Tumblarian Time!

Tumblarian: noun. A librarian who uses Tumblr to promote his or her library program.

 
I have been a loyal blogger for over 2 years now, and I will continue to be a loyal blogger... but, I worry that the only people who read my blog are other librarians and bloggers. Now that I am moving into a young adult library setting,  I need to put myself where the teens are! I am trying my hand at Tumblr- a place for teens to visit and learn about books, reading, libraries, current evens and pop culture. Like my daughter said, "Mom, you need to try and be cool." You can visit my Tumblr here! For a great list of Tumblarians, visit this list at Shhh! No Running in the Library.
Kathy Kaldenberg, Solon Teacher-Librarian, shared a fabulous article about librarians and Tumblr.  If you are a librarian who wants to reach your audience0 read it! Then head over to Tumblr and get started!

Here are some other Teen Library Tumblrs that I have been enjoying. If you have any great teen Tumblrs (public or school library) that I have missed- PLEASE share with me in the comment section! If you have a Tumblr, please share the link!

Davenport Public Library
Glendale Public Library Teens (This is the first Teen Library Tumblt I ever read!) 
GRPL Teens
Mercer Area Library Teens
Milton Library Teens
Pickering Public Library Teens
Shhh! No Running in the Library
Tiverton Library Teen Room
White Oak Teen Stuff at the Library
YA Books Central
YALSA 
Wells Library Teens

A Day to Celebrate!

As of today, the Federal Government may not discriminate against couples in a same sex marriage.

This is a historic day that will have a grand impact on the future of gay rights. Remember where you were today when you heard the news! You will want to tell your great grand kids about this day!

To learn more about today's historic decisions, check out some of these links!
GLAAD: Frequently Asked Questions
The Press Citizen: DOMA Struck Down, Iowa Gay Couples Could Get Federal Benefits
The Washington Post: Here's What You Need to Know
Freedom To Marry: Live Updates

Redrum

Divergent Movie Sneak Peek

Set for release in 2014... high hopes for the hotness of Four!

It's Monday... What are you reading?

Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers host It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? with a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in  anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Last week I read some real downers! All of these books involved love... unrequited love, sadness, loneliness, 1 included teenage suicide, 1 included kidnapping the dude you love and locking him in your attic and 1 included a 15 year old falling in love with a 21 year old who moves to Japan to get away from her. Good times! 

This week I am back to reading what I love best- books with a sense of mystery, intrigue & a little supernatural action. This book is shelved in the fiction section, but appeals to teens and was a 2012 nominee for the Aurealis Award. 

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

 I am only on page 30, but this is what I know: Myfawny Thomas (rhymes with Tiffany) wakes up in a park surrounded by dead people- all wearing latex gloves. She gets her wits about her and finds a letter in her jacket pocket addressed to "you". Upon reading said letter, she realizes that she has lost her memory and the letters are from her former self. Someone she works with in the government is out to get her and she doesn't know who or why. This book had me hooked from the first line and I didn't breath for the first 2 pages. I can't wait to see how this book plays out!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2013

Each year, I participate in the Good Reads Reading Challenge. I love being able to keep track of the books I read and share them with others. The nerd in me likes to compare how many pages I've read from year to year. This year, I have decided to read 50 books, and I have already read 22 books. You can see all of  the titles I have read here.

Here are the best 10 I have read this year- in no particular order! Unfortunately, I have read some real stinkers this year- but I think I can squeak out my top 10.

#1, 2, 3& 4. I have read (for the first time) 4 of the Harry Potter books this year. I will use all four of them as 1 entry.

I may be 39, but I am a huge Potter Head. I am obsessed- and no matter what the topic of conversation, I can make a Harry Potter reference. My husband and 9 year old are sick of me going on and on... "It's just a book" they say. "You are done reading them." they say. They don't know that these books have become part of my soul. I still can't talk about Snape or Sirius without getting tears in my eyes. I adore these books and the stories and the characters and the fact that they made me think and that I read them to my 2 daughters and we will always have that in common. I wish I could go back and read them for the first time again.

5. Flesh & Bone (Benny Imura #3) by Jonathan Maberry: God, I wanted to love this book. I 5 stared the other 2 titles in the series and erected a monument to Tom Imura in my basement and became so obsessed with zombies that my family called an intervention. I wanted to love this book, but I didn't. So it is on the list because I loved the IDEA of this book.

 Why didn't I love it? This book was a stepping stone- an ends to a means- to get from book 2 to the final book in the series. I didn't feel like anything in this book helped me to further my understanding of the series or characters. In this book- all of the characters got deep and philosophical on me- ain't nobody got time for that int he middle of a zombie apocalypse!

6. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Oh.... how I waited and longed for this sequel! I was not disappointed! I loved how the 2 stories (Cinder & Scarlet) ended up being tied together.

