ALA 2010: ARCs from the Stacks

My bag of books from last year's ALA Annual in Chicago remains unread (and I promise this photo is new). This year my plan was the same, take no more than a one bag of books I would read. I was lucky enough to get two titles autographed and stuck to my plan. Of course, traveling by car made it a bit simpler as there was a serious lack of room in the trunk for our return trip home.

The autographed titles? I happened to be walking past a booth where Nikki Grimes was signing ARCs of her latest, A Girl Named Mister. and in the next aisle was Janet Mullany and her ARC Jane and the Damned. Both authors were extremely gracious with a smile and friendly word for each person in line.

Other ARC's included:

• The Clockwork Three
  by, Matthew Kirby
• Dark Song
  by, Gail Giles
• The Danger Box
  by, Blue Balliett
• Monster High
  by, Lisi Harrison
• Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirate
  by, Kim Kennedy
• Exley
  by, Brock Clarke
• You Killed Wesley Payne
  by, Sean Beaudoin

It remains to be seen how many I read, but the list is definitely more varied than ARCs from past conferences. There is one title missing, a book I read waiting for a session to begin ... if only I could remember the title.

ALA 2010: Book Cart Drill Team

A trip to ALA Annual is not complete until the Book Cart Drill Team competition! View the rest of the videos, including the opening and closing "ceremonies," on the Demco YouTube Channel.

ALA 2010: The Hotel

ALA Annual 2010, Washington DC, is here and gone; I'm still unpacking my small bag of goodies and uploading pictures. For the first time, I was able to not only stay at an official ALA hotel, but also reserve said hotel through the ALA web site.

As is often the case when preparing to attend ALA annual, my blog narrative begins with procrastination; I waited to register until I knew funds may be available from work.  I waited to find a hotel until I knew family traveling with me to the conference could finagle time off work. The chain of events worked well for registration, I got in the final day for advance registration, but not so well with my initial hotel search.

Several evenings of searching usual travel sites (Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com, AAA, and Expedia) returned single hotel rooms starting at $250 and I needed two rooms for four days.  I checked the ALA conference site for available hotels on a whim and half an hour later had reservations - two rooms, plural, at the Holiday Inn Capitol at a significantly lower conference rate. Not as grand as my hotel accommodations while at ALA Annual in 2007, this hotel was one block from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, an open air pool on the roof (pictured above), and free Internet access. Even better, the Gale shuttle bus picked up right outside the lobby doors throughout my conference stay.

Just a few ARCs

I determined this would be the year where I did not pick up an overabundance of freebies and fripperies from The Stacks. It is a pledge I make yearly, but was actually able to stick with in Chicago. To my eyes there seemed to be fewer exhibitors; I had lunch with an exhibitor who mentioned this was the first time in ten years they were roaming the hall sans exhibit area. Those in attendance brought less free stuff, a good move in my opinion. Do not misunderstand, there were attendees leaving with bags overflowing with marketing toys. I merely found it simpler to resist what was displayed.

But what about books? What about the children's literature ARCs? I picked up only five ... yes, five.

• Front and Center, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• Luv Ya Bunches, by Lauren Myracle
• Nerds, by Michael Buckley
• This Family is Driving Me Crazy, Ten Stories About Surviving Your Family
• Troy High, by Shana Norris

One was a boredom saver, my flight was delayed three times leaving Chicago and at the last minute I put Front and Center in my purse. The third in Catherine Gilbert Murdock's series Dairy Queen and The Off Season, it was a welcome respite from crossword puzzles and CNN.

Late ALA Photos

One more area/topic I have been remiss in posting about is the recent 2009 ALA Annual conference in Chicago. A first time visitor, I found many things to enjoy and gawk at during my stay. On Sunday morning I escaped, had a nice breakfast at a nearby bakery, and walked from The Palmer House Hilton uptown (I think it was up) to the Inter Continental Hotel for an ERIC session. A nice walk along Michigan Avenue, one of the places I passed was a sporting goods shop next to one of a plethora of coffee shops.

With the Stanley Cup playoffs recently over (Go, Pens!), the above window display caught my eye and brought forth a chuckle.

