Robert B. Parker's Blood Feud by Mike Lupica

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have written before about the continuation of series by other authors, but I still have mixed feelings about it. Mike Lupica has taken on Robert B. Parker's least successful heroine, Sunny Randall, and given her back to Richie Burke, in time to solve a crime no one wants her to solve.

Sunny Randall is basically Spencer in a skirt -- she has no relationship with her mother, only her father, and no women friends, only her ex-husband and her extremely macho gay best friend. And her dog(s), of course. I appreciate Parker's nods to diversity, but he cannot write a believable women character. Lupica wisely doesn't try to make the character more three dimensional -- he is, after all, being paid to recreate her -- and he does a good job with tone, phrasing, and the well known characters. He's clearly read all the mystery series, and sticks to the little he knows about Boston, Providence, and points in between so there are no glaring geographical errors, but no deep knowledge of the city, which was a Parker hallmark. The plot is good, and so is the pacing, so you keep turning the pages, which is a big part of the point, and you may not be able to guess the ending. In that sense, the book is a success, and actually better than the few books where Randall was dating Jesse Stone, hero of yet another Parker series.


My favorite part was the snarky political humor; it made me wonder how many novelists are using the backdrop of the current political scene in the US, and what they are saying. Sounds like a graduate school thesis for 2025.

If you are a fan, you will enjoy this one, too. If you have not read a lot of Robert Parker, I would go back to the early Spencer books, beginning with Mortal Stakes or Looking for Rachel Wallace.



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The President is Missing

The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The headlines are all over the map, as usual: The President is Missing; The President's chronic health condition has become acute; The President is hiding from the rumored impeachment hearings; The President has run away...

There is some truth to all of the rumors, and a lot of ungrounded speculation, typical for the cable news/24 hour news cycle.

The truth is: The President IS hiding, and trying to stave off the most deadly terrorist attack every devised -- he knows he has only a few hours, and he doesn't know whom he can trust.


President Clinton has done a great job in taking us behind the scenes and giving plausible characters a realistic plot line. Lots of suspense, and lots of interesting ideas as well. This is a winner for both thriller fans and fans of politics. The political geeks will have fun dissecting the nuances, but this is not a roman a clef, perhaps because of Patterson's work on the book. Recommended.




SPOILER SPACE







Clinton does take advantage of the bully pulpit here, especially in the literary President's final speech to a joint session of Congress. I thought the number of women in important positions in the novel was really interesting -- most of the major players, in fact, are women. While no person in the novel is identifiable as a real person, the Speaker of the House comes close -- not a flattering characterization, either. I did guess the mystery part, but the realistic scenario and action kept me turning pages. I'm not a thriller fan, but I heard President Clinton interviewed about the book, and found the concept intriguing. I enjoyed it, and I do recommend it. My Dad would have loved this book.



View all my reviews

Books, Films, and Politics

I have not written much on the blog lately -- I gave up social media for Lent and, weeks into the Easter Season, I have not gone back to it.  I don't miss the feeling of having my world limited to one point of view, or the assault of angry political rhetoric. 

I want to find a way back to rational discussion and a belief in the common good -- and a respect for facts, for science, for actual historical events, and for the U.S. Constitution. 

I do feel as if the two things I care most about -- education and the environment -- are under attack, and may face irreparable damage under the current leadership in Congress and the Executive Branch.  I have seen actions that are not normal -- and some that are very dangerous.  I'm not discounting those realities, but I still want to find a way back to discussion and compromise.

So what have I been doing away from the Twitter wars?  Reading.  Reading a lot of different books.  A friend of mine challenged me to take a reading challenge, and I've been working my way through the list.  I'm trying to expand my reading into things I might not pick up on my own.

So take a look at the scroll to the right to see some of what I've been reading.  I've found books I loved, and books I liked less well, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

I have more books to read than time to read them, of course, and I'm also working on a cinema challenge -- the films of the last 15 years that my nephew considers to be the best.  As you might expect, they feature excellent cinematography and brilliant directing.  They are fine films, admirable films, but, for the most part, not cheerful films.

