Smells Like Library

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : "Read the Movie"

2012-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

"READ THE MOVIE but don't judge the book by the film"

After I tore down all the Christmas crap in the library, things were bare for a while before I could wrap my head around what to put up next. Then we received a copy of the ALA catalog and I saw the new "READ" poster featuring the cast of the Hunger Games movie, so I thought it would be a good time to revive the "Read the Movie" theme. We've ordered the Hunger Games poster, and I'll add it when it arrives. In the meantime I cut out the image of the poster from the catalog and taped it to the front of the circulation desk, and kids are totally noticing it and squealing and dragging their friends over to look at it. I feel like saying, "Okay, take it DOWN a notch so I don't end up HATING the Hunger Games!"

Left to right: Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), and Gale (Liam Hemsworth)

ALA ordering info for Hunger Games poster: http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3650

Detail of 3-D foam film reels and filmstrip ribbon

For my b-board I used a construction paper marquee I made a few years ago, with the library symbol. The film reels are cut out of foam sheets, and spray-painted silver. I used black construction paper circles glued between to make it look like rolls of film. The filmstrip ribbon is something you can get at party supply stores that have "movie theme" stuff. I used more foam to create spacers between the halves of the film reels. It wasn't that hard, really.

I went through all of our posters and used the best from books that were made into films. I purposely did NOT use the Twilight poster because some girls saw it out and said they'd be very disappointed in me if I put that one up. I happily obliged them by exiling it. They reminded me that when it was up before, during the heyday of Twilight, I ended up sticking goggly eyes on Kristen Stewart. They liked that.

I also weeded out the Diary of a Wimpy Kid poster just because... well, it's lame. The books are lame, the movie looks lame, the poster is lame. The "READ" poster actually has an illustration of the Wimpy Kid on the TOILET. I am not putting that up.

Oh- and I cut out stars and printed this slogan across several of them: "...but don't judge the book by the film."

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : "Squirrel Appreciation Day"

2012-01-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

          Did you know that January 21st is official "Squirrel Appreciation Day?" Well, it is. And you should do something about it. Last year my mom special-ordered a tie with a squirrel on it for me, to represent. I wore it proudly and received many nice compliments. This year, however, the calendar is cruel and has placed Squirrel Appreciation Day on a SATURDAY, when I will not be at work and not have a good reason to wear a tie.
          One of the students I work with suggested I wear it on Monday instead, so I guess I'll do that. But it won't be the SAME.
          I love seeing the perplexed yet delighted reactions of the students when they see the Squirrel Day board.

ZOMBIE FICTION

2012-01-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

"Read Zombie Fiction: Don't let a good brain go to waste." (Zombie pointing at juicy pink brain: "You gonna eat that?")

After thoroughly saturating the adult horror market, zombies are now leaking into YA fiction. We just purchased Jonathan Maberry's Rot & Ruin and the sequel, Dust & Decay, so I thought it might be time to highlight zombies in the 'brary.

Here's the list of zombie fiction I pulled together today for our display:

The Boy Who Couldn't Die by William Sleator

Cell by Stephen King

The Death Collector by Justin Richards

The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie by John Bellairs

The Enemy by Charles Higson

"Forest of Hands and Teeth" series by Carrie Ryan

"Generation Dead" series by Dan Waters

My Rotten Life by David Lubar

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry ("Benny Imura" series)

Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow

"Strange Angels" series by Lili St. Crow

Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Zombie World (graphic novel) by Mike Mignola (creator of "Hellboy")

Zombies Calling (graphic novel) by Faith Erin Hicks

ADDENDUM 1/20/2012

Two more titles to add, although we don't have them in our little library quite yet:

How To Be a Zombie by Serena Valentino

World War Z by Max Brooks

Brad Pitt is starring in the movie version of World War Z. I think that's weird and sort of a surprising choice for him, but I read and liked the book.

WONDERLAND : nice comments from a fellow blogger

2012-01-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

In my last post I cited Brian Sibley's blog post about Pauline Baynes as a source of info and images. I left a comment there, and he responded and said that in fact he had read my "Wonderland" graphic novel (illustrated by the talented Sonny Liew), and posted about it HERE. Isn't that cool? I had no idea, so that was a nice surprise.
What's really cool is that he explains in his post (which is about all sorts of things Alice-related) who Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie were. If you don't remember, in Carroll's original work the Dormouse talks about them. In our graphic novel, the three sisters actually make an eerie appearance.

PAULINE BAYNES : Narnia and more

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Iconic illustration of Mr. Tumnus and Lucy in Narnia, by Pauline Baynes

A former student donated a bag of books that were mostly Tolkien and Terry Pratchett. As I was processing The Tolkien Reader, I noticed some very nice illustrations throughout it, and thought I recognized Pauline Baynes' work. Sure enough, it was.
Baynes is best known as the original illustrator of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. If you've only seen the cheap paperbacks with only black & white illustrations, you should check out some of the nicer editions and see her full-color work as well. It's beautiful, detailed, and classic.

Beautiful Baynes illustration for a biscuit ad, wish I'd seen this closer to Christmas!

The idea of her illustrating anything other than Narnia was new to me, so I decided to do just a little research and find out more about this charming artist from the good old days of children's illustrated literature.

Pauline Baynes was born in Brighton in 1922, and died at the age of 86 in 2008, leaving some unfinished work on illustrations for Aesop's Fables. She was a busy creative lady up until the very end, and jolly good for her!

"Bilbo's Last Song" by Pauline Baynes

Tolkien and Lewis were contemporaries and friends, but it was actually Tolkien who worked with Baynes first. Tolkien was preparing Farmer Giles of Ham for publication, but was unhappy with the first illustrator. Tolkien actually dumped him in favor of Baynes' more authentically Medieval and humorous illustrative style.

C.S. Lewis saw Baynes' work for Tolkien, and enlisted her for his own Narnia books.

Aslan with Susan and Lucy, by Pauline Baynes

Baynes was a prolific artist, though, and worked on many different projects throughout her entire life, such as The Arabian Nights, a bunch of fairy tales and fables, and even some of her own original stories.

In 1968 she won the Kate Greenaway Medal for Uden's A Dictionary of Chivalry. I think maybe nobody (in the U.S.) gives a shit anymore about the Kate Greenaway Medal, which is too bad. It's still awarded every year for "outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people." I guess the Caldecott Medal overshadows it. Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecott were both classic Victorian-era children's illustrators.

I have to include one of Kate Greenaway's own illustrations, it's just so lovely and English and gay:

Girls in pinafores by Kate Greenaway

Back to Pauline Baynes: Later in life she illustrated a bunch of religious picture books. When I first read that, I was like, "Ugh..." but then I saw she had also done illustrations for the Koran, so apparently her religious views were fairly open and scholarly. In fact, I later found this cool quote from The Guardian, UK:

It was somewhat to her chagrin that she developed a reputation over the years as an illustrator of mostly Christian works and, to redress the balance, one of her last creations (her "children" as she called them) was a series of designs for selections from the Qur'an, scheduled for publication in 2009.

I couldn't find any record of that edition of the Qur'an actually getting published, so I'm not sure what happened with that. But I love that she was "chagrined" about her rep as a Christian illustrator, and felt it needed "redressing."

"St. Francis" by Pauline Baynes

One of the best sites I found while looking into Baynes' life and work was Brian Sibley's blog, which includes something thrilling for a Lewis Carroll enthusiast like me. Pauline did a small line drawing for the "lost" chapter of Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. The chapter involves a wasp with a wig reading a newspaper, and Sir John Tenniel said he couldn't illustrate such a thing. The nerve! Sibley was a close personal friend of Baynes near the end of her life, so his blog post about her is really interesting.

The "lost" Wonderland character as illustrated by Pauline Baynes

Sources:

The Independent

The Guardian, UK

Carnegie and Greenaway Children's Book Awards

Brian Sibley's Blog

O' CHRISTMAS TREE...

2012-01-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

O' Christmas Tree

ing Christmas Tree

It's time for you to go away

O' Christmas Tree

ing Christmas Tree

Why can't you put yourself away?

You were so nice with Christmas near

But now I wish you'd disappear

O' Christmas Tree

ing Christmas Tree

Perhaps I'll just use dynamite.

LIBRARY HOLDS : What's hip, what's happenin'...

2012-01-09T15:11:00.000-08:00

          This is what our "hold" shelf looks like today.
          Today is the first day back to school after our 2-week winter break, and it was SUPER busy this morning. Loads of books were returned, many of which had holds placed on them by other students. This means they go onto the "hold" shelf, and we send a notice to the students in their English classes. Our policy is to allow one week for the student to pick up their hold, otherwise it goes to the next student in line.
          It's interesting to see what's popular right now, isn't it? I mean, I just got back from vacation so I'm trying really hard to give a shit about work. Anyway, let's take a look at the hold shelf.
          Predictably, all 3 books in the "Hunger Games" series by Suzanne Collins are there. And the final book in the "Eragon" series by Christopher Paolini.
          "39 Clues" by various authors, "Heroes of Olympus" by Riordan, "Kane Chronicles" by Riordan, "Gone" by Grant, and that stupid "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Kinney are all still highly sought-after series. But there's also a book on Greek Mythology by Donna Jo Napoli, which is nice to see.
          I hate to admit it, but one of those "Left Behind" books is also in the hold queue. They've been around since the '90s, but I guess kids always like a freaky apocalypse scenario.
          Only one manga title sits on the hold shelf at present. "Chibi Vampire." The kiddies love that. It looks intensely annoying to me, but whatever.
          Oh- and there's also Legend by Marie Lu. Surprise! it's dystopian! I'm pretty sick of the whole dystopian trend. It's just not my scene, dig?

To sum up:

Teens are way into series fiction right now, they're not at all scared away by the idea of many, many volumes and even spin-off series.
Fantasy and Dystopia are the reigning king and queen of genres. Not sure who wears the pants, though.
With TWO popular series currently under way, Rick Riordan must be raking in the bucks.

Believe it or not, WHILE I was typing this a student came up and asked to put a reserve on the Hunger Games. We only have 2 copies, and as you can see they are BOTH currently reserved.
Ugh. Tomorrow I definitely have to drag down all the Christmas decorations and stuff it all away until next school-year. That damn Christmas tree is staring me in the face like a dead cockroach nobody wants to clean up.

BLURBS ABOUT NEW BOOKS: PR and advertising for the school library

2011-12-23T11:16:00.000-08:00

     I keep meaning to do this whenever we're able to buy some new books for the library (which is not often anymore), and this time I finally did.
     We received $500 from our PTA in the form of an Amazon gift credit, which we immediately spent. We were able to order 45 books, most of them new fiction, but also a handful of NONfiction. I'd been reading reviews in Booklist, and found some things I thought would be perfect for us.
     Once all the books were processed (which was quick, due to my lightning-speed efficiency), I was afraid the nonfiction might get lost on the shelves, so I composed the following message to "all staff," by pasting in summaries and pics from Amazon. I included some fiction that was noteworthy for being dystopian, and/or just cool.
     I got a good response from some of the teachers, one of them came in immediately to check out Things I've Been Silent About because she saw it was by the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran. Then students started coming in asking for books I'd put on the list, and when I asked them where they heard about them, they said one of the teachers had forwarded my original message with the book blurbs to her students. Cool, right?
     Anyway, here's the message I sent out, and maybe YOU'LL find one of these books worth seeking out...

Staff,

Here are some new books of note we recently received for our library. This is just a small sampling of the books we were able to order thanks to the PTA. Some of these may fit into your various curriculums, or make good recommendations for certain students. J

The Third Wave: a Volunteer Story by Alison Thompson

Alison Thompson, a filmmaker living in New York City, was enjoying Christmas with her boyfriend in 2004 when she saw the news reports online: a 9.3 magnitude earthquake had struck the sea near Indonesia, triggering a massive tsunami that hit much of southern Asia. As she watched the death toll climb, Thompson had one thought: She had to go help. A few years earlier, she had spent eight months volunteering at Ground Zero after 9/11. She’d learned then that when disaster strikes, it’s not just the firemen and Red Cross who are needed—every single person can make a difference.
With $300 in cash, some basic medical supplies, and a vague idea that she’d go wherever she was needed, Thompson headed to Sri Lanka. Along with a small team of volunteers, she settled in a coastal town that had been hit especially hard and began tending to people’s injuries, giving out food and water, playing games with the children, collecting dead bodies, and helping rebuild the local school and homes that had been destroyed. Thompson had intended to stay for two weeks; she ended up staying for fourteen months. She and her team helped start new businesses and set up the first tsunami early-warning center in Sri Lanka, which continues to save lives today.

Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in 21^st-Century America by Michael Ratner

In the Age of Terrorism, the United States has become a much more dangerous place—for activists and dissenters, whose First Amendment rights are all too frequently abridged by the government.
In Hell No, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the country’s leading public interest law organization, offers a timely report on government attacks on dissent and protest in the United States, along with a readable and essential guide for activists, teachers, grandmothers, and anyone else who wants to oppose government policies and actions. Hell No explores the current situation of attacks upon and criminalization of dissent and protest, from the surveillance of activists to the disruption of demonstrations, from the labeling of protestors as “terrorists,” to the jailing of those the government claims are giving “material support” to its perceived enemies. Offering detailed, hands-on advice on everything from “Sneak and Peak” searches to “Can the Government Monitor My Text Messages?” and what to do “If an Agent Knocks,” Hell No lays out several key responses that every person should know in order to protect themselves from government surveillance and interference with their rights.
Beginning with a preface by Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a frequent legal commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR, Hell No also includes an introduction on the state of dissent today by CCR board chair Michael Ratner and Margaret Ratner Kunstler. Concluding with the controversial 2008 Mukasey FBI Guidelines, which currently regulate the government’s domestic response to dissent, Hell No is an indispensable tool in the effort to give free speech and protest meaning in a post–9/11 world.

Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories of a Prodigal Daughter
by Azar Nafisi

Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets; a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval–these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday).
Nafisi’s intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi’s father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with the classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings. When her father started seeing other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi’s complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal, as well as political, cultural, and social, injustices.

The Most Dangerous Man in the World: the Explosive True Story of Julian Assange and the Lies, Cover-Ups and Conspiracies He Exposed

by Andrew Fowler

The battle lines are drawn: freedom of speech against the control of the State. The Internet is the battle ground. In this war there will only be one winner. In The Most Dangerous Man in the World, award-winning journalist Andrew Fowler talks to Julian Assange, his inner circle, and those disaffected by him, deftly revealing the story of how a man with a turbulent childhood and brilliance for computers created a phenomenon that has disrupted the worlds of both journalism and international politics. From Assange’s early skirmishes with the “cult” of Scientology in Australia to the release of 570,000 intercepts of pager messages sent on the day of the September 11th attacks and on to the visual bombshell of the Collateral Murder video showing American soldiers firing on civilians and Reuters reporters, Fowler takes us from the founding of WikiLeaks right up to Cablegate and the threat of further leaks in 2011 that he warns could bring down a major American bank. New information based on interviews conducted with Assange reveal the possibility that he has Asperger’s syndrome; the reason U.S. soldier Bradley Manning turned to an ex-hacker to spill military secrets; and how Assange helped police remove a “how to make a bomb” book from the Internet. The mother of one of his children also talks for the first time about life with Julian when he was setting up WikiLeaks.

Will Eisner: a Dreamer’s Life in Comics
by Michael Schumacher

In Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics, Michael Schumacher delves beneath Eisner's public persona to draw connections between his life and his art. Eisner's career spanned a remarkable eight decades, from his scrappy survival at the dawn of comics' Golden Age in the late 1930s to the beginning of the twenty-first century, when Pulitzers began going to graphic novels (a term Eisner is widely credited with creating). Schumacher's extensive research and interviews with Eisner's family, friends, and colleagues, as well as other comics creators who have built upon his work, create a detailed portrait of Eisner the man and Eisner the artist.

The Dreamer (biography of Pablo Neruda)
by Pam Munoz Ryan

A breathtaking illustrated novel from Pura Belpre Award winner, Pam Ryan, and MacArthur fellow and three-time Caldecott Honoree, Peter Sis!
From the time he is a young boy, Neftalí hears the call of a mysterious voice. Even when the neighborhood children taunt him, and when his harsh, authoritarian father ridicules him, and when he doubts himself, Neftalí knows he cannot ignore the call. Under the canopy of the lush rain forest, into the fearsome sea, and through the persistent Chilean rain, he listens and he follows. . . Combining elements of magical realism with biography, poetry, literary fiction, and sensorial, transporting illustrations, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís take readers on a rare journey of the heart and imagination.

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Treasury of Greek Mythology
by Donna Jo Napoli

This book on mythology is noteworthy because it's by a really awesome writer, Donna Jo Napoli, who usually writes fiction.

Legend
by Marie Lu

(Fiction) What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.
Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

This Dark Endeavor: the Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
by Kenneth Oppel

(Fiction) Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures...until the day their adventures turn all too real.

They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor's curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula.

Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.

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Crossed
by Ally Condie

(Fiction- sequel to Matched) In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.
Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

*HAPPY LEISURE READING OVER WINTER BREAK!*

CHRISTMAS ORIGAMI GIFT

2011-12-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite students, a library regular, brought me this adorable handmade blue origami owl and a very nice letter for Christmas. In the letter she thanks me for speaking to the school's Gay/Straight Alliance club at a few of their recent meetings, and for being an "awesome librarian." She goes on to explain in a diagram with arrows how her thought process arrived at the owl being blue. She even drew Totoros, and suggested I might like Studio Ghibli's films, if I hadn't already seen them. (I have, and I LOVE Totoro, of course)
That owl had to have taken some major time and effort, LOTS of little cunningly-folded pieces of paper, and it is solid! What a sweet thing to do.

STEAMPUNK BIBLIOGRAPHY

2011-11-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

Finally one of our students brought up the "Steampunk" genre in our last library book club meeting. She was way excited about it, eyes wide and mind on fire. I thought, NOW is the time to put together a bibliography on Steampunk books for our students!
A few years ago at a writer's conference I attended a presentation by David Gale, Editorial Director for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. He told us that "Steampunk" was going to be the next big thing in children's publishing, and blow up all over the place.

Feel free to reproduce this image if you like, we put it on one side of our bookmark, with the reading list on the reverse.

Here is the list we came up with, using only books currently in our library collection. Some of these have all the elements of Steampunk, some of them may only have a few. If a particular title seems not Steampunky enough for you, just consider it "recommended if you like..."

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi (graphic novel)

The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby

The Death Collector by Justin Richards

Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Gotham By Gaslight (“Batman” graphic novel)

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by C. Wooding

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

“Hollow Fields” manga series by M. Rosca

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade

“The Hungry City Chronicles” by Philip Reeve

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

“The Infernal Devices” series by Cassandra Clare

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

“Keys To the Kingdom” series by Garth Nix

Larklight by Philip Reeve

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

The List of 7 by Mark Frost

“The Looking-Glass Wars” by Frank Beddor

“Monster Blood Tattoo” series by D.M. Cornish

Nick of Time by Ted Bell

Pastworld by Ian Beck

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers

Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters

Worldshaker by Richard Harland

If you're not sure what Steampunk is, think Victorian Science Fiction, with fantastical machinery using steam power. Gritty London streets, either in the actual Victorian era, or influenced heavily by it. Top hats, goggles, cogwheels and clockworks... Jules Verne and H. G. Wells are considered the grandfathers of Steampunk. You tend to find mechanically-inclined strong female characters in Steampunk.
Here are some other core Steampunk titles, which may or may not be appropriate for junior high and/or high school libraries:

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling

Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore

The Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann, Paul Morrissey, & Janet Lee

Steampunk by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer

The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul D. Filippo

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Incidentally, I remember first hearing about Steampunk way back in about 1993 when I was working at the Santa Ana Public Library in the children's and young adult section. Just sayin'. The genre ain't NEW, but apparently there's a resurgence. Which is cool for those of us who work with teens.

DEWEY AT THE WORLD'S FAIR, 1893

2011-11-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

I've been reading The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson's engrossing nonfiction book about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the murders that took place in conjunction with it. This morning I came across this line:

Visitors also encountered the latest and arguably most important organizational invention of the century, the vertical file, created by Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System.

When I read that I actually GASPED ALOUD, and immediately turned the corner of the page down, so I wouldn't forget where to find it. I am such a nerd.

FUN WITH CAPTIONS: Mother Teresa, the Vampire

2011-10-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

A horrible screech blasts from her withered mouth, bathing the infant in flecks of grave dirt and foul blood-scented breath. Mother Teresa's claw fastens greedily around the baby's skull. Her fangs lengthen with hunger, her eyes solid black with longing...

(Actually, I discovered this image on the cover of a book that was recently donated to the library. Mother Teresa's Reaching Out In Love: Stories. But seriously, look at her! She's totally gonna eat that baby, and I can practically hear the pterodactyl-esque screech coming from her open mouth.)

WELCOME TO THE CHILDREN'S SECTION

2011-10-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from a public library shared this email with me, which they had received from a co-worker:

Two parole officers came to children’s desk looking for an Hispanic man, in a wheelchair, with missing teeth. I had not seen such a person since I came on children’s desk at 12:15. They said they would go out to their car and return with a photo of him and a card with their number so we could call if we saw this man. They never returned. They said this man should not be in the children’s section.

No shit, right? I love the description of this dire individual. This is normal for the public library.

eBOOKS and eREADERS - Shut up about it already!!!

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Dude, I don't even know where to BEGIN. I am not afraid of new technology, but I AM afraid of people who want to jump on the latest digital trend before the kinks are worked out.
A few months ago one of our parent-run funding committees started asking about getting eBooks and eReaders into our school library.

NO YEARLY BOOK BUDGET

          We have NO YEARLY BOOK BUDGET, and exist purely through special funding like parent organizations, donations, and book fair profits. We are still FAR below the district average for actual print material. We have less books than any other library in this school district. It seems like we need to at least fix THAT, before we start on something that seems like an "extra" to me.
          Plus, eReader technology is changing as we speak, and so are the DRM (digital rights management) that govern eBook usage. Nobody can agree which device or format is going to triumph. Will it be Amazon with their Kindles that read kindle-formatted eBooks? Or will it be Barnes & Noble with their Nooks, which read ePub format? Will it be iPads, which read ePub or pdf formats? Technically, iPads could read Kindle, too, since you can download Kindle for PC for free. It's all confusing and in flux.
          Oh- and you can get either Kindle or Nook for PC, as free downloads.

New and rapidly-changing technology

So, with all this new and rapidly-changing technology, THIS is a good time to spend a ton of money on one of the options, right? Before we can tell which one is best? Especially for a school with no real funding? It reminds me of the early days of videotape technology, when my family chose "Beta" over "VHS," and bought the machine and a bunch of tapes before VHS obliterated Beta.
I was asked by this particular funding group to do some "research" into the whole eBook/eReader thing, which I gladly agreed to do. But once I returned with many articles and reasons to support NOT jumping on that trend right now, they didn't want to hear it. Even when I bring up the fact that unless they're willing to purchase an eReader for EVERY student at our school, then it's not an equitable practice, they STILL are not discouraged from it. We're a PUBLIC school library, don't we have to provide equal access to whatever we provide for our students?

Don't we have to provide equal access?

They're talking about buying maybe 10 Nooks for the library, or something like that. In a school with 1,200 students, how exactly do you decide which 10 students get to play with the Nooks? And what about actual eBOOKS? Those cost money, too. On average they cost as much as print books do, and the Librarian and I both would rather have actual print books that every student could read, whether they are one of the select few to get their hands on an eReader or not.

Wouldn't take long at all for them to be

damaged, stolen, or lost

Can you imagine the waiting list nightmare that would be created by having just a handful of brand new eReaders? And if you work in a library, you know it wouldn't take long at all for one or two of them to be damaged, stolen, or lost.

"Overdrive," costs $4,000 yearly

          A big reason I object to this whole idea is that technically, an eReader is "equipment," which we library techs are not supposed to have to manage. The eBook files are the "books," so I could see us eventually having an online database of eBooks for download in multiple formats (for whatever the student happens to have access to), but the current standard for this is "Overdrive," which costs $4,000 yearly. We just don't have that. We're lucky if we manage to scrounge up $2,000 for new books in any one year.

UPDATE SINCE I BEGAN THIS POST:
          Just last week we had a meeting of all Library technicians. I had asked that "eBooks & eReaders in our public school libraries" be put on the agenda. At first our coordinator seemed confused by this wording, specifically that I made a point to indicate PUBLIC school libraries. We all know we're a public institution, of course, but I think this is a good time to remind everyone what that means, as far as accessibility.
          eBooks would not be accessible to more than an extremely SMALL portion of our student body, even if we purchased a handful of eReaders. But we didn't even have to go into the "equitable practice" angle of the issue.
          Our coordinator quickly assessed the situation after I explained it, and said that any purchase of technology at this point would be premature, because there has not been a district standard set, yet. There is a committee that reviews new tech stuff, no matter what the funding source is, and eReaders would have to be proposed to them, and go through a review process.
          As soon as we explained this to our admin, the ongoing (and seemingly neverending) discussion seemed to come to a grinding halt. Which is exactly what I was hoping. For now, at least.

HALLOWEEN IN THE 'BRARY: 2011!

2011-10-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

Halloween's ON, witches!

Banned Books Week is over, so I spent yesterday re-decorating the library for Halloween. Yay! The first thing I pulled out of the back room was my mom's awesome feathery witch hat, which I stuff over an artificial fern in a black urn, and set on top of an upturned black plastic witch's cauldron. Then I set that in the center of an artificial black wreath. (Well, it really is a wreath, but you know what I mean)

The color scheme is chartreuse green and purple. I recently discovered that CM School Supply, which has a nearby location, has these handy-dandy giant rolls of colored paper. Plus they have the wavy border stuff I love, in a panoply of fashionable colors. ;)

"Dare To Be Scared" poster, and "Halloween in Wonderland" scrapbooking papers, plus vintage ghostie and pumpkins, and a simple hand-crafted black construction paper bat with White-Out eyes

When I first put that "Dare To Be Scared" poster up (it's new this year), one of our library regulars told me it really freaks him out, and he'll be glad when Halloween's over and that creepy guy won't be staring at him anymore.

I said, "Yeah, he IS pretty creepy. Can you imagine if you were walking home alone one day, and you turned around and HE WAS FOLLOWING YOU?!"

The kid said, "I get a ride to school, Mr. Kovac."

I said, "Well, what if you're sitting in class one day, and you turn around and HE'S SITTING IN THE DESK RIGHT BEHIND YOU?!"

Jinkies! There's even a RAVEN perched atop the sill! And are those GLOWING SKELETON HEADS?!! So chilling!

"The horror... the horror..."

          The big bulletin board has all my old handmade Halloween stuff. I made the spider way back in the early NINETIES, when I was working at the Santa Ana Public Library, in the Children's Room! I was basically their art whore, so I was given plenty of time to make arty things in the back work room. It was only recently that I thought to make clip art books for the spider to be reading. Now he represents people who read a bunch of books at one time. (I admit sometimes I do that)
          It's too bad you can't really see the details on the building there, but it's a spooky library, which I drew in black over dark grey paper. I think it looks really cool and subtle in person, but doesn't show up in pictures.
          At the back of the room over history and biographies is a long bulletin board that still had a summery display asking "What did you read over summer break?" so it was way past due (pun intended) for a change. Now it's Frankenstein's monster, and bats.

