Display: LGBTQ+ Pride Month 2019

Time for my annual Pride display! Pride Month is like Christmas for me. I joke that it's the only month of the year I get to be gay at work. It's not, my workplace is super inclusive and accepting, but it IS the time of year that I get to hang rainbows everywhere with relative impunity! This year, I focused on YA fiction and nonfiction books, but invited the whole staff to add books as they found them.

Throughout the month, a lot of books made their way through the display. You can also check out 2017's display list for more titles. Here are the ones you can see in the photo:

• Traffic by Ellen Hopkins (YA fiction)
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (YA fiction)
• Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan (YA fiction)
• Queer America by Vicki Lynn Eaklor (YA fiction)
• Stonewall by Ann Bausum (YA/adult nonfiction)
• And She Was by Jessica Verdi (YA fiction)
• The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson (YA fiction)
• Being Transgender: What You Should Know by Thomas E. Bevin (YA/adult nonfiction)
• At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson (YA fiction)
• Ship It by Britta Lundon (YA fiction)
• FML by Shaun David Hutchinson (YA fiction)
• The First Man-Made Man by Pagan Kennedy (Memoir)
• Hold Me Close by David Levithan (YA fiction)
• Here We Are Now by Jasmin Warga (YA fiction)
• Alice and Frida Forever: A Murder in Memphis by Alexis Coe (YA/adult nonfiction)
• Journey to Same-Sex Parenting by Eric Rosswood (YA/adult nonfiction)
• Becoming an Ally to the Gender-Expansive Child by Anna Bianchi (YA/adult nonfiction)

To draw even more eyes to the display at the front of the library, one of my volunteers made this bulletin board strategically placed in the teen area. The writing on the shooting star reads, "Check out the PRIDE display in the front lobby!"

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!

Book Review: Heather Wells Mystery Series

Series Info:

Book 1: Size 12 is Not Fat (2006)

Book 2: Size 14 is Not Fat Either (2006)

Book 3: Big Boned (2007)

Book 4: Size 12 and Ready to Rock (2012)

Book 5: The Bride Wore Size 12 (2013)

Author: Meg Cabot

ISBNs: 9780060525118, 9780060525125, 9780060525132, 978-0061734786, 978-0061734793

Plot Summary of Book 1 (From Goodreads)
Heather Wells Rocks!

Or, at least, she did. That was before she left the pop-idol life behind after she gained a dress size or two — and lost a boyfriend, a recording contract, and her life savings (when Mom took the money and ran off to Argentina). Now that the glamour and glory days of endless mall appearances are in the past, Heather's perfectly happy with her new size 12 shape (the average for the American woman!) and her new job as an assistant dorm director at one of New York's top colleges. That is, until the dead body of a female student from Heather's residence hall is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft.

The cops and the college president are ready to chalk the death off as an accident, the result of reckless youthful mischief. But Heather knows teenage girls . . . and girls do not elevator surf. Yet no one wants to listen — not the police, her colleagues, or the P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives — even when more students start turning up dead in equally ordinary and subtly sinister ways. So Heather makes the decision to take on yet another new career: as spunky girl detective!

But her new job comes with few benefits, no cheering crowds, and lots of liabilities, some of them potentially fatal. And nothing ticks off a killer more than a portly ex-pop star who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong . . .

Author Meg Cabot

Brittany's review of the Heather Wells Mystery Series
My senior year of high school, I was on my school’s newspaper staff for a semester. I quit after the first semester because I got upset that the advisor seemed to dislike my “book reviews” section idea because the books I was recommending weren’t new.

Like, excuse me, I’m a senior with multiple AP courses, I do not have enough time to read and recommend 5 books that are NEW.

But now, Jeselyn’s letting me write a blog entry for her and I CAN REVIEW WHAT I WANT. SUCK IT, DALTON.

I mean...I’m not bitter about something that happened over ten years ago. Nuh-uh.

ANYWAY. I have been a longtime lover of Meg Cabot since I started reading the Princess Diaries some time in middle school. I’ve read the majority of her work (I think there’s one teen series I just wasn’t interested in, and that’s not her fault). Recently, I decided to revisit one of Cabot’s other series, the Heather Wells Mysteries. The main plot of each book is basically: “Twentysomething former pop sensation Heather Wells is now making her way in the world by working as assistant director at a residence hall and living anonymously with her ex-boyfriend’s private detective brother in New York City when *gasp* a murder happens in the dorm building!”

The rest basically goes the way you would expect a book in this vein to go: lots of accidental stumbling on clues, risky choices, and eventually solving the murder without the help of the police, much to their chagrin.

