Multicultural Literature

Working on December's YA display, Walk A While in Their Shoes, helped to revive one of my favorite discussions in library school (besides censorship and intellectual freedom chats) which centered on the notion of literature as providing the means of being mirrors and/or windows. What does that mean?

To me, it means that children, tweens, and teens should be able to readily see themselves reflected by the "mirrors" of contemporary literature. Further, literature can serve as "windows" into other cultures by way of allowing youth to learn and even possibly, depending upon how well-written, vicariously walk awhile in the shoes of someone else.

In the 1990 essay titled Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors by Rudine Sims Bishop (which was shared with me during library school and more recently cited in a Bitchmedia article), Bishop expounds:

When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part. Our classrooms need to be places where all the children from all the cultures that make up the salad bowl of American society can find their mirrors.

Children from dominant social groups have always found their mirrors in books, but they, too, have suffered from the lack of availability of books about others. They need the books as windows onto reality, not just on imaginary worlds. They need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans. In this country, where racism is still one of the major unresolved social problems, books may be one of the few places where children who are socially isolated and insulated from the larger world may meet people unlike themselves. If they see only reflections of themselves, they will grow up with an exaggerated sense of their own importance and value in the world -- a dangerous ethnocentrism. 

In the article, Black Girls Hunger for Heroes, Too: A Black Feminist Conversation on Fantasy Fiction for Teens, authors Zetta Elliott and Ibi Zoboi discuss their experiences and thoughts about literature -- I'll share a few excerpts that resonated with me:

ELLIOTT: Do you remember reading books as a child that served as a mirror for you?

ZOBOI: Not at all. I remember having to read the Chronicles of Narnia. I went to a Catholic school in Bushwick, Brooklyn and Sister Ann was reading it to us and we were bored to death. It was all Black and Latino kids in the class. The nuns for the most part were Irish. I remember Sister Ann loved the book and we were like, "YAWN." I was that kid who did not read because I just didn’t care about the characters.

ELLIOTT: I recently met a Black teenager who told me she didn’t like to read. And I said, “But there are so many great books out there and many of them are being made into movies. Did you see The Hunger Games?” And she had. After we parted ways I thought to myself, “What do Black girls do when they’re watching The Hunger Games? Do they identify with Katniss more than Rue?" I thought of Jacqueline Bobo and her work on Black women as cultural readers. So many of us walk into the theater knowing that Hollywood is going to screw us over. And so we’re already prepared to navigate around stereotypes and extract meaning from the film. I was listening to the lively commentary during the film and it was clear the Black women and girls were engaged with the movie. I thought, “They’re finding a way to enjoy this experience even if there are no Black girls on the screen.”

//

ELLIOTT: I noticed in the previews that came on before Catching Fire that there are so many YA novels being turned into films—including Divergent. And so you have predominantly young white women being featured in these books that are then being adapted into films—

ZOBOI: And garnering a much larger audience. That’s the subject of my MFA thesis. If you’re going to create an atypical hero—she’s a girl, she’s not as pretty, or maybe she’s clumsy—you’re going to raise her to the rank of hero and let her save the day. Why not go deeper and get that girl who’s really at the bottom of the pile? Around the world, girls of color are the most marginalized group. So if you’re going to write a story about the marginalized, why not reach down and pick the darkest girl?

//

ELLIOTT: That brings me back to Rudine Sims Bishop and how she said the lack of diversity in children’s literature is also harmful to white children because they grow up thinking they’re the center of the universe. And that then makes it very hard for them to communicate cross-culturally because they haven’t had to learn how.  So what are your fears and your hopes for your daughters specifically in terms of finding heroes in literature and film?