Frankenstein's monster "Library Good!" poster, plus clip art stuff

Google image search for "bat clip art"

Google image search for "bat skeleton" and "fancy frame," and a few layers of colored paper

Near the front half of the library is a long bulletin board that used to have a cheery smiling pencil and "Welcome!" in big letters. Now it's all skulls and weird scenes.

Clip art skulls, and posters from Chris Van Allsburg's Mysteries of Harris Burdick

I've been using the posters from the "portfolio version" of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick for years. It comes in handy for creative writing workshops AND decorating! In case you haven't seen it, here's a link to it on Amazon (be patient for the widget/link to load, it may take a few moments):

Recently I saw there is a new "Harris Burdick" book, which is an anthology of new tales by prominent children's and YA authors, who have used the tantalizing illustrations as inspiration. But the book is getting mostly bad reviews, because people seem to like Van Allsburg's pictures specifically for their unexplained eerieness. Despite the quality of the stories in the new anthology, the stories just aren't going to live up to what fans of the original have been imagining in their OWN heads for the past 27 years. (And yes, it really has been that long since the original book came out!)

Our cylindrical display case done up like a "cabinet of curiosities"

Our "cabinet of curiosities" has a rubber skeleton and various stuff from Michael's, or wherever, plus fake grass at the bottom with little "tombstones" I made out of construction paper and metal bookends. Plus some spooky-looking books. We're lucky to work with students who don't (often) steal things. We leave the case unlocked so they can get to the books inside.

Oh my gosh, the Reference Section is suddenly TERRIFYING!!!

That raven on the pedestal is from Michael's, fairly cheap. I put a little "Nevermore" tag around its neck. The little orange plastic witch is a total vintage thing the Librarian brought in, from when she was cleaning out old decorations from storage. I love it.

I did a variation of this same Poe shrine last year

          The Librarian brought back some cool things from her visit to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. We now have parchment reproductions of some of Poe's poems in his own handwriting.
          The raven is just more Google image search clip art, and so is the little pic of Edgar in the clip art frame. I made the "curtains" last year out of construction paper.

SNEAKY TIP: when I'm printing clip art images and I don't have copy paper in exactly the color I want, I frequently find construction paper that's the right color and cut it to 8 1/2" x 11" and put that in the printer.

If you wanna see 2010's Halloween bulletin boards in our library, click HERE.

RECOMMENDATIONS : My favorite books for Halloween!

2011-10-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here are 18 of my Halloween reading picks, but please be patient, for the "widget" takes a few moments to load... In the meantime sit quietly with your hands clasped and both feet flat on the floor. No fidgeting.

KIDS JUST LOVE ETIQUETTE

2011-09-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

I love working at a school where a heavy tome like the one you see above, on ETIQUETTE of all things, actually checks out. Not only that, but it was returned in perfect condition, despite its unwieldy size. You could kill somebody with that.

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING EXAMPLES

2011-09-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

          Yesterday an English teacher who has 7th and 9th grade classes sent this request to the Teacher Librarian and me:

"I wonder if you can help me with our writing unit. We are finding examples of descriptive writing as a class. I would like students to note the unique styles different authors use while articulating through the same stylistic devices. Would either of you be able to pull some books/pages for me to introduce strong description? They will be reading a page--not a whole novel/book. I would love to have 10 books to use for an activity. I plan to have them do a Gallery Walk, where they read and discuss the style and impression."

          The Librarian found some examples online, citing passages from picture books, since students could easily read an entire picture book and talk about the descriptions.
          As soon as I read the English teacher's request, some of my favorite authors' names had started popping into my head, so I began pulling books and putting post-it notes on pages with good description. This is what I came up with. Of course, these are examples of what I PERSONALLY consider quality literature. Incidentally, I haven't actually read Kerouac, but I know some of our kids dig him, so I found a passage I liked.

The following excerpt is from Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Out of the gravel there are peonies growing. They come up through the loose grey pebbles, their buds testing the air like snails' eyes, then swelling and opening, huge dark-red flowers all shining and glossy like satin. Then they burst and fall to the ground.

In the one instant before they come apart they are like the peonies in the front garden at Mr. Kinnear's, that first day, only those were white. Nancy was cutting them. She wore a pale dress with pink rosebuds and a triple-flounced skirt, and a straw bonnet that hid her face. She carried a flat basket, to put the flowers in; she bent from the hips like a lady, holding her waist straight. When she heard us and turned to look, she put her hand up to her throat as if startled.

The following excerpt is from The Rose and the Beast: fairy tales retold by Francesca Lia Block

She came that night like every girl's worst fear, dazzling frost star ice queen. Tall and with that long silver blond hair and a flawless face, a perfect body in white crushed velvet and a diamond snowflake tiara. The boys and girls parted to let her through--they had all instantaneously given up on him when they saw her.
I felt almost--relieved. Like that first night with him but different. Relieved because what I dreaded most in the whole world was going to happen and I wouldn't have to live with it anymore--the fear.
There is the relief of finally not being alone and the relief of being alone when no one can take anything away from you. Here she was, my beautiful fear. Shiny as crystal lace frost.

The following excerpt is from The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

Behind one door, Tom Skelton, aged thirteen, stopped and listened.

The wind outside nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats.

Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.

The following excerpt is from The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

No human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hill House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice. Almost any house, caught unexpectedly or at an odd angle, can turn a deeply humorous look on a watching person; even a mischievous little chimney, or a dormer like a dimple, can catch up a beholder with a sense of fellowship; but a house arrogant and hating, never off guard, can only be evil.

The following excerpt is from Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson

The forest was heavy with rain and the trees were absolutely motionless. Everything had withered and died, but right down on the ground the late autumn's secret garden was growing with great vigour straight out of the mouldering earth, a strange vegetation of shiny puffed-up plants that had nothing at all to do with summer. The late blueberry sprigs were yellowish-green and the cranberries as dark as blood. Hidden lichens and mosses began to grow, and they grew like a big soft carpet until they took over the whole forest. There were strong new colours everywhere, and red rowan berries were shining all over the place. But the bracken had turned black.

The following excerpt is from Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac

Those afternoons, those lazy afternoons, when I used to sit, or lie down, on Desolation Peak, sometimes on the alpine grass, hundreds of miles of snowcovered rock all around, looming Mount Hozomeen on my north, vast snowy Jack to the south, the encharmed picture of the lake below to the west and the snowy hump of Mt. Baker beyond, and to the east the rilled and ridged monstrosities humping to the Cascade Ridge, and after that first time suddenly realizing "It's me that's changed and done all this and come and gone and complained and hurt and joyed and yelled, not the Void" and so that every time I thought of the void I'd be looking at Mt. Hozomeen (...) Stark naked rock, pinnacles and thousand feet high protruding from immense timbered shoulders, and the green pointy-fir snake of my own (Starvation) ridge wriggling to it, to its awful vaulty blue smokebody rock...

The following excerpt is from Threshold by Caitlin R. Kiernan

(NOTE: these aren't typos, Kiernan's style is to sometimes smear her adjectives/adverbs together for effect)

Alice Sprinkle has hands like a bricklayer, sturdylong fingers and calluses and muscle, all the white and inconsequential scars that come from twenty years spent climbing around in limestone quarries, shale quarries, road cuts. Scars and the damage the sun does to a woman's skin, the fine wrinkles and her nails thick and nubby, a fresh Band-Aid wrapped around her left index finger; Chance smiles politely at her across the cluttered kitchen table and pours Alice another cup of coffee.
"I just can't see any reason for it, Chance," Alice says and sighs, lifts her grayblue china cup and blows hard on the steaming black liquid inside. Breath to send tiny ripples across the dark surface, and "It's a goddamned, stupid waste," she says.
"You really don't have to keep saying that," Chance says quietly, trying to sound confident, trying to sound like she doesn't know she's losing this argument again, and she drinks her own coffee, scaldingquick mouthful and a glance out the kitchen window at the summer night filling up the backyard. July night full of crickets and the metronome cicada thrum, a little cooler now because of the thunderstorms this afternoon, and the grass out there will still be wet, the soil underfoot still damp.

The following excerpt is from The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli

Luscious rose brittles capture the light in air bubbles that seem to move on a sunny day. They line the outer walls. Bright red buttery caramels form a cornice on every window. Palest of jellied gumdrops stick up in cone-shaped mounds along the roof. I know they are delicious, though I do not indulge myself. Their sight is enough of a pleasure. The entire log house is decorated with candies. I've achieved a harmony of lights and darks that would bring a flush to my Asa's face. I know that. Or maybe I just fool myself into believing that.

THE FILTH...

2011-09-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

The swamp in my coffee cup bubbles and festers with mysterious gasses...

So this is what happens when you leave Cup O' Noodles residue in a coffee cup at work over a four-day weekend. What kind of chemical reaction was going on, to make that horrid bubble?! I may never look at Cup O' Noodles the same way again.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2011 : 10 stupid reasons to ban a book

2011-09-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

Ten most stupid reasons to ban a book, #s 1-5

Ten most stupid reasons to ban a book, #s 6-10

Another little display I did for the upcoming (September 24-October 1) Banned Books Week is something I got from ALA's website, which has lots of great info and ideas. Here's the list they provide:

Ten most farfetched (silliest, irrational, illogical) reasons to ban a book.

“Encourages children to break dishes so they won’t have to dry them.” ( A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstien)
“It caused a wave of rapes.” ( Arabian Nights, or Thousand and One Nights, anonymous)
“If there is a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it?” ( Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown)
“Tarzan was ‘living in sin’ with Jane.” ( Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
“It is a real ‘downer.’” ( Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank)
“The basket carried by Little Red Riding Hood contained a bottle of wine, which condones the use of alcohol.” ( Little Red Riding Hood, by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm K. Grimm)
“One bunny is white and the other is black and this ‘brainwashes’ readers into accepting miscegenation.” ( The Rabbit’s Wedding, by Garth Williams)
“It is a religious book and public funds should not be used to purchase religious books.” ( Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, by Walter A. Elwell, ed.)
“A female dog is called a bitch.” ( My Friend Flicka, by Mary O’Hara)
“An unofficial version of the story of Noah’s Ark will confuse children.” ( Many Waters, by Madeleine C. L’Engle)

I just edited things a little to suit me, such as changing it from "silliest" to "most stupid" because I think that's funnier, and let's call a spade a spade, right?

Plus I removed their #2 and replaced it with "Homosexual penguins," from And Tango Makes Three. Partly because I wanted a gay book on the list, and partly because I found "a wave of rapes" to be a little harsh. Yes, I self-censored. So sue me because I didn't want to sit and stare for weeks at the phrase, "It caused a wave of rapes." I'd rather stare at gay penguins. They're adorable.

If you would like to see the page from ALA's site where they provide this list and other activity/display ideas, go HERE.

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : Banned Books Week 2011!

2011-09-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Every year this is one of my favorite noteable occasions to decorate for. To see last year's displays, go HERE.

This time I had this sudden idea to wrap our cylindrical glass display case in black butcher paper and cut out little peep-holes so the students could actually lift flaps to reveal the controversial books.

It took a little work positioning the shelves inside the case so they lined up just right with the 5 peep-holes, but I was very happy with the result. It's INTERACTIVE, dude! I reinforced the peep flaps with packaging tape so they wouldn't get instantly shredded.

Just what is going on here?!

What's really cool is that as soon as I got the display together, students instantly started lifting flaps and talking about the books, and wondering why people would object to them and try to make them unavailable to anyone else.

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself." -Potter Stewart

Why, look who we have here! It's The Giver, and Anne Frank!

On the back of the display case is a locking door, but although I covered it in black paper, I purposely left it UNlocked, and put this on it:

"A library is a key to intellectual freedom..."

Plenty of kids started immediately opening it and grabbing the challenged and banned books to check out.

Wow, look at all the enticing contraband!

On the big bulletin board I did a variation of the same thing I did last year with my "unlock your mind" theme, and my "Banned Books Week Made Simple" cartoon.

"Unlock your mind... Banned Books Week!"

And last but not least, I printed out the ALA's packet of info on the most frequently challenged or banned books from 2010-2011, put it in a 3-ring binder, and displayed it on the corner shelves at the circ counter, surrounded by some of the books that are always under fire. Every time a kid asks about the (so-called) REASONS for the challenges and bannings, I direct them to the folder and they eagerly flip through it, and read some of it out loud to their friends in outrage and indignation. I love it!

"Read an 'endangered' book today!"

The packet is totally free to download/print from ALA's website:

To get this awesome and useful pdf from ALA, go HERE

COMING SOON: September - December

2011-09-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

The "coming attractions" board behind the circulation desk

In case anyone is wondering which teen and YA series are popular around here, this is our latest "Coming soon..." board with the upcoming releases our students are peeing their pants in excitement about.
As you'll see below, the two obvious trends in popular teen/YA fiction are 1) authors who probably don't really write their own books anymore because their names are so bankable anything with their name on it will sell, and 2) "tangential" series fiction, which is confusing to library workers because the same author will have 2 series going that look the same but they're not.

Here's the run-down of upcoming series fiction:

September 19th: James Patterson's & Ned Rust's Daniel X: Game Over, which is #4 in the "Daniel X" series. The title makes you think it's the last in the series but we've been tricked by teen series before, like Eragon, which was supposed to be a trilogy but turned into a 4-book sequence.

September 20th: Heather Brewer's First Kill, first in the "Slayer Chronicles," which is kind of a tangential series to her super popular "Vladimir Tod" series, only this time it's told from the vampire SLAYER'S viewpoint. Necessary? Not sure, but the kids will want to read it.

October 11th: James Dashner's The Death Cure, 3rd and supposedly final in the "Maze Runner" trilogy. Like I said, we've been tricked by "trilogies" before, so if this dystopian series continues to make money, the publisher might pressure Mr. Dashner into making a four or five-book "trilogy."

