Kansas: The Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum

Subtitle: Summer Reads
 

The Kansas selection from the Epic Reads blog post is a famous story despite many adults and children only recognizing it from the 1939 movie classic, starring Judy Garland. I am definitely one of these populations. I, however, thought it was a boring selection for Kansas. I mean come on! They are only in Kansas for like half a chapter right? So how could I actually make this interesting? I decided to attempt to investigate the readability of graphic novels. Well then the chronic non-finishing sets in and I didn’t finish it. I know, I KNOW! I have problems.

Here is the thing. I saw the movie so many times and even though I have not read the book, I know the differences as I got curious one day and went on glorious Wikipedia for some answers. Yeah everyone gives me flap for that, but it’s more accurate than Brittanica so I feel no guilt!

Anyways, I have decided to move on and do some “fun” reading while on a little vacay. I ended up reading Skinny by Donna Cooner.  First, I will say that this reads like a problem novel just like Laurie Halse Anderson style and is one which I suffered and sometimes still suffer constantly.  Skinny is the story of a girl, Ever Davies, who at the start of the book is 302lbs. After several attempts at dieting and an embarrassing situation at school, Ever decides on gastric bypass. The rest of the book is Ever losing weight, as well as, losing the voice that keeps holding her back from moving on…the voice goes by the name of Skinny.

This book isn’t just for those who feel constantly fat by the voice in their head, it is for anyone who hears a voice that says they are not good enough. I have a little voice like that and so do many of us. I attempt to ignore her and move on and so should you. I am here to say that the voice is NOT true for any of us, we are all wonderful. So tell that voice in your head to shut the eff up. This book is very well written and I recommend it for those like me who have that voice in their head.

Sorry for the short post, but I have more reading to accomplish. This means I have 34 more books to go!

Iowa: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

This posting is very late as I finished this book almost a week ago. It just so happens that this past week was the first week of our Summer Reading Program (SRP for short) and it has left me exhausted.  With it being the weekend, I feel a little more enthusiastic about writing and can tell you what a thrill this book was to read.

Many survival/post-apocalyptic stories of our time have involved the supernatural or fantasy beings such as zombies. In Ashfall, Mike Mullin presents us with a scenario that is more realistic than we think…and it’s terrifying. No joke, I normally do not get freaked out by a book, but Ashfall has me paranoid enough to consider back up plans for the imminent supervolcano eruption. It also led to an investigation of the concept of supervolcano via Wikipedia. The last time any supervolcano erupted was 26,000 years ago (Lake Taupo, New Zealand) and though the worlds supervolcanoes remain quiet at this time, this does not mean an eruption could not happen in our lifetime, though scientists are somewhat skeptical (phew). Even the powers of these volcanic eruptions are larger than life with a thousand times more the power and ejection than a normal eruption like Mount St. Helens. This pretty much has the potential to wipe out most of our species. Now, I am over-dramatizing this a bit (what can I say the thought of human extinction really does freak me out), but if this book got to me that much than that should tell you how well it is written.

Ashfall starts with our main protagonist Alex hanging out home in Cedar Falls, IA and doing normal teen stuff. He’s playing a little World of Warcraft, eating some snackage, and enjoying the time with himself while the rest of his family is with his uncle in Illinois. This serene alone time quickly goes to hell. Loud explosions and volcanic rock destroys most of Alex’s house and he is forced to come up with a survival plan. He stays with neighbors for a little bit, but the violence that ensues causes him to leave to find his family. On his way to Warren, Ill (140 miles away) he experiences the human condition in the time of apocalypse. Pretty much we become satanic, cannibalistic creatures in the name of survival. This is apparent as many strangers try to kill our Alex for food. Also, never step foot in Dubuque because it went crazy. Alex does eventually find companionship in another teen, Darla and they travel together to get to Warren, Ill and Alex’s family. There are a lot of points that I do not want to spoil so the synopsis will end at that. This book being the first in a series (seriously another one?) ends quite abruptly, but the second one is already available to order.

This book is a great action-packed thrill ride and goes on non-stop. Teens who enjoy survival stories, such as Island of the Blue Dolphins, Hunger Games, and Julie of the Wolves would love this new series. There are few eye roll moments that only a YA book could give. For example, Alex and Darla want to have sex, but do not want Darla to get accidentally pregnant. This leads to parts of the story where they are searching for condoms (really kids?) and where I tried very hard to not laugh at the sort of silliness of it. Still, the maturity of Alex and Darla during a time of extinction can be heart wrenching and almost relatable, especially for those teens who too had to grow up quickly.  I recommend that YA collections purchase this book for its appeal to both sexes and just simply so that I can find a library who will have the second book.

