SundayMorningReads

I put down roots in the Haute this weekend. We’ve finally had a sustained break from all the rain and hopefully there will be no more morning frost so I got vegetables and herbs planted in my garden.

There are a couple of pieces of land close to campus that have been divided into plots for community members to grow crops each summer. Sounds nice, huh? Well, it gets even better! There are tool sheds on the grounds with gardening implements and wheel barrows. Leaf mulch and horse manure mulch is available and area farmers provide inexpensive straw to help the soil retain moisture. This wonderful deal isn’t free. There are dates by which certain progress must be made and a portion of the harvest must be donated to the local food agency. Nope, nothing is free, but this comes awfully close!

My sister drives over from Indy and we’re farming together. We’ve planted cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes (too many!), sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, turnip greens, okra, sage, dill, fennel, basil and catnip. While the herbs will be a welcome part of the harvest, they’re also strategically placed in the garden to ward off pests.

I’ll be balancing my time at the garden with the time needed to finish the few dozen books I have to finish for BFYA which will be at ALA in a few short weeks. I won’t do much there other than committee meetings and catching up with people I’ve probably never met before. If you’re going to be there, please let me know!

I do plan to see Kathy aka The Brain Lair and I’ll congratulate her in person for being named her local Teacher of the Year. This is an awesome accomplishment for any educator but, especially for media specialists/school librarians who most people don’t recognize as such. From the article, from knowing all the great things Kathy does, I know she’s more than deserved this award!

I never give a second thought about what I share here. I find information I enjoy and I look forward to sharing it. When it comes to the give-a-way on Anali’s First Amendment, I have had second thoughts. I so want to win one of those prizes that I hate to limit my chances! But I will, not only for the sake of my readers but also to help draw more support to The Arc.

Anali’s First Amendment is hosting the All Aboard the Arc annual fund raiser to benefit The Arc of Massachusetts, which serves men, women and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The blog has much more information about the Arc and ways you can donate to support this worthy cause. To help bring attention, there’s a giveaway and it ends Monday 20 May.

• Firehouse Subs gift cards
• Greyston Baker brownies
• The Greyston Bakery Cookbook

Author Meg Medina (Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass) also recently blogged about one of her passions, Partners in Print, an organization which supports literacy development mostly for ENL students. In the post, Medina provides unique insights into what it’s like being bilingual.

I have a co-worker from Congo who often tells me what a disadvantage she has because she’s not a native English speaker. (I’m smiling because she often reads these posts.) She’s lived here some 40 odd years, but still translates in her mind. One wouldn’t know this because she never misses a beat, no matter it be a technical cataloging question or a casual conversation filled with U.S. idioms.

Most native born Americans only speak one language like me and will have a difficult time understanding the difficulties these adults and these students, face. I am so amazed by their linguistic abilities, that I don’t see the problems. Thanks to Medina’s post, I understand more.

Don’t miss artist Jimmy Liao  (The sound of color )in the Gallery on the PaperTigers website.

Have you looked at Google+Hangouts yet? Again I say: Google concerns me. I was listening to a piece about Google on NPR this past week about their new voice search. The story also mentioned Google Travel which will read information from peoples’ photos to help plan vacations. They’ll look at both faces and places to determine your ultimate spot. One more way for them to collect data. No, I’ll not be using an Android, Google Chrome or Google Glass. I want to think I’m making you work for my information.

I don’t watch Scandal; I’m an Elementary girl. I think it’s interesting that while Kerry Washington, an African American woman, can be promoted for her sexuality, Lucy Lui, an Asian American woman, cannot. Neither can Sandra Oh who preceeds Scandal in Grey’s Anatomy. Read Lucy Lui on this topic :” I kind of got pushed out of both categories. It’s a very strange place to be. You’re not Asian enough and then you’re not American enough, so it gets really frustrating.” MORE

If you have time to up your professional reading this summer, don’t miss Voya’s 5 Foot Bookshelf: Essential Books for Professionals Who Serve Teens.

I’m so glad to be getting my hands in the soil! So thankful to be growing my own food and for the people I’m meeting in the process. I’ve found one more thing to help fill my summers days, but there’s always time for the things we want to do!

 

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Steve Jobs

 

 

 

 

 

 

SundayMorningReads

CONGRATULATIONS, COURTNEY YOUNG, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT ELECT!

Do chefs and other food professionals remain able to enjoy their parents and grandparents home cooking?

I’m watching Guy Fieri cook with his mom today and these are his recipes, he’s in charge. Makes me wonder if he still likes his mom’s cooking.

He’s not the only one with his mom on the show, they’ve been on Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight and many, many other shows. There are the Mother’s Day sales, coupons, flower displays… So much to celebrate the holiday.

Does everyone do that much Mother’s Day celebrating with their family?

I’ve finally come to learn that not so many people do the New Years Eve parties. Most people I’ve talked to actually do quiet evenings at home or church. Yet, we would be led to believe everyone goes to parties. Perhaps it’s only the 10%.

