My Path to Library Science, continued

After I left Viterbo, it was a few years before I encountered another library-related job. It was with Winnebago Software, a library automation company where I did data entry. You may think doing data entry for 8 hours a day would be boring, but this was actually one of my favorite jobs I've had, I suppose primarily because I didn't have to deal with demanding customers like I did in all my waitressing experiences.

The library automation came in handy because after a stint in Madison working for the state, I moved back to the area and had no luck at all finding a full-time job until a library assistant job opened up at the public library in Prairie du Chien. Because I was one of the few applicants who actually had any kind of library experience, I got the job. With the job came the best boss I've had, Lois Gilbert. She was the one who encouraged me to continue on with my library training so once again I went back to school; UW-Milwaukee would become the 4th college I attended! After sticking with 2 1/2 years of online classes, working full-time, and being a single mom I actually received my master's degree in library & information science. Looking back I feel bad about the times I would have to study and Ashley would have to entertain herself, but I think the lack of attention bothered our dog Max much more than it ever did her....one time when I was finishing up a big paper on the computer in my bedroom, Max came in the room, squatted on my bed, and proceeded to pee all over it! I guess it was his way of getting my attention, and it definitely worked.

I think I worked at the public library for almost 7 years, and it was a great experience. The best part was being a children's librarian: planning storytimes and summer reading programs for the younger children, and collection development and putting on programs for the teenagers. The worst part was some of the special characters you would get, including the guy who would ask for books on labor, and I don't mean as in unions!

National Library Week

It's been a busy, busy week here at the library; the work is piled so high I'm beginning to wonder if I'm even going to be able to see over it soon! That's alright though, it's good to keep busy & to feel like my services are needed.

Since this is "National Library Week" I thought I would give a quick intro to how I came to work at the library.

Even though I always enjoyed books & reading (some of the books from when we were kids still have my "librarian's marks" in them, for example LPB for long paperback), I actually went to college to be a teacher. My junior year I applied at the college library for work-study; I remember there was a whole line of people in front of me, and the library director would ask them a question or two, and in most cases say something along the lines of "thanks for stopping by--but adios!". Well I noticed that he was asking them why they wanted to work there, and most of them were answering, "because I like to read". So I made sure to come up with a different answer by the time it was my turn. I think basically I responded with something about enjoying helping people and doing research. Well, apparently that was the right answer, because I got the job! Even now I find that a lot of people have the misconception that librarians basically sit around and read all day. About all I read at work is my email, and I admit...I check out what advice Jimmy the Bartender has to give when the new issue of Men's Health comes across my desk!

I continued to work at the Viterbo library as a work-study student for a year and a half. The most memorable part of it was when we moved the library to its newly built location. I spent my spring break lugging books & magazines down 2 flights, putting new shelves together, and getting them all shelved before classes started up again. The worst part would be when we would get 4 or 5 rows of magazines shelved, and then a row of Rolling Stones would show up. If you aren't aware of this significance, let me just say this: it involved lots of swearing, and sometimes tears were shed. Since the Stones were so much taller, it meant we would have to go back & redo everything we had just done; unloading all the other shelves, readjusting the shelves, shifting, reshelving....you get the point.

To be continued tomorrow......

5 Authors Who I Enjoyed More When Their 1st Novels Came Out

Sometimes I feel like big-name authors start churning out novels just to please their fans, and they aren't nearly as good or have as well-developed storylines as their earlier works. These are five authors (and one of their earlier books) who I enjoyed more when I read them way back when than their newer stuff:

• John Grisham -- A Time to Kill
  
• James Patterson -- Kiss the Girls
• John Saul -- Suffer the Children
• Mary Higgins Clark -- Where Are the Children
• Karen Robards -- Dark of the Moon and also Desire in the Sun

If these are authors you enjoy, I encourage you to seek out some of their older novels!

5 Selp-Help Books I Should Read & Heed

For today's category I thought I would take a look at which self-help books I have on my shelves. When considering the status of my organizational abilities, health, weight, and love life (or lack thereof) I narrowed them down to five (OK, six) which I really should get reading--and heeding their advice!

