Tales from a Loud Librarian

Read my blog post on YALSA's The Hub I strongly believe that belonging to professional organizations is crucial to my development to be a better librarian. Some of the organizations that I belong to include: JSLA, LASL , LLA , LACUE , ALA , AASL , and YALSA . Yes, it can get expensive because I have to pay for these memberships as my school does not, but through these organizations, I can network with my peers, get professional development, and find materials online that can help me do my job. Because I get so much out of both the state and national organizations to which I belong, I also like to give back. So when I was asked to chair the YALSA Local Area Task Force for ALA 2018 , I agreed. ALA is having its annual conference in New Orleans at the end of June. I am beyond excited because I have not attended since 2013. Though I belong to the school librarian's division of ALA, AASL, I have done most of my volunteering with the Young Adult division, YALSA.  Part of ...

The authors were anxiously waiting for me to get my question out While on vacation in early June, I got an email from Octavia Books, a local independent bookstore in New Orleans, asking me if I would be interested in moderating a panel of YA authors. As soon as I heard who they were, I sent back a resounding yes. I had read books by all four authors and was certainly anxious to meet them. The panel was set for July 11th which meant that I had about a month to read the four books that they would be touting at the event.   Being prepared is really important to me. The publishers sent me three of the books in a timely fashion, and by the time I got home from my trip, there were two books waiting for me. I got to reading. I began with Sarah Mlynowski's book, I See London I See France . She writes middle grade too, but this is the first YA book that she has done in awhile. It is the story of two nineteen year old girls, and their adventures as they backpack across Eur...

Last year, I had planned to take members of Bookmarked to Baton Rouge for the annual book festival. The predicted rain storms kept us away which was a good thing because the festival closed early due to the rain, and the book tents had ankle deep water. For 2016, I again planned a trip to Baton Rouge for the festival , and the day was glorious with sunshine and warmth. Cooking Demonstration Tent  Four students met me on the steps of the State Library of Louisiana to begin our day. We started in the cooking demonstration tent where Shelly Rushing Tomlinson was reading a story from her cookbook. She is a humorist, but I don't think her funny family stories were appreciated by the teens. They did eat her crackers and pimento cheese, though.  Susan Vaught and Rita Williams-Garcia   Next we went to hear authors Susan Vaught and Rita Williams-Garcia . This was so cool. We walked into an almost empty room where Susan was sitting and waiting to begin. When ...

Senior, Destiny Burnett and her mentor, Susan Larson I am writing this post to brag about the president of Bookmarked and share some links showcasing her wonderful writing skills and ability to offer insightful reviews for the books she reads. Destiny has been in the high school book group since she was a freshman, and she is an avid reader and reviewer. Bookmarked members have been writing reviews and nominating books for YALSA's Teen's Top Ten since 2010. The group also reviewed books over an 18 month period for SLJTeen . During that time Destiny had six book reviews published as well as an author interview which you can read here .  When I heard that Destiny was looking for a mentor for senior project, I knew just the person, but there was a problem. Destiny wanted an internship with an anthropologist. Lucky for her we couldn't find someone like that to mentor her. I have known Susan Larson a long time, and I knew that the two of them would make a connection. S...

I was not familiar with the RT Book Lover's Convention until one of the other librarians in my district mentioned that she was going. At first I didn't really understand why she was so excited. RT, romantic times, did that mean a convention about those books with hunks baring their chests on the cover? I guess that there is some of that because I saw signs advertising Harlequin romance novels in the hotel. Melissa Marr, Gayle Forman and P. C. Cast pose with Destiny Interactive YA writing panel with Malinda Lo, Melissa Marr, Gayle Forman, Beth Revis, Aprilynne Pike and P.C. Cast and moderated by David Macinnis Gill Liars' YA panel moderated by Kelley Armstrong with Tamora Pierce, Carrie Ryan, Kiera Cass, Colleen houck and Rachel Caine Actress, Liana Liberato and author, Gayle Forman talk about making the movie for Forman's book, If I Stay Traditionally, on the Saturday of the convention, teens are invited to spend the day ...

picture by Tom Lowenberg of Octavia Books It all started when a librarian in my district contacted me when she heard the Dark Days Tour was going to visit New Orleans this year. Five authors would be speaking on the panel:  Veronica Rossi ,  Tahereh Mafi ,  Sophie Jordan ,  Kiersten White  and  Claudia Gray .  The librarian was hoping that one of the authors might be making a school visit. The tour is a grueling week where the authors make appearances in four different cities. A school visit was not going to happen. (My colleague couldn't even attend the event herself because she was needed as a chaperone for her school's band that was marching in one of the first Mardi Gras parades of the season.) When I talked to Judith Lafitte at Octavia Books , where the event was to be held, she mentioned that she needed a moderator. I suggested one of my students (Paris Evans) could do it. She is the head of Bookmarked and is willing to jump into any...

Lauren Myracle and Michael Buckley with their newest books, and the Loud Librarian on the right Ya Authors: Lauren Myracle, Siobhan Vivian and Jenny Han

Thomas waiting to speak at the YALSA BFYA session Every year during both the Mid-Winter and Annual conferences for ALA, YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) invites local teens to visit the conference one day to speak at the Best Fiction for Young Adult Committee meeting. It is a great day where the kids get to give their opinions on what they have read to the committee members, get fed by Penguin Publishers and meet many of the authors of the books that they have read and loved. I took a group of ten kids when ALA was in New Orleans in 2011. One of the members of Bookmarked, pictured above, spends his summers in Chicago with relatives. He didn't get to attend ALA in New Orleans, so I invited him to spend Saturday, June 29th with me.  Thien Pham on the left and Gene Yang on the right Hanging out in Artist Alley at ALA We started the morning at an interview of author/illustrator Gene Yang by his friend and collaborator Thien Pham . I knew that Thomas...

Find the reviews here All three teen reviews in this edition of SLJTeen were written for books by established authors. Many of the teens have favorite authors that they will read regardless of the quality of the book, but it is nice to hear that the students enjoyed these books by Sarah Dessen, Francesca Lia Block and Jaclyn Moriarity. Click here to read the reviews .

In this week's edition of  SLJTeen, one student is featured as book reviewer. Vy Mai writes reviews of Nobody's Secret by  Michaela  Maccoll  and Bi-Normal by M. G. Higgins. Click here to read her take on these two books .  Click here to read the reviews

I must have been crazy when I planned our return to school from Mardi Gras break.  On Monday, Bookmarked will be skyping with Corey Whaley , the author of Where Things Come Back . Corey recently moved back to Louisiana but in the northern part of the state. I was hoping that we could get him to visit us in person, but his schedule just wasn't going to allow it. He agreed to the skype, and I think that the students in Bookmarked will probably enjoy that visit almost as much.  Open here to listen to interview with the author on The Reading Life Then on Tuesday, I was able to schedule Ruta Sepetys , author of Out of the Easy, to come visit us. She is making a world tour for her book, and her time in New Orleans is really tight. However, this book is set in New Orleans, and I had several students who read it and loved it. I thought it was one of the best books that I have read in a really long time. So I knew that I wanted her to visit Patrick Taylor. Unfortunate...