Trick or TREAT?

This Halloween Week I got a big TREAT in the Uni High Library: I got to look at, hold, and check in a 1967 Viking Press copy of S.E. Hinton's YA classic The Outsiders.  I don't know if this is a first edition, but knowing that this library is part of the UIUC library and that today we get fresh, new books hot off the presses, I am going to make the assumption that it is.

I am also going to confess that it was very, VERY hard to put it back on the shelf and not slip it into my bag to take home forever (librarian problem #283).  But, that would be beyond unethical.  That would be taking away the enjoyment of others to hold, read, and possess that 1967 copy, if only for awhile.

Received in 1967!

As I mentioned in one of my first posts, I do love looking at original, vintage covers of books.  It tells a story of the book and its history.  I was beyond thrilled to see this copy when I came in earlier this week.

I recently read a New Yorker interview with S.E. Hinton and how she "gave birth" to the young adult genre.  She said when the book was published in 1967, there was no market for a book like hers, and it was a flop at first...until teachers started to use the book in English classes across the country.   All of a sudden, a new genre was born.

"About teen-agers...For teen-agers...By a teen-ager"

Priceless!

I love YA.  There is definitely a need for this genre, too, for teens to see themselves reflected in the written word in genuine, powerful, awesome ways.  I only worry about the YA genre when it becomes the butt of pop culture jokes.  Twilight comes to mind instantly.  It got so many young teen girls reading and devouring books, but it led to a less than optimal film adaptation and an explosion of vampire-erotic series.  I still enjoy the series, and I won't back down from that, but I'm sad of some of the negative YA press that has popped up because of it.

Anyway...I digress.  I got to handle a 1967 copy of S.E. Hinton's classic novel, widely considered the first YA novel.  It's one reason I'm here, one reason why I love to teach YA novels, and because of it, I'll never give up on YA (even though Hinton herself says she doesn't read the genre anymore or feel compelled to write more YA), even when the media and others say grown ups shouldn't read YA. 

New Author Crushes

I have a new obsession.  Actually, it's a dual obsession.  I have become obsessed with YA authors Ransom Riggs and Tahereh Mafi.  They are pretty much the cutest, coolest married YA couple ever.

(Shut up.  Her bouquet was made of pages from Ransom's book.  Cutest.  Thing.  EVER.)

I believe they should be deemed THE young adult power couple.  I want them to come to my house and read creepy, dystopian stories to my children.  That'd be OK...right?  OK, OK...maybe they shouldn't come read to my children...YET.  They should come read to the Uni High students, though.  That would be awesome.  That would be cause for a MAJOR high five.

They are all over social media, have a joint YouTube channel (ADORABLE!), and married in September 2013.  HE is the author of the uber creepy YA book Miss Peregrine's Home for Very Peculiar Children.  He loves to mine for vintage photos in flea swaps, and Miss Peregrine has just been adapted and published as a graphic novel.

SHE is the author of dystopian YA series Shatter Me.  It was optioned to be a film even before it was published.  And, while I am quick to judge another dystopian effort, hers seems to be interesting, and no, I haven't read it yet, but it is on my list of 100+ to read.  Her blog posts are engaging, so I will definitely give her dystopian effort a try.

(Just look at how cute they are doing joint book talks!  Awwwww!)

You can get to their various social networking efforts via their websites, and I am tempted to join Twitter just to follow both of them.  For now, I'll stick to just following them on Instagram (especially since Ransom has all the cool photographs).  Until I get them over to my house for dinner, I'll just look for images of them online and watch how uber awesome they are from afar.

NEW BOOKS!!!!!

Oh, Mama Mia!  Look at all of those new books we got this week!  It's always exciting to get new books, but when we get this many at one time, my head reels.  Not because it's a lot of work to process them, wrap them, put them on our blog, etc.  Oh, no, not because of that.  Because I want to read them all!!!  (Mo' Librarian Problems, yo.)

