Battle of the Kids’ Books Second Round Begins

Events 0

I admit that I pay absolutely no attention to basketball. For me, March is the time of School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books, a tournament where celebrity children’s book authors judge between sixteen outstanding titles from the previous year.

I’ve already discussed my first round picks, and the winners of the first half of the first round.

Now the first round has been completed. Because my prediction rate is so dismal (3 out of 8 this year — still much better than last year!), I like to wait to name my second round picks until the first round is done. It’s just as well I did, since my favorite in the top half of the brackets, A Conspiracy of Kings, and my favorite in the bottom half of the brackets, One Crazy Summer, have both already been knocked out.

The second round began today in a match judged by Laura Amy Schlitz. Her analysis is absolutely brilliant, and she explains so much better than I why The Cardturner is such a wonderful book. I was very happy about that result. One match picked correctly in the second round!

The second half of the first round went better for me than the first half, though I have to admit I wasn’t as passionate about this set of books — except One Crazy Summer, which lost.

Matches Six and Seven did go as I hoped/predicted, won by The Ring of Solomon and A Tale Dark and Grimm. Match Eight did not go as I predicted, but I didn’t feel strongly, and Mitali Perkins’ judging convinced me that I will definitely have to read the winner, Trash.

For the second half of Round Two, here are my hopes, though I admit with my favorites out of the running, I’m less invested in the outcomes. (Though the judges’ critiques seem particularly outstanding this year, and I know I will enjoy reading the rest of the Battle action.)

Match 3: The Odyssey, by Gareth Hinds
vs. The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud
judged by Patricia Reilly Giff

My hold for The Odyssey still hasn’t come in, and I wouldn’t mind if it won, but my prediction here is The Ring of Solomon. It’s not as incredibly good as the Bartimaeus Trilogy, but it’s still wonderfully crafted and a great read.

Match 4: A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz
vs. Trash, by Andrew Mulligan
judged by Pete Hautman

I’m looking forward to what Pete Hautman has to say about these books. I’m currently almost finished reading A Tale Dark and Grimm, but my hold hasn’t yet come in for Trash. However, based on what’s been said about Trash, I think I’m going to pick it.

To borrow from Susan Patron, my “inner librarian” likes A Tale Dark and Grimm more than my “inner me” does. I think it will be a fantastic book to recommend for kids who have read all the Goosebumps books and want to go on to something a little longer. As for me, it did remind me of reading fairy tales when I was a kid, but bottom line I enjoy the actual fairy tales more. And I never was crazy about the gory and grim part of the fairy tales, which is what’s emphasized here.

But it’s going to be fun to read what Pete Hautman has to say about them.

To sum up, my favorite in the top half of the brackets out of the remaining books is now The Cardturner, with Keeper as a close second. My favorite in the bottom half is The Ring of Solomon. I am still fondly hoping that A Conspiracy of Kings will come back from the dead to win it all.

However things turn out, it’s going to be fun to watch.

Battle of the Books First Week Round-Up

Events 0

After a week, School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kid’s Books is going strong.

I made my predictions/fan picks, and when the first match went my way, I thought I was going to do much better this year than last year, when I only picked one right in the entire first round.

However, after five matches, that first one is the ONLY one I’ve gotten right so far. I’m very bummed about the loss of A Conspiracy of Kings, but fondly hope that it will win the Undead Poll. As a fan on the Sounis page pointed out, “But you do know that Eugenides never loses, right? That even when he seems to lose he’s actually PLOTTING HIS VICTORY?”

So here are my predictions/hopes for the first half of the Second Round:

Match 1: The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar
vs. Countdown, by Deborah Wiles
judged by Laura Amy Schlitz

For this match, I’m rooting hard for The Cardturner. I wouldn’t have rooted for it against A Conspiracy of Kings, but I really loved it. Seems like a great book for math geeks and game lovers, and I am both. Roger Sutton on the Horn Book blog complained about the ending, but I loved it and thought it was set up nicely in the comments about Tony.

Match 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie, by Tanya Stone
vs. Keeper, by Kathi Appelt
judged by Naomi Shihab Nye

For this match, I’m solidly in Keeper‘s camp. Another one that I loved. I did pick Hereville in the first round, but I loved both, and am very fickle, and now will be pulling hard for Keeper. I will have a tough time deciding on my third round choice if The Cardturner and Keeper both win. But I’m not really worried about that — more afraid that I’ve jinxed them by naming them as my favorites!

