Isabel Quintero Skype Chat

The Uni library had the honor of hosting a Skype event today with author Isabel Qunitero, who wrote the young adult novel Gabi, A Girl in Pieces.  One of the English classes here at Uni focuses on Native American and Latino/a Literature.  (Talk about a class I wish I would've had in high school!  I had to wait until university to get a class that good.)  The teacher, a wonderfully inspired lady named Ms. Majerus (who also teaches creative writing), simply contacted Isabel Quintero and asked if she'd be willing to Skype with the class...and, she said YES!  How awesome (and simple) is that!?  I'll have to keep that method in mind for when I'm a librarian. 

The students came prepared with some wonderful questions, and Ms. Majerus also asked about Isabel's writing process.  I took some notes down during the conversation, and here are some major points I want to share with you (if nothing else, I can even use this as a reminder for when I'm teaching again...):

Isabel joked that she didn't know she wasn't white until college.  In high school, she never saw herself or her culture reflected in the curriculum.  In college, she found classes that focused, upheld, and praised Latino/a culture, literature, and history.  She wanted to write this young adult book, so Latino/a youth can see themselves in what they read BEFORE they reach college.  She also wanted to write a book for them when the characters weren't only depicted as being in gangs or working in the fields all day.

In high school Isabel encountered e.e. cummings for the first time.  e.e. cummings made Isabel realize that poetry doesn't have to constrictive: it can be FREEING!  With cummings, Isabel saw poetry without punctuation, form, sentences, or structure...she saw poetry unleashed!  She started to write poetry in high school, and Gabi was originally written in verse.  However, after a lot of revision and thought, she made the hard choice to re-write it and publish it as a regular prose novel.

Isabel became a teacher at 23, before becoming a full-time writer, and said she was horrible at it.  She didn't know what she was doing, and she looked like she should be a student.  After taking a creative writing course for fun, she was encouraged by her instructor to write full time.  She became disciplined with her writing: she chose topics carefully, committed herself to revising her work, and she thoroughly researched what she would have to do to become a published writer. 

It was wonderful to be able to sit in and listen to this Skype talk.  Ms. Majerus is hoping to have another one in the next few days, but who that author will be...I'll leave as a surprise!  (Let's just say I'm excited.)

Fancy a February Display?

Oh, I have to admit...I kind of REALLY loved putting together our two February displays.

Our Author Spotlight is on THREE authors this month.  I knew I wanted to have a female author.  I was super stoked when I found three awesome YA female authors with birthdays in February: Meg Cabot, Donna Jo Napoli, and Jane Yolen.  I love the varied styles and themes of these authors' works, but they all have one thing in common: they champion female characters and give girls something amazing to read.

I didn't want to do a humdrum Valentine's Day display.  I'm not anti-Valentine's Day: it's all about the LOVE, people!  But, at the same time, I didn't want to do drippy, sappy romances, or anti-romances, or anything like that.  Then, I finally hit on it: BOOKS WE LOVE.  Since Valentine's IS all about love (as I previously stated), I wanted students and staff to celebrate the books they love.  I sent out a couple of emails asking for titles.  All that was needed was a simple reply: no summary, no huge effort, just the title.  I think this helped drum up initial support.  

I think the display looks great.  I wanted to give props to all the books that I was sent, even if they aren't in the Uni collection.  I took old magazine boxes, attached construction paper to dress them up a bit, and made little book bouquets for the ones we don't have in our onsite collection.  I think these book bouquets add an extra fun element to the display, and if someone is interested in those books, we can still get them from another library.

"Book Bouquets" on the top shelf.

 We put our three picks on the bottom shelf, so the students could see their peers' selections easier.

The coolest part about Books We Love?  As more and more students notice it, they want to add their own favorites to the display.  I love this participation!  Yippee!!!

Dashing December Displays

They're dashing for a couple of reasons.  Number One, I just wanted to use a form of Dasher in my title.  Number Two, December is short around these here parts, so they won't be here for long.  And, Number Three, I had to find a way to triple alliterate the title. 