But mine is green

After a bit of research, I finally decided to buy a new digital camera. Prices seemed to be the same across the board (Target, Walmart, Best Buy) and since I was looking for a simple upgrade, that was a purchase factor. I looked at the Kodak M320 and the Kodak M340; both significantly increased the 4.2 mega pixel of my current digital. On one hand, there was only a $30 price difference between the two models and an increase of 1.0 mega pixel. On the other hand, there was a price difference of $30 with only a 1.0 mega pixel increase.

I dithered a bit in the store and finally made my decision, even now it's charging the battery, the M320. Why? Well, it was available in green after all!

Going to Chicago

It's that time again; actually it's a bit later than usual for that time. This year ALA Annual is July 9 - 15th in Chicago, IL. I waited to register, dragging my feet and the decision to attend until mid-June, and missed the opportunity to participate with Libraries Build Communities. I am disappointed, but did need to limit my time in Chicago for financial reasons; this year the 2009 and 2010 Annual Conferences will be in the same academic fiscal years and Chicago is completely on my dime. Hence, I will be leaving Friday and returning on Monday.

I have a reasonable morning departure time on Friday, a reservation at the Palmer House Hilton on the Gale Shuttle Route, and my return flight on Monday gets me home before the evening rush! I spent a bit of time shopping this holiday weekend, attending ALA is always a good reason to get a new summer outfit, and am now dithering about a new camera. I have determined not to take my computer, I can always use the Internet Cafe, so a new camera would be a treat. I still need to get a few essentials and to that point will be taking my Kohl's coupon on a ride tomorrow after work for new sneakers. So, even though I dithered, things are on coming along.

Bookcart Drill Teams

A great way to round out the conference on a happy note is to attend the Book Cart Drill Team Championships, sponsored by Demco. Teams compete for gold, silver, and bronze book carts from ... Demco! This year's competition was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, June 29th.

An ALA news release on June 17, 2008 named the participating teams:

• “Bibliotechies,” St. Margaret's Episcopal School,
  San Juan Capistrano, CA
• “California Girls,” California School Library Association
  Southern Section
• “Call Number 007,”
  Riverside County Library (Calif.) System - West
• “Dancing Raisinettes,” Fresno County (Calif.) Library
• “Palm Desert Library Cart Attacks”
  Riverside County (Calif.) Library System
• “The Bibliofiles,” Austin (Texas) Public Library
• “The Delaware Diamonds,” Delaware
• “Well Stacked Scibrarians,” Santa Monica Public Library

Once again hosted by our favorite MC's authors Jon Scieszka and Mo Willems, the event is always a crowd pleaser. This is the third drill team championship I have attended and was by far the most well-attended in terms of both participants and audience members (SRO crowd). Demco posted the winners on their ALA conference page:

• 1st place - The Well-Stacked Sci-Brarians
  Santa Monica Public Library, CA
• 2nd place - The Bibliofiles
  Austin Public Library, TX
• 3rd place - The Bibliotechies
  St. Margaret's Episcopal School, Palm Desert, CA

Not able to attend? Well, shame on you ... but never fear. There are several YouTube videos of the program. I've been a bit video happy here lately, so instead of embedding I am adding links.

• 2008 Book Cart Drill Team World Championships


• Library Book Cart Drill Team


• Book Cart Drill Team


• SMPL Book Cart Drill Team Winners


• ALA 2008 Book Cart Drill Team


• California Girls Book Cart Drill Team at ALA

Best Books for YA 2009

One of the reasons I enjoy ALA Annual and Midwinter is the inclusion of YALSA sessions. Yes I am an academic librarian, but ACRL does not offer the diversity of children's literature programming, actually, they don't offer childrens literature sessions at all, during their conferences. I am charged with juvenile and young adult collection development, ALA Annual and Midwinter Meetings provide me great opportunity to see what's new. This is especially true with the Best Books for Young Adult nomination program. My favorite, the teen session where young adults provide their insights to titles currently being considered for the award, was held on Sunday, June 29th, in Anaheim.

A group of invited young adult readers gather at the front of the room and are given opportunity to present their views and recommendations, positive or negative, to the audience and panel. The students are charged with the task of presenting reasoning opposed to a summation of the title discussed. As we progress through the list one section at a time, students gather at microphones to await their turn. Accompanying the opinion pieces are power point slides depicting the book cover, title, and author. Comments were concise and illustrated an enviabile depth and bredth of understanding, as well as a love for reading.

