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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A Short Cut

A a public librarian, I find reading book reviews an invaluable time-saver. A good review (The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post) summarizes the book, compares it other things, and gives an assessment of its worth. The New Yorker offers many kinds of reviews, some under the expansive heading "Critic at Large." One of these, by Hilton Als in the April 26, 2010 issue, filled me in on Tyler Perry. His Don't Make a Black Woman Take off Her Earrings... was wildly popular here. For some reason, I had imagined his Madea as an incarnation of Flip Wilson's Geraldine, or someone low and raunchy. Instead I find - duh! - stories (plays and movies and books and TV shows) featuring exactly the kinds of suffering-but-triumphant Christian characters many of our patrons relate to and enjoy. I can't read and watch everything: thanks, Mr. Als, for keeping my understanding nuanced.

Suggestion box gem!

Controlled Vocabulary vs Natural Language

I just finished Libby Bray's witty, dark, deep Going Bovine and added it to my Shlefari. "How shall I tag it," I asked myself (yes, I not only talk to myself, I also use words like "shall" - deal with it). I never remember if I prefer "urban fantasy" or "alt fantasy"; should I choose "death and dying" from the suggested tags?; "road trip" goes without saying.

Then, for whatever reason, I took a look at the catalog record: "automobile travel - fiction" and "Bovine spongiform encephalopathy - fiction" and "dwarfs - fiction" -- seriously? I never considered that buddy Gonzo's dwarfism was part of the "aboutness" of the book. And why on earth isn't "road trip" a proper subject heading?

One thing subject headings (controlled vocabulary) and tags (natural language) can do is get us back to the book, even if it word or scene in our mind isn't a critical part of the book's aboutness. Imagine a patron saying, My friend told me about this book about a guy with mad cow disease who goes on a road trip with this other guy and they pick up a talking yard gnome. You'd want to try key words like "road trip" and "yard gnome" in your search. In library school, we certainly didn't memorize massive lists of subject headings, but we know how they work. Through practice, we learn to type things like "theater vocational guidance" to replace the patron's "get theater jobs" and, it seems, "automobile travel" for "road trips."

Concentration

I wonder if one could use Facebook to build - or at least tone - one's memory? Can I teach myself to remember that E's status that I "liked" earlier this morning was that she got into graduate school, and, therefore, all the notifications that others commented on her status are likely to be of the "way to go variety," and so I need not keep clicking on them??

What is the Use of a Book Without Pictures of Conversations?

The fab Scott Westerfeld invites conversation on pictures at the Reader Girlz blog.

Like some people who commented, I found the pictures for his latest, Leviathan, helpful as I don't have the right sort of imagination for war machines. The illustrations made vivid scenes that might have been blurry to me without the help. On the other hand, his Uglies series was full of things I could picture -- though I wouldn't be surprised if I have hoverboards "wrong" -- and I could have even done without the cover pictures forcing faces on me.