The third match is going to go that way, too. I have The Odyssey, by Gareth Hinds on hold, but the wait is rather long, and I haven’t read it yet. And the fact is, I liked both The Ring of Solomon and Sugar Changed the World very much, and I’m sure to root for the winner of that match in the second round.

But as I said before, most of the fun from The Battle of the Books comes from reading the judges’ comments. These are eloquent writers, and it’s entertaining to hear what each one says about two excellent books.

I’m looking forward to next week’s action!

Battle of the Books 2011!

Book Links, Events 0

The time is getting away from me. There are only a few days left for me to encourage my readers to vote in the Undead Poll for this year’s School Library Journal Battle of the Books! (*cough* A Conspiracy of Kings! *cough*)

The Battle of the Kid’s Books is a once a year tournament between 16 outstanding children’s and young adult books from the previous year. What makes it incredible fun to follow is that the judges are celebrity authors. There’s no criteria pre-assigned for judging, so the judges just pick their favorites. But the fun is when these highly gifted authors explain what they liked about two outstanding books. And there’s plenty of drama in wondering if your favorite will win.

Another fun aspect of the Battle of the Books is the Undead Poll. Before things begin, readers are given a chance to vote for their favorite book. The book with the most votes will come back from the “dead” and compete in the final round. If that book has not been killed off yet, then it will go to the next book, and so on.

Another fun way to participate is to predict the winners at Eric Carpenter’s blog. Last year, I failed abysmally, with only one of my first-round picks going on to the next round. Last year, judges seemed to pick the book least like the ones they write. This year, I think I will just root for the books I would pick if I were judging, and not try to predict what the judges will do.

Now, last year I did want Fire, by Kristin Cashore to win. This year, I definitely want the winner to be A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner, because that series is up there with my all-time favorite books. Since Megan Whalen Turner has a fan site on LiveJournal, I’m hoping the people of Sounis/Attolia will have voted her in the Undead Poll, just in case one of the judges does not appreciate the books utter brilliance.

If Conspiracy does make it to the Big Kahuna Round, I hope that One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia is the next in the Undead Poll. Because I wish it had won the Newbery Medal instead of “just” a Newbery Honor (and the Coretta Scott King Author Medal and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and a National Book Award Finalist).

Okay, below are the first-round match-ups and my comments:

1. As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth, by Lynne Rae Perkins
vs. The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar
judged by Francisco X. Stork

For this one, I haven’t yet read As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth, though I do have it checked out. However, I loved The Cardturner so much, I find myself hoping I won’t actually like As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth as much. I want a book for mathematically-minded game lovers to win a round!

2. A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner
vs. Countdown, by Deborah Wiles
judged by Dana Reinhardt

I think you already know which one of these I want to win! I have read both books, and while I liked Countdown, the “documentary novel” approach really didn’t work for me. There were a few places where there were reports about people that revealed what happened later, and that really pulled me right out of the story. I wasn’t sure if those were supposed to be school reports, but if so, they should have been written as a child would have written them in the time of the story. The other material was interesting, but it also tended to make me less in the thread of the story, which was a good story.

And Conspiracy of Kings? Well, like all Megan Whalen Turner’s books, I enjoy and appreciate it more on each rereading. I’ve read it twice already, and just discovered that the library has the audiobook version, so that’s my next audiobook to listen to. It has absolutely brilliant plotting, and we see real growth in Sophos as he discovers what it means to be a king.

3. The Dreamer, by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sis
vs. The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie, by Tanya Lee Stone
judged by Barry Lyga

Okay, will all the other children’s literature folks despise me if I confess that I usually like Fiction a lot better than Nonfiction? Though I’m also influenced here because I thought that The Dreamer is a true work of art. The story is told poetically, with lines from Pablo Neruda’s poetry woven throughout, and the illustrations perfectly set the mood. I think the book is far more moving than a straight nonfiction account of the poet’s childhood would have been. I have looked at The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie, and while I think it’s a worthy inclusion in this contest and a well-done look at the history of the Barbie doll, I’m too big a fan of The Dreamer to want it to win.

4. Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch
vs. Keeper, by Kathi Appelt
judged by Susan Patron

This one is a toughie. Both of these books are beautiful and slightly quirky, with a little girl involved in something with a touch of magic. Both were completely delightful. (I’ve read both, but haven’t reviewed them yet.)

I think I’m going to pick Hereville. Now, that might be because it’s the one I read most recently, so the delight it brought is still fresh in my mind. I simply can’t resist it’s tagline: “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl.”

5. The Odyssey (graphic novel), by Gareth Hinds
vs. One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
judged by Karen Hesse

I haven’t read this version of The Odyssey, though I hear it’s exceptional. But I loved One Crazy Summer far too much to possibly root against it. (With the ONE exception of A Conspiracy of Kings.) I hope that this being similar to books that Karen Hesse writes will not work against it, but that she’ll appreciate a historical novel with poetry included.

6. The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud
vs. Sugar Changed the World, by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
judged by Adam Rex

Again, I’ve read both of these but haven’t reviewed them yet, and they are both completely brilliant. If I were going to root for any nonfiction book, Sugar is the one I’d pick. It’s a well-written, fascinating look at the history of humans and sugar. It shows that sugar did, in fact, change the world.

However, The Ring of Solomon is simply too good. An intricate plot, a wildly imaginative story, and lots of humor make it my pick for this round. In fact, I recently read a short story by Adam Rex in the Guys Read: Funny Business anthology, and the humor is very similar to the humor in The Ring of Solomon, so I suspect that’s what he’ll pick.

7. A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz
vs. They Called Themselves the KKK, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
judged by R. L. Stine

I haven’t read either of these, though I have checked them both out and looked them over. It is probably telling that I intend to read A Tale Dark and Grimm very soon, but I turned They Called Themselves the KKK back in to the library. I hear it’s a well-written book, and I’m definitely in favor of children reading about the terrorist group and understanding that ugly part of our history — but I didn’t feel like finding out details about the KKK myself.

Anyway, A Tale Dark and Grimm looks like it will be a book I will thoroughly enjoy. It certainly takes an imaginative approach. I’m going to root for it. I’ll let you know if that changes after I actually read it.

8. Trash, by Andy Mulligan
vs. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan
judged by Mitali Perkins

Okay, I’m going to be lazy with this one. I haven’t read Trash, and I probably won’t, unless Mitali Perkins and any later judges make it sound very compelling. It looks to be yet another dystopian novel, and I’m getting a little tired of them, so I wasn’t in the mood to read this one and turned it back in. On the other hand, I enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson, so I’m going to guess that Mitali will pick the more upbeat book. Yes, the Will Graysons have some trouble, but there’s plenty of humor and the ending is definitely feel-good.

So there you have it! Vote in the Undead Poll for your favorite by March 6. The Opening Ceremony will be on March 8, and the First Round will begin on March 14. It’s sure to be a lot of fun!

Here I am with the t-shirt I got for blogging about last year’s Battle of the Books:

Tweetle Beetles for Read Across America Day

Delightfully Silly, Easy Readers, Events 0

I remember when I was 3 or 4 years old, my mother read me a new book, Fox in Socks, by Dr. Seuss. What really impressed me about it was the warning at the front: “Take it slowly. This book is DANGEROUS!”

Perhaps that was why, over the years, I was inordinately proud of being able to read it quickly. I am the third of thirteen children, so I got plenty of practice reading aloud to my younger brothers and sisters. Then I started reading aloud to my own sons. I think it was as an adult that I finally got where I could read all of Fox in Socks quickly and without a mistake. And that was an accomplishment that took years to achieve! (Though I don’t prove it here. I think the camera flustered me!) Now that my sons are grown, I’ve become a librarian, so I can continue to read aloud to children.

About a month ago on YouTube, I saw a video of a teenager reading Fox in Socks extremely quickly. Much, much faster than I can do, no contest.

However, watching that video gave me the bug. I can go pretty fast, and I think listeners can actually understand what I’m saying. At any rate, I wanted to make my own video, because what a lovely excuse to read Fox in Socks as fast as I can! And what better day to pick than Read Across America Day, Dr. Seuss’s Birthday?

