Deadly Invaders by Denise Grady March 31, 2007

In Deadly Invaders: Virus Outbreaks Around the World, from Marburg Fever to Avian Flu, New York Times science writer Denise Grady uses her own experiences covering an outbreak of Marburg Fever in Angola to explore the impact of virus outbreaks on the modern world. This framework allows Grady to discuss various aspects of medicine, epidemiology, and public health in ways I was not expecting in a book for teens, namely (for my inner anthropologist) how culture and state of the art medical care can clash. How do you track and quarantine infected people if doctors and native populations are ignorant of each other’s practices? How do you compromise when burying a body according to traditional funerary practices means mourners may become infected with the very virus doctors are trying to eradicate?

Despite the title, most of the book focuses on Marburg virus and the efforts of doctors to end the outbreak. Short overviews of contemporary outbreaks of other viruses such as AIDS, SARS, and West Nile are included, but these are only three to four pages long. Still, it does allow Grady to discuss various causes of outbreaks and how the modern world, for all its vaccinations and medical advances, is contributing to these outbreaks.

Grady’s firsthand experience in Angola gives the book an immediacy I found engaging. She writes clearly, the layout of the text is clear and easy to read, and there are lots of color graphics (including a very helpful map of Africa, because we know how great Americans are at geography) that help to keep the book moving at a fast pace. And thankfully, there are no pictures of sores or anything really gross or icky.

That said, I do have several criticisms of the book, the biggest being: I know this is a New York Times book and all, but do all the references in the “Further Reading” section have to be NYT articles, with the exception of The Hot Zone and Virus Hunter? I also wish there was more information about viruses in general. I learned more about several different specific viruses than I did about viruses as a whole. The final overviews of different viruses include a “Virus Family” heading, but what exactly does this mean? How are viruses grouped in different families, and why is this significant enough to be highlighted, but then not significant enough to be explained?

So, a recommendation? Hmm, it’s a well-written, easy to read book that would certainly be of interest to the general reader or a teen interested specifically in the 2005 Marburg Fever outbreak or medical anthropology and the more sociocultural aspects of virus outbreaks. But if you’re looking for information on the science behind viruses, you probably want to look for another book.

Marbled Paper, The Easy Way March 30, 2007

Here it is, the first actual craft we’re featuring on the blog.

Okay, so this is seriously the cheapest, funnest craft I’ve done so far. Seriously. All you need are crayons, paper, aluminum foil, and an electric skillet (or stove and skillet or hot plate and skillet). Oh, and some chopsticks or pencils. What you need to do is:

1. Line your skillet with foil.
2. After your skillet is heated, rub a crayon on the foil, as if you’re coloring the foil.
3. You can use one color or several colors, just keep melting crayons until the wax has pooled a bit on the foil. You want the wax to pool; if it’s clumping or dries quickly, turn the heat up. Crayola crayons seem to have a higher melting point than other brands I tried.
4. Cover the melted wax with paper, pressing the paper down with chopsticks or other implement.
5. Peel the paper off and let it dry.
6. If you need to, you can clean the foil with a wet paper towel.

And that’s it. The wax dries really fast, and if you have die cuts, you can cut out shapes and letters to make cards. Or, as some of the teens who came to this program did, use the die cuts to cut out letters for that big assignment you have to turn in tomorrow.

Here are some samples of the paper:

Project from Barakah Life Handmade via the Craft: blog.

I found this project fun mainly because, “Heat source! Heat source!” Okay, that doesn’t quite have the same ring as “Fire! Fire!” It’s the element of danger the heat provides. I know it’s no power saw or anything, but in a library, this is probably as dangerous as you can get. Anyway, an alternative project would be dyeing paper with shaving cream. I have not used the shaving cream technique, but our Children’s Librarian has, if you’re afraid of participants burning themselves.

A Crafty Librarian Manifesto March 30, 2007

When I started telling Gayle about what I wanted to include on this blog, craft ideas were at the top of my list. It’s hard thinking of crafts you can do that are:

1. cheap;
2. cool (meaning it doesn’t look like something that should be part of a children’s storytime, but is actually something teens would want to make);
3. you can do in a group;
4. you can do in less than an hour or so;
5. don’t require any special equipment like a sewing machine or a drill (unless you maybe work in Berkeley);
6. don’t require any special skills;
7. did I mention cheap?

So in order to remember those crafts that made me say, “Hey, this was/would be such a great program!” and for anyone else struggling to find good crafty ideas to use with teens, I thought it would be fun to have a “Crafty Librarian” feature on the blog.

I admit that the main reason I first started holding craft programs was because my branch manager wanted me to have one Young Adult program a month, and crafts seemed like the easiest way to go. After all, our Children’s Librarian is a scrapbooker and pretty crafty. And no worrying about having an audience for an invited guest (like the generously counted six or so of us, including me, for our Teen Read Week storyteller last year), no signup sheets (which the teens either won’t sign up for but then show up, or will sign up for and not show up), just me and some craft supplies. I still sometimes wonder if perhaps I’m taking the easy way out by doing mostly crafts instead of, oh, an anime prom. But the more I thought about it, the more important I started to think crafts were.

