Oddly Normal lunchtime

I have fifteen minutes of lunch hour remaining, enough time to load today's book image to this post and make a few introductory comments on Oddly Normal by Otis Frampton. My brain is still somewhat on spring break (pithy spring break post coming) and I thought taking a graphic novel to lunch would be an easier read. Not because graphic novels do not take time and/or effort to read, but because I wanted something different.

Oddly Normal is a ten year old girl, half witch and half human. Middle School is challenging enough for kids who are different, but as Oddly explains, "add a few oddities to the recipe, and you're in for special treatment." The book opens on the occasion of Oddly's birthday. Her parents, kindly described as self absorbed, are planning this year's birthday party. When the party begins and ends without any invited guests, Oddly voices a wish that almost any ten year old has at one time or another, "I wish you would both just disappear." She then learns the hard way the old saw about being careful what you wish when her parents, along with her house, disappear.

Oddly's aunt, arriving late for the party, is unable to undo the damage and determines she must take Oddly back with her to Fignation. In an ironic twist, Oddly learns she is no more normal in Fignation than in her regular school. She is not green, does not have warts, and has little or no power as a witch. Point of fact, she is as much an oddity now as before. Feeling her way through the school days, Oddly makes friends and overcomes several challenges put forth by other students looking for "extra credit." A clever anagram of her name, Droll Dynamo, leads Oddly and her friends to Mr. Gooseberry and new revelations concerning her parents. In this case, the end is not the end because the second volume of Oddly Normal is due out soon; check out the Oddly Normal Production Journal on Frampton's blog.

This is one of the few graphic novels for children I have read that really is for children. It is fun, full of color and imagination, and has a believable story line. Frampton nails the culture and language of middle school children; Oddly's droll sense of humor, irritation with her parents, and intrinsic need to have friends and belong are well done (not overdone). The illustrations and graphics are wonderful, especially Oddly's first view of Fignation. Various colors and hues are strategically present throughout the novel to designate mood (grey's, red's, and blue's) and the school scenes are priceless. Additionally, an "Oddly Normal History" is included at the end of the book for more information. All in all, I am ready for Oddly Normal: Family Reunion.

Tags: Oddly Normal, Volume 1, Otis Frampton, Graphic novels, Juvenile fiction

My eyes, my eyes

Lunch at my desk today includes popcorn, diet pop, a short blogging break. After a morning of redesigning image buttons and replacing them on many, many, many individual web pages, if I see another page in Dreamweaver I am going to scream. Either that or my eyes are going to jump out of my head and run from the resource center. It is my own fault (don't you hate when that happens?) and I have been dealing with the consequences all morning.

Trying to combine visual appeal with function and usability, the main page contains a logo and photo collage/image map for immediate "pop." The secondary pages have the same logo and navigation buttons to work through the site. While gleefully creating, combining, and editing pages yesterday afternoon I noticed that the secondary page design did not have the same five options as the main web page.

Fabulous.

I had create two more buttons and insert them, along with appropriate links, into 20 pages this morning. The worst part? it is lovely irony. If I had been more secure with my design abilities I would be using Dreamweaver template options and changing it would have been a simple matter of updating the template; all the other pages would have followed automatically. I am convincing myself it was a good thing I caught this before finishing all of the pages, give or take 100 of them.

This is where it becomes obvious I am a librarian with some web design training and not a web designer.

Tags: I can't technorati tag a post on stupidity!

Questioning cover art

I've mentioned here before that I am not a slave to cover art for juvenile and young adult fiction. Picture books? That is another issue completely since they are, by virtue of their nature, about the illustrations. I can not say an attractive cover does not catch my attention when rifling through a new cart of books, but when I am making a decision to buy the book it is from reading the review and determining it's subsequent fit into our juvenile collection.