I recognize the need for both conflict and important themes in great literature, and I'm learning things  I didn't know -- about Jesse James [The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, about drug cartels, the war on drugs, and how it hasn't changed much since 2002 [Traffic],   had my memory refreshed on some historical points [Frost/Nixon], and visited life in East Germany [The Lives of Others].

I was glad to hear that the current budget compromise restored some of the funding for the National Endowment of the Arts. We need art and literature in our lives, to provide both reflection and escape.  I hope that the Institute of Museum and Library Services will continue to be funded.  All my books and films have come from my public library.  It's a resource we cannot afford to shortchange or allow to disappear.  Even the one to fulfill the challenge: a book you bought at a used book store, I bought at a library used book sale. 

Now would be a good time to re-read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury -- or watch the film, though the special effects are a little different from what we see today.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060390/

The latest mystery story from Anne Hillerman is an interesting twist on issues surrounding the Grand Canyon and how it should be used or preserved.   It's also a good mystery with interesting characters.  Check out The Song of the Lion, and let me know what you think. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/980282496

Taking a break from social media hasn't changed my primary concerns, but I am currently reading Strangers in Their Own Land, which is extremely interesting so far...

Spiritual Discipline and Popular Culture

The headline in the paper today was how the  local Roman Catholic Bishop is giving everyone special permission to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day, even though it falls on a Lenten Friday.  I'm not going to argue about the  theology;  I was just thinking that I needed my own exemption...though I think an Episcopal Bishop would tell me to follow my own conscience.

I gave up social media for Lent, and, overall, I am happy to be away from the questionable politics and terrible grammar of Facebook for awhile.  My problem is that I am a college basketball FAN, and I miss the family trash talking.

If I were on Facebook, I'd be sharing this:


http://www.theacc.com/video/sybW04YTE6pCzYCRz0HYcEF-eAEA21mh#ooid=sybW04YTE6pCzYCRz0HYcEF-eAEA21mh

And also talking about whether Northwestern can make the tournament this year.  And telling my brother and nephew how sorry I was to see KU out of the Big 12 tournament. 

So, I'm cheating with Blogger, which I didn't give up, because one of my resolutions is to write more.  And with Goodreads because I'm doing a book challenge this year -- it is much harder to get social media out of your life than it might first appear.

We have, collectively, given up a lot of privacy for convenience.  I don't know if it is a fair trade off, or a good one -- what worries me is that we have done it, little by little, without thinking about the consequences.  The combination of Facebook and Google facial recognition software has created a database of personal information beyond the wildest dreams of the spy agencies -- all of them -- and we did it ourselves, for our own amusement, in many cases tagging not only ourselves, but friends, family, and children, usually without their permission.  

This story provides even more food for thought, though of course the discussion of it will be online and in social media --- you see the problem, right?

 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/smart-devices-always-vulnerability-may-trade-off-convenience/

I know a lot of people are reading or re-reading Brave New World, and I can see why the idea of "alternate facts" brings that title instantly to mind.  I don't feel my extensive reading of dystopian fiction  is helping me sleep well these days, but I would recommend Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
 
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/973532575

On to March Madness, even if it has a "bread and circuses" feel.  Go Wildcats!  Go Tar Heels!

#noalternatefacts  #MarchMadness #dystopian_fiction #privacy?

The best in Cinematography

https://youtu.be/aRi215Wp7Q8

The National Anthem

I watch a lot of ESPN, and I watch the PBS Newshour.  I've heard a lot of the commentary on Colin Kaepernick's protest involving not standing for the National Anthem.  As a big fan of the 1st amendment, and of non-violent protest, I don't have a problem with his choice.  The media coverage has given me the opportunity to learn a lot -- I did not know, for example, that Francis Scott Key was a slaveholder, or that the Star Spangled Banner has a third verse suggesting that the US winning the battle will keep slaves in their rightful place.  Since Britain banned the slave trade in 1807, he may have feared that a British victory in the War of 1812 would have meant an end to slavery in the United States as well, though Britain did not actually ban slavery itself until 1833.  I also recently learned about the international day of remembrance of the victims of slavery and the UN statue that honors them. 

Since all the commentary seems to be about the protest, and not about the issues that caused Mr. Kaepernick's concern in the first place, let's take the conversation on a related tangent and ask, should we have a different Anthem?

