Frosty or the Caribbean?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Last week, I was searching for a Young Adult novel that had a Christmas feel to it, and I couldn’t find one. Apparently, there isn’t a whole lot of Young Adult Christmas literature. So, instead of reading a YA novel, I chose an adult book that I’ve wanted to read since I was shelving it as a page. The book is titled Skipping Christmas, was written by John Grisham, and was made into a movie called Christmas with the Kranks a few years ago. I watched the movie the year it came out, and even though it starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Tim Allen, I didn’t find it incredibly funny like I was expecting. But, I was curious what flavor the book took, and if it matched the movie. So, without having a YA book to read, I decided I’d see what the book was like.

The book opens with a loving mother and father kissing their twenty-three year old daughter goodbye, just before the holidays. Blair, the daughter, is going on a Peace Corps expedition for two years, and her parents, Luther and Nora Krank, know that Christmas won’t be the same without her. Not really in the mood for the Christmas festivities, and realizing how expensive it was last year, Luther comes up with a brilliant idea; my wife and I will skip Christmas altogether, use the money to go on a cruise, and still be in the black at the end of everything! A few brochures, the fact that she misses Blair, and the thought of 10 days in the Caribbean quickly bring Nora around. The only problems are all of the neighbors, the charities begging for donations, and all the people who had to be snubbed because you aren't coming to their Christmas party. With each dollar saved, and with each annoying Christmas tradition avoided, Luther’s resolve to skip Christmas gets stronger and stronger. But, the Kranks anti-Christmas plans are ruined when Blair calls on Christmas Eve expecting a Christmas celebration for her and her fiancé!

I was amazed at how well the movie stayed with the book. All of the same situations and scenarios happened in both. I also thought the movie captured the overall mood of the book very well. Although many slapstick things happen to the Kranks, getting a tan in December, hanging upside down from a roof, the last white chocolate package being taken, neither the movie nor the book are funny. Things seem to be told in a very matter-of-fact way, even when the funny things are happening. But, I think this might be the point of the book. Why do we do all of our holiday traditions? Why do we spend more than we have to make a holiday special? Why don’t we all just skip Christmas? The answer the book seems to offer is that we could all use a little bit less of the materialism, and the hard feelings we have for our neighbors. But, we could all use a lot more of the giving and focusing on our friends and family that we all seem to miss in the hustle and bustle.

I don’t know what your holidays look like, but I hope they are filled with friends, family, great food, giving, and a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What day is it again...

So last night, I was brushing my teeth, and for some reason I thought it was Saturday instead of Thursday. I smacked myself in the head thinking “I didn’t get a Weekly Update out on Friday. Ugh!” Then, I realized that it was Thursday night, and I still had all Friday (which is the day it’s supposed to go out) to get the blog post finished. I sighed with relief and got myself to bed.

If my rattled brain last night was any indication, this week must have been busy. I started on Monday with our monthly Ka-Boom: Science Experiments program. We had a great turnout, and a great time! We started by mixing flour, salt, and warm water to create our own Play-Doh, and then we tried making edible dough. That one didn’t mix so well…but it tasted good!

As I alluded to on Wednesday, I was supposed to be off Tuesday to go skiing with my friends. Well, that didn’t quite happen. Our friend on 49 North called us and said the mountain was all ice, so we thought we’d head over to Lookout, where there was some new powder. Lo and behold, Lookout isn’t open on Tuesdays! So we drove all the way from Rathdrum (we had been driving to 49 North when he called us) to the Idaho/Montana border (where Lookout is located) and we didn’t get to ski! Needless to say, my friends and I will be finding another time to go skiing, and I got some office work done on Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent working and meeting on our Teen Film Festival that is coming up in March. Last year, we had a Three Minute Teen Film Festival where the movies could be up to 3 minutes, and there were cash prizes for the winners. This year, we are doing 2 categories: Short Film and Public Service Announcement (PSA), and we are still doing cash prizes for both categories. In addition, the winners of our PSA category are going to be sent to the statewide PSA competition being put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraries. The winners of the statewide competition are going to be used to promote summer reading across the entire nation! If you like making movies, be looking for more information on the film festival coming in January.

Noticing that next Friday is Christmas Eve, I won’t be doing a Weekly Update. But, noticing that you all might want something to read during the Christmas break, I’ll still do a Book Blurt.

Have a great week!

A Trumpeting Skateboarder with Dreams

Howdy! Hows the week been going?

Mine’s been kind of crazy. I had finals on Monday, and an unplanned roadtrip yesterday (more on that Friday), so I kind of spaced reading a book until last night. Oops!

But, I’m glad I had a chance to read through Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter. The book is told from Andy Ramos’s point of view, and is one of those fun, off-kilter a little bit kind of books. Andy is a skateboarding trumpet player, who was aspirations of being the next big musical sensation. Enter Glory Martinez, the crazy girl he used to know in grade school, who moved away for a couple years and is now a drop-dead gorgeous softball pitcher. These plot elements seem normal enough, but then the twist happens. Andy likes to give some movement to his music, so he played a few rifts while she pitched, and they both found they were better than before. Glory pitched like crazy, and Andy had never played with more soul. People started to notice, and there are plenty of opportunities for Glory to shine on the diamond, and Andy to shine with his stellar notes. But, what is the deal with the mysterious man in black who says he can make all of Andy’s dreams come true, and the fortune teller who has some odd things to say?

Under the Baseball Moon hits on what makes a great performer, what causes you to do better, and what you're willing to give up or not give up for your dreams. The book also has plenty of fun describing fantastic softball plays, intricate musical accompaniments, and there are even chords for the songs in the back of the book. If you are looking for a slightly different story, this one can be quite a bit of fun. Of course some elements of the plot, like the romance that develops between Glory and Andy, aren't exactly new, but they are still enjoyable to read.

Creating Successful Teen Programming...

Is it possible to create successful teen programming starting from the ground up? I think so.

Now, I won’t say that I have successful teen programming at this point. But I will say that I hope to create a successful teen program in the next few years. What do I base this confidence on? Well the first thing is that other libraries have done it. Other libraries, of equal size to our library and district, have created and maintained a successful teen program. I hope I can learn from their experiences and successes to help our success.

Another confidence booster is the budding success of Airband Awesomeness. I’ve contacted one of the families that came to the event, and they are excited that we are doing something similar with Jingle Bell Rock. They said they would be spreading the word about the event. I think this will be the biggest step toward a successful teen program; teens and families wanting to get involved with it. I can try to create great programs, post things on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, but if young adults aren’t being served and enriched, it is all for naught. I hope I can remain even more fully focused on serving our young adult patrons with everything I do.

Finally, I am starting to see interested educators come along side our efforts to start teen programming. As soon as I’ve mentioned teen programming to parents, educators, and librarians, they immediately get excited about it. There hasn’t been a lot done for teens in the library, so I think having somebody on that encourages people. Obviously, I can’t create a successful program on my own, and I thank everyone who has helped me to this point, and everyone who will help me in the future.

So, what is your Community Library Network at Hayden doing in the next few months? We will be launching a Library Next-Gen website. We will be involved in Teen Tech Week and our annual Three Minute Teen Film Festival. We will be continuing to get you new books, and keep our collection up to date. We will start posting book lists that hopefully you will enjoy. We will be starting a Next-Gen Advisory Group in the summer. And we will continue to find what you need from the Community Library Network at Hayden.

Hope you have a great week and thanks for reading!

The Empire State Building=Mount Olympus?

Should I start this blog post with a question? Or should I just say good morning again? I love stuff like that. You kill two birds with one stone, make the beginning of the blog post a little bit more interesting, and still get to say good morning.

Anyways, I read a book this week that probably all of you have heard about, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Obviously, this is the first book in the series, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, and I had a really good time with it. I enjoy a good fantasy novel, the book is hugely popular among our patrons so it can’t hurt to read it, and Greek gods have always interested me. It’s fascinating to look at what other cultures believed about the metaphysical and why we are all here.

Go back to your high school classes and remember all of the Greek gods, heroes, and monsters you know of. Remember all of the ones that died, all of the ones that couldn’t resist that simple beauty, and all of the ones that tried to cause havoc for their sibling or close relative. Now imagine that all of these gods and monsters still exist in our world today, and Mount Olympus is actually on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building!

Welcome to the world of Percy Jackson, a half-blood son of one of the gods (I’d tell you which one, but he is actually “undetermined” for a portion of the book, and I wouldn’t want to give it away). Percy always had a problem with ADHD and dyslexia, and one day during a field trip (after one of his teachers turns out to be a monster sent from Hades) his best friend (who is actually a satyr) drops the news on him; you’re a demi-god and the gods are trying to kill you.

