Books and More

Thanks to the Friends of Becker Library, I recently had the opportunity to attend the Association of Independent School Librarians conference in Denver. This group of librarians from all over the U.S. and Canada know how to work hard while having a good time! We visited five different independent schools in Denver and Boulder, and participated in presentations given by experts on such topics as 21st Century Library Design, Plagiarism, Evaluation of E-Resources, Magic in the Library (!), and more.

A highlight of the conference was a delightful presentation given by YA author T.A. Barron. Author of the Merlin saga–a movie of The Lost Years of Merlin is now being produced–Barron is also a serious environmentalist seeking ways to enjoy and preserve the natural beauty of his native Colorado and the world. And spearheaded by his book The Hero’s Trail–A Guide for a Heroic Life, Barron profiles and highlights young “heroes” all over the world through his Dream Big project. See more information at http://www.tabarron.com/, and come check out Barron’s books at Becker Library!

The AISL conference provided opportunities for participants to take advantage of the cultural richness of the Denver area. Many of us visited some great bookstores, including The Bookies, and especially Tattered Cover Book Store (one of my personal favorite bookstores anywhere!). A visit to the beautiful lobby of the historic Brown Palace Hotel was in order, as was a visit to the fabulous new Clyfford Still Museum.

The networking and sharing of ideas, coupled with the visits to other independent school libraries, were invaluable, with lasting effects for us here at Becker Library. I’m grateful for this rich professional development opportunity!

Hey, everybody! We are already gearing up for this year’s Austin Teen Book Festival! Here’s a big scoop for you…the keynote speaker at this year’s ATBF will be the awesome NEAL SHUSTERMAN.

Mr. Shusterman is the author of many favorite YA Novels, including The Schwa Was Here and Antsy Does Time, along with slightly edgier fare, such as Unwind (which was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults) and Everlost, Everfound, and Everwild (The new Skinjacker Trilogy).

Make sure and mark you calendar for Saturday, September 29th, and stay tuned as more authors are added to the ATBF roster!
Follow @AustinTBF on Twitter or visit http://www.austinteenbookfestival.com/

Julian Barnes’s winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize is short–and deceptively simple. Middle-aged Tony Webster muses on his life and the passage of time, after the receipt of a letter abruptly reminds him of long-repressed incidents from his schooldays and soon after. Back in those days, Tony and his friends Colin and Alex gradually took on a newcomer, Adrian, as part of their “set". It became clear that Adrian was an intellectual stand-out, impressing the school masters (the boys were attending a public school in London) and his peers with his depth of imagination and his dry wit. After shared schooldays, the four go differing ways, Tony to study at Bristol, and Adrian to Cambridge. A young woman appears on the scene, and the relationships get complicated. Before long, the ties are broken. Many years later, old wounds are opened, and previous assumptions are revisited.

Barnes has a way of seamlessly moving from Tony’s current life and more recent past, to those days of old. A mystery gradually presents itself to the reader. To better understand and absorb the story, I followed the suggestion of other reviewers of this short novel: as soon as I finished reading it, I went right back to the first page and began again. The second reading, I will add, was perhaps more satisfying than the first.

Through the generosity of the Friends of Becker Library, I was able to attend the National Conference on Youth Cybersafety in Dallas on March 2nd and 3rd, having to do with young people’s lives online. As Librarians, we are often asked to collaborate with our technology department and offer talks about issues of online safety and digital citizenship with students in both a formal and an informal capacity.

I am very grateful to have heard from some leading experts in the field, including Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., Marsali Hancock, Richard Guerry, and Charles Leitch, among others. Each of these speakers offered advice from a unique perspective, as they have occupations ranging from University researcher to law enforcement to counseling. I learned more about the current state of social media and its prominent position in the lives of many young people, as well as response tactics in the face of “cyberbullying” incidents. Breakout sessions allowed for discussion of common “digital dilemmas” and repercussions associated with online activity. Not all of the content of the seminar was cautionary and alarming…one session in particular addressed the positive effects of building a school culture of respect and offered some practical ideas for schools and students in their quests to become more aware of the ways in which online activity reflects upon a community.

