Sandy's Picks 2011 - Teen Reads

With 2011 quickly drawing to a close, it's time once again for this librarian to share her favorite reads of the year!

According to my Goodreads.com account, I have read a grand total of 130 books this year. I also currently have two more in progress and reserve the right to finish them before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Almost all of these books were written for children or teens, and most were written in 2011 (though several were published in late 2010, and a few were even older). But which of these books were my favorites?

In today's post we're going to take a look at books for the ever-elusive Teen.

Looking at the list of teen reads on my Goodreads account from this year, I really didn't read as much as I'd hoped. There are a number of titles that I've heard nothing but good things about that are still on my "to-read" list. However, I think I can safely say that this year the quality more than made up for the quantity.

Chime by Franny Billingsly
This book is simply brilliant. The eclectic writing style alone makes me love it to pieces. Briony knows that she is responsible for her family's misfortunes, but when Eldric comes to Swampsea she begins to see that maybe things aren't always what they seem. Some other readers that I know had trouble with Briony's self-loathing tendencies, but the beautiful storytelling made it easy for me to get through it. This is my top pick for the Printz Award when winners are announced next month.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Ah, satire. In this book Bray manages to pick apart everything related to pop culture with her funny, poignant writing. We also get a good look at what is expected of girls today through the lens of a beauty pageant gone wrong. Bray is a smart writer and this book is lots of fun to read while also making readers think. Action, romance, and humor abound.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
I'm a big science fiction fan, and in my opinion this book was the best of the bunch this year in the budding genre. Amy is cryogenically frozen and sent on a space ship to colonize a new planet. But when she is woken up 50 years early, she and Elder, who in in training to become the leader of the ship's crew, uncover the lies that surround the ship's society.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
I didn't quite realize just how much I loved Stiefvater's Shiver trilogy until I read the concluding chapter. In this installment the story really was about something more than young love, and I really appreciated this new direction. And as with the previous volumes, the writing is lovely and atmospheric.

What were your favorite teen reads of 2011? Discuss in the comments.

Sandy's Picks 2011 - Chapter Books

With 2011 quickly drawing to a close, it's time once again for this librarian to share her favorite reads of the year!

According to my Goodreads.com account, I have read a grand total of 130 books this year. I also currently have two more in progress and reserve the right to finish them before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Almost all of these books were written for children or teens, and most were written in 2011 (though several were published in late 2010, and a few were even older). But which of these books were my favorites?

In today's post we're going to take a look at my favorite kind of books to read: Chapter Books.

Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
This piece of historical fiction tells the story of three slaves owned by Thomas Jefferson - two of whom are his sons by Sally Hemings, and another young boy who works at Monticello. Bradley asks some challenging questions about morality and identity over the course of this story and these discussions will certainly get reader's thinking. The ending is especially powerful.

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, but in the end it really was a funny, clever story about a kid's desperate attempts to avoid reading.

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Told in verse, this book documents a young girl's immigration from war-torn Vietnam to the United States. It was interesting to see how in many ways, Hà's life in the States was just as difficult as it was in Vietnam.

Marty McGuire by Kate Messner, illustrated by Brian Flocca
In this easy chapter book, the title character is a precocious tomboy who is cast as the princess in her class' performance of The Frog Princess. Antics ensue. All in all, it's great fun.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
A heartfelt story of a boy growing up in the 1960s who learns to find beauty in the world despite his troubling home life. The narrative style in the book is noteworthy as it is told in a conversational, yet incredibly polished style. This book is my top pick to win the Newbery Medal next month.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Told in the same brilliant combination of words and stunning pencil drawings as his Caldecott Medal-winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Selznick really outdid himself in this book. This time Selznick explores Deaf culture as he follows two characters - a young deaf girl in the early 20th century, and a partially deaf boy who has recently lost his mother in the 1970s - who are each searching for something.

Warp Speed by Lisa Yee
Bullying is a popular topic to write about these days, but I was especially pleased to see the way it was handled in this book. There are no picture-perfect solutions in this story, but there are lots of funny moments too complete with first crushes, Marley's loving family, and plenty of geekery for the nerd in us all.

What were your favorite chapter books of 2011? Discuss in the comments.

Edit 1/23/12: Maybe I didn't call the big winner, but congratulations to Thanhha Lai for winning a 2012 Newbery Honor for Inside Out and Back Again. Lai also was awarded the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for this lovely book.

Sandy's Favorites 2011 - Picture Books

With 2011 quickly drawing to a close, it's time once again for this librarian to share her favorite reads of the year!