So begins the quest of Percy Jackson; accused of stealing Zeus’ master bolt and given only 10 days to return it until the big three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) start an all out war among the gods! The book starts with an attack by a Fury, and Percy runs into many other mythical monsters, gods and heroes such as Ares, Medusa, Dionysus, Hades, Chiron (trainer of heroes), the Fates, the Furies, and countless other mythology references. The characters of the gods are similar to their forms in Greek mythology, and the modern setting makes it so interesting (what happens when a monster attacks with modern mortals watching?) Finally, a key question throughout the book is whether or not Percy has a choice in his destiny: is he just a god’s mistake, a pawn in their schemes, or is he his own person? The question is posed in this book, and I’m sure it will come into play again in the later books of this series…

Disney, Murals, and Storytimes

Well, hello everyone. How was the week?

Mine went really well. I felt like a have a much better handle on the programs and events that I have coming up, and I also got to spend some time with little kids. I love it!

Just like last week, my first couple days of work were spent pondering, considering, and brainstorming upcoming programs and summer reading. Since I got a lot of ordering done for Next-Gen events last week, I had time to discuss the younger kid summer reading program this week. Even though there are still things to iron out, we have a jumpstart on summer reading now, and have the ordering finished.

Then I turned my attention to the next couple of months. I’ll start with December for this week, and I’ll let you know what’s going in January, February, and March in the next couple of weeks. As I mentioned last week, Jingle Bell Rock is going to be on Dec. 22 from 7:00-9:00pm. We’ll have some pizza, drinks, jingle bells, some holiday spirit, and any Christmas or normal songs you want to rock to! There is also some talk of having Christmas crafts available while you aren’t rocking. Because school will be out, we’re letting anybody from grades 6-12 in on the event.

Looking back on this week instead of into the future, I got to spend some time doing storytimes. Miss Cassie has a Tales for 2’s storytime every Thursday, and I got to cover for her. We read some train stories, and made some train collages. Today, I got to pop into the Kinder Center for their library times. It’s fun when kids recognize you, and enjoy reading stories with you!

In between classes, I got to talk to a local artist who is painting a mural in the Kinder Center Library. She told me about her start with Disney (back when Walt Disney was alive and would talk to his artists), all of the famous people she got to meet, and some fun details about Disneyland rides. It was also cool to see her take a rough sketch of a crab and transform it into the finished work. Today was the perfect end to a productive and great week.

Hope your week was also fantastic, and I’ll see you next week!

A Historical Egyptian Fairy Tale

Merry December to all, and to all a happy blog post!

Even though we are covered in snow, I read a book this week that dealt with Egypt, the Nile, and a complete lack of snow. Funny how different the climates are. But, the book was called Sphinx’s Princess, and it was a historical fiction novel about Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The book opens with Nefertiti as a young girl, and this first installment follows her to her mid-teen years. The second installment, Sphinx’s Queen, came out this year. New young adult books cross my desk before we shelve them, and Sphinx’s Queen caught my eye. Instead of starting with that book, I figured I’d backtrack to the first one.

Nefertiti is the eldest daughter of Pharaoh’s chief investigator, and she leads a normal nobleman’s daughter’s life. Even though her mother died in childbirth, she has had a loving father and a caring nurse, who get married near the beginning of the book. Meanwhile, Nefertiti has no recollection of her mother, and has never met her mother’s sister, High Queen Tiye. Nefertiti’s father might be a chief investigator, but her aunt is the Queen of Egypt! Queen Tiye has a good looking, powerful son named Thutmose, and he is next in line to the throne. That is if any of Pharaoh’s junior wives don’t steal his affection for their own sons. In a ploy to seal the throne, Queen Tiye tries to force Nefertiti into marrying Thutmose, as Pharaoh loves a beautiful woman, and Nefertiti is gorgeous.

Even though I wasn’t expecting historical fiction when I picked up the book, I really enjoyed it. The name Nefertiti sounded really familiar, and I finally looked on Wikipedia to figure out who she was. She and her husband radically changed the face of ancient Egypt by claiming that there was only one god instead of the many gods that had been the Egyptian religion for years. Knowing who she would ultimately become helped me understand the drive and charisma that Nefertiti possesses in the book. Even though it is historical fiction, the “wicked stepmother” (technically aunt), and the beauty being launched into political intrigue read a lot like a fairy tale. But, who doesn’t love a good princess story?

Well Baby its Cold Outside

Here’s to a momentous occasion! I actually did all of the blog posts I was supposed to do this month! Since I’ve started posting twice a week, I haven’t actually posted twice a week for an entire month. Every now and again I would miss a Book Blurt or a Weekly Update, and so I’ve never gotten over 7 blog posts in a month. Well, here’s to the first time I’ve gotten to 8, and here’s to continuing this trend!

Well this past week has been a little slow (reasons will be forthcoming) so I decided to take advantage of that by getting some planning and tweaking done. The first reason for the slowness was the obvious fact that Thanksgiving was yesterday (hope yours was fantastic!). My colleagues took a few days off, and we didn’t have any of our regular programs scheduled. This freed up some time to spruce up the blog (hence the awesome new look) and to change the names of my social media to something more accurate. (The other reason was the insane amount of snow and cold that we got this past week!)

As I mentioned a little while ago, my library system’s name has changed to Community Library Network, and yet, my social media still said Kootenai Shoshone Area Libraries. So I’ve rectified that situation. My Twitter account is now CLN4NextGen (Community Library Network for Next-Gen Adults), my Facebook is Next-Gen Adults of the Community Library Network, and my blog is now cln4nextgen.blogspot.com. The only social media outlet that hasn’t changed is Youtube. Reason? They won’t let me! All of the other social media outlets allow you to change your name, but for some reason, my Youtube channel doesn’t have that option. I’ll have to think about what to do about that…

Well I also got some planning done this week. Coming up in December, we are doing Jingle Bell Rock! We had so much fun doing Airband Awesomeness that we decided we would do something similar for December. But, we also decided that you didn’t need the pressure of preparing a song for competition, so we are just going to be taking requests and anyone who wants to can rock with it. I’ll provide some Christmas music, pizza, pop, and a laptop (whereby we can look up songs on Youtube) and you bring yourselves, your friends, your ipods, and the desire to have fun and rock out. It is going to be open for grades 6th through 12th, and will be going on December 22 from 7:30-9:00. (Don't worry it won't only be Christmas music; we can play anything you want to)

Even though it seems kind of ironic to be thinking of summer during this wintery blizzard that is also what I did this week. We order things from our Summer Reading vendor a couple months before we actually need the stuff, so I’ve been figuring out what incentives, prizes, and promo stuff we’ll need for June, July, and August. There is some fun stuff coming up!

Once again, I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you in December.

Things Could Get Hairy

Well, just in case you don’t live in the Inland Northwest, it is really really cold up here! Yesterday morning, I went outside to heat up my car, and my hair froze…literally! It was still a little wet from my shower and even though I was only out there for a maximum of 60 seconds, the edges of my hair froze! Needless to say, it is COLD!

Anyways, that means it’s a good time to curl up in front of the fire with a good book, and I have one for you. Schooled by Gordon Korman is the topic of my Book Blurt this week, and I had a really good time reading it. I’ve been trying to vary the authors and books that I’ve read, while keeping tabs on the popular or prolific authors out there. Korman’s name kept popping up in YA and Juvenile fiction, so I figured I’d pick up one of his books.

The book opens with Cap Anderson being sent to a new school while his grandma recovers from a hip injury. Sounds normal enough until you know who Cap is. Turns out his name is Capricorn Anderson, and he has been living alone with his grandma, Rain, on a communal farm. Yes, you guessed it, Cap is a hippie! Rain has been his sole teacher and friend, and while she recovers, Cap stays with a foster family and has to attend Claverage (C Average to the students) Middle School. As if just a normal middle school experience wouldn’t be bad enough for a homeschooled hippie, the school’s cool kid, Zach Powers, is planning to make his experience that much more terrible by pushing him into the spotlight of Eighth grade president. This is an “honor” reserved for the biggest losers in school, and Cap has no idea what he is in for…

Even though things could get really hairy (pun intended), this book is funny and heart-warming. Similar to Stargirl, the oddness of the Cap character actually endears him to the student body, and winds up changing the entire school for the better. Both books seem to ask the question, what would happen if we all would worry about someone else instead of ourselves? But unlike Stargirl, this book has a happy ending. (Stargirl doesn’t end terribly sad like someone dying, but you are left with a feeling of why do people have to be that way, while this story ends on a happy note. I enjoyed reading both books, and it depends on which kind of good book you are looking for). On an entirely different note, this novel is written from the first person point of view, but you get the story from several different characters. This keeps the book interesting, moving, and very enjoyable the entire way through.

P.S. This was actually written quite a bit after the rest of the blog post, but have a great Thanksgiving!

Playing Some Catch Up

Hello again everyone!

So, there have been quite a few things that have come and gone without me having a chance to talk about them, so this week, I am going to play some catch up. I know I’ve been mentioning that for a while, so I figure that I’ll actually follow through and do it today.