Whenever we get new fiction in for our collection, I enter the title, author, call number, and publisher synopsis into Uni's What Should I Read Next? blog.  It's good fun, but it usually ends up in at least ten new books added to my Want to Read List.  Here are the top two on my list after this acquisition haul:

There's also a new book that shares a name with an awesome song from the 80s, and if you don't know the song, you shouldn't be my friend or be reading this.  The book, however, has NOTHING to do with high school, John Hughes, or breakfast.  It's about a town where every four years a child is released from jail and kills people.  So...yeah.

I also get to enter new graphic novels into our online collection that we keep on LibraryThing.  I am constantly trying to become more knowledgeable about GN's, and I still have no clue about Manga (what's good, what's isn't, etc).  I am making strides in the GN arena, though, and a lot of it is thanks to this task I have.  

We usually get a few good GN's with every new haul, and this time I wasn't disappointed.  I can't wait to check out the new DC offering, Black Canary and Zatanna (love it when the females are let out to play), and Mimi Pond's Over Easy, (about the 70s, greasy spoons, and drugs), looks right up my bleak alley preferences.  

When all of the books are entered, blogged, posted, etc (you know, all that work that makes me feel like I'm a real librarian already), they get to fill the New Book Rack.  This rack, which Amy longs to get rid of, looks pretty nice when it's all filled to the brim with new acquisitions!   

Author Spotlight: October 2014

Maybe it was too easy to choose Stephen King for my first Author Spotlight Display, since it's October...but I did it anyway.  Our King books are pretty popular, and they often go out to the UIUC masses, but not a lot of our students check them out.  I hope this display will change that. 

I got the Author Spotlight idea from Pinterest, but I jazzed mine up a bit.  I added some signage with Vital Statistics, info on His Work, a Did You Know? sheet, and a sheet on how to listen to King's NPR Fresh Air interviews. 

You might be wondering how I could possibly decide which King books to display.  He's got so many!  Well, it was easy: I just pulled all of the ones off our shelves.  We have a few King titles that were originally paperback, but they have been rebound in less flattering Reader's Digest-like binding.  To solve this problem, I simply put the three of them together in between a couple of book ends.  I think they look alright that way! 

I am super glad we own one of my favorite Stephen King books, and the first one I read, Insomnia.  That along with his classic clown terror IT were nice book ends to one of his short story collections, Full Dark, No Stars (which I still need to read).

Our collection contains King's Green Mile in the original novella form, so I also put those together in between a couple of book ends.  Again, I think it has a lovely effect...I just hope students aren't afraid to break up the collection. 

It's a good start for the Author Spotlight Display.  I still have to work out a few kinks: I hope to do this once/month, but I don't how long it will stay up.  I want other displays to go here, too, so maybe I'll put this up for a couple of weeks each month.  That being said...WHO WILL BE MY NEXT AUTHOR OF NOTE??? 

It's All Hocus Pocus

It's that time of year, folks: HALLOWEEN SEASON!  We already talked a little bit about Halloween Storytime, so let's talk Halloween Displays today.

Upon receiving a new shipment of bright and shinies which included THREE witch-centered books, Supervisor Amy had the idea of doing a witch book display, and who would I be to argue with my supervisor?  It was too much fun putting together this great, fun, seasonal display.

Amy wanted Katherine Howe's Conversion to be the focal point of our display, and she also wanted to surround it with titles about or of the Salem Witch Trials.  (Conversion looks AMAZING by the way.  We've already had someone check it out, so 1) the display is working, and 2) I'll have to wait to read it.  That's a good Librarian Problem.)  This is another great display that allowed me to find a variety of genres for the pale, green shelves: fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, and a play this time!

We didn't have everything that I would have included if I had access to ALL the books, so I made a small sign to go with the display.  On that I included Quentin Blake's version* of witches, some of Harry Potter's finest witches+ (McGonagall, Hermione, and that evil Bellatrix!), and some other classic witchy women (Willow, Galinda, Meryl Streep's witch from the upcoming big screen adaptation of Into the Woods, and the Wicked Witch of the West*).  And, OF COURSE, the sign HAD to include the Sanderson Sisters from the 1993 Halloween classic Hocus Pocus.