• He's Just Not That Into You: Your Daily Wake-Up Call by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo
• Love Smart: Find the One You Want--Fix the One You Got by Phil McGraw
• Overcoming Runaway Blood Sugar: Practical Help for People Fighting Fatigue & Mood Swings, Hypoglycemics & Diabetics, & Those Trying to Control Their Weight by Dennis Pollock
• One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good by Regina Leeds
• Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life by Richard J. Leider
• Does this Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?: An Easy Plan for Losing Weight and Living More by Peter Walsh
  

5 Children's/YA Historical Fiction Books

I love historical fiction, so this was really tough to narrow down to five. I left off some that I'll probably be including in other 5-a-days soon, so that helped a bit. Granted, these are not my "all-time favorites" necessarily, but they are all ones that I immensely enjoyed. Somewhere along the line it seems I heard something about children/teenagers not enjoying historical fiction nearly as well as other genres, even though that's what seems to be most prolific. That could be part of the reason why series such as "Dear America" were borne--to get children more interested in reading about history.

In my opinion, the best historical fiction writers introduce us to a time or culture we are not very familiar with, but yet we can identify with the characters and their struggles. If you want to seek out other historical fiction suggestions, there are lots of resources out on the web. Morton Grove Public Library's "Webrary" is a great place to look for all kinds of reading lists; I got most of the following descriptions from there. http://www.webrary.org/rs/bibhistfict.html

• Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff -- When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's courage and ingenuity help her family and neighbors survive.

• Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson -- In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.

• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes -- After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare -- In 1687, sixteen-year-old Kit leaves the West Indies to live with her Puritan relatives in Connecticut Colony. Her friendship with an outcast Quaker woman make her a target for charges of witchcraft.

• Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata -- After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 12-year-old Sumiko and her family are shipped to an internment center in the Arizona desert. Sumiko soon discovers that the camp is on an Indian reservation and that the Japanese are as unwanted there as they'd been at home.

5 Tear-Jerkers

No big surprises here--most of the following books have probably made hardier souls than me shed a tear or two. But these 5 stand out as especially heart-wrenching, some for pretty obvious reasons.

• A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks -- Oh yes, Sparks is a master of melodramatic romances, but I cried buckets reading this one since it was soon after my 15-yr-old cousin had died from complications of cancer.

• Love You Forever by Robert Munsch -- Even though this is a "children's picture book" it's really aimed more at parents. "I'll like you for always, I'll love you forever, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be". Yes Ashley, no matter how old you are, you'll always be our baby!

• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls -- The story of a boy and his dogs. Is there any more loyal creature in the world than a child's dog? "Old Dan must have known he was dying. Just before he drew his last breath, he opened his eyes and looked at me. Then with one last sigh, and a feeble thump of his tail, his friendly gray eyes closed forever." Jeezums, I couldn't even type that without crying.

• Beat the Turtle Drum by Constance C. Greene -- An unforgettable story about the friendship between two sisters (from the cover). The book is the story of the summer when one of the sisters dies unexpectedly. I can relate to a lot of the narrator's comments: "It's a good thing something takes over and clouds your mind when someone you love dies. It's so awful, so unbelievably awful and terrible and everything bad, that people couldn't manage otherwise, I think." And "people say such dumb things when people die. They don't realize how dumb they are. They say, 'It was God's will,' like Miss Pemberthy. That's enough to turn anyone against God. I myself don't know if I'll ever feel the same about Him. Maybe He had a very good reason for making Joss die, but I doubt it. I read a poem which says, 'Death loves a shining mark,' and I think Joss was the shining mark".

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott -- Another obvious choice, considering it's the story of the 4 March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. When I die, I would like a poem from this book read at my funeral, and also request that the song "For the Beauty of the Earth" from the Winona Ryder film version is played. Here is a snippet of the poem "My Beth": "O my sister, passing from me, out of human care and strife, leave me, as a gift, those virtues which have beautified your life. Dear, bequeath me that great patience which has power to sustain a cheerful, uncomplaining spirit.....Hope and faith, born of my sorrow, guardian angels shall become, and the sister gone before me by their hands shall lead me home."

Well, I'm off to find some tissues now!

5-a-Day

Since I have been incredibly lax in updating my blog & want to get back into it, I thought I would do some "5-a-Days" this week. Each day I'll list 5 books on a particular topic; feel free to comment on them. Full disclosure: contrary to popular belief I don't consider myself well-read so you won't see many "classics" on these lists.

This 1st one for sure I know some people will disagree with!

