GreenBeanTeenQueen

Today I'm a guest on the  ALSC Blog where I'm talking about my Caldecott Storytimes . Stop by and say hi!

Let's call today's day in the life post, Day in the Life of a Youth Services Manager. As a manager, I'm always attending meetings. It just so happens that one day out of the month, several of my meetings all fall on the same day and it makes for a very long and exhausting day! Here's what my meeting day looked like last Thursday: 7:50 AM-Leave for work earlier than usual since I need to be driving out to a county branch for my first meeting. 8:20 AM-Arrive at county branch for meeting. Before meeting check out book the branch had set aside for me for tomorrows storytime (my copy got checked out by a young patron and luckily this branch had another copy!), deliver a box of ARCs for our teen review board, and bring in a stash of big books to exchange with other branches. 8:30 AM-Meeting starts! This is our monthly youth services meeting for all of our youth services managers, full time youth services staff, and young adult librarians. We spent our meeting talking ab

So I normally post about trends I see happening in YA, but here's a trend that is happening across the board:  bird watching. It took me by surprise-who knew bird watching would become so book trendy? But check it out: Childrens : Robin, Where Are You? by Harriet Ziefert, Illustrated by Noah Woods Middle Grade: Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate Here Where the Sunbeams are Green by Helen Phillips  (not totally about bird watching, but features bird watching characters) Bird Nerd by Tracy Edward Wymer (This one appears to be self published, which I don't typically include,but I thought it was interesting how it fit the theme) Young Adult:  Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley  Adult : Snapper by Brian Kimberling Have you noticed birds in your books lately?

The Lulu Series by Hilary McKay Visit Hilary McKay Online Vote for Lulu in the Kiddo Awards Check out the next stop on the tour for an interview & giveaway Please welcome Hilary McKay to GreenBeanTeenQueen! I am so excited to share her newest books, The Lulu Series, with everyone. Lulu is a seven-year-old who loves animals. The rule in Lulu's house is the more the merrier, as long as Lulu cleans up after them!  In Lulu and the Duck in the Park, during a class trip the park Lulu discovers an egg that needs help hatching. Her teacher has told everyone no more animals in class, but Lulu can't leave the duckling egg alone!  In Lulu and the Dog From the Sea, Lulu and her family vacation to a cottage by the sea. They discover a stray dog who everyone in the town is trying to catch and Lulu believes she can be the one to tame him. This series is charming and adorable and perfect for beginning readers. Each book is about 100 pages and is full of beautiful i

Ever since the Veronica Mars movie was announced, I've been obsessively checking the Kickstarter page , watching Logan and Veronica clips on YouTube , and reading every piece of news about who is going to be in the film and what the plot my be I can get my hands on. Yep, I love Veronica Mars and I'm thrilled she'll be making a comeback. Obsessed like me? Or new to Veronica Mars and need to get in a YA mystery mood? Here's what you can read while waiting for the Veronica Mars movie: Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas -Before he was creating TV show detectives, Rob Thomas was writing YA novels. The book just got a new cover and re-released this month. All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab -This is one I've seen tagged as a Veronica Mars readalike and in my review I even mentioned how Veronica Mars fans need to get ahold of this smart character driven mystery. Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday -High school murder mystery and total fluffy fun

I'm doing Caldecott themed storytime for preschool storytime in January-April. Check out all my Caldecott Storytime plans here.  Theme : Songs and Rhymes Early Literacy Skill: Sing & Rhyme Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? by The Wiggles Read : Frog Went A-Courtin' by John Langstaff, Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky -Before I read this book I talked about how there are some songs that tell silly stories that are very old songs and have been passed down to kids over the years. I also told the kids that going courtin meant that Froggy was looking for a wife and he wanted to get married. I asked if they had ever seen a frog marry a mouse and they all giggled and said "NO!!" I told them that we would have to look at each the pictures to see what happens and if they did get married and what happened at the wedding. This helped keep them really engaged in the book and they liked it a lot more than I thought they would. They kept pointing out the va

Trends are a funny thing. Some come all at once and others seem to slowly creep up on you as you read. I feel like in the dystopian genre there more books coming out that take a fairy twist in a dystopian world. Fairy tales are always popular, but the dystopian twist seems to be taking off. Here are a few I've noticed: A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan -This was the first dystopian fairy tale I noticed. I listened to it on audiobook when it came out in 2011 and really enjoyed it. It's a dystopian/future/scifi take on Sleeping Beauty. From Goodreads:   Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose-- hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interpl

Rating: 4/5 Stars Genre: Historical Release Date: 2/12/2013 Add to Goodreads About the Book: After leaving Uncle Chester's homestead, Hattie has a new dream. She would like to become a reporter. When the chance to become a seamstress with a traveling acting troupe arises, Hattie jumps on the opportunity to travel to a big city and ends up in San Francisco. Hattie has found a letter and a love token from Uncle Chester's old flame in San Francisco and maybe this is her chance to find out more about her mysterious uncle. Plus there's so much opportunity in San Francisco and Hattie will work hard to make her dreams come true. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says:  So as I went to review Hattie Ever After, I looked to see if I had ever reviewed Hattie Big Sky , which I had not. So I need to remedy that soon (but that may require a reread!) But all you need to know is I loved the first book-it appealed to tween Sarah who loved historical fiction and Hattie's adventures as she

Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary Release Date: 9/1/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Taylor's life just got turned upside down. She is not made for country living, but her parents have just uprooted her to a small town farm in the middle of nowhere. Now instead of trips to the Mall of America, Taylor is spending her time with sheep, ducks, chickens and goats. As her farm life keeps landing her in one disaster after another and chicken poop, Taylor devises a plan to get her parents to move back to the city where she belongs. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Barn Boot Blues is a cute look at transitions and changing what you've always known. Taylor hates the farm, but it's her moms dream to own animals and a farm, so Taylor isn't going to have an easy time convincing her parents it's time to move. Much to Taylor's surprise, she actually has a talent for living on a farm and learns to spin wool. As she learns about life on the farm readers will learn

