What's happening this fall?

We had a massive program planning meeting on Monday, laying out the schedule through next December. This is what my schedule looks like, roughly:

• Monday - Afternoon, staff meetings and stuff. Evening, information desk.
• Tuesday - Morning, run registration for Miss Pattie's two sessions of toddler storytime (we're going to limit attendance at the door which is going to be a hard transition for people). Afternoon, children's desk and a few hours on the information desk.
• Wednesday - Preschool Interactive, early afternoon outreach, late afternoon children's desk and tween/teen herding.
• Thursday - Morning, outreach while Pattie does baby storytime. 12-2, information desk and after school programs Messy Art Club and Lego Club from 3-5:30
• Friday - Morning, We Explore (new program that combines storytime and other stuff). Afternoon, depends. Some days I will be at the children's desk, some days at the information desk, or if I'm working Saturday I'll go home. So far, this is what I have lined up for We Explore - fall storytime, monster storytime and costume swap, color storytime with painting, Kohls' Wild Theater, Welty Environmental Center, 3 Healthy Snacking multicultural programs from Miss Pattie, and I'm talking to an education person from the Ice Age Trail, fire chief about doing a fire safety program, appliance store for a big box program, and I still have a few slots to plan storytimes for!

Other stuff in there:

• Our cataloger is going to do a teen book club once a month on Thursday nights. She did this at her previous library. I'm going to do the publicity for it and hope for the best.
• Miss Pattie will also be doing her twice monthly evening storytime and a monthly family game night.
• I already have one daycare signed up for three visits a month - one on Wednesday, two back to back on Thursday - for their 4k classes. I have a remote collection set up with another preschool. I'm hoping to have the biggest preschool bring 100 kids to a couple of our big We Explore programs. I will probably get some school visits/tours from the two elementary schools and possibly the Catholic school and I'm going to make a concerted effort to have them come on Thursdays. 
• I have 2 special programs, a homeschool meet and greet on a Tuesday evening in September and a cookie decorating program on the last Saturday of the session in December. 
• We're also going to do 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten starting in September.

This year, I've divided everything into "sessions" and tried to put in natural breaks. So the fall session is September 10 through October 26 (school here starts on the 4th) and then I have a week off (at which time we'll have our huge craft fair fundraiser, which I'm on the committee for this year). The holiday session runs November 5 through December 15, with no programs the week of Thanksgiving.

Then I have system committees and meetings, my ALSC Committee, Cybils I hope!, and whatever additional outreach and projects happen.

Nonfiction Monday: Trout are made of trees by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Kate Endle

I'm going to finish off July's nonfiction reviews with an old friend and a perfect storytime read-aloud.

In the simplest of language, Sayre introduces children to the food web. Leaves fall from the trees, forming muck at the bottom of a stream. Bacteria feeds on the muck and algae grows. Bugs eat the algae and further break down the leaves and are in turn eaten by larger bugs and other predators, including small fish. Trout eat bugs and minnows and the leaves become part of the trout.

An author's note at the end gives more details on the trout life cyle and suggestions on how to preserve and protect streams. There is also a page of further resources.

Kate Endle's mixed media collage has a simple, cheerful look with lots of earth colors and swirling lines. The various creatures are clear enough to be identifiable, but still fit smoothly into the art style. The only other thing I would have liked from this book was an identification guide to some of the bugs - they're listed in the text, but it's hard to tell which is which.

Verdict: This is a great nonfiction title for fall storytimes about leaves. It would also make a good base for a science program on life cycles. Definitely one you should have in your read aloud nonfiction sections.

ISBN: 9781580891370; Published 2008 by Charlesbridge; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, It's still hot

A little bit of news first - I've created a new blog for my snippet posts, Flying Off My Bookshelf. If you want to measure how fast I read and see random reactions to everything from board books to adult fiction, take a peek. I'll be gradually moving those posts over to the new blog.


Monday - I cleaned off my desk! Had a staff meeting, met with our tech services librarian to plan a teen book club for the fall, and worked the desk in the evening.