If so, what should it be?

We have a lot of great patriotic songs available, so here are some choices, in order of those I like best.  My brother suggested two of them.  Please comment on which you like best, and why, or propose another song.

This Land is Your Land 
Woody Guthrie
 https://youtu.be/rKGpG0myDpg

Lift Every Voice and Sing
James Weldon Johnson
https://youtu.be/uk3zXi8WVqk

America the Beautiful
 Katherine Lee Bates
https://youtu.be/WQi5RU_F5CI

My Country  'Tis of Thee  (if you can get over the tune thing)
Samuel Francis Smith
Tune:  God Save the King
https://youtu.be/034fNYyY9HU

The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Julia Ward Howe
Tune:  John Brown's Body
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQhyWv-PeVE

Why I buy Girl Scout Cookies

And Boy Scout popcorn, and Band fruit, and other fundraising items....

It is not the value of the cookies themselves, though I like Thin Mints as much as the next person.  I do buy only from the actual scouts, and expect them to be able to explain why they are selling the cookies, but it is not just to encourage entrepreneurship in young people and young women especially.  It is both more complicated and more simple than that.

Being a Camp Fire Girl, and going to summer camp, saved my life, or at least provided me with a grounding place all my own, and a measure of inner peace -- hard to find, especially for a teenager.  I went to summer camp every summer from the time I was nine until I was twenty-one, as a camper, counselor-in-training, counselor and unit director.  280 acres, two lakes, canvas tents in the sand counties of Wisconsin.  It was my favorite place on earth. 

I learned many things in the City, too, through all my Camp Fire activities -- practical things like our baby sitting course, and complex things, like serving on the city-wide high school leadership council.  I had the opportunity to go to summer camp in Alaska, at a camp that is still operating.   http://www.campfireak.org/program/summer/campk/  I think there have been some improvements there since I was in High School, but wilderness hiking, survival, and kayaking seem to still be central to the experience.  It was the experiences, and the activities -- and the people.  Lessons learned and lasting friendships -- and friendships just of that time and place.  A lifetime of memories.

I have not come across a better philosophy of life than the Camp Fire Law as I learned it as a child:

Worship God

Seek Beauty

Give Service

Pursue Knowledge

Be Trustworthy

Hold onto Heath

Glorify Work

Be Happy

I have almost no photographs of summer camp;  we were encouraged to remember it "in our hearts" and it was a time when not everyone had a camera.  It was magical, the wind in the Whispering Pines, a long windbreak of 40 foot white pine trees, the smell of the sandy road baked in the summer sun, the meadow of wildflowers alive with butterfly weed, and the murky, mud-bottomed lake where I learned to swim.

My friends and family who were Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H Members;  who went to church camp or music camp, have had experiences like mine.

So, no matter how many cookies are in the box, or how much the cost has increased with time, remember that you are not buying cookies, you are giving a child the chance to go to summer camp.

Photos taken at Woodland Dunes, Two Rivers, WI.  Their meadow is very similar to the one from my summer camp, though it is a different micro-climate.  The Top photo is butterfly weed.

The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries online event

The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries online event 

A very interesting day; I attended a virtual conference on the future of libraries.  A lot of resources and good ideas.  A couple of really good talks.  The virtual space was really much like an actual conference, with virtual exhibit booths and a virtual lounge, and the chance to see who was there and message your friends.  The live Twitter feed was at #TDS13, so you can review the highlights in that format.

The early morning visitors to the lounge asked for virtual coffee and snacks -- not yet available.   It's just like people posting pictures of their food creations on Facebook -- some things cannot be translated into the virtual world.  On the other hand, the advantage of a virtual conference is you can eat your lunch during a session without trying to eat, take notes, and balance stuff on those stupid hotel ballroom chairs all at once.

I 

I was at home today, but you could attend from anywhere -- even the beach!

The other advantage is the opportunity to see the archived talks that you couldn't attend live -- yes, finally technology I can use to be in two places at once. 

