One of the Many Reasons I Became a Public Librarian . . .

Lee Wind over at I'm Here, I'm Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? posted a thought-provoking piece on his attempt to donate GLBTQ titles to E.O. Green Junior High School, the school where 15-year-old Larry King was killed after confessing his crush on a (male) fellow student.

Soldier on, Lee. This kind of thing is exactly why we need those books.

Book Review: Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White

Book: Long May She Reign
Author: Ellen Emerson White
Published: 2007

Meg Powers has not had a good year.

Last spring, she was kidnapped by terrorists, brutalized and tortured over a period of thirteen days. What’s worse, her own mother refused to negotiate for her. Why? Because her mother is the President of the United States.

Now, after a dramatic and grueling escape, Meg has turned into Humpty-Dumpty, trying to put herself back together again. There are plenty of the President’s horses and men to take care of the physical aspects--a shattered knee and hand--but the hardest recovery is inside. Dealing with psychological fallout, new physical limitations, homesickness, the media, and the ever-constant pain, Meg has to wonder. Is it even possible to be herself again?

Okay, this book? Was amazing. I read the first book in the series lo these many years ago (The President’s Daughter) and never knew that there were two sequels (White House Autumn and Long Live the Queen). But when I heard this was coming down the pike, I remembered Meg well enough to put it right on my list.

Ellen Emerson White avoids a cliché by having Meg not only know her mother’s decision not to negotiate, but understand and, even in a way, approve of it. Some other authors would have turned the book into a war between mother and daughter, an angsty “You love the United States more than you love meeeeee,” annoy-a-thon, with the appropriately weepfest reunion scene at the end. White gives everyone, including the readers, more credit than this.

It’s not a plot book, by a long shot. Not much actually happens. Meg goes to her brothers’ ball games, she goes to PT, talks with friends and family, goes to college . . . there are some exciting events, sure, but by and large this is a character book, and the character surely is Meg Powers. Proud, vulnerable, sarcastic, strong-willed, exhausted, and blessed with a core of temprered steel, Meg’s many-layered character makes the long journey back to something like life a compelling one.

I’d recommend this for older YA’s, sixteen and up, who enjoy dry humor, a savvy and intelligent protagonist, and an intimate look behind the scenes of one of the most public institutions in the world.

Five Things Meme

Liz B. invited everyone into the sandbox on this one. Here's my Five Things meme, started by . . . somebody, I know not who.

Five Things Meme

Rules for the game:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Exactly ten years ago, I was a junior in high school. At that time, I was convinced that NYT bestseller-dom was only a finished book away, and I could support myself by teaching until that happened. Believe it or not, librarianship wasn't even a speck on the horizon.

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Buy a hybrid car
2. Buy a house
3. Take a trip around the world
4. Buy every TV show on DVD I ever wanted, ever.
5. Become Batwoman! (Oh shut up. You would too. Admit it.)

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Babysitter
2. Library page
3. Bakery
4. Temp (for a year. I do not recommend this to anybody. Ever.)
5. Children's librarian

Five of my habits
1. Keeping obsessive track of what I want to read in my Blue Journal
2. Keeping obsessive track of what I have read via LibraryThing
3. Telling myself I will exercise tomorrow. Really. I will.
4. Talking myself out of buying kewl electronic toys
5. Planting flowers, which then die really, really quickly.

Five places I have lived:
1. Various cities, Michigan (that gave me a loathing of snow and all cold weather)
2. Louisville, Kentucky (that gave me Suth'n mannahs, which consist of a lot of Sirs and Ma'ams and being able to cut jerks off at the knees with a sweet smile. At least in my head.)
3. Kingston, Surrey, UK (that gave me a taste for McVittie's and Indian food)
4. Tucson, Arizona (where I left my heart. Really. It was in a jar under my bed when I moved.)
5. LA County, California (that gave me a real hatred of commuting)

I think all my regular taggees have already done this one, so I'll say what Liz said: Wanna play? Jump in!

Bringing You Last Week's News Today

As usual, I'm about the last person to hear, but we have another rockin' Summer Blog Blast Tour going on! Check out this schedule, you guys. Look at those authors! Look at those bloggers! Look at those authors talking to those bloggers!! How cool is that?