* Keep in mind, we are a high school library with limited collection space, so we don't have Roald Dahl's The Witches or L. Frank Baum's Oz collection.
+ I've already included Harry Potter in two displays, so I opted for no Potter this time.  And, let's face it: which one would I have chosen?  Probably Deathly Hallows, cause Mama Molly is BADASS in that one, but that was included in my first display of the year.

Teen Week Read Out Report!

OK.  I am so excited.  I am so proud.  I am STOKED!

We had eight students come read at the Teen Week Read Out, which almost met my goal of ten!  (Amy and I participated, too, so if you count us, who are teens at heart, we really did meet TEN!)  Besides those eight that read aloud, we had several students in who listened to the readings.  It was just so great!  The students read poetry and book excerpts, and we had everything from Edna St. Vincent Millay to Terry Pratchet. 

It was a nice, laid back event, but I'll have to be more strategic with future Teen Weeks.  I definitely want to keep the Read Out, but I'll have to do even more activities when I get to my own media center and do a lot more publicity for events.  We sent out three emails, put up some flyers around the school, and talked to some students throughout the week, but that was it.

There is always room for improvement, but for my first Teen Read Week efforts, I'm pretty satisfied.   

Celebrities Reading

I feel like I should start a weekly post with celebrities reading.  I like celebrities.  I LOVE reading.  Why not mix the two?  I don't know; we'll see if it catches on.

For now, I'd like to leave you with this BuzzFeed list, 25 Proper Ways to Read a Book, which features some of my favorite famous people.  IF you don't want to look through the list and read the wonderfully witty captions, I'll give you my Top Two.  My favorite one is actually NOT the David Tennant gif (a shocker to anyone who knows me).  It's actually this one:

This one of BFF's Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan made me laugh out loud at the Circ Desk:

 Which means...Tennant is actually THIRD!  Now that IS a fascinating fact for your Thursday.  Again, only if you know me, though. 

Teen Read Week!

It's Teen Read Week!  

I promised I'd let you know about the shenanigans I'm trying to get our students to participate in, so here we go:

1.  FLASH US YOUR BOOKS!  I'm collaborating with friend Kristi Danger Murray Costello at Arkansas State University Writing Center for this one, everybody.  Her group had the great idea that everyone should flash their favorite books.

They are meeting at their campus' fountain, by the student union, on October 22 at noon.  Everyone will read aloud the first line of their favorite book.  Sounds awesome, right?  Well, we might not have a fountain to gather round here, but I am hoping students AND staff will come take a picture holding up their favorite book, so I can create an iMovie/slideshow.  So far we don't have any takers, but it would be a great way to participate with A-State's Writing Center, and I'd upload the iMovie to our YouTube channel at noon on 10/22, as the A-State students are reading.

2.  RECORD A BOOK TRAILER!  Supervisor Amy and I are hoping that this week's recorded book trailers are just a jumping off point for a year-long trailer drive.  We want to post these on our YouTube channel.  We ask, however, that the students have a small index card to consult during their reading/recommendation recording, so it's not just a bunch of rambling.  We'd like them to have a bit of structure and to have their book with them.  We want to continue to record these throughout the year.

3.  TEEN READ OUT!  We want to end the week with a read out.  During our Uni Period on Friday, we want students to come in and read their favorite poem, short story, or the first chapter of their favorite book.  We will have snacks to try to lure those teens in....MUHWAHAHAHA!

Didn't like my ideas?  Well, for Teen Read Week Inspiration, visit the official website.  There are programming ideas, products for purchase, and other information for this awesome week of reading.

I'm super excited about all of these activities, and I hope there's a high level of participation.  I'd love to have at least ten students present for the Teen Read Out on Friday.  We'll just have to wait and see!  Read on, Teens!  Read on, EVERYBODY!!!

October Suggestions Board

I said I would keep posting our Suggestions Board every month, so you could look at/criticize the monthly theme.

This month it has to be HALLOWEEN!  (Duh.)

