An Unfortunate Event and A Series of Fortunate Events

1. I lost my wallet at the theater while watching Dear White People. The film was BRILLIANT, but losing my wallet not so much.

2. I enjoyed myself immensely at the teen after hours event hosted by my library. Pizza, chicken, Just Dance, and 28 teenagers. Who could ask for anything more?

3. I worked the morning after the teen event and my first patron of the day came bearing a chocolate muffin, and better yet an apology for behaving badly in the library on a previous occasion.

4. Book Club was FUN!

End of Event Meme

Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour? I think you mean hours, as in hours 18-22. I'm fully awake for hours 23 and 24.          

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

The Secret She Kept by ReShonda Tate Billingsley kept me thoroughly engaged. It is such an important book, but it is also a plain good read. I'd also recommend Bird Box for those who like to be kept in suspense while reading. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was "my book" this read-a-thon.                                                                          
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

No suggestions. The Read-a-Thon was great as usual.     

                                                        
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? 
I really liked the multiple formats for participating socially. Twitter is my read-a-thon spot, but I will check out what went on at GoodReads                                                 

How many books did you read? 
I read three books (923 pages)

What were the names of the books you read? 
The Secret She Kept by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Bird Box by Josh Malerman                                                              
Which book did you enjoy most? 
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was the perfect book at the perfect time for me.

Which did you enjoy least? 

I enjoyed all of my books. I chose well this read-a-thon, but I still need to work on the proper sequence for the fastest reading rate.

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?    

This was my first year as a cheerleader, and I have no advice. I was a very bad (oops forgot all about the spreadsheet) but enthusiastic cheerleader.     

            

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I am very likely to participate in the Read-a-Thon again. I will be a Reader again, and I am considering spending some time as a Cheerleader.

Hour 12 Mid Event Meme

1. What are you reading right now?
I am reading The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin


2.How many books have you read so far?
I have completed one book so far, The Secret She Kept by ReShonda Tate Billingsley.


3.What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Aside from the book I am currently reading, I am most looking forward to Bird Box by Josh Malerman. That will be my last must read book for the read-a-thon before I move onto my optional piles.


4.Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Yes. I had to request the day off because this is my scheduled Saturday to work.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? No interruptions and only one schedule mishap. Now back to Mr. A.J. Fikry...

Name Your Read-a-Thon Mini Challenge

This mini challenge was courtesy of  The Geeky Bloggers 

Welcome the Dewey’s #ReadAThon Challenge for Hour 6: Name your Read-A-Thon

The Rules are simple:

1. Take the books either in your TBR or already pile for Dewey’s
2. Pick a word from a couple of the titles and come up with a name for your read-a-thon
3. Leave a comment or post a picture on your blog (fill out the rafflecopter) and you are good to go!

My Read-A-Thon Title: The Storied Life About the Secret She Kept in the Bird Box

Dewey's Read-a-Thon October 2014

 It is time for Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon. 

Introductory Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Denver, CO, USA

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I have three books that I am really looking forward to reading. I will just list them in alphabetical order by author: 
The Secret She Kept by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I am looking forward to my energy boosting treats from Trader Joe's. I am having oatmeal for breakfast, spinach gnocchi for lunch, and pot stickers for dinner. I will be snacking on granny smith apples, carrots, and seedless cucumbers.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I am a former classroom teacher and am now a public librarian. I read for business and for pleasure. I have an affinity for children's literature, cozy mysteries and African-American authors. 

 5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  This is my fifth read-a-thon, but today will be my first time reading and cheering. I am most looking forward to cheering for other readers.

Thank You, Walter Dean Myers

There is nothing I can write about Walter Dean Myers that hasn't been written by others far more eloquent than myself. Today I simply want to express my gratitude. I am thankful that Mr. Myers shared his gift, talent and hard work with the world. I am thankful that he advocated for children and youth. I am thankful that he boldly asked Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books? I am thankful that although he passed away in July, his work continues to inspire the teens at my library who are reading, discussing, and analyzing 145th Street Short Stories as we prepare to celebrate Teen Read Week.

