Let’s call this a year-end month-long sprint. I kind of like doing these blogging spurts and might make this a thing, who knows?! Either way, I’m calling this the 31 days of December and today is the kickoff.
New post each day!
Is there something you’d like to see throughout the month? Of course I will definitely be doing my top 10 posts which I do every year. I’ll also be highlighting some topics I’ve ruminated on since the beginning of the school year that I haven’t sat down to actually write about like hosting an intern this fall, student borrowing and reading habits, and school library life. I’ve also got a few odes to authors planned. But seriously readers, is there something you’d want to read about here? Let me know in the comments.
And so since a kickoff (like the closing) should always be a bit flashier, I’m going to share the thing I built this Monday. Our library book tree.
It was on hiatus for the last two years but it’s back this year and it looks more beautiful than ever. It’s pretty to look at, cooler to see in person, and the competition gets fierce the last week before the holiday break when students get to guess how many books it took to build.
Aren’t breaks for catching up on your TBR pile? Mine wasn’t ridiculously large but I do have the added problem of borrowing books digitally or putting books on hold that come in super quickly even though I really don’t have time to read them. Additionally, my committee work is coming to an end which means a lot of the prescribed reading I’ve had to do all year is now petering out and I have more room for all the extras.
And Ruta Sepetys’ new book coming out in February was just that book I got my hands on this month. Not only did I have the pleasure of being able to read an advanced copy, within days I was assigned it to review for a professional library magazine. So I am not going to go into great detail with a review because that will be published shortly in School Library Journal, but know that it’s my Outstanding Book of the Month for November for a reason– ’nuff said.
It’s been a long month, but October for educators is akin to March in many ways.
As my secret reading (reading for a committee which I cannot share) ramps up, I was still able to sneak in some books that do not fit the committee’s profile to pick my outstanding book of the month. And you know how I like to cheat. This month’s outstanding book is actually a trio, part of a series written by Kami Garcia and illustrated by Gabriel Picolo.
Their Teen Titans graphic novels will see the release of Robin some time in 2022, but until then I dove into the first, Raven, the second, Beast Boy, and the third, Beast Boy Loves Raven within days of one another via Hoopla where you never have to wait! And maybe that adds to the excitement but I also recognize that these three so far are written beautifully in both the dialogue and narrative and Picolo’s illustrations compliment it with vivid colors and exquisitely drawn character, situational, and action scenes which flowed scene by scene.
Meeting Rachel, then Garfield, and then building the suspense to when they meet and discover they both have hidden abilities meant that the stories had to stand on their own but then come together. With a backstory for each character it was easy to move from one to the other and then the meet-cute between the two. It’s as simple and complicated as two veterans can make it, to the celebration of readers.
I was never someone who read more than one book at a time.
Now I’m the person who has a graphic novel on my tablet through Hoopla, an audiobook to listen to through Libby, a book sitting on the kitchenette table in my office during lunch, and an eReader or a print book that travels around with me in my work bag and purse with the added Netgalley shelf app newly downloaded to my phone.
With this kind of access, I am definitely not reading one book at a time anymore.
The launch of a new school year always means there is so much to get organized even when you felt organized right from the start. Therefore, my reading has been disjointed; a cobbling together of an audiobook while doing housework and driving to and from work in addition to my obligations on a book committee and interspersing that my literary lunchbox features. There seems to be no fluidity yet. However, even disjointed reading is reading and I was able to review September’s books (that I CAN talk about) to pick my favorite of the month:
The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
But not the print version because I didn’t read it in print. Instead, I listened to the audiobook of the collection of poetry via Hoopla and was ensconced in the sounds of the forest and animals added to the audio with a multi-cast set of readers during a walk. It’s a brief collection. One that I wished was longer because it captured the essence of nature in ways that the print on the page might not have. This is an audiobook done right. One that uses the format to its fullest and it was not disappointing.
