Our school library is always looking for a good collaboration. This collaboration came looking for us. Our local county’s crime victim case manager wanted to see if we could partner on a book study and information session about healthy relationships.
With a few starts and sputters, we got it off the ground with 22 students who were given the book (to keep)– Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios and a donut– and the job to read the book plus eat the donut, and we’d have a discussion and session in February.
The other day one of the boys came in and was ready to return the book saying that he had finished it already and was handing it back in. I reminded him that it’s his book to keep to which he was excited and I said “What did you think? Ready for the discussion in February?” His response was “It’s not my usual kind of reading, but I really liked it and yes, there’s a lot to talk about.” Maybe he’s discovered a new category of book to read or maybe it’s the social aspect of the reading that appealed to him, either way, I’d call that a win. I’m counting the days to February to make it a special and informative event for the students (with the added bonus that we might be able to Zoom-in Demetrios for an extra special experience).
Was there a book recently that you finished that you’d say the same thing about?
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.
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.
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.
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.
I’m cheating a little for this month and choosing one graphic novel, one adult nonfiction, and one fiction title for my outstanding book(s) because I had some fabulous reading material (including the secret kind that I can’t tell you about). So here goes for the month:
This memoir is spectacular for its honesty and storytelling. Rosser grew up in West Philadelphia in a large single-parent family and discovered his love and talent for polo when his brother stumbled upon the Work to Ride program set up nearby. Rosser shares the discrimination he and his teammates faced as a Black team but also the resilience of a love of a larger community that wanted to see kids succeed. I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish the finale to Lee’s Montague Siblings trilogy because it had all of the spectacular action and adventure, wit and tenacity as the first two. It was a delightful end as you follow the much younger Montague sibling (who didn’t know Monty and Felicity existed until the start of this book) on a fact-finding mission about his mother’s death and the spyglass that she had once carried everywhere. You’ve got to appreciate sass and Charlotte’s got it in spades. She’s a teen detective on her way to *hopefully* win an award for her work until she’s caught up in a plot to frame her and take her down. Boom! Studios is always a favorite of mine with much of what they put out because I vibe with their artistry and bright colors, but also their spunky characters. This one didn’t fail as I continue reading the issues via Hoopla.
Yesterday’s post was a celebration of reading at least a book a day for 365 straight days. I’ll continue though the rigidity will likely wane, but not today where I was able to finish an audiobook and read two additional books. It got me thinking, how many books did I read over 365 days? That answer was 852 which meant I averaged 2.3342 books per day. What were my favorites? See below. How to you find the time? Well, I have my ways. Therefore, a summary post was in order because I like a good listicle. Here are some mini-listicles about “my year of reading a book a day”.
Locations for reading
Car (audiobooks, people!)
Wherever I have to wait– an office or a long line for example
Anywhere in the house from the kitchen table to standing by the stove waiting for my hot water to boil but also most definitely when I’m cleaning or cooking
The lunch table at work (I often post with the hashtag #literarylunchbox)
Twenty favorites (in no particular order)
Punching the Air by Zoboi
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters by Murphy
Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation by Cooper
Witch Hat Atelier by Shirahama
Skyward by Henderson
The School of Essential Ingredients by Bauermeister
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Soontornvat
The Girl from the Other Side by Nagabe
My Life in Dog Years by Paulsen
The Midnight Library by Haig
That Way Madness Lies edited by Adler
Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Parker
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Baum
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Tran
My Life in France by Child with Prud’Homme
The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune
Fighting Words by Brubaker Bradley
Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Blumenthal
End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Swanson
Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise edited by Silverman
The Beauty in Breaking by Harper
Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Holiday
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Brown
Chicken Every Sunday: My Life with Mothers Boarders by Taylor
Fangs by Andersen
But how did you do it?
Read (and by reading I mean eyes on a page or ears open) every day
Always have a stack of books in the house or in a queue online
Sometimes reading won out over straightening up the house, for sure
Encourage a household of readers (because it’s easier to read yourself when everyone else is doing it too)
Participating in events like the Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon and the #24in48 readathon
What genre or category do you favor? (but really this is like asking me to pick a favorite child)
Nonfiction
Food memoirs
Animals especially histories, discoveries, and celebrations of
Young Adult short story collections
Verse novel and graphic novel formats
Fiction
Historical
Realistic
Who were your cheerleaders? (whether they knew it or not)
Stacey Rattner, a school librarian colleague who I often co-present with at conferences with her own blog and the co-host of the pandemic-inspired Author Fan Faceoff with Steve Sheinkin
My kids, readers in their own right, who read at the table for almost every meal and so many other occasions and places too
Reading communities big and small
Was there a question that I missed? If there was, ask me in the comments.
This time last year I was beginning my friendship tour. Seriously, that’s what I called it. And it seems prescient upon reflection. I spent my February break from school visiting each of my closest friends be it for tea, a meal, or a stop at the house to catch up. And I made sure I saw everyone on that mental list even if I had to track down the last of them after she returned from Spain in a supermarket. And it filled my cup in ways that are immeasurable.
I also made sure to take a picture with her too because all too often, I have my phone tucked away with good friends and don’t get pictures. When I think about my friendship tour now, I get goosebumps. I saw everyone and got the picture to prove it.
I was hoping to include a review of a book on friendship with a post about the power of friendship and my favorite books that highlight the bond. Unfortunately the book was less focused on human friendship and more about animal friendship from an evolutionary standpoint so instead I’m going to share my six recently-read favorite titles featuring unique or strong friendships and spare you a review of the other book:
Go With the Flow by Schneemann and Williams
Heavy Vinyl by Usdin and Vakueva
The One and Only Bob by Applegate
The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune
Pumpkin by Murphy (not yet published)
In the Wild Light by Zentner (not yet published)
Who are your favorite friendships in books you’ve recently read? It’s important when recommending books to teens to talk about friendships, so a few years ago I created a bookshelf on my Goodreads account to capture this.
Equally important is to keep in touch with those that you’ve formed friendships with whether you’ve been connected since middle school or met as coworkers and connected. Who are your closest friends? What do they give you? Whether you’re celebrating Galentine’s Day today, tomorrow on the 14th, or every day. Cheers to friendship in literature or in life.
Readers Be Advised 