At the New Library

At the big library, people often have to wait -- fairly politely and patiently, I will say -- for a public computer to be free. Many like to sit at one work table in particular, sometimes grabbing a book or magazine to look at while they wait. Folks seldom return these items, so I have made wandering over there an excuse to get up, and clean up.

Today's find on that table: Name that Cat: Over 1000 Inventive and Colorful Names. It seems tongue-in-cheek serious, with entries like

"Grapes. M/F. This kitten's dispositions is on the sour side, and he's the first to complain."

and

"Scraps. M/F/ Scraps likes to mix it up with the poodle next door."

and even "Mister Softee. M. For the cat who's a real pushover."


The section on entertainers (and fictional characters) is useful, if dated. May I interest you in Clark Kent, Elvis, Figaro, Fonzi or Ellwood (from the Jimmy Stewart movie Harvey, not from The Blues Brothers)?

Literary: Blanche, Dinah, Fagin, Poirot, Walden. (Not Mink [Snopes], though.)

Picking Sides

Perhaps the best way to see if I am Team Zombie or Team Unicorn is to assess each story. (Note to anyone wanting to rush out and get the book for a young person: there's a good bit of swearing and some mature themes: it's not the next thing to get your fan of Goosebumps books.) (Note to self: can I stack up colons like that?)


Zombies vs. Unicorns, Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black, editors (2010)


"Highest Justice," Garth Nix - middle-weight fairy tale (unicorns: +2)

"Love Will Tear Us Apart," Alaya Dawn Jackson - pretty good love story; why do I feel like I don't get the ending? (zombies: +2)

"Purity Test," Naomi Novik - after various bit of suspense and bloodshed, ends with the line "okay - you know what, just shut up and give me some more chocolate milk." (unicorns: +4)

"Bougainvillea," by Carrie Ryan - elaborate, sad, bloody (zombies: +1)

"A Thousand Flowers," Margo Lanagan - medieval, sad, upper-tier fairy tale (unicorns: +3)

"Children of the Revolution," by Maureen Johnson - hauntingly awesome; captures the college-aged woman's voice perfectly (zombies: +5)

"The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn," Diana Peterfreund - freakin' awesome killer unicorn story, layered in with the a teen's struggle to know what her faith calls upon her to do (unicorns: +5)

"Inoculata," Scott Westerfeld - he's such a masterful describer of post-apocalyptic worlds and he captures/creates the language of young people so nicely that I'll give this one high marks even though bits are a lot like Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth (zombies: +4)

"Princess Prettypants," Meg Cabot - this hysterical story is the only thing by Cabot I have really liked! I may have to give her books another chance. (unicorns: +5)

"Cold Hands," Cassandra Clare - heavy-duty fairy tale-with-implied-lesson. Damn. (zombies: +4)

"The Third Virgin," Kathleen Duey - poignant; wished it had more depth (unicorns: +3)

"Prom Night," Libba Bray - while I love her off-the-wall humor: an ugly prom dress is an "unholy union of Hot Topic and mother-of-the-bride," another bleak zombie story is another bleak zombie story. Or were those fireworks a symbol of hope? (zombies: +3)

Looks like Team Unicorn for me! It strikes me that there's more room for variation in world-building for unicorns than for zombies, but great writing can take the day.















See also: Tor's interview with the cover artist, Josh Cochran.

Ref Grunt

Book about a battle -- turns out to be a scholarly article, so we don't have it.

Copier.

Eavesdrop on one woman asking another where she got the Betty Boop purse.

Vampirates (his grown up asserted "there's no such thing")

Try to track down someone with a huge, terrible cough - turns out to be smallish older woman who needs The Help, in large print.

Woman is haughty about having to reserve a study room and agree to use room policies.

Award summer reading prizes.

Second encounter with a woman with whom I talked about books being in the teen area not because they are harder to read but because the topics are for more mature readers. Her boy (7? 8? -- but an Advanced Reader) did not like Grisham's Kid Lawyer book. Let me know it really isn't for younger kids. Got it.

Change is in the Air

We're re-arranging some staff in my library system -- as a hiring freeze keeps us from replacing folks who have left over the past year and a half -- and I need to pack up my stuff and head to one of the big libraries soon. Yeah, that's right: I moved house in February (learned a new phone number), got new phones at this lib (learned a new phone number), and now I need to move my office (and learn another new number!). Once again, I am becoming friends with copier paper boxes full of things I think I need at the new place. As at home, I am trying to toss unneeded stuff, rather than move it across town. Pictured below, two items I won't move. The 1970s GRE prep book was donated to us. You know, for the collection or book sale. Because patrons always ask for oldest test help book we have. Or - no -- because a professor writing a definitive history of test prep books might shop our book sale!