Don’t wait until April to read this collection of poetry. It can be read it any season. It’s warmth on a winter’s night or a heightened sensation of all of spring’s beauty. An amplification of nature for nature lovers everywhere.
Today is my sixteenth year in education. Fifteen of them have been right where I am today, as the high school librarian.
I have seen one facelift and one major update with the third around the corner– a completely new space to move in to next fall to the facility. I have had more than a dozen direct supervisors, building principals, and superintendents. With a graduating class hovering around six hundred students, I have likely interacted with close to 9,000 teenagers and hundreds of teachers. And whatever each school year brings, it always circles back to the kids. I saved this post to make on the first day of school, but it’s really a post that could have been shared on the last day of school last year. And it’s been sitting with me all summer long.
The three major subgenres of books that were most circulated last year– specifically reflecting why they were the most circulated as I often do at the end of a calendar year when making “best of” lists or the books most likely to be missing from the shelves and of course, when I’m putting new orders together for purchase.
Yes, we still checked out physical books through the curbside pickup method, the small number of students who were physically in the building, and the handfuls of drive-up to their curbside. And then there was the robust digital offerings. I booktalked until I couldn’t booktalk anymore– Google Meets, 1:1, and in-person.
What were they?
Murder
Romance
Humor
Let’s break this down: the three most asked-for books in the library came down to murder, romance, and humor. And then I say, it was 2020. And you nod your head. Of course!
True crime is prevalent in Netflix series and podcasts, books and casual conversation. It’s a thing. And it’s a thing with our teenagers too. Being home with their families rather than playing team sports and attending school every day, I’m sure there was some level of interest in the subgenre because of these massive shifts in daily business. It’s easy to go to a darker place. And books are nothing if not a reflection of inner thoughts and feelings.
We all needed some love. We missed family gatherings and meeting up with friends. And for teenagers, a whole chunk of their socialization went out the window when schools shut down. Really, all they needed was some love. So can you see how a little romance went a long way?
And humor, there is comfort in the familiar. Yes, we have Diary of a Wimpy Kid in our high school library and no I couldn’t keep them on the shelves. They wanted the escape from the seriousness of the news and the pandemic. They wanted to laugh. And who can blame them?
I will remember this past school year because it was the year I lost my co-librarian for the majority of the school year to budget cuts and had to manage alone. It was isolating because staff were scattered and hunkered in their rooms talking to computer screens. But I still saw kids each day and I will remember that all they wanted were some books and those books had to do with murder, romance, or humor. And I replied, well then I’ve got a book for you…
For this school librarian, the end of August means the end of summer, but that’s okay because then I get to go back to reading, recommending, and chatting with students about books! In the meantime, here’s my favorite from this past month.
And how appropriate a gif because it’s the most delicious romance: Emiko Jean’s Tokyo Ever After. As I was shouting my love of this book from the rooftops (and in a Young Adult book group meeting), I was informed that there is already a sequel in the works: Tokyo Dreaming, so now I’m not so sad it’s over because I know Izumi will live on again between the pages of the book.
What Jean does is exactly what you’d expect from a Cinderella story and an enemies to lovers trope. Izumi is a regular American girl who discovers that she’s Japanese royalty. But that’s not enough, when she discovers her roots, she falls for the bodyguard.
What I love:
Izumi’s girl gang. Their and her realness inject goofy humor throughout the book
The romance, of course!
The character development. Every character has something rich to offer to the story as a whole
This is a romance for any season. This was my summer read– the kind of cutely sexy beach read that feels indulgent. But it could be a spring read– as love blooms all around (Izumi’s is not the only love story in the book!). It could be a fall read– the colors and smells of that season are as succulent as the details of the story as it comes together. And need I explain that in the depths of winter– this is a story that will warm your heart.
It’s no surprise that as a school librarian you can find me in my school library. But as a reader, it shouldn’t surprise you that you can also find me at my public library and the indie bookstore too.
