Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Did you hear about the newly opened American Writers Museum ?! I am super excited to go check this place out! I like their mission statement, short and sweet: "The mission of the American Writers Museum is to engage the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives." So, who's coming with me?! 

Hello, My Name is Ruby , is the sweetest of  sweet sweet stories, and in true Philip C. Stead's style, the text is endearing, "...sometimes I do not feel small...would you like to see?" --the next page shows a flock of small birds making an elephant shape, in line with other elephants, very Swimmy-esque. Stead's signature beautiful artwork is present, his pictures always so stunning and colorful (watch a demo of Stead CREATING !) Can we just say that I love that things as simple as squiggly lines can make up tufts of fur or feathers! So beautiful! I think kids will enjoy the themes of the books: friendship, being yourself, loneliness, feeling like a part of something, and the adventurous spirit of Ruby. I think children will love talking about the pictures, most especially all the different birds...I just LOVED it.

I love love love John Green; I am so grateful to JBean for telling me to read, The Fault in Our Stars , which has now become the book I tell EVERYONE to read. Everyone. My sister. My Mom. My favorite aunt. My best friends. Folks at the Library. Prairie Dawn. Before Prairie Dawn had even read it I made her put it on the fall lineup for our Teen Book Group. (More on that soon!) I love that John Green writes real teenage characters, tangible to real teens. These characters are coming into their own and trying to understand the world, sometimes poetically, other times emotionally stumbling through it like a weaving drunk. Green's characters are sometimes sweet and funny, sometimes self loathing or self deprecating, sometimes funny as hell, other times over the top dramatic, sometimes raw as hell, but always BELIEVABLE! I love that John Green celebrates nerds, and being honest, and wearing your heart on your sleeve, and has the most quotable lines and lovely sentiments. And ...

I LOVE Jon Klassen's illustrations! LOVE! Like if I had a baby tomorrow and a load of loot, I would pay Klassen to paint the nursery. Just saw this post and I am so bummed that I can't go to this. Taken from Cuyahoga Library's website: "Meet author Lemony Snicket and illustrator Jon Klassen, two award-winning talents who have partnered for their new picture book, The Dark. Lemony Snicket is best known for his thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events and Who Could That Be at This Hour?, the first in a new series which debuted last fall. Jon Klassen won the 2013 Caldecott Medal for This Is Not My Hat, which he both wrote and illustrated, and also received a Caldecott Honor citation for his illustrations in Extra Yarn. Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of the Friends of the Berea Branch Library and Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry. Please register for multiple seats by calling the Berea Branch at 440.234.5475." He is comin...

Remember the other day when I mentioned that I'm working with a professor in the Education Dept. of Sticks College?--well, I had my first batch of students come this week and it went swimmingly! Not only is it great to have someone else reading the stories, so I can have a break, but it's also been fun encouraging the students and helping them through their anxiety. I was once an Ed. major too, and I remember that fear of being in front of others/being in charge for the first time; even though it's just small kids and their parents, it's still intimidating. It's also been great to have the students start coming because, until I hire a new children's librarian this spring, I've been doing between 6-7 storytimes a week on top of all my other Director duties, and filling in as people take vacation and get sick, and quiet honestly, you can only burn that candle at both ends for so long before you burn out. It's nice to have fresh energy and someone else tr...

Authors Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horowitz will be at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Tuesday, November 13th, 7:30p.m. Tickets are still available, $30/person, for more info .

Mo Willems is one of my go-to authors for easy readers (i.e. the Piggy and Elephant Series); Knuffle Bunny is one of those silly stories I share with my pre-K/Kindergarten kiddos (btw, the mix of drawing with photos, GENIUS!); kids of every age love yelling at the pigeon in the Don't Let the Pigeon... series. I LOVE Mo Willems. I love his characters and his sense of humor. I love that his stories make ME laugh outloud. I had such high hopes for Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs ... I was  NOT disappointed.  The inside cover art Willems retelling is hysterical. I laughed outloud. I may have snorted...a little. He rethinks everything from changing the bears to dinosaurs, to the porridge, to the surprise ending; also appreciated is the final pages where Willems gives us AND the dinosaurs a moral of the story. I love the art work: the "poorly supervised little girl named Goldilocks," looks very much like an older Trixie ( Knuffle Bunny Free) ; the dinosaur Da...