November 15th: Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, #6 in the "Wimpy Kid" series. It's like the new "Captain Underpants" or something. Ugh.

December 5th: James Patterson's & Jill Dembowski's The Fire, #3 in the "Witch & Wizard" series. Patterson. Hmph. Sick o' him. He's juggling too many plates and they're gonna start crashing. Besides, so much of his stuff is written WITH other writers, how much of it is he even really doing these days? I think he's just a brand, now. Maybe James Patterson doesn't even EXIST, like Franklin W. Dixon or Carolyn Keene. Have you ever seen him in person? I haven't. He's an urban legend. Nobody can write that many books.

December 6th: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, #2 in "The Infernal Devices" series. This is a tangential/simultaneous series (like Heather Brewer's above) that co-exists with Clare's continuing "Mortal Instruments" series. Clare is actually writing the two series at the same time. Both take place in the same fantasy world, but along different timelines. Confused? Read the author's explanation of this HERE. I haven't made up my mind yet if I find that impressive or annoying.

Here's a few other bonus upcoming releases we also have posted behind the counter:

October 4th: Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune, #2 in the "Heroes of Olympus" series. It's like a whole sequel series to the "Percy Jackson" series, about the next group of young kids at Camp Half-Blood. Not quite as annoying as a tangential series, but I still have to keep explaining it to students.

November 4th: Christopher Paolini's Inheritance, #4 in the Eragon, or "Inheritance" series. Which was supposed to be a trilogy.

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW: a wee book review

2011-09-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

     It's been a long time since I first read this. It was one of the first free Kindle downloads I selected. When I was a kid, I remember my dad reading this short story out loud to my friends and me on Halloween night, and he would smoke his pipe with cherry-flavored tobacco and blow smoke rings.
     As an adult, this story fell pretty flat for me, but maybe that's because my dad is several states away, and I couldn't smell that tobacco or watch the smoke rings.
     SPOILER ALERT!!!
     I had totally forgotten, or maybe just somehow missed it as a kid, that Irving makes it pretty clear that the Headless Horseman is most likely just Brom Bones playing a prank on Ichabod. And even mentions rumors in Sleepy Hollow that the former schoolmaster is later seen in other cities, having moved on, probably from shame.
     What a letdown!

I was way more scared by the Headless Horseman episode of Scooby Doo than by Irving's short story.

     The "legend" doesn't even have the ghostly horseman wearing or carrying a jack-o-lantern in place of a head. The legend is that the horseman carries his own head with him. It describes Ichabod's one encounter with the "horseman," where the horseman throws his "head" at Ichabod. But the next morning, it turns out not to be a head, but a PUMPKIN found smashed at the scene.
     Before that, the author describes Brom Bones as being quite the prankster, and how he and his pals are always pulling pranks on people. It also sets up the rivalry between Brom and Ichabod for Katrina's affections.
     So it's pretty obvious that it was really just Brom with a pumpkin, which in the dark of night the terrified Ichabod thought was a human head. :(
     If I remember correctly, I think in both the old Disney animated version and the Johnny Depp movie, there's a SECOND encounter with the Horseman, in which it's obviously a real specter. Now I'm dying to watch the old animated one again, which I haven't seen in ages.

There's that Scooby Doo Horseman! SO SCARY!!!

     Another bone I have to pick with the original story is that Ichabod isn't even likable. He's kind of an opportunist and a lech. He's a total pig when there's food around, which is described in supposedly humorous detail. But I just found him kind of gross. In those days the tradition in small villages was that the schoolmaster didn't have a permanent home, and the village folk would take turns putting him up for the night and feeding him. I guess in exchange for him teaching their stupid country bumpkin kids. So Ichabod is basically a freeloader.
     The mood of the story didn't seem eerie or ghostly to me, it seemed more like a piece of slightly weird Americana. Mostly weird because of how "sleepy" the people in Sleepy Hollow are, and how they walk around as if in a supernatural daze, or something. But they're all happy and content. Where's the terrifying ghoul on the black horse with the flaming jack-o-lantern head? The concept of that is so awesome, I feel like Irving squandered a great idea.
     I almost never say this, but in this case I think the movies (both of them) are better than the original story!

P.S.- That last statement does not include the Scooby Doo TV episode. Although it was pretty cool at the time.

LIBRARY PRODUCT OF THE MONTH: Double-decker book display stand!

2011-09-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

The clever double-decker book display stand is the one on the LEFT, obviously. I mean, DUH.

          Oh my god, I was SO excited when we saw these listed in a library catalog. (I think Demco, but maybe Highsmith) The description said you can use them to display thematically linked titles together, but oh there's so much MORE you can do...
          I hadn't quite figured out how to put them to use, so when somebody donated some of these No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, as soon as I got them processed I ran and grabbed one of the handy-dandy double-decker book display stands.
          I don't care that those particular books are probably not the most enticing reads for teens, don't they LOOK nice when displayed thusly? How does that one stick up higher than the others?! Is it LEVITATING?! It's like magic!

There it is from the back! What a sneaky scamp that double-decker book display stand is!

          There is one slight problem: if someone actually picks up the book on the lower part of the double-decker stand, the weight of the book on the upper part tips the whole thing over backwards. This might cause some alarm and shame, especially from some of our more timid students. In a way, this almost makes the stand BETTER, though.
          If it's a nice kid who inadvertently tips the stand over, I will tell them it's no big deal and just fix it myself. If it happens to a CRAPPY kid, I will yell, "WHY WERE YOU TOUCHING THAT?!" and write them a detention for their clumsy destructiveness.
          Actually, even with both books in place, it's kind of tricky to get the balance right so it doesn't topple over. I'm willing to accept this minor flaw, though, in a product that doubles as a clever display and a sly trap for the unwary.

George R. R. Martin's A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

2011-08-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

          First of all, I'd like to mention that when I first typed the name of the series, I accidentally typed, "A Dong of Ice and Fire" instead of "A SONG of..."
          So I'm pretty distracted, giggling about that. But I will pull myself together.
          Okay.

Dude, it's 959 pages long. And that's NOT counting the guide to characters at the back.

          (By the way, I did my best to avoid any spoilers.)
          I just finished reading A Dance With Dragons, book 5 in Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. For those who don't know, it's an epic heroic medieval fantasy, sort of Tolkienesque. But Martin's characters aren't hairy-footed little pussies, and there aren't any lovely lovely elves, and the magical elements are very few and far between, which I think makes the whole thing more believable.
          It's set in a very harsh kingdom, where no one is clearly good or evil, they're just messily human. And bad things happen to most of them. What makes Martin's writing unique, I think, is that the chapters alternate viewpoint from character to character, like in a big cycle. For instance, one chapter may be about poor little Arya, a fierce princess on the run from assassins. But the chapter will end on a cliffhanger, and the next chapter is from someone else's viewpoint, in another part of the kingdom. So you have to wait until Arya comes up again, and meanwhile OTHER characters are in dire situations. I can't put these books down!
          Now there's a miniseries on HBO, called "Game of Thrones," based on the series, and I can't see it because we don't get HBO! It's not out on DVD yet, either. I tried streaming it online and the picture quality sucked. I'm gnashing my teeth.
          Anyway, just thought I'd post the review I put on Goodreads and Shelfari, my two favorite keeping-track-of-what-I-read sites. (By the way, I prefer Shelfari because it's prettier and looks like actual wood shelves, and I can navigate it more easily. But most people seem to like Goodreads better. Not sure why) Here's my little review:

(3 out of 5 stars)
         Sigh. I love "A Song of Ice and Fire," and I will definitely read the next book in the series, no matter how long it takes him to finally grunt it out.
          I love Tyrion, I love Jon Snow, I love Arya, I love many of the characters, especially the moral grey area most of them are smack in the middle of. Just when I think Tyrion is disgusting and irredeemable, he shows true kindness to that poor little dwarf girl, and becomes her protector in his gruff, crude way.
          And I do love Daenerys, BUT I am pretty sick of her wasting so much time in Meereen when we're all waiting for her to just f*cking return to Westeros with her dragons. This particular installment in Martin's big fat unwieldy series didn't move the many plots and subplots far enough to satisfy me. It's over 900 pages long, and I wanted things to come to a head more. I still found it very readable. But at this point there are so many characters that I was confused and floundering at the start of many chapters, trying to remember who the current character was, and their relevance to things.
          Not to mention it's been years since the last book and I can't remember where many of the subplots left off.
          The epilogue was the most exciting chapter in the whole book, despite the fact that it hinges on a revelation about a certain character I did not remember at ALL, and had to immediately search for in the extensive dramatis personae at the back. It pissed me off even further to find that there were at least TWO characters with the SAME FIRST NAME, but I ended up figuring out which one was mentioned in the epilogue.
          So what.
          Character is the most important thing in any story, and if I STILL can't wait to find out what happens to these characters even when I have to go through a guide to figure out who they are, then Martin must be a pretty good writer. I remain a loyal fan of "A Song of Ice and Fire." And they better release that damn miniseries on DVD soon, so I can see it.

FAN SERVICE: not just for manga anymore

2011-08-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

          The first time I noticed the term "fan service," it was on the back of a manga volume in the junior high library, in context like, "rated T for teen because of violence and mild fan service," or something to that effect. I had to ask a Japanese teacher friend to explain it to me. Not just because she's Japanese, she really was the biggest manga fan I knew at the time.
          She explained it in terms of Japanese boy bands, saying that it's when the boys pretend to be "romantic" with each other on stage, even though they're not really gay, or not really involved with each other. They just do it because their fans are mostly teenage girls who WANT to see them kissing or whatever. They just do it for show, to please the fans.
          It also applies to comics, like when they show female characters flashing their panties for no apparent reason. It certainly doesn't further the plot. It's just "fan service."
          Just now I was leafing through the new August 2011 VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), and noticed a review that stated of a certain book, "gratuitous sexual crudity, female objectification, and fanservice may make this book a hard sell to parents and librarians." There was that damn phrase again! This time boldly smushed into one single word. And it was not even a comic book, it was a teen novel.
          I don't know how long they've been trotting this catchy term out in book reviews intended to help us library folk with collection development. Seems a little pretentious, doesn't it? They drop that term like we're all supposed to know what it means. Drop it like it's hot. Even though I DO happen to know what it means, I can guarantee you that plenty of other library people do NOT.
          In case you're wondering, the book tagged with "fanservice" in the new VOYA is The Robot by Paul E. Watson. It's about teenage boys who encounter a "super-realistic, sex-bomb of a robot, with no underpants..." I'm not even kidding.

Can you believe they did NOT put the robot chic with no panties on the cover?

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : Back To School; Genre

2011-08-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Couldn't figure out what to put in the glass display case at first. Then my mom was volunteering in the library one day (adorable, right?) and she suggested back to school stuff and next thing you know the idea of the traditional "little red school house" popped up, which seemed perfect. If you try to get too "modern," and figure out what back to school really means for today's teen, you'll just end up looking like an old person trying to be cool. I don't know what the hell kind of supplies and electronics and doo-dads they need or want now. (Yeah, I work in a school, but I don't pay attention to anything other than books.)
Going vintage/iconic seems safer, and ultimately cooler.

I grabbed a bunch of very obviously school-themed books to display.

Close-up of my handiwork.

          I even cut out the windows of the little schoolhouse and cut the door so it opens! I used red construction paper, some blue paper (it matches the bulletin boards), yellow for the bell, and white-out for the trim and the clock. I felt very clever with the letters, sticking them in the ends of the books and using erasers to make the "YOU" stand up. But every time I see that phrase, "are you ready," in my head I hear Jonathan Davis from Korn screaming/growling it at the beginning of "Blind."
          Don't know if you noticed in the first picture, but one of the books on the very bottom shelf is "School of Fear" by Gitty Daneshvari. I think that's funny.
          For the rest of the library I chose a pleasing blue and purple color scheme that I am quite fond of.

GENRE: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.

Can't decide what to read? Pick a genre!

          We got all the genre posters free from Random House Teens. We've been slowly collecting them. There are even a few more than this, like horror and "beach reads," but they wouldn't all fit. Sometimes the Librarian asks me if we have enough of the books on each of these posters to display them, but I tell her if kids start asking for some of the books we DON'T have, that just gives us a good excuse to ask for money.
          I keep a clipboard labeled "STUDENT REQUESTS," and write down any titles we're asked for that we don't have. We use that, plus our own recommended lists, whenever we get some funding. I also take the student request list to the used book store when I have credit there from our donations program.
          As soon as the kids get settled after the first couple weeks of school, I'm going to plaster everything in here with "BANNED BOOKS WEEK" (September 24th - October 1st) stuff. I thought it might be a little too alarming for the parents and new 7th graders during registration and orientation. But look out in a few weeks.

VINTAGE BOOK : I Want To Be a Librarian (second installment)

2011-08-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the second & final installment of this thrilling tale of a young girl's tragic descent into library delirium at the hands of a manipulative and bookish madwoman...

I want to be a LIBRARIAN

by Carla Greene

illustrations by Frances Eckart

Miss Brown found two books about dogs. They were books that Jane could read.

"And I would like this book, too," said Jane. It was called,

HOW TO SAIL A BOAT.

"That book is hard to read," said Miss Brown.

"You're much too stupid for that one."

"My brother, Joe, will like this," said Jane.

     Miss Brown put a date on a card in each book.
     "Bring the books back on this date," she said.
     "Don't be late. You must pay a fine for late books."
               "Are you ready to pay that price, Jane? Do you know what true pain is?" asked Miss Brown.
     "I will take good care of the books and bring them back on time," said Jane.

Ah, and here is Joe, Jane's gay little brother with his sailor hat and shorty-shorts...