Tuesday - A fairly busy morning at the children's desk, then 120 people came for our last Storywagon - a sort of bubble/science program. I was scheduled at the front desk afterwards, but our tech services librarian showed up, so I went back to the children's desk because quite a few of the 120 people were still milling about. Worked on cutting down my August order list (started out $1500 over budget. Got it down to only $200 over) and various other things. Both my desks are practically clean now! Went home and answered emails.

Wednesday - Had an unusually quiet and attentive group for Preschool Interactive. I was not surprised when many of them asked for brushes to go with the glitter fingerpaint! Spent quite a while before and after storytime talking with parents - gist of conversation, they love us and we are awesome. Continued to work through my backlog of papers, projects, and plans.

Thursday - Still cleaning out backlog on desk. Started poking at backlog on computer. Lego Club (medium attendance of about 45) was enlivened by a suspected gas leak, so we had to open all the outer doors just in case, and then of course there was a torrential downpour. However, all of the younger children found standing at the open doors to see the rain a fascinating pastime, so it worked out ok.

Friday - Worked until about 11:30, then walked over to do my stint at the Friends of the Library tent for our town's summer festival. You don't get to pick where the tent is and this one was in the full sun. The temperature was in the 80s, but it felt like way more than that, standing in direct sun for an hour and a half. Happily, my relief showed up early, I walked back to the library and got her some water, and then left to return home and drink copious amounts of water and scrape off the sunscreen I borrowed (but still managed to get sunburned)

Saturday - Yay, working Saturday. The air-conditioning wasn't working. It wasn't too busy, everyone was over at the summer festival. What is left to say?

Sherlock Holmes, the legend begins: Rebel Fire by Andrew Lane

I rarely read - or review - sequels and I've been making a determined effort to limit my series buying this year. But sometimes I come upon something that's just so good I can't resist!

While I usually roll my eyes at prequels, sequels, etc. to classic novels, I really enjoyed Andrew Lane's Death Cloud, first in a series of novels about a teenage Sherlock Holmes. The mystery was rather easy to guess and I did think the cover, featuring a Justin Bieber look-alike, was awful and I didn't end up buying it.

This book is even more tightly plotted and has an awesome cover. What more could you want?

Sherlock is still living with his aunt and uncle, still getting occasional lessons from American Amyas Crow, and still uncertain about his feelings for Crow's daughter Virginia. However, when his brother Mycroft arrives with worrying news for Crow, Sherlock does his best to help. Unfortunately, things go bad fast and Sherlock finds himself sailing to America with the Crows on a desperate mission to save his friend Matty and prevent another Civil War. Along the way, they'll meet giant blood-sucking leeches, an insane John Wilkes Booth, and have some hair-raising experiences with trains.

The author's final notes link up several events with later plots of Holmes' life and expands on various historical information, also adding a bibliography.

Verdict: This is a fast-paced, excellent adventure story with the additional lure of historical information. The plot works much better than the first title in the series and I'm eagerly awaiting further revelations about Holmes' family secrets. This one will be popular with strong middle school and teen readers. I'd especially hand this one to guys who pride themselves on their reading ability and enjoy intricately plotted stories with an historical bent. There's quite a bit of violence, but also discussions of ethics and morality.

ISBN: 9780374387686; Published April 2012 by Farrar Straus and Giroux; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library

Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke Pearson

The back blurbs on this lovely new graphic novel say Pearson channels Tove Jansson and Hayao Miyazaki and I can think of no more serendipitous blending.

Hilda, a charming blue-haired girl lives with her mother in an isolated house which they both love. But it's quickly apparent that not all is well; mysterious tiny notes are threatening to evict them and are soon followed by an attack on their house. Hilda determines to save the home she loves and make friends with the tiny, invisible elves who are threatening them. Along the way, she meets many other strange and wonderful creatures as well as introducing the reader to some of her odd friends.

The pure imagination of this story charms the reader from the first page. There are hints of folklore and legend, romance and tragedy, humor and pathos, all delicately mixed into Luke Pearson's lovely art.