Within the last few weeks we have received the first two parts of Christopher Pike's Alsosha trilogy. Pictured on the far left is the hardcover version of the first book, Alosha. The islands are somewhat representative of what Ali, aka Alosha, describes as visions of her homeland in the book and it is a visually appealing cover. But, it is not a great fit for book genre or the age level of reader it is trying to attract (IMHO). This morning book two of the trilogy arrived and it looks completely different from the first; it definitely has the fantasy/graphic novel/edgy approach more in keeping with the book's concept. Out of curiosity, I searched Amazon and Barnes & Noble for the rest of the series and found the paperback cover of Alosha, the book on the far right. The paperback cover works with the covers for the rest of the series and I simply question the differences.

I understand the paperback and hardcover versions of books may be different. I checked the hardback and paperback covers of books two and three and they are identicle. So, why would a publisher a trilogy's cover art after the first one? Maybe they lost the artist. Maybe they don't care. Maybe they didn't think anyone would notice. Anyone purchasing the first book with the original cover, wanting to have the full set, is going to be confused when the second and third title look so different; there is no cohesiveness. Maybe it's not such a big deal, but I would have been peeved if my Harry Potter books had changed so drastically midstream. Plus, if the publisher is looking for trilogy branding and visual reminders, these different covers miss the mark. Guess it's will just be one of those things that make me wonder.

Tags: Juvenile books cover art, Alosha trilogy, Juvenile fiction, Juvenile fantasy genre

Childish musings

Working in an academic setting, there are very few little ones in the resource center. Sure, we get the occassional returning student who needs to bring their children. But more often than not the only children in here are the adult ones. This afternoon the sweetest little boy has accompanied his mother to do work and he is amusing himself by playing with a toy car, what I suspect might be a hot wheel, on any surface he can reach. He is a very systematic young man; the table he chose to use is round and he moved back each of the four chairs from the table so he is able to chart his course without interference.

It's just one of those things that make me smile.

Tags: Once again, no tags here.

I am chocolate cake

No big surprise here ...

You Are a Chocolate Cake

Fun, comforting, and friendly. You are a true classic, and while you're not super cutting edge, you're high quality. People love your company - and have even been known to get addicted to you.

What Kind of Cake Are You?

Tags: Blogthings

Fickle and juvenile

It might be kinder to say I currently have the attention span of an average five-year old ...

In the last week I have begun to read, and later returned to the circulating collection, no less than four different juvenile novels. I started the books with an open mind, moving outside my interest "zone" to broaden my reader horizons. However in each instance there was not enough in the book to entice me to finish. I took one to lunch three days thinking I could power through to the end; nope, nada, not going to happen. After struggling through two of the four I discussed them with the cataloging librarian who is a fantasy aficionado. She agreed that while they were perfectly acceptable books, neither was a stellar example of an exceptional fantasy novel.

Instead of thinking I am simply literature lazy and do not want to read something critically that is not to my taste, I prefer to say I am exercising my rights as a discriminating reader and choose not to finish. There are so many books to read (and so little quality reading time) that it seems foolish to force the issue. They are two very different things, reading for enjoyment and reading for work. That is why I rely on professional children's literature reviewers when selecting books for the library collection. An entire juvenile section full of only what I enjoy reading, no matter how eclectic my tastes, would be a poor example of collection development policy.

Also a contributing factor to the fickle-ness of my reading patterns is the humble realization that my brain is fried from several consecutive eight hour days of web page re-designs and is close to exploding (always messy) with the knowledge I have a long way to go before declaring the job finished. And for heaven's sake, don't even get me started on the short conversation I had with my boss regarding the soon to begin torture of the library web page re-design.

I could wax poetical about having only two days until spring break, but that's another post. Or, I could provide the information regarding how many days between the end of spring break and Easter break. Maybe I should describe in detail the number of days between Easter break and the last day of classes for this spring 2007 term. But, to do that I would have to admit a student worker supplied me with the information (I had no idea!) earlier today.

Then again, I could reveal it has taken me four tries to correct this post and it remains only boderline grammatically acceptable, possibly even less readable than those four books in question earlier.