"May would tell Cletus and me, if she was here right now, that it's okay to grab for something or somebody that's being swept away from you. She'd tell us to hold on tight because we're all meant to be together. We're all meant to need each other. She'd just remind us that there's more places to be together than this one. She'd tell us we don't have to give up if this life doesn't give us everything we want. There's aways another one..." -- Missing May , Cynthia Rylant Still working on my Newbery quest, though it's slowed down with the upcoming move. When I picked up 1993 Newbery Medal winner,   Missing May , I thought, "how the heck is this book supposed to convey anything about loss--it's only 88 pages long!" But it does! Really. Somehow Rylant is able to show the deep and profound sadness of Summer and Ob after May's death (Ob and May are family members who adopted Summer); somehow through Cletus, a str...

...when I see the cool things I will miss seeing at the Eric Carle Museum. Coming up is: Beyond Books: The Independent Art of Eric Carle September 30, 2012 - February 24, 2013   According to the museum's website, the exhibit of  what Carle refers to as, "Art Art," will include: Early posters and book jackets l inoleum cuts, created for several adult titles by other authors caricature notes: funny and irreverent hand-drawn notes written to friends  Non-representational art or “Art Art:" abstract painted tissue paper collages created between picture book projects “Name Art:” names of close friends and colleagues captured in his famous painted tissue paper Metal sculptures/Glass sculptures: forays into three-dimensional realms, including metal sculptures and painted glass assemblages in collusion with his friend and renowned glass artist Tom Patti Costumes/Drawings: costumes and a set for The Magic Flute stage concert performed by The Springfield Symphony in 20...

"I am a storyteller at heart. So each project begins with the question, 'Is this story worth telling? Is the manuscript an interesting read? Is it surprising and challenging? Will I, in the process of making pictures, learn something new?' -- Jerry Pinkney Artwork from The Lion and The Mouse , 2009 A traveling exhibit of Jerry Pinkney's beautiful artwork--organized by the  Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA (not far from where I used to live!)--is celebrating Pinkney's 50 years as an artist and author. Best known for his depictions of the African American experience, Pinkney is also well known for his illustrated retellings of fables and fairy tales, stories like The Lion and The Mouse (pictured right), which won him the 2010 Caldecott Medal--making him the first African American to win it! Here is a link to his impressive bibliobgraphy . And the dates for the traveling exhibit:   June 14, 2012 - September 9, 2012 - The Charles H. Wright Museum of...

In case you're interested in who the highest paid authors are these days, click here .

Photo borrowed from here . Branch: Independence - Independence High School Type of Event: Author Visit Date: Saturday, July 14, 2012 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Meg Cabot is the best-selling author of more than 50 books for children, teens and adults. She is best known for her young adult series, The Princess Diaries, which was brought to life in two feature films. The fourth installment of her Heather Wells Mysteries series entitled Size 12 and Ready to Rock will hit shelves in July. Meg’s other recent releases include Blast From the Past, the latest in the Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series and Underworld, the second in the Abandon trilogy which will be released this spring. Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of the Friends of the Independence Branch Library. This event will be held at Independence High School (6001 Archwood Road) in the auditorium. For the full info and to register, click here.   Information copied and pasted from Cuyahoga County Li...

Author Ray Bradbury passed away a couple of weeks back and LHB blogged about him a little bit  here , thought I would share, and also post some quotes from Bradbury. (I love this reading Library History Buff's blog, because it always makes me proud of libraries and being a librarian). "Libraries raised me. I don't believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries, because most students don't have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years."   "I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, pratice. If you don't love something, then don't do it."   "If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, beca...