Author Spotlight was a no-brainer for December: the fair Miss Austen, without a doubt.  It is her birthday month, after all.  I took her original works with the newest covers (paperbacks in permabound), and then I pulled other Austen-esque titles: some non-fiction works about her works, one of the graphic novel adaptations, and a few of the recent fiction works inspired by her life or works.  (I still need to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  The day I created this display, I came home to find that my father had actually brought me that exact title for me to read, for a friend had given it to him.)  I had lots of fun--AGAIN--creating info slides to put up around the display, too. 

Because we had already spotlighted two males for author of the month, I knew I wanted to do a female for December.  When I started looking in our collection, and before I had remembered December was Jane Austen's birthday month, I noticed a lot of the female authors in our collection have written trilogies.  Trilogies are too small for an author display, and when I brought this up to my supervisor she said, "Why not do trilogies for Christmas...Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, but Twelve TRILOGIES?"  Um.  Yes.  That's why she's in charge.  She makes my ideas so much better.  (What will I do without her??)

And, so, Twelve Trilogies for Christmas display was born.  Some of the trilogies are rather established, like the Inkworld Trilogy or the Bartimaeus Trilogy, and some are rather new, like Lisa McMann's WAKE Trilogy and Jeff Sampson's Deviants Trilogy.  This display had books flying off of it faster than any other yet.  Marie Lu's Legend Series was checked out within the first few days.  Other quick check outs included selections from Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games (no shocker there) and Marisa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. The best part was fitting them into the display space.  I got to experiment with lay out, book stacks, and still keep the display pleasing to the eye.  Finally, I did make one sign to give students a little bit of reason why all of these random series were stacked up together.

The first semester of displays have been pretty great, I think.  I've tried to keep them interesting, eye catching, and always focused on different types of books.  I may have fallen short of that last goals a few times, but with winter break coming up, I have a few weeks to think of and create new displays for the new year. 

Jealous

It's the end of the semester, and there are some major projects going on here at Uni.  While working in the library I see groups of students sitting around and discussing/studying Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  Earlier in the semester I saw students toiling over (and gagging over) Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.  Students are also working on Banned Books Projects, reading texts of their own choosing.  I've seen Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird among others.

 All I can think is, how lucky they are.

How lucky they are to be discovering these great works for the first time!  I remember the first time I read each of those novels, and they changed by life.  Before those, I had read Christopher Pike, Paul Zindel, and Roald Dahl...lots AND lots of all three.  They kind of WERE my reading life.  And, there is nothing wrong with these three great YA authors and others like them.  They are fantastic, entertaining, and made me that covert reader with the books in my lap during class.  But, Hawthorne, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Shelley, Dickens, Bronte, Wharton...they are the ones that sent my literary heart through the roof, and kept it in the clouds of epic words, devastating romances, and gritty realism, and may my heart never find its way back down to the dark doldrums of life without great classics.

*sigh*  I think I need to discover a new classic over break.  You know what?  I've never...read...Jane Eyre.  I know.  I can't believe it either.  I think I know my new assignment for this holiday.  Maybe if a classics kindred spirit sees me reading that for the first time while having a coffee break in the 'Bucks, they'll be jealous of me.

P.S.  Want the tee-shirts I've "advertised"?  Check out Litographs:Books on T-Shirts.  You won't be sorry.  Well, your bank account probably will be, but not you! 

Library Diary

Dear Library Diary,

What a traumatic day I'm having.  Currently I'm in the middle of two book displays...TWO.  Both of them so hard and tasking to complete.  The first one is a display for food books, aptly titled Food, GLORIOUS, Food.  What with Thanksgiving right around the corner and Christmas, too, I thought our aspiring young chefs at Uni might like some cookery books to peruse.  I've managed to cull fiction, non-fiction, and graphic novels for the display.  But, THEN, when I came in to work today, my thoughtful co-worker, Paul, had placed a copy of Michael Pollan's Cooked on the circ desk for me.  He knew it would be good for the display, and he knew I would like to look through it, too.  I do enjoy Michael Pollan immensely, but now all I want to do is read the book, not work.  Oh, woe is me.  Librarian problems! 