In other news, SBBT organizer Colleen so needs to switch to decaf.

Technology in the Picture Book

Check out this rather neatokeen little slide show over at Slate.com, about the portrayal of technology in picture books. I went in expecting a diatribe on how picture-book authors are all nostalgia chasers, stuck in the past and it's time to move into the 21st century. But the commentary makes some valid points for why, in some books, telephones steadfastly have cords and earphones are still gigantic. At the same time, she points out a couple of books that realistically portray technology as an everyday part of a young child's life.

Thanks to Gail over at Original Content for the link.

Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

I've been sitting on this review for a little while, mostly because it just needed a couple of tugs and tweaks to be postable. I named this book my Teen Standout for March and promised a review, so finally here it is!

Book: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Published: 2007

It's been two weeks since Hannah Baker's suicide, and just like everyone else who knew her, Clay Jensen still doesn't understand why. Then he gets an unusual package in the mail. Seven audiotapes, with Hannah's voice on them. Each side contains one story, about somebody in her life who contributed to her descent into darkness. Thirteen stories, and one blank side. Not coincidentally, these thirteen people are also the only ones who will receive this package, one after the other, and learn how their actions, or inactions, affected Hannah's decision to end her life.

Over the course of one night, Clay will listen to Hannah's taped voice and follow the map she left in his locker, seeing through her eyes and hearing her story. The question is, at the end of it, will he understand her choice any better than he did when he started?

And will he understand what he could have done to save her life?

This could have been just another angsty suicide novel, but Jay Asher did something intriguing when he brought in the idea of the taped stories. It makes Hannah's voice one of two in the story. Clay's perspective allows us to realize that as much as she believed she had no choice but to take her own life, Hannah had a number of chances to reach out to another person. At the same time, we can see that other peoples' choices and actions affected Hannah deeply, and often in a way that those people probably never could have anticipated.

Along with Clay, we have an exceptional chance to hear someone's personal story, and to understand that every story has at least two sides, and often many more.

News and Links!

My Google Alert spit out a few articles worthy of linking, so I'm sharing the joy.

First up? A short Q&A with Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney, including news of a third book (although no title yet, bah!)

Then an article about prison-bound parents who have found a way to read to their children on the outside.

Finally, Columbia Pictures has gotten their mitts on the rights to the Goosebumps series. Considering how popular this series has always been, I'm hopeful that Scholastic and Stine were holding out for quality before signing over. We'll see what happens.

Happy Birthday Paddington!

Paddington Bear is 50!

To tell you guys the truth, Paddington always struck me as being somewhere in his forties, a dear middle-aged duffer with questionable fashion sense, gently earnest outlook, and comfortable in his own skin.

Check out the link for an article about Paddington Bear, his writer, and his illustrator(s). Also, there will be a new Paddington book in June in the UK, so hopefully soon after in the US!

Thanks to Trisha at Kids Lit for the link.

Doom! Doooooooom!

Apparently the Picture Book is Dying. Don't tell the people who come flooding to my library to check out metric tons of the things, or the writers and publishers who keep putting out delicious picture books that I thrust upon those self-same parents with a manic glint in my eye. (Current favorite: Big and Little. Read it to 50 under-4s this morning and kept their attention throughout. Holy Hannah.)

Or maybe it's only in the UK?

Really, I think the only thing affecting the picture book is the same thing that affects every other sector of the publishing world: People buy what they know. So that's what libraries are for.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for the link.

We're in on the Secret

Not that Secret. The other Secret. The Secret of YA, how it's the coolest and most innovative place in the bookstore these days.

Dare I say, duh.

Check out this article at BoingBoing.net. Don't forget to read the comments, which range from echoing my sentiments above to "Yeah, yeah, whatever" to "Make sure you bring a kid along to the bookstore or people will look at you like you're a pedophile."

Also have a look at Scott Westerfeld's post on this article.

Sunday Funny!

Ever wondered why you had to find Waldo?



Also? Wicked cool PSA from the UK. I want them to make one with all kids' books, although this one does include Peter Pan and some unidentified picture book.