     "This is a wonderful book," said Joe. "It tells me what I want to know about sailing.
               Oh, I think Joe's already done some "sailing."
     I want to be a good sailor.
               Mm-hm...
     What do you want to be, Jane?"
     "I want to be a good librarian, someday," said Jane. "I will help people find good books."
     "Miss Brown does other things, too," said Joe.
               That's my favorite line in the whole book.

Oh, wow, that's totally NOT what I thought he meant...

I wonder if Miss Brown ever just loses her shit and starts crying and screaming at all those demanding teachers? Or maybe that's just me.

     "How do you get to be a librarian, Miss Brown?" asked Jane.
     "You should go through college, Jane," said Miss Brown.
               "Even though you're a girl."
     "Then you should study another year in a Library School. And you should like children and books."
               I'm pretty sure that part is not required anymore.

"Now remember all that I've taught you, ladies, and don't be afraid to KILL should it prove necessary."

     One day Miss Brown let Jane help her.
     They drove out into the country.
               ...with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a loaded gun.
     "Here comes the book bus!" cried the children.
               They all glanced sadly at the little shrine by the side of the road where the last child had been struck and killed by Miss Brown in one of her drunken book bus rages.
     Miss Brown helped the children choose books.
     And Jane helped a little boy find a good book about turtles.

But unfortunately, stupid, STUPID Jane didn't know enough to hold the book right side up.

     On the way home, they saw Joe in his sailboat.
               Another boy's head popped up inside the boat, right next to Joe!
     He waved to them.
               Then the other boy's head bobbed back down.
     "Joe learned a lot from that book about sailing," said Jane.
     "You will make a good librarian someday," said Miss Brown. "I hope that you will come and work with me."
               "...and I will show you the dark one who slumbers in the catacombs beneath the library."

This picture is so idyllic, it reminds me of when I was a little girl...

Well, that's the end. Your book report is due a week from today. Do not forget to write your name at the top, and mind your margins.

VINTAGE BOOK : I Want To Be a Librarian (first installment)

2011-08-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where I picked up this discarded old library book, but I find it charming and amusingly lame. And kind of sad in this day and age when I bet there are fewer and fewer people who want to be librarians, considering all the budget cuts and layoffs happening in our public library systems!

I will transcribe the text of the book faithfully, and leave my snarky comments in red.

I want to be a LIBRARIAN

by Carla Greene

illustrations by Frances Eckart

Jane walked toward the library.

That is an ACTION-PACKED opening sentence.

She had never been inside the library.

"I wish Joe had come with me," she thought.

Joe was Jane's big brother.

He would not come to the library.

He had a fine new boat.

Wait, what? What does his boat have to do with anything? Oh, I get it- he doesn't want to come to the library because he's too busy "playing with his fine new boat." But doesn't that sound like a non sequitur at first? And then it sounds like a euphemism.

Maybe Jane can help out this angry, stupid little girl who got her dress caught in the door.

Jane went up to the door of the library.

She read what it said on the door.

STORY HOUR

9-10

Then she opened the door and went in.

Where are her parents? Do they know where she is? What if instead of walking toward the library she had walked toward the old abandoned lumber mill where the crazy homeless men hang out getting drunk? Somebody needs to keep an eye on this girl.

"Miss Brown, if I join your story time will I be able to turn my head 180 degrees around as if I'm possessed by the devil, like that little boy there?"

"What a nice room," thought Jane.

There were books and pictures everywhere.

No shit, Jane, it's a LIBRARY.

Boys and girls sat in a half-circle.

In the center was a freshly-slaughtered goat lying upon a pentagram.

Miss Brown was the librarian.

She smiled at Jane.

"Come and sit here," she said.

Miss Brown told a story that Jane liked.

It was about a boy who had many animal friends.

It took place in Mexico, and the boy particularly liked donkeys.

"I want to read all the animal books in the library," said Jane.

Miss Brown smiled.

"That's stupid, dear."

"That will take you a long time. There are many animal books here."

"And many people who enjoy doing things with animals, Jane."

"May I have a library card of my own?" asked Jane.

"Yes," said Miss Brown.

"Write your name here and take this card to your mother. Bring it back next week. Then I will give you your card."

Next WEEK? I think Miss Brown must spend a lot of time sitting around on her bony ass when she should be processing library card applications.

I actually find this picture very pleasing, and just look at how dear and polite little Jane is!

She had heard many good things about a new book called "Go the Fuck To Sleep..."

"I like dog stories," said Jane.

Miss Brown showed Jane some drawers full of cards.

"Let's look at the cards with the word DOG at the top. These cards have the names of books about dogs. See the number on each card. That tells me where to find the book."

"Whoa, Miss Brown. You lost me at 'drawers full of cards,'" said Jane.

This illustration would make no sense at all to most kids now.

Stay tuned for the next scandalous installment of "I Want To Be a Librarian," in which Jane hears filthy rumors about her beloved Miss Brown. -ed

LIBRARY SIGNAGE : comics & manga, and magazines

2011-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

"Oh my god, Mr. Kovac, is the manga GONE?! WHERE DID THE COMICS GO?!"

No, dear panicky child. Take a deep breath. I have simply switched the Reference section with the Comics & Manga. I know this is alarming at first because you're in the habit of charging into the Library and going straight to the Comics & Manga section, and today you are suddenly confronted with dry old atlases & almanacs, Business Leader Profiles, and Facts About the World's Languages. It probably feels like walking into what you think is a donut shop, only to find that it's now a dry cleaners.

If you were to merely turn around and look over your shoulder, you would see the Comics & Manga section in all its lurid glory, occupying even more shelves than before. We actually ran out of room for all the fun stuff we were adding, so we weeded the worst old crap from the Reference section (which was larger), and moved it to the smaller shelving area where the Comic & Manga used to be crowded tightly together.

I printed a little sign directing you to the new larger Comics & Manga section, and posted it on the end of the shelves facing out so you couldn't miss it. But the sign was simple and apparently not eye-catching enough.

Now I have made bigger better signage by hand, more colorful and bold. Big arrows, some graphics... Will this keep the sudden jittery panic out of your eyes?

Calm down, kid, it's right around the corner!

WOULD IT KILL MICKEY MOUSE TO HELP A BROTHER OUT?

2011-08-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Apparently this message was circulated to Anaheim Public Library staff recently:

Dear Staff,

As you may be aware, the Anaheim Public Library Foundation, sent a letter to their membership sharing concerns regarding the library’s budget and possible outsourcing of operations. If you are approached by a member of the public inquiring about budget/outsourcing, etc, please use the following script and/or pass on to a supervisor.

Yes, the library’s budget has been reduced again in FY2011/12 reflecting the economic challenges facing Anaheim. The City is looking at alternatives for library operations, including outsourcing to a for profit company. As a member of the library staff I cannot comment on city policy, but you are welcome to refer questions or concerns to the Mayor, Council or the Anaheim Public Library Foundation. If asked, please provide contact information (phone/address/web site) for our elected officials.

How can it be that the city with Disneyland raking in the bucks might have to outsource their public library to a for-profit company, possibly laying off many or all of their current library workers?

I think outsourcing a public library is a terrible solution, and I hope the Mayor and city council (or whoever really makes these decisions) re-thinks that.

But here's another thing- I think that stupid mouse should put his money where his family-friendly mouth is, and help out the community living in the shadow of the Matterhorn, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and the Tower of Terror. Shouldn't that be the deal? That in exchange for letting Disney plunk its big fat ass down in the middle of the city, they would have to kick in some monetary assistance in times like these?

The last time we went to Disneyland, by the end of the day we had spent a LOT of money, probably enough to run the library for at least a year.

THE CULTURE & INTELLIGENCE OF A COMMUNITY

2011-07-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

          One of my writer's critique group friends, Annie, brought me this awesome card from an old library book. I believe she said the book was from the '20s. The wording is so antiquated, it's kind of endearing. Most kids probably wouldn't realize that "leaves" are actually pages, and "marker" refers to a bookmark, not a Sharpie (that would be very bad!). And it's just so bossy. I love it.
          I genuinely love #5, and wish that more people understood this very important philosophy behind the public library as an institution.
          People seem to have lost or forgotten the belief that "the culture and intelligence of a community" can be determined by its usage of libraries. Just look at all the layoffs, cutbacks, and reductions in staffing to public and school libraries all across California.

SOMETIMES SILENCE IS NOT GOLDEN

2011-06-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

          The last day of school for students was June 15th, and the last day of work for teachers was the 16th. I, however, being an 11-month employee, work quietly here in the Library through the very ass-end of June and return prompt-as-you-please on August 1st.
          Few souls are left on campus during this time. The Registrar in the counseling office across the quad, the assistant principal and the attendance clerk in the main office on the OTHER side of the quad, and me over here in the Library. It's like we're stranded on three separate islands of solitude. But I kind of like it that way, and rarely venture outside the Library.
          Tuesday I worked from 7 am to 3:30 pm without ONCE seeing another human being. It's like my own bookish version of "I Am Legend." Luckily I leave before sundown.

Don't get caught in the Library after dark!

          We've been having total June gloom, too, so not only is it silent as the grave in here, but it's also rather DARK. Our Library has two meager rows of very high windows, so I can't see any humans from them, and don't even get much sunlight. It finally dawned on me that half the blinds were closed, which was part of the problem, so I opened them. Hopefully that will help.
          I've been playing my little blue iPod docking station pretty loud, but somehow it still seems too quiet. Despite the cathartic screaming of riot grrls, the hammering of Rammstein, and the rattling noise-rock of The Kills, I can somehow STILL hear every little mouse fart echo through the cold emptiness.
          Speaking of the mouse as a symbol for silence, let's think of some famous literary mice, shall we?

Hide the cheese...

JUST MEAN

2011-06-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

          Yesterday was the last day of school for students, so the custodians must have cleaned out lockers last night. When I walked into the Library this morning, grimy wayward textbooks and binders were all over the checkout desk, and piled high on my desk chair. Seriously, most of them were covered in a thin film of sticky dirty grime. I said, "Fuck THIS, man!" because I really hate dealing with textbooks.  They are not Library property, we don't purchase them or store them, and we're not responsible for them. So there.
          Anyway, I turned and saw this enticing Toll House chocolate chip cookie box sitting on the table behind the circ desk, with lurid cookie pics all over it, and for a moment thought, "Oh! A gift for ME? For making the Library so awesome?" But no, upon closer inspection it was filled with dirty, greasy old combination padlocks the kids didn't want anymore, or left on their lockers, or something.
          This is what the end of the school year is like, though. Everyone madly trying to dump a bunch of crap on somebody else before they leave for summer break.

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : Graduation & summer break

2011-05-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

I was feeling uninspired regarding a few of the bulletin boards, since it's the end of the school year and we're having lots of drama, with the Librarians being laid off, and the Library techs being cut from 11 months to 10. Then suddenly today I realized we'd be having people from "the community" in the Library this Thursday, for something called "Senior portfolio presentations." That means board members could saunter in here, and it shouldn't have the look of bitter resignation.
I was trying to think of some "goodbye" slogan for the seniors, and remembered those awesome singing dolphins in Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy," how they sing that adorable little song right before they leave Earth and the planet explodes. It seems appropriate, and literary.

Douglas Adams reference

Then I had this great idea to make one of those coin-operated fortune teller booths, only instead of "You will meet a tall dark stranger," it would be spitting out the names of colleges our students might be accepted to.

"What does the future hold?"

Some of the colleges I included are UC San Diego, UC Riverside, Pepperdine, NYU Abu Dhabi, Cypress College, and more. I asked one of my Library assistants to name all the colleges he could think of that our students had actually been accepted to this year, so the fortune teller wouldn't inadvertently taunt them with places none of them will get to go. (It's getting more competitive every year)

Detail of the "fortune" coming out of the slot. I made it 3D! I'm awesome, right? Look at it.

There's a long narrow bulletin board toward the back of the 'brary. I used this one to encourage leisure reading, which hopefully the kids will have some time for this summer. I figured I might as well continue with the baby shower colors, for the sake of consistency.

"Read something JUST FOR FUN this summer"

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : June is Gay & Lesbian Pride Month!

2011-05-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

OMG, this narwhale is totally freaked out about the final library due date of the year! She's so worried that students won't clear their library and/or textbook fines until the last minute, creating a library traffic jam for poor Mr. Kovac!

The stunned, half-wild expression is what comes most naturally to me when I draw. Why is that?

Just to be different I papered the bulletin boards in the library (all 4 of them) with a charming combination of pink and blue/yellow stripes, accented with navy blue borders. The Librarian came in and said, "Who's having a baby shower?"
I snapped, "NOBODY is having a baby shower! I just thought the pink and pastels would be sort of summery, and also gay, for Gay Pride Month."

On the left we have Gay Pride, on the right is Summer Reading

I put this stuff up right before the weekend of Harvey Milk Day, which is May 22nd. The first official Harvey Milk Day was last year, and I'd made this big poster with clip art I pulled off the internet and a picture of Harvey. I like the slogan on the big white button that says, "If the fetus you save is gay, will you still fight for its rights?"

Let's talk about the Gay Pride clown for a minute. He's new this year. I had made the conversation balloon last year for my June is Gay Pride Month bulletin board, and a squirrel was shouting, "Say it loud, say it proud!" But I don't know where the squirrel is now, so I had to draw a new loudmouth.
I was thinking about the rainbow as a gay symbol, which I've never particularly liked because it's just so... well, GAY. But then I thought about those Native American rainbow figures. Dancers, warriors, whatever they are.

Native American Rainbow person

I thought I'd draw my own version of one of those, because that would seem clever, right? It would allude to existing mythology, AND tie in with Gay Month. Sort of. But as you can see, my little rainbow guy came out looking nothing like the Native American rainbow icon. Before I knew it, he had morphed into a sort of mean-looking clown. I was a little concerned that "clown" imagery would be a poor choice for Gay Pride Month, but I left my clown on the board because I like him. Despite his playful appearance, he looks like he would NOT take shit from anybody. And that's a good message for the gay kids, right?