A quick perusal of the list showed I had read, and formed a personal opinion on, fewer titles than normal. Among those titles were The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Debby Harry Sings in French, The Last Exit to Normal, Compound, My Most Excellent Year, How to Build a House, and How Not to be Popular. I belatedly recognized some titles when they showed the book I remembered seeing the cover art. Several of the teens mentioned cover art in their comments, even to the extent of noting sometimes you can tell a book by it's cover, while other times it is horribly misleading. For the first time, this year a few were completely unknown to me.

Here is a short within the list of titles most frequently discussed, including both positive and negative comments from the participating teens:

• Airman, by Eoin Colfer
• Undercover, by Beth Kephart
• The Host, by Stephanie Myer
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson
• Climbing the Stairs, by Padma Venkatraman
• Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr
• How Not to be Popular, by Jennifer Lynn Ziegler
  

I will be checking this list against the catalog soon. It is always interesting to learn how many of the titles are represented in the juvenile collection.

An annotated list of the 2009 nominations is available on Members Only section of the YALSA website. An updated nominations list, sans annotations, is available with the Best Books section of the YALSA site (titles nominated). This list was updated on June 6, 2008, prior to the Best Books Nominations session held at ALA Annual in Anaheim.

The Conference Center ...

I found the Anaheim Convention Center to a reasonably attractive and well located venue, no better or worse than any of the previous three convention centers ALA selected for annual conferences. It did have a few perks that I especially enjoyed, specifically the outside garden area and open decks on all floor levels that enabled me to photograph Anaheim without restrictions and reflections of windows. The biggest oddity was having registration behind closed doors as opposed to in the open lobby area (similar to midwinter in Philadelphia). There was a lack of extended hours of operation the first two days as people arrived in Anaheim for the conference, only to be unable to register after 5:00 pm.

Don't forget Mickey

Working Saturday has it's rewards, amongst them is having the following Monday off work; it's my weekend, just one day removed. My home office cleaning quest unearthed my ALA Annual folder containing a plethora of maps, session notes, and handouts. In turn, the discovery led me to several draft blog posts previously loaded with accompanying photographs for discussing ALA in Anaheim. They are dated July 3rd. It is amazing how quickly the conference faded to the background as the holidays and subsequent return to work surged to the forefront demanding attention. The exhilaration of being near Mickey, palm trees, sun and breezes are faded, but my pictures and notes remain.

ARCL had several EBSS sessions, including committee meetings, scheduled at the Disneyland Hotel (hence the welcome from Mickey). It was a simple matter to ride the purple Gale shuttle bus into Disney to attend. Stepping off the bus was like entering another world, one full of happy families and delirious children steeped in the magic kingdom's allure; mouse ears in ever size and colors with even the restrooms playing Disney music. Naturally the hotel was well prepared for conference goers. At the end of mornign sessions they set up a reasonably priced lunch area in the lobby. While definitely a pragmatic move, we did not have to leave the premisis to eat and our money stayed on site, it was a welcome option to scouting an eatery nearby that would serve lunch in the short hour between meetings and afternoon programs.

I Attended ACRL's EBSS session Knowledge Wants to be Known that featured John Willinksy (Stanford), Ray English (Oberlin), and Alison Muddit (Sage) speaking on the topic of Open Access. The web site description:

"Are you interested in alternative scholarly publishing models? Do you want to know more about how open access is playing out in the social and behavioral sciences? Open access is not one-size-fits all; disciplines have unique publishing histories and requirements. Learn how to energize behavioral science faculty and connect access issues with the "publish or perish" imperative." - EBSS Program Announcement

Each of the speakers had a different perspective on Open Access and presented their points with enthusiasm. I found the session informative and it helped to clarify everyones stand on the issue at hand. An audience member raised an interesting question at the programs end that further expanded upon the publishers view of this growing trend. It could be argued that everyone wants information to be available, but agreement how it reaches the masses has a way to go. This is a publishing area worth watching. For more information, visit the Directory of Open Access Journals.

The Hotel ...

My ALA conference blog posts have fallen a bit by the wayside due to my avoidance of all things computer. So, I have a bit of catching up to do. Attending ALA in Anaheim I followed my usual process of selecting a hotel; conference hotels were sold out and I utilized the map to locate properties near to the shuttle bus route. I finally settled on the Anaheim Plaza Hotel and Suites. It was across the street from Disneyland, had two stars from AAA, appeared nice on the hotel website, was within walking distance (though a bit of a hike) to the conference center if need be, and was next door to an ALA hotel with shuttle service.

