The Power of a book

I always head off to class visits and booktalks hoping that one book I share will be checked out by just one teen. I love books (well, duh!) and truly believe they can touch someone, either as bibliotherapy or just keeping them out of trouble.

Today I had a wonderful, touching experience and shockingly it came from a 6th grade teacher rather than a teen. I usually take about a dozen books, mix of fiction and non-fiction, with titles printed on a bookmark so the teens can mark the titles they are interested in checking out and tell me which ones they want to hear about. The last title I booktalked was The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (click on the title for my booktalk).

**Just an aside: The book came out in September, made the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) and Quick Picks for Teens lists for 2007, and was a favorite on the YALSA-bk list-serv. I had read an article by Nancy Werlin published in a recent Hornbook that discussed the reasons why she decided to write the novel in letter format. **

Anyway, I shared my booktalk and read part of the first letter Matthew writes to Emmy and all the students were quiet. I almost didn't booktalk it since the subject matter is hard (child abuse) but I absolutely loved the book (wish it woulda won the Printz) and want it to be read.

Like I said, it was the last book and so I started putting my stuff away and the teacher told her students to silent read for the last ten minutes. The other teacher in class stopped them and said she wanted to share something with them.

She started talking about how writers' ideas usually come to them at strange moments and are often triggered by things they hear, read, or see. Then she got choked up and said that the format of The Rules of Survival clicked with her as a way to share the story of her son, who was tragically killed on the 4th of July. She could take the letters his classmates had written for class assignments, notes from MySpace, and other writings and compile them into a book about grief called Healing Words. She showed them the notes she had taken on the back of her bookmark while I was talking.

We all know I'm pretty emotional so I almost cried. I swear--from the time I started the booktalk until she finished speaking and the kids left for the next class--not a peep was made. It was one of those WOW! experiences. As teachers and librarians, you know you touch lives but you rarely get to see it or hear about it. It's just one of those intrinsically motivated jobs but days like today really make you say, Okay what I do is important. I do make a difference.

Libraries AREN'T free daycares

City libraries adapting to crush of children's after-school visits

This article from the Capital Times in Madison, WI appears to be in response to the Maplewood library in NJ. While it is great that libraries are finally seen as a cool place to hang, it is sad that this generation doesn't have a good moral background or any sense of how to act in a public place.

Couldn't have said it better myself...

These poems were borrowed from Tales Told Tall, website of children's librarian and storyteller Michael Sullivan. My boss just told me he will be here in late March and will be doing some staff development ;-)

My Storytelling Creed

I believe in fairy tales
I believe they're true
I believe in fairy tales
Do you believe them too?

I believe in wishes made
when stars fall from the sky
I believe if birds can fly
Then maybe so can I.

I believe in magic spells
If you can only make them rhyme
I believe in unicorns
And Once Upon a Time...

I believe that leprechauns
Hide gold at rainbow's end
I believe adventure lies
Just 'round the river bend.

And I believe that every day
There's magic in the air
That heaven's not beyond our hopes
Its just beyond our fears.

*******************************************************************************
First Time at the Library
(Published in Public Libraries,
March/April 2003.)

My daddy said that I could pick
Most any book I see
From rows and rows and rows of them
Stacked high as two of me.

The books were falling off the shelves
And piled up on the floor
The lady there behind the desk
Was stacking even more.

I asked if I could take one home
She said, "Take two or three.
I have to put the rest away
And need the space you see."

She showed me every single book
That fell within her reach.
"Here's one for reading on the bus
And one for on the beach.

"Here's fifteen pets piled on a bed,
And here's a flying frog
A girl with pigtails long and red,
A teacher who's a dog.

"Here's one about a pig that sings,
A spider that can write."
So many, many, many books
Without an end in sight.

I trembled as I said, "I want
The one about a horse.
It's blue, I think," I said, "but I
Forgot the name of course."

My daddy slowly shook his head
He didn't see much chance.
But then the lady stopped and stared
Like she was in a trance.

A thousand books piled all around
Ten thousand, maybe more!
Her eyes took in the lot of them
Stacked ceiling to the floor.

I thought that she had gone to sleep
So rigid did she stand
Then smiled so sweet, reached out and put
Black Beauty in my hand.

Found wisdom

People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise. --librarianavengers.org
**I pulled this from an email signature off a list-serv I'm on. Aren't librarian's great?**

What a difference a day makes...

January 7, 2006
The day my whole life changed forever. The day I met my future husband. (He asked for my number and actually called!!)

July 7, 2006
6 months later, the day I married my husband, my true love, my best friend.

January 7, 2007
365 days of wonderful and amazing blessings... and the best part is it doesn't stop there or ever.

To Weed or Not To Weed? That is the Question

Hello, Grisham--So Long Hemingway?
With Shelf Space Prized, Fairfax Libraries Cull Collections

It seems the Washington Post has picked up on libraries dirtiest little secret--weeding! That word still makes my skin crawl. As an avid book reader and lover, it breaks my heart to have to send a book to its death sentence. That was the worst part of my internship at HSL-EAR but Maile still made me do it, and explained that you weren't really punishing the "bad" books you were making room for the pretty new stuff. Okay, so that dried my tears a little. I still hate doing it, but once I rip off the bandaid I feel inclined to just keep going.