Instead, I will pick a favorite book from my collection and just relax. As Scarlett says, "Tomorrow is another day."


Tags: No tags here today.

It's not the heat

It's the humidity! That phrase always makes me crazy because, trust me when summer days are in the triple digits, it is the heat. I have spent the last three hours compiling book lists to update the resource center web site's author page. The heat and humidity phrase stuck in my mind because I kept thinking now that the page design is finished it's not the web page, it's the content that is driving me crazy. I could easily just change over the old page to the new format, but without updated information that page design is just a new frame on an ugly painting.

I was so intent on the task at hand I worked through my traditional dinner hour. Knowing I could use dinner break time for a quick blog post, about fifteen minutes ago I took my crackers, raisins, and sprite zero over to look at a cart of books. One of the children's books is Smart Feller Fart Smeller and other Spoonerisms by Jon Agee. It was just the thing for an after dinner chuckle.

Agee begins his picture book homage to Spoonerisms with short background information on William Archibald Spooner, including the fact that he was known for flipping the beginning sounds of words, by explaining to readers "There was not explanation for Spooner's embarrassing habit, other than the simple fact that his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain." The book gleefully illustrates several Spoonerisms that will undoubtedly delight younger students. Caricature-like pen and ink drawings work well with the question and answer layout of the book. Readers are ask a simple question, turn the page, and the Spoonerism is revealed. A few of the sayings may need additional explanation for younger children, especially the "gentlemen cart your stars" instead of start your cars (which should be start your engines), but the overall effect is still laugh out loud enjoyable. This book would definitely be enhanced if used as a read-aloud:

"What did the cowboy say to the rocket scientist?"
"You sure are a fart smeller!"

The last page of the book presents a "what they said" and "what they meant to say" section to help with any potential confusion. A nice addition to our library collection of word Agee word books such as Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog and other Palindromes and Elvis Lives and other Anagrams.

Tags: Jon Agee, Smart Feller Fart Smeller, Spoonerisms, Children's literature

Statistical curiousity

No, this is not a post on any the three topics I introduced yesterday, but I do have one drafted and will be posting it later today. It is, unfortunately or fortunately, one more bow to my freakishly annoying fixation with blog statistics.

A couple of days ago I noticed that while I had burned feeds and added an appropriate number of "chicklets" to other blogs I use, for some reason I had not done so here. I quickly remedied that oversight (hence the addition of Hypothetical Feeds on the sidebar) and this afternoon determined it might be fun to see how the site states from Feedburner compared to my statistics from StatsCounter.

In the short amount of time it has taken my to create this post there have already been two visitors, eight page views, two visits defined as "incoming" (both from my blogger ID), and one visit defined as "outgoing." Neither of these options for blog statistics are infallible, but it might be fun to compare.

Yes, I know, it is a sickness of sort. But the first step is admitting the problem, right?

Tags: Blog statistics, StatsCounter, Feedburner

On my mind ...

Right now the Blogger gods are being kind, they have ceased refusing my posts and login, and I have a few short ruminations I would like to bring to the hypothetical table. I plan on discussing them, possibly at some length, in the next few posts so this is only a teaser.

• Library Conferences: Why is it that the upcoming ACRL conference in March is twice the cost of the ALA annual conference in June and is a considerably shorter period of time? I tried for several weeks to find a hotel room so I could attend ACRL. Most of them were sold out and ones not affiliated with ACRL were charging upwards of $250 per night. After looking at the price list this afternoon, I am sorry to say I will not be attending ACRL. I was, however, able to get a great rate on a flight and hotel to attend ALA in Washington DC. The room is not in an ALA hotel, they were gone as well, but it is one block from an ALA affiliated hotel so I will be able to walk a block and catch a shuttle bus.
  