But before I do, I mentioned the Community Library Network last week, and said there would be more on it this week. Without getting into a long explanation, our library district (formally called Kootenai Shoshone Area Libraries) has brought on a new library (Post Falls) and has changed its operating name to Community Library Network. I won’t have time to go into some catch up if I keep going, but we’ll come back to this story in the future.

So here’s your catch up. I mentioned the Wrestlemania Reading Challenge for quite a while before Teen Read Week, and people actually participated which is cool! Around fifteen students turned in pledge forms, and I consider that I good start for what I hope we will be able to do next year as well. I also think it is cool that many of those students heard about the competition from one of our school librarians that partnered with us. I love having the opportunity to work with other educators!

The other big thing that happened during Teen Read Week was Airband Awesomeness (click the link for a fun recap video)! This was one of our most successful programs to date, which is, well, AWESOME! We had about 35 people attend, and even though they weren’t all in the tween/teen age group, they all had a great time. Two airbands performed, and the teens did a great job with choreography, lip syncing, and just having fun with it. But, I think the most successful part of the program was the fact that teens I didn’t specifically invite actually came and had a great time at the program. In the past, most of the teen programs have consisted of my family members coming to the programs. (Well, you have to start somewhere, and my family enjoyed the pizza, pop, and fun programs). But, it was really encouraging to see teens I didn’t know coming into the library for a program I put together. It energized me to keep learning from the programs I’m doing, and to make the programs I do in the future even better!

Running from Their Thoughts

Happy first snow day, Hayden! Looks like it is actually sticking in the city now, so I figure we have officially hit the snow season. Drive safe and stay warm. :)

Yesterday, I was off visiting a local school with a special guest (more on Friday), so I wasn’t able to get the book blurt out on time. But, here we go for a Thursday book blurt.

The reason I read this book goes back…hmmm…must be a year or so. Karen had the chance to read The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, and she absolutely loved it! She quickly read the second (The Ask and the Answer), and couldn’t wait for the third one (Monsters of Men) to come out. When she got her advanced reader’s copy (one perk of being a librarian) she devoured it very quickly. Well, juxtapose this on top of Karen’s desire for me to read a book a week. Once she finished reading it, she would ask me if I had read it yet. I would then say no, and she would ask me if I had read any other books. Nothing like a little accountability to help you do what you know you need to do.

All that to say, that it is a very interesting, fast-paced, and well written book. The novel opens with Todd Hewitt, the last boy in Prentisstown, a month before he becomes a man. The town has a boy becoming a man ceremony when a boy turns thirteen, and Todd’s turn is coming quick. But, while walking in the swamp near the town, Todd hears something that he can’t explain; silence. See, the men of Prentisstown hear everything that everyone else in the town thinks. They call it Noise, and it was a plague unleashed on mankind after they settled New World. So, when Todd hears a lack of Noise in a living, breathing, moving object, it turns his whole world upside down. Especially because the men of Prentisstown, the men he has lived with for his entire life, are now trying to kill him.

The Knife of Never Letting Go is a great book. You very quickly get sucked into the story, and it doesn’t want to let you go. It is filled with suspense, and a word of caution, there is violence throughout the story. There are also quite a few swear words that are thrown around or implied. (Both elements are realistic for the story, but if you don't agree with using violence and swear words in a book, then this book might not be your best option). Wrapped inside this tale of suspense and violence, is a very human examination of why people endure through hard times. Todd has to come face to face with the reason he gets through all of the hard stuff, and why he will continue surviving through all of the hard stuff.

A Long Post on Science, Happiness, and All Staff Training Days

Well, well, well, well there is once again, so much to talk about. Blogs are funny things. I figure that I want each blog post to be between 300-500 words (closer to the 300 so I don’t get too wordy). That doesn’t sound like too many words…if you have something to talk about. There have been weeks where I sit for fifteen minutes staring at a blank screen, wondering what I did that week that would be interesting. But, then there are weeks like this week (where I’m still playing catch up) where that number of words won’t be near enough.

Anyways, let’s talk a little about what I did this week, and if we have enough space, I’ll back track to something I did in the past, but didn’t have time to talk about. This Monday, I had a chance to do my Ka-Boom Science Experiments program again. I just have to say, SCIENCE IS AWESOME! Of course, my kind of science is putting Dawn in some warm water and adding dry ice (just so you know, that particular experiment was awesome!), but science is just way too much fun to do, and talk about. I find that I’m getting a whole new crowd in the library for Ka-Boom, and they are critically thinking about why something happened in the experiment. Some of it they have just heard in school or at home. But some of it is legit curiosity and wonderings, and I’m glad I’m allowed to have this kind of program at my library! (If you think about it, Play-do here, and Dry Ice there tends to add up. But my boss, and my boss’ bosses are supportive of this program, and that also makes me excited. Also, for those keeping track, we didn’t have a special quest last week. Miss Emily, one of my colleagues, wasn’t quite able to join us, even though it would have been great to have her).

Also this week, I got a little bit of time to catch up on my email and social media postings which was nice. But, the other big event was the Community Library Network (more about what that means next week) All Staff Training Day. Each Veteran’s Day, my library network gets all of the staff from our seven (now eight) libraries into one building and does a conference. Lunch is provided (which is always nice), and the topics this year were marketing and happiness. The last couple of months, there has been a large marketing grant going on at my library, and the marketing topic was an update for the staff on what has been going on with their research.

The happiness workshop was put on by Anne Abrams from the Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL). She discussed research on happiness, and had us do some role playing activities which wound up being quite hilarious. The thing that stuck out to me about the topic of happiness is that your response to the topic of happiness comes down to your outlook on things (how much happiness or lack thereof that you already have). Having someone discuss happiness when you aren’t very happy doesn’t work too well, but discussing happiness with someone that is happy is sort of redundant. But, I think Anne did a good job finding research and some things to laugh at, and it can’t be a bad thing to be reminded of the benefits of having a positive outlook. I think myself and some of my colleauges were also quite ridiculous and tired during the afternoon, so there was plenty to laugh and be happy about.

Anyways, it looks like I’m already over my word limit, so I’ll sign off for today and see you on Wednesday for an uber-epic-awesome book blurt (not like all the rest of them haven’t been uber-epic-awesome, but I felt like closing the blog that way today).

A Different Presentation

This week I read a brand new genre that I haven’t had a chance to look at before; Manga. Manga and Anime are very popular on the YA scene right now, so I figured I’d go ahead and read one of them. Manga is the print version of Japanese comics, and Anime is the animated version of the same style of art. Obviously, when these comics are in Japan, they are printed in Japanese, so the Manga I read was translated into English, with the original artwork kept intact. My library doesn’t have a huge selection of Manga, but I noticed that many of the comics are actually series, and most of the first couple titles in the series were missing. I’m thinking that they were checked out because you guys like to read them. But luckily, we had #1 of Dragon Voice, a Manga put out by TOKYOPOP, written by Yuriko Nishiyama, and translated into English by Mike Kiefl.

The story centers around Rin Amami, a fifteen year old who has a natural knack for dancing. His home town is Tokyo, Japan. He is also above average in looks, smarts, and sports. He goes to school when he wants to, and makes a few dollars selling pictures of Idols, the popular singers/dancers that everyone knows. One popular up and coming Idol group is Beatmen. Rin thinks the Idols are a joke; people who can dance, but fake the singing, and just do it for the money. When Rin runs into the lead singer of the Beatmen, Shino, he finds that they are actually performers who seek to create something new. Rin dreams of being a performer, but his voice sounds something like a mix between a bullfrog and Godzilla. But, the boss of the Beatmen thinks that Rin might have a chance in the entertainment world because his unique voice has never been heard before, and has a ton of personality attached to it.

I enjoy looking at art and literature from other cultures. My friends and I have watched quite a few Bollywood films in the last couple of weeks. We think it’s cool that the culture and presentation are different, but the themes and stories are very similar. I found the same thing reading this Manga. The presentation, culture, and animation is different; but, the story of a nobody getting launched into fame and entertainment is a time tested and fun story. It took a while to figure out reading from the opposite direction and things like that, but I enjoyed the read.

P.S. There is some cussing and crude content in the book.

Missed it by that much...

So sometimes, your Young Adult Librarian can have way too much to do, and the blog posting goes in one ear and out the other!

Last Friday, I was busy preparing for the Youth Services trainings that were coming up that week, and I didn’t have time to do the blog while I was at work. When that happens, I try to do it when I get home. Well I had to do some homework for my senior research project, and I also had several things to do for my student government. So, Friday passed without a weekly update. Then Saturday comes and goes hanging with friends and also working on my senior research project. Then I actually didn’t go to work on Monday because I had to move my hours around so I had enough hours to go to the trainings on Wednesday and Thursday. All of this sounds kind of like an excuse, so I apologize for not getting it done, and for trying to weasel my way out of the responsibility for it.