So I made an announcement in the library and rounded up the kids in the children’s area so I had an audience, and went at it. Lots of fun! I will have to try to do it faster (and with less flubs) next year.

After tweeting about reading Fox in Socks, I came up with the following about School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books:

When a reader tweets on twitter about which novel is the sweeter, it’s a
Tweeting Reader Sweeter Novel Twitter Chatter Battle.

Happy Read Across America Day, everyone!

ALA Youth Media Awards

Award Winners, Events, General 0

Here’s a link to all the ALA Youth Media Award titles.

If you look at my earlier posts, you can see that I did not do a good job of predicting the winners. I hadn’t even read the Newbery winner (yet), so of course I wasn’t rooting for it. I am looking forward to reading it, though.

I do trust the committee to do a good job, but I also realize that a different committee might well make different choices. And I’m glad that there are other awards out there. My personal favorite, A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner, was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book, and of course a Sonderbooks Stand-out! And the same is true for The Dreamer, by Pam Munoz Ryan, which picked up the Pura Belpre Award as well.

I had expected One Crazy Summer to win the Newbery Medal, but it “only” got an Honor. However, since it won the Coretta Scott King Author Award and the Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award, Rita Williams-Garcia definitely got much-deserved recognition.

And don’t forget to pay attention to the Cybils, the Blogger Kidlit Awards. I learned on Sunday that the goal of the Cybils Panelists (first round judges) is not just to pick the best books, but to have a good LIST of recommended books — with variety and something for many different tastes. I think they have succeeded in that goal. The winners in each category will be announced on Valentine’s Day.

And sorry for my slowing down on posting. I know I said I’d try to post to Sonderbooks.com weekly. Well, the first post of the year needs to have a new page for the Stand-outs, with lots of links changed, the Sonderbooks Stand-outs seal put on the pages of those books, as well as making pages for the new reviews I posted last week. What with working full-time, and doing things like watching the Newbery announcements, it’s going slowly. This week, I’m working 6 days in a row, but I hope that on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I will finally get the posting done, and then go to a routine of every week.

In other news, did I ever announce on this blog that I am a Librarian again? Back in November, they transferred me back to the Library after 6 months in another county agency (due to library budget cuts), and I am LOVING being back! On top of that, I just finished revising the middle grade novel I’ve been steadily working on for a very long time, so I’m ready to start sending out queries to agents. Life is good, and so far I’m loving 2011!

Thanks to my experience with library budget cuts, the part of the Awards where I cheered loudest was the public service announcements at the beginning, where authors spoke up for libraries. Library budget cuts are BAD for the public! Thank you, authors, for supporting libraries! You can view the videos at ourauthorsouradvocates.org.

2011 Plans

Events 0

Happy New Year!

As you can tell by my 2010 Sonderbooks Stand-outs post below, (Be sure to look it over if you haven’t yet!) I’m way, way behind on writing reviews.

My main problem (besides dealing with job changes and divorce court in the last few months) is that I’m trying to not only write the reviews on this blog, but also post them on my main site, www.sonderbooks.com. Both things take some time, since I then reset all the links between reviews and upload it all.

It would be simpler if I would just use the blog — but I’m not willing to give up my website. I’ve been writing Sonderbooks since before I’d even heard of blogs — In August 2001, I started it as an e-mail newsletter. For 2010, I was mainly writing the reviews as drafts in the blog, and then posting reviews individually later. That takes too long, and I’m getting way behind.

So — my resolution for 2011 is this: I will write reviews as fast as I can, and post them when written. Then, once a week — usually on Friday or Saturday, whichever is my day off — I will post all the reviews I wrote that week on my main site.

This plan might crash and burn right away — because this week, I want to post the Stand-outs on my site, and that will be a big job. But I’m going to try! This way, people can either follow my blog or check Sonderbooks once a week to see what’s new. Here’s hoping it will work!

For reading plans, right now I’m madly reading the books that the Heavy Medal blog posted for a shortlist for their Mock Newbery. They will be opening voting on Monday, and they don’t want you to vote unless you’ve read all the books on the shortlist. Out of 12 books, I actually have 6 to go. However, I did save the shortest for last, so it’s slightly possible that I might finish the books on time — depending a bit on how long they give you to vote!