Then, after shifting some displays around, we now have room for THREE different displays to be going at once.  Fun, yes?  Well, sure, but NOW I have to come up with a new Author Spotlight display.  Supervisor Amy suggested Neil Gaiman, which will result in one of the most well-rounded displays I've done, since it will include novels, graphic novels, and picture books.  Neil Gaiman?  Really!?  I have to spend the day looking up information on Neil Gaiman, the man who encourages parents to always read to their children, and everyone to read, read, READ as much as they can. I also have to look up images of him for the display signage? 

UGH!  This job is ridiculous!  Librarian problems ALL DAY, son!

Here's to a better day tomorrow, Library Diary,
amanda

Under the Influence

A couple of weeks ago I sat and thought and thought and THOUGHT about a new bulletin board, but nothing was coming to mind.  I must have thought about it for over two hours.  By the end of my think tank time, my head hurt.  I got home and told my husband of my toiling, and in two seconds flat, he said, "Why not do a board about author influences?  You know, like what other authors have influenced authors?"

Yeah.  He's that good.   I was in awe.  I don't know if that was collaboration, though: just my husband being awesome and thinking of a great idea off the top of my head after I had tried to do the same thing for hours. 

This was the most in-depth and detailed bulletin board I've done yet, so I'll try not to bore you too much with the method.  It took a lot of little steps to get this board done!

• STEP 1: Create a list of relevant YA authors that students at Uni actually check out with semi-regularity, and also include new authors that they should get to know.
• STEP 2: Start reading and researching the authors to find out what has influenced them.  The influences range from TV to art to music to other authors (of course).
• STEP 3: Create a list of what/who influenced whom.
• STEP 4: Hunt down and print pictures of all the authors and influences.
• STEP 5: NEVER LOSE YOUR LIST of influences and try to keep them organized.
• STEP 6: Start creating your board.  Space out your authors, try to group the influences by type (I have TV in one area, movies in another area, etc). 
• STEP 7: After everything is on the board, get lots of strings and lots of thumb tacks and start creating your lines of influence. 

The result might look something like this:

In the end, I'm kind of satisfied with the board.  It looks too crazy-busy for me.  I wonder if the idea would work better with a bigger board?  Because I LOVE the idea, and I'd love to do it again.  I had fun researching all of the authors, and I feel like I know them better now, but I don't think the board is having the WOWZA effect I hoped it would.  I really wish I had colored yarn for the lines, but I needed to get the board done, and all we had in the library was butcher string.  HOWEVER, this was definitely a learning project, so even if it's not perfect, it was still a great experience.

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.

Oh, Canada!

Happy October, everybody!  It's been a great start to the school year here in the Uni High Library, and today I got to put up another awesome display to try to keep our readers reading.

You might not know this, but the second Monday in October is Canada's Thanksgiving.  What better way to celebrate the awesome Canadians that have shaped pop and literary landscapes than to devote a book display to them???

To say I had fun doing this is, well, an understatement.  Here's the method to my madness...

I searched various online sites for Canadian authors.  Goodreads' Listopia is always a good place to start, and I also did a basic Google search.  I also found a great site which listed a lot of famous Canadians, aptly entitled Famous Canadians.  From there I started to make scratch notes in my Thinkin' Notebook.  (Yes, that's what it's called.)

Now the real fun started.  I created a powerpoint to be my visuals for the display.  The powerpoint is all about the things we wouldn't have without Canadians.  My favorite is, "Without Canadians We Wouldn't Have...Hey, Girl! Memes."  Oh, Ryan Gosling.  Thank you for being Canadian.

The display is made of books we have in our collection, and this time I got to integrate a non-fiction source (even though I know no one will check it out, it makes the display well-rounded) and a few graphic novels.  (I had no idea the guy that wrote Scott Pilgrim or the guy that wrote Shoeless Joe is Canadian.  Thanks, Google search!)  I was sad we didn't have any Michael Ondaatje in our collection, because The English Patient is one of my favorite books, but I did learn about some new authors (the aforementioned Bryan Lee O'Malley and the crew behind Kill Shakespeare), so that makes this display very satisfying and worthwhile. 

One last observation: Canadian authors like to use their initials--L.M. Montgomery, E.K. Johnston, W.P. Kinsella.  Just a Canadian thing I guess.