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Author Archives: Alicia Abdul

About Alicia Abdul

You'll find me drinking tea in a dress and reading... or making lists.

No podcasts here

As part of the #edublogclub year-long challenge to blog on education. While the official club has ended, they have shared posts to continue the journey through 2017. This week’s prompt was about a podcasts.

Rather than talk about how I used podcasts professionally or personally, I’ll admit that I’ve tried listening to podcasts and right now, it’s just not the thing that works for me. I’d rather read a blog post about a topic than listen to people talk about it just like I’d rather read a book than listen to the audio version.

The only time I have been remotely captivated by a podcast was This American Life’s Serial series seasons one and two because the topics were interesting and others had recommended I listen to it because I’m a fan of true crime. I listened to them mostly when walking the dog (I need music when I’m exercising) or doing the housework, but just like listening to an audiobook while driving, I’m often distracted and then realize I’ve missed a chunk of the clip and need to go back.

That’s not to say I won’t go back and try podcasts at another time, like I did with Twitter when it first came out, but for now, it doesn’t fit my needs and lifestyle. Sorry to disappoint but you won’t find the next great recommendation for a podcast here because I’ve deleted Stitcher from my phone and haven’t listened to one since Fall 2014 when I still wasn’t sure whether Adnan Syed killed his teen girlfriend or not.

4 Comments

Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 24, 2017 in Blogging, edublogsclub, Miscellaneous

Thankfulness

23 Nov

For the past few weeks, we’ve had a display in our library that asks students and staff to share what books they’re thankful for. Those books become the feathers on our turkey. And while some simply put the title, others added why. So on Thanksgiving, let me share a few of the books I’m thankful for and wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

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Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age by Sherry Turkle for all the reasons that I keep bringing up the book in blog posts.
Dear Fahrenheit 451: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Break-Up Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence for it’s humor and authenticity. She captures what every book lover and/or librarian feels when we read books especially when they come at the right (or wrong) time in our lives.
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty professes a need to talk about death more in our death-scared American culture so that deceitful practices and high prices can be uncovered and allow people to discover what they truly would like after death.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a contemporary classic that began the conversation about rape in young adult literature that continues to strengthen the voices of teens struggling. Plus, everyone knew the groups that she was talking about in high school from the geeks to the jocks and everyone in between.
Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge is a graphic novel with beautiful color and a main character wanting to find her voice as she’s growing up. So, as she’s navigating the good and bad, Gulledge gave me all the feels on every page with how she captured Paige’s internal and external feelings. Those images I will not forget and would use them as wall art they’re so creative.
Steam Train, Dream Train and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Litchenheld are two of the most gorgeously illustrated, phenomenally-rhymed, and thoughtful children’s books that I had the pleasure of reading to my own boys. It was more perfect because I had one who was a fan of trains and one who was a fan of construction equipment. It couldn’t have been more perfect a match.
Anything by Ruta Sepetys, Erika Robuck, or Jeffrey Zentner. They spin tales like magical weavers of words and I’m lost in their significance any time I pick up a new books of theirs.

I could go on as book lovers are apt to do, so I’ll stop there and ask, what books are you thankful for?

Hello? Hello?

20 Nov

If you asked me which makes me sound more intelligent, I’d say in print. My words tend to flow better, I have the time to think of the right word rather than the quickest word to get to my point, and I can edit for content. Specifically, I revise so that my point is direct rather than my verbal communication where I circuitously make my point (What was I saying again? Or, I forgot what I was saying). I’ve also made improvements like editing out exclamation points and using bullet points when emailing. I’m also the one friend you have that uses capitals when needed and proper punctuation in a text message. I have never used LOL. Ever.

Though improvements can be made for verbal skills as well. Several years ago I heard myself say “no problem” too many times when someone said thank you or deflecting a compliment rather than saying thank you. I wanted to change that, so I made a concerted effort to reply “you’re welcome” when someone said thank you and “thank you” when someone gave me a compliment.

PaperandPen

I think about this again and again especially in my constant reflection of Turkle’s book Reclaiming Conversation that I posted about here. We are living in a society that does value digital rather than verbal. People would rather text than talk because it allows for a disconnect in interaction.

As educators to the young and old, we should listen more and talk less, something that I’m working on with teens in my library. I’m quick to put words in their mouth when they’re not coming out fast enough– thinking I know exactly what they’re going to say. But I’m doing the thing that I hate– feeling rushed when speaking. Let’s give our kids a chance to say what they want to say and not scare them into being silent. As they say, listen and silent are comprised of the same letters.

We should also read what they write, I value when current and graduated students send me their work to read and respond to. It’s why we get such a positive response when authors visit and kids are eager to get feedback from those making it in the business. Give praise and feedback to our students because they will then value their own voice in writing and keep that flame alive.

1 Comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 20, 2017 in Blogging, edublogsclub

Lock-in love

18 Nov

Two times in one day? Yes, I’ll post twice if it matters and I’m sitting here way past my bedtime, writing about the library’s second lock-in. Though, this time we decided to change the scenery and work with our fabulous public library friends and host the lock-in after-hours in their space giving our high school students the opportunity to stretch their legs in their own backyards.