All things considered and because I do not want to expend an entire post trashing this establishment, I will simply state I have stayed in less attractive places. Waiting for the shuttle on my return trip I spent time talking with another librarian who mentioned the place could be described "care worn." It was convenient and I could hear the fireworks at Disneyland, enough said.

Libraries Build Communities

Photograph c. 2008, ALA, Libraries Build Communities

Happy librarians wearing dull gray t-shirts with blue grahic elements holding orange traffic cone colored bags smile merrily for the official ALA photographer. A long caption indeed, but not inaccurate. This photo, along with thanks and an evaluation form, arrived via email earlier this week. I believe it is the same picture featured in ALA Cognotes on Saturday, June 28th.

To early in OC

ALA scheduled their annual conference in Anaheim, Orange County, California, a week or so too early; we missed the 30th Annual Mooning of Amtrak festivities by a mere ten days! Seems this started twenty odd years ago when a patron at a nearby saloon said he'd buy a drink for anyone who went out and mooned the train (Mooning Amtrak Trains). What an interesting picture for AL Direct or ALA Cognotes that would have been! The website disclaimer reads ...

"Attending this event may be hazardous due to the large concentration of silly people cars, motorcycles, motorhomes, concrete vehicle wheel-stops, potholes & cracks in the road & parking-lots and dangerous pets. Everyone present is responsible for their own actions. If you trip on something, or hurt yourself, you alone are responsible. There is no one to sue. No one either promotes this nor charges admission. If you do come, act safely! If you're accident prone, please don't come, go somewhere else where you'll be safer. Neither Mugs Away Saloon, The City of Laguna Niguel nor Amtrak, nor Metrolink are responsible for this event, nor for assuring your safety. The City & the railroad would rather you didn't bother coming to this event. No one is carrying public liability insurance for this. Besides, would any insurance underwriter insure an event called, "Mooning Amtrak"?" - Mooning Amtrak Trains, Southern California.

You just can't make this stuff up!

Post-conference ruminations

After any ALA Annual Conference there is a lot of chatter throughout the blogosphere as conference goers ruminate over their experiences. I have to admit to surprise regarding the number of people vocally dissatisfied with the conference venue, conference location, the length of a city block, the weather, and lastly the accommodations in Anaheim. Some reports have been rather harsh ranting about Disneyland, tourists, lack of restaurants, and even complaints about available bars in the area.

I will be the first to admit I was not thrilled with my hotel, but it was convenient to the conference center and next door to an ALA hotel on Gale's shuttle bus route. The conference center was spacious and included several shaded outdoor areas, as these photos display, where attendees could gather for gossip (oops, networking) breaks, phone calls, lunch, or even a nap. Only one of the five days in Anaheim had temperatures above the mid-eighties, so the outside venue was welcome.

When I arrived on Thursday afternoon it was necessary to walk to the conference center and register. Yes, it was hot. But it was hotter in Ohio when I left that morning. Yes, it was a bit of a hike from my charming hotel to the conference center. But the walk was welcome after five hours sitting on my behind in an airplane. Yes, I was a bit frustrated that on my return trip to the hotel most of the restaurants did not open until five. But I grabbed a value meal at a local Subway and beverages at the 7-11 across the street. A plethora of restaruants were in the resort area, in fact ALA's Dine Around series chose Thai, Italian, Mexican, California Cuisine, and good old American for participants. Anaheim was not unlike any large city, there were good, bad, and generic chain restaurants for all.

Walking was an option between all but a few of the conference hotels, specifically the Disneyland Hotel. And yes, the size of a city block was astronomical. Those are not things a conference committee can control. I enjoyed the Anaheim venue and was reminded how magical a family vacation could be, especially with the excitement Disney creates in it's smallest fans. Watching the children bounce with glee in the morning as they crossed the street to the park made me smile.

Yesterday's AL Direct noted there were upwards of 22,000 in Anaheim; down from the 26,000 + in Washington, DC last year and up from the 18,000 + in New Orleans. I am not convinced the location is solely responsible for this decline in attendance. There are other factors to consider. Not a contented flyer, I hesitated due to the sheer amount of travel time involved (a statement that will undoubtedly make any west cost librarian shake their head in pity). Then there is the economy, cost of travel was significantly higher (and not only due to location) and many libraries are facing budget cuts making funds less available for professional development. A relative newbie to the large converence experience, I may be a bit naive. But I felt this conference had a bit more to offer in sessions and content than DC last year, and New Orleans the year before; none of it had to do with the location.