When I was in school, I was not an artsy person. Sure, I wanted to create things (I remember wanting to learn how to knit in high school), but in school we had art. Which meant that you got a grade. And I am so not artistic. Yeah, sometimes in After School Programs you got to create things, and that was fun, but around the time you started worrying about grades, you no longer had any After School Programs to go to and get crafty in. It wasn’t until I went to a college that had a craft center and cheap (mostly under $20) non-credit semester-long classes that I felt free to be creative. And even though it’s less than ten years later now and the craft renaissance is in full swing, it still seems like it’s a lot easier to be an adult and crafty or to try to get your kid to be crafty than it is to be a crafty teen.

So what do crafts and libraries have to do with each other, besides the fact that craft books can be pretty pricey but you can borrow them from the library? In public libraries, we support lifelong learning, and obviously learning does not need to be limited to school or work. You can learn to cook, learn to use a computer, learn a craft… Besides, learning you are capable of creating something and getting the chance to create something in a no-pressure environment, without having to pay for materials and supplies for something you’re just interested in trying and not necessarily committing to is, to me, just as valid a reason for using the library as borrowing a book or using the internet. If a teen comes to a program and borrows a book, that’s just a bonus. But to leave the library with something you’ve created, to know that you are can create something, that it can be fun, that you were able to indulge your creative side–that is the most important part.

Agree? Disagree? Is this an overjustification to make myself feel better? Either way, the staff at my library and I all agree that the teens are way more creative than we are.

Whistle at Whistler Public Library March 28, 2007

I find myself oddly jealous again of a library somewhere else. This time it’s the Whistler Public Library in British Columbia, Canada. The sad part is, it’s not even finished yet. Sure the structure is up, but it has no books, no walls, no plumbing.

So here are the reasons why I am jealous of the WPL:

1) It’s smack dab in the middle of Whistler Village in the center of Main Street no less;

2) They started up in 1986 with a tiny collection (less than 5,000 books), and they only service a population of less than 10,000 yet their circulation is comparable to my library’s;

3) The floorplan of the new building includes a lovely “living room” complete with fireplace;

4) The librarians can go skiing and/or snowboarding on their days off;

5) There’s a somewhat captive library user base when the weather’s bad.

Well, that’s enough of that rant. I probably just need a change of scenery every now and then and I can’t help but fantasize about working in a library somewhere else sometimes. Hopefully my neighbor island booktalk will give me enough of a getaway to help me appreciate the islands again.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Covers March 28, 2007

Well, for all English-language editions, excluding the United States.

Images from Bloomsbury, via ACHOCKABLOG.

I have to say, I prefer the cover of the adult edition. I’m guessing this is the mysterious locket found in Half-Blood Prince? Can’t wait to see the American covers.

Edited to add: Hey, when did these go up on Amazon.com?

Skate - Michael Harmon March 28, 2007

With a cover like this, isn’t it obvious what kind of book this is? I mean, Raiders Night, Crackback, Rooftop… Obviously, if you have a black and white cover image with a red title, these days it means you’re about to read a gritty guy book. (And interestingly, none of these books share a publisher)

Ian McDermott has not had an easy life. At 15, he’s got more on his plate than some people twice his age, and definitely more than most of his rich jock classmates. His mother’s a drug addict who’s rarely at home, which mean Ian has to take care of Sammy, his 10-year old, learning disabled brother. Ian is also a skateboarder who refuses to give in to the coaches and administration at his athletics-obsessed high school. As a freshman in gym class, he ran the fastest mile time of anyone. The coaches want him to play a sport, but sports aren’t his thing. Nothing, not even the special treatment the athletes receive, will change his mind.

Ian’s been in trouble before, but nothing prepares him for what happens next. His school’s Vice Principal visits his home hoping to speak to his mother. She’s not there, but her crack pipe is. The next day in school, he refuses to obey a coach’s orders in gym class. As he leaves, the coach grabs him, and Ian punches him. He knows that if the Vice Principal called Child Protective Services, he and Sammy will be separated, and he can’t let that happen. Punching a teacher is not going to help their case. So Ian grabs Sammy and they take off on a 160 mile journey from Spokane to Walla Walla in search of their father.

From the first page, Michael Harmon sucks you into Ian’s story. It’s Ian’s need to live by his own rules and his love for Sammy that keep the reader hooked. He’s angry, he’s more than a bit lost (in more than one way), and he’s real. Like Ian, the book is imperfect yet compelling. There were several plot turns that verged on the too coincidental, but then again, it’s not so much the plot that makes the book, it’s Ian. If you’re looking for a skateboarding book, this ain’t it. But if you want a book about a kid struggling to keep his life from falling apart, who makes mistakes but learns to trust, then give this book a try.