ZOBOI: I have more hope than fear at this point. I’m teaching my daughters in an indirect way to think critically about everything they’re consuming. If they’re watching TV, I ask, “Where are the brown girls?” To them it seems like there’s more diversity because of what I intentionally put in place around them. They don’t see a dearth because on our bookshelf there is abundance of books that feature girls and boys of color. In terms of what we can do, I think it has to start at the ground level. I see it in the classroom. The teachers don’t know what books are out there. And if the teachers don’t know, the kids don’t know, and their parents don’t know. It’s choice fatigue if they walk into a bookstore.

I wholeheartedly concur with Zoboi: it needs to start at the ground level. As a librarian, it starts with YOU and your library's collection. Not only teachers, but the entire community looks to librarians to provide them with recommendations for materials. Aligning with S.R. Ranganathan's fourth law of library science, "save the time of the reader," librarians can develop annotated bibliographies to recommend and call attention to a specific works.

Throughout the course of my tenure at CADL, I've created a number of bibliographies for teachers and patrons alike; however, my most recent bib project focused on contemporary fiction featuring African American characters -- not as supporting characters or in the background of the story, but as main characters. Originally, the list focused on materials for the YA demographic (ages 13 - 18), but was later expanded to include works for children and tweens with the last phase of the project will include works of historical fiction. While working on the project, I flagged works of historical fiction (because I wanted the primary list to focus on contemporary pieces) and plan on building a supplemental list which will exclusively focus on African American protagonists in historical contexts. In the near future, I will sharing my lists here. Stay tuned. 

So...my fellow Bibliothekare, what say you?

Do you have lists/bibliographies to assist readers or even perhaps a special collection like several libraries do -- YA African Heritage. My library has a Coretta Scott King Award collection which primarily focuses on books for children and tweens.

YA Displays

December's YA display, Walk A While in Their Shoes, featured contemporary realistic fiction, biographies, and autobiographies:

What I Did
Using Sharpie markers, I drew stars on an old pair of my Converse. Looking around, I found a scrap piece of black construction paper and laid it over the library's cutting board. From there, I took a couple of pictures from various angles and tweaked the images using Instagram. The lettering, which didn't turn out all that well, was done via freehand. Overall, putting this display together didn't take very long and the cost was minimal.

 

As a result of this display, I checked out Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

//

January's YA display, Books with a Bang, features books with at least one explosion within the story -- idea compliments of Guys Read author Jon Scieszka:

What I Did
Once again, the lettering and two dynamite sticks were done via freehand using white printer paper, red construction paper, and crayons.

Handful of Stars

On Saturday, I replaced the Get Your Hands on a Good Book display with another generic display for the new YA books.

This time around, I opted to keep it simple yet colorful by using funky freehand letters (we can call the font: JCB) which I colored with fun glitter crayons. I used a black Sharpie to outline the words.

The little stars were created using the ready-made shapes available via Word.  They were colored with crayon and outlined using a black Sharpie.

Graphic Novels @ Your Library

For October, I swapped out the Take a Look display for one featuring YA graphic novels! While colorful and eye-catching, it was very simple and inexpensive to put together.

Method:
Using Publisher, I laid out an 8x14 panel using graphics from 5 different books with the spirit of appealing to both boys and girls. The 6th graphic was a popular internet meme which I edited to read, "I didn't Caro Library had graphic novels!

The background: Sunday comics from the Detroit Free Press.

For the border, I traced around the panel and colored in the area using a red Sharpie.

KABOOM! was created using WordArt and colored in using the same red Sharpie and a yellow crayon. POW was done freehand.

The materials on display are just a sampling of CADL's YA graphic novel collection and were selected by a young patron who enjoys coming to the library. I'll keep refreshing the materials on display over the coming weeks.

Dark Blue Wallflowers

As of late, I've been culling through recommended works of realistic fiction and compiling a list for a young yet "intelligent beyond his years" patron. While working on this project, I cannot help but think about Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Tonight while piecing together a mixed CD for tomorrow's road trip to ArtPrize, I was once again reminded of Perks -- Charlie's mixed tape.

Even better... I think Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin, a song I added to my iTunes playlist, could possibly be a favorite of Charlie's, if the story was set later.