Unlike most other mystery series (in my opinion), the Heather Wells Mysteries are *FUN.* Like, obviously the murdery bits are fairly gristly, but Heather, like most of Meg Cabot’s heroines, is funny, smart, and snarky. Because the books are written in the first person, we get so much of her internal life, where she worries about the things you’d expect a regular twentysomething to worry about: boyfriends, ex boyfriends, the fleeting fame, your hot roommate, vanity sizing, donuts, beautiful sugary coffee concoctions...you get the picture. Additionally, The supporting cast of characters are diverse, hilarious, and genuine. My favorite (besides aforementioned hot roommate--Meg Cabot is just real good at making sexy love interests) is Magda, the sassy Dominican cafeteria attendant with amazing airbrushed nails. She adores the students that live in the residence hall, and provides a lot of the funniest lines in the books.

Also, even though I’ve read these books multiple times (well, ok...I think I’ve only read the fourth one once), the murderers were complete surprises until pretty close to the end. So that’s pretty cool.

The one criticism I have about the books after this reread is that, because Meg Cabot is a really heavy pop-culture referencer, it’s easy to tell that the books were written several years apart, even though they only cover the span of about a year. They also might end up seeming kind of dated because of that, even though they were written between 2006 and 2012. Hey, you young kids can get an education about late augts-early teens pop culture the same way i got my eighties and nineties pop culture education: reading books with lots of references.

But, look. These aren’t books you’re going to read for learning or anything (although if you’re a writer, you could totally learn from her character building). They definitely fall in the “Brain Candy” category of literature. If you’re looking for a book to laugh your ass off too, then “aw” over, and feel like you’re helping to solve a murder, I 100 percent recommend this series.

My Toddler Time Hello and Goodbye 2018

We're only a third of the way through 2018... I might as well share what I've been doing differently in our Toddler Time hello and goodbye since roughly January.

First of all, I have made an amazing discovery about the 16-36 month age group. They are not smaller preschoolers; they are bigger babies! Toddlers are basically infants with the ability to run away from you. For this reason, I have decided to disconnect my Toddler Time and Preschool Storytime activities, and instead more closely link Toddler Time and Baby Lapsit.

In Toddler Time, we now begin with an a cappella greeting song instead of one with recorded music. I changed it because I feel the toddler age group benefits the most from chanting and singing without musical accompaniment. It makes it easier to sing the songs with their grownups at home, and they'll remember the songs more if their voices are the only thing making the music.

Here is our *shiny and new* good morning song:

Hello: "This Is the Way We Wave Hello"

(Wave both hands)
This is the way we wave hello,
Wave hello, wave hello.
This is the way we wave hello,
Hello, hello, hello!

(Clap hands to the beat)
This is the way we clap hello,
Clap hello, clap hello.
This is the way we clap hello,
Hello, hello, hello!

(Stamp feet to the beat)
This is the way we stamp hello,
Stamp hello, stamp hello.
This is the way we stamp hello,
Hello, hello, hello!

(Wave both hands)
This is the way we wave hello,
Wave hello, wave hello.
This is the way we wave hello,
Hello, hello, hello!

This video shows the melody we sing to, but it uses different lyrics.

The other two hello songs are the same as 2017. They are good for both toddler and preschool audiences, and "Open, Shut Them" comes with a built-in parent tip.

Warming Up Motor Skills: "Open, Shut Them"

On this song we do the movements described in the lyrics: open our hands, close our hands, clap three times, put our hands in our lap, creep our fingers up to our chin, and don't let them in our mouths.

My parent tip: It's great to do a motor skill-strengthening exercise like this once a day with your toddler. You can make it fun with a game or a song, and it will help strengthen their muscles and help with coordination as their bodies and minds develop.

Stretch: "Tall/Small"

This is a short, easy stretch the preschoolers get a kick out of. While we're stretching, I like to encourage them to reach for the ceiling, touch their toes, then make themselves into a tiny ball.

Click here to listen to the version I use

This is where the rest of the storytime comes in. And then...

Goodbye: "This Is the Way We Wave Goodbye"

Know what's great for tiny, developing brains? Repetition. 

Know what's great for tiny, developing brains? Repetition.

(Typed it twice to make a point.)

Our goodbye song for Toddler Time is now also a cappella, and a repeat of our new hello song. We just substitute "hello" for "goodbye." Doing this song twice per storytime gets the melody and movements in the kids' heads that much quicker. If they're not scream-singing "This is the way we blankety-blank" about everything they do for the rest of the week, I haven't done my job.

(Wave both hands)
This is the way we wave goodbye,
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye.
This is the way we wave goodbye,
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

(Clap hands to the beat)
This is the way we clap goodbye,
Clap goodbye, clap goodbye.
This is the way we clap goodbye,
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

(Stamp feet to the beat)
This is the way we stamp goodbye,
Stamp goodbye, stamp goodbye.
This is the way we stamp goodbye,
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

(Wave both hands)
This is the way we wave goodbye,
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye.
This is the way we wave hello,
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

Bubbles! "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles" and the Yo Gabba Gabba Bubbles Song

The last thing I do at every storytime is blow bubbles. The kids go crazy over them! I play the same songs every time so they get to know that after we say goodbye, we have bubbles for the duration of two songs, and then storytime is over until next week. Our regulars know this is the way it always goes, which is a great introduction to establishing routines in other aspects of life as they grow.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles
Yo Gabba Gabba Bubbles Song

March 2018 Bulletin Board: Spring Into the Library!

