THE NATIONAL PARKS: My Parks

Nominate your favorite librarian!

Nominate your librarian today for the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award!

It's that time again: nominate your favorite librarian (public, school, or academic) for the I Love My Librarian! 2009 Award, sponsored by ALA, The New York Times, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Nominations close 9 October 2009.

Let your local librarians know how much they mean to you and your family, school, or college.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot

Finished another advance reader from ALA, by a new author, and loved it.

Beatrice claims to have no sense of peoples' feelings. Yet, her claims are sometimes disingenious, as she proceeds to make very empathetic observations. However, her reactions also seem true to teens' lack of understanding of their parents' feelings (even if it seems obvious to adults, reading her descriptions).  Loved it.

May I Have Another?

Early this morning, I was off to a bad start. I was so tired, I almost fell asleep at the wheel, so I had to stop and take a breather, making me late to school. While stopped, I noticed that my sick dog had wiped snot on my pants. After a 45-minute commute, it was too late to go home and change.

Then, it turned into a great day:

A boy came in to return Paul Volponi's Black and White. He said "I really liked this. Can you find me another book like this one?" He wasn't very articulate about why he liked the book, so I tried to think of story parallels. I showed him several of Walter Dean Myers' books, Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk, Ben Mikaelsen's Touching Spirit Bear, and the two Volponi books I had left (all our Freshman English classes were in for book talks last week). He considered them all, and left happy with another Volponi, The Hand You're Dealt. No story parallels at all - must be the writing.

Later, a girl came to return Marked, by P.C. Cast, and begged for the second book, Betrayed. She was devastated that someone else was reading it. Several periods later, it was returned. Before I even checked it in, the first girl walked by on her way to a class in the Computer Lab. She saw the book in my hand, and literally jumped up and down with joy. Another happy customer.

Oh yes, and an English teacher asked if I could help him find two book lists, one for his Honors classes, and another one for his reluctant readers. I handed him YALSA's Best Books for the College Bound, and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers.

I felt like a genius by the end of the day. I love my job!

BBAW 2009: Vote for me! Or just vote.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I am not boycotting the BBAW 2009 Awards. So you are welcome to use this BBAW link to vote for me:We blog about books because we enjoy reading, and enjoy talking about books, and most of all because we enjoy chatting with other people who enjoy books. Nobody is in this for fame and fortune, and none of us will get a Pulitzer for our blog (unless we convince the powers that be to add blogs... hmmm...).

Book bloggers depend on publishers to supply the books. Publishers encourage us to review their products by giving us free copies and advance reading copies, tchotchkes, and prizes to give away, etc. There will always be fine lines to cross, but in a Web 2.0 world, they're scratched in shifting sands. As long as we're all honest about our connections and intentions, let's just enjoy ourselves.

I discovered Book Blogger Appreciation Week for the first time this year. Through being nominated, and following the judging process on Twitter, I've found great new book blogs to read, and many new friends to chat with about books. What result could be more enjoyable than that?