It’s kind of sad that I didn’t get a blog post out as well. Obviously because you are all expecting a blog update, and also because I didn’t get to the magic number eight. If you notice in my blog postings for the past couple of months, there have been seven blog posts each month. That kind of shows the slackerism of my job, because there should be eight a month; four book blurts, and four weekly updates. Well, obviously that hasn’t happened, and I thought that October might be the first time to do it, because there were actually five Fridays in October, so it would have been easy enough to do. But, because of a couple missed book blurts and the missed weekly update, I missed it by that much. Once again I want to apologize, and try to do better this month. Of course, I’m starting off on almost the wrong foot, because here it is a Saturday instead of a Friday! I’ll figure out this consistency thing eventually.

There is a whole bunch more to talk about, but we can backtrack during our weekly update next Friday. Just wanted to quickly mention my Ka-Boom Science Experiments program going on this Monday from 4-5pm. We’re going to be playing with Dry Ice, and we might also have a special quest. So, if you feel like a scientist on Monday, join us for a good time.

Catch you on Wednesday,

Your Crazy Young Adult Librarian

Never Judge a Book by Its Movie

So I totally missed my weekly update last Friday, and I want to apologize to anyone reading this blog about not being consistent with it. We’ll chat a little more about some possible explanations for said bad actions on the weekly update this Friday. While I’m typing this, I think it’s amusing how much a book can affect your writing style. I just finished reading The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, and I totally feel like using “totally” and “like” a whole bunch right now. Please don’t be offended if this blog post seems a little bit shallow. Lol.

As I mentioned, I read The Princess Diaries this week (which once again turned out to be skimming through the book in one night). I must confess that I watched the movies quite a bit before I read this book, and that I read the book partially because I enjoyed the movies. It’s always interesting to look at the differences between the book and its movie, and to see which one you enjoy more. More often than not, the book is going to be better than the movie. You get such a better feel for the characters in a book, and you get very different emotional and mental reactions from reading a book rather than watching a movie. But, while I type this blog post, I’m not sure which I like better; the book or the movie.

I know for certain that I enjoy, Joe, from the movies much more than I enjoy, Lars, from the book. I also know I enjoy Julie Andrews’ character much more in the movies than the Grandmere character in the book. There also seems to be a little more character development in the movie. But, I have to qualify that. I have only read the first novel, and there are plenty more in the series. I’m assuming the Mia character grows quite a bit from the person she starts as.

Movies can only tell you a story from what the characters do, while a book can tell you what a character thinks. I imagine the books have been enjoyed because it gives you a good look at what a typical nerdy high school girl would go through if she suddenly found she was the heir to a country. The books are written as the journal of Mia, and are filled with scribbling about homework and everyday things that we all think but never say. Its fun to think that a princess, however fictional, has to deal with Algebra homework like the rest of us. There is also something fun about a character babbling about what happens to them. But, there is also something fun about a filmmaker taking this story and adapting it to the silver screen. I think I enjoy the movie a little more than the book, but that could just be because I watched the movie before I read the book…

What does it mean to be a hero?

How was the weekend? Hope it was a least a little bit relaxing.

This week (or should I say last night) I read another YA book that I wanted to chat with you about. Each Wednesday, I feel pretty accomplished because I have read a book before then, and I have something to write to you all about. Then its about that Sunday that I realize, have I started reading another book for THIS Wednesday? Some of the time the answer is yes, some of the time the answer is no. This week it was a no. But, what needs to get done gets done, so here we are at another book blurt.

This week I read Barry Lyga’s Hero Type. Lyga is the author of The Astonishing Adventures of FanBoy and Goth Girl, and Boy Toy. Both books have been highly acclaimed by the American Library Association and many other important places like the New York Times. I haven’t had a chance to read those books, but the synopsis of Hero Type really caught my eye, so I figured I’d read it.

The book starts just after our protagonist, Kevin Ross a.k.a Kross, is in the right place at the right time to save a girl from being raped. The entire town goes “Kevin Krazy” as he calls it. Everyone wants an interview, there are “Thank You, Kevin” signs in every store window, and the mayor wants to give him the key to the city. Then, just as quickly, Kevin is thrown from his pedestal by throwing some of the medals (some which said, “Support Our Troops”) away, with a reporter taking pictures of the whole thing. Now, the entire town is outraged! They can’t believe that their “hero” doesn’t support the troops!

So begins a roller coaster of Kross wrestling with what it actually means to support the troops, and trying to convince the other people in his school, and in his town, of what he finds out. Although this book wasn’t a light read, I had a great time with it. It brought up some very interesting points on the whole issue of freedom of speech, symbols, and thinking for yourself. It also brought up some interesting points about being popular and being patriotic.

While I enjoyed the book, I do have a couple words of caution. There is some swearing and some sexual references throughout the book. The uses weren’t gratuitous, and they were realistic for the characters and situations, but they are still in there. With any book, its important to look at the whole picture, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and ask why the author put the stuff in there. It is also important to know what you look for in a book, and if you are okay with that kind of content in the books you read.

Teen Marketing

Morning everybody! I’m often accused of being too happy in the morning, but I figure that’s a great problem to have.

Anyways, I first wanted to mention that I didn’t get a book blurt post out this week. I think I’ve mentioned it a few times, but my senior research class is quite a bit of work. I had a huge project due on Wednesday, and I dedicated the day to putting the finishing touches on it. I know, that is probably an excuse, and I’ll try not to let that happen again. I’ll definitely be back on Wednesday with an update on what I’ve been reading.

Last Friday, Alysun Sanders dropped in for a visit. She told us a little about her book, Talli's Tale, how she got published, and also about her new series she's writing, The Hollow Series. It was cool to actually meet her in person.

In other news, I feel pretty important. As I mentioned last week, the Idaho Commision for Libraries is doing a Fall Youth Services training, and they are having me present about teen marketing in Coeur d’ Alene and Moscow. As some of you know, I am a communication arts major at Lewis Clark State College, and public speaking is one of my passions. I’m really excited to share what I’ve learned about teen marketing with my fellow librarians.

But, then I have to ask myself, what have I learned about teen marketing? First of all, that it isn’t easy. Getting people to come to the library is difficult, and teens like a really good program. So I’ll keep working in that direction. Secondly, get the word out to as many people as possible through as many different means as possible; facebook, blog, twitter, youtube, flyers, and ridiculousness.

Thirdly, I think its taking one step at a time, and not being discouraged when a huge crowd doesn’t show up at your event. We’re making progress, slowly, but surely. I hope that anyone who reads this blog or has come to one of our teen programs has enjoyed themselves, and I hope to see them again as we keep working toward bigger and better teen programming.

So I’ll probably share that and a few other things to my colleagues at the trainings. In addition to the public speaking opportunity, I’m also getting to work with other librarians from the commission and another library, which is always a treat.

Making sure that my job isn’t normal, I got to help out at some second grade tours yesterday. Hayden Meadows sent three classes walking over to our building, and Miss Cassie and I had a great time showing them our different sections. The bookmobile garage was a huge hit!

Lastly, Airband Awesomeness is tonight at 7pm! Airband is pretty much the end of our October programs (other than turning in the pledge and project forms for Wrestlemania), and I’ve had a great time planning, promoting, and actually doing the programs. I’m excited to see any performers that show up tonight, and even if you don’t have a song, please come down and enjoy some great performances. Myself, a good friend of mine, and our library director, John Hartung (who himself played in a rock band in high school) are going to be the judging panel.

Hope to see you tonight, and if I don’t, I’ll be coming your way on Wednesday with a book blurt.

Authors and Reading Groups

For the past couple of weeks, I have been planning programs; sending emails, taking phone calls, making posters, and putting stuff in the courier. All of this planning is basically coming down to the next two weeks. You might ask why this would be the case. There are two reasons. First, I am striving to have one teen event and one tween event every month. This means that a lot of my time is spent planning for said once a month program. The other reason is that October 17-23 is the national Teen Read Week, and we are celebrating it with some programs!

Tonight I’m super excited to hear Alysun Sanders speak. The program is technically for grades 5-9, but anyone is welcome. I had a chance to talk to Alysun on Monday, and she is really looking forward to coming down. If you are interested in writing at all, or if you want to support a local author, then come on down tonight from 6:30-7:30.

Working backwards, I went to Bryan Elementary yesterday. One of the fifth grade teachers and I are starting a Guys Read group at the school. Guys Read is a website that was started by author Jon Scieszka. There are Guys Read groups all over the nation, and we are starting one here in town. Every two weeks we will be meeting to discuss books that other guys will also enjoy.

Back on Monday, I had my monthly Ka-Boom Science Experiments program. This is something I’ll be doing every month on the second Monday from 4-5pm. This month, we did water experiments. Since our Summer Reading theme were water related, I figured that a water experiments were appropriate to start the fall as well. We got a chance to talk about density, the freezing temperature of water, and how boats float.