As we get into the Spring season, I thought our main bulletin board in the Children's Room needed a little spruce. Using a friendly laminated butterfly I found in a cabinet and Mr. Frog from our recent Valentine's Day Party, I created our interactive "Spring Into the Library!" board.

The board is interactive because I painstakingly die-cut about 100 flowers out of construction paper, and have this invitation up for patrons:

If you click the first image of the whole bulletin board and zoom in, you can see all the things our smallest patrons love about their library. 

Also, at the end of the month we can count each flower as a participant in a passive program and add it to our stats! 

Toddler Time 2-28-18: Dinosaurs

Today, I once again strayed from my regular hello routine, and sang "This is the Way We Wave Hello" a capella instead of "Hello Friends."

I use totally different lyrics, but this video will give you an idea of the tune:

Here are the lyrics we use:

This is the way we wave hello,
Wave hello, wave hello.
This is the way we wave hello,
Hello, hello, hello.

Repeat with clap, tap (stomping feet), and then close it out with another chorus of wave.

Our first story today was Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton. He has a bunch of great books appropriate for toddlers. While my favorite is Bones, Bone, Dinosaur Bones, I thought this one would be more appropriate since it shows the dinosaurs alive. Maybe we can read the other one if we have a fossils themed storytime.

After the story, our movement songs were "We Are the Dinosaurs" and "One, Two Hands," both by the amazing Laurie Berkner. 

Next, we did a flannel board story called "Five Dinosaurs." The kids and grownups all had fun calling each new dinosaur in and then slapping their thighs to make the sound of the dino running over.

Chant:

[One dinosaur is placed on the flannel board]

One dinosaur went out to play

In the Arizona desert one day.

He had such enormous fun

He called another dinosaur to come!

Ooooohhhhhh dinosaaauuuurrrrrr! 

[slap thighs like a drum roll to show dino is running over]

[Repeat with two, three, and four. When fifth dino is added...]

Five dinosaurs went out to play

in the Arizona desert one day.

They had such enormous fun

They laughed and played 'til the day was done!

At the end, it's a good opportunity to say goodbye to each dinosaur and count backward from five to zero as the dinos are put away.

Then we did another movement song. I found this really cute counting song called "One Friendly Dinosaur." During the song, we practiced counting on our fingers.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. The kiddos were pretty riled up from roaring like dinosaurs (every chance they got, encouraged by me to the detriment of my classroom management #sacrifices), so bubbles were an extra crazy baby mosh pit today. It was chaotic, but so much fun. 

Here is the list of dinosaur books I displayed:

• If You Happen to Be A Dinosaur—Bailey 
• Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones—Barton 
• The Berenstain Bears’ Dinosaur Dig—Berenstain 
• Dad and the Dinosaur—Choldenko 
• Rory the Dinosaur (series)—Climo 
• Dinosaur Rescue—Dale 
• The Good Dinosaur: A Friend in the Wild—Disney 
• Tig and Tog’s Dinosaur Discovery—Garland 
• Duck, Duck, Dinosaur (series)—George 
• George and the Dinosaur—Hayes 
• Drumheller Dinosaur Dance—Heidbreder 
• T. Veg: The Story of a Carrot-Crunching Dinosaur—Prasadam-Halls 
• Dinosaur vs. (series)—Shea 
• Dinosaur Kisses—Stein

Baby Lapsit 2-9-18

Even considering last week's success in a themed Baby Lapsit, I went back to no theme this week. After saying hello to all our friends, our first book was Why Cry by Yusuke Yonezu. This book is a good one for babies and toddlers, because it teaches about emotions and normalizes sadness. As children are developing, it's important that they learn it's okay to cry and be sad sometimes, and that these feelings don't last forever. The book also has a cut-out half circle in each page, that turns to a rainbow by the last page.

Next it was time for our lap bounce journey and it began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." I have a few regulars who have come to Baby Lapsit continuously since their babies were only a couple months old, and they know this chant by heart now. Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

Our musical lap bounces today were "Noble Duke of York" and "Humpty Dumpty." Since my version of "Humpty Dumpty" repeats the nursery rhyme three times, I suggested to the grownups that their baby's "great fall" be in a different direction each time.

Our second book today was Rainy Day by Dan Yaccarino, from the Happyland series. This book was interesting to read to a room full of babies (and one two-year-old big sister) because it only has words on every other page. The others show Glub Glub performing an action: putting on his rain boots, dancing in the rain, etc. I realized that while babies might not be the ideal audience for a book like this, toddlers or preschoolers might. It leaves lots of room for discussion: "What is Glub Glub doing? How do you think he feels?"

We did two movement songs before saying goodbye today. First, we practiced "Hush Little Baby" with the sign language.

Here is the version of the song that I use, and here is a video showing the correct signs to go with the song.

