Display: Just Keep Reading (Ocean)

At this point, I'm content with the fact that there are no original ideas anymore. The human race has been around long enough at this point that we're just stealing one another's ideas and giving credit where we can. 

The idea for this display came out of a need for more displays in our library this month. The managers sent out an email asking us to sign up for display units since not too many had been claimed yet. Thanks to a quick Google search, I decided to make an end-of-summer, swimming-theme display. Another librarian blog (don't remember which one, sorry!) showed off the awesome Finding Dory display they put up when the movie came out a few years ago, which gave me the idea to take Dory's famous catchphrase and library-ise it. Even though the idea came from my very own brain, I'm 100% sure I'm not the first person to use this display idea. Even so, it turned out cute and I'm happy with it!

Originally I was going to put any books that looked pretty on this display, because "just keep reading" could refer to anything. In the end, I decided to raid the nonfiction section in search of books about fish, other sea creatures, water, and the ocean. Later this week, I plan to add adult, children's, and YA fiction books with the word "water" or "ocean" in the title. Here's a list of the current and planned titles for this display. I was surprised to find that so many novels by different authors are titled Thicker Than Water!

YA/Adult Nonfiction

• Dreaming in Turtle: A Journey Through the Passion, Profit, and Peril of Our Most Coveted Prehistoric Creatures by Peter Laufer, PhD (2018)
• The Dragon Behind Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish by Emily Voigt (2016)
• What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins by Jonathan Balcombe (2016)
• Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea by Richard Ellis (2001)
• Firefly Pocket: Guide to Seashells of the World by A.P.H. Oliver (2004)
• Big Pacific by Rebecca Tansley (2017)
• The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Oceans Are One by Sylvia A. Earle (2009)
• Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn (2011)
• Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of Earth's Last Dinosaur by Carl Safina (2006)
• Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean by Morten Stroksnes (2017)
• Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity by Sandra Postel (2017)
• The Oceans by Ellen J. Prager with Sylvia A. Earle (2000)
• The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey (2010)
• The Attacking Ocean: The past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels by Brian Fagan (2013)

Adult Fiction, Western, Mystery, Sci Fi

• The Water Children by Anne Berry (2012)
• Good Water by John D. Nesbitt (2016)
• Black Water by Louise Doughty (2016)
• Under Water by Casey Barrett (2017)
• Water Walker by Ted Dekker (2014)
• Deep Water by Pamela Freeman (2008)
• Hot Water by Erin Brockovich (2011)
• Blue Water by Manette A. Ansay (2006)
• The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (2015)
• Still Thicker Than Water by Takerra Allen (2015)
• The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh (2019)
• Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge (2017)
• The Iron Water by Chris Nickson (2016)
• Into the Water by Paula Hawkins (2017)
• Blood, Salt, Water by Denise Mina (2016)
• The North Water by Ian McGuire (2016)
• Thicker Than Water by Kelly Fiore (2016)
• Thicker Than Water by Sally Spencer (2015)
• Dark Water Rising by Sharon Sala (2019)
• Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin (2013)
• We Are Water by Wally Lamb (2013)
• Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge (2013)
• The Water Thief by Ben Pastor (2007)
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2006)
• Coldwater by Samuel Parker (2018)
• Waterborne by Bruce Murkoff (2004)

YA Fiction, Mystery

• Big Water by Andrea Curtis (2018)
• Like Water by Rebecca Podos (2017)
• Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer (2016)
• Water in May by Ismee Williams (2017)
• Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough (2018)
• The Dark Water by Seth Fishman (2015)

Children's Fiction

• Wild Water Magic by Lynne Jonell (2014)
• A Long Walk to Water by linda Sue Park (2010)
• Water Steps by A. LaFaye (2009)
• Haunted Waters by Mary Pope Osborne (2006)
• Deep Water by Watt Key (2018)
• Treading Water by Laurie Halse Anderson (2014) 

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!!!!!!!!!!!

All the Books I Read in 2018

This year was not as productive reading-wise as 2017. Work caught up with me big time, and I had some pretty serious health issues for the better part of 2018, so I didn't get to read nearly as much as I had hoped. Even so, I read 22 books of various genres and age levels, so here they are. Perhaps I'll write reviews on some of them in the new year.