I must admit that I’m enjoying the books I’m reading for that list. I finished Forge, by Laurie Halse Anderson, last night at 4:00 am, and decided that was close enough to include in my 2010 Sonderbooks Stand-outs. Now I’m halfway through Keeper, by Kathi Appelt, and am loving that, too.

So far my hope list for the actual 2011 Newbery Medal (announced January 10) is:

Medal: A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner
Honor Books (in order of my preference):
One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
The Dreamer, by Pam Munoz Ryan
Forge, by Laurie Halse Anderson

If I were betting, instead of hoping, I’d bet on One Crazy Summer, and I admit I’ll be very happy if it wins. But we shall see!

They also announced the Cybils Short Lists today!

Now, I would dearly love to be a Cybils judge, and am planning to apply again this year. I thought it would be fun to read all the books on the Young Adult Fantasy short list. This way, I will see if I can really do it in the time allotted, and if I can really stand to limit my reading to one genre for a couple months. I will be posting more about which books I would like to win as I read them. So far, the only one I’ve read is Plain Kate, by Erin Bow, which I did list as one of my 2010 Sonderbooks Stand-outs.

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

Events 0

For quite awhile now, I’ve been looking forward to traveling to Boston this weekend. I am a dedicated subscriber to Horn Book Magazine, and have been for years. They announced that on October 2nd they’d be having a Colloquium — The Horn Book at Simmons — with the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards the night before.

After I had such a fabulous time at the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet, I knew I had to go to this. For one thing, Rebecca Stead, the winner of the Newbery Medal, author of the brilliant When You Reach Me, was also the winner of the BGHB Award for Fiction. She gave a wonderful speech at the Newbery Banquet, and I got to meet her a couple times and she was so nice. I wanted to hear her speak some more.

But what clinched it for me was that Megan Whalen Turner was going to be speaking. She is the author of what I have to call my favorite series — the books about Eugenides, The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and this year’s A Conspiracy of Kings (which won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for Fiction).

Another nice thing was that as long as I’m not working at the library, it’s easy to get weekends off. So I took today (Friday) off and my plan was to take the 11:50 flight to Boston, settle in to my hotel, and maybe even take a leisurely, lovely walk through Boston’s parks to the Horn Book-Boston Globe Awards from 5:30 to 7:30.

Well, yesterday the DC area had a ferocious rainstorm – heavy rain, with flooding. Unfortunately, that same storm decided to travel to Boston today, too. Our flight was delayed SIX HOURS. Ironically, if I had booked the 2:00 flight, I would have made it on time. But first, my flight was delayed due to weather in Boston. Then it was delayed much longer because of a mechanical problem with the air conditioning. Since that’s linked to the engine, they had to test the engine at full strength on the runway, which ended up taking hours. After that was finally resolved, they told us that the first officer wasn’t able to fly (He had to get home to a sick family member in Seattle.), and they had to find a substitute. When they found a sub, they boarded us on the plane – and then we learned that Boston wasn’t accepting flights!

In Boston I wish I wish that I had stopped at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant at the airport. But it was 7:00, and I was still toying with the idea of trying to get to the end of the awards. But by the time I took the shuttle to the subway, it was 7:30. The subway was very easy and not scary at all. (I had worried a little about taking the subway in a strange city downtown at night.) Then I walked only a couple blocks in the dark to the hotel, which also wasn’t scary because anyone out in that rain was in a hurry to get inside. My umbrella got blown inside out a couple times. I arrived at my hotel, quite soaked, at 8:00 pm. By that time, I was NOT going to set foot outside the hotel again. I even had pop-tarts from the vending machine for supper.

So, with all that waiting time, I did a lot of tweeting and reading tweets. My phone isn’t great for long messages, and I don’t like its e-mail interface, and I can’t write blog posts on it — but it’s great for tweeting. I also saw all that waiting time as a gift of reading time, so I got started rereading A Conspiracy of Kings, which I thoroughly enjoyed. (I brought it because I hope to get it signed.) That book is awesome! Like all of Megan Whalen Turner’s books, it’s even better when you read it again.