We also sang "One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner today, because she's a storytime goddess and her songs are fantastic. When we sing this song, I like to remind parents that an important part of a baby's development is learning who they are, and where they exist in space. Naming their body parts is an important part of this, and this song helps begin that conversation.

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

A stuffed animal sleepover is not an original idea in Libraryland, but it's always adorable and a hit with the kids. This program was totally my programming partner Sara's baby, but she let me co-staff it with her and help take pictures of the animals doing adorable stuff.

If you're not familiar with the idea of this program, here it is: We can't let kids spend the night in the library, but we CAN let their stuffed animals sleep over. So kids dropped off their babies with us on Friday. They gave them a hug and kiss, and filled out an intake form so we would know what their pal likes to eat, read, and watch on TV.

The next morning, Sara and I wheeled a cart full of surprisingly diverse stuffed animals around the library before opening and photographed them getting into mischief of one kind and another.

After taking the pictures, we compiled them into a photo album. When the kids came to pick up their furry friends, they got to decorate the cover of their album and take it home as a reminder of all the fun their animal (or doll or dinosaur or Pokemon) had at their library sleepover!

 In case you can't read the list, here are our sleepover/bedtime book picks:

• Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Robert Shea
• Chester Raccoon and the Almost Perfect Sleepover by Audrey Penn
• Where's my Teddy? by Jez Alborough
• Clark the Shark Afraid of the Dark by Bruce Hale
• Milk and Cookies by Frank Asch
• Twenty Yawns by Jame Smiley
• Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear by Monica Carnesi
• Sophie Sleeps Over by Marisabina Russo
• Vampirina Ballerina Hosts a Sleepover by Anne Marie Pace
• Who Feels Scared? by Sue Graves
• Sleepover at Grandma's House by Barbara M. Joosse
• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down

Another book review, already??

Yes. But, this one was not written by me. It is brought to you by my smart, funny, thoughtful buddy Brittany.

Brittany reviewed Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, because we have differing opinions on the king of YA fiction. She loves him, I loved Looking for Alaska and tolerated the rest of his body of work. Apparently, though, this book is his big comeback from the land of two-dimensional male characters and manic pixie dream girl love interests. Also, this review miraculously contains NO SPOILERS so feel free to read whether you've read the book or not! She wrote it in the form of a letter to me so convince me to read the book. And it worked. So you might see a companion review in the not-too-far future. 

Book info:

Title: Turtles All the Way Down
Author: John Green
Year Published: 2017
ISBN: 9780525555360

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

 

Author John Green

Without further ado, here is Brittany's review of Turtles All the Way Down by John Green: 

‘Sup, Jeselyn,

As you know, it’s been literal years since I’ve written more than a sentence of anything, let alone a review of something fictional. So this is scatterbrained and quick, but I want to tell you about Turtles All The Way Down by John Green. Look, I know you have *OPINIONS* about his stuff, and you don’t love him as much as I do, but how about this for a spoiler: this is a John Green novel where no one dies at the end! It puts him above 50/50! Hooray!

As is my usual MO with YA novels, I read this book in about 3 hours. Probably a little quick for something that’s going to be reviewed, but I didn’t know I was going to want to review it before I started.

Ok, that’s a lie, because I texted you about 5 pages in telling you how I was sure this was going to be a good one. And it was. Like, it’s been awhile since I read The Fault In Our Stars, but it was better than that.

The thing that made this one special for me is that I could identify with a teen protagonist more than I have since I was an actual teenager. A lot of that had to do with the insular nature of the novel, how much of it is in the main character, Aza’s, head. The prose follows the thought spirals that anyone with anxiety or OCD will recognize and relate to. Aza’s particular obsession involves a lot of body horror, and thoughts about the billions of microbes that live in your body. It’s made clear very early on that Aza has something going on in her head. “By cell count, humans are approximately 50 percent microbial, meaning that about half of the cells that make you up are not yours at all. There are something like a thousand times more microbes living in my particular biome than there are human beings on earth, and it often seems like I can feel them living and breeding and dying in and on me.” (pg 3).

Being a follower of John Green’s internet presence, particularly his projects with his brother, the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel and their podcast, “Dear Hank & John,” I was expecting this. He’s talked a lot about how this book has come out of his struggle with his own mental illness, and you can tell that this book comes from a very deep place, one of those places where the thoughts stay stuck for a long time. In a scene fairly early on in the book, Aza’s therapist says: “One of the challenges with pain--Physical or psychic--is that we can really only approach it through metaphor. It can’t be represented the way a table or a body can . In some ways, pain is the opposite of language.” (pg 89). In a way, John Green has managed to put some of the psychological pain that being mentally ill causes into words, in a way that only living with it and thinking about it A LOT can do.