Challenging Your Own Assumptions

Yesterday, while doing a bit of reading about Perks author Stephen Chbosky, I stumbled upon this quote from an interview:

"You can learn a lot from challenging your own assumptions and admitting you don't know everything."

Love it!

Life in Pictures

Life has been pretty busy, so I think a picture post is in order...

Work Life
I've been helping out the assistant director with preparations for the upcoming story hours by pulling together some of the children's crafts:

Felt bookmarks for the kids to decorate

A bit of humor. Allegedly, the book is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- my favorite Potter book:

I really do love my co-workers at CADL

I have been working on weeding my way through the 800s -- truly an honor to work with that part of the collection. (Sorry about the slightly blurred picture):

After a rather long shift at CADL, I noticed this awesome mural for the first time while waiting for the light to change:

I snapped this panoramic on my way home from work:

Displays: I have been working on two upcoming YA displays: graphic novels and CADL's version of United States of YA: Reading Your Way Across America.

Life Outside of Work
Since I never leave home without a book, I happened to have my copy of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson with me when I toured the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park:

While out surveying the township's back roads, I snapped a couple of pictures on McPherson Road:

Doing some reading up on the Open Meetings Act and public comment practices before September's township board meeting:

And, yes, that is *my* copy of Robert's Rules of Order: leather with gold edging

I am such a nerd that I get excited over seeing binding marks -- first edition of a A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle:

My amazing niece turned 22 on Thursday. Since she is a traveler and I am a librarian, I couldn't resist:

 

Get Your Hands on a Good Book!

Voting for MLA's Thumbs Up! Award closed this past Saturday. Since CADL didn't purchase many of the books, there really was no point in keeping the display up.

With the help from a "regular", we created this fun display which features new YA books:

We even got a few staff members and patrons to trace their hands!

Take A Look...Borrow a Book

Because I wasn't too impressed with how my Printz display turned out -- I had envisioned something much different -- it came down a touch earlier than originally planned.

With the new school season starting, feelings of stress and angst amongst some students isn't uncommon and I wanted to do a display on the lighter side which might get even a few smiles and giggles.

Enter Pinterest.

With a few handy keywords, I was browsing thousands of library display ideas and found one that actually made me laugh out loud in the workroom. It's cheesy, yes, but definitely eye catching. *giggle*

The theme: all of the books feature eyes on the cover.

The idea came from Molly Wetta on Pinterest and was originally put together by Pamela McKirdy from Wellington East Girl's College.

Thank you, Lisa, for snapping the pictures at work and recommending the purple background!

A Mysterious List

Recently, I worked on pulling together a reading list for a mature "tween" patron who was interested in mysteries. The patron being a guy, I opted to build a list which consisted mainly of books featuring male protagonists. Age recommendations, from School Library Journal, are just that merely recommendations -- to be used loosely. On the original document, I also included the location of each book and had a separate list of items in which we could interloan from other libraries.

Want a copy of this list? Download here.

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
First book in a series – 39 Clues
Recommended for grades 4 – 7
Summary: What would happen if you discovered that your family was one of the most powerful in human history? What if you were told that the source of the family's power was hidden around the world, in the form of 39 clues? What if you were given a choice - take a million dollars and walk away ... or get the first clue? If you're Amy and Dan Cahill, you take the clue - and begin a very dangerous race.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
First book in a series – Chasing Vermeer
Recommended for grades 5 – 8
Summary: When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Recommended for grades 4 – 9
Summary: Orphan, clock keeper, and thief. Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shullman
First book in a series – Grimm Legacy
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
First book in a series
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. From the bestselling mystery novelist comes this story for younger readers. New to Florida, Roy is on the school bus when he spots the running boy--running away from the bus, carrying no books or wearing no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail, which leads him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, and a renegade eco-avenger.