I admit, the first time I read it, I was a tiny bit disappointed — because she has set the bar so very high, and the surprise at the end wasn’t as big as the surprises in some of the earlier books. However, reading it a second time, knowing what to expect, I can really appreciate the brilliant way she develops Sophos’ character and how she gives the reader a sense of the huge choices he is facing.

In all of the books, we see that it’s not easy ruling a country. And Sophos, the heir of Sounis, must decide if he wants that kind of responsibility, and what he’s willing to do to get it. And there’s also the ever-present threat of the Medes.

Anyway, any day where I can spend several hours reading one of Megan Whalen Turner’s books is a good one! I only wish I could have landed in time to see her at the awards tonight — but the weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow, so I will not miss it!

Libraries, Reviewing, and Other Musings

Events, General 4

I love my job as a Children’s Librarian. I feel completely blessed to have it.

I was a math major in college. I did and still do love math. I’m definitely good at it. So you major in what you’re good at, right? Honestly, I don’t regret that decision. I also don’t regret getting my Master’s degree as soon as I finished my Bachelor’s. I don’t (really) regret that I dropped out of the PhD program I was in and “settled” for my Master’s.

When I got married as soon as I finished classes and had a baby one year later, being able to teach college math was a good skill to have. My husband, a musician, ended up joining the Air Force to have a nice steady job, and I followed him around the country, quickly finding a part-time job teaching night classes at a local community college at each place. I could take care of my son during the day, and my husband could be with him in the evenings when I was teaching.

So I can’t complain. But teaching math is definitely not what I love about math! And community college students do not tend to be there because they want to. And I am an introvert, so getting in front of the classes the first day of each semester was always a bit of an ordeal. (Wow! I just realized that now, 14 years after teaching my last class, it has been quite awhile since I last had a nightmare about having to start teaching a new course and not being prepared!)

When we moved to Germany in 1996, my husband got better pay (Cost of Living Allowance and Overseas Housing Allowance), so I was able to quit teaching, and I was thrilled. My second son was two years old at the time, and I loved being home with him.

Then a friend who was working at the base library went back to the States, and they split her job into two half-time positions. I almost didn’t apply, because I so enjoyed being at home, but then our car broke down and I realized that if we ever had to buy another car I would have to find a job. Why not apply for one I knew I would love?

So began my love relationship with libraries!

The job at Sembach Library was absolutely perfect for me. A small library, we kept losing librarians, and the positive side of that was I got to do more and more interesting things. My favorite was choosing the books to order for the Book Rental Collection and the Children’s Book Plan. Nothing made me feel better than a big box of McNaughtons arriving for me to process! I joked that I got the shakes when I went two weeks without one.

And that was where I started writing Sonderbooks. I was reading so many more books than I ever did before, with so many interesting ones going past me that I couldn’t resist. But I was forgetting the details, and I really wanted to tell my friends about them. So first I started an e-mail newsletter, which eventually became a website, which eventually also grew this blog.

I felt a real sense of calling working at the library. I love all aspects: ordering and cataloging books, finding great books and matching them to people who love them, helping people research obscure questions, and even sorting and shelving the books. Yes, I feel I was born to be a librarian.

I worked at Sembach Library for eight years. Then my husband’s assignment in Germany was due to end. I had been wondering if I should stay with libraries. It seems a no-brainer now, but I also had a dream of becoming a writer, and I thought maybe I should take some time off work and finally get a book finished and published.

Then, in a long, arduous, heart-breaking, devastating process, my husband decided his heart wasn’t in our marriage any more. He told me he was getting a divorce.

The next morning I woke up and it dawned on me: I would become a librarian. I would get a Master’s in Library Science. So I could stay in libraries, find a full-time job, and, I hoped, make a decent living on my own. (I hadn’t worked full-time since 1989.)

My husband got himself sent to Japan, and I came to Herndon, Virginia, where two of my best friends since third grade (in California!) lived. While I was getting my degree through online classes with Drexel University, I got a job in the second-closest library to my home, Sterling Public Library in Loudoun County, as a half-time info assistant in the children’s department. I loved it.