A year ago I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. That meant I had to cut out anything with gluten in it from my diet. No wheat, barley, rye. I eat gluten free cookies, bread and pasta. I've learned how to adjust my diet, but I wasn't expecting my new food allergy to overlap with work, other than what I took for lunch and not being able to eat at staff potlucks. I discovered that there are a lot of products, not just food products, that contain gluten. Lots of craft supplies that I come in contact with on a daily basis in the library are not always gluten free . For me, I'm extra cautious about when I'm using crayons, play dough, and glue and I make sure to wash my hands a lot, especially after handling any of these items. But it got me thinking about making sure our library programs are allergy friendly. This winter we hosted a Cookie Club in which patrons got a card stamped on each visit to the library and after six visits got invited to a cookie party. I had

I'm doing Caldecott themed storytime for preschool storytime in January-April. Check out all my Caldecott Storytime plans here.  Theme: Animal Friends Opening Song : Shake Your Sillies Out and Where is Thumbkin by the Wiggles (both were requested this week!) Literacy Skill: Tell Stories-our crafts especially focused on telling stories Read :   Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann -Before I started this one, I talked about what safety rules are, what some rules we follow are (one of the older siblings had read the book and shared the tip from the book "don't stand on swivel chairs!") I also talked about how we had to look at both the pictures and listen to the words of this book to tell the whole story. It was cute, but my group was a bit too young for this one. Song : These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner Read :  A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead This is one of my favorites and I lo

Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary/Mystery Release Date: 3/12/2013 About the Book: (From Goodreads)  Sixteen-year-old Devon Mackintosh has always felt like an outsider at Keaton, the prestigious California boarding school perched above the Pacific. As long as she’s not fitting in, Devon figures she might as well pad her application to Stanford’s psych program. So junior year, she decides to become a peer counselor, a de facto therapist for students in crisis. At first, it seems like it will be an easy fly-on-the-wall gig, but her expectations are turned upside down when Jason Hutchins (a.k.a. “Hutch”), one of the Keaton’s most popular students, commits suicide.      Devon dives into her new role providing support for Hutch’s friends, but she’s haunted by her own attachment to him. The two shared an extraordinary night during their first week freshman year; it was the only time at Keaton when she felt like someone else really understood her.  As the secrets and confessions

Please welcome author Margaux Froley to GreenBeanTeenQueen. Her debut novel, Escape Theory, was just released on March 12! I love asking about libraries and Margaux answered the question, "When has a library really made a difference for you as a writer." I’m a big fan of libraries, so this is a tough question. Last year my boyfriend and I decided to move to Los Angeles from New York. We got to Los Angeles and stayed the first few days with my dad and his wife in their house near Santa Monica. I’m from here, so it was nice to be back near my family, and my family was happy to have me. But I also vividly remember the first morning, Joel and I woke up, had breakfast, and our intention was to sit down and write that day. My dad’s house is big-ish, so there seemed to be plenty of space to write. He even had the housekeeper clean off a big table just for us. We got our laptops out, our coffees ready just how we like, and sat down to write. It was going to be a great writing da

Please welcome Annette LeBlanc Cate, author of Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard to GreenBeanTeenQueen! Check out my review of Look Up!  So much about life now is very different for The Young People Of Today (how i put it when i want to particularly annoy my 12 year old son) than for us pathetic old people. For example...The Young People have many, many tv stations, they may roam freely when they talk on the phone, their Lego people have faces, and on cold days they don't have smelly damp wool scarves wrapped around their faces, because they have Polar-tec. And they are never bored, because they have many devices with various entertainments on them.  And every little bit of information they could ever want or need is right at their fingertips, and they are so used to this that it never occurs to them that this is an incredibly overwhelming concept, their heads never spin with this knowledge, like mine still does, because I am, you know, a pathetic old person.

Tween Tuesday is a meme hosted here at GreenBeanTeenQueen to highlight great reads for tweens! Check out Annette LeBlanc Cate's Guest Post!! Rating: 5/5 Stars Genre: Nonfiction Release Date: 3/12/2013 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Anybody can bird watch! All you need is to go outside and look up! This fun quirky book will teach the basics of bird watching, what to look for, and how to get started with a new hobby. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says:   Look Up! is a great nonfiction addition to any collection. While the book is short (just over 50 pages), the pages are full of information that will get readers excited about bird-watching. I will admit, I've always thought of bird-watchers as a bit odd-they're those people who have notebooks and binoculars, spend a lot of time outside being very quiet and really love birds. But Annette LeBlanc Cate has managed to make me rethink my ideas of bird-watching and make me, someone who would much rather stay inside with a

On March 13, 2008, I started my blog with this post: Well, I've finally done it. I've been wanting to start a book blog for a long time and here I am-finally! Check back often for reviews and booklists of tween and teen books. Post lots of comments-I love to read them!:) And don't forget to keep reading! My first review was of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (and it makes me laugh a bit at how short it is!!) Rating: 4/5 Stars About the Book : Percy Jackson has been labeled as a bad kid. He's been kicked out of numerous schools, has ADD, and can't seem to stay out of trouble. All this changes when he discovers he's not a bad kid at all-he's just got different wiring because he's actually half Greek god and half human! Yep, those ancient Greek gods are alive and well and living in New York. So what's newly discovered demigod to do? Spend summer at Camp Halfblood of course! But things are not perfect on Mt. Olympus-Zeus' lightning bolt has