This question is for school and youth services librarians.

How much and in what ways do you get to interact with students/kids?

If you aren't a librarian yourself but you know one, I'd love for you to point them this way if they're willing to answer my question.

Thanks!

Go read Lee Wind’s post about his experience attempting to donate GLBTQ books to a junior high library, and then come back.  I’ll wait. 

Lee’s post got me thinking about the stigmas I fear, and the one I fear the most is the stigma on mental illness.  It was this part of his post that really spoke to me:

The choice is whether to be honest about how you feel inside.

But how you feel inside is your Identity.

How you feel inside, of course, includes if you are happy or sad, drained or energetic, hopeless, etc.  I don’t mean to diminish Lee’s point by pointing to these emotions; but mental illness - depression, bipolar disorder, and others - this is a part of your identity, I think.  And it can be scary to talk to people about it, because what will they say?  Will they call you crazy?  Will they be scared of you?  And then, what about any changes that may come from you trying to FIX the mental illness?  What if your meds make you gain weight?  And then people are calling you crazy AND fat.  Or if you used to be creative, and then when you got on meds maybe you didn’t want to kill yourself anymore, but you also couldn’t create anything?  Then people might think you’re dull, slow, stupid.

Talking about mental illness is not, I imagine, nearly as difficult as talking about sexuality.  (I don’t know for sure because I’ve never really had to talk about sexuality.)  And I would guess that donating books with main characters who have a mental illness - books like The Phoenix Dance, for example - would not present a problem at all like Lee found when he tried to donate the GLBTQ books.

But basically, Lee’s post made me think about how important it is for readers to see themselves in books, to know they are not alone.  Because what is a better moment than when you are reading a book and you say, “YES!  Someone understands me!"  

And every reader, every child, teenager, and adult, should be able to have that experience - readily available.

Guys Lit Wire is live!

Here's a blurb from the site:

Guys Lit Wire exists solely to bring literary news and reviews to the attention of teenage boys and the people who care about them. We are more than happy to welcome female readers - but our main goal is to bring the attention of good books to guys who might have missed them. The titles will be new or old and on every subject imaginable. We guarantee new posts every Monday through Friday and have a list of twenty-three individual scheduled contributors plus several additional occasional posters all of whom have different literary likes and dislikes. We hope to provide something for everyone and will strive to accomplish that goal.

I am one of the aforementioned "occasional posters."  I'm hoping to interview some of my educational colleagues and perhaps get some reviews from my students.

Where have I been? Where am I going?

Life gets in the way. Work makes me tired, and various projects capture my imagination at different times. And every once in a while, a book tricks me into thinking I don’t like reading.

So, my enthusiasm for the kid lit world has actually been dampened by attempt to keep a commitment to it. You see, I read this one book for The Edge of the Forest, and now owe Kelly a review, and I really liked that book. The book took me a while to get into, but after a little while I was really invested. So I thought, okay, I will move on to the next one of the books she sent me to review a year ago. (I am all kinds of slacker.)

Well, I’m on p. 130something, and I am just finding the book so dull. It’s not bad exactly; I just don’t care what happens to the characters. I thought, “Well I’ll get through and review it anyway,” but I thought, “What will I say about this book?” And quite honestly, were I to write a review it would go like this:

I thought this book was boring. I didn’t care what happened to the characters. I was never drawn into the world. I can’t even provide a reasonable explanation of what was wrong with it, as it was well-written enough. It wasn’t bad or anything. It just bored me.

I thought that wouldn’t be a very useful review; with books I don’t love I still try and figure out who would like them, for whom they’d be suited. But the fact of the matter is, if anyone was going to like this book, it was going to be me. It’s a fantasy set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. (Dragonlance, for those of you familiar with the series.) It’s about sisters, and the sisterly dynamic is a big part of the book. But it just can’t hold my attention.

So I said, “Self,” I said to myself, “you need to try a different book, and see if you like it better.”

So I picked up Tim Lott’s _Fearless, and that is a book I got into right away, and I will review it here at lectitans when I am done with it.

Thank goodness I still like reading.