Warm earth colors and carefully laid out panels take the reader through a Moominesque world, where strange creatures appear and disappear and characters break into philosophy at just the right moments. Most of the adventures happen in the soft, dark world of night and it's easy to see the odd, friendly and unfriendly creatures, populating a Miyazaki film.

Verdict: This has a broader appeal than the Moomin comics and while it won't interest children who like fast-paced action, adventure and slapstick humor, it's the perfect title to hand to an imaginative child who wants to lose themselves in a fantasy world.

ISBN: 9781907704253; Published May 2012 (US publication) by Nobrow Press; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Nonfiction Monday: Coral Reefs by Jason Chin

Somehow I missed reviewing this one when it first came out, but better late than never! This was one of my school booktalking titles this spring and I used it as part of my "older kids should read picture books" spiel.

Me: "How many of you like to read picture books?"
Kids: after third grade very few raised their hands )-:
Me: "How many of you think picture books are for little kids?"
Kids: chorus of agreement, degree of sarcasm depending on age of children.
Me: "Well, if you don't pick up picture books you are missing out. First on some really cool books, but secondly on a lot of awesome nonfiction because many nonfiction books look like picture books"
I then turn the pages of the book and talk about reading nonfiction and finding interesting books to a chorus of ohs and ahs as the kids watch the pictures unfold.


So, like his earlier work, Redwoods, Coral Reefs starts with a kid in a library. It's a pretty stern looking reference library too. But as she opens the pages and starts reading about coral reefs, the images shift until she's in the coral reef, watching the teeming life she's reading about. Finally, she slooshes her way out of the library to share the book with her friends.

Additional information at the back explains more about coral reefs and the threats facing them. An author's note includes websites and further reading and the endpapers are decorated with labeled sketches of a variety of reef inhabitants.

This isn't really a read-aloud work, although children of all ages will enjoy the stunning illustrations that shift from page to page, plunging the reader (both of the book and in the book) deeper and deeper into the story. The text is arranged in thick chunks, so unless you have a very non-wiggly child this book is best kept for one-on-one examination or for an older child to pore over.

Verdict: A must for your library, Chin's unique style and gorgeous artwork will take readers of all ages into a fascinating world under the ocean. Plus, it makes a great argument for getting older kids to read picture books!

ISBN: 9781596435636; Published October 2011 by Roaring Brook Press; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, Busy, Busy, Busy

I dived right back in to work Monday - rescheduling the kindergarteners tomorrow (too hot to walk), figuring out how to have the Wii pizza party on Friday evening after all, making calls for fall planning, planning the rest of storytime, cleaning off my desk, etc. etc.

Very sad to hear of the deaths of Donald Sobol and Else Holmelund Minarik. Encyclopedia Brown has recently had an upsurge at my library and Minarik's easy readers are classics of course.

Tuesday morning I did storytime for the kindergarteners at summer school. Eh, could have been hotter. I just grabbed a selection of Preschool Interactive books and a stack of butterfly masks. Things were a bit frantic when I came back, and while I was on the phone talking to a possible homeschool speaker for a program in the fall, someone threw up in the children's area. All over the trains. But I was on the phone and then I had to set up for the performer, so someone else ended up doing the cleaning. Mr. Billy was great fun and we had about 80 people, which is really good for a new performer nobody knows. Then I left early to work on the Messy Art Club for August at home.

I'm wondering how many libraries have repeat summer performers. We usually have different people every year for Storywagon and I'm getting a "you can't have the same people back, that would be boring" kind of vibe, but it seems to me that patrons really like traditions - if they really like a performer, they're happy to see them year after year. Exception being magicians, b/c once you've seen the tricks you lose that element of surprise, but lots of people ask me "when are they coming back? will they be here next year?" and it would sure make planning easier too...

36 people showed up for Preschool Interactive on Wednesday, which means about 24 kids. It was pretty crowded. The rest of the day was a blur of crazy. I did lend out my Wednesday volunteer and other random kids to help set up the booksale and got a bunch of programs booked for the fall. Now I just have to plan them.