  
• New Librarians: A friend of mine recently accepted his first post-MLIS job in an academic library. He asked me last week what professional development advice I might have for him to consider and thanked me for being such a good mentor throughout his coursework. It was an interesting question and I had to give it some serious thought before responding.
  
  
• Conference Programs: I very much enjoyed my first national conference, ACRL in Minnesota two years ago, but was disappointed when so much of the programming was geared toward only reference and instruction. While I do some instruction on an as needed basis and contribute to reference desk duties, my basic function is not reference and instruction. There are many academic librarians who, like myself, have other areas of expertise. After attending my first ALA midwinter last January (San Antonio) and my first annual in New Orleans last summer, I found more of interest to me at a conference not geared specifically to academics. ALA has many children's literature, young adult literature, and other like sessions that are all but ignored in ACRL.
  
  
• Small librarian staff verses larger: I have been pondering my job lately, wondering if it is a good thing or a bad thing that I do not have one particular specialty area. Many education librarians in academic settings are just that, education specialists. Being the education liaison is only one aspect of my job description. Is it a good thing I have many different talents, managing a resource center, education librarian, library web master, and adjunct faculty for the college of education? Or am I missing an opportunity to specialize in one particular area? I guess time will tell.

Tags: Librarianship, Library professional development, ALA, ACRL, Library conferences

Out to lunch - weekend blogging

It is my last Saturday and Sunday reference shift for this term and I am using my "lunch time" for blogging. With complete and utter joy can announce as of today, the first weekend in March, I have completed both my rotating evening (2) and weekend (also 2) reference duty obligations. Unlike my reference librarian counterparts, terms end is busiest for me due to the education course we facilitate in the resource center. For this reason I often opt to be scheduled early. Today was a regular early term Saturday with only a few international students and a very dedicated high school student doing research. If not for various phone inquiries, hours inquiries and book renewals, it would have seem to have been for naught. Luckily, there were many other tasks to hold my attention.

How so? This morning I updated my class WebCT calendar information; I am doing adjunct work for the college of education this term, and resource center web pages to reflect spring break hours for both the library and resource center. Naturally posting colorful and appropriate signs followed. Then the class blog had to be updated and linked to the WebCT calendar and resource center hours as well; cover all the bases and flood every source with pertinent information.

Later that same evening ....

The fabulous new printer I ordered earlier this term arrived Friday afternoon; two drawers for paper, duplex printing, and an extra memory card for faster printing (it boasts 8 seconds). However, since all thirteen computers will have to have their ghost images/partitions updated before we can use the new printer, it is currently sitting pretty, occupying space, and confusing patrons. When the young men arrived to install it, they did not have instructions to configure any of the partitions. Since we cannot go without a printer, perish the thought, I moved our old printer to a new location a very short distance away and had the student techs set up the new printer where it belongs. Students are creatures of habit, so a sign had to be placed on the new printer indicating it did not work and directing them to the old printer. Then, I had to make a sign for whoever updates our images reminding them that the Dell's and Gateway's have different software applications. Yes, another sign was needed. Luckily I have left over bright paper in yellow and blue. No one should miss this signage; hope springs eternal.

Signs were followed by the weekly update for my GA's and student workers. In lieu of staff meetings, there simply is not time, I do weekly updates for the staff so we are all on the same page with recent happenings. Next in line were student timesheets, due Monday and requiring two copies, and subsequent entering of hours into my trusty spreadsheet tracking federal work- study dollars. To make the morning even more adventursome, my scheduled GA has strep throat and is unable to work the weekend shift. I worked two hours in the resource center before working the remainder of my day at reference. Yet one more hours sign was posted for tomorrow indicating we will not open until 3 pm when I arrive.

All of these activites took place before noon. By the time I settled in at the reference desk it was ridiculous to bother with lunch and I chose to have a working/blogging lunch. It was almost a relief to have the high school student ask for assistance with his research. A very sweet youngster, he was overjoyed with the available database selection for his psychology topic and must have thanked me ten times for my help. It was an eventful, yet uneventful, start to my last weekend of work this spring 2007 term.