Heist Society by Ally Carter
First book in a series – Heist Society
Recommended for grades 6 – 10
Summary: A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop's father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.

Shelter by Harlan Coben
First book in a series – Mickey Bolitar
Recommended for grade 9 and up
Summary: After tragic events tear Mickey Bolitar away from his parents, he is forced to live with his estranged Uncle Myron and switch high schools, where he finds both friends and enemies, but when his new new girlfriend, Ashley, vanishes, he follows her trail into a seedy underworld that reveals she is not what she seems to be.

Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams
First book in a series – Echo Falls
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls.

Acceleration by Graham McNamee
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, seventeen-year-old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him.

Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
First book in a series -- PERSEF0NE
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: After waking up on an operating table with no memory of how she got there, Noa must team up with computer hacker Peter to stop a corrupt corporation with a deadly secret.

Trash by Andy Mulligan
Recommended for grades 7 – 10
Summary: Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump.

Who Could That Be At This Hour? By Lemony Snicket
First book in a series 
Recommended for grades 4 – 7
Summary: Thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket begins his apprenticeship with S. Theodora Markson of the secretive V.F.D. in the tiny dot of a town called Stain'd By The Sea, where he helps investigate the theft of a statue.

Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis
First book in a series – Timmy Failure
Recommended for grades 3 – 8
Summary: Meet Timmy Failure, the founder, president, and CEO of the best detective agency in town, probably the nation. And his lazy sidekick, Total, a 1,500-pound polar bear.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Catherine Edwards Sadler
First book in a series
Recommended for grade 7 and up
Summary: Magnificently illustrated with 12 powerful watercolors by award-winning artist Moser, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" features the complete text of the original collection of Doyle's short stories and is an ideal introduction to the fascinating world of this mesmerizing detective.

Hardy Boys series by Franklin Dixon

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
Recommended for grades 4 – 7
Summary: Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a café and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder.

Code of Silence by Tim Shoemaker
First book in a series – Code of Silence
Recommended for grades 6 – 8
Summary: When thirteen-year-olds Cooper, Hiro, and Gordy witness a robbery that leaves a man in a coma, they find themselves tangled in a web of mystery and deceit that threatens their lives.

Shadowlands by Kate Brian
First book in a series – Shadowlands
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye. Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as theyre starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson
First book in a series – Forensic Mysteries
Recommended for grade 9 and up
Summary: On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: When best friends Chris and Win go on a cross country bicycle trek the summer after graduating and only one returns, the FBI wants to know what happened.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Cullen's summer in Lily, Arkansas, is marked by his cousin's death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances, and his younger brother's sudden disappearance.

The Dragon’s Tooth by N.D. Wilson
First book in a series – Ashtown Burials
Recommended for grades 5 – 8
Summary: When their parents' seedy old motel burns down on the same night they are visited by a strange man covered in skeleton tattoos, Cyrus, Antigone, and their brother Daniel are introduced to an ancient secret society, and discover that they have an important role in keeping it alive.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
First book in a series – Monstrumologist
Recommended for grades 8 – 10
Summary: In 1888, twelve-year-old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a New Escientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi.

Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
First book in a series – Chronicles of Vladimir Todd
Recommended for grades 5 – 8
Summary: For thirteen years Vlad has kept secret that he is half-vampire, but when his missing teacher is replaced by a sinister substitute, he learns that there is more to being a vampire than he could have guessed.

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
First book in a series – Steepleton Chronicles
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: Chris Creed grew up as the class freakthe bullies' punching bag. After he vanished, the weirdness that had once surrounded him began spreading. And it tore the town apart. Sixteen-year-old Torey Adams's search for answers opens his eyes to the lies, the pain, and the need to blame someone when tragedy strikes, and his once-safe world comes crashing down around him.

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold
Recommended for grades 6 – 10
Summary: After developing an unusual friendship with a young Vietnam War veteran in 1972, fourteen-year-old Todd discovers his writing talent and solves a murder mystery.