Thursday, more crazy. Due to some mess-ups in the schedule, I have gotten scheduled to open for several Thursdays, i.e. come in before 9, but I also stay until 5:30 on Thursdays b/c of my after school programs. Eh, whatever. It was insanely busy and I spent all the spare time and thought I could manage on our increasingly convoluted fall schedule. Not only do I have to schedule my programs, I have to book our large community room through parks and recreation (yes, it's in the library. no, we don't control it. yes, this is a sensitive subject) coordinate programs with Miss Pattie, who does programming at the library, the community room and parks and rec, then call performers to make sure they can come on the days we have the community room, find out they can't, call parks and rec, find out Pattie has the room, call Pattie, call the performer...you get the idea. We had Messy Art Club and the book sale started. It was crazy.

I came straight onto the desk at 12 on Friday, then ran some errands, tried to clear some of the detritus off my desk, and then it was time for the Wii Tournament and Pizza Party. This was supposed to be the sort of companion teen program to Girls' Night Out. It was certainly equally well-attended - 17 kids, 15 of them boys, came. We had two wii consoles set up and the kids started playing at 5:30. It wasn't really a tournament, b/c we only finally got our equipment this week and didn't really have time to organize it. The kids were all being really good about taking turns until...one of the Wii consoles died at about 6:30 and most of the kids decided they were bored with Wii anyways.

We tried to get a movie going, but that equipment wouldn't work either and nobody could agree on a movie. We ended up spending about an hour playing variations of hide and seek with me shouting myself hoarse, praying nobody got injured, and a couple kids having fun with the Wii.

I think the boys mostly had fun, although the older ones groused a little (although I did point out to them that if we had restricted it to 13 and up, there would have been no program, since there were only 2 thirteen year olds and one 15 year old and he came with his younger brother)

This format - have various projects and just let the kids hang out - worked well with the girls b/c there was a wide variety of ages and most of them didn't know each other. All but 3 of these kids were 11-12, and most of the boys were friends, so there wasn't any intial awkwardness to keep things a little calmer.

I think what we'll do differently next year is:

• Shorter program. 5:30-7:00 would be plenty of time
• Divide the boys into groups - Wii gaming, hide and seek, and Guiness World Record type projects (have some of these in my storage closet)
• Each group spends 30 minutes at their station, then they switch. We could have pizza in between or something.

Play Ball by Nunzio Difilippis and Christina Weird, illustrated by Jackie Lewis

Dashiell isn't happy about her family's move to a new town. She misses her dad and blames her mom and her older sister Arica doesn't understand or care. But both Arica and Dashiell are excited about their new school - Arica is thrilled to finally be going to a coed public school and Dashiell is excited about the schools' championship baseball team, the Wildcats.

There's just one problem. At Phoenix High School, girls play softball and boys play baseball.

Despite doubts from her friends and family and discouragement from the team, coach, and school administration, Dashiell finds enough allies to give her a chance. It's not easy - she spends most of the season on the bench since the coach gives the starting shortstop position she should have had to another player. Her one supporter on the team, Ben (who I think is the captain?) starts dating her sister Arica, which leads to even more drama.

This is an upbeat, positive look at girls in sports - while Dashiell has a rough time initially, her ability eventually wins over the team, even the most negative guys, as well as the coach. Dashiell and the other characters aren't just cardboard cutouts for a story about civil rights though. They have other things going on in their lives - Dashiell and Arica have to learn to get along as sisters even though they're very different. Dashiell learns some hard truths about her dad and grows up enough to admit she's been wrong to her mom. Her teammate Ben, and Arica as his girlfriend, weather some tough spots in learning how to deal with relationships.

Jackie Lewis' black and white art is clean and attractive. It captures the movement and action of the sport as well as the emotion in the various characters' interaction. Even non-comic readers will be willing to pick this one up and will be attracted by the variety of characters and plot lines.

As always, Oni is optimistic in the matter of recommended ages (this is the publisher who suggests Courtney Crumrin for ages 7 and up). They've labeled this All Ages and while there's only a couple mild references to swearing (Dashiell swears at the principal, but her words are jumbled and her sister says "effin" leading Dashiell to respond "Seriously Arica, learn how to swear. It will make your point that much stronger.") this is a story about teens in high school, dating, growing up, learning how to navigate adult relationships and make decisions for themselves and isn't going to be of interest or appropriate for younger kids. I'd give it to middle school and older.