There are a lot of the tropes that you expect for a teen novel: the high school that everyone hates, the quirky best friend, the love interest. But this, like John Green’s other books, is where it stops being standard YA for me. Aza is a fully formed protagonist. Her best friend Daisy reminded me in some ways so much of you, Jeselyn, that she stopped being just the quirky best friend. There is tragedy and the thought spirals, and love, too. There’s the things we hold on to as we grow, and the things we have to let go even though we don’t want to. There’s being so trapped inside yourself that you forget that other people exist. There’s mental illness, and the reminder that it is something you live with every day, that you are never “cured” of, but something that can be managed.

I really want you to read this book, Jeselyn. Not just because Daisy reminded me of you, but because I know in your work as a librarian, you might be able to put this in the hands of a kid (or adult!) that might need to know that their anxieties, obsessions, and traumas are not something that they have to struggle with alone. Like, it’s not the savior of mental illness for anyone, but it’s a book I would have loved to have read when I was dealing the most with my own anxiety and depression.

Basically, this is a 4.5/5 from me.

Please read it and let me know what you think!

Love,
Brit

Guest Poster: Brittany

This post is an incomplete profile of my best friend Brittany, who lives in Chicago and is a super cool feminist/activist/reader/writer/world traveler. You can find her on Twitter at @britreads4fun.

We have known each other since 2008 when we were freshmen in college, so there are all kinds of embarrassing pictures I could post on this page. HOWEVER, I have given my blog address to children, so we're gonna keep it clean and focused on the books.

She has reviewed the following books for this blog:
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Heather Wells Mystery Series by Meg Cabot

So here are some facts about Brittany:

• She has the biggest wanderlust of anyone I've ever seen. She has visited about a million countries including Chila, Chile, Ireland, Scotland, Jamaica, and I'm sure that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
• Like me, she was a Creative Writing and Literature major in undergrad, where she wrote some fantastic fiction pieces and really solidified her love of literature (but it started in childhood).
• Brittany is a life-long book lover! She had a twenty-book-a-month library habit in the summer growing up, and won tons of prizes from the public library and her school for reading contests.
• Brittany is a super duper major extreme wonderful socially conscious intersectional feminist! I could try to tell you details but she explains it way better than I do. Maybe some day she will explain it for my blog, and/or give me a list of her favorite feminist books to post.
• While being a super duper major extreme wonderful socially conscious intersectional feminist, Brittany is also a heterosexual cisgender female (weirdo). (TOTALLY KIDDING all sexualities and gender identities are valid and have no bearing on whether you can be a good person and care about the plights of others please don't stone me to death). 

Without further ado, here are some pictures of her and us...

Here we are together at the Fall Out Boy concert in Phoenix in 2017

Travel selfie. She is very worldly.

Being cold in Chicago.

Our friend group in college, circa 2009.

Book Review: You Don't Know Me But I Know You

Before I start this review, I'd like to announce that I set my Goodreads goal to 50 in 2018. Since I hit 58 in 2017 I considered making it higher, but I also want to push myself to read more adult fiction and nonfiction this year, which take longer to read. Then again, I will be running two youth book clubs this year, which is 24 middle grade and YA novels right there. So. I will probably read 60-70 children's and YA titles this year. Que sera, sera.

WARNING: SPOILERS ARE COMING. If you haven't read the book, you will learn things you shouldn't until the end of the book. Just trust me, this book is amazing; read it, then come back and read this entry. Recommend it to every teen in your library while you're at it. Yeah, it's that good.

Moving on...

Book info: 
Title: You Don't Know Me But I Know You
Author: Rebecca Barrow
Year Published: 2017
ISBN: 9780062494191
Interest Level: Grades 9-12

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Rebecca Barrow’s bright, honest debut novel about chance, choice, and unconditional love is a heartfelt testament to creating the future you truly want, one puzzle piece at a time.

There’s a box in the back of Audrey’s closet that she rarely thinks about.

Inside is a letter, seventeen years old, from a mother she’s never met, handed to her by the woman she’s called Mom her whole life. Being adopted, though, is just one piece in the puzzle of Audrey’s life—the picture painstakingly put together by Audrey herself, full of all the people and pursuits that make her who she is.

But when Audrey realizes that she’s pregnant, she feels something—a tightly sealed box in the closet corners of her heart—crack open, spilling her dormant fears and unanswered questions all over the life she loves.

Almost two decades ago, a girl in Audrey’s situation made a choice, one that started Audrey’s entire story. Now Audrey is paralyzed by her own what-ifs and terrified by the distance she feels growing between her and her best friend Rose. Down every possible path is a different unfamiliar version of her life, and as she weighs the options in her mind, she starts to wonder—what does it even mean to be Audrey Spencer?

You Don't Know Me But I Know You is without a doubt the most diverse YA novel I have ever come across. I added the disclaimer about spoilers because I can't even list all the ways it shows diversity in modern teens without giving away a major plot point.

The main character, Audrey, is a mixed race teenager who lived with her single, white mom. Her mom, an ex-movie star, adopted Audrey by herself when she was single. So already we have a mixed race family, single parent family, and adoption.