Here are some of the sessions I attended:

Building Proactive Offline Teams Ready for Anything Online
Public and Permanent: How You Can Prevent Digital Dilemmas
Cyberbullying: The New Frontier
Together, but Alone: Social Media Generation and How Technology is Changing Our Youth
Cyberbullying: Identification, Prevention, and Response
Safe Social Networking

Please feel free to contact me for additional resources on cybersafety!

January 21st was a special Saturday night in Austin for the many, MANY fans of Young Adult author John Green and his brother, Hank. For the uninitiated, John’s devoted group of readers are called “Nerdfighters” by the author, who has an incredibly popular vlog and a wide influence through his thoughtful books and his omnipresence on the Internet. (By the way, “Nerdfighters” is meant as a high compliment and signifies self-identified “nerds” who like to be informed, celebrate intelligence, do charitable deeds…and, of course, READ!) John and Hank connect on a personal level with the readers by celebrating honesty and individualism. There’s a secret-handshake lexicon of terms that their devotees share, which are summed up by the acronym DFTBA (translation: Don’t Forget to be Awesome).

John and Hank Green. Photo by Jennifer Sturley

John and Hank Green are presently on a cross-country tour to promote John’s newly-published The Fault in Our Stars, which is a poignant novel geared toward young adults. The Fault in Our Stars has been topping the New York Times bestseller list in the last couple of weeks. We were treated to a wonderful reading by John, a rapid-fire Q&A session from both brothers (who have impeccable comic timing honed from posting their many videos to YouTube), and of course, a boisterous singalong with Hank, featuring songs about Quarks and Harry Potter. Proof of the Green brothers’ popularity was evidenced by a packed house of approximately 2000 readers willing to wait for hours after the show for a personalized signature in their pre-signed novels! This event is the type of gathering which absolutely warms the hearts of librarians. What a delight to see a whole auditorium full of avid readers who appreciate big-hearted goofiness and bond over earnest, candid literature.

We at Becker Library would like to extend a sincere “thank you” to all our fantastic Book Fair volunteers, who helped the entire school “Rev Up for Reading.” In keeping with our race car theme, students, parents, and faculty were treated to a display of two classic Porsches and plenty of checkered flags and car images! The rainy, drizzly weather proved to be a boon to business, as many customers spent lots of time browsing and visiting. We are also grateful to Topher Bradfield of BookPeople for his enthusiastic classroom book talks. We applaud the great efforts of Chair Chas Studor and Chair-Elect Amanda Schmidt, along with all the great committee members. Take a victory lap!

Some of our best-selling books at the fair were (in no particular order):

Adult Fiction and Nonfiction

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Young Adult Fiction

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy and Ian Schoenherr
This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell is a confection of a Victorian Gothic romance which contains lots of swoon-worthy elements: a late-19th Century Baltimore backdrop, young ladies of a slightly daring nature, lovely balls in society mansions, supernatural surprises, and…deathly visions.

Miss Amelia van den Broek of Maine travels to Maryland to spend a summer with her well-heeled relatives in order to improve her marriage prospects. She becomes especially close to her cousin, Zora, and their friendship blossoms with shared intrigue and social adventure. They quickly become confidantes as romantic prospects begin to appear around them.

Upon her arrival in Baltimore, Amelia meets and becomes enamored of a magnetic and quite ineligible bachelor artist. By society’s standards, this is a completely unacceptable and forbidden attraction, which doubles its enticement for her. Amelia also finds that she has a strange ability: she can access clear and accurate visions of others’ futures. What begins as a simple “parlor trick” quickly becomes much, much more complicated, as she realizes that her visions, some of which are ruinous and dark, are sought by those in the community wishing to know their fates. Reputations, lives, and the course of true love hang in the balance.

The Vespertine contains voluptuous prose and enough breathless (yet chaste) romance to satisfy anyone looking for a period love story. But there’s more than that: a shadowy and rebellious mood colors the novel and gives it bit more “bite” than one might expect! The Vespertine will be one of my highlighted selections at our upcoming Holiday Book Fair, scheduled for December 1st and 2nd in the Helm Lobby.