According to my Goodreads.com account, I have read a grand total of 130 books this year. I also currently have two more in progress and reserve the right to finish them before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Almost all of these books were written for children or teens, and most were written in 2011 (though several were published in late 2010, and a few were even older). But which of these books were my favorites?

In today's post we're going to take a look at books generally written for our youngest readers: Picture Books!

Though I did a better job of tracking the picture books I had read than in years past, only a fraction of the picture books that I read (generally the ones I loved) made it onto my Goodreads account. C'est la vie. But still, I'm confident enough to share what I think were the best of the best this year.

The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Poly Bernatene
Such a clever story, and one that I'd give to my princess-loving preschoolers without any hesitation at all. Emmett does such a good job of incorporating little details from well-known fairy tales into the story, and the illustrations are just a lot of fun to look at.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka
Raschka's style is always fun to look at, and this wordless picture book about a dog and her favorite toy tugs at your heartstrings just enough. This is my hopeful pick for a Caldecott Medal next month.

Blackout by John Rocco
The stylized artwork found in this book really cool. Rocco does a pretty good job of playing with light in his illustrations and the book's message about making time for your family is sweet.

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
I have a complicated relationship with haiku. Sometimes it's amazing, and other times I just think it's silly. Fortunately, the poetry in this particular book is just perfect. It seems to be the perfect way to give voice to a cat - brief, just a little snobby, but also regal and lovely.

Horray for Amanda and her Alligator by Mo Willems
I don't know how Mo Willems manages to be so brilliant, but he really did an amazing job with his latest picture book. One part picture book and one part easy reader, this book will be accessable to a lot of different kinds of readers. And we just haven't been able to keep it on the shelf here at the library!

What were your favorite picture books this year? Discuss in the comments.

Edit 1/23/12: I was right - congratulations to Chris Raschka for winning the 2012 Caldecott Medal for A Ball for Daisy! Further congratulations to John Rocco for winning a 2012 Caldecott Honor Medal for Blackout.

Okay for Now

Doug knows that as soon as something good happens to him, something bad will happen to take it away. Just before school begins in 1968, Doug and his family move to the small town of Marysville so his father can start work at the town's paper mill. Doug hates everything about their new living situation and tensions rise between him, his troublemaking brother, and his mean and abusive father. When school starts no one really expects anything but problems from Doug given his family background. But even though all of these problems, a few good things happen too. He gets a job as a delivery boy at the local deli and becomes unlikely friends with the owner's daughter. At the public library he discovers a book of lovely bird drawings created by John James Audubon and learns to draw from the head librarian. But when he discovers that the city council has been selling the beautiful pictures to generate money for the town, Doug is furious. How can even his birds be taken away from their home? Soon it becomes his mission to return all of the pictures back to their rightful place.

Gary Schmidt (author of Newbery honor books Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and The Wednesday Wars) has once again crafted a thoughtful, insightful novel for young readers. There's a lot going on in Okay for Now as numerous plot threads intertwine to give a complete picture of Doug's 8th grade year. The story is highly complex, and as a reader you really get pulled inside Doug's head as he deals with a lot of different - and many of them extremely difficult - issues. I don't know how Schmidt did it, but he somehow managed to write a book that is heartbreaking and incredibly moving without being depressing.

The narration style in this book is particularly noteworthy. Told in the first person, Doug only shares information with readers when his character is good and ready to do so. There are plenty of times when it is clear that Doug is hiding something uncomfortable, especially when he refers to his home life, so immediately readers are lead to question just how reliable of a narrator Doug can be. Clever readers, however, can learn just as much from what Doug refuses to say as they can from what he actually tells us. The narrative style is incredibly conversational - you can really imagine this kid relating his story - but it's also impressibly polished. The writing is clearly well-edited and every word has been deliberately selected to tell this powerful, personal story.

Overall Grade: A

Warm Winter Reads

Once there was a librarian who refused to go overboard with the Christmas decorations. But when her supervisor hinted that maybe she should do something festive with the bulletin boards, the librarian decided that she should probably come up with a new idea - and fast!

Thus the Warm Winter Reads display was born:


With less than two weeks remaining until Christmas it seemed kind of silly to do something holiday themed. So I went with a broader winter theme instead, which I could in theory leave up through February if desired. Much in the spirit of the mystery bulletin board I did this fall, I pulled nearly every book (both picture books and chapter books) I could think of that had a story tied up in the winter season and/or that had a cover featuring snow. I made color copies of the covers and mounted them on colored paper. Blue paper snowflakes were cut out and added some visual interest. The tagline at the top reads, "Curl up with a warm winter read." No printed reading list this time since, honestly, I just didn't have time to put one together.