There is also very realistic bisexual representation in the form of Audrey's best friend, Rose. Rose has dated guys and girls, and during the course of the book gets over her ex-girlfriend, sleeps with a guy friend at a party, and then overcomes her relationship fears and enters into a healthy and loving relationship with the new girl in school. This character is some of the best LGBTQ+ representation I've seen in recent YA literature, because this facet of her being is accepted by her friends, and mentioned without it constantly (and unrealistically) monopolizing every conversation. Rose has other things going on in her life, like her absentee parents; like in real life, her queerness does not define everything about her existence.

Sex is presented in a very positive way in this book as well. It is understood that teens have sex, birth control should be made available, and if an accidental pregnancy happens, it's something to deal with and not the end of the world. The adults in the book are very understanding when Audrey and her boyfriend slip up and get pregnant, even though they were using birth control. Once again, the fact that they are having sex does not define them.

HERE IS WHERE THE SPOILERS KICK IN so if you're still reading and haven't read the book yet, bookmark the page and go read the book first.

It is also really realistic how Audrey finally comes to the decision to end her pregnancy. She has a lot of open communication with her boyfriend (something else that doesn't usually happen in books in favor of dramatically fighting couples), and they consider all options. What it would be like to be parents, how it would feel to carry the baby to term and then give it up for adoption, and whether the best choice is abortion. Audrey's own status as an adoptee comes into play in the form of a letter from her birth mother. What ultimately convinces her that abortion is the right choice is, in fact, the letter where her birth mother tells her about her life 17 years after giving Audrey up for adoption. I love, love, love this twist. Audrey reads the letter and realizes that, like her birth mother choosing adoption because it was the best choice for her at the time, she needs to choose abortion so she can go on without disrupting all the important plans she has for her life. She takes a long time to land on abortion after a lot of careful consideration.

The abortion scene itself is very well done. The doctor and nurse are nonjudgmental, the procedure is presented as clinical and not scary, and her mental state during and afterward are curious but calm. It makes me so happy that YA literature has come far enough in its evolution that an abortion scene can be presented scientifically and without any sort of preaching. The genre has come a long way from killing off LGBTQ+ characters as a form of karms after they made out with someone of the same sex. More info about that weird recurring phenomenon in They Have Faces Too: LGBTQ Literature, Then and Now, an article I read this week by Michael Cart on the Booklist website.

I feel like this book would be an amazing pick for my Young Adult Diversity Book Club. Why is it diverse? Let me count the ways...

• Mixed race main character
• Single parent family
• Mixed race family
• Adoption
• Teen pregnancy
• Bisexual representation
• Sex positivity
• Abortion

Most books include one, maybe two subjects that make them diverse. This one has EIGHT! That's unheard of, and amazing. Did you read the book and spot more diversity that I missed? Leave me a comment!

In conclusion, I am completely in love with this book. This is Rebecca Barrow's debut novel, and I cannot wait to see what she comes out with in the next couple of years! She is definitely an author to watch, because great things will continue to come from her. Unrelated, I want to be her best friend. She just looks like she'd be a really cool buddy to eat Chinese food and watch Netflix with, doesn't she?

Author Rebecca Barrow

Learn & Grow with Rhythm & Flow 12-22-17: Special Guest and Hanukkah Presentation

In the last two weeks of December, my library system traditionally does not hold storytimes because of low attendance. A lot of people are out of town, or have family in town and don't want to leave them to come to the library. However, I accidentally scheduled Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow for today, where it would have been on a normal month. Instead of going through the very difficult cancellation process, I just left it on the calendar. It's lucky that I did, too, because this was the only time our special guest was available to do her Hanukkah presentation for our patrons!

We have a retired volunteer named Natalie who is always an absolute joy when she helps out with programs. She loves being around kids, and is always full of great ideas for how we can expand our program participant base and partnerships with community businesses. Natalie was in the library a few weeks ago just browsing for something to read, and mentioned to me that she had a Hanukkah presentations she has been taking around to local retirement homes. My first question when I talk to anyone now is "Can you do the same thing, but at a preschool level?" She said yes, so we scheduled her and her presentation partner Nancy as special guests for December 22nd.

I spent the morning searching for preschool music having to do with Hanukkah, and found that the Kiboomers actually have a whole Hanukkah album! We used the songs "9 Little Candles," "Sweet Hannukah Gelt," and "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel." Here is the whole album:

I also found this slightly more rock and roll version of the Dreidel Song by the Kiddie Katz, which I like more than the Kiboomers version. It's slightly easier to listen to seven times in a row. 

We started the storytime with my usual hello, because I like to provide something familiar especially when we have a guest presenter that deviates from the regular storytime formula. Then, Natalie read/paraphrased from the nonfiction book Hannukkah by Valerie Bodden. 

When she got about halfway through, I could sense the kids getting wiggly. She was at the part about menorahs, so I asked her if it was okay that we take a break and sing a song about the candles in the menorah. We sang the Kiboomers song "9 Little Candles," counting on our fingers and learning what the middle candle is called.