Here are a few more links that were discussed in the presentations:

Maker Bridge   A site about Maker Spaces from the University of Michigan.  One person tweeted that children's librarians have been providing maker programs for a long time, which is true.  That leaves us to ask -- what is the relationship between paper and finger paint arts and crafts and technology-enhanced 3-D printing?
Community Reference  An article about how to take reference into the community, and really engage community members in library resources and services.  A lot of people talked about the guide or coach model for working with people in libraries, and about personalization and individually chosen education options.  We all know that reading a book is also an individually chosen education option, and that libraries have always been learning institutions -- at least in the United States.  I see a direct line between the Boston Public Library allowing workers to take out only two books at a time -- one of which had to be non-fiction -- in the late 19th century, and the provision of maker spaces and other resources in today's libraries.  We've been doing a land office business in job and career information since the beginning of the current economic downturn, as well as providing computer and internet access for over 15 years, now.

The question on the table remains -- how do we encourage, enhance, and fund the needed access to information, technology, and space for creativity -- especially as libraries are perfectly positioned to fill some of the equality gaps in access to learning.

And do all that without neglecting some of our current strengths -- a non-commercial gathering place for community members, alone or in groups, a place to find a good book (print or e-book) to read, a place where parents learn how to help their children be literate adults.

It was a day with a lot of ideas, and a lot to continue to discuss and explore.  I was very happy to hear one of the keynote speakers talking about going to conferences with people who are not librarians -- making our voices heard in a lot of different arenas.  I've been advocating that, and publishing outside the profession, for a long time. 

I'm grateful to SLJ and LJ  and all the sponsors for also taking my mind off the difficulty of doing my job as a reference librarian with my go to web sites from the U.S. government unavailable  --- I didn't think about politics all day, and I did think about new ideas.   I'm excited about exploring some of the recommended resources, including a few new to me, and continuing the discussion.

Is virtual learning the whole future, or only part of it?  What do you wish your library would do to improve your community?

Fall is here -- maybe

I am officially back from vacation, which I allowed to stretch beyond the traditional Labor Day.  There are apples on my tree and some of the birch and elm leaves have turned yellow -- but it was 95 degrees here yesterday, so the seasons feel a little bit blurred.

I understand that I don't have the perspective required, in geological time, to say that we have climate change based on my own observations alone.  However, it does seem to me that we are experiencing weather different from that in the last years of  the 20th century.  Perhaps it is time to stop asking who is to blame, and start asking is there anything we can do?  That is, of course, more difficult.  It is very hard to give up asking "Why?"

In Objects of My Affection by Jill Smolinski, one of the characters says that she thinks "why?" is the most interesting question that can be asked.   In a very different book, How the Light Gets In  by Louise Penny, Chief Inspector Gamache wrestles with the same question:

"How?" Oliver asked.

"She was attacked in her home.  Hit on the head"

Even in the dark, Gamache could see his companion grimace.  "Why would anyone do that?"

And that, of course, was the question, thought Gamache.

Sometimes it was "how," almost always it was "who."  But the question that haunted every investigation was "why."

               --- Louise Penny, How the Light Gets In, page 70

I recommend both books, though I think the Inspector Gamache books deserve to be read in order, since there are several continuing stories beyond the usual continuation of the characters' personal lives.  If you're not ready to commit to all nine, at least begin with A Beautiful Mystery -- but you will go back to the beginning of the series, so you might as well begin with Still Life, knowing that they will get better as they go along -- and that you will be drawn more and more into the lives of the characters.  You do have to like a bit of philosophy and a lot of character with your stories -- these are carefully crafted and unguessable mysteries, but they are not obviously plot driven.

Objects of My Affection is a little slow moving (at least in the audio book) and a little predictable, but you will come to like the characters, and it is entertaining, overall.  Donna Andrews' Owls Well That Ends Well about Meg and Michael's giant garage sale is much funnier, but perhaps my genre prejudice in favor of mysteries is showing.  In any case, if you're planning a fall vacation and need light reading, you might want to pack them both -- or download them to your phone or e-reader, of course.  Why should only summer have beach reading?