Tags: Academic library, Library weekend hours

About Picture Books

This is a two fold post, it links to an interesting article about picture books in Publisher's Weekly and includes the story of "how I found an interesting article about picture books in Publisher's Weekly." The article, Are Picture Books Back, by Gabrielle Mitchell-Marell, discusses the current publishing surge for children's picture books:

"As for the cause of the poor picture book performance in recent years, many observers point to the same culprit: the swell in these titles, both new and backlist, from Harry Potter to C.S. Lewis and beyond, has taken its toll on the more mature picture book category as younger readers turn to fiction, and away from picture books. Simon Boughton, publisher of Roaring Brook Press, breaks it down this way: "Because the younger kids are now reading up, the seven- and eight-year-old end of the picture book market has become the younger end of the kids' fiction market. Pre-reading kids are where picture books serve the most purpose." This is a marked change from the previous generation, where kids might read picture books into first or second grade. " (Marell, Publishers Weekly, 2/26/07)

The article goes on to discuss how Harry Potter changed some of the marketing trends and the oft cited criticisms of how costly picture books may be. Interestingly enough, the discussion also detailed how picture books rely on libraries and librarian's purchasing them to keep the business growing. Case in point, consider the additional profit made by the publishing houses of such award winning books as the Newbery and Caldecott selections. I'm not sure picture books were ever really gone, but the article is interesting. Almost as interesting, to me anyway, as how I found the article.

If you have ever doubted the "linking" nature of the blogosphere, it's a small world after all, reading this post is an example of the phenomenon; kind of like the Kevin Bacon game (if I may be so bold) without all six degrees. How so?

The list of blogs that interest me continues to grow. As I read different blogs and their comments my curiosity (aka inherent nosiness) often overcomes me and I indulge by click on the linked names attached to comments. If the comment author has a blog, it is displayed and I take time to peruse their blog as well. This summer I found an interesting blog, Buried in the Slushpile, by the Buried Editor in this manner; I think she may have commented on Read Roger and I followed from there.

Yesterday the Buried Editor's post, Nothing is ever final, contained two different cover art samples for a book her company is publishing. Children's book cover art is a weakness of mine, so I was compelled to add my two cents to the conversation. This morning I looked back to see what other readers thought of the topic and spent a few minutes clicking on those aforementioned comment links. One link, e, led me to dulemba.com, the blog of children's writer and illustruator Elizabeth O. Dulemba and her post Do you follow the biz? linked to the Publishers Weekly article Are picture books back?

Tags: Children's literature, Picture books, Publisher's Weekly, Picture book articles

Small cart, new books

It is a lovely new book morning complete with a small cart of arrivals for the juvenile collection. Naturally I was able to peruse and mark several for my greedy self, and have first crack at a small cart of books I missed (the horrors) when they arrived a week ago.

Here are a few new titles I tagged to read after processing:

• Time Bomb, Nigel Hinton
• The Miner's Daughter, Gretchen Moran Laskas
• Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil, Wiley Miller
• Lily Brown's Paintings, Angela Johnson
• The Dumpster Diver, Janet S. Wong
• Shout!: Little Poems that Roar, Brod Bagert
• Little Rooster's Diamond Button, Margaret Read MacDonald
• Henry's Freedom Box, Ellen Levine
  (The cover art on this picture book is wonderful!)