There's that half-wild expression again, but with a touch of menace. Is the clown dangerous? If you aren't gay & proud, will there be consequences?

The other three bulletin boards are not pictured because I haven't finished with them, yet. As we careen closer to the end of the school year, I'll have less and less time & energy for that, so those other boards may end up with quick and ill-tempered slogans like, "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya," or, "So long, suckas."

DISTRACTING AUTHOR PHOTO : Aprilynne & her tutu

2011-05-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

Maybe I shouldn't be so critical, but I find it just a little pretentious for a writer with books like "Wings," "Spells," and "Illusions" (young adult magical romance series) to be wearing a tutu in her author photo on the book jacket. A TUTU, for Christ's sake.

"Oh, THIS old thing? I guess I forgot I was surrounded by tufts of gauzy fairy magic... It's just my way."

Aprilynne Pike: "I am serene in my choice of tutu..."

IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE:

I myself have indulged in pretentious author photos, and will no doubt do so again in the future.

I don't drink, but this seemed like a funny set-up for my "Skelebunnies" author photo

This is for an upcoming convention program, with my pretentious feather pen(cil)

ROSEMARY'S WITCH : the better cover

2011-05-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Quite some time ago I did a post (here it is) about one of my favorite teen books which had an unfortunately horrible paperback cover illustration. I was pretty sure I remembered the hardcover having a much cooler image, moodier and more indicative of the tone of the book.

Well, my mom, being the awesome mom that she is, found a copy of the hardcover through a rare book vendor and ordered it for me. How sweet is that?

The horrible "Babysitter's Club" style paperback cover

The awesome original hardcover image

ONCE UPON A TIME ("The Two Caskets")

2011-05-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

In a previous post (The Two Caskets: inspiration for Alice In Wonderland?) I wrote about an animated movie I remember from childhood about a girl falling down a well to a magical land. I couldn't remember the name of it, and hadn't been able to find a story it was based on. But then I ran across a fairy tale called "The Two Caskets" in an anthology, and knew it was one and the same. The problem is I couldn't find any record of a movie called "The Two Caskets."
Finally, after trying every string of search keywords I could think of, I finally found it. "Once Upon a Time," from 1976. Then blog reader Muhammad Khalid wrote to let me know he also remembered the movie, and had discovered the name of it. He went the extra mile and also included a link to where you can purchase it from Amazon.

I rented it through Netflix, and it's been sitting there unwatched. I keep thinking about it, but I'm afraid I'll be disappointed, that it won't be anywhere near as magical as my childhood self found it. I think it was just the idea of a girl falling down a magical well to another world that set my mind a-whirl. But there is a blue dog in it, and that's definitely a plus.

I remembered Disney's "Snow White" being chock-full of magic, horror, and adorable talking animals, but when I watched it as an adult I was stunned to find it slow and draggy, way too much time spent with those grimy little dwarves dancing and singing and acting like drunken morons. And Snow White, sitting there clapping delightedly, like a slow girl.

I had a similar disenchantment with the Smurfs. I could go on a tirade about it, but that's for another day, and wouldn't do me or them any good.

BOOKMARK (original art) : Pig Lady

2011-05-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

BOOKMARKS (original art)- Cute & not-so-cute

2011-05-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

I doodled some more bookmarks on recycled cardboard card thingies. The first was a cute pony-ish creature in space, but then I abruptly felt like drawing something NOT cute, possibly disturbing.

"Space Pony"

"Happy Panties"

MY DAILY MOMENT OF CHAOS

2011-05-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

This morning's chaos moment practically made my head explode, I think because I'm also battling congestion and a sinus headache.

Here's how it was:

During one class period a few kids came in to work on an assignment as an alternate for the sex ed lesson (parents wouldn't sign permission slip). That started out very quietly, so I thought I could get a few things done while those kids were not learning about safe sex.

I needed our site technology guy's help with a computer program so I could meet an ordering deadline that was last Friday. He showed up and crawled back and forth under my desk working on my computer. Then we had to call the school secretary for help, and she came over. So then I had the tech guy AND the secretary both looking over my shoulder and giving me directions. We were still having problems with the program, and I was trying every combination of username and password I had scribbled on little notes in my wallet.

A whole class showed up with their teacher to do World War II research, and the library suddenly filled to capacity. As the computer tech and the school secretary were still at my shoulder, bossily giving me contradictory directions, the teacher started yelling questions to me about the school's databases, wanting me to address the whole class and clarify where they should look for certain info. Right at that moment I was trying to set up new security questions & answers in the computer system, and the tech and the secretary were saying, "Just focus on the security questions!" and a student walked up to the desk and asked me, "Do you have this book in the library?" showing me a slip of paper with a title written on it.

I answered the teacher, gave the class general directions, looked up the book title for the girl at the desk, re-set all my passwords, and generated the stupid purchase order. Now it's time for another pot of coffee.

THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST by Rick Yancey

2011-05-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

My new absolute favorite horror series is "The Monstrumologist" by Rick Yancey. I picked up the first volume as a free "advanced reading copy" from a library convention several years ago, and donated it to the school library.

Pretty rad cover image, right? Puts one in mind of a "Cabinet of Curiosities"

I thoroughly enjoyed the first volume, but it wasn't until I read the sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo, that I decided, "Okay, this is TOTALLY my new favorite series."

My review of The Curse of the Wendigo for Goodreads & Shelfari:

Even though I read very little YA lit, I read the first book in this series and totally loved it. This sequel just gets bigger and better, developing more of the complex themes and compounding the tragedy and poignancy. The writing is so poetic at times, subtle and artful. Weirdly enough, it's also some of the most gruesome and shockingly brutal horror I've read in a long time. "The Curse of the Wendigo" is about the Monstrumologist's search for a murderous creature with a penchant for removing its victims eyes and faces and doing "creative" things with them. Set in the late 1800s, the meat of the series is the incredibly complex relationship between the self-absorbed doctor ("Monstrumology," or the study of so-called monsters, being his specialty) and his 11-year-old charge Will Henry, whose father died while in the dangerous employ of the Monstrumologist. The doctor never officially adopts Will Henry, yet they have a powerful and multi-layered bond. The story is told from Will Henry's point of view, from journals found after his death, and his tale is truly heart-breaking, as his beloved doctor drags him into situations no child should endure. In this book Will Henry is presented with a terrible decision in a life-defining moment. I was riveted. The time period provides for some awesome set pieces and descriptions, plus cameos by notorious real life characters such as Algernon Blackwood and Bram Stoker.

Scary red Wendigo face!!!

I would like to also add that Will Henry's painful yearning for Dr. Warthrop's love really pulls the reader in. Dr. Warthrop is so cold and analytical and demanding of poor Will Henry that when the doctor DOES finally show some glimpse of affection, it's practically heart-rending. Very effective, from a writerly standpoint. I catch myself making all sorts of embarrassing facial expressions when reading these books, gasping and blurting out, "Oh, no!" or, "Don't leave the baby in that creepy hallway!"

You better hope you don't hear the Wendigo's voice calling your name on the high lonely wind...

GO ASK ALICE (when she's wearing her white pants suit)

2011-05-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

          Sometimes when a student is really effusive and passionate about a heavily issue-driven book, you have to pay attention and try to find out if the kid is trying to let you know that they themselves have (or are having) some of the same issues.
          Years ago at the junior high school we had a boy who was a library regular and he became really fixated on A Child Called It, which led to us discovering that he had been abused and neglected by his own mother. Apparently she kept him locked in a closet for long stretches of time, as well as worse things. Luckily the counselors already knew about all this and it was being addressed, but it helped that we knew, and could be part of his support network.
          A few weeks ago during our lunch-time library book club meeting, one of the girls was just on fire with passion about Go Ask Alice by "Anonymous." She read us passages from it, and talked about what an impact it had on her. She was almost breathless with emotion about the book. The Librarian told us she remembers when it first came out and was very controversial because of the subject matter. The book club kids asked why it was so controversial even for older teens, and I said something like, "Sometimes adults forget that kids are exposed to all kinds of things that we WISH they weren't," to which the girl replied quickly, "You have NO IDEA..." sort of under her breath. Of course that made me go, "Hm..."

Go ahead. Ask her.

Most people are familiar enough with Go Ask Alice to know it's about teenage drug addiction, supposedly a real diary kept by a girl who lost her battle. Because the publisher states that names and places had been changed to protect the privacy of the real families involved, it has to be kept in fiction. Personally, I'm pretty sure it is TOTAL fiction, just based on very real issues. But the publisher presents it like a real diary, which totally hooks the teens.

I suggested the girl also read Jay's Journal, another supposedly real diary from the same publisher/editor. As we were wrapping up our book club meeting, the girl implored me to read Go Ask Alice, saying she really wanted me to read it so we could talk about it. How can I say no to that? I checked it out that day, but it sat around at home for over a week since it's not the kind of thing I usually read. I finally started it today. I keep debating on whether or not I should worry about this girl's strong connection to the book. Is there some kind of drama unfolding at home? Or maybe she's just fascinated by the subject matter. She's a good writer, and seems to like writing about the darker, grittier side of life.
Teens are tricky. It's important to pay attention to them, but you also don't want to cause a fuss over nothing and embarrass them, so that they stop sharing things with you.

"Jay" is such a copycat.

Go Ask Alice was published in 1971, and at first I was thinking the author had done a pretty good job being just vague enough with details about music, clothes, and movies to make it seem timeless. But then I ran across a mention of "Alice" having her mother help her sew her own clothes for school. Then she wears a "white pants suit" to a party, and I thought, "Oh, girl...."

          Then she puts her hair up with orange juice cans so it'll have just the right amount of curl at the ends.
          Aside from jarringly '60s/'70s details like that, I can totally see why this book appeals to teenage girls because "Alice" is quite melodramatic and prone to hyperbole.  Worried about boys, about popularity, her weight, her skin, her hair...
          I haven't yet come to the part where it all hits the fan, though.
          The next teen novel I need to read because of an adamant student recommendation is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, which I will probably easily relate to.
          (Not that I CAN'T relate to worrying about boys, popularity, weight, skin, and hair.)

Well, I like the chartreuse cover, so I guess I'll read it.

POETRY MONTH (late)

2011-05-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well, April was poetry month. I displayed about 10 awesome and varied books on poetry right where the students sit at the computers, but none of them checked out. Either kids don't dig poetry anymore, or else there's just too much going on at school right now with all the state testing over the past few weeks. There was a TON of fiction checking out in April, but not poetry. At least I tried.
I put up a giant rainbow-trimmed sign on the main bulletin board stating that it was POETRY MONTH. In one of my black frames I posted an excerpt from Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise," with a special banner dedicating it to all the Library staff in our school district because we're all feeling downtrodden and unappreciated from the budget cuts. Here's part of the excerpt:

"Still I Rise" (excerpt)

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

In the other black frame I put this fascinatingly strange poem by Charles Simic:

“The School Of Metaphysics”

Executioner happy to explain
How his wristwatch works
As he shadows me on the street.
I call him that because he is grim and officious
And wears black.

The clock on the church tower
Had stopped at five to eleven.
The morning newspapers had no date.
The gray building on the corner
Could've been a state pen,

And then he showed up with his watch,
Whose Gothic numerals
And the absence of hands
He wanted me to understand
Right then and there.

Clip-art cuckoo clocks and clock gears, with some question marks to indicate it's freeeaky, man.

REDUCTION IN HOURS : yet more cuts to the Library

2011-05-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

          I assumed the budget cuts to the Library would stop at the Teacher Librarians being wiped out (High School District Fires All Librarians), but then all the Library Technicians got letters from the district saying our jobs "might" be affected. Next thing you know, we all received yet ANOTHER letter giving us official notice that we're all being cut to 10 months. I am currently an 11-month employee, so I will be losing an ENTIRE MONTH of pay. Obviously this sucks Melvil Dewey's rotting balls.
          The letter itself is insulting because of wording like this:

"Because of budgetary restraints and workload changes..."

          -I have noticed no workload changes, at least not a DECREASE in work load. I still have a lot of stuff to do all the time, and the library gets used more than ever. Since I've been working in that library, we have INCREASED our circulation to about TEN TIMES what it was before. I'm not exaggerating.

"...classified employees subject to layoff for lack of funds or lack of work..."

          -Lack of funds OR lack of work?! They couldn't say it's DEFINITELY because of lack of funds, they had to leave it open-ended so it sounds like maybe we were just sitting around with our thumbs up our butts, with nothin' to do?

"Education Code... allows an employee to take a voluntary reduction in lieu of a layoff. You may elect to accept employment with a decrease in months..."

          -I love this. It's so KIND of them to ALLOW me to take a "voluntary" reduction. Apparently they aren't allowed to change your work hours without your consent, you have to be presented with an option. So our option is either accept the reduction in hours, or be laid off. The situation sucks all the way around, like a poop cake frosted with barf. (Sorry.)
          Of course we're all checking the box that says we accept the reduction, and signing it, because what else are we gonna do? I understand that cuts have to be made because things are financially grim, but they're already planning to re-instate some of the after-school sports programs they were pretending to cut, and I'm sure there are other areas that could be trimmed-- areas less vital to education than a fully-functioning school library.

BOOKMARKS (original art)

2011-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

We ordered about a million boxes of self-adhesive book pockets, to go with our new security system. In each box the two rows of closely-packed pockets are separated by a strip of cardboard that is the PERFECT size for a bookmark. I love drawing on cardboard because of the grainy texture and natural color, and the idea of recycling/re-using.

This one I think of as "Cthusie." (Cthulhu + Susie. Get it? Is it even funnier when I explain it?)

My husband asked me what their names are, and I don't know. I feel bad for the one on top, though.

