Patron Interaction: On Being an Outcast

I was working at my desk in the staff area of the library, when my phone rang. It was a question from one of our Library Assistants currently at the Service Desk. They had a teenage patron looking for books about being an outcast, misfit, or misunderstood. Preferably nonfiction. Our LA said she sent the patron to a section in nonfiction, but wasn't sure she had found exactly what she was looking for. I gave her a few vague suggestions before we hung up, but a few minutes later, the LA came back and asked me to come meet the patron and see if I could help her.

The patron was a younger-looking teen girl with glasses and an enviable afro. I realized I've helped her before, when she was looking for certain numbers in the Dork Diaries series, so we recognized each other and had an instant rapport. I tried to get more specifics about what she was looking for, but she couldn't seem to tell me much more than, "I'm looking for books about when you're kind of a misfit, or don't really fit in with the people around you." It turns out her mom suggested she come to the library to look for books on this topic.

After a few more questions, I got a little more information:

• She doesn't feel like she fits in with the other kids at school
• She searched "misfit" in the library catalogue and saw some Juvenile Fiction books that sounded good
• She recently read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and loved it
• More specifically than being a misfit, she wants books about when you are being bullied

These are facts I can do something with! I am a die hard Jerry Spinelli superfan, so I was happy to hear how much she loved Stargirl. I asked if she knew that book has a sequel called Love, Stargirl; she did not. We even found it on the shelf, and her face lit up with excitement!

I was also able to find her misfit book from the catalogue: The Misfits Club by Kieran Crowley.

In nonfiction, we located a book called Uncool: A Girl's Guide to Misfitting In that she thought looked okay. I think the part that attracted her was that it has quotes from real teens.

Instead of finding a nonfiction book about bullies, she thought she'd rather look in our YA fiction section to see if there were any stories about overcoming bullying. We found a couple she thought looked okay, but ultimately ended up putting them back. She was not interested in romances or anything violent or overly sad, which narrows down your choices considerably in YA. 

This morning, I was reading a profile on the author Jacqueline Woodson and her profound impact on diverse YA literature for the last 2 decades. While browsing with this patron, I came across If You Come Softly, which I have never read, but felt good recommending because of what I had recently learned about this book specifically and the author in general. She thought the book sounded good, and I told her I'd recently put it on my list as well so she should come back and tell me what she thinks about it.

Then she asked a question that sort of threw me: "When I'm just browsing, what should I be looking for in a book that tells me it's about the subject I want?"

I had to think this over for a minute, because I've never really considered this before on the level of just checking out book covers. Funny enough, the old trope "Don't judge a book by it's cover" couldn't be more untrue at the library. We create displays specifically so you'll judge a book by it's shiny, interesting cover and check it out. So, what should this patron be looking for when she's browsing the YA fiction section looking for uplifting stories on being a social outcast?

I think she was looking for me to give her buzzwords to find in the titles. Instead, I gave her the best advice I could think up in the moment: "This is not a complicated subject, but it's very broad. You have a small stack of books in your hand that relate to the subject in one way or another. At this point I recommend you keep browsing, and try out anything that sounds good to you. If you relate to them, great. If not, no worries. I am going to think about this subject more, so if you need more guidance feel free to ask for me at the desk whenever you're here."

She promised to let me know what she thought of Love, Stargirl and If You Come Softly, and then I left her to browse. 

This interaction felt really special to me, because she was looking for something so specific and relatable, but somehow elusive. Why aren't there more books in YA nonfiction about empowering the "misfits" and the outsiders? Are there, just not on our shelves? Are they on our shelves and I just missed them in the catalogue?

I would LOVE some opinions on this subject. I will definitely be seeing this girl around the library again, and I would love to have a list of suggestions ready for her when I do (especially if she likes the ones we found today). Do you think these books were good picks? What would you have done differently during this reader's advisory interaction? If you are a librarian, educator, parent, writer, etc, comment on this post or contact me on the Welcome page with any thoughts or title suggestions.