Class Visits

These are not my kiddos and not my library, but it's a pretty good representation.

Do you ever have classes visit your library as a field trip? We have classes visiting all the time, usually kindergarten or first grade classes who are visiting the public library to get their first library cards and learn about what is available there.  When these young students visit our library, we give them a tour of the library, read them a story (or two), then give them each their own library card and allow them to check out books, provided, of course, that their parents filled out the card application and returned it to the teacher, etc. etc.

In the past two weeks, however, I have had two separate high school classes visit our library. In both cases it was a smaller class, one from a special education department and one from an alternative learning center. Obviously my normal kindergarten library tour wasn't going to work with these older students.  Instead, I gave them a tour, emphasizing the way the books are organized and where to find important things (computers, DVDs, the bathroom, the graphic novels).  When our tour was finished, I gave them a short scavenger hunt to complete; their teacher offered a school-based reward for the first student to finish.  After our scavenger hunt, I gave a quick book talk over a half dozen books I had chosen earlier and allowed the students time to browse or to ask me questions about books they'd like to read.

In both cases, I like to emphasize that the library staff wants to HELP our young patrons, that we are here to answer their questions and that we love, LOVE talking about and recommending books. I always mention our programs as well; the teens were especially excited to hear about the summer reading prizes this year (teen finishers will be allowed to participate in the Game Truck event that will be happening at our library).  I want our patrons, from the youngest to the oldest, to know that the library is here for them and that we offer a wide variety of things they can do.

What about you? What do you do when classes visit your library?

Blind Spot

Ellen, Laura. Blind Spot. Harcourt Children's Books, 2012.

It's a bad thing when the shelf titles other people use in Goodreads have more interesting content than the book being placed there, but that's the truth in this case.

This book sounded so good. A missing girl. A girl with a physical impairment as the main character. Some creepiness. I thought I'd fly through it because it would be so hard to stop reading.

Wow, was I ever wrong.

The main character has macular degeneration, a condition I am fairly familiar with as two of my college friends had that same condition. Her teacher must spend time reading "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun" for fun, because he's crazy. Just plain crazy. And not following her IEP, which is illegal. And the principal believes him, not her. But I digress.

The main character doesn't have anyone in her corner except this one kid named Greg, and she doesn't even know he's the only one on her side.

The bulk of the book is filled with high school drama. Girls going out with guys to make other girls jealous, etc. etc. It was ridiculous. Between that, the mom who doesn't care about her daughter, and the freaky teacher who marks the main character absent because she won't sit in the back row ... I didn't like it.

It wasn't thrilling. The murder mystery wasn't mysterious - the reader knows who did it, and we spend the entire book waiting for the characters to catch up. This one's not worth your time, folks.

Sock it to Me, Santa!

Parker, Madison. Sock it to Me, Santa! Smashwords, 2012.

Ryan, a closeted gay teen, has a homeroom teacher who insists on "team-building" activities to help her students get to know each other better.  For the holidays, she chooses to do a Secret Santa gift exchange where the students must make gifts for each other over the weeks preceding Christmas.  Ryan is devastated to discover that he has selected Jamie - an openly gay, Kurt-esque character - as his recipient.  He despairs of finding appropriate gifts for Jamie.  In the end, Ryan discovers that perhaps he has feelings for Jamie.

This short story reads a lot like an episode of Glee.  If you are willing to suspend your disbelief and expect miracles within a short time span, the story is fun.  Not uber-believable, but fun.

If Boys Could Hold Hands

Lavallee, David. If Boys Could Hold Hands. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012.

Garrett is a high school senior - on the basketball team, has a steady girlfriend and a solid group of friends.  And then Luis moves into town.  Garrett begins to wrestle with his feelings for Luis and the implications of coming out in a small town and finds that the greatest obstacle to being his true self is himself.

It took me a little while to get into this particular story. The first chapter occurs 27 years before the rest of the book, and that threw me for a loop until I realized what was going on.  Also, the author does an excellent job of description and narration, giving background details and describing the environment, so the story proceeds more slowly than I usually expect.  If you are the type of reader who appreciates lots of description (like in Annabel, The White Darkness, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy), you will really enjoy the journey through this book.  I enjoyed these descriptions, but occasionally became impatient for the action to begin again.

I enjoyed the story for itself, and would recommend it for high school students, especially those who seem to read everything they can get their hands on.  This book is also appropriate for adults, and those who grew up in the northeastern United States will appreciate the geographic references and the descriptions.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program for the purposes of review.

Another 365 Days

Payne, K.E. Another 365 Days. Bold Strokes Books, 2013.

Life’s sweet when you’re seventeen and in love, right? Clemmie Atkins certainly thinks so! She’s still madly in love with her girlfriend, the hot and super-confident emo, Hannah Harrison, and her irritating sister, HRBH, will soon be leaving home to go to university.

But just when it seems that life is finally pretty darn cool, a new distraction at school threatens to upset everything, and the return of the enigmatic and sexy J with a startling confession confuses things further. Clemmie has another 365 days to try to get her life back on track...but will it be enough?

The main character in this story is a teen girl, and she keeps a diary of sorts - her diary is the book we read. This would be fine, except that the story has no plot aside from the normal comings and goings of a teen girl. At first she had some conflict with her girlfriend - they were together, then they broke up, then they were together again - but the book continued long after that, when the conflict was over. I didn't mind reading this girl's diary entries, but diary-style books have to work really hard to be interesting, and this one, sadly, was unsuccessful. Added to the British-isms, which in and of themselves wouldn't have been problematic, as well as the odd comments about the girlfriend being "emo," and this book fell flat for me. I wanted to like it, but the endgame needed help.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley for the purposes of review.

Kissing Kate

Myracle, Lauren. Kissing Kate. New York: Penguin Group, 2003.

Kate and Lissa shared a kiss at a party over the summer.  Kate was drunk at the time, and now she is humiliated and won't speak with Lissa.  Lissa doesn't understand why Kate won't speak with her anymore or why she is so insistent that the kiss was a complete accident. As Lissa struggles to come to terms with herself and her sexuality, she also is struggling with her friendships, both with Kate and with her new friend Ariel.

This book was a very quick read, and like many of the books published by Penguin's imprint Speak, dealt with a major teen issue: sexuality.  I didn't find this book to be as definitive or essential as the other works of fiction I have read.  It was worth the read, but probably would be better checked out of a library than purchased at a bookstore.