I don't know if the border is "too kiddy," but I like it anyway.  And, we already have FIVE suggestions!  (OK, so one is mine, but four from students is a GREAT thing!)

Tune in next month to see what theme November will bring you.  Any guesses???

Bye Bye Bye

(Oh, look!  I did another boyband reference!)

...to VHS.  That's right, folks.  They're leaving the Uni High Library.

After supervisor Amy emailed staff a couple of times asking them to come save their favorite VHS's, no one replied...no one responded...no one acted.  So, they're going, weeded out of the collection.  We might have typewriters, we might be able to get you a LaserDisc, but we won't have any VHS readily available for the Uni masses anymore.

I do love a good VHS.  To be honest, though, the collection wasn't great.

If there had been some unrequited gems on the shelves, like Hackers to teach computer literacy history or Toy Soldiers to help students learn how to survive a hostile high school takeover by Colombian drug lords, then I would be a bit more disappointed that the teachers didn't act.  This VHS "technology" is just too old school to be cool at this school.  Off to the archives they go.  Alas, I guess it's just another sign o' the times.

(Oh!  And ending with a Prince reference.  Nice one, McFarlane.  Nice one.)

Halloween Storytime!

It's never too early to start thinking about Halloween storytime!

I may be working in a high school library, but I want to sing the praises of one of my favorite Halloween books, which just happens to be a picture book...by Jerry Seinfeld.

Seinfeld took one of his best bits and, with the help of illustrator James Bennett, created a Halloween book that should be in every library--personal, public, or school.  The illustrations are childlike, whimsical, full of color, and lil Jerry Seinfeld is adorable.  The font is engaging, big, and bold.  Even if you haven't seen Seinfeld perform this bit of stand-up live, you can still create voices/sound levels and movements that go with the text.  I feel it's the perfect read for Halloween storytime.

When I was a 6th grade reading and writing teacher I would read this every Halloween.  (And, I'd be so sad if Halloween fell on a weekend, because I couldn't perform it for them.)  My students had never heard of Jerry Seinfeld, but they still loved the book, because of the energy and enthusiasm I put into the reading of the text.  And, please, PLEASE let's not forget that picture books are for everyone.  Think about doing this awesome book for a Halloween storytime.  It doesn't matter if you're in a pre-school or a high school, it's sure to be a crowd pleaser and totally awesome!

And, if you haven't enjoyed Seinfeld's original stand-up bit, watch it NOW!

It's Ally Week! It's Teen Read Week!

Time to double down on 11, folks.  We have TWO big things going on in Library Land this week.  Will I be able to handle both competently?  Will I be able to give both their due?  We'll just have to ride out the week and see.

The first thing we'll focus on is Ally Week.  Ally Week started in 2005 by the Gay Straight Lesbian Education Network (GLSEN).  Franklin Middle School in Champaign, where I used to work, participated in that first Ally Week, thanks to the backing of a few supportive staff members, but mostly due to the fact that students who were allies of LGBTQ friends and family members brought it to our attention.

Here's my method for this awesome display.  I consulted the winners and honorees for the Stonewall Book Award, which was first awarded in 1971.  I also went to your good friend and mine, Goodreads Listopia.  There was a list for Popular YA LGBT Books.  Finally, I consulted our friends at the University of Illinois Center for Children's Books' LGBTQ Teens List.  (If you're a librarian and haven't checked out the plethora of Bibliographies on the CCB Website, you NEED to.  I think that might be a future post!)  I started cross-checking titles from the three lists with what we have at Uni and what developed was my favorite, most well-rounded display yet.

The display includes popular fiction YA reads, a couple of classics (like, Annie on My Mind), contemporary classic LGBTQ authors (David Levithan), short story and essay collections, and non-fiction.  I know we have more books in our collection, but I pulled as many as I could fit in our display area.

It is vitally important to make every student welcome, at home, comfortable in the library.  I hope the students I work with always see me as an ally, and not just because it's Ally Week or because I have a display up for a few weeks with books centered upon them or there needs.  I am excited to share this display and these books with the Uni students.  I will continue my celebration of Ally Week no matter where I might end up, and I also hope to compile a reading list of LGBTQ literature for the Uni Library.

