Blogging | Readers Be Advised

The 31 Days of December: Finishing the semester

Last summer I was given the opportunity to teach a young adult literature graduate course for school librarians. And then if it didn’t rain, it poured, I was asked to teach a similar course for my alma mater this fall during a traditional fall semester. And here I am today, an adjunct professor providing instruction and resources on the very thing that I became a librarian for: young adult literature.

I can only speak for myself, but taking courses in college with professors who were practitioners tended to make the most sense and add the most to my education. Anecdotally, the same can be true for feedback from some of my students. I pushed them to read contemporary young adult literature at a book a week for the duration of the semester in addition to their other work. For the non-readers or those that haven’t read for pleasure (yes, I know they were taking the course) in quite some time, many had a fire light underneath them in discovering the wide world of YA lit. For the avid readers, it was an expansion of their horizons be it format or genre. Either way reading had to the be the foundation in addition to the discussion of the hows and whys in addition to the where it should be organized in the library.

I’m not celebrating just yet, I still have to formally submit their grades, but my takeaways, in addition to adding plenty more books on my TBR was the lightbulbs is the new learning that I took from them and preparing for the course. But more on that later!

What was it about a course you took in college that sticks with you even today?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 7, 2021 in Blogging

The 31 Days of December: Digital reading

06 Dec

I prefer a book in my hands, but there is also the reality of reading advanced copies of books both because of professional reviewing responsibilities and my own obsession with keeping up with publishing through sites like Edelweiss Plus and Netgalley.

This means a few apps for my phone and tablet and an eReader (a Nook).

However every now and then I am frustrated by these digital copies, especially graphic novels which are hard to read on smaller devices like my phone and that don’t always swipe properly because of the monstrous size of the file on bigger ones like the Nook. And other times it’s the file itself which ties me to the computer to read the book for easiest access because I’m easily frustrated with the readability through the app. It is absolutely a problem that in the grand scheme of things is not important, just inconvenient. Maybe it’s because reading on a computer rather than a device feels less like a book and more like work. And reading is never really work.

If you have to read a book digitally, do you prefer the computer, a device, or an app on your phone?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 6, 2021 in Blogging, Upcoming Releases

The 31 Days of December: Seasonal reading

05 Dec

In the last week, I’ve paid more attention to the topic of seasonal reading. One of our high school teachers who teaches specialized reading was looking to work in some holiday-themed reading for the month of December and it got my colleague and I working swiftly to identify just what she needed for her groups of teens who read well-below grade level.

When someone talks about seasonal reading, only a book like Pumpkinheads by Rowell (a very fall book) pops into my head. But in general I don’t necessarily track books by their celebrations or seasons though I do have a shelf in Goodreads for religion which tends to encompass many celebrations, but obviously not all of them. Well, now I have a seasons and holidays shelf because I’m finding more students requesting books under these cyclical topics. Plus I want to be able to quickly help teachers with similar requests.

Like I said, we went into high-gear to canvass just what she had envisioned which led to two weekend short story collection reads: Stephanie Perkins’ My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories and the combined efforts of Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle, and John Green in Let It Snow to see if they might work.

Both had strengths in their setting, planting them firmly as seasonal reads both in title and topic with star power to the writers who contributed.

What are your favorite seasonal and/or celebratory books for young adults?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 5, 2021 in Blogging

The 31 Days of December: Blinding me with science

04 Dec

Today is the second anniversary of my now-thirty nine year old cousin’s heart transplant. I blogged about it here. And I shared a book that I read pretty soon after that called The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery by Rob Dunn. I want to celebrate her two years with a new heart and having her on this planet still.

Plus give a little love to the nonfiction writers out there who blind us with science. I seek out nonfiction regularly for every type of audience from picture books like Tiny Stitches to middle grade like Breakthrough! to young adult like Jane Against the World to adult like Pump. Simply because I’m fascinated by science. I’m in awe of it, the developments over time, and the people who make it happen. I still get a little teary thinking about my LASIK surgery in October, correcting my fairly horrible eyesight (since fifth grade) in the matter of 15 minutes. I think about our school’s valedictorian last year who was going to become a surgineer– she didn’t want to *just* be a surgeon but she wanted to design the robots that aided in that surgery, the engineer too.

Cheers to STEM and the books that explain it to those who love reading about it.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 4, 2021 in Adult, Blogging, Childrens, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Reflections, Young Adult

The 31 Days of December: Book highs

03 Dec

Last night I couldn’t contain my elation. Being the chairperson of the 2022 Excellence in Nonfiction Award for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) underneath the American Library Association (ALA) has been rewarding work this year. It was my year to give back having sat on both award and selection committees, so I volunteered to chair. The experience has been the best distraction from an awkward year still in the throes of a pandemic.

Then last night we deliberated on our five finalists that will be announced in a press release next week. By 7:15pm EST time we had our finalists. We signed off the call and I high-fived my family.

Reading is one of the benefits of the committee work (of which I’m a confirmed bookworm) but the other is networking with other professionals in the field: our committee is a mix of public and school as well as academic librarians literally spanning the country. Their contributions to the conversation, their observations, critiques, and evaluations as well as comradery in the experience led to a book high that even after a sleep is still racing through my system. And it will only get more exciting once everyone knows, then when we pick our winner, and the Youth Media Awards are announced at the end of January.

Give me all these feelings. They fill my cup.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 3, 2021 in Blogging, Nonfiction, Reflections, Young Adult

The 31 Days of December: Morning reading joy

02 Dec

A few years ago I decided that I wanted to incorporate 15 minutes of reading into my morning routine. It’s looked different each year, especially last year but it gave me a sense of accomplishment along with my workout and first cup of tea to have at least 15 minutes to read. This year, I tend to do it through Hoopla on my tablet since I’m already using my tablet to read the newspaper. Usually Hoopla is reserved for my graphic novel titles because they have an awesome selection but I like how their comics reader is done that if the full page is too small, double-tapping will allow you to scroll panel by panel.

I didn’t need this feature yesterday morning for my reading and I wanted to share my morning reading joy on a humdrum Wednesday. It was In Love & Pajamas: A Collection of Comics About Being Yourself Together by Catana Chetwynd which had come to my attention during the Goodreads Choice nominations. And I fell in love. Because Chetwynd’s story is a celebration of connection with a loved one. The characters are as adorably delightful as the communication (verbal and nonverbal) between the couple. I chuckled. I sighed. I felt warm and tingly. It was the perfect side for my morning *three* cups of tea. Then I proceeded to borrow the other two that were there as well.

I sat and finished it before getting ready for the day because I had the time and the want but whether it was a simple 15 minutes or a whole comic collection, I find joy in the bit of time I do spend to read because if something is important, we make the time for it. What is that for you?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 2, 2021 in Adult, Blogging, Cover Love, Graphic novels

The 31 days of December: Kickoff!

01 Dec

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.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 1, 2021 in Blogging, Miscellaneous

Who am I?

11 Oct

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.

Who am I?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on October 11, 2021 in Blogging, Miscellaneous, Reflections

Trifecta

08 Sep

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…

Here’s to 2021-22!

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on September 8, 2021 in Blogging, Fiction, Graphic novels, Manga, Nonfiction, Poetry, Reflections, Short Story, Verse, Young Adult

Tags: #books, #schoollibrarian, #ya, #yalit

National Book Lovers Day: 5 photos

09 Aug

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!