For the rest of the week, I was working on a promotional video for our Airband Awesomeness competition on October 22 from 7-9pm. Last Friday, Karen, Cassie, Connie, Emily and I got together to do some filming. It took us about two hours, and we were having way too much fun! You can watch the video on Facebook here. Hope you like it, and I hope you’ll join us for Airband Awesomeness on the 22nd.

In November, there is going to be a youth services conference put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraires, and I’ve been asked to present! I’m supposed to talk about teen services and ways to promote it. Now, I’m still working on better ways to get the word out about my programs, and I don’t think that I’m ever going to be an expert on it. But, I’m really honored to be asked to share my ideas with other librarians.

Hope to see you tonight or next week. Take care!

Coliseums and Costumers

Imagine the gladiators of ancient Rome, fighting to the death in the Coliseum. Now imagine the Olympics: sponsors, competition from every area of the world. Now imagine a runway model show: make-up, costumers. Now imagine Dancing with the Stars: competitors, judges, audiences. Now imagine a mixture of all of these events where fights to the death are televised for all to see. Such is the world of Panem, the home of Katniss Everdeen.

Set many years in the future, Panem is located in what used to be called North America. The capitol keeps an iron grip on its population which is divided into 12 districts. Having crushed a rebellion many years in the past, the capitol is loath to crush another one. Striving to keep the districts in check, the capitol instituted the Hunger Games to show just how weak and powerless the districts were. Every year, two “tributes” from every district, one boy and one girl, are “reaped” to participate in the Hunger Games. These twenty-four young souls will fight to the death while the rest of Panem watches.

Katniss is a strong, self-sufficient teen who grows up in District 12. After her father died when she was ten, she has been the sole provider and defender of her mother and younger sister. At the reaping this year, she is shocked and dismayed when her younger sister is chosen to participate in the Hunger Games. Without thinking, driven by her love for her sister, Katnisss volunteers to go in her place. So starts Katniss’s adventures in the Hunger Games, which are everything but normal. Katniss started with something almost unheard of, volunteering to take the place of someone else, and she keeps knocking the socks off of the viewing audiences, and the Gamemakers.

The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy of books by Suzanna Collins. The second book is Catching Fire, and the third book is called MockingJay. Throughout the book, Katniss struggles to find a way to show the capitol that she isn’t just a piece in their game; that she is a human being that they will have to deal with. She starts this trend in training, and continues it throughout the competition. This book is very exciting to read and keeps you interested in how Katniss will survive throughout the games. Twenty-four other competitors are out to kill her, not to mention the elements, wild animals, and anything else the Gamemakers want to throw at her.

As the subject matter implies, this book is pretty violent. It doesn’t get into too gory details, but the types of deaths of some twenty-two people are talked about and explained. Despite this factor, I devoured the book. What would a society look like that had to send their children to battle to their deaths? What would the process of training, competition, and elimination look like? Collins does an excellent job looking at the consequences and culture that would come from this kind of system. Collins also does an excellent job looking at our own fascination with competition, and applying that to the world of Panem. This book is expertly written, and it is no wonder that it is so popular. The only issue I have with it is the high violence content, but this story wouldn't be complete without this violence content. If you have a problem with violence this book most likely isn't for you. But, if you don't mind fantasy violence, then this is a very interesting story.

Library Awesomeness!

Sorry about being a couple days late. This weekend ran away from me. But, there is plenty to talk about, so here is your weekly update on Monday.

Last weekend I was chillin’ with my friends at Triple Play, and a little girl came up and gave me a bear hug. For a split second I was wondering who she could be, and then her mom gave me some context as she said something to the effect of “It must be library time.” This little girl had seen me at one of the library programs and decided to give me a hug even though we weren’t at the library. I love my job!

Another cool thing that happened this week was the Idaho Library Association’s Annual Conference. There were two amazing aspects to this conference for me. First, I got to attend a SPLAT unconference. SPLAT stands for Special Project Library Action Team. Many of the techno savvy librarians in Idaho are a part of this group, and I got to spend the morning and afternoon on Wednesday just gleaning from their knowledge and ideas. I now have plenty of websites and things to look up.

During lunch at the conference I got the pleasure of hearing Chris Crutcher speak. Chris is a well known author whose books often find themselves on banned book lists. Although I’m still wondering where I sit on having some kinds of questionable content in books, hearing Chris’s take on book banning was very interesting and worthwhile. He talked about finding the truth in a story, and bringing that across in his books. Chris was an excellent speaker, and hearing someone else’s take on intellectual freedom is always interesting.

Looking back over the week I’m realizing that I had an even busier week then I thought I did. On Thursday, I got the pleasure of going to Bryan Elementary and awarding kids their summer reading prizes. Bryan set up a special program called the Bear Necessities where kids could get prizes for reading books during the summer. The Hayden Library was one of the biggest sponsors for the program, so Bryan invited us to be a part of the award ceremony. Seeing kids get excited about a free book, and a room full of parents, teachers, and students cheering for reading was a very rewarding experience.

Lastly, the youth services staff and I filmed a promo video for our Airband Awesomeness competition, which is on October 22 from 7:00-9:00. We took “Vacation” by the Go-Gos, grabbed our blow up guitars and Curious George rulers and rocked for a good two hours! The video should be up soon, and it is going to be amazing!

Looking toward this Friday, Alysun Sanders will be joining us from 6:30-7:30. As I’ve mentioned before, she will be discussing writing, being an author, and getting published. Snacks will be provided, and Alysun is really excited to talk to all of you!

Hope you can join us on Friday, and I’ll talk to you guys later.

The Dark Side

Well your Young Adult Librarian has crossed over to the dark side [gasp]. What could I possibly mean? I have now read the first installment in the Twilight series.

Compared to the other books I’ve read, Twilight has the most hype, the most fans, and the probably the highest emotions and discussions attached to it. Is it wrong to read the book? What is so great about it? Should it be encouraged? All of these questions and many others went through my mind while I was reading it. I figure that you all know the general story of Bella, the awkward heroine, and her lovable and terrifying “vegetarian” vampire, Edward, so I won’t bore you with a plot summary. Instead I figure I’ll talk about some of the questions and some of the answers that I’ve come to about Twilight.

One of the questions that I couldn’t help but ask was what makes a good book? There are so many people that say Twilight is such a great book, and yet there isn’t something tangible to latch onto that statement. Is a great book something that keeps you on the edge of your seat? Something that you can identify with? Something that challenges you? Something that entertains you? Something that you can’t put down? Something that you want more of?

Having said all that, I don’t consider Twilight a good book. I read it, and I didn’t hate reading it. I didn’t want to throw up or throw the book at someone. But, if someone asked me if I liked the book I would probably say no. But, that doesn’t discount the fact that there are many people that greatly enjoy this book, and I don’t have a low opinion of you because you do like the book. But having said that, there were some things that I found disconcerting about the book and the series in general.

Basically it comes down to this question: Why do we like Twilight?

I want a book that has a message. I like when a book has a message I agree with, but I also enjoy a book with a message that challenges what I believe and makes me think. What is Twilight’s message? Is it ever nailed down? Do we know what the message is? Is the message of Twilight something we can get behind and encourage?

I’m not saying that everyone reading this book will become absorbed by it, and I’m not saying that it is an evil book. But I am saying that it is curious to me that the demon in the story, Edward, is painted as the angel. You might argue that Edward is really a good guy because he denies the monster that he is and doesn’t kill Bella when he easily could. That’s true. But, is true love being with someone because you can’t resist them, or is true love doing the best thing for the other person?

Overall, I think I have more questions after reading Twilight than when I went into it. What do I think about Twilight? I’m still trying to figure it out.

My Literacy Breaks

Welcome to October! How is school going for everybody?

Well there were no school librarian meetings or blood donations this week, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t having plenty of fun. Miss Cassie does a literacy playgroup every Friday from 10:30 to 12:00. Over the summer I had a chance to help out at the program. It was loads of fun; reading board books on the floor, playing with puppets, doing some crafts. Anyways, Miss Cassie had a meeting to get to last Friday, so I got to do part of literacy playgroup. Nothing like reading a big book and saying high to our youngest patrons for a little while.

Speaking of early literacy, I am also getting the chance to go to the Kinder Center once a month. Kinder Center is where most of the kindergarten kids from this area attend school, and we at the Hayden Library are working on partnering with them. We head into the library, the teachers bring their kids in, we do a quick storytime, and then the kids go back to their regular school day. But, it’s funny how things that you know you are going to do still sneak up on you. I knew that I was helping at Kinder Center, that it was the first Friday of every month, and that it started in October. For some reason, all of those facts didn’t add up to the fact that I was starting Kinder Center TODAY! Luckily for me, I have colleagues that remind me of things when I’m being ridiculous. Thanks Cassie and Karen!

Also speaking of younger kids, I’m getting a chance to help at Mountain States Early Head Start every month. They are starting a new program called Men and Kids. This program is targeted for fathers and their kiddos, and myself being the only male in the youth services staff, I get the opportunity to head over there. This past week we made applesauce and our own pizzas. Good stuff!