I wore my "guess what I'm reading? shirt yesterday (Thank you, Unshelved).  No one ever tries to guess, though.  The lady at the fruit stand asked me if I were a reading teacher or a librarian.  My camping buddy said "are you going to tell us, or do we have to guess?"  I was able to describe a book in every medium -- my book club book, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank (print),  Roger Ebert's memoir, Life Itself (audiobook on CD for the car) and Mr. Churchill's Secretary (ebook from the library's Overdrive collection).  I have a couple of additional print books, but am determined to read my book club book first to be ready for next week's meeting.

 

And now the blog and I are officially on vacation, so that I can take more pictures for future blogs.  Enjoy the end of the summer!  And take as many books as you can on vacation with you!

Favorite?

In my mixed media life, I've copied some of the comments I got on my Facebook page about children's books into the comment stream here on the blog, posting them all anonymously.  Check out the comments on the post "What is your favorite children's book?"  Is your list the same or different?

Most of the comments focused on the need for additional categories or a longer list. Only two people provided a title and author with no cavats.  A relative:  A Girl Of The Limberlost, by Gene Stratton-Porter;  A friend: Winnie The Pooh.

The use of language is so critical to our understanding and thought processes that the word 'favorite' seems to have created conversation -- but not about books.   The implication of choosing a favorite is that all those not picked are somehow less important to you than the chosen one.    Sometimes you do need to choose a single thing, but often the person asking the question really means not, which thing in this category do you love above all things, but, which thing in this category do you really like a lot.

Feel free to list your top 20 or 100 Children's Books in the comments, or comment on choosing favorites if you prefer. 

One of my favorite cities

I'm rephrasing my question -- or rather, asking more questions:

Was there a book that you read over and over again as a child? 

A book your child asked for again and again?

What memories are attached to books or reading?  What do you hope the children or students in your life will remember about reading?

Allowing the list to be as long as you like, which children's books are among your favorites?

Thanks for continuing the conversation.

 

Favorite? Who can pick a favorite?

The original question on the ALA Forum was -- is it ok for a child to have a favorite book?  I can't see any downside, so I found the question confusing.  A friend of mine said, in conversation "is it ok for a child to learn to read?"  Memorizing your favorite book and pretending to read it is a key pre-reading skill.  I can only imagine that the question was posed by a parent who was tired of reading the same story again and again, and it made me think about favorite books.
 

Sorting donated books at: KAN Cool for School  supply give away (photo by Anne S)

My father could recite Green Eggs and Ham from memory, years after my sister had moved on to the Babysitter's Club and beyond to college level texts.   He would sometimes throw a few lines into a conversation, mostly to amuse and distract grandchildren in a restaurant "I do not like them with a fox, I do not like them in a box, I do not like Green Eggs and Ham, I do not like them, Sam I am".  While Green Eggs was not my personal favorite, even of the Seuss/Cerf beginning readers (I liked Go Dogs Go) I treasure the memory of the Rev. Jesse Jackson reading the book aloud on Saturday Night Live when Mr. Giesel passed on.  It was such a fitting tribute to an author who changed a lot of children's lives.  Of all the books, my favorite comes from the longer stories -- I love Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose.  

Many of us are filled with insatiable curiosity

As a child, I was often read to from Just So Stories, The Princess and Curdie, and Grimm's Fairy Tales.  My father often chose "The Elephant's Child" when it was his turn to pick, although his real favorite was the story of how the alphabet was made.  I had less interest in linguistic evolution than either my father or Mr. Kipling, but if he imagined that Elephant's Child would serve as a cautionary tale, he was doomed to disappointment.  I just didn't see getting the coolest nose in the animal kingdom as being a punishment.  I am afraid to this day, I am full of " 'satiable curiosity'."  As a journalist, librarian, writer and researcher, it has defined my life.  Children like a lot of things about reading aloud -- the attention of their parents, the plot of the story, the pictures in the book, and the coziness of the experience.  I am most grateful today for the appreciation I developed for the beauty of language.  My father taught speech and theater and was a great reader.  My mother also had a flair for the dramatic.  Who wouldn't love a story that included lines like this? I can still hear it in my father's voice:

 'It is,' said the Elephant's Child, and before he thought what he was doing he schlooped up a schloop of mud from the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo, and slapped it on his head, where it made a cool schloopy-sloshy mud-cap all trickly behind his ears. 