That is the Iowa selection for the reading challenge with 15 down, 35 more to go.

Audiobook Awesomeness: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is a very popular series of children’s books, though many teens and adults have enjoyed the colorful scrapes Ms. Ann(e) Shirley experiences.  The story follows an orphan girl who is sent to Green Gables at the request of Maurilla and Matthew Cuthbert (middle aged brother and sister), who are shocked to find she is a girl, not a boy. Whoopsies! After meeting Ann(e), who wants to be called Ann with an E at the end, they decide to keep her as she is spunky, witty, and funny. Maurilla Cuthbert takes it upon herself to raise Ann(e) properly as she did have a lack of propriety. Unfortunately, Ann(e) gets into more misadventures than expected. She gets her bosom friend accidentally drunk, accidentally dyes her green, and loses her temper on multiple occasions.  The book ends rather tragically when Matthew passes away, Maurilla discovers she will be stone-cold blind within months, and the Cuthberts’ entire savings were lost in a Canadian bank collapse. Instead of going off to college, Ann(e) decides to stay and be a teacher at Avonlea School, while helping Maurilla out on Green Gables.  Now Maurilla does not have to sell the property. After everything Maurilla had done for her, Ann(e) decides to pay it forward good for you Ann(e)!

I had read Anne of Green Gables as a child, but definitely did not remember some of the instances in the book. I remember the series being close in comparison to the Little House on the Prairie series. Hey both Laura Ingalls Wilder and Ann(e) Shirley become teachers and are spunky, nature-loving gals.  Now that I have re-discovered the series via Audiobook, I have already suggested this title to many 5^th and 6^th grade girls looking for summer reads featuring girls. Some of have been open to it, others wanted a more contemporary gal (I don’t blame them).

I have to admit that listening to audiobooks have introduced me to more books and classics that I would not read on my own. When I read, I need full on action and engagement with plot. With audiobooks, the plot can be slower as long as the narrator sounds enthusiastic.

In terms of reluctant readers, audiobooks should certainly be highly recommended.  I am trying to convince young readers and parents in graphic novels and audiobooks for the summer.  Even if the book isn’t Moby Dick or a high level of reading, these varied mediums can still help struggling readers to improve their reading performance. Graphic novels yes have more pictures, but plots and vocabulary are on a high level of complexity which is perfect for visual learners. Some are more auditory and therefore audiobooks would work better. I know that I would have preferred to listen to audiobooks and am certain it would have helped me with my English studies.

Just remember fellow librarians that children and adults alike can enjoy different mediums of storytelling.

Preschool Storytime: The Amazing ME!

This storytime had some hits and misses. I took a lot of suggestions from storytime katie and Sunflower Storytime and some worked. I had a few restless children, but I also had 25 kids plus 20 adults. It was a lot for one little room, but I believe this taught me that summer themes need to be simpler. For example, the counting storytime I did in May would have gone wonderfully both with a small group or big group. The Amazing ME topic worked fine with my two year olds, a much smaller group, who were more than happy to shout answers. With 25 preschoolers, shouting caused complete chaos which made part of my storytime frustrating. If I were to do this topic again, I would wait for winter when I usually see around 11-15 kids.

Welcome motion: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

This is a favorite of mine and you will see it often on my storytime lists. I am thinking of doing a multicultural storytime and using this as a base to teach different languages. I can sing the song in French without even thinking about it.

Book: I like myself by Karen Beaumont

This was the favorite of the preschoolers. It gets pretty silly at the end with the horned nose and polka dotted lips, which caused some kids to snicker. I really liked this one too and will definitely use again.

Song: Me, Complete

I have ten little fingers and ten little toes

Two little arms and one little nose

One little mouth and two little ears

Two little eyes for smiles and tears

One little head and two little feet

One little chin and that’s me complete! 
Simple motion to get those wiggles out.

Book: Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore

This one was not as big of a hit as I hoped. I thought the lesson learned from the book would have resonated well. No matter your freckles or glasses or hair color, you should just be you. Even if friends tease you slightly, they are friends and love you for you. I don’t think the kids quite got that. There were parts they loved like the little brother, but I think they tuned out towards the end.

