PFC at the home branch

I'm BACK. Yup had to go back to working with young readers so I was very lucky to snag a job at a library branch 3.9 miles from home serving the community in which I live! I am a teen and adult services librarian so all those years of keeping up with YA doins has paid off. Needless to say I am working with teen volunteers--getting them to grok the library world and making them read and I too am catching up--reading Avi and Cabot and Hardinge and Westerfeld and a hostess of others. I get to touch books again O my little soul soars with utter delicious delight!

SOS at the shoar

I live on/within 5 miles of the Jersey shoar and I don't really heart the beach. Yeah and neither do my kids. We also have never been to Disney. I know there must be a 12 step for us that do not cleave or heave or whatever so finally here is a book that makes me happy --all the squirrel books make me laugh but this one in particular b/c SOS (that's Scaredy Orville Squirrel) is terrified of the beach and all those people (me too--I don't like the people--my kids don't like the sand) so he decides to build a beach at home but he needs to go to the real beach to get the beach props to make his beach and along the way he actually "get his feet wet" returns home with some absconded "garden" ornaments and makes what to my mind is truly paradise!! I give this a big bushy paws UP. Ny favorite Scaredy Squirrel thus far.

Folk Keeper and Children's Fantasy

I love this book. (I don't like the cover) I loved it when I first read it and I love it now. It is dark like water under reeds. It sways slowly and treacherously. Before you even get to the sea in this story you feel the pull of water and hidden currents. I like characters that are unflinching and hard like stone and Corin/Corinna captures this perfectly. I am reading this for my kidlit book group--we decided to explore children's fantasy so we are all reading Alice in Wonderland then a fantasy of our choice in hopes we can try to lasso the dimensions of this genre. I did not read much fantasy as a young person which is why I feel when I read "high fantasy" like Lord of the Rings I am overwhelmed and lost because I come poorly equipped to grok the conventions of the genre. I prefer faeries and things underground. I balk at grandiosity and clashing swords and flying dragons so maybe we shall discover that there is something for everyone. I will report back after this weekend's gathering.

Boundless

Boundless
Originally uploaded by SReed99342

This is aactually an exercise for my other blog but this blog came up so we'll see

The slip of yellow paper please....

and our winners are...
Newbery winner
Elijah of Buxton
Honors
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
A Crooked Kind of Perfect

Caldecott Winner
Pssst!
Honors
Wind Flyers
17 Things I'm Not Allowed To Do Anymore

Sibert Winner
Tracking Trash

I will post about the process after the REAL ONES are announced--take a look at
2ndgenlibrarian's comments.

New Year Resolutions

In an effort to ensure my grip on children's literature despite my recent defection to Adult Reference librarianship I have decided to host a mock award election at my home this weekend. We will be voting for Newbery, Caldecott, and Sibert awards. Here are the lists:

CALDECOTT

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson. ill Jonathan Bean
Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio ill. Barbara McClintock
Wind Flyers by Angela Johnson ill. Loren Long
17 Things I'm Not Allowed to do Anymore by Jenny Offill
The Wall by Peter Sis
Psst! by Adam Rex
Little Night by Yuyi Morales
600 Black Spots by David Carter

NEWBERY
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell out of a tree by Lauren Tarshis
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
No Talking by Andrew Clements
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! voices from a medieval city by Laura Amy Schlitz

SIBERT
Deep in the Swamp by Donna M. Bateman ill Brian Lies
One Well: the story of water on earth by Rochelle Strauss ill. Rosemary Woods
Skyscraper by Lynn Curlie
Old Penn Station by William Low
Tracking Trash: flotsam, jetsam, and the science of ocean motion by Loree Griffin Burns

Now I have to tell you that I pulled a fast one the other day when I moved one book from the Sibert list to the Newbery list. It will I think shake things up a bit. The reason: while reveiewing the eligibilty criteria for the Sibert I found that "poetry" and "traditional literature" will not be eligible. Now I am not sure what "traditional literature" is, but I sure as shootin' know what poetry is so I decided that Good Masters!! Sweet Ladies though not poetry is close enough to warrant the change. I am re-reading as many on these lists as I can before Sunday the 6th. I will post the results after the 6th and before the ALA announcement.

Here is a picture book I wish I could have handed to my friend Laura as she packed up her car and cats for a long distance trip to Alaska! There is something about Anita Lobel's use of white space and the way that she outlines certain figures and then gets expressionistic with her landscapes that just makes me feel renewed. Nini is a tabby cat who senses an impending trip that will not include her. She sees the piles of clothes and the zippered suitcase and zoop off she is whisked to a beloved summer place.