Medieval Dragons in a Science Fiction World

As I sit down to write this week’s Book Blurt, I realize how long it has been since I’ve written one. It was almost a month ago that I wrote about Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, and I realize that the only book I’ve read since then is Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. This kind of makes me laugh, because I’ve had more time to read this last month than I normally do. As I mentioned last Friday, I was on my back for a good week recovering from my jaw surgery, but for some reason I still didn’t find much time to read. Once again, you make time for the things that are important to you, so I will be making time to read more books because knowing and being able to suggest books is very important.

A few years ago, I read through Eragon by Christopher Paolini, and was immediately hooked on the Inheritance Cycle. I started talking about the book with my Dad, and he mentioned how similar the dragonriding idea was to a book he had read as a young adult. Later that year, he found Dragonflight, the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series that he had enjoyed as a young man. Once he found Dragonflight, he began devouring the books once again. He’s been asking me to read through the books as well, and while I healed from the surgery, I couldn’t resist the well-crafted medieval sci-fi world of the dragonmen.

The book begins with a momentous political shift in the wings. The former Weyrwoman, Jora, has just passed between, and a new Weyrwoman, the human rider of the dragon queen, needs to be found. F’Lar, a rider of one of the gigantic bronze dragons, is in charge of searching the high reaches. He was infuriated by the former Weyrwoman’s handling of dragonkind, the dragonmen who are their riders, and the planet of Pern where they live. He seeks to renew the traditions that have fallen by the wayside and warn the inhabitants of Pern that the dreaded Thread, the age old enemy of Pern, is once again looming on the horizon. Little does he know that Lessa, a young woman with a powerful bloodline, might be just the person he is looking for to help forge a better future for Pern.

Regarded as a great science fiction writer, Anne McCaffrey definitely writes an intriguing and interesting world. McCaffrey is a very gifted author who keeps you interested in the story, the characters, and the world that she has created. While dragons are normally associated with fantasy, McCaffrey writes them into a medieval world where time travel is possible, and although they aren’t aware of it, technology is very much in their past and will greatly change their future. Although this mixing of science fiction and fantasy is only alluded to in this first installment, it becomes increasingly important as the series progresses. Dragonflight is only the first in a long running series of adventure, discovery, action, political intrigue, and I had a great time reading it.

I got my jaw broken last Monday...

No really, I did. On January 10, I paid to have my jaw broken to correct my bad under-bite. I then took a week off to ensure I was healed enough to go back to school and work. Luckily, that week was just what I needed; I was able to go back to all of my work and school this week, and I’m healing well. Although I’m healing well and there have been no complications, I’m still not able to eat solid foods. The nature of the surgery is to break the jaw on both sides, slide it forward, and hold the bones in position with steel until the bone grows back. Obviously, chewing on bones that aren't really there yet isn't such a great idea, so I’m on a strictly blenderized diet and I’m craving breads, chips, and steak. But, I know that the surgery will be worth it in the long run.

Anyways, it's still crazy that it is January 21 and this is my first blog post. Where did this month go besides the surgery? Well I know a little bit of where it went. Just before the Christmas break, we had a program similar to Airband Awesomeness called Jingle Bell Rock. We bought some pizza, lemonade, grabbed our blow up quitars, and rocked to everything from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to TNT. Even though we didn’t have people knocking down the doors, we still had a great group of interested teens who had way too much fun! If you want to see a little bit of the action, I made a quick video on it. Enjoy!

Over the break and through this month, I’ve also been preparing for Teens and Technology 2011, which is put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraries. There are four workshops going on across the state, and I’m the local “expert” who will be helping the commission present the information. It has also been my responsibility to create video making tutorials, so the participants have something to take home with them. I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with the ladies at the commission, and I’m pleased with the way the tutorials are working out. Then to top it off, I get to share my experience at the workshop, and then I get to fly to Boise in March to finish the entire thing off. I’m excited that I got the chance to be involved!

Alright last thing; I have already mentioned our Teen Film Festival, but now all the fine print is in place. You can visit http://www.libraryteenfilmfestival.blogspot.com/ for all the information. The website still looks pretty rough (it is still a work in progress), but all of the information you need should be there.

Hope your holidays were fantastic and your return to the routine was easy. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

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…