Then my husband came back to America, — to Virginia, but three hours away– stopped getting the dual housing allowance, and drastically cut his support. I desperately needed a full-time job. In December 2007, I finished my Master’s in Library and Information Science, and in February 2008, I was the Youth Services Manager at Herndon Fortnightly Library, the very closest library to my home. What’s more, I had applied for a position at a library 45 minutes away — but when I got to the interview, they said they were actually interviewing for librarians at three different libraries — and one was Herndon.

So — I really was NOT meaning to tell that whole story when I started writing this blog entry. The point is this: I love my job. It was a total gift from God. I feel I was born to be a librarian. I love what I do, and think of it as a ministry, besides being lots of fun and exactly what I enjoy and am good at.

Mind you, there are other aspects of librarianship that I like very much. I wouldn’t mind a job that had more regular hours and maybe less public service and more backroom tasks. But I do feel this job was a gift from God, and if it is taken away from me, I’m sure He can meet my needs and give me a new wonderful job.

It’s budget cuts that might cause me to lose my job. 16 Librarian I positions (and a whole lot of other positions) are being cut. Choosing who will go is based entirely on seniority, so I have no way of knowing if I will get to stay or not. There are 10 positions already vacant, but if they were mostly people hired after me, that won’t do me any good.

Even if I don’t lose my job, I’m upset about the budget cuts. Having reduced library service will greatly hurt the poor, job hunters, kids who need library computers or library books to do their homework, and young mothers learning to build early literacy skills in their little ones — especially the ones who wouldn’t have been doing it anyway. Every single day we serve people learning English, homeless people, people doing schoolwork, home schoolers, adults needing reference information, and so many more. Closing the libraries and reducing service will be a definite negative impact in the county. This budget cut was a very bad decision.

And please, as the cuts go into place, please let your Board of Supervisors representative know the negative impact! They claimed that people didn’t complain about the budget cuts last year, so they were sure no one would mind if they did more. Of course, people learning English and people too poor to afford their own computer aren’t usually the sort who do lots of talking to members of the Board of Supervisors.

And they told us the RIF notices were coming out on Wednesday. So my suspense would finally end. But today they said they’re running behind, and RIF notices won’t come out until next Monday or Tuesday.

So — I’ve been working hard for the last couple months searching for job openings and applying. I’ve applied to fourteen librarian or research jobs that I think I would do well, would enjoy, and that would pay better! So far ten are still viable, though no interviews yet.

But that’s what’s been slowing me down on writing reviews. Or weighing in on current Kidlitosphere topics, like writing about the Top 100 Children’s Novels (and which I’ve read and love) or writing about why I only review books I like — but still think I can call them “reviews” and not simply “recommendations.”

I’ve got a pile of books here that I need to review and turn in so I can check out more books! Tonight I’m going to try to write a few more reviews, but wait to post them to the main site another night. I want to get caught up. Though I may have blown my chances of doing that tonight by writing this long set of musings.

Enough! Let me write some more reviews!

Summing Up

Events, General 0

You may have noticed that my reviews have slowed down lately. I thought I’d sum up some of the things that have been going on.

School Library Journal‘s Battle of the Books finished up today. I’m sad that it’s over so quickly. If you haven’t been following the battle, it’s well worth going back and reading the judges’ decisions. The organizers took 16 outstanding children’s and young adult books, fiction and nonfiction, all written in 2009. Then they pitted them against each other in tournament brackets, with celebrity children’s authors providing the judging.

One of the best parts of the Battle is that the judges can write! They picked stellar writers to do the judging, and they waxed eloquent in praise of both the losers and the winners. Because, really all the books chosen to compete were outstanding. They also nicely expressed what factors swayed their ultimate decision.

Katherine Paterson was today’s judge for the final round, and she, too, did a wonderful summing up. Be sure to look at the Battle site and see who won!

Of course, half the fun was predicting who would win. With my first round choices, I did abysmally — only predicting one match right out of eight matches. But, funny thing, after that first round, every single one of my predictions was correct! Perhaps once my favorites were knocked out of the running, I was more objective and didn’t let my own biases affect how I predicted the judges would respond. Or perhaps I was just luckier.

Another event I’m following avidly, checking each morning, is the revelation of the Top 100 Children’s Novels, based on Betsy Bird’s poll over at her Fuse #8 blog. She announced #6 today.

I’ve been following Betsy’s blog ever since her Top 100 Picture Books poll last year. It’s so much fun being reminded of these truly great books. She does an incredible summing up of each book.

