GreenBeanTeenQueen

(This post was orignially published in January 2014, but I think it's fitting that I have friends serving on the award committees this year and I want them to read this encouragement once again and know it's for them too!) Dear Committee Member- On the eve of the youth media awards and your committee announcements, I offer you some words of advice from someone who has been there before. Your choices are amazing. You have done a fantastic job and worked the hardest you have ever worked over the past year. You have read, and re-read, and re-read yet again, taken notes, analyzed, and discussed titles in more depth than you ever thought possible. Your hard work is appreciated. When the announcement happens and your choices are known, just remember that your titles are amazing. You know why you honored the books you did and now you get to share those amazing titles with the world. You get to watch as others read them and discuss them and discover the intricacies in the...

So I'm going to try my best to share my predictions and we'll see how close I can get (probably not close at all!) Here are my predictions (and hopes!) for Monday morning: Caldecott Prediction: Winner: I wish I had come across this one when I was making my Mock Caldecott list because it would have made our final list for sure. If I was on the committee, this is one I would be championing for-the texture, the use of words in the art, the collage style-it's all fantastic. Honor Books: I think this may be a strong year for honor books and we may end up with quite a few depending on how the committee discussion and voting shakes down.  I think this wordless book will be getting some love. The detail! It's gotta count for something! Caldecott Dark Horse: I have two possible dark horses this year: I've only recently been seeing Flashlight crop on other Mock lists. When this one came across my desk, myself and all of my ...

This year my library hosted our first ever Mock Newbery! We hosted it just for staff, but I think it would be great to host one with our patrons someday as well.  We had a shortlist of six titles that we read and discussed. After much discussion and voting, we came up with our winner and two honor books: Winner:  Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Our group was impressed by the lyrical writing of Brown Girl Dreaming and how each poem stood alone but also contributed to the larger story. There were also comments on the characterization, which is very well drawn out. Even when we are introduced to a character with very little detail and background, we still felt that we knew them. Honor Books:  A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd West of the Moon by Margi Preus  The group again loved the well developed characters in A Snicker of Magic. There was lots of discussion about the wonderful wordplay and excellent world building and se...

Winner's Curse Blog Tour The Winner's Trilogy About the Book: (From Goodreads)- Winning what you want may cost you everything you love   As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.  One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.  But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.  Set in a richly imagined new world,  The Winner’s Curse  by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose yo...

About the Book:  Something strange is going on in the tiny coastal town of Liberty, Oregon. Cara has never seen a whale swim close enough for her to touch it—let alone knock her into the freezing water. Fortunately, cute newcomer David is there to save her, and the rescue leads to a bond deeper than Cara ever imagined. So when she learns David’s interning as a teacher at her school, Cara is devastated. She turns to her best friend for support, but Rachel has changed. She’s suddenly into witchcraft & is becoming dangerously obsessed with her new boyfriend. Cara has lost her best friend, discovered her soul mate is off limits, and has attracted the attention of a stalker. But she’s not completely alone. Her mysterious, gorgeous new friend Garren is there to support her. But is Garren possibly too perfect? Swoon Reads is the perfect new imprint from Macmillan for romance readers. There are romances for every kind of reader and Save Me is a mash up of several ...

Me at the 2013 Youth Media Awards Announcement  I'm about to start another major award committee year. I can't wait to get started and I'm eager to meet my fellow committee members, share and talk books with them! Being on a committee is a lot of work and it's a huge undertaking! Here's what it's like being on a book award committee: -June-July (about a year and a half before your actual term starts if you are to be elected) : Find out that you have been asked to be on the ballot for a committee term in the upcoming ALA elections! Squeal loudly to your husband about this. Do not tell anyone else as this is top secret news.  - July-Mid-October- wait anxiously for more news.  - Mid-October -Finally hear more details about the election and learn that it is now on the ALA site so you can announce your news and tell friends you'd love if they voted for you! - End October-November -Submit ballot information to ALA so you can have a cool bio ...

It's the first Tuesday of the month, which means it's time for Tune In Tuesday. Tune In Tuesday where I share (and invite others to share) some of their favorite music to use in storytime and library programs-or just for fun! This month's featured artist: Koo Koo Kangaroo! Really, this just goes to show that I should listen to the other youth services staff at our other branches when they suggest music. Our library has hosted Koo Koo Kangaroo in concert twice, but I sadly missed the shows both times. Then Ingrid at Magpie Librarian  posted her toddler dance party playlist and it had an awesome song from Koo Koo Kangaroo and I just knew I had to include them in my upcoming dance party too! I used Dinosaur Stomp: I love that there's even a video you can share with dance moves if you wanted. I might do that in storytime sometime, but I didn't set up the video for the dance party. I just used the moves and got the kids dancing, stomping and chomping. I thought ...

Storytime Underground  has encouraged everyone to share their professional goals for 2015 and resolve to rock the year! Here are my professional goals for 2015 and how I hope to rock this year: 1. Create monthly stats and stories reports for my manager, administration, my staff and myself.  Stats are gold in the library world. And stats and stories are a powerful way to communicate what we see every day in the library. I know the impact youth services in the library has on our community. I hear the feedback from our patrons. But how often do I share that with staff, managers, and administration? My goal is to create short reports highlighting something the youth services department did each month to share. 2. Time management professionally and personally . I'm entering into a committee year, which means tons of reading in my personal time. I also blog and review for review journals in addition to my job and my family and social life. I want to really focus on maki...