An effective program should include highly qualified staff, and equitable access to resources that support and further develop learning in and outside of the classroom. This should result in a variety of resources: databases, internet access, tech tools to support projects as basic as word processing or more complex like editing a film or creating a robot. Magazines and periodicals that support classroom learning and student interests, and books in a variety of formats: fiction and non-fiction, hardcover and paperback, paper and electronic, words and graphic novels, dystopian and fantasy romance. People develop so much in the years 4 – 21 and having the ability to explore the world through books and other library information sources broadens their experience. I haven’t even touched on the social/creative outlets a lot of my students find in our library by playing chess, Apples to Apples, puzzles, and other games, or participating in book clubs or an open mic coffee-house.

My student library aides must take a mid-term, and one question I ask is what they have learned so far this year as an aide. The responses I get are sometimes what you would expect, “I’m learning how to be better organized,” or “I’m learning where to find books in the library.” But I also get answers that let me know the student really is growing while being a library aide. This week, one student wrote in their response that they are learning forgiveness this year as a library aide.  This person started out in a rough spot, and we have all moved past that spot and get along very well. It warms my heart to know that this student sees this. Another student wrote that they have a huge lack in social skills. Working in the library has helped this person develop social skills in dealing with fellow aides and library patrons. It has given them confidence in their senior year and it will be something they take with them after graduation.

My library aides are just a small part of my job as a school librarian. Education has a big focus on data right now, and I think there is a need for careful data collection and analysis to see what “Education” is doing right. After a while, though, data can become just a number, and some higher-ups lose sight of the individual attached to each piece of data. If something you do is hard to put into the terms of data, such as a library aide learning about forgiveness or social skills, that piece gets lost when looking at the firm data that makes up the big picture. It is impossible to connect these two student experiences to whether they pass their SOL tests or graduate on time because so many other measurable variables can be connected: teachers in the classroom, the curriculum, grades, test scores. I may know, without a doubt, that a student is graduating as a more developed person from our school because of the library, but no measurable/standardized test exists to prove it.

This is why when librarians ask for help in supporting our cause, it is a grass-roots movement. Signatures on a petition are our data that can be taken to President Obama. Each signature might represent a person who loves books and wants all children to have access to them whether rich or poor. Another signature is a person who remembers a librarian that changed their life for the better as a child, a teen, a college student, or even as an adult. One person might think of the stereotypical cranky librarian they have personally experienced, want better for children, and see the push for “effective school libraries” as a way to retire the cranky old and make sure they are replaced by the excited positive new (instead of not being replaced at all!).

So think about your opinion of school libraries: the positives and the negatives, the information they contain that reveals the past and opens the future, the hope that every student can become a reader if they just get introduced to the right book by someone who knows the book AND the student, the world of opportunities every student can access if the library has open doors and a knowledgable key master. I know it is annoying to create a username and password for the White House website, but if you agree with even a fraction of what I am saying, get over there and add your name to the petition.

Who knows, you might learn about other petitions you believe in and that account will continue to come in handy.

If you do add your name, come back and comment on this post to let me know what number you are.

Seriously, this year has been a blur. I really can’t believe 2012 begins in 36 hours. Last year, I over-extended myself with commitments and scaled back this year. Somehow, the world kept life just as busy this year.

I traveled a lot (for me)! I attended ALA Midwinter, and was able to go to Disneyland with my husband for a few days. Spring flew by, and I attended ALA Annual right after school ended. (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) During the summer, I was lucky enough to go to NYC for 24 hours and then spend a weekend at Rensselaerville. I got some beach time in at Ocean City (Maryland) and Wildwood Crest (New Jersey). I didn’t see as much of my family as I would like, but I was lucky to spend a good amount of time with dear friends.

Work has been busier than ever. We have a new library assistant this year, so getting her up to speed has been a focus. In addition to sponsoring the student book club, I am continuing on as the chair of Faculty Senate, and a member of the Climate Committee and two different literacy committees. I was a co-coordinator for our school Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical competition. I’ve been just as busy with book talks this year as I was last year, which is excellent.

I challenged myself, via GoodReads, to read 50 books this year. I thought that would be easy. I just made it, and it involved some last-minute reads of picture books and graphic novels. I have come to accept that reading challenges are not fun for me. Reading (and blogging) is something I do for pleasure. Once I commit to a challenge, it feels like a job. It becomes a finish line and is no longer about enjoying the experience. I won’t be doing that again this year.