Then Natalie finished going through the book, alternating between historical facts and tidbits about how the holiday is celebrated in the modern world. After the book, she brought out tiny plastic dreidels and chocolate coins (gelt) for all of the kids. I allowed about ten minutes for the kids to play with the dreidels, eat their candy, and color pictures. During this time, I let the Hanukkah music play, bringing attention to "Sweet Hannukah Gelt" and "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel." 

Source: TwistyNoodle.com

When it was about time for storytime to be over, I brought the attention back to the front of the room and we sang out goodbye song and had bubbles. I invited the families to stick around if they wanted, ask our presenters questions, and finish coloring their pictures. My biggest regret of the day was that I got no pictures of all the fun! So here is the model/librarian in a dress I want, to fill space where pictures of my program would go if I were a better multi-tasker.

Here is a list of books I had displayed today:

• Hanukkah by Valerie Bodden
• Honeyky Hanukah by Woody Guthrie (yeah, THAT Woody Guthrie. It comes with a CD)
• Chanukah Lights Everywhere by Michael L. Rosen
• I Have a Little Dreidel by Maxie Baum
• The Hanukkah Mice by Steven Kroll
• My Two Grandmothers by Effin Older
• The Hanukkah Trike by Michele Edwards
• Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah by Olga and Aleksey Ivanov
• Maccabee! The Story of Hanukkah by Tilda Balsley
• Hoppy Hanukkah! by Linda Glaser
• Hanukkah: Eight Lights Around the World by Susan Sussman
• Hanukkah Moon by Deborah da Costa
• The Best Hanukkah Ever by Barbara Diamond Goldin

YA Diversity Book Club 2017

My vision for this book club is to provide a space for all teens who enjoy reading and talking about what they've read. I put the word "diversity" in the title because we focus on books in which the characters belong to marginalized communities: racial, ethnic, disabled, LGBTQ+, homeless, mental illness, abuse, etc. I have found that reading books that explore marginalization is a great way to open up the conversation in a non-threatening way. After reading these books, kids will open up about similar experiences they have been through or witnessed their friends going through. It's part book club, part safe space, and part social; I want my teens to leave this club knowing that I am here for them, as are their new friends, if they are having a hard time for any reason.

Since I have not been keeping up with entries about my teen book club since I started it in the summer, I figured I would do a 2017 wrap up and then start monthly entries about it in 2018 as meetings happen.

Reception about this program has been varied, because the type of highly-motivated teens that a book club tends to attract are also super busy with other extracurricular activities. During the summer, a lot of our teen volunteers were very involved, but that dropped off in September when everyone went back to school. I still have exactly one very involved member, who has been doing their best to talk it up at school and their other activities. For the moment, however, I am just working on getting the word out and recruiting more teen readers.

January will be a planning meeting where I'm asking the kids what they would like to read. I am trying to lure them with pizza, so we'll see if I get any new members.......

In the meantime, here are the books we read in 2017 along with Goodreads links, why they fall into the category of diverse books, and a short review.

September: If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

I fell in complete love with this book. Farizan does an amazing job of explaining the difference between being gay and being trans to readers that might not understand it, without breaking out of the character's voice. The ending was heartbreaking, but also exactly what I hoped would happen.

It's diverse because: Iranian culture, LGBTQ+ themes (lesbian and trans)

October: All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely

I actually originally read this book for a class in grad school about YA literature. It's very timely because it talks a lot about a Black Lives Matter-esque movement without actually using the name of the real-life movement. Alternating between the POVs of two teen boys, one white and one black, we get to see all sides of a story dealing with police brutality.

It's diverse because: Racial issues and teaching tolerance

November: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I have to say, I am not usually a fan of fantasy, but I loved this book! It's like the Harry Potter universe, except the kids sometimes drink, curse, and have sex. The spells are also much more modern, and it explores the idea of magic being a concrete substance that you can own, spend, and run out of. Also, Rowell does an amazing job of writing in British voices across all six or seven narrators, even though she herself is American. Halfway through reading I found out that it is actually the book from Rowell's other novel, Fangirl, and was written after Fangirl was published and popular. Now I have to read that one as well!

It's diverse because: British culture, LGBTQ+ themes (gay)

December: None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio

I read this book last year and did not have a chance to re-read it before our December meeting, but I still remembered it well enough to have a conversation about it with the one member who showed up. I like it because it is written by a doctor who specializes in Intersex patients, so all the medical facts are correct. Gregorio also does a great job of capturing all the characters' emotions, especially the main character's. What I dislike about this book is the utter cliche that is Kristin's high school life. She's a pretty, popular athlete who desperately wants to win Homecoming Queen and have sex with her boyfriend, and then it all comes crashing down when she finds out that what has been masquerading inside her as ovaries are actually testicles. The only downside to the diagnosis as far as I can tell is not being able to have biological children, if you wanted them. Otherwise, the devastation Kristin experiences and the merciless bullying her schoolmates subject her to when they find out seems incredibly dramatic and over the top. The best character is the mentor she finds through an Intersex support group, a self-assured lesbian who helps her understand her condition and develop a new outlook on life. But, it's a worthwhile read and a great example for teens of how to accept yourself no matter what curve balls life throws at you.