Last Christmas, I brought a friend from Egypt to my sister’s home for the holiday. She was excited as this was her first Christmas dinner and, she was really looking forward to the singing. Singing?? Yes, in the movies everyone does Christmas carols. I don’t know anyone who does that, or who goes Christmas caroling! Oh, sure there are people who do those things, but those practices aren’t as pervasive and Hollywood makes people believe.

I hate to admit how many books I still have to read for BFYA. I should not be writing this post, should not have gone to the store this morning, should not be doing anything other than reading! I’ve received some very interesting boxes lately and see so many books I’d love to pick up, but I am required to have read everything nominated to the committee before we meet in June.

I have to say I’m really disappointed in the lack of ethnic diversity in the books I’ve received. Scholastic has stood out as the company whose selection has been the most multicultural.

While I look for ethnic representation, I am so aware of diversity in the broad sense while reading these books. I’ve seen very few books by male authors or with male protagonists. The numbers of books with autistic characters is growing. There are quite a few mysteries, a lot of historical fiction and paranormal seems to be dwindling. There is always death. There is little religion or spirituality and I find that intriguing considering the searching for meaning that young adults do.

There is a fair amount of LGBT, a surprising amount of animals and surprising few talents (excluding paranormal) or crafts.

There is violence, death, depression, bullying and abduction.  The trend is to deal with the act more than the consequences. Call me a prude, but I can’t bear to live through another mass shooting, stabbing or kidnapping; I don’t think access to guns is the root cause. I can raise this issue, but not let it deter me from recognizing a good book.

Diversity would extend to books that appeal to 13 year olds as well as to 18+, to books that recognize those who are embarrassed to read profanity as much as those who read expecting it. There are low ability readers and those who need complex, intricate story lines. Did I mention there is a lot of death?

Most librarians know this already and work hard to find all these different books, but the ones that are well written? I’ll be reading non-stop through 28 June to find them!

 

 

Saturday Trailer: Fat Angie

What better day for book trailers than a Saturday?

About the book:

Angie is broken — by her can’t-be-bothered mother, by her high-school tormenters, and by being the only one who thinks her varsity-athlete-turned-war-hero sister is still alive. Hiding under a mountain of junk food hasn’t kept the pain (or the shouts of “crazy mad cow!”) away. Having failed to kill herself — in front of a gym full of kids — she’s back at high school just trying to make it through each day. That is, until the arrival of KC Romance, the kind of girl who doesn’t exist in Dryfalls, Ohio. A girl who is one hundred and ninety-nine percent wow! A girl who never sees her as Fat Angie, and who knows too well that the package doesn’t always match what’s inside. With an offbeat sensibility, mean girls to rival a horror classic, and characters both outrageous and touching, this darkly comic anti-romantic romance will appeal to anyone who likes entertaining and meaningful fiction. (from the publisher)

e.E Charlton-Trujillo’s previous works include Prizefighter en mi casa and Feels like home.

Male Monday: Frederick McKissack

The Male Monday feature began with Ari at Reading in Color.

The world of children’s literature suffered a great loss on Sunday 28 April with the passing of Fred McKissack. In the books that he wrote, the stories he told and the life he lived, he paved the way!

Fred McKissack first worked as a civil engineer for the city of St. Louis and then with U.S. Army. He also owned his own general contracting company in St. Louis. In the early 1980s, he began writing children’s books with his wife, Patricia. Even when his name was not in the title, he was there in the research in the books his wife would write.

What was it that made their writing special? In reading through inteviews with the McKissacks, I find so many examples, both those stated directed and those implied through tone and sentiment that explain why this couple managed to create over 100 books for children. Perhaps the most obvious explanation of what made them special is that they were always there, together  even for each interview. Once, an interviewer asked Frederick if only one could attend an award ceremony, who would go?

Neither one. Why? Because Pat wouldn’t dream of going without Fred and Fred wouldn’t go without Pat. We are a team, and a team is just that — we come as a package, and those who give awards know that. Now, Pat has won awards for her work, and Fred has won awards that have honored his work. That’s different. We go and cheer the other one’s success. But when we share an award we share it 50-50. Think of it this way. If we get a bad review or don’t win an award, that is certainly shared, then so should the rewards of our combined efforts.

If one can care that much for those inside their world, they can care almost as much for those of us on the outside as well.

What did they write about?

And our niche was that time period between 1800 and 1900 — that’s pre-Civil War, Civil War, post-Civil War, up through and until the Harlem Renaissance. And we just carved that out as our niche and we worked very, very hard to try to tell that story. And I hope that what we’ve done is to make our history a little bit clearer — something that doesn’t make the children feel ashamed or hurt.

It is not designed to point a finger or to make some child in a classroom feel responsible for all that happened back then, but we can’t shovel it under the rug and say that those things did not happen — they did. But let’s tell it by telling an even-handed, well-researched, well-documented story and that’s what we tried to do in Days of Jubilee, Rebels Against Slavery, and Goin’ Someplace Special. And even the whale men, White Hands, Black…I mean, Black Hands, White Sails.

“We could write 100 books a year for the next 100 years and still not scratch the surface of stories that have fallen through the cracks, ” says Pat McKissack.

Complete biographies can be found at Publishers Weekly or the St. Louis Post Dispatch.