Life itself has been a roller coaster, speeding through the highs and lows and dips and flips of love, loss, struggles, and blessings. The health of everyone I know ebbs and flows. I continue to be lucky to come home to a house filled with the love of my husband and two dogs. We continue the never-ending project that is living in a house built in 1951.

2012 is largely a mystery for me right now. I applied for the YALSA Board Fellow position. If I am fortunate to be selected, I envision a chunk of my year focused on that. If not, I intend to apply for another process committee position as my term on Teens’ Top Ten ends after Annual. My work commitments will continue, of course. I am not attending ALA Midwinter this year. I have no requirement to attend, and financially it is not a priority right now. I have not made a decision on attending ALA Annual, but I suspect the Board Fellow decision will have some affect on that. I would love to attend the YALSA YA Lit Symposium again, but I have some time to make that decision.

For now, I hope 2012 will pass a little more slowly than 2011 did. If any of my readers have stuck around since my last post in September, I thank you and hope you continue to stop by in 2012.

But this list of complaints is exactly why we need libraries and librarians. Let me point out a few things to you:

Borders employee says, “We hate when a book becomes popular simply because it was turned into a movie.” This high school librarian (here on out known as HSL in this post) says, “If a book-turned-in-to-a-movie gets one person to read, that person could potentially come back again and again and become someone who loves reading. It just takes the right book to hook a person.” Whatever works.

Borders employee says, “Oprah was not the “final say” on what is awesome. We really didn’t care what was on her show or what her latest book club book was. Really.” HSL says, “Again, whatever gets someone to reconsider reading is a win in my world.” I bet the author cares when he/she is able to make enough money to write full-time after Oprah praises their book, and can publish more books which will bring in more money for the bookstore.

Borders employee says, “If you don’t know the author, title, or genre, but you do know the color of the cover, we don’t either. How it was our fault that we couldn’t find it we’ll never understand.” HSL says, “If I had a nickel for every time in the 4 years I have been a librarian when I found the correct book for a patron based on the description of the cover, I would at least be able to buy myself lunch tomorrow.” Part of a librarian’s job is to know your collection. One student asks about “the book with the baby on the cover,” and she is so happy when I hand her Jacqueline Woodson’s The Dear One because that is exactly when she meant, but another student wants “the book with the baby on the cover” and is relieved when I give her Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting from the Current Controversies series. Both books have a baby on the cover, as do several other books in our library, but I am able to do a reference interview and get the right book in their hands.

Borders employee says, “It confused us when we were asked where the non-fiction section is.” HSL says, “If books are cataloged and patrons can search on a computer to find what they want, you would not be asked questions like this.” One thing that I think Barnes and Noble gets right is that in some of their stores, they provide computers for customers to do their own searching. (Not every store does this, though, which needs to change.) I have never been in a Borders where a computer was available for customers; each was always labeled “For employee use only.” Library patrons may not understand why books on fashion will be found in the 700s but books on what to wear for an interview will be in the 600s, but they will at least be able to use a computer to look up what they want and follow the clear layout and signage of a library to find the book they want.

Borders employee says, “We greatly dislike the phrase “Quick question.” It’s never true. And everyone seems to have one.” HSL says, “I love the questions that require some thinking and digging!” What else is a book store employee there to do but sell books? If someone has a question that could result in a sale, why hate the question? I love when students have a complicated question, or a question they worry is impossible to answer, and I can guide them to the answer. No wonder Borders went out of business if the employees don’t want to answer questions.

Borders employee says, “‘I was just here last week and saw this book there’ meant nothing to us. The store changed once a week.” HSL says, “Displays are meant to promote books. Know your recent displays.”

Borders employee says, “When you walked in and immediately said, ‘I’m looking for a book,’ what you really meant to say is, ‘I would like you to find me a book.’ You never looked. It’s fine, it’s our job — but let’s be correct about what’s really happening here.” HSL says, “Do we really need to argue semantics? Does it matter how the need for assistance is phrased? Booksellers and librarians have jobs because people need help in fulfilling an information need and we can help them.” Oops, maybe that is why you don’t have a job anymore.

Okay, in all seriousness, I understand where this person (people?) is coming from and like I said before, it sucks that Borders closed. I know some bookstore employees who are awesome and some librarians who suck, but this is a prime example of what to expect in a bookstore where the job qualifications are minor, and a in library staffed by librarians with a master’s degree. Librarians are trained to answer the unanswerable. The next time someone questions why modern society needs libraries, he or she should try to answer the unanswerable using an ode-writing bookstore employee and Google.

**********************************************************************

Coming soon: my rant about librarians who suck.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. Read in July 2011. Published by Scholastic Press. ARC provided by publisher at ALA Annual 2011.

Wonderstruck begins with two different stories. One, told in the text, is about a Ben, a young man in 1977, whose mother recently passed away, causing him to move in with his aunt and uncle and share a room with his cousin. His mother never told him anything about his father, and when Ben comes across some of his mother’s belongings, he wonders if he can find his dad.

The other story, set 50 years earlier than Ben’s, is told through Mr. Selznick’s illustrations. It follows Rose, a young deaf girl who dreams of New York City from her room across the Hudson river. She also keeps a scrapbook devoted to her favorite silent film actress. When she learns that the actress will be appearing on Broadway, Rose decides she must run away to the city and try to see the actress.

There is a reason these two stories are being told in tandem, but why?

Wonderstruck is delightful! The characters are very well-developed and so likable. Ben is a unique boy who likes to collect special treasures that remind him of moments in his life. He is deaf in one ear, and manages to embrace the benefits of it, such as sleeping on his good ear to block out unwanted noise. He is lonely since the loss of his mom and a bit lost in his aunt’s house. He needs to find someone who can deeply love him now that his mother is gone. Rose is a brave girl and refuses to be held back by her lack of hearing. Her unstable family breaks my heart and I admire how she can rise about it.

I love how the story unfolds and how the connection between Ben and Rose is slowly revealed.

Mr. Selznick’s illustrations are gorgeous. He manages to convey so many emotions in his pencil drawings. Much of the story is character driven and the illustrations allow the author to show, not tell, much of what the characters feel. The book opens with a drawing of two wolves and I fell in love with it. In particular, the second shot of the wolves where the viewer starts to be drawn closer to one is really lovely; I wish I could frame it. Some of settings include museums and those are so well done. Mr. Selznick manages to bring you into each space and allows you to explore the details without ever feeling like you might be lost in a scene from Where’s Waldo?

The research involved in creating this book is evident and much appreciated. I enjoyed getting a bit of a history lesson while bringing details to the story. Mr. Selznick also mentions in his notes at the end that the similarity to From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is intentional and that the book is filled with references. I missed most of them and look forward to hearing from those who can point them out.

All in all, Wonderstruck is a delightful book! I’m excited to share my copy with some younger readers I know, and will gladly order it for my high school library. I think it will be easiest for an older elementary student to follow the two different plots, but I think all ages can enjoy the illustrations and the mastery of storytelling displayed in Wonderstruck.

I remember IMing with my friend Jenn Carlile Foley that morning at work. We had gone to college together, and she had been a stage manager like me. When she graduated a year after I did, she followed in my footsteps: moved to NYC and did a year as a stage management intern at The Juilliard School, which I had also done. Jenn and I had our ups and downs, but she was an amazing person, so full of love and laughter. She was a loyal friend, and many people received more from her then I think she ever got back. Sometime after finishing at Juilliard, Jenn had married Tony, her college sweetheart. A few months later, I moved from NYC to Fairfax, and she was soon diagnosed with cancer. I made sure to keep in touch with her often, and IM was handy for easy chats where the haunting specter of the cancer was less pronounced.

I don’t remember how I first learned about the attacks; I just remember sitting in the office kitchen, watching the events unfold on the television. I went back and forth between the TV and my computer to talk to Jenn. She could see the towers from her office window, and she is forever connected to 9/11 in my head because of this.

When we learned that the Pentagon had been hit, the fear in our office escalated. The husband of one of my co-workers worked at the Pentagon, and she could not get a hold of him or any of his co-workers. She went home to wait for news, and the whole office went home soon after. I remember my boyfriend and I deciding to go donate blood, but the lives at every center were so long, they were turning people away. So we just went home.

I’m sure the way I felt that day is similar to what we all felt: sorrow, fear, patriotism, uselessness. I felt so far away from NYC, like I had abandoned it right before I needed it most. I worried for my friends there, I worried for the city.

I remember reading Sars’ story about how 9/11 happened to her. Every year, I return to her site to see if her mystery has been solved. Right now, it doesn’t look like it has.

At the end of that day, everyone I knew was safe, including the Pentagon husband. But of course, none of us were fine. In the summer after 9/11, the cancer took Jenn. While 9/11 and her cancer are not connected, I can’t think of one event without thinking of the other.

Several years later, I was introduced to PostSecret through this secret:

Sometimes, I want to believe that this secret isn’t real; that someone’s family and friends aren’t missing and mourning a person who is actually still alive. Yet, I also hope it is real; that one person didn’t actually die that day. 9/11 was such a tragedy, but the postcard gives me hope. I know we lost Jenn, but maybe someone escaped fate that sunny day.

It’s strange to think back to September in 2001 and how much has happened since then, how much has been lost, but also how much happiness has been found.

Memories of loved ones in happy times always help us heal after loss. I am grateful to have memories of happy moments with Jenn, such as this:

I’ll close with one of my favorite portions of poetry:

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.
- William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

Forbidden by Tabitha Sazuma. Published by Simon Pulse in May, 2011. Read in July, 2011. Copy purchased for my personal library.

I tried to write my own description of Forbidden, but I’ve given up and am going with the GoodReads description:

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Sibling incest always makes me think of  Flowers in the Attic, and I don’t think I can be blamed for that. But the comparison between the two books stops there. Forbidden is gripping and really well written. The situation Lochan and Maya are in will make you angry: dad is long gone in another country, and mom is more concerned about maintaining her buzz and trying to make her boyfriend see her as young and fun, not a mother of five. She is never home unless she’s recovering from a hangover. Lochan and Maya know that if they don’t parent their siblings, they will be split up and sent to foster care. So the two oldest make sure to keep everyone fed, dressed, and in school daily in order to fly under the radar. They keep this a secret from everyone outside of the family, so they can only trust and confide in each other.

Lochan is riddled with crippling anxiety. It is painful to watch him try to hide it, especially when you realize how smart the guy is, yet he bottles that brilliance up. This young man is so obviously damaged long before the taboo relationship starts, and as someone who works with teens, it breaks my heart to know that there are real kids out there this damaged who don’t get noticed because they stay quiet.

Maya is more of a normal teen girl, but she is fiercely loyal to Lochan. Their middle brother, Kit, is a rebellious, angry adolescent, and neither of them can control him. Maya is able to calm him down sometimes, but Kit and Lochan are an explosion waiting to happen. The other two children, Tiffan and Willa, are young children; a handful but just wanting to be loved.

The pressure of juggling all of this, and trying to get money out of their mom in order to survive is too much for teens this age to bear, and Lochan and Maya have no one to turn to but each other. As their relationship becomes physical, I read it with mixed emotions. What happens between the two is so wrong, but I also wish I could see Lochan and Maya survive this mess and be happy. As things progress in the book, I became more sad because I knew this could not end well.

Forbidden looks like a long book but is such a fast read. By the end, I was so involved in the lives of Lochan and Maya, I didn’t want it to end and cried through the last couple chapters. It hurt. A lot. I felt a bit dazed after I was done, emotionally wrung out. It can grow a bit melodramatic at times; I think a reader’s tolerance for the drama will heavily affect their response to the book.

Forbidden is graphic when it comes to descriptions of the physical relationship. I know there are readers in my school who would devour this book, but I have a lot of reservations about putting it in my school library. I will pass it on as a public library recommendation to the teens I know can handle it.

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle. To be published by Harper Teen in September, 2011. Read in August, 2011. ARC provided by publisher at ALA Annual.

Laurel is sixteen years old when her parents and younger brother are killed in a car accident, along with the mother of a classmate – David. David’s father was driving when the accident happened and is in a coma, leaving some questions about what caused the accident. Laurel and David were not in the car and are left to pick up the pieces of life that happens after. Laurel’s grandmother comes to stay with her and provides Laurel with a support system that David lacks. Laurel is drawn to David and can relate to his pain, but he is the son of the man who killed her family. Meanwhile, her best friend is growing distant, and she doesn’t know if a boy at school is only interested in dating her out of pity.

While I didn’t shed any tears over this one, it is an absorbing read. I liked Laurel and felt for what she goes through. It is comforting how much her grandmother loves her; the reader gets little glimpses into Nana’s life and what she is sacrificing to move into Laurel’s house with her since Nana lives out-of-town.

