Final project

The time has come again for the semester to be almost over. I can't believe our last class is tonight! It is so bittersweet. On one hand, I am graduating (yay!) and on the other, I will truly miss this group of people. We have insightful discussions and have really become friends over the semester. Special thanks to Jack and Jen for your leadership. You have the ability to teach classes that are fun and informative. Yes. I will also miss the structured reading... I somehow feel guilty about kicking back with a good book. Unless of course it's for school or work. I guess I will have to practice getting over that as I am not planning on going back to school any time soon. Thanks!

Rita Williams-Garcia

ROCKS! She was so inspiring! It is amazingly refreshing to hear from someone who is so unafraid to confront tough issues. It can be so easy to say, "Not my problem." Or to think that kids aren't mature enough to handle certain subjects. But when it comes down to it, these are real issues that will most likely have to be faced by the kids eventually. To have a thoughtful and even gentle introduction, through the lens of a healthy friendship seems pretty ideal. She was so enthusiastic and intelligent. I can't wait to read the rest of her books.

The Remarkable & Very True Stroy of Lucy and Snowcap

Hmmm.... I am not quite sure where to begin. I was really looking forward to reading this book. In my mind it had it all: magic, adventure, history... But somehow, somewhere, it just fell flat. The characters were trite and the magic was forced and unbelievable. (And yes, I have found magic to be very believable in other books). It was a physically long book, but ultimately felt short, like nothing significant actually happened.

I was also surprised to find out that Lucy was supposed to be unattractive and large. She certainly doesn't appear that way on the cover of the book. That sort of superficiality is a big turn-off for me, especially in books promoted to children. It is basically telling the readers that the author will go as far as to WRITE about a character who isn't physically attractive, but not actually present any visual evidence. I guess it does have to come down to publicity at some point after all.

Ted and Emma

What is about these characters? After thinking on it for some time, it seems as though the comforting aspect of these spectrum(ish) characters is their extremely literal and mostly practical outlooks on life. For tweens, who are suffering through the most confusing and challenging times they've ever faced, Ted and Emma offer solace. Ted and Emma don't really have friends, and that's ok. Ted and Emma don't really care what people think about them. Can you imagine, being in middle school and NOT CARING WHAT PEOPLE THINK??? Ted and Emma rarely second guess themselves. Sometimes the way that they interpret the world gets them in trouble, but mostly it helps them get by.

KNUCKLEHEAD

I was very surprised to find that some people did not like Knucklehead and even more surprised to find that some people thought that kids wouldn't like it! I found it hilarious and that kids, especially boys, would agree. It is well-written without being pretentious OR speaking down to younger readers. It is thoughtful without being sickly sweet and it seems to paint an accurate picture of the era, doing so without being nostalgic or overly sentimental. As a teaching tool there is also a lot one could do with the book. It is an accessible introduction to the memoir style, the photos and the fact that it is "mostly true" makes it a good source for understanding the time period and it would make a fabulous read-aloud. Loved it!

Big Splash makes a big....well.... splash!

I wanted to blog this week about the book The Big Splash. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, but, like many of my classmates was left unsure about whether actual kids would enjoy the subtleties and the noir-esque vibe. Well, my uncertainties were soon thwarted! My fiancee, a fifth grade teacher, shared part of the book with his students. This week he had a bunch of their stories home for grading and I poked through them, always curious to see what sort of creative stuff these kids are coming up with. I was happy to see that many of them seemed to be inspired by The Big Splash. The stories were full of all-powerful bullies, mature and descriptive vocabularies and the noir-esque vibe. So cool! These kids not only enjoyed the book, but we able to recreate the tone and mood. What a useful teaching tool. And it's fun!

Marketing to tweens

I always (mostly) feel so relieved after I hear from people who work for publishing houses. There seems to be, especially for people new to the library world, a fear of the publishing world. It's as if librarians are the good guys, so what does that make publishers? Well, in my opinion, they are good guys too. It seems that their mission is very similar to ours: get good books in the hands of people. It's really exciting. It's actually really inspiring and makes you realize how important every step of the book process is to the final goal. Librarians need the publishers and they need us too!