Several of these were re-reads, either of books I read several years ago as a younger adult, or as a child. Some people feel like re-reading is a waste of time when there are so many books in the world, but I love it. Every time I re-read something I loved, I notice something different and get a new emotion or life lesson out of it. I try to read my favorite books at least once every five years. It's especially interesting to revisit your past thoughts and see how much you've grown since last time if you're one of those people who underlines passages and makes margin notes (like yours truly). Reading an old favorite book is also comforting, like a visit from an old friend. When I'm not feeling great physically or mentally, I like to revisit books I loved when I was younger.

Middle Grade/Tween Fiction

• Stef Soto, Taco Queen by Jennifer Torres
• George by Alex Gino
• Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin (Babysitter's Club #1)
• Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper

Young Adult/Teen Fiction

• You Don't Know Me but I Know You by Rebecca Barrow
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
• Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
• Playing for the Commandant by Suzy Zail
• Blubber by Judy Blume
• Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters
• Boys Don't Knit (In Public) by T.S. Easton
• You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner
• Glass by Ellen Hopkins
• The You I've Never Known by Ellen Hopkins
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
• Paperweight by Meg Haston

Adult Fiction and Nonfiction

• The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (fiction)
• Fiend by Peter Stenson (fiction)
• Alice and Freda Forever by Alexis Coe (nonfiction)
• Prophet's Prey by Sam Bower (nonfiction)
• The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston (ethereal mix of fiction and memoir)

2018 Middle Grade/Tween Fiction:

  
  

2018 Young Adult/Teen Fiction:

                
  

2018 Adult Fiction and Nonfiction:

    

  

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. 

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

All the Books I Read in 2017

My goal is to write a short review of every book I read as I read it. I read 58 books this year. While typing out this list, I realized I have something to say about almost every single one, so maybe reviews are forthcoming. But for now, since 2017 is almost over and I didn't do that this year, here are all the books I read from 1/1/2017 to 12/31/2017.

PS, I did write reviews for Thirteen Reasons Why and We All Looked Up for a fellow librarian's blog, Hello Yellow Room. Click the links to read, and check out her site while you're there!

PPS, yes, I did read all 58 of these books this year. Yes, that's more than one a week. Yes, it's possible. I read about this much every year I am not in school, maybe half as much when I am in school. I tend to read several at a time and also listen to audiobooks while I'm driving. Also, because I like to keep up with children's lit, a lot of them are intended for a younger audience. Please don't judge my choices, all literature is valid and I would happily defend any of these to you if you ask. Yes, even Fifty Shades of Grey and the memoirs written rather poorly by people who have stories to tell, but who are not writers.

PPPS, ask me why I picked up any of these books. Ask me whether I liked them. Ask me which I own and which I had to give back to the library. Ask me which I bought after reading the library's copy because I loved it so much. Ask me which were a pleasant surprise, and which were disappointing. Ask me how I felt about anything about anything I read, or ask me why I didn't read your favorite book in 2017. I love to talk to strangers about books.

Middle Grade Fiction:

• The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier
• 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
• Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle
• Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle
• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

YA Fiction:

• House of Stairs by William Sleator
• Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
• Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach
• Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
• Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
• Burned by Ellen Hopkins
• 99 Days by Katie Cotugno
• If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
• Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony
• Amity by Micol Ostow
• Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser
• The Summer I Wasn't Me by Jessica Verdi
• History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
• Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan
• Girl [hearts] Girl by Lucy Sutcliffe
• Lock-In by Jonathan Mary-Todd
• What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• Tenderness by Robert Cormier
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan (12 book series)

Adult Fiction:

• Still Alice by Lisa Genova
• Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• A Game for All the Family by Sophie Hannah
• Whiskey Moth by A. M. Wegelin
• The First Bad Man by Miranda July
• Fight Club 2 by Chuck Palahniuk
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
• Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

Adult Nonfiction:

• The Doctor Will See You Now by Tamer Seckin
• Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall
• January First by Michael Schofield
• Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

2017 Middle Grade/Tween Fiction:

        

 2017 Young Adult/Teen Fiction:

                  

 

2017 Adult Fiction:

       

2017 Adult Nonfiction: