Librarian Pirate

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

2012-01-18T23:32:00.002-06:00

Title: Under the Mesquite
Author: Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Publisher: Lee and Low Books
Pub Date: 10/1/2011
Reviewed from: ARC received from the publisher
Grades 9 and up

booktalk

Oh, I'm a sucker for a good novel in verse. And this is a really good novel in verse. Lupita, the eldest of eight, is having a year full of changes. She's getting very involved in drama at her high school, her friends are telling her that the fact that she's losing her accent means she's loosing sight of who she is and where she comes from, and then Mami gets diagnosed with cancer. Papi all but moves into the cancer center and leaves Lupita in charge of her family.

Lupita is finding her voice and the free verse she shares that voice with us is evocative and beautiful.

good for

Fans of novels in verse like The House on Mango Street or Diamond Willow. Also good for fans of novels that make you cry and cry like The Fault in Our Stars.

Blog Update

2012-01-14T13:23:00.001-06:00

So I have a tendency to neglect this blog. I'm sorry! But here is what is going on now: I've fallen in love with tumblr as a blogging platform. Tumblr makes it so easy to post and to create communities - it's wonderful. So I've created a blog over there just for my librarian stuff. Mostly it's just booktalks and book recommendations and the random great link or article thrown in. All the booktalks I do over there I'll repost over here but the recommendations will stay over there because they come from that community.

So if you want to follow me on tumblr, I'm at ellpea.

The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin

2012-01-13T13:05:00.000-06:00

Title: The Trouble with Chickens
Author: Doreen Cronin
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 3/1/2011
Reviewed from: library copy
Grades 2 and up

booktalk

J. J. Tully is a world weary dog recently retired from the search and rescue business. All he wants is some peace and quiet. But then a chick comes into his doghouse and he just knows this chick spells trouble. And so do the other chicks. But J. J. Tully is on the case! A baby chick is missing and he is just the dog to help out - assuming the promised cheeseburgers do indeed appear.

good for

Fans of Chet Gecko and other animal noir (is animal noir a genre? It is now. And I love it. Film Noir - film + middle grade novel + animals = Animal Noir) will be clamboring for this one. I've also recently given this book to two different children who have recently started keeping chickens who wanted novels about chickens and both of them loved them and wanted more exactly like it.

other rambles

For full disclosure, The Trouble with Chickens is similar to Delirium in that I was sent an eGalley back when I was going through a bit of a TIME and I didn't get around to reading the ARC before it expired but I did devour the print copy when it came into my library. So while I read my library's copy, there was the initial offer of a free galley from the publisher that i feel I need to acknowledge.

2012-01-12T13:15:00.000-06:00

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTEEN
Pub Date: 2/1/2011
Reviewed from: So technically I recieved an ARC from publisher but then I completely forgot to read it and it expired (because eARCs do that) then I borrowed a copy from the library.
Grades 7 and up

So when I first got this I didn't read it right away because I had just read a whole bunch of distopian fiction and I was getting bored of it. But then I read it and OH EM GEE I am glad I did.

So.

Love is a disease. A plague. A scurge upon humankind. Good news, though! Scientists have fixed that little love problem! When you turn 18 the government mandates that you get the cure. Lena is only 90 days away from turning 18 and oh how she has longed for that cure! Her mother is one of the few tragic people that the cure didn't work on and Lena knows all too well how love can ruin a life. And then the unthinkable happens. Lena falls in love.

Oh mah goodness you are going to love this book. This is what distopian fiction was like before the hype - before it became formulaic and "lets just get all these out there on the shelf because that's what the people want!" The society sucks you in and tries to seduce you with it's logic and it's order all while there is a part of you screaming, "BUT LOVE! I LOVE LOVE! DON'T TAKE LENA'S LOVE AWAY!" And then as the cracks in the society begin to show and the action takes off and your pulse starts pouding ... suddenly you'll realize that it's 2 am and you were just going to read one more page but that was 400 pages ago.

This book is for fans of: Dystopian novels, Romance with a side of breaking and entering and plotting to defy the government, and tragic pasts that inform but don't define characters.

Entwined - Heather Dixon

2012-01-11T13:16:00.001-06:00

Title: Entwined
Author: Heather Dixon
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pub Date: April 2011
Reviewed from: copy I bought for myself

Grades 7 and up

Earlier this evening (in a review that won't be published for a few months because it was an ARC and I don't want to be too cruel in my booktalks) I created a new genre. Princesses who get dirty. You know the type. These are those sorts of princesses. And there are 12 of them. Twelve! Twelve kick-ass princesses who are not afraid to get dirty. And being royalty they get to refer to the time they all fell asleep outside while spying on their parent's royal ball and then attacked the Prime Minister with snowballs as "the Great Rosebush and Snowball scandal." I mean seriously. Don't you want to sit down and spend a few hundred pages with these princesses?

Anyway.

Their mother's pregnancy has been very hard but when she dies giving birth to princess number 12 it is a shock to all of them. More of a shock is their father's subsequent harshness. He stops eating dinner with them, stops talking to them, and even (seemingly) rushes off to war just to get away from them! Their only happiness comes from dancing but since custom dictates they must be in full morning for a year, they can't even do that!

And then they discover a secret magical room in the castle and a man named Keeper who gives them a secret spot to dance. But Keeper isn't telling them much about him. Is he to be trusted? Or is he leading the girls on a path unimaginable?

Give this book to: Fans of fairy tale retellings (the 12 dancing princesses, natch), lovers of formal dancing, readers who want their romance (there are 3 complete and satisfying romances hidden inside this book) with a side of dashing and adventure, and fans of (obvs) princesses who are not afraid to get dirty.

Saving June - Hannah Harrington

2012-01-10T13:18:00.001-06:00

Title: Saving June
Author: Hannah Harrington
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Pub Date: May 2011
Reviewed from: ARC received from publisher
Grades 10 and up

June was always the perfect daughter and Harper was always the screw up. June's suicide - a week before her high school graduation - is a shock to everyone. Harper's divorced parents decide to split June's ashes but Harper, knowing June's ardent desire to go to California, takes off with her best friend Laney and Jake. Along the way they go to a protest, a concert, and, hokey as it sounds, learn a lot more about themselves. I know. I KNOW! That last line is hokey. But sometimes that's exactly what you need.

And Jake. Let me tell you about Jake. Gorgeous. Music obsessed. June was tutoring him. But they were just friends, right? But there's a lot more to his story than he's telling.

This book is perfect for: someone who needs a good cry, someone who loves reading about awesome music, fans of good road trip stories, fans of slow-burn romances, and someone who wants to read about some awesome friendships.

Also - if you've read this let me know. Because I need to talk to someone about this book. The ending. I just have to say something but I can't say it to you because you haven't read this book.

Dancergirl - Carol M. Tanzman

2012-01-09T13:20:00.001-06:00

Title: Dancergirl
Author: Carol M. Tanzman
Publisher: Harlequin
Pub Date: 11/2011
Reviewed from: ARC received from publisher
Grades 10 and up

Ok, so this is one of those books that I started right before bed and ended up staying up way too late to finish it. And then I had to start another book before sleeping because it had freaked me out too much.

Alicia is an amazing dancer and one day her friend captures a video of her dancing at a concert and it goes viral. So they do another video. And another. And then another video goes up of her dancing along in her room that her friend didn't film. And she didn't film. And her world is thrown into a nightmarish reality where she's afraid to be alone at her dance studio, afraid to walk down the street. Is she going to have to give up her dream of being a professional dancer because of some creep? Or will she overcome?

This book is for patrons who: like pulse pounding creepiness (the creep factor is high but more realistic than ghosts), love reading about dancing (ooooh, the descriptions of dance! This book made me miss being a dancer), or are interested in the viral nature of the internet.

Waiting on Wednesday: Show Me A Story

2011-12-14T19:01:00.000-06:00

Title: Show Me A Story: Why Picture Books Matter: Conversations with 21 of the World's Most Celebrated Illustrators
Author: Leonard S. Marcus
Pub Date: 4/24/2012
Publisher: Candlewick Press

I think I've told y'all before that authors are my rock stars. I mean - it's probably like that for most everyone in the kid-lit-osphere but really. Authors. Unf. And illustrators? Those people who take words and perfectly encapsulate them into art? UNF! So when I saw this book was coming out I got super excited. SUPER excited. This book has interviews with:
Mitsumasa Anno
Quentin Blake
Ashley Bryan
John Burningham
Eric Carle
Lois Ehlert
Kevin Henkes
Tana Hoban
Yumi Heo
James Marshall
Robert McClosky
Helen Oxenbury
Jerry Pinkney
Chris Raschka
Maurice Sendak
Peter Sís
William Steig
Rosemary Wells
Mo Willems
Vera B. Williams
Lisbeth Zwerger

OH EN GEE how perfect does this sound? I can't wait to read it.

Waiting on Wednesday - Incarnate

2011-12-07T18:51:00.000-06:00

Title: Incarnate Author: Jodi Meadows Pub Date: 1/31/12 Publisher: Harper Collins

Ok, so, I hate this cover. I almost scrolled on by this book because this cover is just so ... I don't even know. But the description caught me:

For the last five thousand years, the same one million souls have always been reincarnated into new bodies, retaining their minds, memories, and skill sets of past lifetimes. Always, that is, until once. Eighteen years ago Ana, the newsoul—nosoul, some call her—was born in another’s place.

INCARNATE is the story of this one new soul, raised in isolation by a mother who is ashamed of her. On her eighteenth birthday Ana decides to set out alone for Heart, the capital city, to find out why she was born. Ana hopes knowing why will show her what she is supposed to do with the one lifetime she’s been given. Led to believe that nosouls are worthless, she has trouble accepting the kindness of Sam, a (5,000–year–old) teenager who rescues her from a frozen lake she jumped in to escape Sylph, shadow monsters. Sam offers to take her to Heart, where he is assigned as her guardian. They begin to develop feelings for each other, but that is complicated by the fact that Sam is afraid to love someone who, for all they know, will only live once, who will disappear from his world too quickly. But in Heart, Ana is surrounded by people who see her as a danger and an ugly omen for the future—what if nosouls replace more people? The only way Ana can save herself is to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, and find the answer to the question of whether she will be reborn like Sam and the rest of the inhabitants of Heart.

Now TELL me that doesn't sound like way to much fun!

Sunday Links

2011-12-04T08:36:00.000-06:00

I had great fun looking through this database of what Americans checked out of the library a century ago. Thank you to Nancy Picchi for the link

John Pappas linked to this great article about a library that has a mobile devices display where you can check out the different types of ereaders and tablets there are so you can make a more informed decision before buying one. I'm on the Overdrive team at my library and we've had a couple of petting zoos with lots of devices and informed people around to ask questions of but I love the idea of a permanent display!

Anne Slaughter of the Oak Park Public Library took Ranganathan's 5 laws and updated them for the Virtual Library. I love this. But then again I'm a Ranganathan fan - I've often thought that if I ever get another tattoo it will be either "The Library is a growing organism" or "every book it's reader." Thank you Jeffrey Hamilton for the link!

Being the Fairy Tale fan that I am I loved reading Are Fairy Tales Ready for Children - it was a good discussion of Fairy Tales without falling straight into "Fairy Tales have sex and violence and therefore nobody should ever read the originals ever ever ever."

Book Advent Calendar

2011-11-30T08:59:00.004-06:00

I just finished wrapping our advent calendar. A book a day for 24 days - and that will be our first bedtime book that night. At the end of January I’ll put the Christmas/Winter books away for a year so we can do this again next December. I did this last year - I got the idea from this lovely blog post.

I wasn’t thinking much - I wrapped everything, putting it into piles and now I don’t remember which book is which. Hopefully The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming is on #20 and hopefully the 2 I Spy books aren’t next to each other but if so whatever.

Last year half of the books were library books. This year they’re all ours! Many are thrifted and some are paperbacks that are about on their last legs but I’m glad that I’ve got an excuse to get a handful of fun new Christmas books every year. I’m thinking in 2013 the first book will be the best Christmas Pageant Ever and we’ll do a chapter a night. I’ll probably have to get a second chapter book for #15 or so. You know I love love love the ages the girls are and I don’t want to seem like I want them to grow up right away but I love thinking about things they’ll be able to do in the future.

Do any of y’all have a favorite Winter/Christmas/Holiday book for me to add in future years?

Magic Kitten readalikes

2011-09-25T14:29:00.003-05:00

I recently talked with a group of first graders who all loved the Magic Kitten series. And I realized that there are a whole huge pile of books about magic kittens. And since I like creating booklists about esoteric topics here is my list of early chapter books about magic kitten (with a little bit of branching out at the end). (all summaries are from the publisher) (picture is of one of my adorable cats. His name is Furygosa and he's the sweetest little magic user in the world.)

Tiger Taming by Julie Sykes
When animal lover Max sets up a pet-sitting business, he finds himself looking after some very unusual pets. Max can't wait to take care of Miss Warble Itchy's black cat, Tiger. But a witch's cat can really be a handful-- talking back, drinking forbidden bat juice, and getting kidnapped by an angry wizard.

Paw Power by Kitty Wells
After Maddy buys a set of three ceramic cats at a mysterious flea market stall, one of the statues comes to life to help her stop a school bully.

Katie the Kitten Fairy by Daisy Meadows
When Katie's kitten is missing, her fairy friends help her find it.

Fashion Kitty by Charise Mericle Harper
After a stack of fashion magazines falls on Kiki Kitty's head while she is blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, Kiki turns into Fashion Kitty, a feline superhero who saves other kitties from fashion disaster.

Babymouse : Queen of the world! by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
An imaginative mouse dreams of being queen of the world, but will settle for an invitation to the most popular girl's slumber party.
(not about a kitten but I always like adding things to book lists that are slightly out of the exact specifications that will lead off into other passions!)

If you want to branch out to more middle grade fiction you can add in some of my favorites!
No Flying in the House by Betty Brock and Wallace Trip
Annabel Tippens seems like an ordinary little girl, with short blond hair and very good manners. But Annabel is actually quite unusual. Instead of parents, she has Gloria, a tiny white dog who talks and wears a gold collar. Annabel never wonders why her life is different, until one day a cat named Belinda tells her the truth -- she′s not just a little girl, she′s half fairy! But now that she knows the truth, will her whole life have to change?

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander
Jason and his magic cat Gareth travel through time to visit countries all over the world during different periods of history.

And this list only has one familiar cat! If I opened the list up to all witch's cats it'd really explode.

What do y'all think? Do you have any favorite magical cat books? I'd be especially grateful for more very early chapter books because it seems that all the first graders are devouring everything I have!

Sunday Links

2011-09-25T08:00:00.006-05:00

So my good friend Hummingbird Heart* has started a series on her blog called Origin Stories where she and some friends write blog posts about books that inspired us as children and how they have shaped who we have become. Her first one is on Enders Game and her second is on Harriet The Spy. I'm going to write one (I have a couple of books in mind, don't worry - I'll link over when I write it) - there are so many books that have made me who I am today and so many things to say about those books! Anyway - if you want to read some beautiful love letters to/about books then click on over.

New York Public Library has a children's librarian who has done some great youtube book recommendations! Her astronaut recommendations are below:

I'm inspired! I might have to make some of my own!

The Huffington Post, of all places, made a great infographic about banned books week. I can only hope they start adding previous years in because it really is a fun visual!

*Not sure if you wanted real names on other people's blogs, HH, so I'm sticking with this!

Reel Life Starring Us by Lisa Greenwald

2011-09-13T00:05:00.001-05:00

Title: Reel Life Starring Us
Author: Lisa Greenwald
Publisher: ABRAMS
Pub Date: 09/01/2011
Reviewed from: egalley received from publisher
Grades 4 and up

Ok, this one was fun. I've been meaning to read My Life In Pink and Green for ages - I have a coworker who raved about it! So I absolutely jumped at the chance to read Lisa Greenwald's new book. Reel Life is one of those rare books that tackles huge issues but very much does it as just something that happens when you tell a good story as opposed to being a book about huge issues. The new girl Dee and the most popular girl Chelsea are thrust together to do a project for school. Dee wants to be friends! Chelsea does too but her friends think Dee is weird because she's so into filming everything. Chelsea is dealing with a lot of stuff - her father just lost his job, boy issues, mono - and while she wants to be friends with the new girl she isn't quite strong enough right then to actually stand up to her old friends. And she's dealing with so much stuff personally that she keeps being an absolute poop head to Dee. I hate feeling preached too (who likes that?) so it's nice when the book just is a great story and there are always important things to learn from great stories.

I especially liked the boy sub-plot. Chelsea's friends are all convinced she has a crush on a certain guy and she doesn't think she does and she spends a lot of time angsting about that but when she finds out that the guy actually likes someone else she gets super jealous for a bit - not because of sour grapes and suddenly now she likes him but because she was still thinking and it jolted her to realize that it isn't just her decision. That isn't an angle I've seen often.

Anyway - if you or one of your patrons is in the market for a good school/friendship book with a heavy dose of film trivia, this is the book for you!

Friday Fun

2011-09-09T13:36:00.001-05:00

Friend who had read my last blog post: So what book are you listening to nowadays?
LP: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - I'm absolutely loving it!
FWHRMLBP: Oh! More undead audiobooks!
LP: More like nonfiction medical narrative with racial overtones?
FWHRMLBP: Oh ...

Undead Audiobook Roundup part 1

2011-09-02T05:30:00.000-05:00

I feel like Twilight has made the Paranormal Romance genre both explode and also become a bit taboo for the discerning YA reader, ya know? Who wants to admit to reading VAMPIRE ROMANCE? Well I recently listened to a whole bunch of books and and then I realized that all of them were about the undead and half of them also had a romantic component to them. So here is a quick round-up of all the fantastic undead audiobooks I've heard recently.

Insatiable by Meg Cabot narrated by Emily Bauer.
I totally got the impression that Meg Cabot read through Mark Reads Twilight or other criticisms of Twilight before writing this. Meena Harper is, in many ways, the anti Bella Swan. She has the ability to tell hwo people are going to die so when she finds out that the man she's falling for is a vampire, the last thing she wants is to be turned into a vampire. She wants life. She wants a future that includes her friends and her family and sunshine.

Insatiable is quintisential Meg Cabot. Fun, quirky, deceptively light (she always packs quite a bit of substance into her fluffy reads, if that makes any sense), and fantastic. Highly recommended.

Four and a half out of five stars.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride, narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross and Chris Sorensen.
At first I was nervous that this book had a severe case of Women in Refrigerators syndrome. (Spoilers here - but really only for the first disc so unless you're super strict I don't know you'd care?) The first female we met was quickly killed off and the second female we meet has already been kidnapped and then gets drugged and tortured some more right in front of us. YAY FEMINISM! But things calmed down a little after that.

Sam LaCroix doesn't even know he's a Necromancer until the had of the local Necromancers comes into the fast food resteraunt where he works and gets super upset at him for not presenting himself to the magical council and then spends the rest of the book trying to kill him. Not so much fun, yes? But this book is. I loved Sam's family (I really love seeing a happy non disfunctional family in a YA book. Yes there were secrets that shouldn't have been kept so long and Sam totally overreacted when he found out about them but if he hadn't overreacted and instead confided in his mother, she would totally have saved the day right then and there goes the second half of the book.)

The audiobook narration is good. There are two male narrators, though, for the two main POVs of the book, but I didn't even realize that until haflway through because the voices were so similar. I had just assumed one guy was doing two slightly different character voices. Not a criticism - the two POVs were different enough that I was never confused - just an observation.

Three stars! Fine holiday fun!

Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen by Garth Nix narrated by Tim Effing Curry

These books almost deserve their own post - phenomenal. Tim Curry needs to quit all his other jobs (and I love all his other jobs) and just read books to me. Seriously. Best audiobook narrator ever. And the books! So good! Everybody has been telling me to read them for AGES but I read Mister Monday by Garth Nix and wasn't terribly inspired to read more Nix books after that? But Oh. OH! So. There is the Old Kingdom (magic, the walking dead, modern technology just doesn't work) conected to a more regular world that reads like a pre WWI England. Sabriel has been at a bording school in the regular world for most of her life, only visiting the old Kingdom on holidays. Then her father goes missing and Sabriel goes to find him and discovers the depth of her magical inheritance and oh. OH! So. I'm a sucker for a good world building and the world of the Old Kingdom is perfect. Flawless. The magic is divided into two kids - Charter Magic which is the "good" magic and flows from charter symbols that can be used to do most any magical whatnots and free magic which is dangerous and corrupts. Sabriel's father (and Sabriel and more) is the Abhorsen which is basically the head necromancer in the land. Necromancy is free magic and therefore forbidden but there is one necromancer, the Abhorsen, who works for and with the Royal family to keep all othe necromancers and The Dead in check. And there are bells and cats and really? Just read it. Or better yet listen to it. Because every fantasy lover needs to read or listen to these books.

Five enthusiastic stars

I still have 3 more series to discuss but I'm going to stop here for the moment. Five books in one post is quite enough, thank you!

Wisdom's Kiss

2011-09-01T15:04:00.000-05:00

Title: Wisdom's Kiss
Author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Pub Date: 09/15/2011
Reviewed from: egalley received from publisher

Ok, so, I just realized while finding the Goodreads link that the author of this book ALSO wrote Princess Ben which I've heard of but never read. HA! That's also on the cover! That's the trouble with reading ebooks on my phone. The screen is plenty large enough to do the actual reading but apparently I miss important details on the cover. Seeing as how the dowager Queen in this book is Queen Ben I'm assuming this is a sequel to that. (insert frantic Novelisting here) Hmm - well nothing is saying sequel but same country, one character the same. WHATEVER - the point of this tangent* is that you don't have to read Princess Ben in order enjoy Wisdom's Kiss. I'm thinking that a couple of things Queen Ben alluded to would be more fleshed out and now when I read Princess Ben** I'm going to know that she ends up alive and a Queen. But knowing the Fantasy genre I don't think that was ever in doubt. So. Read Princess Ben first if you want to or go straight to Wisdom's Kiss if you want to. I don't think I am missing out on anything doing it this way.

*is it considered a tangent if this is how I begin my review? Does this make the rest of the review a tangent? WHY DOES ANYONE EVER READ THIS WEBSITE? Questions for the ages.

**The audiobook is currently waiting for me on the hold shelf when I get to work tonight but I'm wondering - I would not have been able to follow Wisdom's Kiss in an audiobook. The formatting and different POVs would have confused me? Whatever - I'll try it.OK! REVIEW, LP! STOP TANGENTING!

This book was, in a word, fantastic. I try not to read other people's reviews before I write mine but I accidentally read a blog's "twitter style" review of this the other day and they didn't like it. Lack of characterization, they said. What? The characters were the best part of this - and that is saying a lot since I loved the plot, the format, and the writing style as well. BUT the characters! You've got these great characters - Princess Wisdom (who is just way to exuberant and impetuous to ever be a solid ruler but oh she's wonderful), Trudy (who has the gift of foresight but is somewhat terrified of it and is desperately in love with her childhood friend Tips), and Tips (who left Trudy to "be a soldier" but he has a secret and there may be trouble in his future). I fell in love with them all. I loved how they grew and changed and learned to live with what new things life threw at them. LOVE them.

I loved the format. Letters, journal entries, a memoir, an encyclopedia, and a play.

Basically if you love fantasy and strong women (oh the strong women) and great plot lines, don't dismiss this.

On a last feminist note, I love that (super huge spoiler here so stop now) neither Trudy nor Queen Temperance end up with love interests in order to be happy. I mean there's a follow up encyclopedia entry that mentions their later lives and a husband and children for one but the actual story ends with them finding happiness through friendship and their jobs and lives. LOVE that. LOVE LOVE LOVE that.

Waiting on Wednesday - All Men of Genius

2011-08-31T09:07:00.001-05:00

Title: All Men of Genius
Author: Lev AC Rosen
Pub Date: 8/27/11
Publisher: Tor

Today I was perusing the recently ordered titles at my library for collections I am not in charge of when I found this little beauty. Listen to this description:

Inspired by two of the most beloved works by literary masters, All Men of Genius takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father’s policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won’t be easy, not with her friend Jack’s constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke’s young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet’s alter ego, “Ashton.” Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet’s pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest (who has a secret past of his own), speaks to her. She soon realizes that it’s not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it’s surviving that long.

Steampunk Shakespeare retellings? I am SO THERE! I already have this on hold for myself and I've told the YA collection development librarian thank you thank you thank you for finding this gem!

Sunday Links

2011-08-28T06:47:00.001-05:00

I have been sent over and over again this article from the NY Times about how (gasp) boys aren't reading like they should and (bigger gasp) the problem is all those pesky wimmin writers taking all the good publishing contracts away from men. I have only responded to a select few of those with this absolutely lovely take-down of the article that Katie Coyle pointed me toward.

I don't think I blogged about it but last year's International Read Comics in Public day was way too much fun and I made a lovely little display at my library for it. This year it is being held TODAY! Sunday, August 28th! And DCWomenKickingAss is hosting an online Women Read Comics in Public event. Post pictures of you reading in public on twitter, facebook, tumblr, your blog, whatever! I will try to get some up here today as well!

I have recently gotten absolutely addicted to nail polish and I did this manicure on Thursday where I used every purple nail polish I own. I'm absurdly proud of it! But I promise I won't become one of those nail polish blogs - there are enough of those and I will never be that talented. Books, babies, and social justice is what I'm sticking with! That said, I may have to share some of my favorites with y'all because that is the point of having a blog, yes? Sharing what we're proud of?

And two super fun links from twitter! Nathan Bransford's twitter account pointed me to (not his but on his blog) this absolutely stellar literary agent responds to paperback writer and Meg Cabot tweeted, "Sometimes dreams do come true! Here's a 60 second video of every outfit worn by Cher in the movie Clueless: http://tinyurl.com/3hfvkwd " How did Meg know exactly what I wanted?

Quick Note

2011-08-27T13:07:00.000-05:00

Don't forget - tomorrow is Read Comics in Public day! So hand some comic books and graphic novels to everyone you can.

Late Night Mommy Blogging

2011-08-23T22:43:00.003-05:00

We recently had a chance to read Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Seaside Shenanigans (spoiler alert? It's awesome. Full review closer to the release date), so tonight we had to reread Chico Bon Bon's other exploits. Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem has a repeating (noisy, natch) refrain of AOOOOOGAH BOOM BOOM CLANG CLANG. Kinsie begged to sleep with Noisy Problem tonight and right now I am getting myself ready for bed and every few seconds I hear over the baby monitor* "AOOOOOGAH BOOM BOOM CLANG CLANG." I should probably go warn Kins not to wake up her sister but Pips tends to be a sound sleeper and I am laughing so much over this that I should probably let it be.

Also I'm back from vacation and I'll be back to blogging soon! This phone app will probably lead to too much ill advised late night blogging with no access to spell check****. YAY!

*yes, 4 years old is probably too old for a baby monitor but Pips is only 2 and still wakes up at 4am every other week or so.
**I just realized there is a blogger app on my phone and I have no idea how this is going to format itself so I can't give the picture a proper caption. I just happen to have a picture of the sleeping special heads*** on my phone from a recent 2am cab ride after a full day of flying back to Chicagoland from Colorado. It seemed appropriate to late night blogging.
***my sister has always called the girls each "special head." This photo always makes me think of that.
****AOOOOOGAH BOOM BOOM CLANG CLANG

Sunday Links

2011-07-31T10:11:00.004-05:00

Want to play Indiana Jones* while you Procrastinate? As muralgirl says, "This website gives you untranslated chunks of ancient Greek papyri texts from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt to transcribe. There are a series of characters for you to match up with what you see on the fragments. It’s kind of a fun puzzle, and it helps speed along the transcription of these documents so that they can be deciphered. Some of them are much harder to read than others, so click next a few times until you find a sheet where you can actually make out the letters. Nerdy fun! *Not the exciting part of his job." I've had way too much fun with this this week - and even got the girls helping! Early literacy - pattern recognition and all that.

Jennifer Egan has written the most fantastic short story here but she has cleverly disguised it as a list. Go read it. Trust me. SO GOOD! Thanks to Galley Cat for pointing me in that direction.

MelissaZD who hosts the fantastic Flannel Friday has created some Pinterest boards for Flannel Friday! I think it's about time I got off my cushy librarian chair and posted some of the Flannels I've made recently! Important question: if I make flannels and don't share them with the internet, do they make a sound?

As you can imagine I was over the moon with this list of pirate picture books. What are your favorites?

Also - I feel the need to point out that I had a daughter named Pippa before it was cool. (Hipster LP)

I am writing this on Saturday (cheater LP is a cheater) and it's the anniversary of the first Defenestration of Prague. And really any excuse to use the word defenestration I take! So! Happy Day After the Anniversary of the First Defenestration of Prague!

I am currently on a jet plane to Colorado to spend a week and a half. I may be even less bloggy than usual! Or maybe I'll be twice as prolific. VACATION - you never know what's going to happen.

New Picture Book Round-up!

2011-07-30T17:21:00.000-05:00

Title: Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters: a lullaby
Author: Jane Yolen
Publisher: Candlewick
Pub Date: 7/12/2011
Reviewed from: Sitting here on the new books cart at my library

I read this book without looking at the author then when I decided to review it I looked at the author and said, "Oh! Jane Yolen! No wonder this book is so much fun." And it is. So. Much. Fun. Rhyming text sends monster after monster home and off to bed. Kelly Murphy's art is muted and gorgeous! I read Hush Little Dragon in storytime yesterday and recognized her art style immediately! SO pretty! I'm putting this on my "to be used in storytime ASAP" list.

Title: Farmyard Beat
Author: Lindsey Craig
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pub Date: 6/14/2011
Reviewed from: Sitting here on the new books cart at my library

Yet another new book that I couldn't wait to use in a storytime! Last week I had a dance theme and when I saw this on the new books shelf I couldn't resist. One animal can't sleep and starts making their very own beat and then they all wake up. At the end they all make their special beats together for a rousing chorus! I think it would be great fun to record that end piece - or with older kids (in our 4,5,K) give each child their own beat - so we can have all the sounds going at once! I am proud of my storytime skills but I can only be saying one thing at a time. Anyway - this is lovely. Check it out and use it in storytime!

Title: Moo, Moo, Brown Cow, Have you any Milk?
Author: Phillis Gershator
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pub Date: 6/28/2011
Reviewed from: Sitting here on the new books cart at my library

I want to pair this one with How to Make an Apple Pie and see the World by Marjorie Priceman. This is How to Make an Apple Pie and see the World for beginners, though. Drawing on the poem Baa, Baa, Black Sheep the poem tells you what humans use from each animal (sheep - wool, chickens - eggs, cow - milk) and tells you how each thing is used (down feathers - pillow, honey - spread on bread, etc) all while sticking with the rhythm of the nursery rhyme it's building on. This one is nice and sweet and is perfect to recommend to the person who loves reading the quiet, gentle books during storytime.

Sunday Links

2011-07-24T14:33:00.004-05:00

My friend* Julie wrote this great piece about how getting an MLIS could be so much better. My favorite part was where she said that, "children and teen librarians need to take courses in Child Development. The one class period spent during a materials class is not sufficient." As I said in the comments, I’ve been debating going back for some early childhood classes but lack the free time/money to do so so I’ve been self-educating with my library’s parent-teacher collection and TED talks (talks tagged children and education). It isn’t quite the same but it’s keeping me in the game! Do y'all have any favorite continuing education resources? I'm going to start sharing my favorites here - in a very thinly veiled effort to get me doing more!

Harry Potter. What can I say about HP7.5 except that I absolutely loved it and cried and cried and cried. That said (and despite my absolute love for Harry Potter) I also loved Sady Doyle's quite brilliant In Praise of Joanna Rowling's Hermione Granger Series.

Peter Dickinson wrote a gorgeous post called In Defense of Rubbish that made me super happy. It's from 2002 but I just discovered it!

*By friend I mean wonderful lady who I met once at a DLS conference who I have been blog-stalking ever since. I am an absolute hermit so I tend to count blog-stalking as friendship.

Secrets, Monsters, and Magic Mirrors by Donald B Lemke

2011-07-22T18:51:00.001-05:00

Title: Secrets, Monsters, and Magic Mirrors
Author: Donald B Lemke
Publisher: Capstone
Pub Date: 08/01/2011
Reviewed from: egalley received from publisher

What can I say? I loved Secrets, Monsters, and Magic Mirrors. I'm a sucker for fairy tales. I'm a sucker for graphic novels. Take those two, combine them, and do them well? I'm yours forever. Secrets, Monsters, and Magic Mirrors doesn't retell any of the fairy tales - you never know why the witch so desperately wants a baby in Rapunzel or why the parents seemingly give her up without a fight. You just get the basic story and you get absolutely gorgeous artwork. Seriously. Look at this cover! The artwork is beautiful. I just wanted to lick the pictures. But I didn't because, ya know, egalley. No licking the electronics.

This is a short review just because what else is there to say? We all know these stories and the artwork just needs to be seen! Kinsie especially was a fan of these graphic novels and despite graphic novels being a pain in the keister to read aloud I have read them to her every night for a week and I am not complaining one iota.

Awaken - Katie Kacvinsky

2011-07-21T18:13:00.002-05:00

Title: Awaken
Author: Katie Kacvinsky
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Pub Date: 05/23/2011 (on shelves NOW!)
Reviewed from: egalley received from publisher

Awaken is a dystopian book* set in a future where school violence has let to all school being done at home on the internet. Everyone has become completely disconnected from everyone else - meeting someone face to face is rare. Ok, can we start by noting the weirdness of reading this book as an e-book?** And I read the majority of this book on my phone so every time they mentioned the ubiquity of everyone's "flipscreens" and how everyone seems glued to said flipscreens? I felt a huge pang of guilt.

*insert obligatory "all YA books nowadays are dystopian" comment
** I have a feeling that, since they gave out a lot of egalleys of this book that this has been a fairly common sentiment in the blogosphere. But I try to avoid reviews of books that I'm going to review because my opinion is easily swayed so I'm going to pretend that I'm original and brilliant here, ok?

Our hero, Maddie, is the daughter of the founder of digital school. A few years back she aided some hackers to try to take down digital school which broke her father's trust in her and she's been grounded ever since. Her father monitors everything she does online and the only bit of face-to-face socialization she gets is at soccer. Then she meets Justin online who convinces her to come to an in person study session and all heck breaks loose.

Overall this was an absolutely fun dystopian that made me want to grab a paper book*** and go read it outside in the sunshine. The romance was a bit heavy handed but I don't think a teenager would think so. I did wish I knew more what Justin DID. Everyone in the resistance keeps talking about how important Justin is to the resistance and oh mah geeze he's risking himself for some girl this will bring the whole resistance down tragedy tragedy tragedy! But what did he do for the resistance that was so special?

I very much appreciated that this book didn't try to say that technology is evil. The resistance lives a simpler life but not a completely lacking in computers/cars/lights/running water sort of life. I appreciate that! BUT! I do wish that dystopians would quit saying that in the future we're going to get all our food in convenient perfectly balanced nutritional pills/bars/crap. People absolutely love food and I don't think that we're going to let the government take that away from us any time soon. (Seriously - first they came for the pies and I didn't care because pie is evil. Then they came for the cakes and I STARTED A GOSH DARN REVOLUTION!)

Feminism quotient****: I got annoyed in the beginning because every dystopian ever***** has a girl enmeshed in the dystopia and then some enlightened man comes and enlightens her. Seriously - think about it. Have you ever read one with an enmeshed male and a female comes and enlightens him? Half a point for 1984 where Winston and Julia enlighten each other. As I read Awaken, though, her rebellion years earlier took on larger meaning. Justin was recruiting Maddie to the cause, yes, but her rebellion years ago had made her a hero to Justin and she had inspired him. Awaken is fairly heteronomative but in a book where you only get to see the inner life of two people I mostly forgive it. Overall I give it two feminist thumbs up.

***I love digital books. I am not one who thinks that ebooks are heralding the end of paper books or lamenting what was - but Awaken did give me a feeling of nostalgia for paper books and seeing my neighbors! So reading in the park it was.

****Yes, this is a new thing. FEMINISM QUOTIENT. Hush. I'm trying to get more critical because I tend to just like all things at all times.

*****Slight exaggeration

Check out Anna's much more nuanced review for a less enthusiastic opinion.

Way belatedSunday Links

2011-07-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

So - life has been full of hospital visits and wildness and thankfully everybody turning out ok but I've been way behind in both my RSS feed and my blogging (I keep making resolutions to blog more but pfft!) so please forgive me if some of these links are a bit old. They're just things I loved around the innertubes.

Abby the Librarian (who I probably link to way to much but whatevs. She's my blogging idol and if you don't read her you should) has continued her "help me help you" series with a post about summer reading. It's a pretty comprehensive list - the only thing I would add is Just because you've signed the kids up for summer reading doesn't mean you're done with sign-ups! Off you go to the adult services department to sign yourself up then get some great family reading time together!

My friend and fellow librarian linked to this awesome craft for making glowing firefly jars. My library doesn't allow us to do crafts that involve paint but I absolutely love this anyway. Someone in the comments mentioned donig the same thing to the inside of christmas ornaments - I'm thinking that may be a brilliant idea! Only then I'd hang them up in the girl's room? Maybe - we'll see.

I just read this post about the 10 hottest men in YA fiction and I only agree with maybe 2 of them but it got me thinking about who I think are the 10 hottest people in YA fiction. I feel like it changes every time I read a new book! What do y'all think?

I just read that Borders is going to officially close all stores which makes me sad. While I try to shop indie whenever I can, Borders closing seems to me to be one step closer to an Amazon monopoly which doesn't seem like it would be the best idea.

The Mystery of the Blue Ring by Patricia Reilly Giff

2011-07-04T17:36:00.002-05:00

Title: The Mystery of the Blue Ring*
Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Publisher: Open Road Media
Pub Date: rereleased on 06/28/2011
Reviewed from: Review copy from NetGalley

After reading the Net Galley article I linked yesterday I went over to NetGalley and found this fantastic book by Patricia Reilly Giff that I devoured instantly. The Polka Dot Private Eye has been around since I was a child but I'm not a huge fan of mysteries so I hadn't read it 'till now, and now that I've read the first one I feel rather guilty that I've let so much time go past without having read them.

Dawn "borrowed" her friend's unicorn awhile back and now they're not so much friends anymore. The interactions between Dawn and Emily are perfect. Dawn keeps trying to decide if she still likes Emily but Emily is taking up too much room when washing her hands! And Emily picked the vegetable that SHE wanted during art! So clearly she must be out to get Dawn still. Giff always seems to GET how kids interact, ya know? If you already semi resent someone (for being justifiably mad at you) then everything they do is obviously done just to upset you.

Anyway, Emily's blue ring goes missing and half the class thinks that Dawn did it because of the aforementioned unicorn incident so Dawn pulls out her new polka dot detectives hat and decides to solve the mystery herself.

This book is perfect for those just starting chapter books. I in fact have a special patron in mind who is just starting chapter books and who especially likes books where THINKS HAPPEN! who will be given this book on Wednesday. Fingers crossed that she likes it!

*I know normally I link to indiebound but I couldn't find this book there so y'all will have to deal with Amazon.

Sunday Links

2011-07-03T11:45:00.001-05:00

I adore NetGalley - I haven't read anything from then in ages but that's my fault, not theirs. OliveReader has a fantastic blog post about how to craft a good NetGalley Bio. I hadn't looked at my bio in ages when I came across this and I definitely went back and looked over what I have on there! Fortunately I seemed to pass muster.

Do you want to absolutely pull your hair out with frustration? Then read this absolutely awful article entitled "Save the Library - Fire the Librarians. Many thanks (I think?) to Librarianbyday for tweeting a link. Warning: the link is rage-inducing and awful.

Waiting on Wednesday

2011-06-22T18:42:00.000-05:00

Title: Bestest. Ramadan. Ever
Author: Medeia Sharif
Publisher: Flux
Pub Date: July 8, 2011

The summary from goodreads:
During Ramadan, we're not allowed to eat from sunrise to sunset, for a whole month. My family does this every year, even though I've been to a mosque exactly twice in my fifteen years. My exercise-obsessed mom—whose hotness skipped a generation, sadly—says I could stand to lose a few. But is torture really an acceptable method? I think not.

Things wouldn't be so bad if I had a boyfriend, but my oppressive parents forbid me to date. This is just cruel and wrong. Especially since Peter, a cute and crushable artist, might be my soul mate. Figures my bestest friend Lisa likes him, too.

To top it off, there's a new Muslim girl in school who struts around in super-short skirts, commanding every boy's attention—including Peter's. How can I get him to notice me? And will I ever feel like a typical American girl?

Doesn't that sound like SO MUCH FUN? I cannot wait to read this one.

Realistic Fiction for the Fantasy Lover: Also Known as Not Necessarily Magical but Highly Improbable

2011-06-20T19:33:00.001-05:00

Being a librarian I tend to put books into categories and a few weekends ago my coworker and I were discussing a fantastic new trend that we call:

Realistic Fiction for the Fantasy Lover: Also Known as Not Necessarily Magical but Highly Improbable

Among the books for this series are:
The Series of Unfortunate Events
The Kneebone Boy
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (side note: I'm only halfway through the second book of this one and I have a feeling that before the series is done someone will be outed as a werewolf? But I'm not positive about that yet and the first book is firmly non-fantasy so I stick with it being on this list.)

I know that there are more books I've read recently that would fit into this category but right now I can't think of any. What about y'all? Any Not Necessarily Magical but Highly Improbable books on your recently read list?

Linkedy Links

2011-06-19T17:06:00.004-05:00

My husband pointed me in the direction of this Periodic Table of Storytelling that I think is absolutely amazing. I've definitely printed it out for putting above my desk.

J K Rowling is about to launch a new website called Pottermore and she has some sort of big announcement on the horizon? Color me SUPER EFFING EXCITED! As you all know by the last few books libraries and bookstores around the country were throwing huge parties every time a book came out. I was working at Barnes and Noble when book 6 came out and it was a blast. But since I technically worked in the cafe I wasn’t involved in the PLANNING or the ORGANIZING. I had just had a baby and was working at Oak Park Public library when book 7 came out but since I was an intern I wasn’t invited to work at the party and since I’d just had a baby I chose not to go. Ya know, be the creepy adult who clearly doesn’t sleep enough but who comes to the kid’s party anyway? And some bookstores/libraries have parties for the movies but that’s just weird. Those parties should happen in line to see the midnight showing.

So … I am BEYOND excited about this. I want my chance to plan a kick-ass Rowling party. I even have my costume all picked out. I’m going to wear Brandon’s big ole penguin slippers, a tutu, my pirate hat, and probably my red military jacket. Whenever anyone asks me what I’m supposed to be or what I’m dressed up as I’ll say a little too loudly and quite nervously while looking around, “why, I’m a muggle! Just like you! I got these clothes in one of your … er … our Muggle Garment Stores.”

Edit: Perhaps nevermind? I mean I'm still excited but according to Entertainment Weekly, "Scholastic told EW that the announcement will not be a new book." WHATEVER - A GIRL CAN DREAM, RIGHT? I WILL WEAR MY MUGGLE COSTUME SOMEDAY!

Am I the only one who got all teary when Fuse #8 had her baby? SO BEAUTIFUL!

I've been an absolute slacker on reading blogs lately. My google reader overfloweth! If any of y'all see me commenting on random posts from months ago don't be alarmed, I just am behind everywhere.

I love this! Author Mary Roach tweeted, "This is a first: Guy mailed a fan letter, a $10 bill, and apologies for having downloaded a pirated copy of Packing for Mars. Forgiven." While I am not a book pirater, I remember a story of a woman who was TOTALLY NOT my mother who's children were obsessed with a library book called Andrew Henry's Meadow*. At the time the book was out of print and we her children checked it out over and over again and she couldn't find it used anywhere so eventually she just photocopied the whole thing. Is it really that unethical to photocopy an out of print book if you then send $10 to the author?

*eeek! It's back in print! I am SO buying myself a copy.

Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and The House of Many Ways

2011-06-16T21:08:00.002-05:00

Title: Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and The House of Many Ways
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrator: Jenny Sterlin
Publisher: Recorded Books
Pub Date: 2008, 2009, 2009 (recording pub dates)
Reviewed from: My library's copies that I checked out with my very own library card

Another post about three books at once! What is up with me? I don't post for ages and then I pull out three books at once three twice in a week? But since I've listened to the entire trilogy during my haitus I'm just going to do it.

Back when Diana Wynne Jones died I read all sorts of articles about how great she was and it occurred to me that I had never read anything by her. I'm constantly sending fantasy fans her way but I had never quite sent myself her way. So I'm in the process of rectifying that.

While I am not a huge fan of .gifs nor am I a huge fan of swearing, there is a sweary .gif that regularly makes the rounds of tumblr that, I believe, perfectly encapsulates the Howl books and it is linked here for your viewing pleasure. These are books about strong women (at least Howl's Moving Castle and House of Many Ways are) who know what needs to be done and if they don't know then they will figure it out, gosh darn it!

Ok, Howl's Moving Castle is, according to the name, about the Wizard Howl but really it is about Sophie who can do magic mostly because she is so darn stubborn that things have to do what she tells them to. When she gets turned into an old woman she is annoyed at the aches and pains that go along with it but also likes how being an old woman gives her credence to say whatever she wants to say and do whatever she wants to do and just be the kick-butt lady that she is!

Castle in the Air isn't quite as good probably because it's main character is a man and a much less likeable man then most. I'd say that Diana Wynne Jones isn't as good at writing male characters as female characters except I'm not reading The Chronicles of Chrestomanci and she nails it there. I think it's just Abdullah is meant to be obnoxious and dense and unlikeable. BUT totally worth reading because it brings you on to ...

House of Many Ways. I want to know more about Charmain. She's fantastic and all she wants to do is sit down and read a good book, darn it, but unfortunately she has agreed to watch her Great Uncle William's house while he is off getting cured by the elves and Great Uncle William just happens to be the royal wizard and Charmain just happens to get herself involved in shenanigans. And hijinks. There is an evil Lubbock who is trying to take over the kingdom and some misdirected Kobolds who are all in a tizzy about the color of the flowers in the garden and her Great Uncle William's house is a maze of folded space and time. Charmain, as I said, gets lumped into this mess and she fixes the whole thing (spoilers? What, like you didn't know it was all going to turn out? Hush. Read the book anyway to figure out how it happens and why and who. Very much who. The characters are all the best.) pretty much because she wants everyone to leave her in peace long enough for her to get some reading in! That's the kind of superhero I want to be.

These books are all narrated by Jenny Sterlin and she's fantastic. She's got this air about her narration that reminds me of Sophie and Charmain in that she's telling you what happened and there will be no nonsense while she's reading you this story so just sit down and listen. Honestly I got so much cleaning done (I listen to audiobooks while cleaning my house. I am desperately boring) just because Jenny Sterlin's narration did not allow itself to be turned off.

Sunday Links

2011-06-05T14:48:00.003-05:00

Oh mah goodness - I have a play date and the internet blew up! So WSJ wrote a pearl clutchingly awful article about the state of YA today. It's full of doom and gloom and we're ruining our kids with darkness. One of my tumblr friends Becoolsodapop wrote a brilliant take-down of it and then Tiger Beatdown, one of my favorite feminist blogs, wrote another great article on it.

There is a great article at Bad Reputation called Princesses, Pigsties, Pirates, and a Publishing problem that is a wonderful talk about the state of feminist literature in kids/ya today.

(I found out about all of this from my friend Anna who is mostly found over here.)

Anyway - my house was recently been invaded by the 5 cutest 6 and unders you've ever seen and my husband has been diligently cleaning while I type this. I should probably go provide some help, right?

Whimsy Fail?

2011-06-02T21:57:00.003-05:00

One of Kinsie's favorite things is playing with songs and making them her own. Old MacDonald is a favorite to play with - Old MacDonald had SOME PANTS. Old MacDonald had a BOWL OF SPAGHETTI! Twinkle Twinkle little CRAYON! A B C D E F BOWL OF SPAGHETTI! (Spaghetti is just fun to say, I think)

Goodnight Moon is part of our bedtime routine. After all the other things - nightly ablutions and kisses to everyone, we climb into bed and I read book after book to the girls. The last one is always Goodnight Moon. Kins has had it memorized for almost 2 years now. Tonight Pips and I were both in ridiculous moods so I was playing with the text a little and Pips was giggling and suggesting ideas (that mostly involved inserting blueberries into the text).

"In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of the cow jumping over MOUNT EVEREST! And there were three little bears sitting IN THE BATHTUB!"

Kins kept correcting me but I thought it was all in fun. After, at Pip's suggestion, we discussed the quiet old lady who was EATING BLUEBERRIES, Kins burst into tears. "THAT IS NOT RIGHT! THAT IS NOT WHAT SHE IS DOING SHE IS WHISPERING HUSH AND NOT EATING ANYTHING AT ALL LIKE A BLUEBERRY!" She only calmed down again after I promised to never read Goodnight Moon wrong again. In the future I am going to remember that bedtime is not the time to mess with the Kins's carefully constructed world views.

Just wanted to make sure y'all saw this

2011-05-31T15:34:00.002-05:00

Make Way for the Ducklings in Real Life!

Firefighters and police collaborating to save baby ducks.

The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Roberts

2011-05-31T13:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite childhood books was The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Roberts. Tragically the cover is super dated so our copies never circ. But my lovely coworker told me that she'd seen a new cover on the horizon! Look at it! Tell me that isn't a cover that will jump off the shelves? It hints at the strange powers that Katie has and her intense longing to fit in. I can't wait for our new copies to get here!

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj

2011-05-29T13:00:00.002-05:00

Title: Cat Secrets
Author: Jef Czekaj
Publisher: New York : Balzer + Bray
Pub Date: 2011
Reviewed from: My library's copy

Y'all want to know how it went the first time I read this to Kins, right?

Librarian Pirate (reading): This book is for cats only! (Pauses reading and looks at Kinsie) Are you a cat?
Kinsie (touches her lips and looks thoughtful): well … I sometimes ‘retend to be a cat.

ZOMG this book is far too much fun. I brought it home immediately when I saw it on the new books shelf and since then I've used it at storytime. These cats want to read you the book of cat secrets but first you have to prove that you're a cat. Can you purr like a cat? Stretch like a cat? Are you catty enough to hear all these Cat secrets? Good! It's one of those fantastic books that make the kidlets sit up, pay attention, and move! And at the end I even had a couple of kids come up to me and ask if I had a copy of the book of Cat Secrets here at the library. I brought them to the cat section and they had a merry ole time.

So ... now that I'm blogging again (and here to stay! I hope!), let me tell you about the girls.

2011-05-28T15:00:00.002-05:00

[image description: Kins and Pips run in wild circles in a field next to Dominican University.]
Pip Facts:
She just turned two
She has a special pillow and blanket she calls bing-bing and po po, not respectively.
I think her favorite color is blue.
She can count her toes. “Fwee, fwee, fwee, four, fiiiiiiie!”
She adores blueberries
Watch out, she bites.

[image description: Kins looking like a hipster in a black tutu-style skirt with silver hearts, a swirly handpainted-looking (yet mass produced) heart shirt and a headband over her hair hipster style. She looks like a total hipster. Pips the snuggler is all ready for bed in her monster pajamas.]
Kins Facts:
She just turned four
She has a special pillow and blanket called (more literally) her buggy pillow and her letter blanket.
Her favorite color is orange and if you let her she will monologue on her love for orange for ages.
She read her first word not sight-word last week! It was a name - Cora - and she sounded it out and asked me who that was. GENIUS BABY!
She hates to eat anything green but she would live on carrots if I would let her (and I somewhat do)
When Pips bites, Kins sometimes bites back (we're working on this with both of them. Don't worry.)

[image description: Pips and her curls walking down the stairs in the rain.]

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman Audiobooks

2011-05-27T18:45:00.003-05:00

Title: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
Author: Phillip Pullman
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks
Reviewed from: Checked out of the library
Stars: Five, Two, and Three and a half.

Back in February I started an* (friendly!) internet fight with some friends about this series saying how much I really disliked it. My friends' impassioned defense of this series inspired me to reread it and I'm very glad I did. I still have issues but a girl can have issues with a book and still enjoy it, right?

*side note, what is the rule for a/an when there is a parenthesis between the article and it's partner? Should I have stuck with an or gone with a?

For this book ramble I'm going to assume yall have read these books because I'm going to be talking about all three, what I liked, what I loved, and what I didn't like.

To begin with, these audiobooks are fantastic. They are full cast and Philip Pullman himself is the voice of the narrator. I tend to be wary of authors who are also narrators of their book but Philip Pullman is really good. He's got a great voice. Sean Barrett is both Lord Azreal and Iorek Byrnison and he is also phenomenal (Ooh! Wikipedia tells me that Sean Barrett was also a goblin in Labyrinth! Score!). Really the whole cast was perfect but those two stood out. The overall audiobook has some sound effects/voice effects but they're subtle and don't take you out of the story. I highly recommend going for the audiobook if you've got the time/inclination!

When I started the internet fight I started it by complaining about the theology of His Dark Materials. I don't care what the theology is, I hate when a book so obviously pushes a message. I remembered the plot as going severely downhill in the second and third books culminating in, as my friend Duckandpenguin said, "It’s as if Pullman kind of gave up on his manuscript and passed it on to Richard Dawkins and said 'here, see what you can do with it, I’ve had it with this story.'" On reread the message didn't bother me as much - maybe it's because I've become so much less of a Catholic and more of an Agnostic (although that is not a discussion for the blog but a point I feel is relevant) - or maybe it's because I had built it up so much in my mind that what actually happened seemed like so much less? I still find the second and especially the third books preachy but it wasn't overwhelming this time. I could let it slide and enjoy the storyline.

When I first read The Golden Compass I remember being so excited about what it was. I've always been a fantasy fan but I was also always acutely aware that there was girly fantasy (basically anything with a girl as a main character) and then there was fantasy that boys could like too. The Golden Compass seemed to me to be a fantasy book with a girl main character that wasn't a book just for girls. I found the adventure and the armored bears and the war and the daemons thrilling and was especially excited that it was a GIRL who was allowed to be the action hero and who got to go out and kick butt and take names and really just be as awesome as she can be. Then the Subtle Knife came along. Rereading these books all the feelings that I felt when reading them the first time came flooding back and I found myself getting more and more frustrated as the second book wore on. The book opens with Will (a more insufferable twat I've rarely met). When Lyra meets Will she is told pretty explicitly by the alethiometer that she needs to abandon her quest and her desires and help Will. Every time Lyra indulges in trying to research the Dust or talk to Mary or pause in a museum everything goes wrong and she ends up completely contrite that she dared to try and have a will of her own. One of the problems with reviewing from an audiobook is that I can't pull up quotes as easily as I could from a print book but there is a part where Lyra pledges to Will that she's abandoning everything to go with him to help find his father. She even goes so far as to deny herself the use of the alethiometer unless Will asks her to ask it a question. I don't think I can explain how devastated I was by this in college. I had discovered these books after the first two were out but before the third was out and I had hung so much hope on Lyra - she was going to be the one, you know? She was going to make it acceptable for boys to read fiction about girls without getting teased (Yes, I know, hegemonic systematic problems will not be brought down by one book but I'm a bit of a Polly Anna)! I had planned on going home and sharing these books with my best guy friend who I had shared the Redwall books with as a child. After he had embraced Lyra I was gong to give him Dealing with Dragons and The Princess and Curdie and all those other great adventurous girls I had loved that I knew he would too if only he'd give them a chance! And then reading the Subtle Knife I felt like that was all taken away from me (again, please don't mock. The ideals of a college feminist, ya know? Don't we all think, at one point or another, that every choice is world changing?). Lyra was being pushed into giving up herself because there's this annoying boy around who takes over and becomes the focal point. They share the spotlight in the third book but Lyra is still annoyingly willing to acquiesce to all of Will's choices and Will continues to be the most demanding obnoxious boy ever.

Can I talk for a minute about my dislike of Will? He's obsessed with who's stronger. When at a standoff he tends to say something like, "Well I'm stronger than you angels/Gallivespian/whatnot so you have to do whatever I say. Plus I have the knife so nyah!" He's the hero of the thing so what he's trying to force everyone else to do is, in fact, the "right" thing but DAMN, boy! Stop and listen to other people's points of view for once! And he has no inner monologue! At the end when they're meeting with the angel and he asks the angel what his future holds and then he says (again - reviewing without text in front of me so this is a paraphrase), "no, don't tell me. I want to make these choices myself. If I do what you say I will I'll always wonder if I did it because you told me to or if it was my choice. If I choose something else I'll always wonder if I messed up and am doing something wrong." Dude, just stop after "I want to make those choices myself." We all understand the rest! And he does that for ALL OF HIS CHOICES! He gives a quick one sentence explanation of why and then he elaborates for a year about that explanation. HUSH UP ALREADY! And then this is the guy that MY Lyra falls in love with? Pfft.

So overall I give the first book five stars the second book two and the third three and a half. I'm glad I read them, I'm glad I reread them, but oof. Issues.

Edit: My awesome internet-friend Parliament Books just directed me to her review here that I had somehow missed that is awesome and y'all should read as well. She goes more into the problematic racial/sexual/etc issues than I did and it is lovely.

Silly side note to end this on - I've become obsessed with Adele recently and her song Turning Tables? Probably because I became obsessed while also listening to this audiobook but I hear "Close enough to start a war/All that I have is on the floor/God only knows what we're fighting for/All that I say, you always say more/I can't keep up with your turning tables/Under Iofur Raknison." Somehow I don't think that Adele was singing about the ex panserbjørn king. I'm going to have to look up the real lyrics one of these days.

Screentime Saturday part 1 - Teach Me: Toddler

2011-02-12T14:12:00.006-06:00

I know, I know - screentime is evil and we should avoid it all costs, right? Well sometimes, I think, keeping your sanity is just as if not more important and on days like today when everyone in the house has had a cold for a week? And I can't even curl up and read to the girls because speaking is painful? Well that's when screentime is a livesaver. I'm going to spend some Saturdays talking about my favorite ipad/ipod apps for preschoolers, my favorite DVDs, etc. If it counts as screentime, it'll be talked about on a Saturday.

So - my friend blogged the other day about her new favorite app for her child that is a few years older than Kaylee. Teach Me: Kindergarten. I looked and sure enough there is a Teach Me: Toddler. I was a bit worried because at 3, Kaylee isn't really a Toddler anymore - and she's a bit advanced for her age (brag brag brag - I'm sorry!). I almost downloaded the Kindergarten app too (they're just $.99 each), but I decided to go with Toddler and I am so glad I did. This app is right up Kaylee's aisle.

What it does:

A small mouse comes on and tells you what to look for.
"point to the letter that makes the sound wuh."
"find the trapezoid."
"How many pirate hats are there?"
"Where is the Z?"
"Where is the 4?"

Kaylee rocks it on the identifying things - shapes, letters, numbers - it's the application she's not always so good at. She had to stop and count things - and then in real life she likes to be lazy. She thinks there are six things there so she'll say really quickly "one two three four five six - there are six pirate hates." This app encourages her to go slowly, touch each pirate hat, and make sure she knows the answer.

This app is also easily customizable based on your child's aptitude. Do you want her counting from 1 - 5 or 1 - 10? Should she point out all the colors (includes grey, brown, etc.) or just more basic colors?

The one problem I have with this app is not the fault of the app. It tracks your child's progress - it remembers which questions your child frequently gets right on the first try and you can quickly pull up a screen showing you where your child needs more help. Kaylee, even when she knows the answer right away, likes to touch the right answer last. She will show me where the square is but will touch the triangle, circle, and oval first just because she can.

Overall I give this app two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Full disclosure: I was recommended this app by a friend and I paid for this app. No one asked me to write this.

Edit: Ooh - while going back and putting in the links I just noticed that while the Toddler app is usually $.99, the Kindergarten app is on sale for $.99 - I don't know what the app usually is.

THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS #61 SPACE CASE!

2010-12-31T11:12:00.002-06:00

Confession: Sometimes when I’m weeding books I read the last few pages of the book because once I know the plot I need to know what happens. And if I’m not going to read the whole book (because I’m like that) then I read the last few pages.

So the grocery store in Nancy’s neighborhood is having a contest to see who can guess the number of jelly beans in the jar and winner goes to space camp with friends.

(warning: the rest of this rant is spoilery so skip over if you care about the twist ending of THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS #61 SPACE CASE!)

The boys buy a jar exactly the same size as the one the store is using and fill it with jelly beans and count them. And then brag about it on stage after winning for guessing exactly the right amount. And then get disqualified because they didn’t GUESS, they FIGURED IT OUT.

Lets ignore for a moment the fact that they shouldn’t have gotten it right on the nose (jelly beans settle differently, there’s always one or two malformed ones that may or may not count, etc.) and focus on what I think is a grave injustice. Yes what the boys did wasn’t necessarily in the spirit of the contest … but was it cheating? Was it worthy of being disqualified for? Is it really that much different than counting the amount of JBs on the bottom of the jar, counting how many deep JBs are going down the edge, and multiplying? Because that’s what I always did when I was little.

I dunno - I think that Nancy Drew winning in the end was kindof a cop out.

Waiting on Wednesday - Huntress by Malinda Lo

2010-12-15T08:00:00.006-06:00

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Do y'all remember my love of Ask by Malinda Lo? Do you remember how I loved it so much that I forced one of my best friend to read it and she loved it too! Well if you took my advice and read it have I got exciting news for you! (If you haven't read it yet - GET ON IT! Please?) Malinda Lo has been hard at work on a prequel! Huntress by Malinda Lo will be out in April 2011 and I cannot wait. Look at that cover. LOOK AT THAT COVER! The description from Goodreads:

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn’t shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people’s survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Taninli, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls’ destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo’s highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.

Sounds amazing, yes? I can't wait!

linkety link link links

2010-12-12T18:12:00.002-06:00

The Green Bean Teen Queen (one of my favorite bloggers ever - why is she not in my side bar? Fixing that RIGHT NOW! Wow my sidebar is sparse. I need to add a ton into that.) had a contest a few weeks ago to win a slew of books from Scholastic. Guess who won? And SCORE! Two of the books are Christmas books (I Spy a Christmas Tree and It's Christmas David) - which will help my Advent Book calendar. We only owned around 10 wintery/holiday books already this year and I didn't get the idea until the day before Advent so I will admit that days 2 - 14 on my advent calendar are library books. Also two of the books I'd never even heard of (Captain Sky Blue and Tony Baloney) - which is disappointing (what kind of a children's librarian am I if I've never heard of EVERY BOOK EVER?) and exciting! Because who doesn't LOVE brand new books that are surprises even to me! And the last two books I already knew I needed to own. That spread in the middle of The Odious Ogre? The one with the temper tantrum? It just gets me every time.

I adore Pride and Prejudice so when Miss Elizabeth Bennet's inbox was leaked on the internet I have to admit that I read it - and giggled like nothing else. My favorite part? "Fwd: Hot! Chk out Bingley on a Horse! Jane Bennet"

Being a big ole geek and a big ole sap I loved Katie's Story about a Star Wars loving girl who got bullied about loving something "boyish" - and the internet jumped to her defense. I especially love (in this day and age where you hear awful bullying stories with schools not doing anything) that her school also jumped in to have a whole week dedicated to liking what you want to like and it all culminated on Friday with "Proud to be Me" day. I LOVE THIS!

Bonjour Cass has given us part one of A Guide to Reviewing GLBTQ books that is super informative and really should be read by everyone.

Not a children's book at all but A Song of Ice and Fire is being turned into what looks like the most kick-ass HBO series EVER. I love this series with a passion that I cannot even tell you. I need to reread - and soon! At least the first book ...

Also if you have an ALSC membership, there was a great piece in there recently about the baby SRP that I helped put together at my library. I'm super proud! It was beyond successful - we had to order extra prizes in the middle of the summer!

And that's basically it for book related thoughts! I'm making these wonderful looking cookies later this week and that, as they say, is that.

2010-12-11T13:19:00.001-06:00

Lately I've been inundated with fantastic picture books on our New Books cart - so I'm going to share some of my absolute favorites. Quick little reviews - aaaand GO!

Sleepy, oh so Sleepy by Denise Fleming - I brought this book home last night on a whim because of a love of the cover and it was such a win. I love Denise Fleming's art - the narrator looks at various baby animals being "sleepy, oh so sleepy!" then asks where hir sleepy little baby is then off to look at more adorable sleepy baby animals. This is basically cute overload the picture book - and I mean that in the best possible way.

More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt ; illustrated by Troy Cummings is absolutely adorable and reminds me of stories that I tell Kins and Pips. I've got an idea in my head and I know where it's going ... "and then a WITCH came!" Only in this book the Kinses and Pipses keep yelling "MORE BEARS!" so the writer keeps adding in more and more bears and really it is complete fun. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

I've been hearing really good things about There's Going to be a Baby by John Burningham with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury for awhile so I was excited when it showed up on our New Books cart! All the buzz is worth it. A mother and son (side note: it's very obvious that it is a boy child in the bath so be forewarned that some parent may mention it) are discussing the new baby coming and what sorts of things the baby will do. Big brother is having problems envisioning the baby growing up but that just makes the conversation all the better! And Helen Oxenbury is always a favorite - I love her art - and this book is one of her best. The illustrations are perfect.

I'm in love with the cover of The Wonderful Book by Leonid Gore. The actual story is wonderful as well but that cover! Just look at it! This is a story of a book lost in the forest and every animal uses it for a different purpose until a little boy comes along and reads the story inside - the story of the animals who found the book before the boy.

Friday Fun

2010-12-03T08:09:00.000-06:00

Little Boy: We are checking out SO MANY BOOKS!
LP: Yes you are!
LB: If we were checking out any more we'd need a HUGE GIANT CRANE!
LP: Maybe I'll send my pet dragon over to help you.
LB: I don't think those exist.
LP: Oop. You've found me out.
LB: I also don't believe in magic.
LP: !!!
LB: Or MICKEY MOUSE!

Big Bouffant by Kate Hosford and ABC is for Circus by Patrick Hruby

2010-11-20T21:20:00.001-06:00

Title: Big Bouffant
Author: Kate Hosford
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Pub Date: 04/01/2011 - APRIL FOOLS DAY!
Reviewed from: Galley from Netgalley

Title: ABC is for Circus
Author: Patrick Hruby
Publisher: Ammo Books
Pub Date: on sale now!
Reviewed from: Galley from Netgalley

Sidenotes: I put all the info at the top because I want to do more of a story dual review than a more regular review - because for me these two books will always be intertwined with tonight. Also I can't find either of these books on Indiebound so I'm linking to Amazon instead of to Indiebound. I'm still a huge fan of the little guy and fully encourage everyone to buy local. But whatever. Also? I'm typing this on my sister's laptop - a MacBook. OMG. There is no home key. And if I press ctrl + shift + arrow to highlight lots of text at once it doesn't let me. Not only does it not let me but it BEEPS at me and makes me all sorts of upset. Also it'll underline words it thinks are spelled wrong but there is no right click button! How am I supposed to right click without the ability to right click? That sounds like some sort of Zen meditation but it is actually a dire problem. And I'm sorry - I'm not even going to try to put pictures on here. I'm super fail with a Mac. I'll get better. But anyway - the books.

I used to talk a lot about my neurosis on this blog but then I found somewhere else to ramble incessantly so they haven't been on here recently and this blog can be a hair more professional. Tonight? The neuroses. What on earth does this have to do with books? Wait - I'll get there.

Pippa is a pretty easy sleeper but Kaylee has always been hard to get to bed. Tonight I'm taking care of my brother's girlfriend's son as well as both of my girls while my whole family is at the Notre Dame game. I only enjoy football in big groups of people I love which this game would have been but since someone had to stay home with the teeny tinys, I would much rather do that. And we all had a lovely night. And Pippa went to bed beautifully. And Aaron went to bed beautifully. And Kaylee lay in bed and whined and cried and called for me. I've learned to give her 15 minutes between goings in to see her. I hate it, it's hard, but the other option is lying in her bed for an hour or so until we both drift off to sleep and I wake up with a crick in my neck and a foot in my nostril. So tough love it is. And tonight it was hard. And I was sitting in my bed feeling sorry for myself and, "oh woe is me my brother's girlfriend is better at raising kids than I am, look her baby went right to sleep even though mine is 10 feet from him making enough noise to wake the dead." You know those nights, right?

And then I hear the pitter patter of little feet and there was Kaylee looking up at me with tear filled eyes, "Mom - the only thing that will ever make me happy ever is one book. One really good book."

We're on vacation and I thought I was being so smart by going to the second hand store (kid's books 15 for $1!) and buying a slew of paperbacks and only packing those. Light, small, and if they get lost or ripped on the journey it isn't such a big deal. The problem? While some of the books I brought are good (Tarzanna is my favorite), none are that perfect book, ya know? And I pulled Kaylee up onto my sister's amazingly tall guest bed and thought about how I would fix this conundrum. And then I remembered that the good folks at NetGalley had given me 2 picture books to review! So I pulled them out and they are both absolute winners, folks. I will be buying both of these for real. My favorite was Big Bouffant. Kaylee's favorite was ABC is for Circus but I think for both of us it was a pretty close tie. And the best part? After I read the books I carried Kaylee back to bed and she went right to sleep. MAGIC BOOKS!

The beginning of Big Bouffant reminds me of The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School. On Anabelle's first day of school she notices how everyone has one of just a few hair styles so she resolves to do something different and falls in love with her grandmother's bouffant. Her mother is skeptical of doing such an involved and strange hairdo on the girl so she tries to do it herself with ... severely weird results. And then her mother relents and she becomes an absolute hit at school with everyone (including the boys) joining in to see just how high they can get their hair. Holly Clifton-Brown's artwork is gorgeous and fun and made me want to join Anabelle's class. Their teacher was wearing plaid pants with an orange star-filled shirt on the first day - how can you not want to learn from a lady like that? And Kate Hosford's rhyming text was just fun to read to Kaylee. I love it when a book makes her giggle throughout - and with any luck she'll get over her hatred of having her hair brushed (which doesn't go so well with her fear of getting her hair cut) and let me give her a bouffant!

ABC is for Circus is just gorgeous. (Sidenote: since I had to look this book up on Amazon I discovered that the artist has also made this gorgeous puzzle. Kaylee is currently obsessed with both puzzles and princesses so a puzzle of a princess castle done by the artist of one of her favorite new books? I think I know what she's getting for Christmas.) It was full of words that Kaylee didn't know (calliope and kerchief) but now she does. I've found that ABC books are so much more fun now that Kaylee has a pretty firm grasp of not only what the ABCs are but how they work and finding unusual ABC books is always a good vocabulary builder. Also I feel I need to give major props to Patrick Hruby for really only having one word that isn't exactly perfect. Y is for Yellow. Usually a themed ABC book has a handful of letters that you can tell made the author really stretch for a word - but ever word in here is perfect. My favorite was the t for tiger - that was one gorgeous tiger.

Overall four enthusiastic thumbs up from both Kaylee and I and many thanks to everyone involved in these books at all for turning my terrible blues into a happy memory.

Friday Fun

2010-11-19T09:43:00.000-06:00

I was helping a boy and his mother find a biography and when the mother asked the boy if he knew who Houdini was the boy replied, "Duuuuuh. I've read, like, a hundred books on Houdini."

(incident happened earlier but I'm saving this for Friday fun. Because Friday is VACATION!)

What they're reading now

2010-11-18T18:33:00.002-06:00

Pippa loves books and for the first time ever she's showing book preference. It warms my librarian heart! The main object of her affections is Baby Dance by Ann Taylor. I love this book - it's to the tune of Hush Little Baby and any book I get to sing makes me happy. And the story is so perfect for our family - the mama is lying on the couch while the daddy is throwing the baby in the air. I don't know how Brandon always has so much energy after dinner but while I'm begging the girls to play board games or do puzzles with me, Brandon can muster the umpf to throw them in the air or play our favorite game of tick-tock. I love this book! Pips also shows a strong preference toward this gorgeous rendition of Pat-a-cake by R. A. Herman. I always have trouble reading this because it's got the traditional chant going along the top and a story of a baker baking along the bottom - it throws me off to read them both at once so I have to read it twice.

Kaylee cried when I left for work today. Did she cry because she was going to miss me? No. She was crying because I was returning Hat by Paul Hoffe . We're going on vacation tomorrow for a week and I wanted all library books returned before then. I'm thinking this one will either be re-checked out immidiately upon return and/or eventually bought for Kinsie. The story is very reminicent of New Socks - one of my absolute favorite books. A boy finds a hat on a park bench and he imagines all the wonderful things he could do with that hat! But then his mother reminds him of whoever the hat belongs to - who would need that hat to do all those wonderful things. It's adorable and great fun and I am sad I didn't know about it for the hat storytime I did 2 weeks ago! It's one of those books that I put on hold for the storytime but came in the day after - so Kaylee got it instead! And she is very grateful.

Bless this Mouse by Lois Lowry

2010-11-15T09:15:00.001-06:00

Title: Bless This Mouse
Author: Lois Lowry
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pub Date: 03/21/2011
Reviewed from: Galley from Netgalley

I have a bit of a strange relationship with Lois Lowry. For the most part I adore her books, and then every once in awhile I read a book that either doesn't excite me or that I completely hate and I don't know what to do with myself. How can I dislike a book by LL?

Fortunately I am exceptionally pleased to share that Bless This Mouse is fantastic. Beautiful! Fun! Heartwarming! Perhaps it's because of a childhood addiction to Brian Jacques, but Animal Fantasies will always have a special place in my heart and to see them done really well makes me beyond happy.

Hildegarde is the leader of a large group of mice that live in the church and she takes care of them well. She organizes how they will stay safe when the church celebrates the Feast of St. Francis and all the parishioners bring in their animals (including the cats!), she helps the families find places to stay together and hidden, and most importantly, she keeps a watch out for The Great X.

Despite the drama of the exterminators coming and the feast of St. Francis being moved inside, this was a quiet book - it almost seemed more like an extended character study of this group of mice - Hildegarde in particular. Lowry tiptoes into this world and writes what is there and who is there and how they behave and then just as quietly* she tiptoes out and leaves this world to continue revolving without her observation.

*For those of you who've read this book: yes, I know that final scene was dramatic and gorgeous but wasn't it also beautiful and quiet in it's own way?

This book was short and I feel like writing more about what happened will give away what little plot there is - so I'm just going to leave this with a hearty recommendation for anyone who is a fan of Brian Jaques, Edward Tulane, or who just wants a beautiful, gentle read.

Linkedy linkedy links, links, links

2010-11-14T14:01:00.009-06:00

I'm starting to understand the appeal of the link-round-ups that everyone does. There are lots of things I want to mention but I don't know that I have enough to say about any of them to merit a whole post! So here is my first link-round-up.

So the YA book blogosphere is angry about James Frey. I talked about it to some friends yesterday and was all set to write something long and involved about what an arse James Frey is and how he's taking advantage of writers - demeaning his own profession - and he's showing complete disregard to young adults in general. Then I come around today and see that Maureen Johnson has once again said it first and said it best. A Chair, a fireplace, and a tea cozy also has a lovely take-down of Mr. Frey.

I've been using goodreads so much more lately for organizing my life. I've made a shelf of my favorite story-time books and have spent way too much time looking at the communal storytime shelf. The babies shelf is too full of praenting books and what to expect books to be much use for lapsit so I've started a shelf called lapsit and so far I'm the only one using that shelf so come and join me! I'm going to branch out into more specific genres for chapter books and such soon. Mel made this brilliant List of Picture books for Boys that I'm going to stick on a shelf soon for me to remember (and add too) because that's a question I get alot. What shelves do y'all use on goodreads? What is your favorite librarian-ey way to use goodreads?

I lent my friend Anna one of my favorite books ever and she LOVED IT! Life is wonderful.

I am also over the moon about ALA adding a Stonewall Children's and YA Literature award. People who think that kids of any age are too young to read about characters who are a part of the QUILTBAG community maybe shouldn't let their kids read books where anyone loves or gets married or has any sort of passionate feelings at all. (judgey LP is judgey)

The New York Times has released their list of the Best Picture Books of 2010. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! From now until Marchish is just list after list of good books and award after award for great books and it all makes me happy. And I'm going to be linking to a lot of lists in the future. Because I love them.

I had Hush, Hush checked out and I'd just barely started it - and the whole thing was making me feel icky so I did some googling to make sure I wasn't the only one aaaaand I am definitely not. So that book when on my goodreads Abandoned shelf. Because sometimes I just don't want to finish something.

When I was in library school, Michael Gorman was still president of the ALA and a common refrain in one of my classes was “WOW Michael Gorman is SUCH A curmudgeon! I love him!” Seriously. I just want to pat him on the head and tell him how adorable he is. That isn’t to say I agree with him about, pretty much, anything - but he is an adorable curmudgeon. This article about libraries reinventing themselves just reinforced that for me.

I've never read any Eva Ibbotson but Laura Amy Schlitz has inspired me. As soon as I'm done with The Amaranth Enchantment, she's up next for audiobooks.

There was one of those memes going around awhile back where you had to write a haiku to the item sitting on your right. I was rather proud of mine:

Boxcar children book
Missing many pages
Goodbye, cruel lib’ry

I've found that weeding is much more fun (and oh, it gets super fun if you're in the right mood) if you take the book that is to be weeded and say, "you ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!"

I'm sure there's more I want to comment on but I'll leave that for another post. In the meanwhile here is a picture my brother took of Kaylee and Pippa last week. They're getting SO BIG and I love them.

Friday Fun

2010-11-12T08:15:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite 3 year old patrons (excluding, of course, my own personal 3 year old patron) just came up to me with her hands in her pockets.

“I HAVE POCKETHS!” She yelled.

I put my hands in my pockets. “I have pockets too!” I said, a little louder than usual (the occasion seemed to call for noise).

Three year old looked at my coworker expectantly. “I have pockets too,” she hurriedly said.

“WE ALL HAVE POCKETS!” said my patron.

“It’s POCKET party!” I agreed.

The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman

2010-11-11T21:58:00.004-06:00

Title: The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable
Author: Dan Gutman
Publisher: HarperCollins (HarperCollins Children's)
Pub Date: 01/25/2011
Reviewed from: Galley from Netgalley

Dan Gutman was our City Reads author* two years ago and while he was always popular, since then our patrons have been insatiable for him. When Netgalley gave me the opportunity to read the first book in his next series, of course I jumped at the chance! This will ~~help me be a better librarian~~ give me MAJOR bragging rights with all the Dan Gutman fans I see on a daily basis!

*our version of one book/one community. We pick an author (preferably one who can show up and visit schools) and everyone reads that author instead of just one book)

Twins Coke and Pepsi* find out that they are part of a super secret government project called The Genius Files only when people start trying to kill them. They embark on a cross country road trip with their eccentric (and awesome) parents, try to survive, and try to figure out what the Genius Files are all about anyhow. The Genius Files isn't going to win itself a Newbery award and I'm doubt that it's going to stand the test of time and be a classic for decades to come - but that is part of what makes this book so much fun. The book encourages you to go to google maps or mapquest to track Coke and Pep's progress on their road trip, the twins google things they need to find out, and get excited about places on their trip with free wi-fi. This book has serious kid appeal and I can't wait to introduce it to my patrons!

*Yes, they know. And they've heard that joke. And that one.

Their names don't make it terribly obvious but Coke is a boy and Pepsi is a girl. Coke has a photographic memory but Pepsi has the wherewithal to be able to take all the clues they've been given and synthesize them into a working theory or crack the code or get them out of the situation. If you know me you know how much I love books where girls get to shine. Have you ever noticed how even when there's a female action hero she never gets to save the male? Either the male dies tragically or saves himself or if she does manage to save him it's not after some serious damage to him? Well Pepsi definitely gets to save Coke a few times in this book - and Coke gets to save Pep.

The writing is pure Gutman. Funny and personal and insightful. He draws you in on the first page and keeps you hanging on until the end. While not all the characters are completely fleshed out, this is the first book in what promises to be a substantial series and there are hints of fleshing out to come.

Overall I'd say your library would want this one - and you should read it yourself if you get a chance between all the holds it'll have. It'll only take you a day.

A story, by Kinsie Beth EE

2010-11-04T18:08:00.002-05:00

The following story was narrated to Brandon by Kaylee yesterday morning while She, Patricia and him lounged in bed

The Story of the Three Four Orange Birds
By Kaylee Elizabeth EE

Once upon a time, there were three orange birds, and they were in their nest and they were very happy. There was a Kid bird a Baby bird and a Daddy bird. But then a Halloween witch came and cast a spell on them, and turned them into toys. She turned the kid bird into a jack-in-the-box and she turned the baby bird into a jack-in-the-box and she turned the daddy bird in to … a jack-in-the-box too! But then, they changed back, because they loved each other sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. And then the princess named Susan came and helped them climb back into the nest in the top of the tree. And then, the mommy bird came home from work at the library, and she brought the kid bird three library books! and she brought the baby bird one too.
The end ever after.

All Hallows Read

2010-11-03T14:31:00.000-05:00

Being the Neil Gaiman Fangirl that I am, when NG declared Halloween a book giving holiday I decided to jump right in. My local thrift store sells used children's books 15 for a dollar so Kaylee and I went down there and had the absolute best time picking out 105 children's books which I then organized on one of our bookcases (top row: board books then picture books then readers. Bottom row: chapterbooks then nonfiction). Pippa the tiger here does her very best Vanna. We moved in March and our new neighborhood is HUGE and full of families with children so we figured we'd get a ton of kids! Tragically our house is on a little side road in the neighborhood so we only got 30ish kids. But they all enjoyed the books!

(also I know I'm a slacker and should have typed this up 2 weeks ago. If I tell blogger to publish it a week and a half ago can I bend the space/time continuum and be forgiven?)

Happy Banned Books Week!

2010-09-27T18:01:00.003-05:00

As Banned Books Week starts the blogosphere is full of banned books posts. Some of my favorites so far?

Why are Parents Banning Books from the BBC

A Tribute to my Favorite Banned Book of all Time from The Olive Reader asks what your favorite banned book is. I just reread the Harry Potter series and am in full on fangirl love (look for a post in the near future about this) but I also adored Annie on my Mind. It's always hard to pick a favorite any sort of book, isn't it?

My good friend Anna has a post about the Pentagon banning a book as it gets published. Scary stuff - I want to support national security and all that but sometimes the power our government has gives me chills.

My favorite banned book post so far comes from Mundie Moms. Author Saundra Mitchell gives a beautiful look at why banned books were so important to her growing up. I have to admit I've never read anything by her before but you have to believe I put some on hold at the library after reading this post!

Library Outsourcing

2010-09-27T14:33:00.003-05:00

So - the lovely Anna asked me what I thought about the whole outsourcing libraries thing that's all a kerfuffle right now and I ended up ranting and I feel like rambling in my blog now. Does anybody mind? I hope not. Here's what I said to her:

As Maureen Johnson said, how will outsourcers deal with book banning requests? I worry that outsourcing will have people worrying more about the bottom line and the library's image instead of the greater good. Sanitized libraries. We do so many programs that don't necessarily raise our circs (which would probably be the bottom line for a library?) but benefit the community.

having a preschool fair in a week or so - We've invited local preschools to come and set up booths in our huge room over on 95th street to educate the locals about what their options are. Does this help the library? Not really, but it helps our patrons. Why would a for profit company have a fair that tells parents, basically, instead of bringing your kids to storytime every day why not send them to preschool? That's not what we're doing, obvs, but I could see some corporate muckity muck thinking that way.

Also - collection development. I weed my collection fairy regularly. My goal is that each collection will have an average of 12 circs per item per year. Some books (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc.) will always have holds on them and thus will have 20 or more circs per year. Those books make it possible for me to keep books in the collection that only circ 4 or 5 times per year - and even some pet books that circ maybe once per year. But they're good books! And a kid is going to benefit from those books! So I will keep them until they fall apart - and maybe not reorder them, but not necessarily get rid of them, ya know?

I can see a for-profit library looking at, say, El Lector and say, "This book rarely circs. Why is it in the collection? GET RID OF IT!" But I think it has value. I think some kid is going to need that book. So I'm going to let it circ until it falls apart.

And that's what I think about library outsourcing.

Cute overload

2010-09-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

So ... There is this other song I sing to Kaylee every night. Goodnight by Laurie Berkner. I sang it to her a lot and then I stopped singing it for awhile and that led to a rash of Kaylee getting up in the middle of the night and telling her that the animals were keeping her awake and I had to had to had to come sing to her. This has led to a goodnight ritual where I ask her which animals are keeping her awake then I sing the song to that animal. Tonight after I sang the song to the "cheek deer" (a kind of deer, apparently, that says, " cheek cheek cheek") she asked me which animal was keeping me awake. Since I'm in the middle of my epic rereading of the Harry Potter books the only animal I could think of that would top the cheek deer was the Crumple Horned Snorkak. So Kaylee sang to me, "I'm a little Snorkak and my Mommy loves me. I'm a little Snorkak and my Kaylee loves me. When they tuck me in to say goodnight they say, 'crumple crumple crumple' goodnight. Goodnight, goodnight! Goodnight little Snorkak goodnight. Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight goodnight goodnight."

I want to die from cute.

Brontorina by James Howe

2010-09-19T15:42:00.004-05:00

OH MAH GOODNESS! The lovely and amazing Abby the Librarian pointed me in the direction of Brontorina by James Howe with illustrations by Randy Cecil after my post the other day about Dinosaur Ballerinas. Apparently not only has dinosaur ballerinas been done, it has been done absurdly recently (this book is still on our "new books for staff to look through" shelf - my only excuse for not having seen it before is that coworker M is in charge of picture books and I'm in charge of chapter books so if I only have a few moments I look through the new chapter books first!), and it has been done absurdly well.

Brontorina is about a dinosaur who wants to join the ballet class but there are no shoes her size and she keeps bonking her head on the ceiling. She keeps trying, though, and her teacher and classmates are on her side.

While on the one hand I'm embarrassed that I wrote something so cringe-worthy when it had just been done I'm glad I hadn't read Brontorina already. I wouldn't have written my awful poetry then and I don't need one more excuse not to write!

Brontorina would be awesome in an older storytime - a 4,5,K or a school-age storytime. Check it out and enjoy!

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

2010-09-17T17:45:00.005-05:00

Speaking of award books do you know which book should have won ALL THE AWARDS* and actually won none** of the awards? Diamond Willow by Helen Frost. I recommended it for the Battle of the Books that my library helps with and it got chosen for this year so I get to spend extra time with it which makes me beyond happy! Diamond Willow is a beautiful book - I wanted to spend forever in this world with these characters! Lucky for me despite how short this book is, it is an easy book to savor. It invites the reader to go back over every page and really let that poem sink in.

*Ok, not all of the awards - Diamond Willow came out in 2008 and y'all know how I feel about The Graveyard Book, but if I can't use hyperbole in my own blog then where can I?

**actually while writing this review I've realized that it did win some awards - but it should have won MORE!

I didn't think I would like Diamond Willow when I first picked it up. Books written in poetry tend to be gimmicky (and yes, I know there are obvious and lovely exceptions to this) but Diamond Willow is anything but gimmicky and should not be disregarded because of the poetry. When Willow (the main character and main narrator) is narrating the book, each page is a poem. Hidden within each poem is a set of words in bold that creates another found sentence. It's hard to explain but if you see it you'll understand. Go check out the first 16 pages on FSG's website and you'll see. The hidden sentence explains more - the hidden meaning that Diamond is unwilling to say outright.

Very simply, Diamond Willow is about a 12 year old girl, Willow, who takes the sled dogs out in a storm to see her grandparents without her parent's permission and she gets caught in a storm. Willow is part Athabascan and her heritage comes into play as other narrators take over the book briefly because she is being watched over by the animals that are her ancestors. Can I tell you about how much I love that? There are so few books out there where Native people are shown living modern lives that are still rich in their cultural heritage. Diamond Willow neither shuffles the Athabascans off into the history books nor does it make Willow's heritage just a quirk - it is still a very real part of her life, her traditions, who she is.

I will never do this book justice in my review. You need to go read it. Now, please.

Diamond Willow will work especially well for girls in 4th grade and up who like thoughtful books, adventure books, nature books, books about dogs, books about snow - or really just good books.

Mock Newbery

2010-09-16T08:47:00.002-05:00

Mock Newbery season is here! I've found 3 lists so far - Early Words, Allen County Public Library (which will add more soon) and Anderson's Bookshop (note: their list isn't online yet).

I have compiled all the lists into one big Mock Newbery List on Goodreads. Note - since you have to go into Anderson's store to get their list I'm not going to tag their books with Anderson's, but I have added them to the list. Once they put their list online I'll link to it and tag all those books but since they're purposefully keeping it small for the moment I'm not going to expose their list too badly! (:

I love award season and Mock award season always makes me giddy with what is to come. I've successfully predicted the Newbery 2 years in a row (although I don't think that was much of a stretch. The Graveyard Book and When You Reach Me were both phenomenal and somewhat obvious?) so I feel the need to start reading all these books and seeing what I think! So far my favorite book that I've read this year is One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia, so that's my current pick. I'll review that one soon and let y'all know what I think about the rest of the books on these lists!

So what about you? What books are you rooting for? Have you found any other Mock Newbery lists yet? Are you excited for award season?

Why I will never be a childrens' book author

2010-09-15T21:16:00.010-05:00

I have this (not so) secret dream of writing picture books. My 3 year old loves princesses and ballerinas as well as dragons and aliens and dinosaurs and robots. It's hard to find many books that combine stereotypically girly motifs with stereotypical boy motifs (stupid mean Patriarchy and the gender binary!). Yes, there are some awesome books out there but for every Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots there are tons of regularly gendered books. Anyway - I spend a lot of time making up stories for Kaylee at night and someday I'm going to get them all written down - at the very least for my girls but my narcissism likes to tell me that the wider world needs more books about Robot Princesses and such.

Anyway today I found myself in need of a good brain doodle earlier so I started writing out the story of the dinosaur ballerinas.

As you can tell from the T-Rex in a tutu above, I will need an illustrator. An illustrator who isn't me. You know what else I will need? To stay away from my radical feminist dogma when writing a ridiculously awesome story about dinosaur ballerinas. It started out well enough with Prehistoric Prima Donnas Prancing Prettily. Then it became all about body issues and how dance magnifies every little flaw. The Apatosorus has a beautiful and graceful look neck but oh that posture. Stand up straight, Appy! The Tyrannosaurus Rex has beautiful posture but when she tries to hold her arms up in fifth position they were much to stubby for proper grace.

Teacher always comments
On Apatasaurous's graceful neck
"but such posture, Mon Cherie!
Stand up straight, your spine's a wreak!"

Now Tyranosaurous's posture
Makes Madam clap with glee
"But those arms, Mmselle Rex," she glowers,
"Elongate, please!"

It rhymes! Ish.

Don't think the publishers are going to jump on this one!

Family Friday

2010-09-03T06:16:00.001-05:00

What am I doing creating another meme just for me that will probably be abandoned after one or two weeks? I was having so much fun with early literacy mondays and then I abandoned them. I have plans for screen-time Saturdays but don't know how far that will go if I even get that far.

The babies themselves and not just their reading choices have not been on my real live blog in far too long and I feel a need to share their brilliance with the whole world so please indulge me. I am a mother and therefore I am a bit narcissistic about my babies. They are brilliant and wonderful and they make me happy beyond all imagining.

Kaylee is three and wonderful. She's got this wild imagination and is always making up stories and demanding that I make up stories to tell her. She loves acting out fairy tales (especially the three little pigs) with her stuffed animals or truing to convince me to be the evil witch in some involved story she's made up about a princess and a dragon and a witch and "cackle mommy! Cackle more! And lock me in the tower! And then the Princess Kaylee ESCAPED from the evil witch and now look sad Mommy!"

Pippa is 16 months old and so affectionate. Her vocabulary is only a few words but she understands so much more. We were going to run errands the other day and I asked her where her shoes were. She brought me one green shoe. I said, "thank you, Pips, but this is only one shoe. We need two." (Here I held up 2 fingers). "can you find me the OTHER shoe?" Pippa nodded and ran off and came back with both of her brown shoes. She held them both up and said, "ooo?" She may have just found the matching pair before the other green one and "ooo" may have just been a random sound but in my head she can count at least to two. Yes? Yes.

What the girls are reading now

2010-09-02T22:02:00.003-05:00

Babybug is one of those magazines I have been meaning to subscribe the girls to forever. Now that we've bought a house and will not be randomly moving anymore I have no excuse! I do check them out from the library periodically - It had been while but I was inspired again when my coworker recently wrote on her blog that March 2010 was her baby's favorite Babybug ever so of course I had to check it out. Tragically someone had gotten to it first so I grabbed June 2010.

OH MAH GEE I am in love again! It has reinspired me to subscribe the girls to Babybug (as soon as I stop procrastinating). Kaylee's favorite part was a poem at the end called "Little Bug" that I think would be perfect for use during a 2s storytime* that is like a full body fingerplay. An Action poem! The minute I started reading it Kaylee jumped up and started doing the actions "Up on your toes, / In for a kiss! / Up on your toes, / and I hug you like this." It's absolutely way too much fun.

*2s have to come with their parents or guardians unlike 3s so the 2s have built-in hugging partners

My same wonderful coworker pointed me toward The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson and Marcellus Hall. It was on our new books cart and she encouraged me to take it home for the girls - one of the best suggestions ever! The Cow Loves Cookies is an absolute hit with both girls. Rhyming text brings you through a farmer's morning as he brings the animals their usual foods all the way through to his snack at the end with the cow. The farmer brings the cookies and the cow brings the milk! The rhyming is rhythmical and made Kins want to dance. The story repeats every animal it's gone through without being repetitive and stands up well to rereadings (which is key in a well-loved picture book). Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Baby Colors is another New Books cart find that I am beyond tickled about. Baby Colors is one of those rare lift-the-flap board books that will actually stand up to a baby's use. I can't tell you how many flaps have been pulled off or bent wrong in my household but these flaps are just as stury as the rest of the book - and the whole book in general is sturdier than the average board book. The words are basic but Pippa loves the colors and with her language skills just starting to bud it's fun to see her latch on to concepts and try to learn these colors.

And that is ... what they're reading now. (Saying that phrase puts Garth Brooks's song "What She's Doing Now" in my head. "What they're reading now ... is tons of awesome books. Filling up my shelves and emptying the lib'ry. I can hear them giggle each time I open this one and I wonder if they know ... what they're readin' now." Sorry - I am insane.)

Favorite storybooks of the moment

2010-07-18T17:53:00.000-05:00

When preparing for a Fairy Tales storytime awhile back a coworker introduced me to The End by David LaRochelle and Richard Egielski. I love it so much I'm going to use it agian in our GIANT TIME program in a few weeks! The story begins with "And they lived happily ever after. They lived happily ever after because ..." and it tells the story of the soggy knight falling in love with the clever princess backwards. I love it - I absolutely love it. At the end when everything comes together, kids as young as 3 were getting it as the their eyes lit up and they realized what happened to the lemons! So wonderful! And it is a perfect tie in for multiple early literacy points - Narrative Skills (most stories are told moving forward in time! Lets read one that moves BACKWARDS!), Print Motivation (books can be arranged so many ways! How do you feel about books that read like this?), Print Awareness (what was different about how that book was set up?). The storytime I read this in was huge - 87 kids! But I can't wait to use this in a more intimate setting - one of our age specific storytimes, a 3s or a 4,5,K where I can more easily start up a discussion about the book. I want to see if the kids can then tell the story back to me forward! Kaylee can, but one-on-one storytimes are different.

I pulled A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C Stead and Erin E Stead off the new books cart somewhat on a whim and I'm so glad I did. The book is a story about a zookeeper who befriends all the animals and when he wakes up sick one day his animal friends take the bus to see him. It's beautiful and adorable and somewhat perfect. Kaylee is definitely not reading yet, but on our way home from the library (husband had dropped her off just as I got off of work) Kaylee started acting a bit like a 3 year old (every once in awhile she remembers that 3 year olds are traditionally obnoxious) so I handed her the top book in the pile and she was enchanted the entire drive. She recounted the entire story to me as we drove ("look! He's playing checkers with his friend the elephant! Look, he's chasing after the turtle! ... Oh, he's in bed and he looks sad. Is he sick? ... His friends are sad. Why isn't he playing with his friends, Mommy? Look! The penguin is bringing him a balloon! He's playing checkers with his friend again!" etc.), and I can't tell you how much it warmed my heart that the pictures in this book are so beautiful and expressive that the Kins could get everything out of the book without me having ever read it to her before.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

2010-07-02T09:31:00.008-05:00

Ok, so I've got things that need cleaned and other things that need organized and I have the cutest baby ever trying to crawl up into my lap (seriously - CUTEST BABY EVER. What, you don't believe me? Let me grab my phone and take a picture to prove it.

CUTEST BABY EVER! Pippa, meet the blog. Blog, meet Pippa. She's much bigger now.)

Anyway - I have very little time before my mother comes over with the elder daughter who she stole last night for a hotel sleepover, but I am trying to get in the habit of writing about books again! Which is to say, this one will be short, but this time I really am trying to be back!

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Delphine and her sisters are sent by their father and Big Ma to spend the summer in California with their mother who they haven't seen since Fern the littlest "still needed her milk." Their mother wants little to do with them, shes so focused on her poetry, and sends them to the Black Panther's summer camp to keep them out of her hair.

This book is historical fiction, set in Oakland in the summer if 1968, and the time and place shine through, but this book is especially beautiful because of the characters. Everyone has a rich and complex history that makes you never want to put this book down. Fern, the youngest, is my favorite. She starts as a shy baby-doll carrying girl who can't stand up for herself and how she ends up? Amazing. And the language! I especially remember Delphine thinking about how her mother prays over her printing press.

There's the door! Gotta go. Seriously - Don't trust this super short and not good enough review. Read this book. It'll take you 2 lunch hours.

Random Links

2010-07-01T21:24:00.001-05:00

When is a whitewashed cover not a whitewashed cover? When a publisher gives itself a reason to pretend that it isn't whitewashed. This article infuriated me, especially the quote, "When Cindy Pon was first trying to find a home for Silver Phoenix, she was told by an editor that 'Asian fantasy doesn't sell.' I'm sure people will look at the sales figures of Silver Phoenix and draw that same conclusion." WHATEVER. Kids LOVE being able to see themselves as the hero to a story and Asian kids read fantasy just as much as anybody else. I wish I had more in my RA head. (Do you know any more? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave them in the comments. My patrons are obsessed and I need more ideas!) (found via Notemily.)

My friend Nerdgasms linked to this interesting article about the possibilities that ebooks bring in terms of multimedia in ways that couldn't be done before.

I agree that the possibilities for the future of books are endless, but don't discount the old fashioned print version of the book as being incabable of multimedia! There are multimedia books out there. From the basic such as Stephanie Meyer posting track lists of what she thinks of as the soundtrack to her books. There are multiple poetry anthologies for kids that come with CDs of the authors (or other if the author isn’t available) reading the poems aloud. When I was a teen librarian I remember a mystery book with clues in the books as well as on webpages referenced in the book that really existed on the web. The Septimus Heap hardcover books all come with a CD-ROM that I haven’t checked out but I know kids get disappointed if the only book on shelf is the one with the missing CD-ROM.

Heck, Eric Carle. The Very Lonely Firefly. At the end, all the fireflies light up! The Very Quiet Cricket! When you turn the last page after (spoiler alert) the cricket learns to chirp, THE BOOK CHIRPS AT YOU!

So yes, I'm excited for what's coming, but I love what's here.

Friday Fun (Saturday Edition)

2010-05-22T13:59:00.001-05:00

My coworker is making monster flip books for a Franny K Stein program and we started discussing the proper number of eyes a monster should had. That led to a discussion of eyes on eyestalks.

I was anti eyestalks because the eyes were not as protected.

Coworker A said that eyes on eyestalks would be lovely because you can look around corners or behind you without having to turn.

I countered that if I had eyes on eyestalks I would constantly be paranoid that my eyes would get caught in elevator drawers. Or I'd move my eyestalk to look in a drawer just as someone slammed it. And really, I'd rather have less eye-mobility than have to worry about fragile eyes and fragile eye-stalks constantly.

Warning: If you come up to my desk and ask if we have any copies of The Neverending Story in, while I am searching in the catalog I will sing to you

2010-05-14T17:19:00.000-05:00

"THE NEVERENDING STO-OOOORYYYYY! AA-AAAAAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAA-A-A-AAAAAAAAAH."

And then when my coworker mocks me I will tell her that she is lucky the patron didn’t ask for The Princess Bride. When she asks me to sing THAT theme song, I will.

“OUR LOVE IS LIKE A STOOOORY BOOK STOO-OOO-RYYYYYY BUT IT’S AS REAL AS THE FEEEEEELINGS I FEEEEEL. OUR LOVE IS LIIIIIIKE A STORYBOOK STOOOOOOOORY BUT IT’S AS REAAAAAAAAAL AS THE FEELINGS IIIIIIII FEEL.”

Fiesta Babies by Carmen Tafolla

2010-05-08T17:40:00.003-05:00

If there was any justice in the world I would have had this post done a few days ago for Cinqo de Mayo, but between two babies and buying a new house (!!!), I am an even bigger slacker than usual! But this book is fantastic! Anytime is the right time for Fiesta Babies.

Fiesta Babies is brand new to the library but I had to use it in a book-break* right away and it is being added to my list of no fail awesome books. The text is perfect for storytime - rhyming but not cloying, fun and bouncy, and just the right legnth. The pictures are colorful and vibrant and make you want to jump inside the pictures!

*a book break is kinda like a mini-storytime whenever I notice that the library is full of storytime-age kids. We read one book and maybe do one fingerplay sort of as a teaser for storytimes. It also works super well to clam down rowdy crowds who have started to throw plastic vegetables at each other.

I am especially a sucker for movement in books that can be copied by the kidlets during storytime. It's a book and a stretcher all in one! "K'mon, kids, stand up! 'Fiesta babies dance two by two' - Can you dance too? 'the cha-cha-cha ... and the choo-choo-choo!'" WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

In conclusion - I adore this book and you should check it out for a storytime or two.

I may have just had a conversation with my favorite 4 year old almost entirely in chicken.

2010-05-07T17:17:00.002-05:00

(background - at the reference desk we give out hand stamps to anyone who asks for them. You want a chicken on your hand? Here ya go!)

4yo (pointing at the stamps): baaaaawk? bok bok bok ba-bawk baaaaawk!
LP (nodding and picking up the stamp): bok bok bwaaaaaaaawk.
4yo (holding out her hand): ba BAWK bok bok
LP (stamping): bok babawk bok booooook
4yo (waving): bok book babawk bok!

I LOVE MY JOB!

EARLY LITERACY MONDAYS!

2010-02-08T17:33:00.000-06:00

It's that time of week again - the weekend is over and work is restarted and we are all too tired to think about early literacy. Right? WRONG! Librarian Pirate is here to help! This week's skill is ...

NARRATIVE SKILLS

Narrative skills are just what they sound like. Learning how a story is put together with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This doesn't mean teaching your child how to tell what the rising action, climax, and falling action of a story are - it's just telling stories so she (or he) can get the basics. When I come home I tend to ask my husband what he did today. Then I ask Kaylee what she did today. I do it in this order so I can sneakily help Kaylee to craft her narrative. eg:
LP: What did you do today, Kaylee?
K: Uhhh ...
LP: What did you have for breakfast!
K: CHEERIOS!
LP: And then what did you do?
K: I played blocks! I played with PIPPA!
LP: That sounds like so much fun! What did you do next?
K: uh ...
LP: Did you go anywhere?
K: YES! Pippa and Daddy go on SCURSION* and I went TOO!
LP: Awesome! Where did you go?
K: We went to the NORTH POLE!**
LP: WOW! What did you do there?
K: We bought toilet paper and HOT DOGS! And I had hot dog, catsup, mac and cheese for lunch. PARTY IN MY TUMMY!

*Excursion. Calling it that instead of errands makes life seem so much more fun
**Not sure why she's been so obsessed with the North Pole lately. It started quite awhile after Christmas, but it makes her happy.

You get the picture! (Or do you want a LONGER account of Kaylee's fascinating day? I'm usually quite enthralled, but I am a bit biased. Now go forth and NARRATE!

Early Literacy Mondays

2010-02-01T17:32:00.000-06:00

At my library (and at most libraries) we are big fans of early literacy and we try to promote it as much as possible to the parents that come to our storytimes. Often I have parents say to me that they don't know where to begin or what to do to encourage early literacy in their kids, but I'm finding that incorporating early literacy not only helps my child in later life, but it makes my life easier! So Mondays are the days that everyone is most exhausted, so I'm going to start posting my Early Literacy tips for Lazy Parents today - picking one of the 6 Early Literacy Skills and highlighting one way to incorporate that into your life easily.

PRINT MOTIVATION!

This is the easiest of all the Early Literacy skills to incorporate and (in my opinion) the most important. Print Motivation means loving books and if your child doesn't think that books are fun and exciting, then she (or he) won't want to learn how to read them herself (or himself). To encourage print motivation, pick out books that you think would make your child happy. Bright colors, rhymes, things your child loves. I know Kaylee loves ladybugs so every time I see a new book about ladybugs I bring it home. Pippa and Kaylee both love books with pictures of babies so I pick those out all the time. But Librarian Pirate, you say, Didn't you say that these were tips for LAZY parents? Picking out books takes TIME! True, but you can always call ahead to your local library, ask your librarian for advice on great books for a 3 year old about trucks, and then your library visit is quick and painless! Depending on what services your library offers, you could even put books on hold online or on the phone and just stop by the hold shelf - no need to search anything out. BUT! The real laziness comes in after you've got some great books all picked out.

So it's Monday. I've had a LONG day and I'm tired. I get home from work and my 2 year old is trying to climb up my leg, she's so happy to see my. "PIGGY BACK RIDE, MOMMY! PIGGY BACK RIDE!" So I swing her up onto my back, give her a piggy back ride to the couch (with my last ounce of strength), then we snuggle on the couch and I read her some books picked out specifically to make her happy. I get to rest, we both get to snuggle, and Kaylee's love of books grows. The more I read to the girls, the more they love it and the more they crave that cuddle time. When Kaylee is getting too rambunctious I can sit her down and give her some books to read and I know she'll sit happily for 10/15 minutes enthralled by the pictures and the turning of pages. We even had the following conversation a few months back:

Kaylee: I love my family.
LP: We love you too. Who is in your family, do you know?
K: Yes.
LP: Mommy, Daddy, Pippa - who else?
K: No! Mommy, Daddy, Pippa are not my family!
LP: What?
K (clutching a book to her chest): Books. Books are my family.

Part of me wanted to laugh and be proud and part of me wanted to cry and convince her that I was her family. I settled for being proud and grabbing a family album to "read" to her.

New Storytime Favorites

2009-09-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

There was a bit of a kerfuffle on our website yesterday and for about 8 hours it accidentally listed yesterday's 10:30 storytime for today at 10:30. We were hoping that since it was only up there for a short amount of time nobody would have noticed. We were breathing a sigh of relief at 10:29 when nobody had come in asking where the storytime was. They arrived at 10:35. I quickly grabbed 3 books off the new books cart and by the time I got to the family area I was doing an impromptu mini-storytime for 22 kids not including parents! And boy did I pick some winners!

I started with Bears on Chairs by Shirley Parenteau, illustrated by David Walker. Four empty chairs are waiting for bears and one by one they are filled. Then a fifth bear arrives! OH NO! What to do? The art is beautifully soft and evocative. I wanted to snuggle each of the bears (especially the floppy one), and the rhyming text was fun to read. A definite thumbs up.

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas was my ace in the hole. Truth be told it wasn't on the new books cart anymore, it was in sitting in the back on my desk. I had just checked it out to bring it home for my girls, but sometimes a librarian has to share the wealth! Anytime Jan Thomas does something it's bound to be brilliant. Scary Face engaged the kids and has them standing up, sitting down, wiggling around and in general interacting with the book. I know, I know, I'm a sucker for a good fourth-wall breaking book, but this one is at the top of it's class for this kind of thing!

I ended with All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee. In retrospect I would never make the transition from Scary Face to All the World. It's a fabulous book but a complete change of pace. It's much easier to go from quiet to boisterous than to go the other way around. That said, I can't wait to use All the World in a storytime! It is a beautiful meditation on a group of people (family? friends? aquaintences? It doesn't exactly say) in a town living their day. The text is short, rhyming, and fun. The art is beautiful (as would be expected from Marla Frazee) and detailed. The text could be talking about anyone, but the details in the art make it special. One family consists of a mother and her brand new baby. She looks like she's studying for school (but she may be just doing her taxes) as the day draws to a close. Another family is a blond, pale mother, a darker father with wild hair, and a boy and a girl who spend the day digging at the beach, climbing the best climbing tree I've ever seen, and eating chili with corn bread that makes my mouth water. As I keep flipping through this book I keep finding more details to love: the puppy in the wagon, the ladies on the bicycle built for two, the VW bus! In short, go find this book.

As long as I'm talking about good new storytime books, here's a few more I've just discovered:

I first found out about The Boy who cried Fabulous (by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Peter Ferguson) through I'm here, I'm queer, what the hell do I read?. As you can tell, I get way too enthusiastic about things so I empathized with Roger right away. Roger spends so much time wandering around exclaiming about the fabulous things he sees that he's always late to school and even later coming home. His parents end up banning the word "fabulous" from his vocabulary when they go out one day and he tries not to exclaim over everything until he has an idea and gives us a subtle, fun vocab lesson! What a marvelous, scrumptuous, elegant, book! I just wanted to run around exclaiming about how "the world's too wondrous to ignore" after reading it.

And then there's Laurie Halse Anderson. When The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School (illustrations by Ard Hoyt) came in I knew it would be too old for Kaylee, but I brought it home anyway because I wanted to pour over it a bit more. Kaylee pulled it out of my bag and demanded I read it to her and surprise, surprise she sat through the whole thing then demanded I read it again! This is another book where the writing is wonderful but what kept Kaylee entertained was the details in the art. Where are the gerbils now? What is the hair curled around over there? Look at that! Look at this! That said, you can get away with a lot one on one that you could never get away with in a storytime, and when it's your own child (or a child who is very used to you) you can get away with even more. In a storytime setting I would take Zoe and her wild hair to be read to some first graders. In fact, I was just asked to go to read to some next month and this is the first book I'm deciding to bring for sure.

And with that, my lunch break is over. Have a great day!

In which the librarian quotes herself

2009-08-15T15:14:00.004-05:00

At one of the random online sites I can be found, a friend mentioned how great it was that I'm bookish and am passing that along to my girls because it wasn't something that she had had growing up. I hope y'all don't mind if I quote my response and then just continue typing because I have a lot to say and I felt like I was changing the conversation so I'm taking my ramblings over to my blog (because isn't that what a blog is for?

That was something I never had to worry about. Everyone in my family is bookish - from my grandmother who borrows my mother's Janet Evanovich the moment mom buys the newest (and always returns it by saying "this was far too racy for me. When does the next one come out?") down to my 2 year old who used to ask me to read Foucault to her because it was low enough on the shelf and she could reach it (She didn't care what I read her as long as she got to snuggle close to me and listen to my voice and OH MY GOD THAT IS LOVE, Y'ALL!), but now can't sleep until I've read her her Yo Gabba Gabba book and will then try and con me into reading her Barbie and I kinda want to yell "CHILD I LOVE THAT YOU HAVE AN OPINION NOW, BUT IF I HAVE TO READ BARBIE AND THE DIAMOND CASTLE ONE MORE TIME ..."

But seriously, turning my girls on to books is one of the best things I've ever done. I have always refused to be one of those (IMHO) overly pushy parents who demands that their 2 year old learn to multiply. I want my children to enjoy their childhoods. That said, reading is one of the greatest pleasures that I have and I want to pass that along to them all. Because of the huge amounts of books that my book obsessed daughter now demands I read to her, she knew her colors at 20 months. She could identify every letter in the alphabet not long after that. She can count almost to 30 and has started telling me what sounds some letters make. She knows what sounds animals make and (this is a big one in our house) can tell the difference between Superman, Spiderman, and Thor (which, if you think about it, is pretty hard. They're all red and blue and kinda similar to the untrained eye).

I am so grateful to my parents for loving reading so much and passing that along to us kids. I am so grateful to my grandparents for loving reading so much and passing that along to their kids. I am getting overly sappy and should just hit post before I keep typing.

When you reach me - Rebecca Stead

2009-08-14T22:03:00.010-05:00

When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead
Grade 4 and up
In Stores Now

I have put off blogging about When You Reach Me for far too long. I have to tell you all about this book because it is just SO FANTASTIC, but I have no idea what to say because it is just so fantastic. I'm terrified that someone will read my review, find it lacking, and not pick up this book.

In When You Reach Me, Miranda spends 1979 helping her mother prepare to be on the $20,000 Pyramid, making new friends, mourning the loss of her best friend (who decided out of the blue that he didn't want to hang out with her anymore), and receiving mysterious notes from someone who just might be a time traveler. She obsesses about A Wrinkle in Time, fails to learn how to properly cut bread, and in general rocks.

This is not a book for everyone. You have to be ready to let the book completely absorb you. My coworker listened to it on CD and spent too much time (according to her) wandering in and out of the room and therefore didn't like it. This isn't one of those books. This is a book you have to pay attention to and think about and be patient with. This book draws you in slowly, but once you're hooked you're hooked.

This is a fantasy for people who don't like fantasy, but it is also a gateway to realistic fiction and historical fiction for people who only read fantasy. I'd give it to fans of A Wrinkle in Time, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, or The Wednesday Wars.

Speaking of spoilers ...

2009-08-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

Can I just tell you how much I disliked Knowing? It about broke my heart the other day when Meg Cabot of all people blogged about how much she loved it?

(can I reiterate my spoiler alert? Ok - good.)

About halfway through the movie, Brandon says to me, "hey - you know what would be funny? If they don't stop the disaster! If the movie just ends with the world ending!"
I replied "yeah! That would be funny! Worst ending idea EVER!"
and we had a good laugh.

And then they didn't stop the disaster. And the movie just ended with the world ending. And we were all WTF!

So ... just a warning. Don't watch Knowing unless you're ok with the worst ending EVER!

Ash by Malinda Lo

2009-08-09T08:23:00.002-05:00

Ok. I have put this off for long enough. I have important things to say*, so I am darn well going to say them! I got an ARC of Ash at ALA a few weeks ago, devoured it immediately, and am just now sitting down to tell you how fantastic it is. Don't hate! I'll regale you with tales of the kidlet's cuteness later in hopes that you will then forgive me.

*important to me, at least. Probably just me.

A word of caution - I will probably allude to how the book ends. I'm really bad about that. For me, though (especially in a book like this that is a retelling of Cinderella so you know somewhat how it turns out) it isn't about where the characters end up. It's how they get there. So read on with this review (and in general, this blog), but know that I am not afraid to let slip details from near the end.

So anyway - if you were going to write a book designed specifically for me it would be this book. Retelling of something from the 398.2s*? Check! Gorgeously seductive but ultimately terrifying faeries? Check! A world that is not heteronormative? Check!

*UGH - YES - I AM THAT NERD! I do think of them as the 398.2s (or sometimes the 398s if I'm feeling lazy) instead of as folk and faerie tales. I'm crazy.

For the most part I don't need to give you a quick summary - it's Cinderella with extra faeries and plus the awesome Huntress. Like I said - I rarely read books for the basic plot structure. my love of a book comes from the details and Ash is full of fantastic ones. The world is a growing and changing world. The old tales of faeries are completely not en vogue anymore, but Ash has grown up in a small town far outside of the capital city that still believes. Tales of the Fae are constantly being told between the characters.

It was in these tales that I began to realize that the world wasn't heteronormative. Do you have any idea how refreshing that is? Through out the tales women fall in love with men and women fall in love with women* and nobody ever says "oh my goodness lookie here that woman just fell in love with another woman and that is SO WEIRD!" When Ash starts to have a crush on the huntress, it seems impossible to her that she should have this crush because of tons of outside influences making it seem crazy (she's not good enough, she's a servant, etc.), but not one of those reasons is ever that to fall for a woman is bad. I love this. I can't tell you how much I love this. I know it's near impossible in realistic fiction for something like this to happen - we just don't live in the sort of world - but in this lush fantasy world that Lo has created, I would like to think that maybe some GLTBIQ teen who picks this up will let him/herself feel like maybe he/she isn't crazy for being the person he/she** is!

*I don't remember any men falling in love with men, but I think that is more because there are so few male characters and less because of any other reason.

**OY! ENGLISH! Can we please get ourselves a third person singular pronoun that is non gender specific for when we're talking about just some random person who could be either? Get on that, will ya?

So ... enough with my random soapboxing about my worldview. You want to know about the book, yes? Well let me tell you I loved it! Again let me remind you that I am a sucker for EXACTLY THIS KIND OF BOOK so I may be a hair biased, but please don't let that stop you from picking this up. It should be in stores September 1 and in your local library pretty soon after.

Kaylee and Pippa are both asleep

2009-08-07T21:55:00.003-05:00

Brandon is out with friends. I have the apartment to myself. I could write up my review for Ash! Or When you Reach Me! or The Demon's Lexicon! Or any of a gazillion* books I've read recently ... but then I wouldn't be going to sleep right now, and that would be tragic.

Pippa is just starting to consistently sleep well. I forsee more blogging time in the near future. Watch for it!

*approximation

Tucking Kaylee in, Singing her to sleep, I ask her what song she wants me to sing next.

2009-07-14T22:57:00.001-05:00

Kaylee: Pants song
Me: What's the pants song?
Kaylee: PANTS song!
Me: Can you sing it for me?
Kaylee: No
Me: Can you tell me more about it?
Kaylee (after thinking for a moment): Horsie, Flower, Pants, Snaps, Button. Pants song. KAYLEE pants song.

ALA Chicago 2009

2009-07-13T21:12:00.007-05:00

Today was the day my library sent me to The ALA Annual 2009 Conference. Can I say ZOMG? because ... ZOMG!

As anyone who has ever met me will attest, I have a crazy crush on Neil Gaiman. I want to go to lunch with him on occasion, eat sushi, drink tea, and discuss deep and important things. Whatever - I'm a crazy fan girl. I'm ok with it. ANYWAY - Neil Gaiman was going to be at ALA today signing books at 9 am. I live an hour away from the conference, so I figured if I left at 7 am, I would definitely be there before the line is cut off (Neil Gaiman is uber popular and I knew the line would be long). I got lost twice on the way to the conference (even using my GPS) and then ended up parking in the wrong parking lot and didn't get there until 8:55. I was one of the last people in line before they completely cut it off! And then I didn't get to the front of the line until almost noon! Good thing a good friend of mine from library school (who tragically moved to LA to be a kick-bootay YA librarian over there) was standing in line with me to keep me company! I got to detail her my plan for meeting my literary hero which consisted basically of me saying hi, and then us suddenly being best friends.

ANYWAY - I finally got to the front of the line and I handed Neil Gaiman my copy of Blueberry Girl (I would have brought Absolute Sandman, but I did not relish the thought of carrying it around all day! I love Blueberry Girl especially, though, because NG wrote it for his pregnant friend years ago and it was recently illustrated and released as a picture book. It came out while I was pregnant with Pippa, and I brought it to the hospital when I gave birth. Blueberry Girl was the first book I read to her. Nowadays, Kaylee loves it too and has bits of it memorized (but she's not as good at it as she is with "Green Room" - her name for Goodnight Moon). Sometimes when Pippa is chillin' on the couch, Kaylee will climb up there with her and "read" Goodnight Moon or Blueberry Girl to Pippa.

I told this story to my new BFF, and he said, "That may possibly be the cutest thing ever." I completely agree and the proud mama in me wanted to whip out the pictures right there and then, but by that time he'd been singing books nonstop for almost 3 hours and was looking rather haggard. Besties know when not to push it.

So after wandering around the Exhibits for awhile, I went to a panel on Censorship and Graphic Novels. The panel was moderated by a lovely man (who's name escapes me at the moment) from The CBLDF and consisted of Neil Gaiman, Terry Moore, and Craig Thompson. It was fascinating and someday I'm going to try and type up Mr. Thompson's hysterical description of being offended.

Then back to the conference floor where I met E. Lockhart (more on that later, but I'm beyond tired and want to finish this up) and got TONS AND TONS of ARCs. See my haul below? (Note, two of those are not ARCs, and one is an ARC but of a book that is already out? One of my favorites, though, so no complaints here!) The only real tragedy is that people like Abby and Jen snapped up all the Catching Fire before I could get there! SO rude of them, don't you think? (;

And when I got home, my husband had made his amazing chicken mole which always makes my night. Now I'm going to go see if I can con him into a backrub (free books are heavy, yo!) and then fall into bed early.

2009-07-08T15:25:00.001-05:00

I'm halfway through three different reviews, but in the meanwhile I am SO IN LOVE WITH THIS PICTURE and I wanted to share it!

(Kaylee is SO GREAT!)

WOW - Crazy

2009-06-30T21:05:00.000-05:00

Crazy crazy night!

So ... here's what happened:

Kaylee and I were going to run an errand. When I opened the door to the apartment, everything smelled of smoke, and there was a faint beeping noise coming from downstairs. I called my Brandon over to confirm that I wasn't crazy and he walked us downstairs. The beeping was coming from the apartment two floors below us, and smoke was pouring out of the door. Nobody answered when we banged on the door so Brandon called 911 while I pulled the fire alarm and ran upstairs for Pippa.

The fire department here ROCKS! They were here already by the time I was back downstairs, and I ran as fast as I dared! So ... yay for safety! But the being grabbed and then jostled woke Pippa up and she was so surprised that she promptly filled her diaper. Of course I hadn't thought (or had the time) to grab a diaper bag ...

The firemen put the fire out before it spread beyond the apartment it started in, so we're back inside fairly quickly. All's well that ends well, yes?

I am raising an evangelical minister, apparently.

2009-06-09T19:07:00.000-05:00

Kaylee was sitting on my lap just now, and then I put her down saying, “I need to go flip the porkchops, sweetheart. I can smell ‘em, and they need to turn before they burn.”

Now she is marching around the living room changing “turn before they burn.”

In which the librarian tried very very hard not to swear delightedly

2009-04-29T11:52:00.006-05:00

This is the perfect way to finish BEDA - because it really speaks to the spirit of the event.

So I feel you all need to know that my daughter is a genius. A certifiable genius. I want to add a disclaimer here (because I am neurotic) that I may have put up before. I am not one of those mothers who is completely and utterly anal about how smart my kid is in relation to the rest of the children around. I live and work in an area where parents are sending their children to preschools that promise to have the kidlets multiplying and dividing before kindergarten. I know of parents who get TUTORS for their two year olds. I roll my eyes at this because while I want my daughters to be smart and be the best they can be, there is really no point to it all if they don't enjoy themselves along the way. Life is there to love, not to win! That said: Kaylee is a genius.

My child loves the alphabet. She loves it. From all the Early Literacy information I read to pass on to parents at my storytimes I know that before the age of two it's common for a child to know the alphabet song. At two they often start identifying letters. Late twos often start knowing the sounds that the letters make and early threes might be able to sight read words that they see a lot.

(That is why books like The Monster at the End of This Book are so great! I mean look at this page!

Point to "Monster" as it is being read! Point to "Scared" and all the "Please"es! Kids pick up on this stuff and they learn to recognize the shapes of words!)

ANYWAY (oy with the digressions already! Just tell the story, Susan!) - Kaylee loves the alphabet. She points it out wherever we go. She has those foam letters in the bath and she can identify every one and LOVES to identify every one. I already knew Kaylee was a genius because of that, but yesterday - yesterday takes the cake. We were sitting in front of a chair made by my best friend for Kaylee that has her name on it, and Kaylee pointed to the painted name and said, "KAYLEE!"(Note: This chair had been moved out onto the porch for a few weeks and has just recently been moved back inside - and I know that neither my husband or I have pointed out the name on the chair to her since before it went outside.) I basically died from excitement right there. Then I pointed to the letters one by one and she named them, then I asked her what those letters spelt and she shrugged. Then I asked her what the word was on the chair and again she said "Kaylee!" I asked her how to spell Kaylee and she had no idea ...

So yeah, I know it's "just" sight reading and not real reading, but my daughter - who is not yet two - read her first word yesterday. And I'm going to be insanely proud.

And there ain't nothin' you can do to stop me.

(The Genius en repose being read Goodnight Moon by her father)

Happy

2009-04-27T11:07:00.004-05:00

First off - a public notice: whoever took my phone charger please give it back! I'm asking for your own good. If my mother finds out who you are and discovers that you are the reason I'm not texting her constant updates ... well, I just don't know what will happen to you! So just slip it somewhere I've already looked twelve times and I won't be upset!

I've been getting a lot of requests for details, so here ya go! Pip was the easiest delivery ever. 3 pushes. Well, 4 - but the first one doesn't really count. Everyone told me that my hour and a half with Kaylee was beyond easy and I was inclined to agree ... and then I had Pip. It totally made up for the two and a half weeks of contractions I had!

I feel wonderful. I feel really really wonderful. I probably shouldn't say that because now people might expect me to do stuff and get things done when I'd rather everyone expect me to take it easy and if something gets done it's a happy addition! Right?

The other request everyone wants is a sisters picture. This has been rather difficult to provide because everytime Kaylee sees the camera she wants to PLAY with it so I have to get these pictures on the sly. This is the best I've managed so far - but it has the added bonus of showing my sister Elizabeth the ringlets I've been bragging to her about!

And with that I go to do something ...

Or not. As the case may be.

BEDA excuses

2009-04-26T13:38:00.003-05:00

Lookie what I made!

Pippa arrived yesterday at 3. She's 7lbs, 2oz, and practically perfect in every way. Her full name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking. We'd call her Pippi, but that name seemed taken (weird, huh?), so we're going with Pippa!

ZOOO MAH GEE!!!

2009-04-20T19:15:00.004-05:00

Based on the small theatrical performance I just witnessed, I had better NEVER run out of cheese. Ever. In my child's whole life. See, I opened the refrigerator to get out the milk so I could pour two glasses and a sippy cup of milk. In my child's head I was opening the PORTAL OF CHEESE thereby reminding her that CHEESE IS AVAILABLE and then I did NOT give her any.

"Cheese? Mommy? Cheese?"

"One minute - I will get you some cheese after I pour this milk."

"Cheese? Mommy? Cheese? Cheese? CHEESE? CHEEEEEESE? CHEEEEEEESE?"

So yes, I don't move as fast as I normally do - and getting two glasses and a silly cup down and then filling them up took MAYBE a whole two minutes, but from the theatrical piece Kaylee put on (which I entitled "have a little patience, child" and she entitled "In which my mother does not give me cheese. And I die. From tragedy. I am dead and that death was caused by tragedy.") you would have thought that I took TWELVE YEARS to give her her beloved cheese.

That said, she is now being the sweetest child ever and asking me to dance with her. Y'all will just have to be patient and I'll give you a real blog post later. Tonight? Tomorrow? You'll never know! I'm keeping you guessing!

BEDA fail? I DON'T THINK SO!

2009-04-12T20:05:00.001-05:00

Yes, so this whole "Blog Every Day April" thing hasn't worked so well for me so far, but it has gotten me to be very conscientious about the fact that I don't blog as often as I should. That's something, right? PLUS the whole "I could be having a baby at any moment here" drama just keeps distracting me. BUT my favorite librarian blogger ever just posted her picks for SLJ's battle of the books and I am totally going to copy her.

(BTW - this just goes to show how completely and utterly dense I am sometimes. When SLJ posted the Battle of the Books Brackets I immediately put them up in my small corner of the Children's Services workroom and looked over them and thought "that is awesomely awesome" and made predictions in my head. But share those predictions? That completely didn't occur to me!)

(And also BTW - Abby predicted who she thinks is going to win, sometimes even pointing out that she is predicting the one she likes less. That's a good strategy on her part but I am a SELFISH and SELF CENTERED BLOGGER today, so I am going to write these predictions as if EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD AGREES WITH ME ABOUT EVERYTHING! So therefore the books I like the most will win, right? Lets assume so!)

1) The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume II vs. Ways to Live Forever judged by Roger Sutton.
I just started the first volume of Octavian Nothing yesterday. It is beyond amazing! I have no idea why I waited this long to start these. And from what I've been told it just gets better. Ways to Live Forever was good. I read it back when it was on the new books shelf. I remember what it was about, but I don't remember any of the specific plot points. Octavian Nothing on the other hand has already given me ample bits that I know will stick in my head for years to come. So while I technically haven't read it, I am still going to declare:

Winner: Octavian Nothing

2) The Graveyard Book vs. The Trouble Begins at 8, judged by Jon Scieszka. (Full Disclosure? I thought I had Scieszka spelt properly, but Google fixed it for me.)
This is another easy one. While The Trouble Begins at 8 is brilliant and funny and well written, very little can beat The Graveyard Book in my head. And if you have a chance to listen to the audio version - DO IT! Some authors should not read their own works aloud. Neil Gaiman should. He's a born storyteller.

Winner: The Graveyard Book

3) Chains vs. Washington at Valley Forge, judged by Elizabeth Partridge.
Wow - three easy ones in a row. I loved loved LOVED Chains. I love pretty much everything Laurie Halse Anderson does. I hadn't even heard of Washington at Valley Forge before the brackets were announced and I haven't gotten around to this title yet. If it somehow beats out Chains I'll read it before making next week's predictions, but I don't see how anything could beat Chains.

Winner: Chains

4) Here Lies Arthur vs. Tender Morsels, judged by Meg Rosoff.
I knew a hard one would come eventually! Two I haven't read yet going up against each other! And they're both fantasy-ish (from the mini descriptions at Indiebound ... ), so I can't just plead a fantasy bias and go with that. BUT I can mention that I got very annoyed with Arthurian rewrites a few years ago and that bias is still in place, PLUS I've always had a thing for books about liminal spaces. I blame one specific college professor for that, but it has stuck! So ... I am going to have a very full week on the reading front, but assuming bambino #2 doesn't show up during it, I am required to spend a lot of time with my feet up, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to promise to read the winner of this bracket as well! Actually - knowing me I'll read them both, but I'm only giving myself a deadline for the one.

Winner: Tender Morsels

5)The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks vs. We Are the Ship, judged by Rachel Cohn.
We Are the Ship is beautiful, well written, and important. It has won tons and tons of awards, and rightfully so! However ... my thesis in college was on Foucault's Theories of the Panopticon and How that Relates to the Female Bildungsroman. (Yes, I pull that out at cocktail parties just to sound pretentious. It is beyond fun.) The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is a Female Bildung (those of us "in the know" about bildungsromans call them "Bildungs" as a nickname. Because we're just that cool), and the main character becomes increasingly obsessed with Foucault's theories of the Panopticon. E LOCKHART, YOU HAVE SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO! Were you reading my senior thesis? So ... I have to vote for Frankie, because ... well ... I have to.

Winner: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

6) The Hunger Games vs. The Porcupine Year, judged by Ellen Wittlinger.
This one is very similar to Bracket #2 for me. I haven't read The Porcupine Year and while I'm sure it's lovely I can't imagine it beating out The Hunger Games. I'm not sure I can tell you how much I loved THG. And anyone who gets an ARC of Catching Fire will be FOREVER in my debt if they share it with me! /love

Winner: The Hunger Games

7) Graceling vs. The Underneath, judged by Tamora Pierce.
Y'all already know how I feel about The Underneath. BLECH! And I adored Graceling ... so this one is a no brainer.

Winner: Graceling

8) The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary vs. Nation, judged by Ann Brashares.
AUGH! I love The Lincolns. Bit of trivia for you? Candace Flemming kinda wanted to name it Abe and His Babe. Well, she might have been joking when she said that, but it's still pretty awesome. I haven't read Nation yet which is a TRAGEDY because I love Terry Pratchett. I love him with a passion! And knowing him ... knowing how much I love him ... if anything could beat The Lincolns, it'd be Mr. Pratchett. Please don't make me pick?

Winner: a TIE! (:

And with that, I go to curl up with the cutest toddler the world has EVER seen.

<3

brownies

2009-04-05T20:38:00.004-05:00

I just made an 8X8 pan of brownies. I then cut it into four pieces. That means that this here 4x4 brownie in front of me is SIXTEEN SQUARE INCHES of brownie. And when I go and get seconds? Yeah - that'll be THIRTY-TWO square inches of brownie. And I won't feel bad about it. Not one little bit.

And yes - I know that I totally failed at BEDA, but I'm not giving up! I have a half finished blog entry for Friday AND a half finished blog entry for Saturday ... and I'll finish them someday, and there will just be this gaping hole in my blog. It's ok - I'm not going to let myself stress. Because. Good reason, huh?

I took some great pictures today, but for some reason I can't get the computer that I am on to admit that my camera is hooked up to it. It will make the "something just connected!" noise when I turn the camera on and the "something just disconnected!" noise when I turn the camera off, but will it actually admit that it is connected? NO! So pretend there are adorable pictures with these stories. That may make things better.

Kaylee and I figer painted this morning. It was a ton of fun! We used my mother's technique of pouring lotion on a plate which the Kins thought was beyond fun. And we used this random horrible smelling lotion that was given to me by a book seller this around the holidays. And dang, this story really isn't that interesting without the pictures. Trust me. They're adorable?

Oh, blech. The whole blog I had planned out hinged upon my pictures. I'll just put off more substantial blogging until tomorrow.

Bye all.

<3

PS - I have become a Nerdfighter! How cool is that?

PREGNANT AND SNARKY

2009-04-02T18:19:00.001-05:00

There are a ton of reasons I haven't been blogging lately. The main one, though, is this: I AM PREGNANT AND SNARKY! I pride myself on being a happy positive person. I don't quite know what to do with myself when suddenly I'm snarky! It's tragic - it really is.

Y'all - I have DISLIKED BOOKS recently! I know - that is COMPLETELY unlike me! And how can I blog about a book I disliked? That's so mean! Jeremy Tankard found my blog when I talked about how much I loved him ... what if some author googles themselves, finds my blog (THAT WAS WRITTEN WHEN I WAS PREGNANT AND SNARKY), and decides that if one random librarian pirate didn't like their book then they shouldn't try again*. On the other hand, it is completely disingenuous** of me to assume I can write a blog that contains tons of book reviews and NOT discuss the books I don't like. I had a dilemma. I have come upon a solution! I tend to link to other reviews anyway, right? Why not just include a link to a positive review along with my negative snark! That way nobody will decide not to read a book just because some snarky pregnant lady told them it sucked - they can decide based on my snark and someone else's non snark. Good idea, yes? Shush - it's BRILLIANT!

*Oh, the narcissism!
**Fun fact: Disingenuous is possibly my least favorite word EVER! People use it when they want to call someone a no good fake liar pants but they don't want to actually be seen calling someone a no good fake liar pants. Therefore I find the word itself to be disingenuous. Did that stop me from using it here? Nope. You want a blog that doesn't hold itself to a ridiculous double standard? Go read something else!

First up, Gossamer. Fuse Number 8 wrote a beautiful review of Gossamer, and it makes me giggle because it begins "And now a book we can all agree on. The newest L0wry* is out and it's loverly. A class act all around." Oh, Fuse #8 - I almost always agree with you, and the one time I don't you are not expecting it! It's a stealth disagreement! Gossamer is a quiet book about dream creatures and a boy who was abused by his father who is now staying in foster care with this lovely older lady who works to help fix his damaged soul.

*did you see what I did there? No? That's because I'm SNEAKY!

I think part of my problem with Gossamer is that I listened to the audiobook. I don't tend to like soft, quiet, smart books on audio. They always seem beyond pretentious when I hear someone reading the words and obviously thinking the words are some of the most brilliant things they've read in awhile. Also, the snarky side of me was getting very annoyed at the trend in children's books for the problem child to be a problem for a reason and that reason is usually his/her home life. AND the child is always fixable (Side note: I am an optimist. When I'm not PREGNANT AND SNARKY I do think that everyone is basically good and I certainly don't want to ever tell my children that someone is just a bad person and there is nothing they can do to fix that ... but right now I am PREGNANT AND SNARKY so I will let my feelings flow!). I think my biggest problem with this is that it is almost always the parent's fault. In this book it was extreme abuse, but in general I get annoyed with people's tendency to think that a child is only acting out because they don't get enough attention at home or the parents don't care or whatnot. I have so many friends who have children somewhere in the autism spectrum who are the best parents ever but whose children "act out" (oh look! CNN even has an article about that exact thing today!). AND as I've mentioned time and time again - I am NEUROTIC. Books like this make me feel like when Kaylee (sweetest baby ever that she is) decides completely randomly in the middle of the store that she wants me to let her hold THAT GLASS JAR OF JELLY RIGHT NOW (which: no, Kaylee. You want to hold this plastic jar of salad dressing? Fine. You want to cuddle up with the ice cream? Well - you're crazy, but ok. When you get bored with either of those and drop them on the floor they will not break. The glass jar will. Let us sing a rousing chorus of Row row row your twinkle twinkle instead) and will scream and scream, I feel like everyone I walk by is thinking, "what a horrible mother. She obviously neglects her child and that is why her child is screaming and screaming and screaming."

SEE? This is why I haven't been blogging. What was meant to be a brief "I was not such a fan of this book" description has turned into a "I AM NEUROTIC AND EVERYONE JUDGES MY PARENTING ABILITIES" rant. Anybody want to count up the times I have used the word "pregnant" alongside the word "snarky" so far? Yeah, me neither.

Another book I disliked was The Underneath. I actually read this one ages and ages ago - before this book won a Newbery Honor. It was perhaps my biggest surprise of the award season because my dislike for this book was SO huge. I read it because Abby the Librarian (who I love and idolize and pretty much always agree with) loved this book. I'm sorry, Abby - you're wonderful and brilliant but SO WRONG on this book! Again, this may have been worse because I was listening to the audiobook and "smart" audiobooks just don't jive for me. The prose in this book is lyrical and "beautiful" and DOES NOT STOP! Let me demonstrate (note: I am not actually quoting the book, but I am barely exagerating ... well, maybe a little at the end):

This tree. This big tree. This enormous tree. This tree that can reach the sky with its branches. This tree that is home to so many animals. This tree that reaches up with its branches and down with its roots. This old tree. This ancient tree. This tree that has stood on this spot for many many years. This tree that has seen the animals live. This tree that has seen the animals die. This tree that remembers back to the days of yore. This ancient tree that whispers on the wind. This tree of life and love. This tree will be chronicled until I run out of words to use to explain this tree. This tree that you will hear about until my keyboard fails on the letter E. This tree? This is the one I'm talking about.

OH MAH GOODNESS.

I could go on ... and on and on, but how about if I mention one book that I've loved recently? I'm about halfway through the first Septimus Heap book and I love it. My only complaint is the name: (this may be a spoiler - don't read on if you don't want to hear my surmise) On the first page, we are told that Septimus Heap is dead - has died pretty much right at birth. I think we are then meant to forget him - his death just made it very convenient for Jenna to join the Heap family! But they named the book Septimus Heap! So while I am halfway through the book and Septimus Heap is still presumed dead, I am fairly certain that he is not in fact dead, I am fairly certain he has been reintroduced as another character, and I am pretty sure I know who he is.

That said, I love it. I absolutely love it.

More, less snarky, book reviews to come. I promise! Maureen Johnson is the reason I am blogging every day, so I really should talk about how great her books are, right? Well stay tuned! Or not. Whichever.

BEDA09

2009-04-01T21:54:00.002-05:00

So I have been very motivated by Maureen Johnson to get off my behind and actually type up some of the millions of things bouncing around in my head. I had such great intentions for starting April off with a bang - I have a ton of things to blog about. Seriously. Just you wait.

SO - Today I worked, went to the doctor, went back to work, stayed at work late because of the doctor's appointment, picked up Kaylee at daycare, made a fantastic dinner, ate my fantastic dinner, ate seconds, ate thirds, ate even more while watching my husband trying desperately to fix Comcast in time for Lost, cheered him on when he prevailed, watched Lost (OH MAH GOODNESS!), put Kaylee to bed too late, sang her more songs/read her more books than usual because she was cranky going to bed late and I prefer sending her to happy sleep instead of sad sleep, made my husband a fantastic desert, puttered about, puttered about, puttered about, and THEN decided to sit down and blog.

(yes, I made that sentence AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!)

But I am le pregnant and therefore I am le lazy so I decided to implement operation, "I own a laptop! I should blog FROM BED!" Brilliant operation, right? Except the only outlet in the bedroom is hidden behind the headboard and somewhat impossible to get at ... and also kinda full. AND the laptop is kinda out of battery. So the laptop is charging right now and I am typing on the desktop in a tragically upright position. That is why my first post of BEDA09 is going to be tragically short. Because I am le lazy. Well, truth be told, my doctor is worried about me and I've convinced her that I can still work only by promising to spend as much time as possible lying down. And as you can tell - my day today has been full of many things, and lying down has hardly been one of them. Well - while dinner was cooking, we played Kaylee's FAVORITE GAME (and I whole heartedly encourage this) called "Mommy lies on the floor and I tuck her in." It's adorable - she covers me with her blanket, then grabs a stuffed animal for me and hands it to me. Then she hands me her sippy cup. Then she looks around for other things I might need while taking a nap. "Crackers!" "Diaper!" "Shoe!" "Colors!" (That's what she calls her crayons) Eventually I convince her to sit and read me a story or sing me a song. Can you SEE why this is my favorite game? It is A) ADORABLE and B) lets me lie in one spot while getting quality baby playing time .. AND eventually she reads to me. I am a fan.

So ... better BEDA09 tomorrow when my laptop is charged? Don't mind if I do. And people who I owe emails to? Totally coming! I promise! I am such a bad friend. But for now - I lie down.

<3

Reports of my death have been greatly exagerated

2009-03-17T15:49:00.007-05:00

So ... from phone calls and emails and texts and other things that I have gotten, I get the feeling that my mother sent out the call yesterday that "Oh my goodness the librarian who is also a pirate is dying or very sick or having her baby RIGHT NOW or something ... I don't know! I'm just worried! Be worried too!" This is totally not her fault - when I was in the hospital I was texting her and my sister and my husband and my other sister (who has helped me pick out a name for baby girl #2! The husband doesn't like it, but who wouldn't want a child named Sparkly Unicorn! He'll come around.) and sometimes I forgot who I had told what to and she probably didn't get the whole story. Since so many people are worried about me, I am going to type it all up and stick it on my blog because really - who reads this but friends and family? (:

ANYWAY - yesterday.

I got to work yesterday and started feeling awful. Nausea, stomach (not uterus) cramps, dizzy ... and when I started throwing up and the cramps were worse I called my doctor, OB-GYN sister, and mother (in that order), then doctor again (I couldn't get through to my doctor the first time, nor my doctor sister, and I don't know about anyone else, but when I don't feel good and can't get a hold of people the people I should, I tend to call my mother. My mother's brilliant advice was "keep calling your doctor until you get through."). I am really bad at taking care of myself and determining if this is "go to the doctor" worthy or if it's just food poisoning/the flu/whatever. When I'm sick I get even less rational and don't like making decisions for myself! So my doctor told me not even to go to see her but to go to the hospital and they'd check me out.

So I go to the hospital and they hook me up to all kinds of "lets check this lady out" equipment and I felt better then worse then better then worse. The nurse said, "how many times has the nausea come since you've been here?" "Twice" I replied. "Yeah ... those are contractions."

!!!

"Contractions! But they're at the top of my belly and they're making me nauseous! They don't feel anything like what contractions felt like before!"

"Every baby is different. And these aren't big contractions. About 10 minutes apart and pretty little." They wanted to watch me to make sure they were false labor and as long as I was there they wanted me to stay for awhile in case it was real labor (For those of you who know nothing about this sort of thing, six and a half weeks early is bad. Not so bad that it wouldn't work out, but bad enough that we REALLY didn't want Sparkly Unicorn to show up quite yet). They took my blood and did and ultrasound (and Sparkly Unicorn has the prettiest face EVER) and determined that nothing seemed problematic and eventually (WAAAAAY Later) let me go home.

I'm on what the doctors call "modified bedrest" which sounds so much more dire than it is. I stayed home from work today, I'm going to stop carrying Kinsie as much, I'm going to be much more careful in what I lift and how much moving I do. That said I can still go to work (but when I turn on "Shake your Sillies Out" I'm going to tell the kids they have to shake extra hard to make up for my lack of shakes). I can still live my life. I really don't like that they call this "modified bedrest" because in reality it's "be more careful and maybe start acting like you can't do as much as you used to be able to do."

BUT one of the joys of being home all day is that I have gotten photos uploaded to my Kodak Gallery (FINALLY) - anyone who wants a link just email me.

This is currently my favorite picture. I think she kinda looks like Little Michael here (something I think all the time in real life but I rarely see captured in photographs). I'm now going to go catch myself up on emails (I know! I owe so many emails) ... and get myself something large and cold to drink.

dashing in for a moment

2009-02-23T20:25:00.003-06:00

We were about to turn right out of a parking lot onto a busy street and the "leave the parking lot" lane was CLEARLY slanted to the right and it had a big sign that said, "no left turns." The car in front of me wiggled out of this left slanting exit lane and went straight across the busy street to get to the stores over yonder.

Me: "HEY! That's not allowed!"
Husband: "Where does it say 'No turning straight?'"
Me: "THE DICTIONARY!"
Husband: "What are they gonna do? Throw the book at him?

Vignettes

2009-02-22T10:29:00.001-06:00

First things first, I want to send you all over to Maureen Johnson's blog to wish her a happy WAY belated birthday (because I've been stinking at updating this thang lately. She's one of my favorite YA authors and she had a hysterical birthday post that made me giggle and wish we were personal friends. I would love to sit around a big bowl of pasta with her!

Hehe - wow. A week of crazy updating constantly, then just one measly update in a week. I'm SO good at this, eh? And it's especially sad because my google docs is absolutely full of things that I want to talk about, books I love and feel the need to ramble on, etc. (That's how I organize my blog thoughts. I'm weird, I know.)

Can I blame my lack of updates on Just A Mom? She's a good friend from college who I've only recently reconnected with. This past week we've been sending long rambly emails to each other and I'm afraid some of the things I would have rambled about here have instead gone into emails with her. So anyone who is absolutely addicted to my blog should run over and yell at her for being so fantastic. Or maybe just be nice because I'm enjoying having a friend to ramble at.

A while back I wrote about Kinsie almost pretending like she could count. She's frickin' rocking at it now. And by frickin' rocking I mean she can count to ten. Or - at least she knows what order the numbers go in up to 10. The other day, though, she pointed at a 2 on tv and said "two!" I couldn't get her to do it again, but that's ok. She's brilliant and I know it, right? (:

She's also going through this absolutely wonderful kissing stage. She just loves kissing. This morning I don't have to be at work until noon and the husband decided to get up at SEVEN THIRTY IN THE MORNING! And yes on a normal day I am already in the car by seven thirty, but my goodness, lady! It's the weekend! Learn to sleep in a little! So my husband got up, snuggled her, and crawled back in bed with her between us. She then spent HALF AN HOUR giggling, leaning down, kissing me, sitting up, giggling, leaning down, kissing her daddy, sitting up, giggling (repeat ad nauseum). It's amazing that neither of us got sick of it before she did.

It's crazy - I have a ton I want to ramble about, but I also have a jam covered daughter who wants to snuggle and really? That's more important right now. I just have to remember to take a shower after the snuggle and before work.

A storytime I wish I had the guts to do.

2009-02-20T21:04:00.006-06:00

I was doing the best storytime EVER today (seriously - these kids were uber into it. It was massive, though. Friday storytimes always are ... ), and one of the books I read was Froggie Gets Dressed which is part of my dream storytime. A storytime I don't quite have the guts to do quite yet (I've only been at my job since September. Wait until they know me a bit better. (: ), but someday. Oh yes, someday. It'll be awesome.

SO! What is in your dream storytime, Miss Pirate, you may ask? Well I'll tell you!

It starts, as you may have guessed, with Froggie Gets Dressed by Johnathan London. Always start with the longest book, IMHO, while their attention spans are still unused. Froggie gets up in the middle of winter (a big no no in his hibernating froggie family) and keeps running out into the snow missing important pieces of clothing. His mother keeps calling him back to put on whatever he's missing, culminating in her screaming across the snow that he forgot his "UNDERWEAR!" TONS of giggles everytime I scream that out. Seriously. You want to make a room full of three year olds beyond happy? Just scream "UNDERPANTS!" at them. In that vein, we will be continuing with ...

Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. The pictures in this book are just beyond giggle worthy, and the rhyming text is brilliant. See, aliens don't come to earth for any of the reasons most people surmise (to eat our brains, commune with our culture, steal our nitrogen or whatnot), but to steal our underpants. Oh, this is where my book rambling without having the book in front of me is going to come back to bite me, right? Because I would love to flip through the book right now and tell you about all the fantastic things the aliens DO with our underpants, but the few I can remember are them making a slide out of grandpa's wolly long johns and ... I think they make a parachute out of someone's massive bloomers? Maybe? But trust me! You want to check it out.

We end, of course, with Chicken Cheeks by Michael Ian Black and Kevin Hawkes. Animals are piled on top of each other and WE get to know what wonderfully alliterative or rhyming thing Michael Ian Black calls their arses. Chicken Cheeks, of course, but I think Moose Caboose was my favorite. Maybe bumblebee bum? Either way - this fantastic book. And the best part? The last page ... "The Ends!" Oh, wonderful fantasticness.

So yes, I have the same sense of humor as a middle school boy and think the best thing to do in the whole wide world is have a storytime on underpants and butts. You know what? I like my sense of humor, thank you very much! And someday I am going to make the best ever underpants or keister themed flannels and find some amazing underpants or keister themed storytime songs and then the STORYTIME OF AWESOME will unleash itself upon an unsuspecting public ...

AND THE WORLD WILL BE BETTER FOR IT!

(:

Starstruck

2009-02-13T22:08:00.002-06:00

Today was the BEST DAY EVER! Did you guys see that? Did you? OH MY GOODNESS! Jeremy Tankard commented on ~~last night's~~ this morning's blog post! Can I be gooshy and giggly and silly? I spent some time today wandering around his site because I was completely and utterly starstruck, and he says that his next book Boo-hoo Bird is a better read aloud than Grumpy Bird. That makes me laugh - hahaha! I double checked to make sure that Boo-hoo Bird is ordered at my library. I put myself on the hold list so I won't miss it (it comes out RIGHT before the bambino is due). But believe that some book is a better read aloud than Grumpy Bird? Oh no, Mr. Tankard. That I will not believe until I see. Grumpy Bird does deserve a better explanation than I can give, but fortunately Fuse #8 gave it one so I don't have to try and write an actual review. I'm much better at enthusiastic rambles.

I've been having brushes with my own personal celebrities lately. I emailed Mimi Smartypants back when I was barely blogging because something she said made me want to ramble and since I was out of blogging practice, I just rambled in an email to her. A little over a week ago - I got an email back! A few days later, ABBY THE FREAKIN' LIBRARIAN sent me an @ reply on twitter (!!!). Then, I won an ARC from Meg Cabot and I got an email from her saying that I had won said ARC! Yes, so it was a form email that she sent to everyone who she's sending an ARC too, but still! There is an email in my box FROM MEG CABOT! Because I'm just that awesome. Or whatever. (The ARC is for Allie Finkle #3. I'll ramble about it up here when I get it. I've been loving the series so far - but I'll ramble about the whole series when I can ramble about all 3!)

SO ANYWAY - Today wasn't just the best day ever because of Mr. Tankard. Read on, dear ... reader. (yes, somebody buy that librarian a thesaurus. Or send her to the 423.1s.

I did a family story time today (which we gear to all ages). We had a Valentine's Day dance party - they were loud and rambunctious and much younger than the normal family storytime, but I am always paranoid about that sort of thing so I had tons of extra younger books and was good to go. Afterword my boss said she was worried about me when I was Shakin' mah Sillies out, but even though I have doubled in size this week I had no trouble with being as incredibly active as that storytime demanded I be. (Full disclosure - I will be investing in a massive Sports Bra because while I can shake my sillies out, now that the pregnancy GAZUNGAS have popped, when I Jump my Jiggles out ... I worry about jumping my jiggles out. If you know what I mean)

THEN just before I started blogging I put my daughter to bed. She has been singing a lot to me lately, and as I put her down she sang to me:

Tinkle tinkle ittle ar
How I J K M M M M PEEEEEEEE
Row Row Row Row Row
Up abov orld hiiiiiiiiigh
T U V T U V T U V
five six seben eight NINE!!!!!

(for those who don't speak 21 month old - that was twinkle twinkle, the ABCs, Row Row Row your boat, and random counting all moshed together into one song that was beyond adorable.)

I really need to go to bed myself, because after typing up that last bit I am thinking about how wonderful it would be if I wrote a children's book that was basically just a transcription of some of the Kins's mooshed up songs. Thank you all for reading this. I really shouldn't blog when overtired, eh?

Storytime!

2009-02-13T07:41:00.001-06:00

We had our monthly departmental meeting on Wednesday and we all shared some of our favorite storytime books. I thought I was copping out a little bit by bringing what I brought: these books are all so good! I'm not going to be introducing anyone to anything! But they are also my favorites, and I wanted to bring my favorites, so I brought these ... and all my coworkers were amazed. Where had I found such great books? This made me realize - I should stick all these books up on my blog. If these books were new to most of my coworkers (who live and breathe storytime books), then I need to share them far and wide.

Another thought is that I have very sweet coworkers. They tend to read and chose quiet, sweet books. I tend to be exuberant and bouncy. I would say that there are 3 others of the 11 in my department who tend to go for the loud crazy books, and the rest go for calmer, sweeter books. All of these books make me want to run and jump while reading them aloud.

Please note that I do not have any of these books in front of me, so all quotes are from memory. In fact, in general, I rarely have the book I'm blogging about in front of me - so ignore any factual issues! I just talk ...

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Grumpy Bird is my absolute go to favorite. I remember once when the K-9 officer suddenly had to go catch some bad guys and was 45 minutes late to the program he was putting on at the library. I grabbed my favorite books and sang songs and the kids didn't even care that the dog wasn't there when I pulled out this book. THAT is how brilliant it is.

When bird wakes up he's grumpy. He's too grumpy to eat, he's too grumpy to play, he's EVEN too grumpy to fly. Looks like he's walking today. As he walks, animals keep flocking to him, telling him how much fun walking seems, and joining in. By the time his entourage has 5 other animals in it, he starts having fun! Hoaky, I know, but combine Tankard's bright, bold pictures with his laugh out loud words and you have a hit on your hands. Check this out, use it at every chance you get, and then be happy.

New Socks by Bob Shea

After discovering the brilliance that is Bob Shea's Dinosaur vs Bedtime, I had to see what else this brilliant man had done. New Socks was the first one I found. I love this little bird. He's got NEW SOCKS! And he's going to go down the slide IN HIS NEW SOCKS! And he's going to do other things IN HIS NEW SOCKS! YAY! Did you SEE his NEW SOCKS? Are they not the MOST AWESOME THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD?

This little bird reminds me of me. Yes, I just spent my last post trying to convince you that I am a crazy, neurotic lady and I stand by that statement ... but I am a happy, crazy, neurotic lady. I am a contradiction in terms. I get unreasonably excited about little tiny things: new socks, the awesome used kid's clothing store over on Aurora, discovering a great new website, good food. It's easy to make me happy and my happiness tends to bubble over into excited giggles and unnecessary song. My poor coworkers have to listen to me tell them in great detail about the great reference question I just got on chat reference or the new word the Kins is saying. I completely understand the need to write an entire book about NEW SOCKS! Especially when they are awesome Neon Orange socks.

>Big Plans by Bob Shea

I have never used this in a storytime, and I am not sure when I will get the chance. This is one of the most amazingly fun stories to read aloud, but it's a bit long for the ages we get at storytimes at my library. I think I might have to start bringing it to every single all ages storytime I do just in case I have one that skews old and I can read it! As it is, I've read it to my almost 2 year old (for those non storytime people reading this: you can get away with much more when you read one on one to your own child then when you read in large groups to other people's children. The Kins is happy to sit on my lap and try and repeat words that I say. Other people's children? Not so much.) and she went to bed tonight saying "BIIIIII PLAS! BI BI PLAS!"

So the little boy in this book has been sent to sit in the corner and he starts letting everyone know that he has BIG PLANS! BIG PLANS, I SAY! His plans involve
becoming mayor "You! Dig a hole. You! Build a school! You! Paint the town red!" I especially love after he becomes president what he tells the states "State that the Librarian has forgotten! Build a rocket! Idaho! Build me a spacesuit using your latest potato technology! Missouri! Cheer up, you're bumming me out. The rest of you? Mill about. MILL ABOUT, I say!"

(hehe - it's especially funny because my sister used to live in Missouri)

Oh, I love this book. I just want to stand in front of a large group of kidlets and shout at them that I've got BIG PLANS! BIG PLANS, I SAY! And hopefully inspire them to dream MASSIVE!

Sometimes I like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill

This poor book is going last and I need to go to bed so it isn't going to get as exuberant a discussion, but that is almost appropriate. It is the quietest of my selections, for when I need something less bouncy. Little wombat explains what he loves - "sometimes I like to scream ever so loud - not that I'm cross, I just like how it sounds." The art is beautiful, the text loveable, the wombat looks cuddlier than anything.

So ... now it's time for me to curl up in a ball (or not, as the MASSIVE STOMACH allows). Two posts in one day! But what will y'all think of me if I post one post right after the other? Oh, this trying to keep personal posts and library posts seperate is going to be the death of me if I can't keep my neurosis in check. AH! Brilliant idea! You who read through to the bottom will know that I finished this post at 11:58 on 2/12/09, but I'm going to tell blogger to stick it on up there tomorrow morning so I can fool maybe y'all into thinking that I'm not some pathetic person who spent all night after her daughter went to bed lazing about on the couch typing about nothing. BRILLIANT, yes? Ah, but I ruin it by telling you what I'm doing, don't I. OH WELL! Enjoy my neurosis. I'm learning to.

In which the librarian is neurotic

2009-02-12T22:41:00.000-06:00

I have been becoming increasingly aware of how neurotic I am. I am completely ridiculous about it too. Now that I have a wonderful new job with wonderful coworkers and am away from a crazy destructive coworker who liked to very randomly insult everything from my clothes and looks to my lifestyle and storytime techniques, I am realizing more and more how little my belief that everyone secretly hates me and everything I do is wrong is rooted in reality. OY WITH THE CONVOLUTED SENTENCES, YO! To sum that sentence up in smaller more manageable bits: I tend to think badly of myself. I tend to think everyone secretly finds me supremely annoying. I used to work with a woman who fed those beliefs on a daily basis. NOW I work with wonderful, amazing, sweet people who are crazy supportive of me and crazy sweet and beyond amazing ... and I am realizing that I am neurotic.

SO instead of going to a therapist which I really don't have time to do, so that the therapist can say "wow, you're neurotic! Get over it!", I have started saying to myself "wow, that was such a neurotic thing to think! Get over it!" But wouldn't it be much more therapeutic for one such as myself who really finds writing and sharing WAY TO MUCH WITH THE WORLD to be cathartic if I told y'all about my crazies and y'all could say "wow, Qsie the librarian pirate is NEUROTIC! She should get over it!" I thought so too.

I had a moment recently that convinced me I was the worst mother in the history of bad mothers. Note that this was not because I was actually doing something that made me a bad mother, but because I AM CRAZY!!!

A few weeks ago, The Kins woke up screaming around midnight. My husband and I were staying up watching Bones way later than we should have - but sometimes it happens, ya know? So anyway, I go running into her room and grab her up and she's had a cold for a few days and now she's burning up. I'd been noticing for a bit how warm it had gotten in the house that night (our thermostat is a hair unreliable) and she was wearing a blanket sleeper, so I took off the hot, sweaty, fleece pajamas and she immediately fell asleep on top of her daddy (Isn't she beautiful? Isn't he handsome? Ignoring the fact that she was really sick when she took this picture, I love it). The next morning she still felt a little warm to me, but nothing like the night before and I have a very low normal so I'm really bad at judging whether or not she's warm. We have a thermometer that will take her temperature orally, rectally (with special plastic sleeves on, of course), or under her arm. She totally isn't up for under her tongue, I totally don't want to try rectally, so armpit it is. She squirms and yells, but it tells me she's a healthy 98.4. I stop worrying and bring her to daycare ...

Two hours later I get the call from her daycare saying "your daughter has a fever of 102.6. Come get her, please." Of course I do and knowing that a fever combined with as much coughing as she has been doing could mean strep or it could be an ear infection so I bring her to the doctor's office where they diagnose her with a double ear infection and a throat infection that isn't strep.

At Meyers picking up her antibiotics, I buy a new thermometer because under the arm is unreliable and I need a thermometer that can do ear or forehead or something better! The only ear thermometer there is Meyers brand, but I don't want to drag the sickie off to another store so I go for it, bring it home, and take her temperature. 93 degrees and a smiley face. First off, if she was really 93, she would NOT be this hot. ALSO, if she was really 93 degrees - that is NOT a good thing and I should be worried! I take my temperature - 91 degrees and a smiley face. My husband and I spend days trying to get this thing to work, lose the receipt, and are now stuck with an ear thermometer that tends to choose a number between 90 and 94 whenever you use it and goes with that. You can take your temperature twice in succession and get 90.3 and then 93.5. It's insane, but it is also the Kins's new favorite toy. She calls it "EARS!" and will try and take my temperature for hours on end, completely happy. Somehow she gets what this is for, but she wears her toy stethoscope as a belt. Whatever - I won't judge what she likes if she won't judge what I like.

Why does all of this make me neurotic, you may ask? What bit of this story has convinced me that I am a terrible mother? The fact that I cannot get a thermometer to properly take my daughter's temperature. In all thruthfulness, before the thermometer I was using at the start of this story, I'd had two OTHER thermometers that were just as bad as Kinsie's beloved EARS! I spent a whole weekend convinced that I am a failure as a mother and that EARS isn't defective, I just obviously shouldn't be allowed to parent because I can't figure out how to use at thermometer.

"Wow. Qsie, you're crazy. Get over it. The thermometer was defective."

Thanks! I really do feel so much better now that I've told you all that incredibly pointless story. Thank you for being my therapist!

2009-02-11T20:36:00.006-06:00

As you can probably imagine, I read a ton - and it's mostly children's books. I also have a yen for YA (Young Adult for all y'all non-hip-with-the-lingo people!) and once in a blue moon I allow myself to read something adult. Then I feel all snooty and pretentious and have to wander around talking about the Lacanian imagery in and the Foucaulian bent to whatever book I'm reading. It's really obnoxious - steer clear of me at those times.

ANYWAY - here are some quick and dirty book rambles about a few books I've read recently.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

The Magic Thief was on Anderson's Bookshop's Mock Newbery list for 2009 and I was working my way through that list ... starting with the fantasy first because I'm obnoxiously predictable like that, and because I was also trying to read all the Rebecca Caudill books as well as all the local school district's Battle of the Books (BOB) books ... so I didn't really get very far in any of them. This year I started the 2010 Rebecca Caudill list the day it came out, and I plan on being just as speedy when they announce the new BOB books in May. So anyway - I was pointed toward this book by the mock Newbery list, and I am eternally grateful to whoever at Anderson's picks their Mock Newberies!

Conn is a pickpocket who knows he is supposed to be a magician. When he picks the pocket of Nevery and steals his locus magicalus, by all rights he should drop dead on the spot but for some reason he doesn't and that piques Nevery's curiosity so the two pair up. Someone is stealing the city of Wellmet's magic and Nevery is out to figure out who.

This book was so utterly brilliant. When Conn is narrating out on the streets by himself he falls into this language that reminds me almost of Cockney rhyming slang (says the yank who knows very little about Cockney rhyming slang) but without the actual Cockney rhyming slang bits. I'm probably explaining this all wonky, but as a few examples from when Conn and Nevery first met: Conn "caught a glimpse of his keen-gleam eyes" (p. 5), the wizard "loom-doomed up before me" (p. 8), and then with a "quick-dart for the door and back out into the steep, rain-dark streets" (p. 10) he's away. See - it's not really at all like Cockney rhyming slang (which involves replacing a word with a word that it doesn't actually rhyme with but that works with a word that rhymes. Yes?), but it reminded me of it and that's what I'm sayin'!

I also loved the discussions of magic. Lots of fantasy books just blip right over this - magic just is. That's how the world works and why would it be any different? Conn, being a smart inquisitive student of magic does the obvious thing and asks Nevery what magic is and where it comes from and how it works. Nevery, being a pretentious, brilliant magician of course tries to explain it and just angers Conn because Conn is convinced that Nevery is wrong.

For more traditional reviews, check out The Well Read Child, Ms. Tingling, or The Purple Cow.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This book was recommended to me by absolutely EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD! And I am NOT EXAGGERATING AT ALL! By which I mean I am completely exaggerating, but lots of people did tell me to read this. It is very popular, had a massive hold list, and was YA, though, so I kept putting it off ... but then it was on the hold shelf waiting for me and I had just finished off whatever I was reading when it came in (probably Dealing with Dragons) so I actually read it. I am SO glad I did!

The Hunger Games is one of the best post-apocalyptic fiction novels I have ever read. It's right up there with Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

A couple hundred years ago things started to go wrong with the world. Famine, flood, earthquake, etc. The usual. On North America, from the ashes rose the rich and prosperous Capitol surrounded by 13 poor Colonies. Eventually the colonies rebelled against the Capitol and were severely trounced. To prove their superiority, the Capitol destroyed Colony #13, and the rest of the colonies must each year send two tributes of a teenage boy and a teenage girl who will compete against the other 22 tributes in THE HUNGER GAMES! The Hunger Games are a The Most Dangerous Game-esque type of reality show where whichever tribute survives the longest wins. They will live a life of ease until they die and for the next year their colony will be showered with riches like sugar and butter and flour. ANYWAY - Katnis is a hunter from the one of the poorest colonies who provides for her mother and her 12 year old sister Primrose. When Prim's name is called in the lottery, she volunteers to take her place and joins The Hunger Games.

(someday I will learn to write a concise summary. There will be rejoicing in the streets and free cupcakes for all. This will be a beautiful day.)

The characters in this novel were amazing. Katnis is the main character, so of course I was rooting for her, but the other tribute from her colony was the son of the baker and I want nothing but good for him. Then there was the youngest tribute who was this sweet girl who was so scared and so shy and so wonderful! Then there are the tributes who have spent their lives training for the games and who are just so cocky and so cruel and so scary.

Just read it - seriously - and if you don't believe me, read Abby (the) Librarian (LOVE her), Fuse #8, or The Book Nut.

There are more books I need to talk about, but I'm going to take a break and come back with more books later.