Courtesy of Bookshelves of Doom

In Author We Trust

So yesterday I was catching up on my emails from adbooks and Child_Lit, two listservs that collectively generate about 2,568,034 emails per day. Some people were chatting about the books they're looking forward to, and I broke out my Blue Journal of Stuff I Gotta Read Before I Die and started copying down names.

I paused and thought, Why am I putting these titles down? In some cases, it was just a list of titles--no synopses, nothing. I don't know anything about their subject, their tone, or even their age level. But some author names I saw and went, "Oo, okay!"

I realized that I just trust the author that much. No matter what they've written (and sometimes the style and content vary wildly), it's well-done and absorbing. That's quite a thing, to gain the trust of your reader in that fashion.

Author trust is different than following a series. I'll request the latest Enola Holmes or the next Cronus Chronicles because I want to find out what happens next, but I'll have to hear a little bit about any title the author writes outside of that series before it does down in my Blue Journal.

The deepest author trust is when you hear the synopsis and go, ". . . Huh. I dunno about that one. If another author were writing it, I'd pass it over, but it's X. So I'll give it a whirl."

Sometimes it's style-related. I know what I'm getting from Meg Cabot, for instance--a fun, funny girl-centric story. There've been disappointments, sure, but not enough to destroy my trust. Sometimes it's just the characters. Catherine Gilbert Murdock, for instance, can be counted on for kick-ass girls, no matter if they play football or wear crowns.

But sometimes author trust is just there because the quality has been consistent on practically every page.

Here's a few more of my most trusted authors:
Lisa Yee
Diane Wynne-Jones
Meg Cabot
Eva Ibbotson
John Green
Mo Willems
Maureen Johnson
Emily Gravett

I'm sure there's more, but from flipping through my Blue Journal and noting the titles I wrote down without any need to hear a synopsis, that's my preliminary list.

Who are the authors you most trust?

Reading Roundup April 2008

Yes, I'm still alive! I haven't been blogging much because for the past couple of weeks I've hit a patch of not-very-interesting books. Luckily, there were just enough way-cool ones to keep my head above water. Here's what I liked.

By the Numbers
Total Number Read: 75
Teen: 17
Tween: 11
Children: 21
Preschool: 40

Standouts
Teen: Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
Tween: The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Children: Aggie and Ben: Three Stories by Lori Ries
Preschool: Thank You Bear by Greg Foley

Because I Want To Awards

Worth the Wait: Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
Made My Mouth Water: Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Sherri L. Smith
Prompted the Loudest, Girliest Squeals: Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop
Trippiest Structure: Black and White by David Macauley
Most Reassuring: It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr
Passed It Around to All the New Grandmas Working At My Library to Watch Them Cry, Because I’m Like That: You Were Loved Before You Were Born by Eve Bunting

Thank You, Bear

Book: Thank You Bear
Author: Greg Foley
Published: 2007

One day, Bear finds the greatest thing ever, something his friend Mouse will love. He finds a box.

But as he takes it around, showing it to the other animals on his way, none of them agree. It’s just a box, nothing special, and besides, he isn’t even holding it right. Poor Bear! He thinks it’s wonderful, but nobody else does. What will his friend Mouse think?

Okay, apparently I am a late convert to this title. I’ve had the sequel (Don’t Worry Bear) in my Blue Journal for a few weeks now, but I just got Thank You Bear today.

The spare art style and gentle story have put this on my list of All-Time Fave Storytime Books (along with Antoinette Portis’s Not a Box). I also love that Bear immediately thinks of giving the box to his friend, reflecting the sporadic (and seemingly illogical) generosity of young children. Any kid who has ever had their latest treasure disparaged by others will feel vindicated by the end of this book. Try it as a read-aloud or a read-together, because you'll want to cuddle by the end of it.

Are You Ready to Read?

If you aren't now, you'd better be by the first weekend in June! MotherReader has set her Third Annual 48-hour Book Challenge for that weekend. The challenge: to read, and blog, for 48 straight hours somewhere between Friday and Monday. Click the link for more details.

Location, Location, Location

A couple of years ago, I attended a children's lit conference at the University of Arizona. The theme was a sense of place in children's and YA lit. Ever since then, I've had an eye out for those kinds of books, and I look at the way location affects the story and the characters. My conclusion is, I like it--when it's done right.

