He's such a rockstar...

Neil Gaiman has an interview in the Guardian. Check it out.

I guess this is my welcome to children's librarianship

So a woman comes in today insisting that she be allowed to sign her 14 month old up for my storytime for two year olds. She kept telling me it wasn't fair to restrict ages when it was a public library. That's what she said over and over, "but this is a public library." So apparently public means that everyone can do whatever they want. Ugh. I tried explaining to this woman, I really did. I explained the program wasn't developmentally appropriate. I explained that I was waiting for more two's to sign-up. Then I did something I probally shouldn't have done and said we could see how sign-up went and re-visit the issue in a few weeks. Very bad, I know but I don't want the moms hating me already!

Oh then I saw this mom back in the children's section of the library a few hours later. You have a baby, Lady. He can't read! Take him outside. He does not need to spend that much time in the freaking library.

Kid Lit in the News

There's a great article on the pleasures of Madeline L'Engle's books on Slate today. Read it here.

They sure are making it easy!

If people keep checking books out and then refusing to return them (aka: stealing them) at this rate, I'll have a really great display for banned book week all set up for me. The latest it this girl in Alabama refusing to return Ellen Wittinger’s Sandpiper to her school library.

Sigh

Just in time for Banned Book week there's this.

What's wrong with people? A woman in Miami tried the same stunt with Vamos a Cuba. So I guess the lesson they want to send to those kids they are trying so desperately to protect is: stealing is okay, in fact, it's a good thing and if you have a problem solve it by breaking the law rather than trying to go about making changes in a legal manner.

I don't like change!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Here's whats new:

I went to Miami last week. I visited friends and family, went to Rosh Hashanah services, made two Rosh Hashanah dinners, shopped with Mom, biked with Dad, and swam in the pool. It was lovely.

Then, I started my new job as a youth services librarian. Today was only day two but its pretty good so far. Arlington does thing differently from Alexandria so there's a lot to get used to. I miss my friends at my old job and I think I might be a bit more lonely here. But loneliness might be good. I'll get more work done for sure.

Whew! I guess it's not really that much, but boy have I been stressed. I think it's good to write it down because then I can see how good I actually have it. Hopefully I'll get into the swing of things in the next week or so.

Poetry Friday: Nelson, My Dog

Gary Soto's poems about his dog almost made me want to go home and play with Emerson. Almost.

Like the cat he scratches the flea camping in fur.
Unlike the cat he delights in water up to his ears.
He frolics. He catches a crooked stick –
On his back he naps with legs straight up in the air.
Nelson shudders awake. He responds to love
From head to tail...

Read the poem here.

Sad News

Author Madeline L'Engle died at 88 on Thurday. In honor of her, and my grandfather who passed away earlier this week, is this quote from The Small Rain:

"But there is something about Time. The sun rises and sets. The stars swing slowly across the sky and fade. Clouds fill with rain and snow, empty themselves, and fill again. The moon is born, and dies, and is reborn. Around millions of clocks swing hour hands, and minute hands, and second hands. Around goes the continual circle of the notes of the scale. Around goes the circle of night and day, the circle of weeks forever revolving, and of months, and of years."

Poetry Friday: Naming the Stars

Read this week's poems here.

It's rather interesting to think about the way we commemorate tragedies in our news driven society. And since we just passed the anniversary of Katrina, this poem made me pause.

On the subject of Tango...

It tops the list.

From Harriet to Tango

I just re-read this article from the Horn Book's K. T. Horning about the gay subtext of Harriet the Spy. I'd read it a while ago but this time it got me thinking about other books, particularly And Tango Makes Three. I am so glad that books like Tango exist today. I think that it's important to have both types of books, those that like Harriet have a gay subtext and those like Tango, where gay characters are simply part of the text. But the one thing I am reminded of, after reading Horning's article, is how life changing it can be for children to see themselves in a book.

Montreal Pics

My favorite is Jason and Josh "falling" off the mountain. And that fish. Who knew fish were so hard to photograph?

Montréal était très amusement

Back from Montreal. Aside from the hellish 12 hours it took for us to get back to Philly, plus the two it took us to get home the next morning, the trip was much fun. The hotel was very nice and in a great location. And true to my word, I did my best to eat my way through the city. We had pho and bagels and poutine (fries smothered in gravy and cheese) and croissants galore. And of course, getting to hang out with our dear friends was the best part. However, if you are ever going to Montreal I recommend the botanical gardens. They were beautiful. Pictures to follow, I promise. I just have to get them uploaded.

