As the year-end lists will start to roll out here, I figured we would kick it off with my favorite blogs to write from this past year:
- My year of a book a day
- Trifecta
- Reporting for duty
- 24in48 whirlwind
- Peanut butter finds its jelly, again
Category Archives: Reflections
The 31 Days of December: Blogs in the rearview
The 31 Days of December: All the books
As the year comes to a close and I share my year-end lists like everyone else from my favorite blog post topics to my favorite books published this year, there’s also the year-end review of your reading in general which Goodreads conveniently packages up for users to review and share. One thing is apparent- it is not humanly possible to read all the books. It isn’t- simply because of the number of books published, life, reading habits, and everything in between.
This post had me laughing yesterday and prompted this topic:
Truly, I think that will be me haunting a library and reading all the books. It also reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode that a fellow reader and colleague was shocked I had never seen which I was able to watch; the episode was called “Time Enough at Last”- I could also relate.
So yes, I want to read all the books. Yet I know I can’t. But I also make sure that I’m enjoying what I’m reading, more so than ever which I’ve done better with after hearing Nancy Pearl speak many years ago. There are simply too many books, so why waste your time on a bad one? And you have your favorite authors and your favorite subjects so you make as much room as you can. You prioritize reading but you can’t let it take over your life in ways that feel daunting. It’s not another chore. It’s a hobby, it’s a pastime, it’s an education.
As we roll into a new year and you think about whether to set a reading goal, do a challenge, or simply read for enjoyment, remember it’s not always about all the books, but as many as you can fit in and around your beautiful life. Preferably with a cup of tea.
The 31 Days of December: The best spot
If you’re a book lover, it’s not hard to love Macanudo, the daily comic by Argentinian comic Liniers, especially when he writes and draws his central character, Henrietta and her cat Fellini because the focus of most of those comics are about her reading. The comic from the other day was another perfect one: the good spot to read.
Where is your good spot? What is your good book?
The 31 Days of December: Hosting interns
After close to fifteen years as a school librarian, I have hosted handfuls of student observers and interns interested in the field of school librarianship. Each has their own story whether it’s rolling into a Master’s program right after their Bachelor’s or making it a second career. Some will thrive as school librarians and others I recommended should consider public librarianship and in one case, the woman was barely there enough for me to have any idea what kind of school librarian she would make.
However, as a person in the profession, frankly any profession, you should be open to the idea of hosting people interested in your field regardless of how busy or overwhelmed you feel because we want any job to have more people in it– not for Hunger Games competition but to create diversity and a new crop so that there is someone to fill the retirements of those that come before and know what they’re doing when they step into those roles. It’s maddening to see positions (especially in schools) where a position and person has so much institutional knowledge and a system that when they announce their retirement, nothing is done to train the next person to do it and give them the resources to do it well.
Internships might become mentorships, friendships, or simply collegial relationships. So it makes sense to cultivate these up-and-comers. With a constant need to reinvent our practice with the changing times, I always welcome interns for what they bring– fresh perspectives, new ideas, and a positive attitude.
The 31 Days of December: The joy of cleaning and audiobooks
What did I do before audiobooks?
I’ve been a late convert to audiobooks. The combination of mobile technology and my insatiable need to ABR (always be reading), I became an audiobook lover several years ago and I haven’t been able to stop. And I thought today, during my usual Sunday morning routine of house cleaning, organizing, and laundry, what did I do before audiobooks? I can’t remember the before time. I think I might have listened a little music here or there or simply done it in silence. Not any more. For the most part whenever I’m engaged in this kind of work, I usually slide my phone into my Spi-Belt and get it done. It makes the time go by in a way that I feel like I’m cheating– being entertained and/or learning about a topic while actually enjoying housework.
How many of you audiobook while doing chores?
The 31 Days of December: Blinding me with science
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.
The 31 Days of December: Book highs
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.
Who am I?
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?
Trifecta
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!
“My librarian”
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?
Readers Be Advised 