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Recommended for grade 8 and up
Summary: When Will Halpin transfers from his all-deaf school into a mainstream Pennsylvania high school, he faces discrimination and bullying, but still manages to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a popular football player in his class.

Paper Towns by John Green
Recommended for 9 and up
Summary: One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

Snatched by Pete Hautman
First book in a series – Bloodwater Mysteries
Recommended for grades 7 – 11
Summary: Too curious for her own good, Roni, crime reporter for her high school newspaper, teams up with Brian, freshman science geek, to investigate the beating and kidnapping of a classmate.

Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby
Recommended for grade 9 and up
Summary: Ninth-grader Sherman Mack investigates the "Defilers," a secret group at his British Columbia high school that marks certain female students as pariahs, at first because he is trying to protect the girl he has a crush on, but later as a matter of principle.

The Boxer and the Spy by Robert G. Parker
Recommended for grades 9 – 11
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Terry, an aspiring boxer, uncovers the mystery behind the unexpected death of a classmate.

The Death Collector by Justin Richards
First book in a series – Department of Unclassified Artifacts
Recommended for grades 6 – 10
Summary: Three teens and a curator of unclassified artifacts at the British Museum match wits with a madman determined to use unorthodox methods to reanimate the dead, both humans and dinosaurs.

The Weirdo by Theodore Taylor
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Chip Clewt, whom people have named the "weirdo," is determined to protect the Powhatan swamp from the local hunters. "An eloquent debate pitting human and animal rights against each other is both informative and moving as this murder mystery/love story/environmental thriller weaves its uncommon spell. Deftly drawn characterizations, from the admirable to the loathsome, and an engrossing journalistic format are two of the many strong points that make this timely and compelling novel a winner."—Publisher’s Weekly

Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Recommended for grade 7 and up
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Claire Ryan has always felt invisible, always lived beyond people's notice, which causes trouble when she instantly connects with seventeen-year-old Nix, who really can become invisible and has been sent to assassinate her.

SilverFin: A James Bond Adventure by Charlie Higson
First book in a series – Young James Bond
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: Prequel to the adventures of James Bond, 007, introduces the young James when he is just starting boarding school in England and is about to become involved in his first adventure.

Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
First book in a series – Young Sherlock Holmes
Recommended for grades 6 – 9
Summary: In 1868, with his army officer father suddenly posted to India, and his mother mysteriously "unwell," fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes is sent to stay with his eccentric uncle and aunt in their vast house in Hampshire, where he uncovers his first murder and a diabolical villain.

Guys Read: Thriller edited by Jon Scieszka
Summary: A collection of short mystery/thriller stories by various authors.

Printz Award Display

After being up for just over a month, I dismantled the A Game of Thrones Read-Alikes for Teens display (note: clean reads, of course) and replaced it with a Printz Award and Honor Book display. This time around, check-in notes were added to the materials via the ILS so that returning books to the display won't be such a chore.

Being interested in YA lit, I was aware of the Printz Award prior to the start of library school, but was pleased to learn much more about it through my classes with adjunct professor, Suzanne Todd.

In case you're not familiar...

Q: What is the Printz Award?

A: Each year, the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature is awarded to one book for its literary merit. In addition to the award, the Printz committee also selects up to four "honor" books. The award and honors are announced at the American Library Association's mid-winter conference.

Q: Who is Michael L. Printz?

A: Michael Printz, an active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association, was a school media specialist at a high school in Topeka, Kansas. He passed away in 1996.