Verdict: A strong story, well-written and drawn characters, and an interesting, multi-layered plot will make this of interest to a wide variety of teens. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781934964798; Published April 2012 by Oni Press; Egalley provided by the publisher through Netgalley; Purchased for the library

Polly and the Pirates volume 2: Mystery of the Dragonfish by Ted Naifeh, illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez

I loved the original Polly and the Pirates and although it's not as popular as Courtney Crumrin, I've not regretted adding it to our collection. It's sad, odd, beautiful, and hilarious, just like most of Naifeh's work.

I was excited when I heard there was finally going to be a second volume, shocked when I found out it would have a different illustrator, reluctant to try it, and finally determined to give it a fair shot.

I didn't like it, and I'm not just saying that because of the new illustrator. I didn't like Naifeh's script either. Rodriguez' illustrations don't have the exquisite shading techniques of Naifeh's art. His art is much more reminiscent of manga styles with lots of fine lines and brushstrokes. I hate this, since it means I can't tell the characters apart (yeah, I probably need new glasses, but my place of employment, excellent in many areas as it is, does not run to the heights of vision insurance).

I missed Polly's doll-like look and the style of the original volume. (I don't universally dislike Rodriguez, I own all the volumes of Maintenance and I like his work there, but it's much cleaner and less cluttered). I also missed the coherence. While I expect a certain amount of mystical drift from Naifeh, Mystery of the Dragonfish is hardly a mystery, since it has few identifiable characters, clues, or a plot. There are mysterious machinations, political ruminations, and about halfway through it's like the author suddenly said, "oh yeah, there's supposed to a plot, um...yeah...let's throw in some secret plans or something."

Verdict: I was disappointed. Others might not be, especially if they prefer the more manga-style art of Rodriguez and like the weird convolutions of Naifeh's "plot". However, the first volume isn't so popular at my library that I feel justified in purchasing the second. I'm expending my Naifeh budget on the colored volumes of Courtney Crumrin.

ISBN: 9781934964736; Published January 2012 by Oni Press; Borrowed from the library

Nonfiction Monday: The Plant Hunters by Anita Silvey

I've complained about how hard it is to find easy nonfiction to read aloud, and now I'm going to lament the lack of really booktalkable (yes, that's a word. As of right now) nonfiction for the middle grade crowd. Specifically for sixth grade, since that's mainly the group I do booktalks for.

The books have to be long enough and formatted so they don't look like "books for little kids" (which is a huge problem since most nonfiction books are formatted to look like extra-thick picture books) but they also can't have "too many words". They have to have a hook so I can booktalk them quickly and easily. I'm picky, but so are the sixth graders!

This one is an unlikely choice, but as soon as I started reading it I knew it would work.

"What's so important to you that you'd risk getting eaten by a tiger, falling off a cliff, attacked by bears, freezing to death, killed by bandits, or all of the above?"

*pause for raucous responses, hopefully all school-appropriate*

"For these daring hunters, the most important thing in the world was...plants!"

Anita Silvey tells the story of the men and women who risked their lives, sanity and freedom to collect rare plants. Some of them were stalked by jaguars, went on dangerous undercover missions to steal seeds and plants, or struggled on after being attacked by a grizzly bear to discover a new species of pines. Plant hunting continues today (did you know there's a super-secure vault for seeds?) along with its dangerous and adventure. Be prepared to add botany back to the curriculum after kids read this one!

The book is illustrated with historical photographs and botanical drawings and includes notes, a bibliography, illustration credits, and index. At a little under 100 pages it's brief enough not to discourage struggling readers and has a nice, readable large font. Silvey packs an astonishing amount of information into the pages of these book, from historical botanical expeditions, biographical sketches, reflections on the environmental impact of plant hunting, and botanical and scientific information.

Verdict: This is an unusual subject, but with some catchy booktalking it could be a very popular nonfiction selection for middle grade readers and might even inspire them to try a little botanical research of their own.

ISBN: 9780374309084; Published April 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library