5 books that I think are overrated

• The Harry Potter series -- don't get me wrong, the storylines are great, and it's wonderful that they have really gotten kids reading, but they are overly long. And I personally much prefer Ron to Harry; I find Harry to be kind of bratty, actually. Sacrilege, I know! :)
• The Lovely Bones -- After a 14-yr-old is kidnapped & murdered by a neighbor, she follows the lives of her family from Heaven. Granted, this was an interesting story, it just didn't move me like it did a lot of people. Also, there's a scene towards the end that I found totally unbelievable.
• Catcher in the Rye -- OK, I haven't actually read this, but Heather has, and from her take & the reviews I've read, I think it's probably overrated. I guess I better read it to find out for sure, though.
• Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson -- I read this and I have no recollection of what life's greatest lesson is so apparently it didn't affect me too much!
• Junie B. Jones series -- It seems you either love these or hate them. I personally don't get the appeal; they are supposed to be funny but I just don't get what's "funny" about bad grammar, horrible spelling, calling people stupid, etc.
  
  

Ashley's "Easter" Books

Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series

I guess I'm on a book kick, because Ashley is also getting books in her Easter basket this year. I was first introduced to this laugh-out-loud series about ten years ago; somewhere along the line Ashley picked one up and read it which is very unusual since she usually avoids the books I read like the plague. Of course she was instantly hooked and has read the entire series, and like all of her favorite series, she has decided she wants to own them all. So I have been diligently trying to seek out & round up the 14 books (so far) in the Stephanie Plum series, along with the miscellaneous "Plum" books Evanovich has put out. I think I've almost got them all! If you've never read a book about this feisty New Jersey bounty hunter and her colorful cast of friends and enemies, pick up the 1st, "One for the Money", and you'll be hooked!

From the back cover: "Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family. Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder. Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man."

For years there have been rumors of this series being made into a movie, with entire websites dedicated to who should be cast as Stephanie, Grandma Mazur, Morelli, and the whole bunch. The competition & opinions have been fierce, especially for something that may never see the light of day. For me, one of the most important casting calls would be for Ranger; he is so extremely sexy and mysterious I can't think of anyone who would do him justice. Many people who read these books are either pro-Morelli or pro-Ranger, comparable to the Team Edward/ Team Jacob competition of the Twilight series. Give these books a try and discover if you're a Morelli or Ranger fan and let me know! Jodi

P.S. As you can probably guess, I am firmly planted in the Ranger camp!

For more information and fun stuff about Janet's books (including how many cars Stephanie has destroyed) check out her website at http://www.evanovich.com/.

Will's "Easter" Books

Working in a university library, I'm not up on children's books like I used to be. Recently though I stopped in at a children's bookstore, looking for Easter presents for my nephew William. I've blogged about Will's love of books before, and I thought some new books would be a nice little addition to his Easter basket. I ended up buying the above 3 books for him, and I just love them; I hope he does too!
A little about them:
Little Quack's New Friend by Lauren Thompson

This is the 4th entry in the "Little Quack" series; I can't remember if I've seen any of the others, but I love this one, primarily because it has a frog in it. Other things I like about it are the bright, cheery colors, and the sound effects ("plunka, splunka"). In this story, Little Quack meets Little Ribbit, who wants to play. Little Quack's siblings determine the frog is "too little" and "too green" to play with, but soon join in as they see how much fun Ribbit & Quack have together. Besides being a cute, fun story, it has a beautiful message of friendship and acceptance as the ducks learn that just because someone looks a little different from them, they can still have lots in common.

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems

What can I say....I love the pigeon! Will literally cheers when I bring out a pigeon book, so I thought I'd better get him a new one. In this one, the bus driver asks us to make sure the pigeon doesn't stay up late. Of course, the pigeon comes up with all kinds of reasons & excuses why he should get to stay up, including there being a very educational show on TV about birds. School Library Journal had this to say about the illustrations of the books: "set against comfortably faded pastel backgrounds, the cartoon artwork focuses tightly on the main character, with his comments presented in dialogue balloons. The black-crayon lines speak volumes, as the pigeon's body language and the positioning of his ever-expressive eye humorously convey each nuance of the text." If you're looking for a funny book to read to a child, seek out a pigeon book today!

The Small Seed by Judith Nicholls (Little Scholastic)
This 1st nature book has rhyming text and realistic textures which children can feel as the seed grows roots, develops into a shoot, a stem, and finally a beautiful flower as the last page is folded out. The Little Scholastic series is "a developmental publishing program of interactive books created exclusively to give babies and toddlers a head start in learning". I'll have to seek out more of these because it looks like a wonderful new series. When I first picked this book out, I wondered if it would be too "old" for Will, and something he wouldn't really be interested in. But then I saw him at my parent's house, and what is the first thing he did? Showed me ALL of the new plants that grandma and he planted, and how they're all growing. So I think he may just like the seed book after all!