Flannel Board: ME (based on a flannel board by storytime katie)

I used the premise that I can sometimes forget where the different parts of the body go. This was a huge success with the two year old class. I had a small enough group that I had one or two kids come up and show me on the board where the label should go. The preschoolers, however, shouted at me. I tried to reel them in a little by saying can you show me by pointing on you, e.g. hand, foot, shoulder. BUT they mostly just shouted. This is more for a smaller group.

Song: This is way… 
This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face

This is the way we wash our face, so early in the morning.
(Brush our teeth, comb our hair, put on clothes, ask kids for suggestions) 
The goal of this song was to get kids thinking about how they take care of themselves in the morning. Mainly, it was just a nice way to do some basic motions. I like asking the children for suggestions. Some of the ones I heard were eating breakfast, exercising, and driving to school.

Book: Incredible Me by Kathi Appelt

I really like this book. It is super cute and the rhyme scheme is wonderful. Some kids liked this one, but there were some who could not pay attention. I will try this again next winter.

Craft: Coloring portraits. Using template from Sunflower Storytime

I loved everyone’s portraits. I showed mine as an example, but encouraged all children to use whatever colors they wanted and draw whatever features excited them. I had pink and orange hair, creepy teeth, and mixed up eyes. The parents love the coloring crafts as most of these young ones will need to get better before Kindergarten this August.

Indiana: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Subtitle: Audiobook Awesomeness and a Tale of Two Books

It is just by coincidence that these two books came to my attention. While reading the School Library Journal, I came across the review for the novel Mothership by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal.  The review left me intrigued, despite a ridiculous premise. I put my stamp of approval on it and it finally arrived! At the same time the audiobook of The Fault in Our Stars arrived for me as part of the reading challenge and I have spent the past week listening to it to and from work. After listening/reading both these titles I have found that even though they have very different premises, these titles have very similar features. I want to first discuss The Fault in Our Stars.  Remember there be SPOILERS ahead!

Review of The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars is a story about Hazel Lancaster who is a terminally ill cancer patient with depression (which of course is kind of a duh). That is until she meets Augustus Waters at Cancer Support Group. Though Augustus has a different outlook on life as a cancer patient, Hazel finds herself drawn to him.  They fall in love, but it does not take too long for there to be a problem in paradise. As fate would have it, Augustus cancer returns and takes his life. The story follows Hazel as she deals with love and pain.

The writing is witty and funny and I found myself laughing along. Then automatically, I felt horrible for laughing at the sarcastic banter about cancer and teens dying, especially puns at the expense of the disabled. For example the character Isaac has a rare eye cancer, which led to an operation that leaves him blind. Unfortunately, there are multiple occasions where I could not help but giggle because I have a weird pun-tastic sense of humor. The phrases were similar to (not exact lines, but remember I did not read this) the phrases that follow: “It will all get better, you’ll SEE”, “People are so BLIND…”, “Why can’t anyone SEE that?” Again, I laughed and I could not help it.

Besides funny, the story is a real tearjerker. I probably would have cried if I read it, but it felt 1,000 times more emotional listening to the narrator. It made for more emotional days at work than I would like to actually admit.  Yeah that was me coming into the parking lot, face drenched in tears. Specifically this happened when Hazel discovered Augustus’ eulogy for her. Okay tearing up again writing this.

Additionally, I love that The Fault in Our Stars had well developed characters. Hazel and Augustus are wonderful and show strength as well as vulnerability.  Augustus also has one of my favorite quotes, “That's the thing about pain...it demands to be felt.” I can’t imagine the situation these teens are in, but in many ways I feel I understand how they feel. Is that crazy? If I were a terminally ill teen, I think I would have the same depression that Hazel endures as well as the same outlook as Augustus. I feel their love is telling us a different story of cancer, a story we would not normally know.  In a way, this made them relatable, despite being in a situation that most of us can’t imagine.

My one comment is the language. Whenever Augustus and Hazel discussed An Imperial Affliction (a fictitious title written by Hazel's fake idol Peter van Houten), I felt they spoke more mature than most teenagers. When I hear teenagers speak, they do not sound as thoughtful or deep as Hazel Grace and Gus.  My reference for this comes from working at the children’s section of the library. There are teens that say “liberry cahrd,” so hardly Einsteins.  I can; however, get over this, as the writing is still beautiful.