About a month ago, my boss politely suggested (okay, she flat out told me) that my shelves were too full and I should start by removing multiple copies of books that aren't so popular anymore. Of course, that made no dent at all. So I started a rigorous weed. It seems I'd already done one in August but by December I again had 2 huge carts full of YA fiction materials that hadn't circulated in 12-18 months. I don't know the exact weeding schedule for other areas, but because teens are a selective crowd, anything that hasn't circ'd in a year is a goner (unless I find some reason to keep it). It was nice to have clean shelves and space for all my new books, although mysteriously the shelves have already started creeping fuller.

It is always funny to me to look at the covers of the books I nix. It is almost a guarantee that any YA book stricken with bad cover syndrome ends up in the Friends book sale pile. And that also keeps me going. We get a chunk of the Friends money and these books find new homes. So it isn't so bad..... Until your teen shelver who is also a huge book lover sees the cart and wonders what happens to those books. It was like telling a child there is no Santa, Tooth Fairy, or Easter Bunny. I wonder how many of those books she tried to save from the guillotine!?!? (Sadly, what she didn't realize is that if it comes back and still sits there, she was just delaying the inevitable.)

Teens rebel.... Library closes. WHAT?!?!

Lock the Library! Rowdy Students are Taking Over
In New Jersey, one library has grown frustrated by middle schoolers’ mix of pent-up energy, hormones and nascent independence.

Believe me. We have all no doubt felt this way about one patron or another. They drive you crazy, make you want to pull your hair out (or any other bad habit--drink Mountain Dew, smoke, etc), even go as far as kick them out for the day or eternity. But this library in Maplewood, NJ has decided to close it's doors after school from 2:45pm to 5pm, not only banning the "bad" teens but everyone, young, old and in between. The only people who don't get kicked out for those 2 hours and 15 minutes are the librarians. (That's totally not fair!!!)

I first saw this article on the YALSA-BK list-serv and then received the link from Lillian. I've seen other librarians responses, all of whom had great ideas to try to resolve the problem. Hire a security guard, partner with other youth organizations, help to create a teen center in a separate location. I realize that the problems these teens are causing are distressing. But there has to be a better, more positive way to reach them.

I'll admit that when I first started working as a part time teen librarian I was a bit apprehensive. I still remember high school and how teens can be. But as I eased into this job and eventually became a full-time teen librarian, I realized that I liked teens a lot. Not as much as the cute, cuddly little guys but enough. You have to see them as "BIG" kids and be consistent and firm while being friendly and open. I try to make my programs fun and inviting but I still ask them to follow the rules. I even had coloring sheets at my holiday open house because even mature, hot-stuff teens need a chance to relax and have fun.

I have a hard time believing that this solution will actually fix the problem. Who's to say those "bad" teens won't show up at 5 and cause the same amount of trouble or that they won't hang out on library property and be destructive during that block of time. Give them a voice. Let them be the ones to help fix their problem. The teens in our community were the ones who helped design our Teen Zone. My four teen shelvers help me with programming, anything from making copies to set up to helping at the programs. If you keep them busy, they won't have time to be destructive and if you make the library theirs, they won't want to destroy it.

I have had to kick several teens out for the day or longer. Last year we had an ongoing ordeal with two teen boys and the computer. We had to start by asking them to give up the computer for the day to kicking them out and calling parents. It even got as bad as one boy telling my director to "F*%# off". But after the summer (and a meeting involving the director and an apology) that teen has been back and is polite and well behaved. [side note.. as I'm writing this the other teen involved showed up to use the computer for the first time in 8 months... small world!].

I also realize that lots of people still have that notion that the library is a "quiet" place with dusty shelves, books that serve no purpose but looking pretty, and librarians with buns in their hair, horn rimmed glasses and a frown. Let's not forget the "SHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh!" But libraries have changed and have evolved into a quasi-community center. It is possible to get people to settle down without shushing them. We had a wonderful staff development day with Warren Graham, author of Black Belt Librarians. He was a library security guard for many years and has some great ways to talk to people. It is amazing how well people respond to the phrase "I don't know if you realize this but..."

I'm just glad I don't have to be the librarian at that library that has to kick all the regular patrons off their computers for those 2 hours. If they think the teens are bad, they'd better watch out. The weird thing is that they do have several teen programs scheduled for after school that aren't being cancelled. I can't imagine what kind of chaos will go on when they are letting those teens in but no one else.

Happy New Blog (I mean, Year)!

I have decided to retire my xanga and start using Blogger. Technically I've been using Blogger for the past 6 months as my work blog and have enjoyed it. It has improved since the merger with Google so I'm willing to give it a try. I also had a bit of prompting from an unnamed flowery source. She made the point that using Blogger would allow my non-xanga friends to make comments. And since that is my biggest pet peeve with a certain sports-obsessed librarian's blog, I decided to take the hint.

For my faithful reader: it is my New Year's Resolution to make an attempt to blog more regularly and post pictures on Flickr. I'm not making any promises, but I will try.

Also, it appears that I can add email addresses so that when I post, you get a message to take a look (sort of like Xanga digests, I'm assuming). So email me at my hotmail address if you'd like this service (Cala-Lily, I've already got your gmail addy in there. So let me know if it works.)

I will miss my Xanga emoticons but will try to add other goodies.