The third week in October marks Teen Read Week. The theme this year is Turn Dreams into Reality @ your library.  Do you remember the dreams you had as a teen? Have you turned those dreams into reality? Perhaps you have new dreams? As a child and young adult I specifically recall having two dreams. 1. I wanted to be happy. 2. I wanted to be a teacher. I graduated from high school, majored in Elementary Education,  earned my certification to teach K-8, and taught for 19 years in the public school system. My dreams became reality.

However, after 13 years in the classroom I realized that my dreams had changed. My dad passed away, and I realized it was time to pursue new dreams of social justice, travel, education, and self-discovery. Long story short, I joined the Peace Corps (which birthed this blog), went to library school, and am now a public librarian. Now, I share resources with others, teach life-long learners, and share great books with teenagers who are discovering their own dreams. My dreams have literally come true at the library. Thank you, Walter Dean Myers for reminding me that sometimes dreams change. The fulfillment of one dream can lead to new dreams. People change and along the way acquire new dreams, but they too can become reality. 





A Rambling Tale of Gratitude, Meeting a New Book, and Saying "Yes"

It is interesting how some books come into our lives.  Generally speaking, I read literary fiction, a cozy mystery now and again,  middle grade children's fiction and contemporary, realistic Young Adult fiction. Sometimes, most times for me, the introduction to a new book is fairly straightforward. A favorite author, a starred review, a book club title, an interesting book jacket, book buzz from my personal learning network...but then there are books that I never would have read except for the occurrence of an exact, special certain set of circumstances. I want to tell you about such a situation. Consider this a tale of how I met my current book.

A short while ago I was feeling particularly low. I was due to travel on September 11th, I had received the results from some medical tests and the results were not good. I was sad. I was disappointed. I was angry. I needed "a good book" and I needed this book to make me LOL. I do not mean I needed a funny book. I do not mean I needed a comfort read. Anne of Green Gables remains my go-to comfort read. I mean I needed a book that would make me LAUGH OUT LOUD. There are certain books that make you laugh so hard that you don't care if you are on public transportation with people giving you the look. I needed that kind of book.

I am a librarian. I know how to find books. Did I dive into specialized databases? No, not this time. Did I look for reviews in professional journals? Nope. What did I do? I went to Facebook. That's right Facebook. More specifically, I went to the ALA Think Tank Group on Facebook. I asked my professional, and some not so professional colleagues (their description not mine)  for their suggestions and they delivered. Wow, did they deliver. I can't say enough about the awesomeness that is  my personal learning network. I received hundreds and hundreds of titles and anecdotes. Needless to say my TBR pile grew exponentially, but back to the story at hand.

I read the suggestions and smiled. I read the suggestions and laughed. I read the suggestions and felt better. Some I had read before. Some were not my tastes. Some were absolutely marvelously me. All were shared with caring and delight. THANK YOU, ALA THINK TANK! THANK YOU!
I narrowed down the list and had decided on two titles. The titles weren't and aren't the matter of importance here. What is important is that I reached out and my library community helped me through a difficult time.

Fast forward to September 22nd. My trip was successful. My first presentation at a library conference had gone well. I  had scheduled needed medical appointments and I was back at work. Actually, I was asked to work on-call at another library and I had said yes. I should note that it is hard to get a yes out of me for most on-call shifts. Anyway, I am working a shift at a nice library and one of the librarians asked if I could work another shift there the next day. I said yes. She asked if I would help her with some collection development. I said yes. I returned the 23rd and began helping her weed. As I was weeding, I was distracted by a paperback with a sky blue spine and a familiar title. Yes Man by Danny Wallace. I laughed out loud right there in the stacks. This was one of the titles that had been recommended to me by ALA Think Tank. I checked it out. The irony was not lost on me that I would not have met this book, if I hadn't said yes to asking the ALA Think Tank for help, yes to working on-call, and yes to helping a fellow librarian with her weeding assignment. So, this has been the tale of how I met my current book. More accurately, this has been a shout-out to the ALA Think Tank,  a rambling tale of gratitude, why I am reading Yes Man, and the interesting things that can happen when you say yes.