Tales from a Loud Librarian

Last night was a real treat. I took a couple of former students to dinner, and then we went to see the touring John and Hank Green show. John Green  is the author of some of my favorite young adult literature titles. He is on tour for the New York Times bestselling book The Fault in Our Stars or TFiOS as he likes to abbreviate it. John Green The brothers are making 17 stops on this tour. At each stop they are performing at a venue of around 500. There were sell outs in the 6 cities before New Orleans and though NOLA didn't sell out, there were over 450 people in the audience last night. I was blown away because I knew so many of them. I did not see any librarians that I knew, but the audience was made up of mostly teens and 20 somethings. So there were a lot of my former students there. Every time I turned around, someone else was calling out "Ms. Kahn" to me. That made it a lot of fun. John and his brother Hank created a Youtube channel called the Vlog Brothers . ...

Happy New Year one and all. I have been spending my day (in between going to parties) creating the tenth episode of Get Reading: digital booktalks for teens who love to read. In this edition, I highlight two new dystopian series: Divergent by Veronica Roth and Delirium by Lauren Oliver . Watch the video to find out more.

Not everyone likes to read the same kinds of books. Selecting what to read next can often be an arduous task for some, especially those reluctant readers.   I encourage all students to read, and if technology is king in your home, then there are some great new tools that can be used to tie the Internet to books. You can use these tools for book recommendations or even help with book selection for holiday gifts. Author, James Patterson, believes students must be good readers to find successful careers, and I agree with him. He is all about finding books that mean something to you. He has created a website called Read Kiddo Read to recommend good books for students. Barb Langridge has created   a phenomenal website about books called A Book and A Hug . The website may have an elementary look about it, but she has lists of good books for tweens and teens. There are also some great author videos that your child might like.  StorySnoops was created by four mom...

We need the students to read their email every day;  it is a part of the culture of the school. However, the students do not always comply and read their messages. Periodically, since school began, I have had an email contest to get the students to read their email. I send out a message to all the students after school hours. The email details the rules of the contest and how the students should respond. After the AASL conference I came home with so many t-shirts that I decided that the shirts would make great prizes for a contest. I set up a google form for the students to use to respond. The students needed to tell me what book character they would be if they could choose anyone from a favorite book, and they also had to tell me why they selected that character. Twenty percent of the student body responded, and all of the answers were very thoughtful.  Below is a word cloud from Tagul (a new tool that I just found today) that I created as a visual representation ...

Though I have not been posting many book reviews, I have had lots to write over the last couple of months. You may think that I am not reading, but that is not the case. I have been reading some amazing books. It's just that I am doing so many other things that I want to blog that my book reviews never happen to find their way into print. During AASL in Minneapolis, I was invited to an intimate luncheon courtesy of Little Brown . (Thanks, Victoria, lunch was delicious.) The luncheon was the debut of Kelly Barnhill , a Minnesotan author, and her first book, The Mostly True Story of Jack . This is the book that got me through my plane ride home. The story has a male protagonist and is geared for the middle school student. I love having a strong story about a boy for this age level. Jack is dumped at his Aunt and Uncle's house in Iowa. His parents live in California and believe with their impending divorce that Jack is better off  in a small town for the summer...

Books from the Hallowmere series by Tiffany Trent To kick off Teen Read Week, we invited author Tiffany Trent to chat with us. We logged onto Twitter and spent 30 minutes conversing back and forth. One student manned the computer. Other students asked questions. There were students in and out of the library who followed along for a few minutes here and there. All in all it was a lot of fun. We found out that she has a new book coming out and one that she is working on. We shared some of our fav books. Sometimes it was a bit disjointed, but it worked. If you want to see our conversation search for the hashtag #TRW11chat .

This episode highlights the work of author, Heather Brewer. She is the author of the Vladimir Tod Chronicles and the Slayer Chronicles. Within this episode is an interview of the author during a visit that she made to PFTSTA on September 28, 2011.

The 8th and 9th graders were blown away when Heather Brewer began talking at 9:30AM, Wednesday the 28th. She called all the teens in the room her minions. She believes in "world domination." With world domination, she and her minions could change the world to be a more accepting place. A place where there would be no bullies and everyone is accepted for who they are whatever that may be. Heather Brewer knows bullies, as she was not treated well by her peers in school. One of the students said it was the best author visit ever, and two teachers said the talk was awesome because Heather was so real. She spoke with honesty from the heart, and the students could relate. There were many hugs when she arrived and even during her talk. One student couldn't contain herself when she found out that Green Day was one of Auntie Heather's fav bands. She ran up for some love, and Heather was extremely accommodating. The main character in the Vladimir Tod Chronicles  is ...

This is just a quickie because I don't have much time, but I wanted to share some pics of the day. I will say this, Heather Brewer was AWESOME!!! The kids loved her talk, and she was so inspirational.  The librarian stops for a second to get a photo with the author.  Signing the books and having some one on one with Auntie Heather was a highlight for many students.   Hey, I don't need to get a book signed, she can sign my arm!!!! 

In this episode of my digital book talks, Get Reading, I review Where She Went by Gayle Forman and the Sweet Hereafter by Angela Johnson. I talk about companion books which share characters or setting.

I am having the best time writing and creating Get Reading: digital book talks for teens who love to read . I still want to figure out a way to use something other than Photostory and Moviemaker for these creations. Right now these tools do what I want with the audio and video. If I did not want a narration track without music, then I could use other tools that are available. I played around with Stupeflix this afternoon, and I loved what it did with the photos. I could add narration, but then it talked over the video piece. I needed the sounds to be separate. It is not possible with this tool. This week's episode focuses on two stories set during the winter holidays, one is in New York: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan ; and the other in Paris: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly . Every book that I talk up on Get Reading is one that I recommend. Here is a link to Get Reading 6: http://vimeo.com/28631905 . Check it out!!

I was walking the dog with my husband the other night and thinking. Usually, we use this time for conversation and talking about each other's day. On this particular night, I was lost in thought. It occurred to me that I should begin creating digital book talks, and I was going to entitle them: Get Reading. So over the last couple of days, I selected three titles that I read this summer, wrote the script, set up the webcam and made some short movies. Using Movie Maker, I put together the videos, added pics of the book covers as well as some music over the title and credits. I am pleased with the results of Get Reading 1, though I have some ideas on how to make some improvements for the next edition. On this episode you will hear about the following titles: False Princess by Eilis O'Neal, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.