I'm not talking about the guidebook kind of location-- "She walked down 5th Avenue and stopped at [insert landmark store here]." I mean the kind of location chosen because it reflects the characters and the story. In some cases (like Meg Cabot, who obviously loves NYC) it reflects the author as well.

Liz Gallagher's recent The Opposite of Invisible is one of those. It takes place in Seattle, and not just in a faceless suburb, but Seattle itself, with the Fremont Troll playing host to a couple of important scenes and other parts of the city holding equal importance.

New York City is a popular one, with a number of books taking place there. Aimee Friedman's The Year My Sister Got Lucky and Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series are two recent examples.

I liked Laura Resau's Red Glass because it took place partially in Tucson, and was obviously written by someone who'd been there and wasn't just using it as shorthand for "dusty desert town." 4th Avenue, chickens in the backyard (this is legal in Tucson; I know because while I was studying at the university, I rented a room from a woman who did have a coop), the desert just outside the city limits, and immigration concerns all play a part.

I'm currently living just north of L.A., so when I read Gordon Korman's Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle and Jessica Blank's Almost Home, I noted how the city featured. In the first book, L.A. is semi-obligatory for a film student, and it provided a good foil for the New-York-grown main character and his family, but it felt a little like L.A. by the numbers. Beaches, check. Complaints about traffic, check. Glittery people, check.

In the second, Blank shows a seamy underbelly of LA that's rarely mentioned in the guidebooks. In fact, the whole book takes place in about a six-block square area--quite a feat for a city that's got the worst case of urban sprawl known to motorists.

Did the choice work for both books? I think so. Hollywood Hustle used L.A. a symbol and a foil, a new world for Vince. Almost Home turned the traditional view of L.A. on its head to make the situation of the characters all that much more horrible.

How about you? What are some recent books with a strong sense of place? Was it done right?

Uncle Bobby's at AfterElton.com

Can you guys tell I'm catching up on my Bloglines?

Check out this interview/review of Sarah Brannen's same-sex guinea-pig marriage tale, Uncle Bobby's Wedding, over at AfterElton.com. I haven't read this book yet, but I'm excited for it. Cuz, guinea pigs! Also, indications are that (as in Pija Lindenbaum's Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle), the title character's sexuality is not the focus of drama and angst.

Unlike many older LGBT-themed children’s books, such as Heather Has Two Mommies, [the book] doesn’t focus on a child struggling against negative views of her family. . . . This leaves Brannen free to concentrate on her other themes, and opens up the book to a wider audience.

Plus, look at that gorgeous spread of a garden wedding about halfway down the first page (with, again, guinea pigs!)

Thanks to KT Horning over at Worth the Trip for the link.

Snorts of Laughter

I've managed to stop rolling on the floor long enough to post this link from the Onion: Stop Making Movies About My Books! by Dr. Seuss

The writer even manages a fair approximation of Seuss's style, although it's not something I'd read to the kiddies. But anyone who's seen "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (that one with Jim Carrey, urgh!) will agree.

Thanks to Leila at Bookshelves of Doom for the link.

International Children's Book Day

Hey everyone, it's International Children's Book Day! So go read a book to an international child!

Uh . . . wait . . .

Seriously, it's a day put on by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) that coincides with Hans Christian Andersen's birthday. This year's theme is "Books Enlighten: Knowledge Delights" and the featured artist is a guy from Thailand whose name I have no hope of pronouncing (Chakrabhand Posayakrit), but I lovelovelove that poster.

Check out some of the messages from previous years too. Margaret Mahy was 2007.

Thanks to Little Willow over at Bildungsroman for the link.

Reading Roundup March 2008

By the Numbers
Total Number Read: 72
Teen: 20
Tween: 8
Children: 15
Preschool: 38

Standouts
Teen: TIE The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (review soon!)
Tween: Escape from Memory by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Children: Living Color by Steve Jenkins
Preschool: Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier

Because I Want To Awards
Yes It Really is That Good: The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Longest Awaited: Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Kinda Glad I Didn't Know What It Was About When I Picked It Up Cuz Otherwise I Wouldn't Have: Almost Home by Jessica Blank
Damn You, Author, It Made Me Sob: Laika by Nick Abadzis
Best Parent/Child ReadAloud: The Red Thread by Grace Lin