7.  Dodger by Terry Pratchett: This book started my obsession with Victorian England. The setting and the characters screamed of Oliver Twist and I found myself wishing I had a cockney accent (I would never shut up if I did!) I loved that this book was historical yet found a way to blend the facts with the story seamlessly. The insertion of Sweeney Todd and Charles Dickens was so fun and I found myself doing research to keep up. Boys will love this book as well!

8.  The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding: Again, my need for jolly old England brought me to this book. This book is full on wytch hunter, spooky creature, supernatural goodness! There were so many made up creatures that I totally bought into in this book. More or less- a wytch hunter finds a girl in need and discovers that she is possessed by the demon that will bring the end of the world. It is his mission to save her soul and take down the bastards that want to free the demon.  So good!

9. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson:After reading Dodger, I was on the look out for anything that might feed my Victorian England obsession. Now, this story doesn't take place when Jack the Ripper was alive, but it takes place on the very spot where his murders were committed and I learned so much about the history of his dark deeds. (Again, I researched as I read!) This book takes a paranormal twist that had me guessing until the end! Again, I wanted a cockney accent after reading this book! I also wanted to devour more books about Ripper! Good books make you want to read more books!

10.  Dark Life by Kat Falls: I loved the futuristic UNDERWATER world. I had never read anything that takes place under the sea before- and it was wonderful!  This book had good guys, bad guys, bad guys that were good guys, the future of society riding in the hands of the main character... plus the beauty and mystery of the deep sea. Boys would LOVE this book!

Book Talk: Love and Other Perishable Items

Love & Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo is a story of unrequited first love. Amelia is 15. She works at the local grocery store where she meets Chris. He is cute, funny, smart and... 21. Too old for 15 year old Amelia, but her heart doesn't care. Amelia is in love with Chris. This book captures the feelings of first love perfectly (At least from a girl's perspective!)  When you are in love, you do crazy things- pretend to like things you don't, tell lies, try things that scare you... Amelia does all of these things to try and gain Chris' affection.
The book is written from the viewpoint of both Chris and Amelia. Chris is searching for love, and by the end of the book, he starts to think that if Amelia were only 2 years older, she would be the perfect woman for him.  Through his journal entries, we experience the life of a college student that drinks to much, cares too much and worries to much.


Everyone who has ever been 15 or ever been in love can relate to this book and empathize with Amelia. 

Even though Chris & Amelia are 6 years apart, they share a love of literature. It is great when books talk about other great books- hopefully the reader will be so intrigued she will run out and read those books!  In Love & Other Perishable items, Chris & Amelia discuss these books! Check them out if you haven't read them already!

Book Talk: Caring is Creepy

Caring is Creepy by David Zimmerman is a 2013 Alex Award Winner and, well,  creepy. Lynn has a rough life- no dad, overworked mom with a string of lousy boyfriends, small town mentality, sex starved best friend. Lynn has this perpetual feeling that everyone dumps on her- and when the going gets tough, they abandon her. After her friend Dani gets a new computer, the girls spend their time in chat rooms meeting men. One night, Lynn meets a man and they start chatting. She has a good feeling about this dude, so she tells him her name and where she lives. (DON'T EVER DO THIS!) The guy- Logan, is in the military and is about to be redeployed to Iraq. They decide to spend an afternoon together before he is shipped out. After their date, Logan decides to go AWOL- leave the military without permission. Lynn agrees to hide him in her attic. This is when the story takes a turn for the... creepy. Something snaps inside of Lynn's little mind and she decides to keep Logan. Yes. Keep him. Like a little kid keeps a bird with a broken wing in an old shoe box. Keep him.

 

She becomes obsessed with him and tells lie upon lie to keep him there- she throws away his clothes, makes him pee in pop cans... She will do anything to keep him there out of fear of him leaving her forever. 

There is a whacked out side story... even more whack than keeping a naked guy locked in your attic.  Lots of drinking, lots of (unprotected) sex, lots of drugs and swearing- oh and violence too. This book is not for the faint of heart or easily offended. this book does contain some LGBT slurs that are more offensive than anything else in the book. Me by the end of the book:

I am not going to spoil the ending of this book for you- I will let you discover the magic as it unfolds before you.  Through the entire book, I kept telling Lynn to "shut it down." Shut it down, girl Shut. It. Down.

 

Have you read Caring is Creepy? What did you think? Have you ever loved a boy so much that you wanted to lock him in your attic? Don't. Not a good idea. 

The title of the books is inspired by this song by The Sins

HP LOVE

True Story

I Love Books Too, Mr. King

I discovered the work of Stephen King in high school. When I read Pet Semetary, I was so scared that I kept throwing the book across the room. I would wait a few minutes and let my heart rate return to normal and then go fetch the book and continue reading... only to throw the book across the room in a few pages.

