Zombies & Manga

Here is my favorite New Book Combo.

As I have stated before, I am constantly re-working and reorganizing the New Book Displays.  I always try to find new combos that might catch students' eyes.  If zombies paired with Manga doesn't work--and CLASSIC Manga at that--I don't know what will.

On a personal note, these are also two genres I need to get way more familiar with before my first official job.  I have to brush up on these in order to do good Readers Advisory.   I have not read any Manga, but I'll get the chance in two weeks for my Comics Readers Advisory Class.  I've only read one zombie novel, Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  I enjoyed it immensely, but I never read the next two in the series.  I feel like I need to start over with Hands and Teeth before moving on to finish the trilogy.  I am currently reading The Walking Dead for my Young Adult Literature class, and I do not like it.  It is too dark and depressing for me.  I am glad I've read some it, though, so I know what students are reading and enjoying.

I better get to more reading now!  Zombies and Manga...here I come!

First Lines

A couple of weeks ago I created my best bulletin board/display combo to date.  It was so much fun, and everything came together in a totally pleasing way. 

I love first lines of books.  When I was a freshman in college, looking forward to my first semester as an undergraduate at the great University of Illinois, one of my friends came over and looked at all of the literature I had to read for that semester.  I was taking a British Literature class, so there was lots of Austens, Brontes, and Kiplings in the mix.  She said she always loved to read the first paragraphs of books to imagine and predict what might happen.  This has stuck with me for almost two decades (!), and I employed this strategy for my newest board/display combo.

I combed through books in our fiction collection and pulled titles at random.  I read the FIRST LINE only.  Was it interesting, intriguing, gross, outlandish???  Would it get the attention of students?  Most importantly...would it fit on a single piece of paper for the bulletin board?  ;)  I found many titles, but I knew the board wouldn't be able to hold very many, so I narrowed my selection down to a dozen.  As always, I tried to get different genres, time periods, and authors represented.  Then came the fun part.

I recently created an account at Canva.  This is an amazing place to create posters, signage, and any other type of advertisement you could want.  And, it's free.  (I mentioned Canva a few weeks ago in a post.  For more info, see that post.)  I found a simple, yet bold, option to put the first line of the book, along with the author, title, and publication year.  I printed these and put them on the bulletin board.

 The small "bubble burst" sign at top center directs the students to come inside and find the book that matches their 

favorite First Line.

Next, I displayed all of the books on one of our display areas inside the library.  If a line on the bulletin board outside catches a student's attention, they can come inside, find the book on the display, and check it out.

So far I've seen several students looking at the bulletin board and reading the lines aloud, but so far none of checked out any books.  This is an extremely busy time of the year for these Uni students, so I'm not offended.  This was a great board/display combo to put together, and one I will try to replicate in my future place of employment.   

To Tell or Not to Tell

Ever wonder how librarians spend their Saturday nights?  Well, I'll tell you one thing we sometimes do: particpate in or attend storytelling festivals! 

It's one thing to tell a story around a table to a group of friends or family members.  It is quite another thing to tell a story to a group of strangers.  I got to do the latter this past weekend, as I was asked to participate in the annual Storytelling Festival put on by the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library & Information Science.

 The amazing chalk art mural students from Uni completed for the Storytelling Festival!

It was quite an honor to be a part of the storytellers on Saturday, April 4, 2015.   I feel like the others did a much better job than me: they were steady, professional, extremely well practiced.  I got up there to just have a little fun and tell a personal story about an NSYNC concert I dragged my husband to (my boyfriend at the time).

 The portion of the mural dedicated to my story.  A pretty good chalk rendition of Justin Timberlake with his head set if I do say so myself!

I believe you are never too old to hear a story, and I believe storytelling should be present in every library--public and school.  Not storyTIME...storyTELLING.  We have a master storyteller at the Champaign Public Library, and she is calm, centered, focused, and intense (in the best way) when telling her stories.  Her tongue never trips (as mine often does), and she is as steady as a river when unfolding her tales to the audience.  She is a magnificent site to behold when telling. 

Telling stories might seem like an easy task, but it can actually be quite daunting.  Here is my super fast list of things to think about when setting out to tell a story: 

• You have to consider your audience.  Will they be of a serious nature?  Will they be ready for a good time and some laughs?   Are they an unknown entity that is causing you to stress out even more?
• Then you need to pick a story to tell.  Maybe a folk tale or fairy tale...maybe a personal story...maybe a story you've adapted from a favorite book, TV show, or movie.  
• You'll also need to think about your tone.  Do you want to be lighthearted and whimsical or serious and dramatic? 
• Let's not forget about practicing/rehearsing.  What if your schedule is jam-packed with activities, but you still want to tell a story?  When will you find time to rehearse?
• What if, after all of this thought and consideration, you did not choose wisely, and your effort falls flat on its face during the performance!?!  Wait, don't think about this.  It won't happen!  You'll be great!
• Above all, you should be telling a story because you enjoy it!  The audience should be able to see or feel how much you want to tell a story.  They should be excited as they listen to you unfold your tale of woe or happiness or magic or mystery.

I have found over the past year or so of practicing my storytelling technique that I have a definite style: it's one of laid back comfort.  I want to put you at ease and tell you a story that will usually make you laugh or chuckle...or at least smile a bit.  There are so many dark, serious things going on in the world that I take storytelling opportunities to lighten the mood and transport you to a good time, a fun event, or a warm, inviting place that will let you forget your cares for a moment or two.  As I said earlier, it was an honor to tell a story at this annual festival, and I can only hope to have the opportunity to do so again.

Don't be a Fool! Celebrate National Poetry Month!

That's no joke, people: April really is National Poetry Month.  To celebrate I created a display I've known I would do since the beginning of the school year: a display that combines novels written in verse and poetry collections.

I tried to get a wide range of books for this display (as I always do).  There are poetry anthologies ranging from a WWI Graphic Novel collection to the Vietnam War experience to 20th Century Poems; collections by "classic" authors, like Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edgar Allan Poe; collections by musicians (Patti Smith and Jim Morrison); and some awesome new contemporary works, by authors like Naomi Shihab Nye and Mel Glenn.  The novels in verse are all young adult and would all be considered realistic fiction. 

To go along with the display I made a small sign to encourage students to take our Poem of the Whenever quiz.  So far, only two students have taken it.  They both "passed"...AND walked away with candy and a pencil.  Talk about awesome prizes!

Now...stop reading this, and GO READ SOME POETRY!!!  Check out poets.org for new poems everyday, and there are also author interviews and a plethora of other poetry resources.

Can You Find the Face Out?

It's amazing what a little face out will do.

Our fiction shelves had gotten very uneven: too many books on one shelf, just a few books on another, etc.  Amy has always said she wanted more face outs on the shelves, so I went through and shifted our entire fiction collection to even out the shelves and make room on the ends for face out books.  I think just a simple face out at the end of the shelves make them look so much more appealing:

For the face outs I tried to pick a wide variety of genres, and I also tried to pick books that might not have been as popular as Amy or I think they should.  I tried to find some that should have more
attention than they currently receive.  

It's too bad I didn't take before pictures.  Of course I wasn't thinking that far ahead.  :(  It is kind of hard to tell with the pictures, but the shelves look quite attractive, and when you walk into the fiction room, your eye is immediately drawn to the shelves quicker.

Since the face outs have been put in place, I've had to replace three of them.  That means three face outs have already been checked out!  I know that's not hard scientific data, but it gives us some indication that they are actually working!

So, if your shelves look a little drab, just do a little shifting and face outing...you won't be sorry!