[The Project Gutenberg EBook of Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling, line 74

 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32488/32488-h/32488-h.htm#Page_63]   There are other 

versions available on the site, and you'll find it in libraries & bookstores as well. 

Don't you want to find out how the Leopard Got His Spots?  

To be continued....

and it is not too late to add your favorite book(s) to the comment section!   

What is your favorite children's book?

If you cannot choose just one, what are your favorite books in each category:

Picture book

Beginning Reader

Chapter Book

Classic

Non-Fiction


Parents are allowed to have their own favorite books, and their children's favorite books.  I've been thinking about this ever since someone asked the question on an ALA forum "Is it okay for a child to have a favorite book?"  I can't imagine why not, but I will talk about that more tomorrow. 

Thanks for commenting!

Social Media Platforms -- where is the audience?

This article came across my Linked In news feed today, and obviously a lot of people have read it.  I'm 13 and none of my friends have Facebook  I have been thinking about this for some time, and have asked younger people I know which social media platforms they use.  I know that Facebook is, as this young woman points out, largely used by people her parents' and grandparents' ages.  It is telling that this girl and her friends got Instagram because their parents didn't know about it when it first came out -- clearly obeying the letter, and not the spirit, of their parents' prohibition of Facebook, and Instagram's own terms of service. 

If I had a social media site, I wouldn't post silly people videos

I have college age friends and relatives who use Facebook.  My mentee, who is a senior and applying to library school, says her favorite is Tumblr but she has never seen it used effectively for information or marketing.  She did attend one ALA program that featured Tumblr.  She also uses Facebook and Twitter.  I have a nephew in high school who uses only Twitter;  his younger sister just got Facebook. 
I know, not a representative sample, but I think a lot of people are using more than one platform. 

The only thing that's really clear is that this market is going to change and evolve just as quickly as everything else in the online / mobile world. What's a library, or other marketing entity, to do?  I actually have an answer for that question, and it's pretty simple -- learn the concepts of social media and social marketing, not the individual platforms. 

There are as many choices as rocks on the beach -- do you have time to find the best one?

As a very young librarian, I went to a seminar on electronic resources.  The speaker gave a great presentation, but the thing I took away from his talk and have used ever since was this.  "There is no way you can learn each resource;  there are too many of them.  What you have to learn is the basic structure, and how to find more specific information if you need it."  He went on to compare some of the features of electronic resources to books, pointing out that, whatever the subject of the book, we would look for the table of contents, the index, and possibly the list of acknowledgements for the information our clients needed.

Since that time, I've used a lot of different library management systems, online course platforms, databases, web sites, electronic books and social media sites.  As I encountered each new system, I figured out how it worked, how to teach other people to use it, and how to best extract the functionality or information needed, either for myself or for my library clients.  I am grateful, often, that I went to that particular class, and so both expected  constant change, and felt prepared to handle it. 

Social media presents the same challenge and is amenable to the same solution.  Do not focus on the platform or the software -- focus on the content, and learn enough about the software or site to know how to use it to your advantage.  Make sure that staff development classes focus on the content and uses more than just on the nuts and bolts, and reward people who use a lot of different platforms and try new ones. 

If you can climb one tree, you can climb any tree (it helps to have claws!)

It would be nice if someone would take on the task of creating a list of this year's hottest social media among whomever we are trying to reach -- a social media Mindset List, if you will.  That would be easier for academic libraries with mostly traditional students, but that type of easy to identify demographic is probably also a thing of the past.  Flexibility and adaptability, and possibly posting the same content in different places, modified to fit the space, is going to be the best approach to social media -- at least for now.

What's your favorite social media site?  Do you use different ones for different groups of people? 

Back to School

As teachers and paraprofessionals all over the county set up their classrooms, libraries, and learning spaces for  the upcoming  school year, let's take a minute to say,  "Thank You, educators, for doing a difficult job and educating our children.  We understand that our future depends on a well educated electorate and workforce, even if we don't have children in your school." 

Thank you for being there for your students -- supporting them not only in academics but in activities and interests in the arts, sports, and community service.