My favorite Printz books:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, 

Here's a complete list of the award and honor books by year:

2013
Award: In Darkness by Nick Lake
Honor Books: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz; Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein; Dodger by Terry Pratchett; The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna

2012
Award: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Honor Books: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (artwork by Maira Kalman); The Returning by Christine Hinwood; Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey; The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

2011
Winner: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Honor Books: Stolen by Lucy Christopher; Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King; Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick; Nothing by Janne Teller

2010
Award: Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Honor Books: Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman; The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey; Punkzilla by Adam Rapp; Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes

2009
Award: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Honor Books: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson; The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart; Nation by Terry Pratchett; Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

2008
Award: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
Honor Books: Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox;
One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke; Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins; Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

2007
Award: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Honor Books: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson; An Abundance of Katherines by John Green; Surrender by Sonya Hartnett; The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2006
Award: Looking for Alaska by John Green
Honor Books: Black Juice by Margo Lanagan; I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak; John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography by Elizabeth Partridge; A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson

2005
Award: how i live now by Meg Rosoff
Honor Books: Airborn by Kenneth Oppel; Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton; Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

2004
Award: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Honor Books: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly; Keesha’s House by Helen Frost;
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going; The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

2003
Award: Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers
Honor Books: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer; My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr; Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

2002
Award: A Step From Heaven by An Na
Honor Books: The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson; Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art by Jan Greenberg Abrams; Freewill by Chris Lynch; True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2001
Award: Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond
Honor Books: Many Stones by Carolyn Coman; The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci; Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison; Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman

2000
Award: Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Honor Books: Skellig by David Almond; Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson; Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

My Library World

At CADL, I've been busy gaining lots of experience by working the desk: circulation, readers' advisory, reference questions, and basic tech support. With the positive comes the negative: I've been lied to about library fines, experienced manipulation firsthand, and witnessed conniption fits (complete with colorful language) over a document not printing. It's all part of working with the public...

I enjoy my time the most when I am on-desk in the children's department! I love seeing the wonder and excitement on their little faces when they walk into the collection. Just hearing adults read to children gives me a bit more faith in humanity...

SRP game day at CADL

I've also been able to try my hand at two YA displays -- A Game of Thrones Read-Alikes for Teens (clean reads, of course) and MLA's Thumbs Up! Award. At the end of this month, I'll be replacing the AGoT display with a Printz Award display.

My weeding projects have also been on-going. Currently, I am working my way through the 747s...

Checking circ stats...

In other library-related news:
The pink Chuckle roses were a huge hit and had lots of patrons asking about them...

I've also been volunteering at a small, rural public library and working at digitizing a scrapbook of obituaries a local genealogist collected over the years. OCR is new to me and I am learning a great deal through this experience!

Experimenting with OCR...

  ...and I love library coffee...

City of Oceanside Public Library

On April 24, I met with Kristina Moralez, Community Outreach Coordinator, of the City of Oceanside Public Library and received a full behind-the-scenes tour!

Notes from my visit:

• First thought: I was impressed by how much free public parking was available! A parking garage was located next to the library (and City Hall) plus ample street parking.
• The building was bright and fresh looking! The color scheme: white and royal blue, made me think of a Vera Bradley pattern -- Mediterranean White.
• Two-stories with library administration, the adult and special collections housed upstairs. 
• At the time of my visit, the children's department had a craft going and it was quite busy! 
• The library has separate areas for tweens and teens. Loved this idea. 
• The Helen M. Nelson Heritage Room houses the library's special collections and is available to the public by permission. I've included a few pictures of this room in the slideshow embedded below.
• Very active Friends of the Library group with an on-site store that raises around $700-800 a month. Book sales are even at the Farmer's Market. 
• While visiting, I purchased an Everyman's Library edition of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison that looked to be brand new!
• The library has a centralized phone system which does not route directly to the circulation desk -- everyone (including the director) takes a turn running it. 
• Morning briefings help keep everyone in the know.
• Ample staff areas for behind-the-scenes work. I especially loved the children's programming area with workbenches and storage totes.
• The library has a very rich history and in a variety of different locations -- lots of moving around, but yet continually serving the Oceanside community.
• While touring, I was introduced to Mayra Turchiano, Children's Department, and Monica Chapa-Domercq, Principal Librarian. Thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them!

Slideshow:

Goodreads

Love it...

Snow Day

Due to the bad road conditions, I stayed home from the library today and made a book loving snowman! 

Note: No books were harmed...

Vampire Kick

My surgery went a little bit longer than expected as the surgeon discovered that one of the three stones in my gallbladder was the size of a golf ball and thus needed to make a larger incision in order to retrieve it. I've been recovering at home sporting an icky drainage tube and a corset-like garment.

Unfortunately, beyond re-reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë prior to surgery as a means to calm myself, I haven't felt like reading much -- but did manage to watch season 1 of The Vampire Diaries and season 4 of True Blood which are based on a two series of vampire books by L.J. Smith and Charlaine Harris.

In a sad bit of news, this morning my collector's edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula cracked in half while attempting to remove it from the case.

I realize that I am on quite the vampire kick.

I hope to post something with more substance in the near future. 

Whatcha Reading?

SP said, "Wondering what kids are reading these days? Our STACKS site asked, and this image depicts their answers. The bigger the text, the more kids who mentioned the title. For more information go to: http://ow.ly/gqtls"

Image courtesy of Scholastic Parents

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (Golden Compass), Inheritance Cycle tetralogy by Christopher Paolini, and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan are on my radar this year.

A Part-Time Indian

Yesterday, I finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

As you can probably surmise, I was pretty irritated when I read an article about a recent challenge to this book in the West Valley School District.

Alicia Davis, a parent (and elementary school teacher in the district), expressed her concerns about the book -- citing a specific passage in which a racial slur was used against the book's protagonist. The slur was also offensive to African Americans. Davis read the book herself and came to the conclusion: "I just would not want my 12th-grader reading something like this in public school."

While I admit, the passage upset me, too...but I realize that was the very point of it. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is classified as a piece of contemporary realistic fiction which is known to focus on tough issues such as suicide, anorexia, racism, and bullying.

Alexie wanted to give the reader a true taste as to what Junior was experiencing in his life as a freshman in an all-white high school -- not a sugar-coated one. This is a story about a boy who experiences bullying and who is struggling with his identity -- all while attempting to hide his poverty from his classmates. Alexie touches upon at least two major issues, bullying and identity struggles, which I can see high school students nodding their heads in collective agreement.

Three cheers to Joshua McKimmy, the English teacher:

"Our job as English teachers is to promote reading and to give kids access to life through reading. If kids are just given the classics all the time — I wasn’t a student like that; I wouldn’t read classics or anything...Then I read some young adult books that I could identify with, and then I’ve become a reader because of those books...The book is a gateway for reluctant readers, and more, it deals with issues his students are very familiar with as teenagers...They really identify with Junior’s problems...One of his main problems is that he exists in the Indian world and the white world...Kids struggle with identity; that’s kind of what high school is."

Earlier today, I worked on my reflective essay (a requirement for graduation) and cited a quote by Lester Ashiem which is very relevant to this situation:

Selection, then, begins with a presumption in favor of liberty of thought; censorship, with a presumption in favor of thought control. Selection’s approach to the book is positive, seeking its values in the book as a book, and in the book as a whole. Censorship’s approach is negative, seeking vulnerable characteristics wherever they can be found – anywhere within the book, or even outside it. Selection seeks to protect the right of the reader to read; censorship seeks to protect – not the right – but the reader from himself from the fancied effects of his reading. The selector has faith in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his own (Preer, 2008, p. 79).

My thoughts:
To the concerned parents: Would you rather have your child check this book out at the public library (which is very likely) and read it without the supervision, guidance, and subsequent classroom discussion? This is a teaching moment...an opportunity for growth and perspective taking. USE IT.

 I wish that I had something more profound to say about the book, but alas, I am still feeling under the weather. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and wholeheartedly concur with a colleague (Jaema) when she stated that she wished the book was longer. Like Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I found this piece particularly moving and felt empathy for the protagonist. If YA lit, and/or contemporary realistic fiction is your thing, this book should definitely be on your radar.