Peering Into the Crystal Ball, Part 2 March 28, 2007

I should really finish going through my Bloglines feeds before posting anything. Oh well.

So apparently agent Kristin Nelson is in New York meeting with editors of Teen and Middle Grade books. (See this post and also this one) Very interesting stuff. “Paranormal YA that’s not vampires or werewolves”? Really? Even with Twilight still going strong? And HarperTeen reprinting The Vampire Diaries? Man, if only romance editors were also looking for non-vampire and/or non-werewolf paranormals. (One of our Library Assistants and I both agree that we like YA vampire books much more than vampire romances, but that’s a topic for another post)

Speaking of romances, Liz B. mentioned that she’d like to see more teen romances in response to this YA Authors Cafe post (to which I say, “Ditto.” Actually, ditto to everything else she’d like to see, especially the minority character who just happens to be a minority–another topic for anther post, because Gayle and I could go on and on about this one), and hey, Penguin would love teen romances, complete with happy endings.

YA psychological thrillers? Folks were having a hard time thinking of examples of it. Diana Peterfreund mentioned What Happened to Cass McBride?, which I actually just read this past weekend, and I’m thinking maybe The Rules of Survival? In any case, both posts are about fiction. But how about some non-fiction ideas? I was talking to a high school teacher/library school student a few weeks ago, and we both agree that we want (and know teens who want) financial management personal finance books for teens. Not books on how to invest in the stock market or how to pay for college, but basic things like how to balance a checkbook, what your credit score is and why it’s so important, how to pay taxes, etc. What other kinds of non-fiction books for teens would you like to see?

Peering into the crystal ball * March 27, 2007

Are you the curious type who loves to find out about books way before they’re published (but then are forced to wait impatiently for the book to actually be published)? Me, too!

Patricia Wrede is hit or miss for me. I liked the Enchanted Forest books, really liked the Mairelon books, and could not get into the Sorcery and Cecelia books. So I’m not sure what to expect from her upcoming “fantasy trilogy FRONTIER MAGIC, set in an alternative version of the 1800s American Frontier where a 13th child comes to realize she doesn’t have to turn out unlucky.”

Other upcoming books include Evan Kuhlman’s YA debut, an illustrated novel called “The Last Invisible Boy,” and two books by Daniel H. “How to Survive a Robot Uprising” Wilson**, Robonomicon and Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Rivalry.

* From Publishers Lunch because I’m too cheap to shell out money for the Marketplace

** Love the caption under his photo.

So I finally got the Spring Children’s Preview Issue of PW… March 18, 2007

And, OMG, what do I see?

Bloomsbury turns the page for Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, a tale of forbidden love set in medieval Mongolia…

Mongolia! Dude, I am so there!! Medieval Mongolia!!! I have only ever read one other YA book set in Mongolia, Diane Lee Wilson’s I Rode A Horse of Milk White Jade, which was excellent, btw.

Then I did a little digging and found Little Red Reading Hood, which quotes Hale as saying “[I]t’s not set in medieval Mongolia, though I did lean heavily on that time and place to create the setting. It’s a completely fictional setting called The Eight Realms.” Grr. And after I got all my hopes up, too! Once again, grrr.

Oh well, there were some other interesting-sounding books in the Fall 2007 Sneak Preview section.

It appears the latest adult author to join the YA crowd is Jack Higgins. Yes, that Jack Higgins. Putnam will be publishing “Sure Fire by Jack Higgins and Justin Richards, a YA novel by the bestselling adult author starring twins whose long-lost father is a spy.” Also, “Dial will be publishing The Revolution of Ramon De La Rose by Sally Gardner, a YA novel set during the French Revolution” [French Revolution! I'm so there, too!], and “Razorbill’s gone wild with Those Girls by Sara Lawrence, about the rowdy exploits of two 17-year-old boarding school students,” which made me stop and say, “Wait, Sara Lawrence?”

YA vs. Teen Which Nomer Will Prevail? March 16, 2007

According to www.googlefight.com the term teen wins by about 40,000,000 results.

Young Adult has the connotation of something more serious than you want it to be.  Like when someone calls you “young lady,” you know you’re in trouble.  There’s a sort of formal distancing when the term is used.  Teen seems like a casual, passe term that people just fling around.  You hardly ever hear a teenager refer to herself as a teen, or with any label for that matter, but she’d sooner identify with the term teen than with young adult.  

The term young in itself seems an affront to some teens who like to think of themselves as mature beyond their years.  As we get older “young” develops a more positive connotation especially when you start to consider yourself old.  Age ain’t nothing but a number.    

There have been occasions where I’ve directed an adolescent to the YA section only to get a bewildered look like I was speaking another language.  Perhaps that’s an example where library terminology gets in the way of connecting with our target audience.  Libraries tend to treat teens marginally, not as adults, but as kids too old for the kid’s section.  As young adult librarians we’re trying to change that status quo.    

So you decide, is it young adult or teen?