Libraries Build Communities 2008

According to ALA Cognotes (Issue 1, June 28, 2008) from Anaheim, more than 100 conference attendees participated in this year's Libraries Build Communities effort on Friday, June 27th.

"Volunteers were dispatched to thirteen project sites in the Anaheim area to illustrate the importance and influence local libraries can have on their communities." -- ALA Cognotes.

Participants gathered early Friday morning in the convention center garden to receive project locations. Prior to the conference I somewhat blindly, i.e. I did not know what task would be assigned, selected an elementary school library. When assignments were handed out, I learned we would be - gasp - cataloging! It has literally been years since I copy cataloged at a public library. I immediately volunteered to do technical services book processing by adding spine labels, bar codes, and reading levels to each book.

We worked efficiently for most of the day, stopping only for lunch (Dominoes pizza with ALA supplied coupons) and scrumptious treats (chocolate and items of a healthier fare) provided by our librarian hostess . At the end of the afternoon, an entire table of freshly cataloged juvenile books were added to the school's library collection. An added bonus? I got to browse through the purchased titles while processing - and - was able to gossip with librarians from academic, school, and public libraries. Not the profoundly necessary work done at ALA in New Orleans, on it's own scale it was both needed and appreciated by our host librarian.

Wondering about the man on the balcony pictured above? I took a picture of the official photographer taking our picture before leaving. Corny, but I could not (didn't even try to) resist.

Books, backpacks & autographs

I promised myself this would be the year I would refrain from gleefully and greedily grabbing every free book offered by publishers in the exhibit hall. I did not want to drag them to sessions, back to my hotel room, or through the airport and on to the plane. Eager to stick to this missive I did not even take my bright orange day-glo ALA Anaheim Conference tote (it really is department of transportation orange barrel orange) to "The Stacks." Satisfied with my personal declaration, I shared it with various friends along the way.

I lasted until happening upon the Scholastic Publishing booth. Though they were selling more than giving away, I did snag a 39 Clues book bag and thought ... "I will only take as many books as will fit comfortably into this book bag" and NOT make me wander through the remainder of the day as a hunch back. A bit less smug than anticipated, here they are:

Juvenile/YA fiction ARC's:

• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, by Alison Goodman
• The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith
• Burn, by Suzanne Phillips

Regular fiction and non-fiction ARC's:

• Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel
• Epilogue: A Memoir, by Anne Roiphe

Not ARC's, these books are already in technical services destined for the library collection. All three are probably more suited for a public library, and point of fact are located in several nearby public collections, but the two juvenile biographies will work in my collection as well.

• Sterling Biographies, Marian Anderson: A Voice Uplifted
• Sterling Biographies, Abraham Lincoln: From Pioneer to President
• The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom

The autograph? I was dragging my bookbag toward the exhibits exit when a nice man from Harper Collins publishing handed me a paperback copy of Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I politely declined with thanks, stating I owned the hardback edition. His reply? She's currently autographing these paperback copies, take another! I was thrilled. The long line moved quickly; Ms. Phillips very gracious and, if I may say so, snazzily garbed in a trendy animal print dress. I now have an autographed book in my paperback collection and know that her next novel, What I Did for Love, has a February 2009 release date.

Flying the friendly skies

Thursday morning's wake-up was an unfathomable 5:00 am. My bags were packed and ready to roll; I was on the road at 5:30 am, in the dark, traveling at reasonable speeds, with only trucks for company. An 8:05 am departure meant providing myself enough time for traffic (almost non-existent at that hour), possible delays (construction at the airport parking lots), parking (wonderfully bereft of issue), airline check-in (frightfully friendly for the hour of the day), and security (quick and without smiles). The puddle jump flight from Columbus to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was quick, free of turbulence, and on-time.

Chicago was bustling even at 7:30 am, but soon they were herding countless laughing librarians like cattle, loading the charming Boeing 757 destined for John Wayne International Airport, Orange County, California. All buckled into our seats we backed slowly away from the gate when the captain announced the "tow bar" had broken off from the gate and we needed to wait for maintenance to bring a new bar and check the nose for any damage. My first thought? How important is the tow bar? Second thought? Yes, please make sure the nose is fine before we take off for a three hour and fifty-minute flight!