Monday, May 19th
Adam Rex at Fuse #8
David Almond at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
R.L. LaFevers at Finding Wonderland
Dave Schwartz at Shaken & Stirred
Elizabeth Scott at Bookshelves of Doom
Laurie Halse Anderson at Writing & Ruminating
Susan Beth Pfeffer at Interactive Reader

Tuesday, May 20th
Ben Towle at Chasing Ray
Sean Qualls at Fuse #8
Susane Colasanti at Bildungsroman
Robin Brande at HipWriterMama
Susan Beth Pfeffer at The YA YA YAs
Debby Garfinkle at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Jennifer Lynn Barnes at Writing & Ruminating

Wednesday, May 21st
Delia Sherman at Chasing Ray
Ingrid Law at Fuse #8
Polly Dunbar at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Tera Lynn Childs at Bildungsroman
Siena Cherson Siegel at Miss Erin
Barry Lyga at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy

Thursday, May 22nd
Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
Dar Williams at Fuse #8
Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
E. Lockhart at The YA YA YAs
Mary Hooper at Miss Erin
Charles R. Smith, Jr. at Writing & Ruminating
Mary E. Pearson at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy

Friday, May 23rd
Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
Jincy Willet at Shaken & Stirred
John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin
Javaka Steptoe at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Adam Rex at Fuse #8
David Almond at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
R.L. LaFevers at Finding Wonderland
Dave Schwartz at Shaken & Stirred
Elizabeth Scott at Bookshelves of Doom
Laurie Halse Anderson at Writing & Ruminating
Susan Beth Pfeffer at Interactive Reader 

It’s that time of year again - time for the Summer Blog Blast Tour!  I’m not interviewing anyone this time around, but I’ll be posting links here daily.  To whet your appetite, here’s a list of planned interviews:

Monday

Adam Rex at Fuse Number 8
David Almond at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast
R.L. Lafevers at Finding Wonderland
Dave Schwartz at Shaken & Stirred
Elizabeth Scott at Bookshelves of Doom
Laurie Halse Anderson at Writing & Ruminating
Susan Beth Pfeffer at Interactive Reader

Tuesday

Ben Towle at Chasing Ray
Sean Qualls at Fuse Number 8
Susane Colasanti at Bildungsroman
Robin Brande at Hip Writer Mama
Susan Beth Pfeffer at The YA YA YAs
Debby Garfinkle at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy

Wednesday

Delia Sherman at Chasing Ray
Ingrid Law at Fuse Number 8
Polly Dunbar at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Tera Lynn Childs at Bildungsroman
Siena Cherson Siegel at Miss Erin
Barry Lyga at At Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

Thursday

Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
Dar Williams at Fuse Number 8
Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
E. Lockhart at The YA YA YAs
Mary Hooper at Miss Erin

Friday

Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
Jincy Willet at Shaken & Stirred
John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin

Vergil’s Aeneid, Book I, Lines 8 - 11

LATIN (from The Latin Library):
Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso,
quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus
insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores               10
impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?  

ENGLISH (from Me!):
Muse, remind me of the reasons, by what slight to her divinity,
or grieving what thing, the queen of the gods drove a man 
distinguished by his piety to undergo so many misfortunes,
to undertake so many labors.  Is there such great anger in heavenly hearts?

Other Vergil posts:
Aeneid I.1-7
Aeneid I.12-18

April is National Poetry Month, and during this time many bloggers celebrate NaPoWriMo: National Poetry Writing Month.

I, however, will be doing NaPoTraMo - National Poetry Translation Month.  I will be giving you an excerpt from Vergil’s Aeneid each day throughout the month of April.  First I’ll post the Latin (from The Latin Library) and then give you my English. 

LATIN:
 Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;
multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,               5
inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,
Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.

ENGLISH:
I sing of arms and a man, who first from the shores of Troy
came, exiled by fate, to Italy and the Lavinian
shores, that man much tossed about on both earth and sea
by the force of the gods on account of the remembering anger of savage Juno;
having suffered much also even in war, until he could found the city,
and bring his gods into Latium, from whence came the Latin race,
the Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome. 

(, this should look familiar; they are lyrics in "Spring Awakening.")

Other Vergil posts:
Aeneid I.8-11
Aeneid I.12-18