Moving into a little older group, one of the fifth grade teachers in our area approached me about helping with a reading club. Reading clubs are obviously fabulous, and having a partnership with a school will keep the program going, and help the kids as they learn. I love it when you are looking for community partners, and community partners are looking for you.

Well none of this stuff really pertains to young adults (except the fifth graders who are getting close to my targeted age group). But, it’s a part of my job that I wouldn’t give up. Most of my duties pertain to organizing, promoting, and running t(w)een programs, and I’m lovin’ it; but if that flow is interrupted by reading books or making applesauce with a toddler, I’m also lovin’ that!

If you have an opinion about the Twilight series, check out my book blurt this Wednesday. Catch you later.

In the Interim...

As some of you may know, I’m reading Twilight right now. As some of you may also know, Twilight might be an easy read, but it isn’t a short read. There is something like 500 pages in the book! Trying to read through the book in a week was going to be crazy with school and other things, so I decided I’d give myself two weeks to read it. But, that obviously leaves a week with no book unless I read a short book in the interim. Enter Graphic Shakespeare Othello from Graphic Planet to the rescue! This graphic novel was adapted by Vincent Goodwin and illustrated by Chris Allen. There are many graphic novel adaptations of classic literary works, so I figured I would read an adaptation of a play that I admired.

Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most respected tragedies. Desdemona is a beautiful young woman who marries a decorated general named Othello. Seems that there wouldn’t be a problem until we find that Othello is a Moor, a man from Northern Africa, who has darker skin. Even though her father objects to the marriage, Desdemona loves Othello and will not leave his side. Enter Iago, a soldier who was just passed up for a promotion under Othello. Fueled by jealousy of Othello, Iago wants to ruin him, and he knows no better way of doing that then turning Othello against his wife. Through a terrible and ingenious plot, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is sleeping with one of Othello’s lieutenants. The outcomes of that plot bring this play to a tragic end.

The play itself is a powerful tale of what can happen when jealousy and envy get the better of us. It also shows that once we are viewing a situation from a certain angle, it is very difficult to change our perspective. Although I enjoy graphic novels, I don’t know if I enjoyed this particular one. After reading the play, Othello, you are filled with rage and loathing for Iago, and pity and anger toward Othello. Although the basic plot mechanisms and actions were portrayed in the graphic novel, it didn’t have anywhere near the feel and emotional catharsis of the tragedy. This might have something to do with the brief nature of the graphic novel; it compressed the dialogue into fifty pages of graphic novel. In addition, even though the characters were expertly illustrated, they didn’t line up with how I had imagined the characters in my mind.

But, having said all of that, there is some good coming from this graphic novel. Just before I headed off to work, my teen-aged brothers were flipping through the pages. If the play, Othello, was sitting on the couch, they probably wouldn’t have picked it up; but because it was a graphic novel, they couldn’t help but glance at it and get a feel for the story. Yesterday at the library I noticed another similar situation. A new graphic novel version of Frankenstein was one of our display books in the juvenile literature. A young guy couldn’t resist the artwork and began to read it. Even though I don’t think the graphic novel lived up to the play, it might get some readers interested in the story, and might make Shakespeare a little closer to the rest of us.

Books with Beat!

Well hello again everybody. Another week has come and gone, and here we are on Friday again.

The life of a programming librarian can include many meetings, and this week started with one. I had a chance to sit down with the secondary education librarians from the Coeur d’ Alene school district. We chatted about the Hayden library’s upcoming October programs and ways to support each other and stay in contact. I love meetings when everybody is on the same page and want to move toward the same goal.

Wednesday brought the Inland Northwest Blood Center bus to the library. The bus has been coming to the library for the past two years, and staff members and patrons have consistently donated blood. This blood drive was the third time I’ve donated on the bus, and the first time I’ve had any problems. The donating went fine, the standing up afterward went fine, the walking to the back of the bus to eat some treats and drink some juice went fine. What didn’t go fine was a couple minutes later when all color literally ran from my face and a snowstorm was playing in front of my eyes. Turns out that donating blood on an empty stomach isn’t a good idea. This is something that I know, but didn’t practice this time. But, the blood center has a few units of my blood, and I have my color back.

Last week, I mentioned a few programs that were coming up in October, and I wanted to expound on them a little bit. Alysun Sanders, a graduate from Lake City High School, has published a book called “Talli’s Tale.” She is going to be at the library on October 15 from 6:30-7:30pm. Although she only has one book published, Alysun has enjoyed writing and telling stories for her entire life. She is going to be discussing being an author, getting published, and writing.

The next Friday, October 22, we are having Airband Awesomeness from 7:00-9:00pm. October 17-23 is Teen Read Week, a national event put on by the young adult arm (YALSA) of the American Library Association every year, and the theme this year is, “Books with Beat.” We were scratching our heads looking for a fun program, and Karen remembered something hilarious that she did when she was in high school. She told me about airband competitions that were held at her school, and I thought that we had to try it. So, pick a song, divide up the parts (vocals, drums, guitar, etc.), and come rock out with nothing but air. My thought is the more you put into it, the more fun it is going to be. So go all out with costumes, hair, makeup, and the style that the band plays in. If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about it.

Something else to do with Teen Read Week is the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. This is an event put on by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), Mattel, and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). It involves students from grades 5-12 pledging to read five books between Teen Read Week and April 2011. It also involves students submitting a creative project about literary characters and WWE superstars. The grand prize is ring side seats to WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta! If you are interested come by the library to get the pledge and project sheets, and return them by October 25, 2010.

Don’t want to take up too much more of your time, so I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Principled Action

I have to say that I really, really enjoyed the book I read this week. Although it wasn’t on the list of books that I want to read, it caught my eye when I was over in the YA section, so I picked it up. Have you ever wondered what your favorite genre of books is? I’ve thought do I like fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, or thrillers? Although I enjoy most books I read, I think I might lean toward thrillers. There is something amazing about a heart-pounding adventure where a hero gets out of impossible situations in a believable way.

The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan opens with a high school student strapped to a chair with men outside the room talking about killing him. The first things he notices are the cuts, bruises, and burns that are covering his body. He had been tortured! Now if he was a secret agent, spy, or military personnel, this scenario might make sense. But, as far as Charlie West knows, he is just a normal high school student who went to bed last night after writing a history paper. While waiting for the men to enter the room, Charlie strives to remember what could have brought him to this point, and he cannot come up with an answer. After escaping from the compound, Charlie has to elude these same men, and later the police, while trying to figure out what he has gotten himself into.

For anyone who liked the Bourne Identity, this book is awesome. What do you do when you can’t remember why the bad guys are after you? Since Charlie can only remember a normal high school day before all of this happened, the mundane and the adventure make for an interesting contrast. You get Charlie’s feelings about his parents, about Beth, a girl he really likes, about his karate teacher, about his dreams and aspirations, and then you are dropped back into the action as Charlie has to survive a lot of bad guys trying to get him. Also through the entire book, there is a discussion of knowing the truth from lies, choosing your friends, believing in God and country, and pushing forward even though it is difficult. The Last Thing I Remember was my kind of thriller novel; one that mixes the action with a principled lead character. This book is the first in a trilogy called The Homelanders. For that reason, there is still plenty of action to have, and plenty of questions to be answered.

Wally World

How’s it going everybody?

Anybody else noticing that there was a chill in the air today? Kind of feels like fall is coming on, and I say that with the highest respect for summer I can. Guess we’ll have to hang on to the last weeks of summer and get ready for a great fall!

How have your school weeks been finding you? Back into the routine yet? I’m getting there. Even though we often look toward summer because it is supposed to be less busy, I often find that it is almost exactly the opposite. Why is that? We do get a break from our normal routines, but I found that I filled the time away from the regular routine with things that didn’t run on a routine, but still take just as much time. Needless to say, the last couple weeks of summer were very busy, and it is almost a relief to be back into the routine of school and work.

A few of you are probably wondering why this post is being posted so late. Turns out that I was at a Wal-Mart opening event today. There is a new Wal-Mart store that opened this week in Hayden, and Wal-Mart graciously donated grant money to Hayden businesses that were giving back to their communities. The Kootenai-Shoshone Libraries was one of the recipients. For this reason, we brought out the bookmobile and some foam photo frames and headed off to the Wal-Mart parking lot. Today was kind of windy, and kids were in school, so not too many people came knocking down our door. But, books were still checked out, someone got a library card, and we got to see some familiar library patrons. Not to mention that just spending time with library staff can be way too much fun!

The other big thing I’ve been working on this week is Teen Read Week, something that I’ll be mentioning until it comes from October 17-23. The Idaho Commission for Libraries is doing a statewide contest for promoting Teen Read Week. They called for libraries to submit a storyboard for a Teen Read Week PSA for a chance to win a digital photo frame. I decided to enter into the contest. I have also been a part of the Teen Read Week Coordinating Committee, and they were also looking for ways to promote Teen Read Week. They came up with the idea of committee members making a PSA, so I actually made the PSA, and I also submitted a storyboard for the same PSA.