EXCESSIVE LABELING BUMS ME OUT

2011-05-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Is there really a need for this?:

"OVER SIZE" labels. Lots of 'em.

          In the library I work in, a previous Librarian had invested in these redundant labels for the larger coffee table type books in our collection. The kind of books that you glance at and immediately think, "Damn, that's a big book!"
          I mentioned it to the current Librarian, pointing out the "OVER SIZE" label on an obviously gigantic book and saying, "No shit."
          She explained that one of her predecessors used to keep all the oversized books in a special "OVER SIZE" section.  I guess in case a student came up to the desk and said, "Can you please help me? I would like to check out the most unwieldy book you have," and then you could just point them to the OVER SIZE section.
          I'm trying to understand this, because it must not be as stupid as it seems. The labels must have seemed necessary so that student library aides would know to shelve them in the "OVER SIZE" section, right? Because without that label, they'd never be able to figure out which books are really big?
          This pisses me off because when the books are lined up on the shelves, the only way they have of catching a potential reader's attention is by their spines. If you clutter the spines with all sorts of stupid labels, it is UNATTRACTIVE.
          We recently received some donated books from a defunct library in our district, and they were practically obliterated with labels. First there were the necessary barcodes and call #s, but these poor books also had color-coded reading level stickers, reading program labels, and/or genre labels. In some cases you honestly could not read the TITLE of the book on the spine, because it was covered in labels. No one would choose that from a shelf.
          I peeled every unnecessary label from those books, sometimes having to coat the offending labels in Windex or rubbing alcohol until they would release their hold. In some cases I even removed the necessary spine label so I could re-position it so it didn't cover the title. I also re-positioned a bunch of the barcodes on the back, so they weren't obscuring the plot synopsis, which is ALSO important to potential readers.
          STOPPIT WITH THE LABELS, people!

HAJJI BABA: beautiful yet savage old book

2011-03-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

I worked for five years as a Library Technician in the children's room at the Santa Ana Public Library. I loved it there. One of the many benefits was being able to snag old books that were being discarded, and I ended up with some real treasures.
One of those treasures is a book called The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Morier, "with a profusion of pictures" by Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. (I love that phrasing) The book was published in 1937 by Random House, Inc. (The copyright date was printed in Roman numerals and I had to look up a guide on translating them because I've totally forgotten. D'oh!)
Check out the fugly cover, but don't let it fool you into thinking there's nothing good inside:

Purple paisley? It's in a lumpy plastic slip-case, too, with the barcode slapped rudely on the front. Gross.

But inside it's full of adventure, magic, and romance from the Middle East. Also lots of sexism and violence. One of the short stories is called, "The Tale of the Baked Head." It's labeled "YA," and at first I thought they were just being prude about it, when really it should have been in the children's room. But after going through it, I decided that yeah, it's on the mature side.
There are many beautiful line illustrations in black and white, such as this rather alarming and unexpected one:

I will leave the interpretation of this image up to you.

There were about fifteen full-color plates originally, but one was ripped sadly in half, and several others were missing entirely. The ones that are left, though, are beautiful, and really captured my attention because of the rich colors and the sometimes bizarre images and captions.

"Doctor, mashallah! you have good taste! The animal is fine!"

Pssst... check out the HUMAN HEAD floating in the water:

"More screams and cries ensued"

"Your eyes have made roast meat of my heart"

"What bliss is like to whisp'ring love?"

"The cat must come from under the blanket"

THE TWO CASKETS: Inspiration for Alice In Wonderland?

2011-03-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

There was an animated movie from my childhood that resonated with me enough to haunt me into adulthood. I can't remember the name of it, but it was about a young girl who falls down a well to a magical fairy country. I was a big fan of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, so it makes sense that this story with obvious similarities would appeal to me. As an adult I've made numerous attempts over the years to find information about the animated movie with the girl who falls down the well, but without remembering the title I've had no luck.
Then suddenly yesterday a direct link to it fell right into my lap.

Lang was sort of a Victorian-era Grimm, collecting folklore from all around the world

I have several new editions of Andrew Lang's color-themed fairy books, and once in a while I read some, or flip through them, just because they're fascinating. I picked up The Orange Fairy Book and randomly flipped to a story called The Two Caskets. As soon as I started reading and noticed the first illustration, I gasped. Girl down a well!

"That is an end of you she said" "But she was wrong, for it was only the beginning"

I realized immediately that it must have been the inspiration for that mysterious movie, and furthermore the similarities between The Two Caskets and Alice's Adventures In Wonderland struck me.
Consider the phrasing of the falling scene in each story. Here's the line from The Two Caskets:

Down, down, down went the girl--it seemed as if the well must reach to the very middle of the earth.

And here's the line from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland:

Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth.

          In The Two Caskets, the girl discovers a beautiful and magical land where animals talk, and even inanimate things like fences and milk pails talk. Alice also encountered lots of chatty things and animals.
          In The Two Caskets, the fairy country is referred to as the "under-world," and of course Carroll's original version of Alice's story was called Alice's Adventures Under Ground.
          Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There is bookended by scenes of Alice with her kitten, who is playing with a ball of yarn. In The Two Caskets, a bunch of talking kitties follow the girl around with helpful advice, and one of the girl's main tasks involves two balls of yarn.

She found sitting round her a whole circle of cats

And speaking of those balls of yarn, the task the girl is set to accomplish is to go down to the stream and wash a ball of black yarn until it turns white and wash a ball of white yarn until it turns black. This totally reminds me of the kind of nonsensical demands the Queen of Hearts makes in Alice's story, such as painting white roses red. And the way this task is accomplished is that when the girl fails to manage it on her own, some talking sparrows fly by and yell, "black to the east and white to the west!" So she dips each ball of yarn respectively in the stream to each side and they magically turn the requested colors. Is it too much to compare this kind of nonsense logic to the whole "one side of the mushroom will make you smaller and the other will make you taller" thing from Alice?

Take the black take the black cried the cats

          But which came first? The oldest copyright in my edition of The Orange Fairy Book is 1906, yet it's a collection of traditional folktales from around the world, gleaned from numerous different sources, which seems to indicate the story itself is considerably older than 1906. The particular source noted at the end of The Two Caskets is Thorpe's Yule-Tide Stories, but no date is given.
          Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures In Wonderland in 1865, but if the Two Caskets story had truly been around long enough to be considered folklore, then maybe he was heavily influenced by it.
          I'm not into reading annotated versions of classic stories because I don't like seeing things dissected, so this is probably not news to people who ARE into that sort of thing. But it was an amazing and fascinating discovery to me.
          But I STILL don't know the name of that old animated movie! Dammit.

DISTRACTING AUTHOR PHOTO

2011-03-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

          I never said I was nice or non-judgemental.
          Sometimes when processing new books, or when browsing books for myself at Barnes & Noble or Borders (dear, dying Borders...) I happen across an author photo that is just really distracting and seemingly at odds with the book itself. This is unfortunate.
          We recently received this mysterious and cool-looking book called The Grimm Legacy, written by Polly Shulman.

Misty, sparkly, swirly, and intriguing

As I removed the dust jacket so I could cover it in that clear plastic stuff (something I nerdishly REALLY enjoy doing) I noticed the author photo on the back inside flap:

The hat is bigger than the book

          Now, Polly... The hat. I just wish we'd talked about it first. It's a very bold choice, and I feel that it overshadows the mood of the book. I was interested in maybe reading the book until I saw this photo, and now all I can think about is that hat. That damn hat.
          Listen to this awesome description of the book:

          Lonely at her new school, Elizabeth takes a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository... no ordinary library. It's home to the Grimm Collection, a secret room in the basement. That's where powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales are locked away: seven-league boots, a table that produces a feast at the blink of an eye, Snow White's step-mother's sinister mirror that talks in riddles and has a will of its own.

          That sounds awesome, right?! But then I get trapped by that hat, and the rage it makes me feel. Why do I have to look at it, Polly? Why do you make me?
          When I Googled her name to get the author pic so I could use it here I saw OTHER pictures of Polly, without the hat, hair down, and she looks much better that way in my opinion. Is this her FAVORITE hat? Does it perhaps tie in with the book in some way unknown to me since I haven't read it yet, because the hat keeps me away?
          It looks sort of like straw or something. Did Rumpelstiltskin weave it magically for her?
          Maybe that's it, and she felt obligated to wear it for the author photo so Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't get pissed off. That is what I choose to believe.

HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT FIRES ALL LIBRARIANS: Libraries get totally RIF'd

2011-02-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

          "RIF" stands for "Reduction In Force." If you get "RIF'd" it means your school principal hands you a letter from the district saying that your position is likely to be cut the following school year. There are plenty of times when RIF'd employees end up keeping their jobs because of improvements in a district's budget, but it's a serious warning. The worse the economic situation is, the more likely it is that you really will be laid off.
          Today ALL 8 credentialed Librarians in our school district got RIF letters. Our principal told the Librarian that if a certain tax initiative passes in June, then nobody gets laid off and it's back to status quo. But if the initiative does NOT pass, then our district will ditch every single credentialed Librarian, leaving us Library technicians to run the libraries on our own. Which will mean cutting a lot of the programs we do through the library because we just won't have the staffing for it. No more book fairs, no more book clubs, no more library orientations, and less open hours overall.
          The Librarians get paid a lot (a LOT) more than Library techs, so why should I suddenly bust my ass even more than I already do for the same clerical pay, trying to do the work of two people? If this cut really does come to pass, the district needs to feel the hurt of undervaluing its library staff. If we Library techs are left without any support, why should we try to make it a seamless and painless transition? If we do that, then the next thing you know they'll be cutting OUR hours, maybe cutting Library tech positions and making each remaining tech travel between multiple schools.
          I do not find it flattering when coworkers assure me that I'm capable of doing anything the Librarian is. They say that because they WANT something from me. If I'm that capable and appreciated, then whenever I do the job of the Librarian, I ought to get PAID the same as the Librarian. But we're all (Librarians and Library techs) so busy desperately trying to prove our worth and justify our positions that we keep bending over backwards to show how awesome we are and how much we can do for everyone. At some point our backs are going to break, man. And nobody's going to thank us. They're just going to be pissed off when they can't send their kids to the library.
          I think instead of waiting and hoping that tax initiative passes, we need to spread the word in our district that if they cut all our Librarians it will mean a very noticeable reduction in library services. They cannot expect the CLERICAL library staff to continue doing our jobs AND pick up the slack of the credentialed Librarians for FREE.

READ YOURSELF RAAW : "Read Across America Week"

2011-02-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

Read Across America Day is Wednesday March 2nd

Read Across America Week is Sunday 2/27 - Saturday 3/5 (I guess)

          When I was first introduced to "Read Across America Week," it seemed okay that they chose Dr. Seuss's birthday (March 2nd) as the official RAA Day. Whatever, you know? And in 2004 it was the 100th anniversary of Geisel's birthday so I understood why all libraries were overflowing with Dr. Seuss imagery and read-alouds at the time.
          But now when we library folk celebrate RAAW, could we maybe give Dr. Seuss a rest? The idea is to support reading in every community across the U.S. during whatever week March 2nd happens to fall in. I don't think the National Education Association's goal was really to make us all relentless publicists for Dr. Seuss, exclusively. I don't think he needs the help.
          Also, and this is my BIG peeve-- not merely a pet but a roaring lion of a peeve-- when working with junior high and high school age kids, pushing Dr. Seuss is RETARDED. They're a little BEYOND that, people. Sure, it's fun and silly, and we can all enjoy a good picture book at any age, but I happen to think Maurice Sendak is better than Seuss any day. Especially for grownups. Seuss is twee and lazy. Anybody can rhyme words they just MAKE UP. Some of his stuff is okay, but Seuss does not deserve an entire week of worship every year.
          I try to make a point in the libraries I've worked in to highlight DIFFERENT authors and books during RAAW. It's hard, though, because all of the official posters and crap are plastered over with Seuss's Cat In the Hat imagery. They've become inextricable.
          My annoyance reached all-time highs when I was working at the junior high and a new and incompetent principal decided to make RAAW her "thing." She went all out for it every year, dressing up like the Cat In the Hat, making her assistant principal dress as Sam I Am, and her counselors wear "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" costumes with big fright wigs. She invaded our library and had a big "Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss" cake brought in, and served all the kids cake in the library while she read from one or two stupid Dr. Seuss books.
          I would like to remind you that this was at a JUNIOR HIGH, so of course most of the kids thought she was weird and lame, and only came in for the cake. She made sure to get lots of pictures of herself in costume reading to the kids, though, and smugly thought herself a real hoot.
          I would also like to mention that this same principal was directly responsible for removing a series of biographies about gays and lesbians from our library, and refusing to give them back. This resulted in the ACLU filing a case against the school district. I bring this up to make the point that she was a bitch who CENSORED library books that could have been really helpful and empowering to our kids. She was NOT a real library supporter. After the censorship battle it was even harder to grit my teeth and watch her parading around as the C__ In the Hat.
          But back to the RAAW Seuss love-fest. I was so against the dumbing down of it that I had a super pissy attitude during the "birthday party" in the library, and when the principal asked me to help serve cake to the kids I staunchly refused. I had the biggest stick up my butt. More like a totem pole with about ten snarling, cussing faces.
          The fact was that we had our own ideas in the library about how to celebrate RAAW and special AGE APPROPRIATE activities already in place, but that stupid principal just jacked the whole thing and took over. And it's not like I don't know how to have fun! I'm REAL f*ckin' fun. But on my OWN TERMS.
          I'm at a different school now, with grades 7 through 12, and nobody foists Dr. Seuss and the Cat In the Hat on any of us. They understand that NO means NO. The principal will not be wearing a giant cat suit on March 2nd, and we won't be reading picture books to the kids or letting them grind cake into the library carpeting.
          I'll put a few Dr. Seuss books out (yes we have them), along with OTHER selections that are exciting to teenagers. I'll use a few images of the striped top hat in my displays, as a nod to the Cat In the Hat, but I will also use OTHER imagery and ideas.
          This tirade came about because I was searching the internet for RAAW graphics to use on a bookmark we're making that will feature the favorite books of teachers and other staff members. Of course I couldn't find ANYTHING that didn't feature Dr. Seuss crap, and look like it's for 3rd graders. I did, however, find a treasure trove of online imagery of adults showing us exactly how WRONG things can go when enthusiasm meets bad ideas.
          Please enjoy a few pictures of adults who don't know the difference between "wacky" and "scary." It's okay to laugh at these people because their photos were right there on the internet and they should have known better.