It's diverse because: LGBTQ+ themes (intersex)

November 2017 Display: Intrigued by the First Line?

I have to admit, this display was not my original idea. I got lost in a Google search loop of amazing library didplays, and these ones especially stood out to me:

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

Source: Brooklands Primary School, UK

I like these clever displays because they get patrons to read the first sentence or first few lines of a book, and judge it solely on its actual content rather than how it looks or how popular they've heard it is. I have been learning for years that "don't judge a book by its cover" is actually incorrect because merchandising techniques matter, and this is true to an extent. However, I think it's fun to pick up a book and just start reading without knowing anything about it. So, I made this display for my library using 8.5x14" sheets of paper wrapped around YA fiction books.

The best part about making this display? You can use ANY book! I didn't have to place holds on materials or spend hours making a list of themed books (which I actually enjoy, but they are incredibly time consuming when my other work is piling up). I just grabbed a pile of books from the YA section, making sure to have a good mix of genres and authors, and typed and printed out their first lines. 

It is very easy to make and maintain this display. Another plus is that it's not oriented toward any specific time of the year or holiday, so I will be able to keep it going through the end of the year. Once 2018 hits, I'll update the YA display again, but this one has been going strong for a month and will continue to be an easily maintained, eye catching display through the end of December. 

Write Your Own Picture or Comic Book - Week One

This is week one of a four-week writing program for tweens age 8-12.
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four

I required registration for this program, because there is a limited amount of space where we held it. Also, I decided partway through the planning that we would be using laptops, and my library only owns twelve laptops.

As of yesterday, the registration was full at twelve participants plus two on the waiting list. Ten of the registered kids showed up, plus four that I was not expecting. Even though two were without laptops, there were chairs for everyone so I invited them all inside.

Our first activity was on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's website Eduplace, and was basically an online version of MadLibs called Wacky Web Tales. With two sets of siblings sharing a laptop, I challenged the kids to find the website and then fill out the tale entitled "The Box." Since we used this as an ice breaker activity, I told them that their own name had to appear somewhere in their tale. They had 15 minutes to fill it out, then we went around and shared.

For the rest of the session, I let them work on their choice of two websites: Story Jumper or Storyboard That. Story Jumper presented the unexpected complication of needing users under 12 to go through a long and involved process to get parent permission to use the website, so most of the kids ended up on Storyboard That for today. They had a great time making their own comic strips, and exploring the website. Here is my example strip that I created on Storyboard That:

I feel that it's important to let tweens and even older elementary schoolers explore the internet in an only somewhat structured environment. This way their activity can still be monitored, but they figure out how to browse and make things happen on their own. I originally had a more regimented lesson plan for today, but because it was the first session, I thought it would be fun for them to look at character and setting options without putting too much pressure on the session.

Play Book BINGO Live!

This event was the culmination of a whole summer's worth of passive programming.

For the whole summer, I printed BINGO boards that I made for children, tweens, and teens, and left them at the circulation desks so kids could pick them up and mark off what they read. There were spaces for actual books that had pictures of the covers, and there were also spaces with descriptions of books such as "A book that takes place in Arizona" or "A book with an LGBTQ+ main character." For these spaces, the kids could choose their own books as long as they applied to the description, and write them in.

When the boards were returned to the library, participants received a prize from the treasure chest if they had completed one row, and $2 to spend at our used book sale for a totally full board. Click on the pictures to enlarge for a closer look.

Picture book board 1

Picture book board 2

Picture book board 3

Tween/middle grade board 1

Tween/middle grade board 2

Teen/YA board 1

Teen/YA board 2

Teen/YA board 3

Finished tween board!

Finished picture book board!

Finished picture book board!

For the BINGO Live event, I printed and laminated 20 BINGO boards with book cover art in each square (the fill-in-the-blank concept would have been too difficult to incorporate in this program, I think). I created a slide show with the cover art and brief synopses of all the books that appeared on every BINGO board from the passive program. Then I randomized the slide show so the slides would appear out of order, and projected the slides on the wall.

We played several rounds, including a couple of total blackout rounds. The winners of each round received a snack of their choice from my snack bin and a $5 gift card to our book sale.

What I liked about the passive BINGO program was that, like the Summer Reading Program itself, it encouraged children to use their summer vacations to read as much as possible. It also gave a mix of book suggestions and opportunity to choose their own.

For the active program, I was able to show more than 50 titles to a group of people who may have never heard of them. Not only that, but the group was diverse in age. We had a family with little ones drop in, a couple groups of middle- and high-schoolers with their chaperoning adults, and even several retired adults who like BINGO! I was delighted by the turn out, and will definitely repeat a Book BINGO program again.