Thank you for coming in before school starts, often in the summer heat, to make sure that students have a positive learning environment and the beginning of the year is positive for everyone.

Thank you for the reading you did, classes you took, lesson plans you wrote and meetings you attended while you were off for the summer.

Thank you for being creative and compassionate and taking advantage of those teachable moments in every day.


*****

If your community has a program like this one to help kids have the materials they need to be successful in school, consider donating or helping out.         KAN Cool for Back to School


Why do you want to thank a teacher?    Please add to the list in the comments!

Summer Weekend

It's the weekend!  Visit your local farmer's market or local farm if you can!  http://www.wifarmersmarkets.org/

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

My farmer's market today also featured flowers as well as Amish ice cream and organic vegetables, coffee, crafts, and live plants. 

Who knew we had our own day?

Happy Book Lovers Day! Kick back and relax with a good book. What are you reading? #ReadNYPL http://t.co/dgQEE2NX9P
— NY Public Library (@nypl) August 9, 2013

I am wearing my Unshelved "Guess What I'm Reading" tee shirt -- which makes it the second time that I've worn it appropriately but without forethought -- I  got a pin from co-creator of Unshelved Bill Barnes at the American Library Association conference for this shirt. "We're giving them to everyone wearing Unshelved merchandise," he said. I had to look down to see what I was wearing.  I have found the shirt to be a good conversation starter, even away from the ALA Convention floor.  What am I reading?  Right this second,  a lot of online news stories, following links from Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn -- magpie reading, attracted by headlines instead of shiny objects.

I've read a lot of mysteries this summer -- my favorite form of "take me away" reading -- including the White House Chef series by Julie Hyzy.  I also participated in my public library's summer reading program for adults, which required that you read a book a week. Five of the eight books had to be different genres or types of books.  I appreciate being forced to consider life beyond the new mystery shelf, and read:

•  a surrelistic fiction YA book by David Levithan called Every Day, about a boy who wakes up each day in a different body, which presents serious ethical and practical issues when he falls in love with the girlfriend of a body he's is occupying one day
• my book club's pick for July, Good Poems by Garrison Keillor, which provided an interesting discussion as everyone read aloud their favorite(s) from the book
• A Hidden Truth by Judith Miller, about a woman moving to the Amana Colonies that her mother had left.  It was an interesting subject, though the characters were a little underdeveloped, even for romance.[Christian historical romance -- 3 genres in one!]    That took me to a whole collection of Christian fiction about Amish people-- there seem to be a large number of them, just on the new book shelf.  The ones I read varied in quality, but I liked Barbara Cameron's Quilts of Lancaster County series. The first one was the best of the three, but of course I had to find out what happened next.
• I finally read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (realistic fiction, YA) which I had put off reading because I thought it would be too sad.  When the characters meet in a cancer support group, it doesn't seem fated to end happily -- and there's the title, if you needed more clues.  It is, however, a brilliant book, and probably Green's best.  Passages and scenes from the book stuck with me for weeks and yes, I both laughed and cried.  There are a lot of YA books about early death, and love, and friendship, but this one is exceptionally both realistic and filled with interesting, quirky characters.  Even the parents are not as throwaway as is usual in the genre.  I recommend that you read it -- on a bright, sunny day, when you have neither had nor anticipate bad news.
• Of course,  I read a whole bunch of mysteries, including the new one by Donna Andrews, Hen of the Baskervilles.  This was not the strongest of the series, but I recommend the series, beginning with Murder With Peacocks. The characters and the laugh aloud scenes are the strength of the books.
• What am I reading today?  Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford, which fell off the new book shelf into my hands, the One Year Bible, and my next book club book, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank. 
  And I have a stack of new library books on my desk. . . .

If my summer reading is too summery for your tastes, the Internet Public Library linked to  25 web sites that have book reviews of literature and which sound entertaining in their own right.  I also like Shelf Awareness from the Independent Booksellers, which covers mostly new books, and Poem-A-Day, for a quick read each and every day via now old fashioned e-mail.  And for you cutting edge folks, I'm sure you are aware  the New York Times has a list of best selling ebooks.  

What are you reading on Book Lover's Day?