In other news, I have accepted a new job as a children's librarian at a new library. I am both terribly stressed out and excited by this turn of events. I'm sad because I will miss my co-workers but this is what I've been working towards. If only I didn't work with such a fun group!

Oh Canada!

We head off to Montreal tonight. Yay for all the yummy food I can't wait to eat. Yay for no work for five whole days. Yay for vacations!

YA Book Recommendation of the Moment

I just finished Un Lun Dun by China Mieville and since I've had a few people ask me for book recommendations recently, I thought I'd put this one out there. It's a pretty familiar plot; young girl finds herself in a fantastic "other world" and must rely on wits and friends to save the day. But the book has a cleverness that is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth and a heroine that's a sort of cross between Lyra from the Golden Compass and Harry Potter's Hermione Granger. It's really a creative, fun fantasy.

Next book on my list is Eclipse, the next of Stephanie Meyer's vampire series. I know, I know, a vampire series. Maybe it's a hold over from my Christopher Pike reading middle school days but I am really into her books and they really are incredibly well written. I'm first on the hold list for this new one.

Poetry Friday: The Poets' Grimm

This week's poem is from an anthology called The Poets' Grimm: 20th Century Poems from the Grimm Fairy Tales. Looks like a good read for anyone who's into fractured fairy tales. It almost makes me want to be a teacher again so I could use it in the classroom. Almost.

Snow White Turns 39 by Anne Sheldon

I'm planning how to break a talking mirror:

hammer and earplugs. Seven years of bad luck?

Better than that Bette Davis cackle

every morning when I hit the sink

Read the whole poem here.

"The Compound"

So, I'm home now and I survived Josh's family reunion. I think that I'm okay up there as long as we make a whole lot of side trips and I don't have to spend a significant amount of time with crazy relatives. We took a trip to Woodstock, which is very cute and full of leftover hippies and we hiked around a bit. Unfortunately, the crazy relative part was hard to avoid this time as it was a family reunion. But I got to hang out with my awesome niece and paint pictures and avoid the crazies, so that helped.

Poetry Friday

Since I'm on a kick with poems I loved in highschool, this Friday's poem is Skunk Hour by Robert Lowell. All the angst in the world seemed to be summed up in those two lines:

I myself am hell,

nobody's here--

Read the whole poem here.

Spoiling Harry Potter and beyond

There's been some interesting discussion over at the Horn book blog about the uproar over the NY Times reviewing Harry Potter before its release. I kind of love that Roger Sutton warned against creating "a willfully infantilized culture of suspense junkies." Now I am a HP fan. I have been since I read the first three books in college. But I think if people are honest they'd agree that they are the type of reading that does not require deep analysis. Rowling likes to fully explain everything, repeatedly. I still like the books, but I can admit that's the type of reading they are.

This article, however, put me over the edge. Don't click on it if you don't want to read spoilers. And while you're at it. Stop reading here.

Now, are we really so unimaginative, so incapable of creative thought, that we need an encyclopedia to tell us every little detail that Rowling couldn't fit into the epilogue! I think this exactly the "willfully infantilized culture of suspense junkies" Roger was talking about. Can nothing be left up to the reader. Are we really such babies that we can't be trusted to imagine what the world of HP might be like 19 years after the book! I mean it's not as if Rowling needs more money. No, this takes not trusting the intelligence of the reader to a whole new level. And somehow, this links to my mind to the standardized testing in our schools. It's the same sort of killing of creativity. The same idea that there can only be one right answer, one way of interpreting things, and anything else is wrong.

Poetry Friday

This weeks poem is by Sharon Olds, because I love her.

Rite of Passage
by Sharon Olds

As the guests arrive at our son’s party
they gather in the living room—
short men, men in first grade
with smooth jaws and chins.
Hands in pockets, they stand around
jostling, jockeying for place, small fights
breaking out and calming. One says to another
How old are you? —Six. —I’m seven. —So?
They eye each other, seeing themselves
tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their
throats a lot, a room of small bankers,
they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you
up, a seven says to a six,

Link to the whole poem here.