Several weeks ago, I strode into my indie bookstore while doing errands: I needed to pick up a few books that had been set aside by a bookseller and preorder the eighth volume of Witch Hat Atelier, a delightful adventure manga featuring the upbeat and hardworking Coco.
The minute I crossed the threshold I saw a coworker who paused as I did to greet each other. And what he said next, was worthy of a blog post exploring the topic. He said to the employees behind the counter: “This is my librarian.” Now, I know I am one of the librarians at our high school, yes. But I have also spent several sessions talking to him about his own daughter’s reading and needing recommendations and books to bring home to her, which I have obliged every time. A librarian is like a personal shopper, you can have one of your own who can help guide your choices and select what is best. So when he said that, it felt more personal rather than simply what my profession was. And it felt good. It means I do my job well.
And then I thought, if I’m a librarian, can I have a librarian too? Then I thought, everyone is my librarian because I take recommendations from professional magazines and book websites, bookish Instagram hashtags, and former students.
For the readers out there, who is your librarian and what’s your story with your relationship with them?
For the librarians out there, are you your own librarian curating your reading materials or do you have someone else who is also your librarian?
What identities do you have where you would be considered someone’s something?
Pass up the opportunity to go back through the photo archives and share my favorite bookish pictures? Never! A story in five pictures. Share your favorite bookish photos too!
The only #bookface I’ve ever done and it was spectacular, probably because this book is one of my favorites.My first YALSA award committee. These were the finalists (Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Khorram won) for the William C. Morris Award that year. I’ve sat on others and am currently the chairperson for the Excellence in Nonfiction Award Committee. This is in addition to the mountains of books I’ve read for Great Graphic Novels for Teens and Best Fiction for Teens, both selection committees. If you have the opportunity, lend your readership to these lists.As a high school librarian, I get to play host for some amazing YA authors for our students who are book lovers too. Slater’s visit was a fabulous example of the power of nonfiction. My love for books runs so deep and excitable that I often present about books: locally, state-wide, and nationally. It’s my favorite kind of presentation to do because the prep work is *reading*. In addition to presenting, I write about books too. It’s one of the reasons you’re here on my professional blog, but I also spent time writing for our local newspaper’s Books Blog before it was retired. This was my cover photo among some of my personal library’s books.
Liniers is an Argentine cartoonist who creates the Macanudo comic strip.
Several years ago the local newspaper began printing it in the comics section and I was instantly hooked because a frequently-used character is Henrietta who has a sidekick cat named Fellini and also a teddy bear named Mandelbaum. She is a reader and the comics featuring her usually feature her reading (in bed, in nature) and pondering the world of books and mining the depths of her imagination. Last week’s hit me, as it would with many readers, hard with its snapshot of our relationship with reading.
Simply, it’s all about the feelings.
I read plenty. I also know plenty of readers and in discussing books find that their ability to remember details (like the plot) are much stronger than mine. I usually remember the details that resonated with me and always always the feeling when I finished it; awestruck, quiet, emotional, frustrated, and the list goes on.
Coincidentally, I’ve been engaged in work with my school district through Yale’s RULER, which is a systemic approach to social emotional learning that begins with the staff and then works its way down to the students. What I’ve learned is that I don’t know much about emotions. And like one participate shared yesterday, the kids are actually better at it than the adults are. I’m learning every day to be able to be that “emotional scientist” takes work especially in being able to appropriately name the actual emotion that you might be feeling at a specific moment. It’s hard work but I’m here for it.
Somehow I think Henrietta is a pretty good judge, as her little girl self, with feeling her feelings especially when they come to books. I would like to think that she, like me, has bookshelves upon bookshelves that are there for very specific reasons because they elicited very specific feelings from them. The Virgin Suicides by Eugenides? Epic sadness with a twinge of desperation and longing. Challenger Deep by Shusterman? Deeply moved by Caden’s internal struggle.
Are you like Henrietta and me and remember the feelings from the books stronger or are you the type of reader that remembers the plot, setting, and characters primary and the feelings secondary?
Readers Be Advised 