Santa Night Crafts

Our annual Santa Night event at the library took place earlier this week and was a great success. The general format was the same as last year's event, but we had two new craft projects for the kids to try:

Clothspin Rudolph


Glue two clothespins (the solid kind, not the kind with springs) together using wood or Tacky glue. Glue on two small googly eyes and a red puff ball to make Rudolph's face. Voila! This project makes a great ornament as Rudolph's legs fit nicely over the branches of your Christmas tree.

Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes


We cut our pipe cleaners in half to make smaller 3-inch projects, but you can also make larger candy canes with whole pipe cleaners. Twist a red and white pipe cleaner together. When twisting your pipe cleaners together, try your best to twist them evenly so that your candy cane looks neat. Curve the twisted pipe cleaners into a candy cane shape. Tie a length of skinny, fancy ribbon around the stem to make it festive. We also threded our ribbons with a small bell for extra pizzaz. Hang on your Christmas tree, or get creative with other holiday decorating ideas.

Just like last year, we also had lots of coloring sheets available for an easy art project. One little girl even gave one of her finished pictures to Santa to take home to his workshop!

Lexile

I do not like Lexile reading levels. As a librarian they do nothing but frustrate me. Why? Because I feel that a focus on a tested reading level inhibits, rather than helps, the reading process for kids.

The Lexile is a magical number that is supposed to help match kids with books that are at exactly the right reading level for them. If, for example, your child has a Lexile rating of 800L you can take comfort that any book with a Lexile rating of 800 will be "just right" for him/her. However, Lexile ratings need to be taken with a very sizable grain of salt.

The most important thing to consider is that Lexile ratings for books do not take into account the content of a book, its style, or its format. Instead, Lexile considers other factors when determining how difficult a book is to read: Sentence length and word frequency. While I think we can all agree that these two factors are important things to consider when searching for the perfect book, they're not the only things that matter.

Let's look at a couple of examples of deceptive Lexile ratings:

Consider these two books: Changes for Addy (an American Girl book - I usually give these to kids in grades 2-5) and The Lightning Thief (a Percy Jackson book - I usually give this series to kids in grades 5-10). Which would you guess is the more challenging book? If you were to guess The Lightning Thief, you'd be wrong. While this book has a Lexile rating of 740L, Changes for Addy has a Lexile of 760L. Not a huge difference in the grand scheme of things, but it's significant when you consider the age of the child that each of these books targets.

Interestingly enough: May of the other books in the Percy Jackson series have significantly lower Lexile ratings than The Lightning Thief. So am I supposed to tell a 12-year-old coming to the library that his Lexile matches up with The Lightning Thief and that it's such a great book and he'd really like it...but uh oh! His teacher won't want him to read the sequels because they're way below his Lexile level and are therefore "too easy."

What about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series? Heavy with cartoon illustrations, this has been the go-to series for reluctant readers everywhere since it was first published in 2007. You'd think that these books would be fairly easy to read, given how quickly most kids tear through them. But a look at the Lexile ratings for the series shows that these books are - in theory - quite challenging with Lexile ratings ranging from 950L-1060L!

As a librarian, it is very painful for me to watch some children and parents struggle with Lexile. Though the Lexile website includes lots of information on how to use Lexile ratings and specifically encourages users to take other factors into consideration, the fact is that all of this is forgotten by the time infomation on this system is passed down from the Lexile company to the teachers to the students to their parents. In the end what most kids/parents hear when their teachers talk about Lexile is that, "I have to read books in this Lexile range or they're not good books for me." And that's just not true! It's hard to watch kids struggle to fine the perfect book under a system that doesn't take their interests or maturity level into consideration.

So parents, if your child comes home from school with a Lexile rating, please don't take it too seriously. Your child did not become a good reader by reading really hard books. He will not become a better reader by reading books with a magical Lexile number. The fact is that kids become good readers by reading a lot, no matter what kind of reading it is. Kids read a lot when they learn that reading can be fun, and it's very hard to develop a love of reading when your teachers put all of these restrictions on the books that you select. There is so much more to finding the perfect book than a number that evaluates word usage. So please, let the Lexile go and help your child find books that he will enjoy so that reading becomes a pleasure rather than a chore.

Do Not Touch

Not too long ago I was doing my rounds at closing time to make sure everything in the children's area was where it should be. When I came to our Duplo table I was greeted with an interesting sight:



The tower itself was pretty impressive in terms of its height, but it was the sign that really made me smile. I decided to half-comply with the request: I left the tower standing, but removed the sign.