Just for fun, here are the books I voted for in the Children’s Novel poll. Now, it was supposed to be Middle Grade Novels, so I didn’t include some favorites that I consider YA. She gave 10 points for first place, 9 for second place, and so on. Here were my votes, with links to those I’ve reviewed:

1. Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery
2. The World of Pooh, by A. A. Milne (This was my way of cheating and voting for both Winnie-the-Pooh and The House of Pooh Corner, but it backfired because no one else voted that way.)
3. Momo, by Michael Ende
4. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis
5. The Queen of Attolia, by Megan Whalen Turner
6. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
7. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling
9. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi
10. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

Now, there are still five books left to announce. I suspect, when all is said and done, that all but one of my choices will show up on the Top 100 List. Momo, alas, is not well-known in America. Though it was the first book I ever ordered from Book-of-the-Month Club and in fact the book that got me hooked on Book-of-the-Month Club.

Betsy also held a contest to guess what the Top Ten books would be. I think I guessed the books correctly, but I did not get the order right. Here’s what I guessed:

1. Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery
2. Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis (what is it with great children’s writers using their initials?)
5. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
6. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg (I probably should have put her before Madeleine L’Engle because she uses her initials!)
7. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
8. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
9. The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
10. Holes, by Louis Sachar

My biggest error was not taking into account how many men and boys were voting. Anne, alas, was only #9. Here is how 6-10 turned out:

6. Holes
7. The Giver
8. The Secret Garden
9. Anne of Green Gables
10. The Phantom Tollbooth

But you have to admit, I’m pretty darn close! 🙂

Anyway, I will predict the top five as being my remaining guesses in the order I guessed them. We shall see…

But the real fun is the finding out! If you haven’t checked out Betsy’s blog yet, do so right away!

And I’m also happy to say that I’ve read almost all the books that have come up in the Top 100. Most of the ones I haven’t read are old classics, and I’m going to have to give them a try.

It was my turn to make a display behind the Circulation Desk for the month of April, so I decided to make a display of the Top 50 Children’s Novels — at least all the ones we have. I will take a picture after #1 has been announced and post it.

So you see, blogging about these blogs takes up my review time! On top of that, I am frantically trying to get out job applications. At the end of April, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will vote on the budget. If they vote for a 15% cut in the libraries, as the County Executive has proposed, well, I will almost certainly lose my job. They would cut 24 Librarian I positions, based on seniority, and I’m about 10th from the bottom. Many other positions would also be cut, but that’s the job class that concerns me.

Anyway, I already have 5 job applications out there, for some librarian positions for federal agencies (like the US Senate Library and the Executive Office of the President!), and some research positions for private companies. All the jobs pay considerably better than my current job, so I’ll be tempted to take one even if I’m not laid off. But we will see. Anyway, each day after work I have time to either blog or get an application sent out. So tonight I’m not getting an application off, and neither am I getting a review written.

But I’m also reading slowly lately, because I have gotten on a Killer Sudoku kick lately, so I’ve been doing Killer Sudoku at bedtime instead of reading. But I do already have some books waiting to be reviewed, as well as lots and lots of wonderful books that I’m dying to read! So I’m reminding myself that if I just get these applications out, then I can get busy reviewing again….

Mind you, I also recently filed for divorce, so any day now I’ll have to gather up all my financial records again, or work with my lawyer on an agreement. I’m still sad about that — I still love my husband. — and yet I’m happy to get this settled and get out of his life while he does NOT want me there. And I get to pursue my career (who ever thought I’d have one? I was just tagging along on my husband’s career…) and the things that I am passionate about.

Oh, and I almost completely forgot to mention that for every day in 2010, I have faithfully spent at least 30 minutes each day working on my own book! It’s a middle grade novel, and I thought I had it finished last year, but then in the Fall I got an idea to add to the back story and give it a lot more depth. So slowly but surely, I’m rewriting it, and I think it’s a better book. Here’s hoping I can finish the revisions by my birthday in June.

So life is very busy. But it’s also very interesting and very good. I’m finding that I have a choice: I can stew over my impending job loss (I do really love my job!) — or I can get excited about what God is going to do next. The latter option is a lot more fun!