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With a few meeting and study rooms and two floors, our students were playing video games, watching a movie, playing card games, having dance parties, and (wait for it) sitting quietly and reading. Double points for the two girls sitting together and reading out loud to one another. I know, don’t you feel the library love when high school students who we are led to believe don’t read are sitting together and reading out loud? Several students got library cards. Some students interacted with others that they never would have in school. They played life-sized Connect 4 and some sat at the children’s tables and played chess. It was what they wanted to do, safely, and in a community space past most of the adult’s bedtime and they had a ball. The pizza and candy at the end didn’t hurt either.

Pictures were taken, memories were made because two entities decided to work together. Doesn’t collaboration look good? Two public librarians, two school librarians, and a few volunteers including parents and community members and it was a perfect Friday night in the library.

1 Comment

Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 18, 2017 in Events

Traveling: IRL & in books

17 Nov

I must say I’ve been fortunate to have traveled a bit especially when I was younger, less so with a family, but I hope to get back to it as the kids get older. And of course, I always have a few destinations in my back pocket. So I’m going to take you around the world to some of the places I’ve visited and share a book recommendation set in or around the places I’ve visited to make this fun.

Russia

The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell is an intricate and moody story of a girl growing up outside of St. Petersburg where she and her mother are tasked with helping the wolves re-acclimate to the wild after being kept by Russian elites. When they lash out because they are wild animals, they are sent away, but to kill them is also bad luck. Darkly endearing.

Africa

Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication by Ann Downer-Hazell is exactly what the title and subtitle tell you it’s about as a short nonfiction explanation of how elephants communicate and how humans have studied and learned about these animals as people like Jane Goodall did with primates. It’s one of two reasons I went on a solo trip to Africa after I got my Bachelor’s degree– to see a wild elephant.

Europe

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce is and feels very “European”. A gentleman struggling with issues at home goes on a mysterious trek on foot to reunite with a woman reader’s believed was only a tangential person in his life only to discover the deeper connection and how spiritual a mission can be for the human spirit.

All the Places I’d like to Travel to Next…

FromHeretoEternity It begins with a single step (actually, some money and a plane ticket) and I know a few places that are on my list, but in the meantime, I want to add a recent read that gave me the traveling bug again: Caitlin Doughty’s From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death. I’m a super fan of hers. I love her YouTube channel and everything she stands for. So her 2017 publication took her work a step further and highlights all the ways the dead die and are cared for after death. Not to pick one method over another but to highlight the similarities and differences in American death culture and what happens around the world for better or worse. She wants to educate and educate she did in her humor and curiosity.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 17, 2017 in Adult, Authors, edublogsclub, Fiction, Nonfiction, Young Adult

Options

12 Nov

When I saw this prompt, I had to laugh out loud a little and then I got really quiet. What would an alternative be? I don’t think I have ever really had a crisis of conscience that I wasn’t in the right field– well except for those fleeting moments during a stressful day or March (educators– amiright?). Luckily those are few and far between.

And I can read the prompt one of two ways– 1) a dream job that I could do without worrying about things like income or 2) if librarianship went extinct tomorrow, what would I then do?

Humor me and I’ll answer both. First, my dream job would be reading and writing. Reading children’s, young adult, and adult literature and blogging, speaking, and sharing everywhere and anywhere people would have me. Luckily that seems like something I’m doing on the side now, which is a good thing and I won’t rock the boat. It’s a nice balance.

But, if school librarianship went away? Gosh. That’s a tough one. If I trusted my horoscope, I should go into something like mortuary science or investigation. Maybe psychology. But I’d have to take a long hard look at what’s out there in the job market. There were times where I thought about being a paramedic. The truth is that it is too difficult to think this way.

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Because Allen Smith’s quote rings true. Everything I do in life prepares me for being a librarian. While I know I sound super annoying to love my job as much as I do, it is good to dream and think. What would you do if you weren’t doing what you’re currently doing?

3 Comments

Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 12, 2017 in Blogging, edublogsclub

#goals

07 Nov

Taken from Pinterest and saved from spoken.ly

Looking to be inspired

03 Nov

As part of the #edublogclub year-long challenge to blog on education. While the official club has ended, they have still shared posts to continue the journey through 2017. This week’s prompt was blogs we follow.

Hands

A few years ago, my colleague and I wrote an article for School Library Connection about being local book bloggers. In addition to contributing to a books blog for our local newspaper’s online community, I have maintained this blog for a few years and have grown into what I want the blog to be about. And my message in our article was that for years I was inspired by others and it was time to give back (also my theme for professional development).