Laurel takes a job at a local veterinarian’s office; it is a fairly close drive but far enough away that her co-workers don’t know her as the girl-whose-family-died. It gives her a safe place where no one stares and whispers, and she finds healing in the work she does with the animals. She even volunteer’s to take in David’s dog, Masher, when David can’t take care of him. I looooooved Masher. He’s adorable!

But, there were times I felt like the way Laurel and her grieving are written are a little light. I was also bothered by how easily Laurel and her best friend grow distant. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it just didn’t feel like an honest story about loss, death, sadness, grief, love, friendship, and moving on.

SPOILER: While it might frustrate some readers, I like that we never learn the definitive cause of the accident. Sometimes, horrible things happen and there is nothing to blame it on.

Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer. To be published by Harcourt Children’s Books in September, 2011. Read in August, 2011. ARC provided by publisher at ALA Annual.

Description from GoodReads:

Willa is lucky: She has a loving blended family that gets along. Not all families are so fortunate. But when a bloody crime takes place hundreds of miles away, it has an explosive effect on Willa’s peaceful life. The estranged father she hardly remembers has murdered his new wife and children, and is headed east toward Willa and her mother.
Under police protection, Willa discovers that her mother has harbored secrets that are threatening to boil over. Has everything Willa believed about herself been a lie? As Willa sets out to untangle the mysteries of her past, she keeps her own secret—one that has the potential to tear her family apart.

I was excited to read Blood Wounds as I am such a fan of Pfeffer’s “Moon” books. I found the set-up of Blood Wounds unique: dealing with a murder that impacts a character’s life even though said character does not know the victims. There is a lot going on in this book, though, and I don’t think that is good. Willa’s unknown past, fear of the murderous father, death, long-lost family, blended family balance issues, financial strain, divorce, cutting…all brought up and resolved in 248 large print, wide-spaced pages. (In the ARC, of course; the published version could change.) All the different plot points come fast as a rolling boil, yet never blend together to form a solid story. And like a rolling boil, the heat is quickly turned off and things are resolved in a way that feels too sudden.

Because there are so many issues, the characters suffer and are rendered weak with little dimension. For example, I never was able to nail down the individuality of Willa’s two step sisters. When Willa decides she must visit her birthplace – the town where her father committed the murders – I had a very hard time believing that a mother would let her teenage daughter travel to the site of the crime so soon after their lives were at risk. It was all too convenient.

I think some readers will enjoy the book, especially because it is fast-paced and a quick read. I can see the possibility of using it to engage reluctant readers because there is so much going on, and will buy it for my school library. I think readers who appreciate a book with depth and three-dimensional characters will be left unsatisfied.

I see on Susan Beth Pfeffer’s blog that she is contemplating a 4th Moon book, and I do look forward to returning to that world.

My Beating Teenage Heart by C. K. Kelly Martin. To be published by Random House in September, 2011. Read in August, 2011. ARC provided by publisher at ALA Annual.

The plot of My Beating Teenage Heart is hard to describe without giving too much away. It is told in first person through the eyes of two different characters. In the beginning, they are both unnamed, so I am going to leave them this way. A girl is floating among the stars, unsure of where she is or why she is there. She begins to fall until she stops in a bedroom where she sees a teenage boy on his bed. He is not aware of her presence, and all she can figure out is that he is wracked with emotional pain. Going forward, the reader learns more, along with the girl, about these two characters. The chapters are told from both character’s perspectives.

I loved this book. LOVED it. Even when I thought I knew where Ms. Martin was taking me, she surprised at every turn. The characters sucked me in and I needed to see them through to the end. One of my favorite things about it was the healthy relationship the male character has with both his girlfriend and his best friend. He forgets their love at times, but they love him in a way that is real and true. I enjoyed reading a book where the people closest to a main character aren’t quick to betray or otherwise hurt their friend.

If there is another female author who writes male characters better than C. K. Kelly Martin, I haven’t read said author. I admit that I have only read two of her four novels (bad YA librarian!) but in the two I have read now, I Know It’s Over and My Beating Teenage Heart, Ms. Martin’s teen male characters are deep, emotional, thoughtful, honest, and could step off the page fully formed.

The last two chapters in particular will make you want to keep the tissues close at hand. Not a fluffy read; it will take you on an emotional journey and leave you feeling wrung out yet satisfied and hopeful. Will definitely be a 2011 favorite of mine, and I can’t wait to add it to my high school’s collection.