 I hadn't seen any of the movies yet- we didn't have a way to see movies unless they were on HBO or you rented them at "That's Rent-ertainment". After Pet Semetary, I ate his books like candy- Christine, Carrie, The Shining, all of his short stories... I owe a lot of my love for the written word to this man. As an adult, I continued to read his books- Rose Matter, Dolores Claiborne, The Green Mile... now I have so many books on my to read list., and so many books that I need to read that I haven't picked up a King book in years.
I think the time has come to do that- and I plan on reading  Doctor Sleep (the sequel to The Shining) as soon as it is my turn on the reserve list at the library.

Mr. King doesn't give a lot of interviews, but you can read a rare one in The Parade.
What are your favorite Stephen King books? Have you read Dr. Sleep yet?
To see the other works by Mr.. King, check out his bibliography here!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 on your TBR Pile

This week, the theme at The Broke & Bookish is TOP 10 BOOKS ON YOUR TO BE READ PILE. I have about 450 books on my TBR list, so this will cover the first 2% of my list.

1. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Burnt
2. The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy
3.Invisibility by Andrea Cremer
4. Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry (Doesn't come out until September!!)
5. Caring is Creepy by David Zimmerman
6. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
7. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
8. The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
9.The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
10. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

See the rest of the books I want to read on my Goodreads page! 

Book Talk: Before I Fall

This is my first book talk/book review since... well, for about a year! I have been reading books, just not writing book talks. Since I will be in a high school and middle school library in August, I thought I'd better get a move on and start reviewing some great YA books. So, after searching the library catalog. I came away with Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.








I went to high school. I know about the cliques and the bullies and the drugs and sex and drinking... but this book confirmed one thing for me:

 This fact is laid out for the reader as if Lauren Oliver were holding a large, flashing, neon sign before my eyes. High school girls are scary. Mean high school girls are even scarier and mean high school girls who know they are mean are the scariest. Sam is a mean girl who knows she is mean. She almost gets off on being mean. This is what I thought about Sam for the first 100 pages of the book- even though she had died twice by this point:

This book was Mean Girls meets Heathers meets It's a Wonderful Life meets Groundhog Day all rolled in to one- but it read like a realistic fiction novel.
Sam is part of the most popular group of girls in school. She and her friends go out of their way to me mean to everyone they come in contact with- including teachers, siblings, parents and the general public. Sam had everything- looks, grades, money, hot boyfriend... but she still insisted on being mean. I knew girls like this in high school- I was lucky enough to be off of their radar, but I knew what they were capable of.

Sam and her friends head to a party on Valentine's Day where they are confronted by the girl they have bullied and harassed since fifth grade. Juliette Sykes, dubbed Psycho, bursts into the party, calls all the girls bitches and leaves.  Hey Sam, Taylor Swift wrote a song about you- you might know it:

 The party continues as if nothing happened and at the end of the night everyone leaves. Sam and her friends (who have all been drinking) pile into the car a leave. 

On their way home, they get in a car accident. Sam, who was sitting in the front seat blacks out and when she wakes up in the morning- she thinks she must have bumped her head and everything is fine- but it is Valentine's Day again.

Sam figures out that she must have died in that car accident and she is living the same day over again. She has a chance to live this day again- to get it right and may be not die. But she doesn't get it right. She continues to be a mean girl. At one point I hate her worse than I did when she is alive.

As the book progresses and Sam keeps reliving the same day, we see that Sam is starting to get it- she is realizing that her actions have consequences. She also realizes that she needs to take responsibility for her own actions and try to make things better. But- she just can't get it right. She lives the same day 6 times in a row, each day becoming a better person, each day trying to get her story right- but she is missing something. On the 7th day, she wakes up and realizes that she doesn't need to get her story right, she needs to get the story right for those around her. So here I am on the day that I know Sam is finally going to die (or is she? Could she live??) and I finally like her.

In the end, Sam has done the right thing, set a good example for those around her and encouraged me, and hopefully you, to slow down, enjoy each day and each moment- tell people you love them- because you never know if you will get another chance to get your story right.

But seriously- bullying is not something that I take likely. If you are bullying someone stop. Stop now. If you are being bullied- get help. Ask your parents, a neighbor, a friend- your librarian- for help. Grown ups do care and want to help. If you are too scared to talk to someone face to face, click here: http://www.stopbullying.gov/get-help-now 
If you or someone you know if considering suicide- you need to get immediate help. Do not wait. You can click here to enter Crisis Chat and get immediate, one-on-one help http://www.crisischat.org/ or call 
1-877-YOUTHLINE 1-877-968-8454 to get help from other teens. It is never too late. 

Back in the Game!

After a year hiatus from the library, today I accepted an offer to become the new librarian at 

West Liberty High School & Middle School! 

I will spend every other day in each school. I don't know all of the details, but I do know that I am beyond excited to be back in the library. And HIGH SCHOOL! AH! When the principal asked me what my experience with YA books is- I referred to my Goodreads stats "Well, last year I read 77 YA titles and this year I am behind by 5% and have only read 22." Finally a real use for my passion for YA lit! ya SAVES!