When I was a kid this would have scared the pee out of me. Even just the crotch-hugging red pants, not to mention the rest of it.

Grim times in the library. Girlfriend had to make do with a fake PAPER hat. She does not look happy about it, and apparently didn't even bother to get dressed that morning?

The Crypt Keeper and a white-faced ghoul. This is far more Nightmare Before Christmas than it is Dr. Seuss.

R.I.P. BRIAN JACQUES

2011-02-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

On Monday one of my Library assistants told me that Brian Jacques had died (on February 5th), and asked if we were going to do a display of his books. I was like, "Oh, wow. I'm glad I thought of that!"
Brian Jacques is of course popular for the "Redwall" series, which is a multi-volume medieval epic about talking/fighting bunnies, squirrels, mice, and other cute animals.

The article I printed out is from School Library Journal

In case you didn't know, Jacques is pronounced "Jakes." Be cooler than the other kids and say it correctly.
On the back side of the display I put out books by other authors who write in the "animal fantasy" genre.

Examples from our library:

The "Deptford Mice" series by Robin Jarvis
The "Dragonback" series by Timothy Zahn
Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies (deer)
The "Firebringer Trilogy" by Meredith Ann Pierce (unicorns and griffins)
The "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" series by Kathryn Lasky (owls, recently made into a movie)
The "Land of Elyon" series by Patrick Carman (hyper talking squirrel and other animal friends)
The "Mistmantle Chronicles" by M.I. McAllister (squirrel)
Raven Quest by Sharon Stewart
The Sight by David Clement-Davies (wolves)
The "Silverwing" series by Kenneth Oppel (bats)
The "Swordbird" series by Nancy Yi Fan
The "Warriors" series by Erin Hunter (cats)

          Another obvious "Read If You Like..." title would be Watership Down by Richard Adams, but we don't have that in our library. We should probably get it.
          I remember when I was a kid I read Felix Salten's (author of "Bambi") wrenching novel, Fifteen Rabbits. Those poor rabbits' lives were so fraught with terror and death, and he wrote very convincingly from a rabbit's perspective about how huge and scary humans are, with our big mangling hands and loud voices. My heart bled for those bunnies and I never wanted to imprison a bunny, guinea pig, or hamster as a "pet" again.
          I did not go on to Watership Down, or Animal Farm. The "Redwall" books seem less likely to scar me emotionally, so I may eventually read one.

FEBRUARY GETS UGLY

2011-02-08T12:55:00.000-08:00


This is my favorite part of the main bulletin board.

When it comes to bulletin boards and displays, there's too damn much going on in February, and the color schemes are not complementary. There's Valentine's Day (which is lame in real life, yet easy and fun to make displays for), Presidents' Day (February 21st), Chinese New Year (February 3rd), and it's also Black History Month. Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day share the color RED as a common scheme, but the rest of all that crap ends up being an uneasy smear of browns and oranges if you're not careful.
George and Abraham certainly were not fashionistas. But I've done what I can.

Don't ask me why David Sedaris is thrown in with the rest of these things. I think one of our Library assistants suggested it, using the logic that Sedaris has that new book about squirrels and chipmunks, and Squirrel Day was on January 21st. But then I just left him up there and stuck him with the bunnies for Year of the Rabbit. I don't think he'd mind.

The main bulletin board in all its February hideousness.

Behind the circ desk I created a little nod to Valentine's Day, complete with a romance genre poster. Whatever. That's one of those genres I cannot, nor will I ever, be able to tolerate.

Having had a very recent conversation with a student about gay issues, in particular how tough dating/romance can be for gay teens, I thought it would be nice to make sure the Library was INCLUSIVE in its representation of Valentine's Day. I spotlighted 2 books from our collection for each orientation:

BOY + BOY:
The God Box by Alex Sanchez
Icarus In Flight by Hayden Thorne

GIRL + BOY:
I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
Forever by Judy Blume

GIRL + GIRL:
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

          Many of the kids have definitely noticed the display, especially the "Boy + boy" part. Most reactions have been very positive, but the first day I put the display up one of the boys made a point to recoil and act freaked out, saying, "Boy plus boy? Girl plus girl? Wow, that's WEIRD..."
          I said, "What's 'weird' about it?" and looked him right in the eye, waiting to see what he'd say. Another student standing nearby piped up, "Yeah, what's WEIRD about it?" which I thought was cool. The boy stammered, "Nothing! Nothing's weird about it. Nevermind..."
          I thought to myself, That's right, bitch.

(Please ignore the unsightly stack of papers to be recycled at the bottom right)

           We needed to update our "Coming Soon" board, and like usual, even BEFORE I was done lettering everything the kids were eagerly asking about the titles. The last Alex Rider (Anthony Horowitz) book is coming out in March, and I think 9 books in a series is quite enough. Ranger's Apprentice (John Flanagan) is finishing with book #10 in April, and I think that's TOO many books. But that whole series is wildly, relentlessly popular in our library.
          I don't think I could make it through a 10-book series now. I've read some fantasy/sci-fi series as an adult that stretched to 5 books, and that seems like an accomplishment. But these are smaller, teen-level books, so I guess it's different. When I was still in elementary school I'd read all the Narnia books, all the Prydain Chronicles, and all 14 original Oz books by L. Frank Baum.
          So anyway, there's February. The end.

ALA MIDWINTER 2011 JOURNAL

2011-01-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

My publisher, Dan Vado, who never wears ties, at the SLG booth

The day before I set off for a 2-day stint at ALA Midwinter I said to my husband, "Okay, I don't want you to think you're not welcome or that I don't want you there, but I think you would be really, REALLY bored. This won't be like Comic-Con where there's something for everyone. This will be LIBRARY in the butt and up the ass, LIBRARY wall-to-wall, no escape from LIBRARY," or something to that effect.

          He quickly decided to fore-go the trip. I was relieved, because I knew I would want to stay until the bitter end both days, and would be unsympathetic to cries of, "I'm bored, I wanna go home!"
          I drove all the way to San Diego and back by myself both days like a big grownup boy. I did not get lost, I did not cry. I listened to the new Duran Duran album in my truck, then Courtney Love & Hole, then a Eugene Mirman comedy CD.

          At the convention I helped Dan, my publisher, work the SLG Publishing booth. He explained that this was a "trade show," so we weren't really going to be selling anything, it was all about promoting new books, and giveaways to get Librarians excited about stuff. (Nobody digs free shit like Librarians)
       Speaking of free stuff, I am obviously a LIBRARY SUPERHERO because I returned home with 190 free books for the school library.
          It was a pretty small booth, but looked very nice, and we were right next to the Disney/Hyperion booth. Because we're BFFs. Anyway, at the SLG booth we ended up giving away 250 copies of "The Royal Historian of Oz" #1, and I signed most of them for lots of really nice, gracious people. I used a green Sharpie a friend gave me, because that's appropriate in an Emerald City kind of way.

I ran into a bunch of people I knew, such as two Librarians from my school district, some friends of friends who are big Oz fans, a bunch of people who work in the same public library where I had my first job as a Library Tech, and even a girl who saw a presentation I gave in Chapman University's Leatherby Library a few years ago.
As well as signing my own comic book I was trying to be helpful by giving out SLG catalogs and hyping the other cool books they publish. I made little tags for some of the books to catch the discerning eyes of Librarians. Things like:

"Reviewed in BOOKLIST and Publisher's Weekly!" for Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan

"Listed in YALSA's Top Ten Great Graphic Novels For Teens!" for Pinocchio Vampire Slayer by Higgins and Jensen

"By Printz Award-winner Gene Yang!" (for some graphic novel I can't remember the name of now, but it's done by Gene and some other dude) Gene won the Printz for American Born Chinese, which really is a great book, and deceptively simple until you get to the end and see how it all ties together so cleverly.

This one is not published by SLG, but I GUESS that's okay...

"GIRL POWER! (Strong Female Protagonist)" for Shadoweyes by Ross Campbell

"First graphic novel sold in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!" for Punk Rock and Trailer Parks by Derf

Gentle reader, wasn't that nice of me? To help promote these other fine works of graphic novel goodness? I think so.

RANDOM CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

*     John Shableski hung out at the SLG booth a lot. He's the sales manager in charge of selling graphic novels to the book market for Diamond Previews, which is a really big deal if you know anything about comics, because they're THE distributor for the comics industry. He was wearing a baseball cap that said, "LIBRARY" across the front of it, so I was nerdily jealous of that. It came from the nice guys at "Unshelved," and although they didn't have any on hand, they said they'd send me one. They did give me a little "Intellectual Freedom Fighter" ribbon to put on my convention badge.

*     I was signing comics for some people, and I noticed the guy who was next in line looked kind of familiar. When he was asking me some very nice questions about Royal Historian and I was signing his copy, I noticed his name tag said "T. Jefferson Parker." I was like, "Dude! You're T. Jefferson Parker! My mom and I went to one of your book signings, like, 15 years ago!" In case you don't know, he's a very successful mystery writer. Turns out he's really nice, too!

*     A serious-looking young man in professional attire got all excited when he noticed my name badge, and said, "You're Tommy Kovac!" in exactly the same way I had said, "You're T. Jefferson Parker!" earlier. It was very flattering, and he was super nice. He's read all of my comics, and even most of my zines! I gladly signed a "Royal Historian" for him. I really hadn't expected to run across anybody THAT familiar with my stuff.

          Since it was just the two of us running the SLG booth, Dan and I had plenty of time to talk about stuff. He's trying to appeal to the Library/Education market as much as possible, and had this great idea to create study/discussion guides for some of SLG's graphic novels. He was talking about wanting to come up with a template, and I said excitedly, “Well, Dan, I’ve already DONE that for you!”
          I grabbed a copy of my Skelebunnies graphic novel collection, which he had UNDER the table, because apparently it's so vile and naughty he was afraid it would spook the Librarians. (It probably would) I showed him the very last page, which is a “Teacher’s Guide To Using Skelebunnies In the Classroom.” He seemed surprised, and admitted that he had somehow missed seeing that when we published the book.
          As he read it, he noticed that even though it's obviously a parody, I play it off very seriously.
          By the next morning he had already started one for “Elmer,” using my Skelebunnies parody as a real template. And you know I love that.

We went to dinner Saturday evening after the convention hall closed down, at a funky little Chinese restaurant & bar. Dan almost choked to death on this horrible Korean steak with kim chee. Violently coughed up a ball of it, and had to EXTRACT it from his throat with his fingers, the fermented cabbage (kim chee) making it look like he was giving birth to a Lovecraftian tentacle god through his mouth. Hideous. He was humiliated and kept apologizing, and I couldn't stop laughing. I told him that was the greatest gift he could have given me, to embarrass himself so in my presence.

(this is exactly what the coughed-up Korean beef looked like)

TOTAL LIBRARIAN MOMENT:

          In the lobby outside the convention hall they have kiosks set up at intervals where you can quickly grab something simple like a Diet Coke, a cookie, a cup of self-serve coffee or whatever. The keyword is "quickly." They're super stripped-down versions of Starbucks and Mrs. Fields, staffed by distracted teenagers and exhausted non-English speakers. Little more than wheelbarrows with fancy umbrellas.
          My point is that you can't expect quality or service.
          I had scoped out a Mrs. Fields kiosk just outside the convention hall door from the SLG booth, so once in a while I would trot out there, ask for a Diet Coke or a cookie, and be on my merry way back to the convention.
          One time I ended up behind a birdlike, slow-moving librarian with frizzy hair. She was hovering in front of the kiosk with her awkward bags and purse, making it hard to tell if she had completed her transaction, or was just confused, or what. What I did know was that she was in the fucking WAY, and I wanted to just get my Diet Coke and zip back into the convention.
          Finally "Frizzy" began fumbling in her purse with some wadded up dollar bills and paid the poor kiosk worker, but not until after she had thoroughly questioned the total.
          Then Frizzy moved over to keep a keen eagle eye on the kiosk worker making a hot chocolate for her. I was tapping my foot, checking the time, wondering how many free books I was missing out on.
          "Excuse me," Frizzy whimpered. "Excuse me, is that my hot chocolate you're making? Because it doesn't look very chocolatey..."
          The kiosk worker glared at her. I glared at her.
          "Did... Did you only put ONE packet of chocolate in? Because it looks very light. I like mine to be very chocolatey. Do you think you could put another packet in?"
          The kiosk worker explained calmly that they only use one packet per cup. That's just what they do.
          "Oh, really? Only one?" Frizzy continued to whine. "Because it just doesn't look very chocolatey..."
          Not really knowing what to say, the tired kiosk worker just handed the cup over, slowly, in silence. Frizzy slumped away, and I was glad she didn't get more than her one allotted chocolate packet.

SAME TO YOU, BUDDY:

Later in the conference, a creaky gray-haired man staggered over to the SLG booth and asked what we published. We tried to explain "comics" and "graphic novels" to him, but he seemed slightly bemused, and mostly uninterested. (Let me also mention that Dan has been in business with SLG for 25 years now.) The geezer turned his nose up at us as he began to lurch in the other direction, and quipped over his shoulder, "Well... Hope ya make it."