changing, but with intent to beat the system, only to have his life altered forever when he is attacked by a bear on the island. The adventures that follow are perfect for an outdoorsy audience, but there is enough other substance to his adventure to appeal to a wider audience. The story is vivid and Cole's anger is believable, as is his eventual learning and change. The abuse Cole suffered at the hands of his father is brought into the story and provides a fuller picture of Cole, but the author is careful to show that Cole must take responsibility for his own actions despite the fact that much fault may lie in his father's hands. A strong story that will attract many readers.

fairy tales for today's readers

2011-03-28T20:29:00.002-04:00

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Read for: Elementary Chapter Books

Kids love the original Grimm Brothers fairy tales, despite (and perhaps because of) the gory elements and the dark plot lines. I discovered this last year when the 5th grade reading class I taught asked to read some of the originals as opposed to cleaned up modern versions. Meaning they wanted to hear about Cinderella's stepsisters actually cutting off their toes to try the glass slipper on and about Little Red actually being eaten.

Adam Gidwitz understands this fascination.

This is an absolutely terrific story that skillfully weaves Hansel and Gretel into a series of connected Grimm Brothers' tales. He creates a background for the siblings that goes far beyond a crazy woman who lives in a gingerbread cottage. But along the way the narrator interrupts his own tale. He warns the reader of scary times to come, gore to watch out for, sad parts, and confusing elements. And the narrator is hilarious. Inexplicable details (the moon is scary and likes to eat children, as it turns out) surprise the reader while at the same time serving to remind us that this is a fantastical story. In fairy tales, events often happen with no explanation and we must suspend disbelief and roll with it.

This title is one where all the reviews have been spot on accurate about its wonderful quality. I already have students in mind to hand this book to and I almost want to read it with a class in the future just because it is so funny and well structured. But maybe the best part about this book is that it takes children seriously, recognizes that children are people, and that often times it's adults, not children, who are making the biggest mistakes in the world. It's a wonderful theme that will resonate with children, but it doesn't overtake the adventure and great storytelling in the novel.

I couldn't put this book down. Anyone who enjoys a good children's chapter book or fairy tales should pick this one up.

The bookfair is here!

2011-03-25T20:36:00.000-04:00

Our bookfair is here! Scholastic has sent a great variety of books, including enough to cover an entire table with preschool titles, as well as an entire table with books for teens.

Our fair is open to the public and available on the following dates:

Friday, March 25th - Friday, April 1st
9am-2pm on the stage

All sales support our classroom and school libraries!

starred reviews vs. interest and readability

2011-03-25T12:33:00.001-04:00

The Death-Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean

Read for: Elementary Chapter Books

Pepper Roux is living a strange life. Ever since he was born, his aunt, a devout Catholic, has claimed that St. Constance came to her and predicted his death at age 14. When he reaches this age, he finds himself reckless and willing to take his father's place as the captain on a ship and sail off for new adventures. His story winds him through many lives and identities, as he waits for his inevitable demise.

Despite the many starred reviews this book received, I believe it is yet another example of a book that adults will enjoy, but few students in grades 5-8 will find accessible. The language is dense, the Catholic references are frequent and the story is confusing. In the beginning, due to his taking over his father's captain duties, the reader gets the impression that the story is taking place further in the past. By the middle of the story, however, it is clear that we are in France not in the 1700s, but in the 20th century. The themes and morals are strong, but I don't think most children are reading a story for a strong theme.

Despite my previous post, I am finding lately that I would be better served by perusing chapter books for grades 3-6 in a bookstore and choosing the ones on display that look most popular and sound the most exciting, rather than relying on reviewers. Reviewers seem to have trouble choosing books kids will actually read for this age level.

professional reading and the School Library System

2011-03-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

I cannot read every book I purchase.

It is a great disappointment to both myself and the students that this is the case. In response to this issue, I avidly read a massive amount of book reviews in various sources. But how can one afford to subscribe to so many publications, you might ask.

This is yet another small, but invaluable service the School Library System provides. The system subscribes to a variety of journals, which are then lent in two week installments to each librarian in the system who is interested.

The journals that arrive through the courier to our school library are as follows: The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), Library Journal, Booklist, Teacher Librarian, Library Media Connection, The Bulletin for Children's Books, Knowledge Quest, and School Library Monthly.

These journals not only provide reviews, but also terrific articles on collaboration, the school and broader library field, lesson ideas, professional interests and technology articles.

My reason for raving about this service today results directly from my first perusal of the March/April issue of Horn Book Magazine. Of all the journals I read, this is by far my favorite. Each issue has a different theme, with well-known authors writing on the topic in the first half, followed by reviews in the second half. The reviews are always reliable, the starred reviews are inevitably fantastic, and the articles are always enlightening. This month's theme: Fact, Fiction, and In Between. The first article alone gave me an enormous number of recommendations as well as background on how nonfiction as a children's genre has changed over the decades. It made me excited about a genre that is hard to convince students to read, thus making me more able to sell it to students. I honestly can't wait to have time to sit and read the rest of the journal.

To note, the other journals I consistently rely on and are usually spot on with my opinion of children's and young adult titles are School Library Journal and VOYA.

two chapter books, one weekend

2011-03-22T10:59:00.000-04:00

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb (audio book)

Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams

Read for: Elementary Chapter Books

I finished two books over the weekend by listening to one and reading the other. Both are new titles that are included in the end of the year elementary chapter book order.

Fox Street felt to me the same way so many higher level elementary chapter books do: It was written for adults. The plot had potential: two girls who spend each summer together are beginning to grow apart with the backdrop of a neighborhood that is changing. But the book was far too descriptive, relied far too much on driving home the themes and not enough on the action that keeps a reader of this age interested. It will be a unique girl in 5th or 6th grade who can stick with this book.

Palace Beautiful, on the other hand, was an excellent read. When 13-year-old Sadie and her younger sister Zuzu move to Salt Lake City, a world of change awaits them. Their stepmother is about to have a baby, their new neighbor Bella is strange and intriguing, and the attic of their house has a mysterious little room. Within the room is a diary of a 12-year-old girl who lived during the influenza epidemic in Salt Lake City in 1912. As the threesome begin to read the diary, they are pulled into a fascinating historical struggle and set out to see if they can find the author and return the diary. Many female readers in 5th and 6th grade will enjoy this title that is packed with realistic action and historical fact.