Here are my six sensational blogs to follow and why I follow them:

Seth Godin
- There are so many valuable insights he provides that I actually have a folder called Godin-isms and there are three posts that are printed and sitting on my computer at work to inspire me. Godin’s posts tend to be short, succinct, and pointed in their advice or question about why we do the things we do.
Reading While White
- I’m white and I work at a school that is predominately non-white. I always need to explore my biases, especially when reading and reviewing books as I do. The offering of multiple perspectives is what keeps this blog fresh.
Librarian Leaps
- Yes, she’s a colleague and a friend. She’s also an elementary librarian. And while I’m at a high school library, she’s a go-getter and inspiration. She even guest posted for me as part of another edublogs prompt.
Mrs. ReaderPants
- When I want to know what’s going to be published in middle grade and young adult, I look no further than Mrs. ReaderPants. I’m guilty of not paying attending to publication dates especially since I do so much reviewing and receive so many galleys that I hardly ever pay attention to when they’re available to the masses. She keeps me grounded in when everyone has access to the amazing-ness that is YA books!
500 Hats
- While not frequent in her blogs, when she does post it’s always something to stop and read. Her premise being that as librarians’ we wear so many hats and who would disagree?
Goodreads
- It’s no secret that I love Goodreads since it keeps my reading life organized– gone are the days of laminated pages in a binder using Microsoft Word. So it makes sense that I would follow their blog of book candy.

And this isn’t to say I don’t follow more local, national, and non-librarian blogs because I certainly like to keep my inbox full, but these are a few that pique my interest when they arrive in my mailbox. Consider them for yourselves.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 3, 2017 in Blogging, edublogsclub, Miscellaneous, Upcoming Releases

Insta-reviews part II

01 Nov

This post originally appeared on the Times Union books blog.

As the end of the month ended with a bang for Halloween and a particularly spooky prompt for the Book Riot #riotgrams challenge, I’ll share a few more recommendations via the challenge along with their photogenic counterparts as the final post to my initial one on October 15th.

Odd & True by Cat Winters

I’ll start with yesterday’s Halloween post that I had waited all month to photograph and share. It is no secret from some of my reviews on my personal blog that I am a dedicated Cat Winters fan. Her writing is atmospheric, thoughtful, and beautiful always touching on topics like feminism, race, and death. In her newest book, though shallowly thought to be a magical story about monsters is really a story of relationships set in 1909.

This post’s inspiration was get spooky.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

And talk about books that go way deeper than the surface story! Lee’s book explores themes of class, race, and sexuality in the 1700s with teenage characters living in the shadow of their parents’ expectations. It’s the hijinks and humor that plays to Monty’s bisexuality and Percy’s epilepsy and skin color as they are robbed by highwaymen and Monty’s little sister secretly (oh my!) learns science rather than truly caring about “being a lady” and attending finishing school. It’s a haul at more than 500 pages, but it’s so easily read that it flew by.

This post’s inspiration was best side character.

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

The next two books explore the female experience and being Latina. In Gabi, her father’s meth addiction and her mother’s decision to have a baby in Gabi’s senior year of high school are nothing compared to her struggles to navigate impending adulthood. Her biting humor told in epistolary form (that I’m sometimes wary of) works perfectly to tell her story. Her voice is engaging and the few illustrations added for effect are reminiscent of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

This post’s inspiration was weirdest book cover.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez

Speaking of realistic, remember when I said the next two books were exploring being Latina and the female experience? I just finished this one last night and adored it. It is Gabi with an edge of mystery. Gabi’s experiences are forthright while Julia must uncover the secrets in her own family including her parents’ travel across the border illegally and who her dead twenty-something year old sister really was. Her depression nearly takes her life, but in the recuperation she learns to look at her family with new eyes and appreciate her complexities.

This post’s inspiration was a recent acquisition.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Then there’s the complexity of poetry. And the seamless magic that Kaur weaves in this collection. I have not yet picked up her recent publication The Sun and Her Flowers, but I will in short order. And there’s a reason it is a popular title among teens since Kaur dives into abuse and violence but also love in a roller coaster of emotions with my favorite lines at the end of the book: “i want to apologize to all the women / i have called pretty / before i’ve called them intelligent or brave / i am sorry i made it sound as though / something as simple as what you’re born with / is the most you have to be proud of when your / spirit has crushed mountains / from now on i will say things like / you are resilient or you are extraordinary / not because i don’t think you’re pretty / but because you are so much more than that”

This post’s inspiration was poetry.

I wholeheartedly recommend these titles whether you’re nineteen or forty-nine because they speak to relationships that encourage reflection on who we are. And while we’re months away from the barrage of “best of” the year lists and resolutions for our future selves, all the titles provide a mirror or a doorway to think about ourselves.

Let them eat cake

27 Oct

Every now and then I’ll post to Instagram a food and book picture, in part to share what I’m reading, but also seasonal foods, delicious dishes, or a snapshot of my culinary diet because I like to eat. But if I was to focus on a hobby, it would be baking– usually if a friend is visiting, it’s a colleague’s birthday, or to say thank you. And what usually comes from the baking is a picture of the finished product. I certainly don’t go all-out in posing the food, but sometimes it feels right. Plus, there’s no pressure because I don’t have a baking blog where they’re meticulously posting step-by-step directions and the final product for comparison. So here are a few:

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And just like pictures bring you back to a moment or a smell reminds you of someone specific, I can tell you for each baked item, why it was baked. My own version of Like Water for Chocolate. Next, if I get super ambitious, I should take inspiration from books and bake a companion to it. Wouldn’t that be sweet?

4 Comments

Posted by Alicia Abdul on October 27, 2017 in Blogging, edublogsclub, Miscellaneous