Follow up

Here's the follow up to the social media interview -- and, notice, they've used yet another media outlet and promoted it on Facebook (at least, that's where I found it).

Behind the scenes of Earnhardt's AMA, @TeamHendrick takeover

Personal? Professional? Professional Social Media Agent?

I struggle with the relationships between the personal and the professional in online life.  I have tried to keep my professional contacts in Linked In, and my personal contacts on Facebook.  I know that some people have set up separate accounts, but that doesn't seem practical to me.  I did that with email, and ended up with nine email accounts, and the compartmentalization was, in the end, not helpful.  My social networks have a lot of overlap, but the categories do hold up, as much as possible in our complex world.  My Twitter feed, however, is a totally random collection of things I'm interested in and things I like and people I think are entertaining.  I think the conflation of the personal and professional is inevitable, in part because it is easier -- and the technology itself encourages consolidation.

Today, I'm turning to the use of social media in an area which is of interest to me, but not a part of my professional purview -- beyond the unimpeachable fact that librarians are interested in everything -- sports marketing.

NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt, Jr., today did two chat activities, one on Reddit, and one on Twitter, to demonstrate the use of his employer's "new Digital Dashboard social media command center".   What interested me, beyond the content, was not only the interactive use of social media, which is not new, but both the high tech center, and the other media forms used by Dale Jr.'s publicity people to publish the content on the web afterwards.

http://www.hendrickmotorsports.com/news/article/2013/08/06/Earnhardt-chats-with-fans-via-Reddit-AMA-TeamHendrick-takeover

Check out the photos of the command center -- it's pretty impressive. There are photos on the team twitter feed @TeamHendrick #DashChat.   This project used twitter.com, twitter pics, reddit.com (the NASCAR subreddit),  a photo site called imgur, and a site called Storyify, used by his publicity person to create a complete list of the answered questions with photos and comments. It might be the type of project a library could do, even without the high tech command center.

I can see possibilities for using the Storyify and Imgur tools to create materials for classes or other educational applications.  I also find the process fascinating -- taking a celebrity who is famously not on Twitter and having him use social media to interact with fans in a controlled environment. For peeks behind the mirror, you can follow his publicity people @MikeDavis88 and @MikeHoag88.  Mr. Earnhardt got into social media early (back in the My Space days),and encouraged NASCAR to use the web more effectively.  He owns a television/film production company, and his staff maintains a set of web sites, two Facebook pages, and a podcast.  You'll notice, however, that it takes a complete team of public relations people to maintain all of these web outlets.  http://www.dalejr.com.  On this week's podcast, Mr. Earnhardt said that he gave up maintaining a social media page himself because it "became like a small child." Mr. Davis, himself a father, pointed out that an actual small child probably is more work.  However, I understand the analogy.

On another social media front, on Linked In today I saw, in my news feed, a question and discussion about how to learn social media platforms.  One person posted a New York Times article from last March with a list of classes -- credit and non-credit, many requiring tuition -- available for people wanting to become certified in social media.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/education/digital-skills-can-be-quickly-acquired.html?pagewanted=all  I was happy to see that I already know how to use most of the media listed, though, of course, I'm sure more things have been added to the social media universe in the last five months.  I did find both the question and the answer interesting -- do we all need social media certification if we need to be our own publicity agents?  Has anyone done time/benefit analyses on the use of social media?  At what point does it take too much time?  For an individual?  For an institution?

My personal feeling is that there needs to be a balance between the time spent and the benefits, and one way to maximize benefits is  to pick one or two sites and types of communication to focus on, and do them really well.  Unless and until you are earning $23 million a year...

That's a lot of text without pictures, especially if you didn't follow the links [hint:  follow the links!].  Here are some photographs far from the racetrack or the computer screen:

Basking in the sun on the special turtle raft

Waterway through the wetlands

Prairie flowers

Beach Cat

Summer time, and living is not necessarily online.  I had the opportunity to be at my friends' beach house while caring for their cat.    A very special cat,  a cat that prefers the outdoors -- on a leash.  (She would probably forgo the leash, but she doesn't keep the same eye out for raptors and other predators that I do).  

Surveying the Lake

Lake Michigan shoreline