No Spoiler Book Review I avoided reading this book because it was so popular, I felt like it couldn’t be trusted. Everyone was saying how good it was, but the cover made it look so frivolous and it just sounded unoriginal. I was completely not interested in this book. Then it was recommended to me by someone who I just met, but really liked, and I thought, I better read it in case I ever see this person again. So, I read it, and of course I loved it!
This is one of those odd books that is impossible to summarize and actually make it sound good, it’s about bullying and domestic violence, but you know, funny? Books like this, make these difficult topics more accessible and easier for people to talk about. This is a fun, easy, entertaining book that is also an important book. You may also enjoy this No Spoiler Book Review of Marriage Lie. Share your thoughts on this book! Comment below!
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 Popular books and shows are making people more comfortable with the idea of weeding at the library. Marie Kondo’s first book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, was released in 2014 and became wildly successful. Her next book, Spark Joy, seemed to be even more popular. She now has a show on Netflix, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, which is getting a lot of attention, for being both “how to” and inspirational. People are starting to understand that once you get rid of what you don’t need, it’s easier to find and use what is really important to you.
Here is a list of other books on getting and staying organized:
Let's Collaborate! Do you have a favorite book about staying organized? Comment below! This is a basic overview of how I handle weeding for my collection. I handle the discards for the collections that I purchase, so I only worry about my sections. At the start of the new year, I’ll create a weeding strategy that has me analyzing all of the collections that I manage. I divide up the expected work into monthly and weekly projects and I prioritize collections for weeding based on need. Sometimes, it’s a lack of shelf space, sometimes it’s a collection that is getting dangerously outdated. I try to stick to the plan as much as possible, but of course I make adjustments when needed.
Get circulation involved. A lot of weeding instructions urge librarians to go to the shelves and put hands on books to see if they are in good physical condition. I think this is kind of funny, because most books don’t go bad from disuse. Most of the books that get beat up are the ones that are getting checked out and ending up in someone’s bathtub. Make sure that you have a procedure for circulation staff to be able to suggest books for repair, replacement or discard. Be prepared for your weekly weeding project. Run reports based on the CREW manual or your specific weeding policy. So, for example, according to CREW, I would run a report for books in the 640-649 Dewey class that are 5/3, so five years old or older and not checked out in three years or more. Once I have my list, I grab whatever size book cart works best for that project, a clipboard, pen and a bottle of water. I head to the stacks and don’t come back until I have all the books on my list or a note for anything that was missing. Once the discards have been collected, they have to be officially removed from the collection. It will be decided if the book will be sold at the Friends book shop or if it will be recycled. Your library might have a different policy on what to do with discards, some donate or trade with other libraries if it is appropriate. Anything that is going to be sold will need to be stamped as a discard to avoid confusion if the book is accidentally returned to in the future. That’s pretty much it, just repeat every week and adjust when needed. Easy Peasy! Let's Collaborate! What is your weeding strategy? Comment below! You know that joke about donning your black ninja clothes and weeding books at midnight so that no-one will see you? I get it, it’s funny, but not 100% based on reality. I know there are a few horror stories of weeding projects gone wrong, where some over-zealous librarian gets fired for “throwing out books”. These stories are EXTREME examples, and not something that should keep you weeding books at midnight. The truth is most patrons won’t notice what you are doing, and if they do, they will not care, they have other things to worry about. Most patrons are honestly, just trying to find their way to 648 KON and could you please scoot over before I forget this number again?
Your library probably has a policy on “deselection of library materials”, we use the CREW method. If your library does not have a policy, I would be shocked, what are we if not a bureaucracy? You need to immediately have one made and approved by your governing board and then take over the position of Director because the person running your library is a crazy person. Once you have your policy and have familiarized yourself with it, you really have nothing to fear when weeding books, stick to your policy and you will be fine. For the full article click the "Read More" button KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, BY PATRICK NESS This Young Adult book has been out for a few years, I wasn’t interested in it when it was published, even though it was pretty popular at the time. I ended up adding it to my list out of misguided curiosity. It was mentioned as the book you should read after finishing Harry Potter, in a book I didn’t like, but finished for a friend. I knew I shouldn’t take the advice of an author I didn’t care for, but I read it anyway and was very annoyed when I got to the end of the book. I don’t know why I was expecting anything different…
The premise is interesting enough, a civilization of humans living on a distant planet, where all men can hear each other’s thoughts. ALL OF THEM. ALL THE TIME. Things are bleak and dark, the planet is beautiful, but hard and the men are evil, conniving and murderous. This book is basically a 500-page chase scene with a boy and girl character being chased across a planet by an evil army. The writing is very drawn out and repetitive and the book ends pretty much mid-sentence. I understand the idea of a cliff hanger, but in this case, I felt like I was being held hostage by the story. I hate giving negative reviews, and I typically just wont finish a book I don’t like. My Goodreads.com account is all books rated three stars or higher, because I don’t finish books, I would rate two stars or below. I would have rated this book three stars, most of it is fine and it is creative, but the complete lack of an ending made me so mad, I’m rating it two stars! Share your thoughts on this book. Comment below! Best Graphic Novels Starring Girls
Best Graphic Novels Starring Boys
Best Graphic Novels Starring Diverse Characters
Best Graphic Novels Starring Non-Human Characters
Non-Fiction Graphic Novels
Let’s Collaborate! What Graphic Novels have you recommended to reluctant readers? Comment below! Reluctant Readers are probably my favorite group to advise.