Review of Mothership

Mothership is a complete contrast to The Fault in Our Stars. In Mothership, we deal with teen pregnancy…and aliens.  Elvie Nara is a typical teenage girl with typical teenage girl problems in the year 2074. The hottest guy in school, Cole Archer, wants her and so she gives him what he wants. This then leads to a story that resembles that of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Elvie is preggers. While she attends Hanover Academy for Pregnant Teens, the spaceship (?) is hijacked by “hot commandos” who of course includes Cole.  As it turns out (oh lord this is hard to explain), Elvie is carrying one kind of race of alien baby and her teachers at the Academy are the evil race trying to kill her alien baby. Yeah, that’s the plot of this first book. Don’t run away just yet, it was a delightful surprise.

Yes, the plot is completely…uh redonk, but it was not written to be beautiful. It was written to be funny and funny it was. I mean, you would read this book as a summer read, not for any academic purpose.  There are some definite dark comedic moments, such as pregnant teens suffocating, drowning, and getting decapitated, but this was just so cheesetastic that I can’t wait for book two.

The topic of teen pregnancy and sex could make parents uneasy, but this is for older teens.  Also, the scenes describing the death of many pregnant teens can be a bit disturbing. Additionally, there are heavy topics involved that could raise some brows. For example, there is a discussion in the book about a disease called CMS. It is a developmental disorder that they can detect in the womb and you can decide whether to terminate, in fact most people terminate.  Then there is the topic of abortion. In the future abortions are only allowed within two weeks of conception.  I want to so desperately try to think of a reason that these topics could be heavily discussed in a comedy, but I can’t.

Commonality

Both titles have a strong, well-developed female lead with excellent secondary characters.  Hazel pushes past her depression and admitting her feelings to her parents, while nine month preggers Elvie saves an entire ship of pregnant girls. Secondly, each work uses wit and sarcasm to tell its respective story; however, as you noticed there is significant difference. Lastly, I laughed at each one, though for very different reasons.

Though both books use wit and sarcasm to tell their story, each story had a different tone. Mothership was specifically for comedic purposes and offered a more accurate voice of the teen. Though I felt that the word “da fu” (meaning WTF) was overused to the point where it wasn’t that funny anymore.  The Fault in Our Stars used sarcasm in a darker manner. Hazel and Augustus are very much a clever and witty couple and use sarcasm to speak their feelings.

With Indiana complete, that is 14 down and 36 more to go.

                                                                                                                                         

Preschool Storytime: This Place is a Zoo!

This was a fun storytime and left me exhausted beyond belief. I also realize that I have not done a good job referencing my sources for these storytimes (how wrong of me!). I mainly use storytime katie and Sunflower Storytime as my muse and inspiration so you should check them out. There are plenty of others that escape me, but one day I will share a resources page with you guys.

Welcome song: Going to the Zoo

A great welcome song. Very fun!

Book: My heart is like a zoo by Michael Hall

The kids thought this book was silly enough and laughed through it. I made sure to let them know it was ok to laugh at the book with me. To do this, I did the rhymes in silly voices.

Song: If you’re a …..

If you’re a lion and you know it, roar like this, ROAR
If you’re a lion and you know it, roar like this, ROAR
If you’re a lion and you know it and you really want to show it
If you’re a lion and you know it, roar like this, ROAR
(hyena/ HEEHEE, zebra/STOMP, elephant/trumpet VROOOT, VROOOT)
The kids love it when we do animal voices, so this was a success.

Book: Two at the Zoo by Danna Smith

A great counting book for the kids.

Song: 5 Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree

If I could, I would have this song at every storytime I do. Preschoolers at my branch adore this song so much that I see them clap on their way leaving storytime.

Book: Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

I know, I KNOW! This technically does not involve the zoo, but it does have zoo animals and is a favorite. Even though this book is rather long, all the kids and their parents loved it.

Song: (To the tune to “We’re on our way to Grandpa’s farm) 
We’re on our way, we’re on our way
On our way to see the zoo.
We’re on our way, we’re on our way
On our way to see the zoo.
Over at the zoo there is a big polar bear
Over at the zoo there is a big polar bear
The bear, it makes a noise like this:
Growl, growl!
The bear, it makes a noise like this:
Growl, growl!
(Great big snake…ssss, Big strong lion…roar, take suggestions from kids)
I loved this and the suggestions the kids gave. Then there was one kid who decided to suggest a penguin. Oops. Luckily, I came up with “the penguin, it walks a lot like this (waddle waddle).” Genuis!

Craft: coloring book

For some reason I was really lazy and decided to print out some coloring book pages of zoo animals. The preschoolers and parents enjoyed it because as the parents told me, their children could always work on their coloring skillz.