All was well as we cruised over the mid-west. From the airplane window, even though I dislike flying I oddly enough enjoy the window seat, it is always disconcerting to look out and see clouds below. Even more so being high enough in the air to see the curvature of the earth! We landed in Orange County over the Pacific Ocean, so I was able to at least see it from my window seat in the sky. Things went smoothly upon landing. I gathered my belongings, deplaned, located a restroom, gathered my suitcase, took a quick photo of the John Wayne statue, and was quickly directed to an airport shuttle to my hotel (more on the hotel later). Less than an hour after landing I was checking in to my hotel and destined for the convention center to register.

If possible, my return trip was even less eventful. The super shuttle arrived on time, our driver was a comedian trying to convince us we were headed to LAX, check-in lines were at a minimum, security checks went smoothly (even for the girl with a cat), and I had ample opportunity to call home before boarding for Chicago. Tow-bar intact the pilot informed us take-off from Orange County airports were different due to the noise ordinance; we would be departing at a relatively steep incline and he would be throttling back the engines to reduce noise. O-kay. No worries, I got an even better photo of the Pacific Ocean and we were on our way with free soft drinks and opportunity to purchase three dollar cookies and six dollar sandwiches in our near future.


Do you ever wonder why pilots feel the need to tell you what state you are currently flying over? It's not like we can see someone on the ground holding a flag that says "welcome to Missouri." But, I digress.

I did the airport dash at O'Hare Monday evening since the big 757 landed at one end and the tiny little American Eagle Express bound for Columbus took off at the other end of the concourse. I made the boarding time with three minutes - and a bathroom trip - to spare. There was a beautiful sunset outside the airplane window, yes a window seat again, that I could not resist. I have another shot without the airplane wing, however I liked this one better. Flying the friendly skies, the portion of my journey filled with the most angst, was not only painless, but on time with accompanying luggage.

ALA conference bound

I have been to the store and purchased travel sizes of kleenex, tylenol, pepto, and toothpaste, as well as fresh batteries for my camera and MP3 player. I set up cell phone alerts with American Airline in case my flight departure time is changed tomorrow morning, as well as the departure time for my flight out of California on Monday afternoon.

While creating my flight notifications I was pleased to notice that since I had made my reservations prior to June 15th, the lovely new $15 surcharge for checked baggage may not apply.

According to the ALA conference site, the temperature in Anaheim this very afternoon is posted as a balmy 75 degrees. It is hovering above 80 degrees here with a threat of storms in the air.

Now I must pack my MP3 player, my purse, and my suitcase.

It's a sign

In the mail yesterday was my copy of Plum News (Volume 12, Number 1) highlighting the newest Janet Evanovich novel, Fearless Fourteen on sale June 17th. It's a sign; I take an Evanovich novel with me each year on the plane to ALA annual. When ALA Annual was in New Orleans, my first annual conference, I made fast friends with a few Evanovich fans waiting for a connecting flight reading Twelve Sharp in a North Carolina airport and there were plenty copies of Lean Mean Thirteen to be found in DC last year. My only concern is this, the flight to California is a long one and I can not possibly imagine one book lasting the entire trip. I am a fast reader. Of course, if I can't find another treasure to take along, I can always read this one twice.

I am off to the outlets in search of a few summer shirts (I have coupon), a pair of sandals (not likely), a second pair of sneakers, and am open to something else striking my fancy. In the meantime, here's the book description of Fearless Fourteen from Amazon.com:

"Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet."

The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars
Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn’t be more proud. He always was the smart one.

The Cousin: Joe Morelli
Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom’s sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family.

The Complications: Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux
Less than a week after Dom’s release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He’s getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing.

The Catastrophe: Moonman
Morelli hires Walter “Mooner” Dunphy, stoner and “inventor” turned crime fighter, to protect his house. Morelli can’t afford a lot on a cop’s salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes.

The Cupcake: Stephanie Plum
Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection, and driving each other nuts. She’s a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she’s involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one.

The Crisis: A favor for Ranger
Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie’s evening activities.

The Conclusion: Only the fearless should read Fourteen.
Thrills, chills, and incontinence may result."

-- Product description, Amazon.com