Teen Read Week is going to be pretty busy with programs. Alysun Sanders is going to be joining us on the Friday before Teen Read Week, we are doing Airband Awesomeness on the Friday of Teen Read Week, and we are also participating in the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. Even though I don’t have time to go into details on those events now, just know that they are going to be awesome!

I’ll catch you on Wednesday for a Book Blurt on Andrew Klavan’s The Last Thing I Remember, which is starting off running, and seems to keep getting better. Blog you later!

Past or Present (both, please?)

As you all know, life is busy. I mentioned to Karen that I had actually read a book a week for two weeks in a row, and she was presently surprised. The last couple weeks of summer were so busy that I didn’t have a chance to do much YA book reading. But, I’m getting back into the swing of reading a book a week; partially because I enjoy it, partially because it helps me become familiar with the collection which is part of my job, and partially because you guys will know if I don’t read a book a week.

The first book I read for my Book Blurt was Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, and I’ve wanted to read the companion novel Love, Stargirl, since then. But, I must warn you; if you haven’t read Stargirl then this book blurt will be something of a spoiler.

Stargirl was written entirely from Leo’s perspective, and the book ended with Stargirl vanishing off of the face of the earth. She was there one day and gone the next. This book picks up from Stargirl’s perspective, and tells her story after moving from Arizona. Since her high school experience wasn’t the greatest, her family thought it would be best if she was homeschooled again. She still has a pet rat, and still washes her mind by meditating. She also still has a knack for finding people who are just a little bit not normal to help out. This book introduces us to a young girl named Dootsie, a troubled tween named Alvina, and an agoraphobic middle aged lady named Betty Lou. This isn’t to mention Perry, the guy who she keeps running into even though she really doesn’t want to. But, something is missing for her, and his name is Leo. Stargirl has to decide if she is going to let her despair over losing Leo keep her happy wagon down on pebbles, or if she is going to live for today and not dwell in the past.

Love, Stargirl is written in the same quirky, down-to-earth, every-day-sort-of langauge that Stargirl was written in, and it is a wonderful continuation of the story. Just like the first novel, Stargirl’s oddness helps her reach out to the oddballs, and makes us wonder if we can do the same thing. The book also keeps you interested by mixing Stargirl’s love for the present with her love for Leo (who is in the past). Even though you want her to move past her heartache, you also can’t help hoping that someday in the future Leo and Stargirl will be reunited, and Leo will finally realize what a treasure Stargirl really is.

My August in September

Hello again, everyone! This is Nick officially starting the blog postings back up. How were the rest of your summers? Mine was crazy busy but too much fun!

As I mentioned in my last blog post (which was last month, weird) I had a lot of things going on those last couple weeks of summer. That first week of August, I was finishing up my online classes that I was taking through Lewis Clark State College. Even though the fall and spring semesters are going to be easier because I’ve gotten some credits out of the way, I don’t like to do school work in the summer.

The second week of August I was up on Lake Pend Oreille at Inland Northwest Camp. I was one of the game staff, so I got to play games with a bunch of middle schoolers all week. It was a blast!

The third week of August I was supposed to have a surgery done to finish my orthodontic treatment. Turns out that it was actually going to be more expensive than I originally thought, and the insurance didn’t come through on it. Needless to say, I’m still waiting on the surgery.

The fourth week of August I headed off to the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo and then did a Karaoke night the following evening. Although the wind was really kicking, we made some fun cowboy and horse hats and gave away some free stuff. Our Karaoke night also went really well. We had people of all ages singing anything from “Beat it,” to “Life is a Highway.” Way too much fun!

So there is my August in a nutshell, and now on to September! The past week I’ve been getting back into the library groove; moving summer boxes into storage, updating Facebook, sending out emails. A big part of my last week has been getting ready for Teen Read Week, which is a nation wide event put on by the American Library Association every year. I have been a part of the Idaho Coordinating Committee for Teen Read Week, and I’m also entering a contest that the Idaho Commission for Libraries is putting on. The contest is creating a storyboard for a library PSA that talks about TRW. Although I’m not finished with it, I’m thinking it should be pretty cool when it is finished.

Well that’s about everything for now, so have a great weekend and I’ll see you on Wednesday!

A long, long time ago...

Haven’t blogged you guys in a while. How’s it been going?

I’ll get into what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks in my weekly update on Friday, but for now, how bout we do some Book Blurting? This week’s book is from a local author named Alysun Sanders, and the title is Talli’s Tale. Alysun will actually be joining us at the Hayden Library on Friday, October 15 from 6:30-7:30pm, so I figured I would read her book before she came down.

The prelude of the book describes six siblings who peacefully ruled the world thousands of years ago. They were called the Rules of Unity, and each of the six children ruled one of the six continents (Antarctica, was a place of banishment). These children had a loving father, and their father had three advisors. Greedy for power, one of his advisors planned to take his place on the throne, and would have succeeded if another advisor hadn’t warned the king. Banishing the evil advisor proved disastrous as the advisor’s sister, who served the king herself, turned on the king when she found her brother dead. She cast a spell of hatred on the six siblings and forced them to separate. The only hope for a united world again was the spell that the loyal advisor cast to counter the sorceress’s incantation. She prophesied that a hero would be born who would unite the siblings once again.

The story then jumps forward several thousand years to Talli Curran. For the rest of the book, we watch Talli grow from a newborn baby through her college years. After her parents are murdered, Talli is left in the care of her adopted Uncle Arnaud. He tells her the story of the Rulers of Unity, and Talli believes that the tale is real. Although she believes the legend, she can never imagine her own part in it. When tragedy strikes, Talli has to decide if she actually believes the story, and what she is going to do with that knowledge.

As it turns out, this book is only the beginning of the story. It largely deals with Talli’s years growing up, and doesn’t concern itself a whole lot with the Rulers of Unity. But, there is still plenty of story left to tell. Alysun started writing this tale when she was fourteen, finished the novel in her sophomore year, and immediately started writing the sequel. Alysun is turning twenty only two days before she comes over to the library, and I’m excited to hear what she has to say about Talli’s Tale and her next book.

TTFN

Hello everyone. How has this first week of August been treating you? I hope well.

As it is a Wednesday, this blog post is supposed to be about a book that I’ve read and now have something to say about. I have a confession to make. I didn’t read a book this week. A few Weekly Updates ago, I mentioned the many things that were keeping me busy over the summer. This week all of these things are kind of coming to a head because I’m getting ready to go to a week long summer camp, and all of these things need to be done before then. For that reason, I didn’t have time to sit down and read a book this week.

I also wanted to explain the lack of blog postings for the next couple of weeks. From August 8th-15th, I will be helping at a church camp that I participated in as a camper, and now I’ll be going back to help as staff. When I get back from the camp, I am going to be gone that next week as well because I’m having a surgery done. So from the 8th through the 21st of August, I will officially be falling off the face of the library world, and so I figured I would let anyone reading my blog know what is going on.

But, just because I’m going to be gone for the next couple of weeks doesn’t mean we aren’t having some fun things at the library. On August 13 from 6-8pm, Whilce Portacio will be coming to the Hayden Library. Whilce is a comic book illustrator that has done work on several different titles, including X-Men, and he will be speaking on how to get into the comic book business. He will also be having an open Q & A period, and if you want an autograph, he’ll be doing that as well. All ages are welcome to come.

The North Idaho Fair and Rodeo is running from August 25th-29th, and the Hayden Library will have a table set up on the 26th from opening til closing. Because the fair is the last week in August, I’m going to be able to make it. We’ve had a chance to do the fair for the past couple of years, and it is always a good turnout and a good time. We have a few different crafts we’ll be doing, and we’d love to see you.

The day after we’re at the fair, we are having a Karaoke night. On August 27 from 5 to 8pm, we are going to be singing along with our favorite tunes, enjoying some refreshments, and awarding Teen summer reading prizes. Todd Alexander, a local KJ (Karaoke Jockey), is coming in for the event, and he has thousands of songs to choose from. Hope you’ll come down for a ridiculous time of singing and having fun.

This is basically the last blog post for a couple of weeks, so I’ll say TTFN (Ta-Ta for now), and have a great rest of your summer.

Transform or Be Yourself?

As I've alluded to in other posts, I don't exclusively do Young Adult Librarian stuff at the Hayden Library. When the Youth Services department needs a hand, I'm one of the go-to guys. During this summer, I get to go to Ramsey Elementary and do some crafts with the School Plus kids and the Summer Meals kids. This is my third time coming down during the summer, and right now I'm waiting to see if my afternoon group is going to show up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. So I figured that I would write up a quick Book Blurt while I was waiting. American Born Chinese is our title for this week. Last time that I came to Ramsey Elementary, I started reading this graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang in the down time, and today I got a chance to finish it. This title has come across a few of the magazines and reviews that I look at because it received the Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. It caught my eye on the bookmobile shelf, so I decided I'd see what it was like.