First of all, this is reader’s advisory, just a bit more challenging. Most of the time when I get these questions, a parent will approach me with a child “reluctantly” following (I know, I’m the worst). We’ll exchange niceties and the parent will inform me that their child does not show much interest in reading. I try to gain basic information from the parent as quickly as possible, because I want to be able to focus on engaging the child. I typically just ask the parent, demographic information, I don’t want the parent’s ideas of what their kid likes, because they are often wrong. Once I’m able to start talking to the kid, I just try to start a conversation with them about what they like and what their interests are. Once you hit on the right question the kid will open up! It’s amazing to watch someone go from so hesitant and dubious to so animated so fast! You will definitely know when you have found their passion! I always start with a very open ended, “So, what do you like to do?” If they hesitate (and they usually do), I’ll offer prompts, I start with activities and move onto passive examples, if I’m having a hard time engaging them. For the full article click the "Read More" button Maybe you feel like you were well advised on how to handle Reluctant Readers, but I was not. It was not covered in my curriculum at Grad school and it was not covered in my reader’s advisory training at the library. I literally learned best practices by working the reference desk with an experienced librarian as these questions came up. Luckily, she gave very sound and up to date advise on how to have a positive impact on these readers.
Kids can become reluctant readers for many reasons. For many children it’s technical, they have a hard time making sense of the words and sentences on the page, the thought of a whole book, with nothing but words, is overwhelming to them. Many kids have the technical ability to read, but don’t have experience reading for fun, so they don’t know how to make a book come alive for them. Many minority children are labeled as “reluctant readers”, but they really just have a hard time connecting to traditional characters. Graphic novels can solve all of these problems. For the full article click the "Read More" button My goal is to read at least one book per library check-out period. I usually check-out my books from Overdrive, so my download period is two weeks, that has me reading at least 26 books per year. I don’t stick to a particular genre; I usually look for whatever book on my list is the most different from what I have just finished. So, if I just finished a non-fiction on current social issues, I might follow that up with a funny satirical memoir. My reading list tends to look like a random selection of popular books from the last ten years with the occasional classic mixed in. I will try not to include spoilers. Please join in the conversation! the feather thief by kirk wallace johnson This was recommended to me by my amazingly talented and insanely smart hair dresser, or as I call her, my “hair boss”. The premise of this book is so bizarre, that I was instantly intrigued. Apparently, there is a worldwide community of Fly-tiers, that obsessively make salmon fly ties using the feathers of rare, protected and endangered birds. This is the story of how one of those fly-tiers broke into the Tring Museum of Natural History and stole irreplaceable bird skins to sell and support his hobby. This is a very strange tale and it is all true!
Favorite line from this book: (This is part of the Tring Museum’s history) Lucky visitors caught glimpses of Rothschild astride Rotumah, the 150-year-old Galapagos tortoise he’d sprung loose from an insane asylum in Australia. Yep, that happened… Share your thoughts on this book. Comment below!
Let's Collaborate! What is your favorite book to recommend to new parents? Comment below! If you are reading this blog you probably already know everything that is listed below about the benefits of reading to children, but isn’t it nice to have it all listed in one place?
Nemec, J. (2011). It’s Still Never Too Early to Start! Advocating for Born to Read. Children and Libraries, Winter 2011, 15-21 Bowers, K., Brown, A., Howard, V. (2018). Storytime in a Box, the Cooperative Approach to Preschool Storytime Planning. Children and Librariesl, Spring 2018, 23-28 Klass, P. (2018). Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention. New York Times, April 16, 2018. Let's Collaborate! What is the most important reason to read to children? Comment below!  Piper "reading" to Emi I read to my oldest daughter, Piper, as soon as we brought her home from the hospital. I knew that she would not understand what I was saying, so I had purchased some of the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales and the Tales of Beedle the Bard. I wanted something that was kid appropriate, but also entertaining for me. I read these to her frequently and we both enjoyed them. Since then we have devoured hundreds of Board Books. Her first favorite board book was Olivia, which we read nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine times. We have read thousands of beautiful and fun picture books, thanks to our public library. I never had to introduce reading to her, because it was always part of our routine.
When my second daughter, Emi, was born, I was very concerned about creating a positive dynamic between my two daughters, so I actually didn’t start regularly reading to her until she turned one. The time when I should have been reading to Emi, I spent talking with Piper in front of her. I do not necessarily recommend this to all parents, but it worked for us. I still exposed the baby to an extensive vocabulary as my older daughter is a very expressive talker, saying words like “technically” and “preference” by four years old. Thanks Books! For the full article click the "Read More" button |
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January 2020
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