The two added to my overflowing book shelf are:

• Oddly Normal Volume 1, Otis Frampton
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick

Tags: Collection development, Juvenile books, Picture books, Juvenile literature

Innocent in Death

It is hard to believe this series has been in print since 1995. I remember stumbling across the first, Naked in Death, while on a store set up in Charleston, West Virginia. Desperate for a new book to read I was excited to find a new paperback by a favorite author (recent editions of the series have been published in hardback first). It did not take me long to become enthralled with the idea of a series; being able to follow these characters into subsequent books is a rare treat. Something, it seems, that Ms. Robb was aware of her readers wanting:

"One of the things I wanted to do was develop those characters over many books rather than tying it all up in one,” she says. “I wanted to explore these people and peel the layers off book by book. Eve and Roarke have given me the opportunity to explore a marriage, as well. Each book resolved the particular crime or mystery that drives it, but the character development, the growth and the changes, the tone of the relationships go more slowly. I'm enjoying that tremendously." (Nora Roberts, Meet J.D. Robb)

Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, latest installment of her futuristic in-death series is Innocent in Death. Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner Detective Delia Peabody are called to a prestigious private school, Sarah Child, when a teacher is found dead in his classroom. The victim is a new teacher, recently married, and a favorite with faculty and students alike. His death is ruled a homicide, ricin poisoning in his hot chocolate, and Dallas and Peabody investigate. As the case progresses a second teacher, their prime suspect, is murdered in the school natatorium. Eve's murder board presents a suspect, but it is one so distasteful no one wants to believe. Her objectivity is questioned and the probable killer's identity causes disbelief among her superiors.

From Mavis and Summerset to Dr. Mira and Commander Whtiney, fans of the series will recognize the well developed cast of characters. But it is Eve's husband Roarke, and the undercurrents of marital discord, that bring a certain richness to this particular installment. An old girlfriend, in itself nothing new, arrives on scene. Roarke is blinded to the nature of his former paramour and the basic foundations of their marriage are tested. Vital and complex characters intersperced with a solid police mystery make Innocent in Death a strong entry to the continuing In Death series not to be missed.

Throughtout the series I found myself liking some books more than others; and while I very much enjoy the growing relationships between returning cast of characters it has seemed to me Eve and Roarke's marital issues often are portrayed as Eve's "fault." Marriage is a partnership and these characters, who are a complicated, enjoyable, mess, needed to be more rounded in that regard. Having Roarke be the one with blinders and Summerset becoming an unlikey source of comfort to Eve, went a long way to enriching the story. The policy mystery element of each story has been solid, but I faithfully follow the characters.

Tags: Nora Roberts, J.D. Robb, Innocent in Death, Fiction, Recreational reading

Dark Hours

Dark Hours, by Gudrun Pausewang, begins with a brief historical foreword from author Pausewang discussing the end World War I, it’s resulting effect on Germany, and the rise of Adolph Hitler preceding World War II. The story is an open letter to Stephanie, on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday, from her grandmother Gisel. An artfully poignant and life-changing reminiscence of Gisel’s sixteenth birthday, her family's fateful escape to Dresden, follows.

Simple, meaningful prose describes the hardships the family faces. Gisel’s father is losing faith in the war and Hitler, a danger unto itself. Afraid for her father and ordered to evacuate their village, Gisel, her pregnant mother, grandmother, and three siblings must travel by train to Dresden. With only the barest of necessities and their valor, they face a dilemma when Gisel’s mother goes into labor and is subsequently sent to a hospital, far away from the family. While waiting for their train, an air-raid siren sounds and everyone is forced to find shelters. In the ensuing confusion, Gisel and her brothers are separated from her grandmother and left to fend for themselves as a bomb hits their shelter effectively burying them alive. The next several days test Gisel’s courage and patience as she is forced to be caretaker and mother to her charges while waiting and hoping for rescue.

This book touches on an important aspect of World War II that is sometimes overlooked in Holocaust literature. Simply put, not all Germans were bad, just as not all Allies were good. It is a small vignette featuring Gisel’s family, an ordinary German family trying to survive during horrific times, questioning the war, and hoping for peace. In closing, Gisel tells Stephanie, “Perhaps my story will show you that even ordinary people like us can be strong when we have to be. That’s what really matters.”

Read this book, it will touch your heart.

Tags: Gudrun Pausewang, Dark Hours, Juvenile fiction, Historical fiction