Cover image courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I’ve just finished immersing myself in the world of Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding, and I’m reluctant to move on. Set primarily on the campus of a small Wisconsin college on the shore of Lake Michigan, this novel is about baseball–but really about so much more. Henry Skrimshander comes to Westish College as an insecure but talented shortstop from small-town South Dakota; he’s brought there through the forceful confidence of his team captain, the bulky Mike Schwartz. Henry’s gay roommate is the gentle and loveable Owen Dunne, another surprisingly skilled member of the baseball team. The college president is the enigmatic Guert Affenlight, a Melville scholar who was a Westish undergraduate many years earlier; Guert’s daughter Pella returns to Westish after a long absence and becomes entangled with them all. The narrative brings the reader along on a compelling ride, in which we deduce more and more about both baseball and life.

The Herman Melville references have brought me to take another look at Moby-Dick. Ahhh, the joys of thought-provoking literature!

This novel is just one of the many books recommended by faculty members that will be available for sale at the Holiday Book Fair, Dec. 1 & 2 from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. in the Helm Lobby!

Book cover courtesy of Little, Brown and Company.

With over 2,000 attendees this year, the 2011 Austin Teen Book Festival was the biggest and best ever! Keynote speaker and author Scott Westerfeld was featured prominently this year; his Leviathan trilogy inspired the theme of the day: Steampunk! Here’s the day in a nutshell: 28 authors presented and moderated panels, book sales were extremely brisk, costumed performers and teens rubbed shoulders. Kids of all ages donned hats, goggles, and retro accessories and posed in front of a “green screen” to be photoshopped into some fearsome steampunk scenes. Authors signed books for eager readers for over an hour. Original music was performed for excited book-buyers. Zombies did the “Thriller” dance to the delight of at least 800 onlookers. Sound like fun? IT WAS! Plan to make it next year! For more details on all the authors who attended, see: www.austinteenbookfestival.com

St. Stephen’s students act as special hosts for visiting authors

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Author Heather Brewer shows off a specially decorated book-cookie!

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Author Scott Westerfeld greets some creative types!

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Librarian Nita Shuffler and St. Stephen’s students enjoy the Festival

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Librarian Cynthia Bartek and volunteer coordinator: ATBF is totally volunteer-run!

Everyone, mark those calendars!
Austin Teen Book Festival
Saturday, October 1st
Palmer Events Center
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

INFO HERE: http://austinteenbookfestival.com
(See the “Authors” tab for the lineup of writers and book images)

This event is free and open to the public! Our keynote speaker this year is Scott Westerfeld, author of Pretties, Uglies, Leviathan, and other works. This is your chance to hear 29 young adult authors speak on panels, meet authors, purchase books and get them signed!

SEE YOU THERE!

It’s that time of year again! YALSA, the Young Adult division of the American Library Association, is calling all teen readers to vote for their TOP TEN favorites from a list of the standouts of 2011.

Teens can vote now through September 15th at this link: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/teenstopten.cfm

Winners will be announced during Teen Read Week, October 16-22.

Even if you don’t want to vote, this is a GREAT place to go for fresh reading ideas!

Perhaps my favorite summer read this year is Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder. Through the eyes of scientist/physician Marina Singh, this novel brings us from Marina’s research lab in Minnesota all the way into Brazil’s deepest and darkest Amazon, as Marina is assigned to discover what happened to her beloved colleague who has died there. Patchett has done a marvelous job of combining sympathetic characters with strong plot and fascinating setting. I still find myself dreaming of snakes and arrows and impenetrable vegetation, along with wacky and loveable characters and heartbreaking decisions that are made along the way.

Geraldine Brooks has written another fine work of historical fiction, Caleb’s Crossing. The focus of this one, set primarily on Martha’s Vineyard and also in Boston, is the clash of cultures in the 17th Century between the native people and the English Puritans. Bethia Mayfield is the daughter of a minister who has come to the island to convert the natives. As a young and curious girl, the intrepid Bethia secretly befriends a young boy, son of a chief of the Wopanaak tribe. Through this story, the author has woven the known facts about the first Native American graduate of Harvard College, Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk. Brooks’s painstaking historical research and compelling storytelling give the reader an engaging insight into the lives and customs of the native people and of the settlers, and a strong picture of 1600’s Martha’s Vineyard (then known as Noepe) and Boston.