Tales from a Loud Librarian

One of my students wrote a great review of Stine's book, Don't Stay Up Late , that is due out in April of 2015. She was so excited to find a favorite author from elementary school writing books for older kids, but she is a more discerning reader now and is quite insightful.  Here is her review: "R.L. Stine, always the wizard of suspense, is known for his tales that chill readers and non-readers alike. As an avid reader of the Goosebumps series when I was younger, I fell in love with his compelling, page-turning novels. Now, six years later, I eagerly scooped up Mr. Stine's newest novel,  Don't Stay Up Late , for I had outgrown Goosebumps, and this new novel seemed much more age appropriate. In the true essence of Stine, the novel is as gripping as ever. Stine knows precisely how to captivate his readers. Personally, I think it is near impossible to put down this novel midway. After finishing a chapter, I cannot seem to turn the page fast enough to continu...

I am very proud that this year's president of Bookmarked (the high school book group), Destiny Burnett, is both a big reader and big writer. This summer she applied to be a guest teen blogger on the YALSA blog, The Hub , during Teen Read Week in October. We knew a while ago that she was selected as one of the bloggers, but just a few days ago ALA made it official. Open here to read all about it . I also want to share Destiny's book review blog . She doesn't post on a regular basis, but I find her book reviews extremely well thought out and insightful.

Last month, Bookmarked got a chance to meet Deb Caletti, virtually via Skype . The ARC of her newest YA book, The Last Forever had arrived , and one of the students in the group (Destiny) was a big fan before the meeting with Deb and had read the book before knowing that we had a skype session planned with the author My big mouth got me in trouble because I told Deb that I would post a review of the book by Destiny here on my blog without checking with Destiny first. I volunteered Destiny; she didn't volunteer to do it. Finally, Destiny told me the problem of why I couldn't have a review. She had her own blog and had already posted a review months before the skype session. Since she had published the review already, she didn't think it right to post it here, too. I was glad to hear that she wasn't ignoring my request. She just didn't know how to explain why to me. Luckily, I had an easy solution to this problem. I explained to Destiny that I would just p...

The following book review was written by a member of Bookmarked, the high school book group at PFTSTA. This book is geared to 8-12 year olds, but as you can see the reviewer Michaela, who is 14, is a big fan of the story. Edge, Christopher. Twelve Minutes to Midnight. Albert Whitman. March 2014. tr. $16.99 ISBN 9780807581339  The blood-curdling tales in the magazine, The Penny Dreadful , are taking London by storm. No one expects the author to be thirteen year old Penelope Tredwell, who writes under the pen name of Montgomery Flinch. She seems to have the city in the palm of her hand. One day, she gets a letter from the Bedlam psychiatric hospital asking for Montgomery Flinch's help in a mysterious case. Each night, at exactly twelve minutes to midnight, the patients rise from their beds in a trance like state. They maniacally write continuous ramblings of gibberish. However, Penelope soon discovers that these writings are much more than gibberish. They are predicti...

Bookmarked, the high school library book group at PFTSTA, recently finished its gig reading and reviewing books for the online newsletter from School Library Journal called, SLJTeen . The students have been submitting reviews twice a month for the last 18 months. You can read all those reviews here:  http://sqworl.com/thwdxz .  Since the students are still reading books pre-publication that the publishers are sending to us, I thought that I could post their book reviews here. Students self-select the books that they want to review from the ones sent to us by the publishers. All of their opinions about the books and authors are their own. The teen reader loved the alternate history presented in  The Inventor's Secret  by Andrea Cremer,  who visited PFTSTA in 2012 . The next book,  Freak City   by Kathrin Schrocke, was first published in Germany several years ago, but it's initial publication in the US is January 2014.  CREMER, Andr...

Click here to read my article Click here to read all five teen reviews It has been a great run, but the December 18th edition of SLJTeen was Bookmarked's last contribution to the twice a month newsletter. I was pleased that we could end with a bang. The students submitted five reviews , and I wrote an article to say goodbye . In the reviews, you will find a student reviewed Noggin by John Corey Whaley; the same book that I reviewed in the December 4th edition . I hate to admit it, but I think that Vy nailed it better than I did. Click the links above to read the student's reviews and my swan song.  Click here to read my review of Noggin

                          Click the above image to enlarge and read I hadn't read the amazing description about me that Dodie had written in this week's edition of  SLJTeen  until I received an email from a fellow librarian. She was sending me kudos about something that I hadn't even seen. Dodie, you had me floored. I just don't think of myself in that way. I do what I do to provide the best library program that I can physically do for the students at Patrick Taylor. The fact that I love it is a big plus in my book, and I realize this is not a given. It also helps to have supportive administrators, faculty members and parents, too.  The students were a little light this week with their reviews for SLJTeen . So Dodie and I had an opportunity to wax eloquent about some books that we have been reading. Though I write in this blog regularly, which means I am published on the web, it s...