The book starts with three distinct stories being told. One story is started, and then the novel jumps to another story line and then the other, and then starts the cycle over again. At the beginning of the novel, these stories don't appear to have anything to do with each other. One tells the story of a young boy who is a first generation Chinese-American. Although he has lived in America his entire life, he still has Chinese traditions, and has a hard time fitting in. The book opens with the young boy, Jin Wang, meeting another Chinese-American boy, Wei-Chen Sun. They soon become friends because they can understand where the other is coming from. Another story line tells of a monkey king who strives to become one of the gods. After he is thrown out of gods' dinner party, he decides to master the art of Kung-Fu. After years of discipline he masters the art and is now invincible to almost everything and can also change his form. The third story line is an American teenager, Danny, who has to put up with the visits of his weird Chinese cousin once a year. His cousin is so bad that he has had to transfer to another school every time his cousin leaves because no one will associate with him. At the very end of the book, we find out that these three story lines are actually one story line after all. The author just hadn't told us what the connections were yet.

I found this book very interesting to read. The book opens with the story of the monkey king and then jumps into the real life events of the two boys. The contrast between the supernatural and natural is rather strange the first time you read the book. You wonder what the supernatural events of a monkey god are doing in the story. Although its a little bit confusing, knowing how the stories were entangled would take away from the effectiveness of the story. The main theme in the book is being content with who you are. Several of the characters try to change their physical appearance in an effort to change themselves and avoid their problems. By the end of the novel, the characters have learned that its better to be yourself than to be something that you are not. Although the tale of accepting who you are has been written several times, American Born Chinese is definitely its own work, and is an interesting way to approach this topic. On a side note, I don't mind graphic novels at all. Although I wouldn't read them exclusively, I think there is literary value in the pages of this book, and I'm looking forward to looking at some other graphic novels.

Another Post about Flying Time?

Another fine Friday, wouldn’t you say? I once again find it so amusing to think that another week is already over. What did I do this week? Turns out a whole bunch. Not only at work, but at my church and at my school. If I’m not at work, I’m doing homework, planning some things as the Chairperson of the Student Body Government at Lewis Clark State College-CDA, or helping with a new program at my church. Needless to say, keeping myself this busy makes the weeks pass very quickly.

Not only do I find it amazing that the weeks are passing so quickly, I’m also finding it amazing that the summer has passed so quickly. We are already to the 23rd of July. That’s weird. In about a month I’ll be starting the fall semester of my senior year at LCSC-CDA. How am I already a month away from the end of summer? Even though we’re almost through July, we have some fun things still coming up before we kiss the summer of 2010 goodbye.

This week is the end of most of our Tween programs. I had my last Open Game Friday this morning, and our last Ka-Boom Science Experiments is this Monday. While these two programs are ending, we still have two more weeks of Tween Summer Reading. This week, we are doing Art Cards. You’re probably thinking that Art Cards could mean a lot of things. For our purposes, Art Cards are small collages that we will be making using stamps, markers, magazine clippings, and anything else we can find. A week after Art Cards, we are going to be ending our Tween Summer Reading program with a Beach Party. That means having some cooky games and some hot dogs and having a great time.

A week from today we are having our Free Concert with the CDA Rock School. If you enjoy listening to rock music in the slightest, you should be at the Hayden Library from 7pm to 9pm next Friday. Karen and I attended a CDA Rock School concert just before school ended, and it was amazing. There are some very talented young people playing classic rock tunes. Makes for a great time!

Just a couple weeks after the CDA Rock School, Whilce Portacio is coming up. I still think it is crazy that a major Marvel Comics illustrator is coming to the Hayden Library, but it is happening. Whilce will be doing a Q & A session, as well as offering some tips on getting into the comics business. You can also bring in your comic books and graphic novels for Whilce to autograph.

For the last couple of weeks, we have had a few teens come in having read 25 hours. This summer, we have been giving away prizes for reading. I knew what my prizes were for 5, 10, and 15 hours, but I have just figured out our prize for 25 hours this week. So basically this is how it works. If you read 25 hours, you get another free book, some prizes from our prize stash, and 1 ticket for our Borders Gift Card drawing.

For every five hours read over 25 hours you will get another ticket for our gift card drawing. So another ticket at 30 hours, another ticket at 35 hours, and so on. The more hours you read, the more chances you have to win. There is no limit to how many hours you can read, or how many tickets you can have in the gift card drawing.

So, there you have it. Summer might be 2/3 over, but there is still plenty of fun to have at the Hayden Library.

When Freedom and Safety Run into Each Other

Eventually, I want to be consistent with this blog, which means I’ll post twice a week. Obviously, I’m saying that because I missed a Book Blurt post last Wednesday. As we all know, being consistent often means making times for the things that are important. If they aren’t a priority, they normally won’t get done. So to remain consistent, these blog posts need to become priorities for me. So, here’s to consistency. Rash by Pete Hautman is the topic of this week’s post. My sister read this book a little bit before I did. I was trying to get some YouTube videos on my YouTube channel, so I used Animoto to make a quick video about the book. Turns out that Pete Hautman actually saw my video, and posted it to his personal blog. That obviously made my week. It took me a while to get a chance to read it, but now I have, and can say that it is a good one.

The book follows Bo Marsten, a junior in High School, who lives in the United Safer States of America. The book happens in a time several years in the future, when football, french fries, and drinking are illegal because they are too dangerous. Anyone who does something too unsafe is put into a labor prison camp. As it turns out, the vast majority of work in the USSA is done by inmates in these labor camps. Road rage, instead of just being a personal problem, can now land you five years in a labor camp. That is what happened to Bo’s dad, Bo’s brother, and as the book opens, it is about to happen to Bo as well. Bo lets his jealousy for a girl lead him to punch a guy in the face, and that is enough to put him away. When Bo gets to the Alaskan prison camp with near Siberian conditions, he finds that it is an entirely different world behind bars. Anyone who is good enough plays football for the enjoyment of the manager of the prison camp. Bo is given no pads even though on the outside he had to wear pads to run a race, let alone play football, an illegal sport. After breaking out of the prison camp, Bo obviously has a hard time fitting back into a world that is so regulated and focused on safety even to the point of ridiculousness.

This book is a satire of the ultimate end of the question, “would you give up your freedoms to be safe?” The citizens of the USSA have done just that. They subject themselves to forced labor if they cross the smallest infraction because they want to feel “safe” from “dangerous” things like football and road rage. The satire is completed by the realistic details that Hautman adds to the story. What big organizations would be in charge of these labor camps in the future? What would the pledge of allegiance sound like? The realistic hypothetical future coupled with the questions of freedom versus safety make for a very interesting read.

Time and Repetition

How are we all doing today? As usual, my week has been pretty busy, but I’m having way too much fun working with the young adults and the younger kiddos at the library.

Time and repetition are funny things to me. You start your work day, and you have a list of things that need to get done. Then you end your work day, and you still have things on that list that didn’t get done. Time seems to fly faster the more of it you need. Doing things over and over again, such as a blog post, are also interesting. You get it done one week, and then before you know it, you have another one that needs to get done because a week has already passed. Sometimes those time pass you right by and you miss a blog post. Crazy stuff.

As I’m writing this blog post, our office is a little bit of a mess. Space is a precious commodity because we have so many materials and programs to keep track of, so we are getting some new shelving for our office. Even though it is only a few shelves, it will be a big help to us. Thanks to our director, John Hartung, for getting those up for us.

Also as I’m writing this, there have been a few changes to our summer programs. As I mentioned in my last blog post, we have been partnering with Lightning Comics over the summer. Whilce Portacio, one of the illustrators for none other than Marvel Comics, is flying over from Seattle during the second weekend in August. While he is in the area, he will be signing books at Lightning Comics, and doing a program for us at the Hayden Library. Should be pretty awesome.

The second change to our summer programs is moving the date of our Karaoke event. It was originally scheduled for the 16th of August, but that puts it awfully close to the Whilce Portacio visit. To make it easier to catch both programs, we are moving the Karaoke program to July 27th from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Todd Alexander, a local Karaoke Jockey, will still be coming over for the event.

Well that is all August stuff, so let’s talk about July stuff. We are having our monthly Rock the Boat program for the 14 to 18 year old group this Monday from 6 to 7pm. We’re calling it ReMix it Up, and we’ll be making some movies using our Flip camera and Windows Movie Maker. We are also having our Last Friday program on well the last Friday, which is the 30th of July. It is going to be a free concert with the Coeur d’ Alene Rock School. The concert is going to start at 7pm and go until 9pm. This program was originally going to be for only our 14 to 18 group, but people from every age group are interested in it, so we are opening it up to all ages.

Well here’s to another week of fun in the sun!