That's all for Ally Week...for now.  Next up, we'll explore Teen Read Week and the shenanigans we have planned.

Let's Go to the Movies!

It's here!  It's finally here!  We finally figured out where to put our monthly movie display.  My supervisor, genius that she is, suggested just making a small, mini-display SIGN and placing it on the circ desk.  Each month we can put the book that might be the most popular read/movie next to it.  NOTE: We had our one copy of Gone Girl next to the display for about 30 seconds before an undergrad student requested it.  :(  We had to ship it off to them.

Methodology, you ask?  Well, here it is: Each month I'll replace the titles portion of the board.  I envision just gluing the new sheet on top of the old.  I hope this works, so I don't have to mutilate and shape new cardboard every month.  (It took way too long for me to cut this cardboard from a huge tri-fold we had lying around.  More librarian problems.  Note to self: Learn how to better use an exacto knife.)

With this mini-display, we are publicizing the book to movie selections (like the student advisory committee wanted us to do), and we are utilizing the circ desk to have another layer of information (and fun!) available from where the students check out and ask reference questions.

So far I have already caught several students checking out the display...and mercilessly mocking Nicolas Cage's Left Behind effort.  (There's a grassroots student movement here where they post pictures in each other's lockers with Nic Cage's visage photoshopped on top of cats, princesses, or anything else.  Yes.  It IS mildly disturbing.  Upon seeing the display, one student exclaimed, "NICOLAS CAGE!  YES!"  I wouldn't be surprised, though, if a couple check out the movie just to laugh at him the whole time.)  This is awesome news!  Yay!

Living in Library Land at Home

I love to read with my kids.  Love it.  I believe with 100% of my heart that as a parent it is your privileged obligation to read to and with your kids.  However, because I love and appreciate other forms of media so much, too, it is sometimes hard for me to set boundaries for my kids.  I love to observe them intently watching a film or TV show, because after it we have detailed conversations about plot, character motivation, and other elements (like setting).  I also love to watch them play video games with their father.  They are gaining great hand-eye coordination AND problem-solving skills.  I mean, how could you ever play any edition of Zelda without developing problem-solving skills.

But, today I'm here to confess something.  Some days my two biggers spend too much time in front of the box instead of between the covers of a book.

I try to reassure myself.  They can't go to sleep without at least one story.  They love to re-read the same books over and over again (especially Halloween books--at all times of year), and the two biggers love to take books to their little sister, so she can open them, feel them, and use them as teething toys.  However, they usually only turn to books when I prompt them.  I feel like I'm giving too much time to the other forms of literacy media in our home, so I've started to try to balance out the time divided between media.  My partner in this?  Roald Dahl.

At the beginning of this week, I started to tell my oldest daughter about a very special book.  A VERY special book with a special girl who has powers and who LOVES to read more than anything.  My daughter's eyes grew wider and wider as I told her about this girl, named Matilda.  She wanted to jump into the book right away.  I feel like this is the perfect starting point to get my kids re-acquainted with asking for book time: the story is top notch (of course), Quentin Blake's illustrations come at least every other page to help them visualize what's going on, and Matilda's mission to bring justice to her friends and Miss Honey will include a lot of grossery and action for us to talk about.

So far #1 has enjoyed immensely and has started to ask,  "When will we be reading Matilda tonight?"  #2, who wasn't too interested at first, has started to take note and peer around the covers of the book to look at the classic Blake illustrations.  But, how did I REALLY know this ruse was working?

Yesterday, when sitting in the optometrist's waiting room, #1 and I were reading Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches.  When McBean started to take off the stars of the Star Bellies (at an exorbitant rate) after putting on stars to the No Star Bellies, #1 made an amazing connection.  She said, "McBean is like Matilda's daddy!  He's taking money from those people and being sneaky about it."

Oh, my.  I could not have been prouder in that moment.  Not proud that my plan had worked, but proud that she is starting to cultivate a love for Roald Dahl and can connect the dots between stories.  YES!