Relevant links:
American Indians in Children's Literature: Reviews of Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie: Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood
American Library Association: Top Ten Challenged Books by Year, 2001 - 2011
Hermionish: On Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Darkness Too Visible
Gurdon: My 'Reprehensible' Take On Teen Literature

A Bookish Holiday

Image courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Books this bibliophile got for Christmas:

• The Black Belt Librarian: Real-World Safety and Security by Warren Graham
• Broken Pieces: A Library Life, 1941-1978 by Michael Gorman
• The Librarian's Book of Quotes compiled by Tatyana Eckstrand
• The Inheritance Cycle (series) by Christopher Paolini
• The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers

Currently reading: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Recently finished: The Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse #12): Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Two hours ago, I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It's been on my radar for awhile now, but I just haven't had the freedom to make much progress on my list of books for pleasure reading as of late.

With the likes of Megan Cox Gurdon and her infamous article about the dangers of contemporary YA fiction, it should come as no surprise that The Perks of Being a Wallflower landed itself among the top ten on ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books list for the 2000-2009 decade. (Read an earlier post I wrote about Gurdon's article.)

Sherman Alexie, author of the YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, said in an article for WSJ titled, Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood:

Does Mrs. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen mother? Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow shock a teenager whose life has been damaged by murder and rape? Does she believe a dystopian novel will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?

In which Gurdon responded with the following in her second article on the subject:

No, I don't. I also don't believe that the vast majority of American teenagers live in anything like hell. Adolescence can be a turbulent time, but it doesn't last forever and often—leaving aside the saddest cases—it feels more dramatic at the time than it will in retrospect. It is surely worth our taking into account whether we do young people a disservice by seeming to endorse the worst that life has to offer.

Fall of 1999

My own thoughts? I don't believe that by publishing "edgy" fiction for young adults that adults or society is "endors[ing] the worst that life has to offer." In the case of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie experiences a range of events in which I personally encountered while in high school including the suicide of a classmate and dating violence.

I loved the book and found it to be powerful, perspicacious, and moving. In fact, I wish I would've read it back when it was first published in 1999 as it would've given me much comfort during such a tumultuous time in my life. (The crazy part: Back in the day, I likely shelved it many times while working as a Page at Oxford Public Library.) I believe that YA has the power to save hence my support of the YA Saves Project.

My favorite passage:

"And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know. I don't know. I guess there could always be someone to blame. Maybe if my grandfather didn't hit her, my mom wouldn't be so quiet. And maybe she wouldn't have married my dad because he doesn't hit her. And maybe I would never have been born, so I don't know what to say about it all especially since my mom seems happy with her life, and I don't know what else there is to want.

It's like if I blamed my aunt Helen, I would have to blame her dad for hitting her and the friend of the family that fooled around with her when she was little. And the person that fooled around with him. And God for not stopping all this and things that are much worse. And I did do that for a while, but then I just couldn't anyone. Because it wasn't going anywhere. Because it wasn't the point.

I'm not the way I am because of what I dreamt and remembered about my aunt Helen. That's what I figured out when things got quiet. And I think that's very important to know. It made things feel clear and together. Don't get me wrong. I know what happened was important. And I need to remember it....So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them" (pp 210-211).

Favorite quotes:

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

"And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn't matter."

"I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people. Maybe that is what makes people 'participate.'"

"I am both happy and sad at the same time, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

"I just want you to know that you’re very special… and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has."

"I just hope I remember to tell my kids that they are as happy as I look in my old photographs. And I hope that they believe me."

"I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why."

And I leave you with one of my favorite censorship quotes by Lester Asheim:
"Selection seeks to protect the right of the reader to read; censorship seeks to protect—not the right—but the reader from himself from the fancied effects of his reading. The selector has faith in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his own."

Here's a playlist of songs I put together from the book -- "Charlie's Mixtape"