The gems below (scanner made them washed out - click and they look better) have been on my cubicle wall, to make me smile. The note reports a patron's comments to a circ staff member. I agreed with the patron that the book was too old to be useful in a public library collection and withdrew it. Someone drew the bugs on a bit of scrap paper and left it by a computer. I think I found it the year the summer reading club had the theme "catch the reading bug," but these weren't like any of the official art. They were much more fun.

Technology

By random drawing, our library system will give away a Kindle this summer. Maybe one quarter of my branch's patron's say "what's that?" when I tell them. Meanwhile, according to this LA Times item, early adapters face prejudice -- perhaps linked to the inability to identify the object and its purpose.

Etiquette

On facebook the other evening, a friend posted an emergency call to friends on her street: "anyone have a dollar? The tooth fairy needs to visit!" People immediately replied with variations on Yes (including an offer of a gold $1 coin), or "darn, no," or at least "I've been in this straight, before too!" stories. One friend wrote "Best.Post.Ever." But one or two folks seem to chide her for the practice - give her a note, a small present instead they implored. Which could be a great tradition, but she asked for a dollar: this is what her family does. And perhaps this is Child #2: really unfair to change it up on her. Save your advice. Help or bite your tongue.

I could be too sensitive; maybe it was all in the spirit of Sharing Traditions. Just goes to show that typed words can be harder to interpret than spoken.

Even the New Yorker Has Something to Say about YA Lit

For a nice introduction to dystopian novels for teens, take a look at t Laura Miller's article "Fresh Hell" in The New Yorker (June 14 & 21, 2010). She focuses on Suzanne Collins' fine Hunger Games, gives Scott Westerfeld's Uglies its due, and notes other works.

Miller notes why such novels -- series, often -- appeal: with so many hovering parents, any adventure is welcome; the pool of ideas is deep, and as "new" readers, teens don't mind if the plot is kinda like that one Twilight Zone episode; and they are not didactic. In fact, she asserts

Dystopian fiction may be the only genre written for children that's routinely less didactic than its adult counterpart. It's not about persuading the reader to stop something terrible from happening -- it's about what's happening, right this minute, in the stormy psyche of the adolescent reader.

To sum up, Miller points us to Westerfeld's observation that perhaps dystopias appeal "'partly thanks to high school being a dystopia.'" Even if the machinations of the dystopia change, Miller predicts, the appeal to teens of stories set in a broken world, won't go away.

Great Book

As ever, I don't remember why Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande appeared on my To Read list. I do know that I am digging her writing! Check out this scene in a high school science class:

The teacher, Ms. Shepherd says, "Because if you don't believe in evolution, then you must not believe that diseases change over time. In which case, there wold be no need for anyone to get new flu shots every year, because obviously if we've been vaccinated once, that should last forever, right?"
"Brilliant," Casey whispered.
"Just something to think about," Ms. Shepherd said. And then the bell rang.
And I just sat there. I didn't want to move. I wanted to sit there and understand everything I'd just heard.
Because until that moment, i was only sort of paying attention. I was treating biology like any other one of my classes -- just something to learn so I could get a good grade and move on. I appreciated that Ms. shepherd was making it fun and interesting, but it was still just a class.
But as of today, I have to admit: I have a crush on science.
Can you love a thought? Can you love a concept?
Nor to be too dramatic, but when Ms. Shepherd explained that about the flu shot and about us all being freaks of nature, it was like something reach inside my chest and yanked on my soul. Like somebody opened up my head and shouted down into my brain, "Do you get? Mena, are you listening?"

Didja like it? Go get a copy!

Late Last Night

After signing up folks for our Summer Reading Club, it had gotten pretty quiet at my lib. I might even admit to having zoned out for a bit. At about 8:44, I had to snap back into action and do readers' advisory for a reluctant reader (teen boy) and for a young man (teen, 20-something?) who wanted science fiction recommendations. Between them, Intertwined, one of the James Pattersons, Feed, Leviathan, and a couple of other things went out the door -- just in time to lock up at 9!

Despite this, I have got to brush up on my s/f.

Just Sayin

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