                                                                        Bookmarked will be ending its run as the resident teen book review group for the bi-weekly online newsletter,  SLJTeen,   in December. If you enjoy these reviews by my teens, don't despair because I will be posting reviews from them in this blog. Watch when I tweet out those reviews, or just be sure to visit this blog every now and then to find out what the teens are reading and what they think about those books. You can see by the four book covers pictured here which books were reviewed this past week.  Read the November 20th edition of SLJTeen here . 

When I asked the members of Bookmarked if anyone would be able to contribute to this week's SLJTeen , it was like pulling teeth. Sometimes the students get so overwhelmed with studies that they do not have time to read anything new. The president of Bookmarked realized that she needed to step up to the plate. So she chose a short book that was written in verse. She knew that she could read the book and get a review in to me in time. She is not a big fan of historical fiction, well, none of my students really are. You will be surprised by her review of Mariko Nagai's newest book . Another student was in her sick bed but was able to send me a review of Megan Miranda's thriller, Hysteria . The student didn't realize that the book's publication date was over six months ago. We try to submit SLJTeen reviews for books that have not been published yet. I have four students who promise me reviews for the next issue. SLJTeen is letting us go at the end of...

In this week's edition of SLJTeen , four teens had their reviews published. The members of Boomarked are fans of a variety of genres and styles of writing. Find some of what they liked by opening the link here .

The members of Bookmarked only have a couple of months left to read and write reviews for the online newsletter, SLJTeen , from School Library Journal . We started this gig in June of 2012 and will submit our last review at the end of December. Until then, enjoy two new reviews here . 

School as been in full swing for a month and a half, and new books have been pouring in from the publishers. The students have been ecstatic with the new arrivals. Here are four reviews of the newest works from some established authors: open here to read the teen's reviews . 

In the September 4th edition of SLJTeen , two teens write about authors that they adore. Fred got to meet Gina Damico, author of Rogue , when she visited PFTSTA in the fall of 2012 . He was jumping up and down all over the library when the third book in her series arrived. You can read his review to see if it met his expectations. Destiny loooooooves Rainbow Rowell, and she eagerly grabbed Fangirl when she saw the ARC in one of the boxes from the publishers. Read her review to find out if her love affair with all books by Rowell continues. Paris writes about After Eden by Helen Douglas. You can find all three reviews right here . 

Laurie Halse Anderson visits PFTSTA in November 2010 I have been a book reviewer for both School Library Journal and Library Media Connection  for 18 months. Once I started writing those reviews, I have rarely put a book review in this blog. For this week's edition of SLJTeen , I was lucky enough to have my review of Laurie Halse Anderson's new book included along with a  teen review of Toffler-Corrie's new book,  My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush . Okay, we needed to fill in the review space because I got only one review submitted to me by a teen, but it worked out for the best because I was asked by the publisher if quotes from my review can be used for publicity. I don't think that I have ever been quoted before. Open here to read the reviews .

Usually, I submit three to four teen reviews every other week to be published in SLJTeen . Since everything in the library had to be packed up this spring due to the big move, I asked the members of Bookmarked to take home a dozen ARCs each so that they would have lots of summer reading and would be able to provide me with lots of reviews over summer break. Oh well, the best laid plans ...... The students must have been as busy as me and didn't have time to read. However, part of my summer time busyness included reading two to three books a week. I hadn't read anything that has not been published yet, so I could not submit my own review. Follow this link to read a review of This is How I Find Her as well as a review by SLJTeen editor, Dodie Ownes, for Reality Boy .

When the summer temps hit the 90s in southern Louisiana, everything slows down. The members of Bookmarked are still writing reviews for SLJTeen , but this week only two students submitted reviews. Maybe the heat will give the students a chance to stay inside where it is cool and read some of the many ARCs that they brought home for the summer. Click here to find the reviews .

Check out the reviews that members of Bookmarked wrote for the April 30th edition of SLJTeen .  Open here to read the reviews . 

Last week, SLJTeen published reviews written by members of Bookmarked, the PFTSTA high school book group, for the books that are pictured above. Open here to read these reviews . 

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