E. Lockhart host virtual author visit

Wouldn't you love to attend an autor visit with E. Lockhart?  Well, to promote her new book "Dramarama", she will be the guest of the Book Divas. 

The leading online book club for young adults and college readers, Book Divas welcomes E.Lockart to host a virtual author visit July 15^th, 2007 until July 22^nd, 2007. This will be Lockhart’s second time promoting a upcoming book on the site and this time members of Book Divas will get to chat with her exclusively for an entire week.

To join the discussion you must first become a Book Diva member, which is completely free, signup at www.bookdivas.com. An author visit is when a specialized forum is created to discuss a young adult novel for a period of up to three weeks. Author visits are unique to Book Divas because the members have free reign to directly interact with their favorite authors, such as E.Lockhart. 

Lockhart will login to the message board everyday for a week, where she will answer questions, read comments and discuss her newest novel, Dramarama. Members will be allowed to personally speak with Lockhart by signing in and leaving messages for the YA author.

Pretty cool, eh?  I know I'll be logging on!

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Schooled by Gordon Korman

Cap has never been in the town before.  Sure he's been there with his grandmother when they had to pick up supplies, but for the most part, Cap has spent his entire life alone with his grandmother.  Back in the 60s, Rain had founded the commune and it had been a lively place.  But as the people got older and times changed, everyone had left to resume their lives in the real world.  But not Rain.  When Cap's parents were killed, Rain raised him in the ways of the commune.  But now Rain is in the hospital and Cap is in foster care and forced to go to the public school.  With his long hair and homemade sandals, Cap really sticks out.  But his naiveté is what really sets him apart from the others.  He really believes that he has been elected 8th grade president because the kids have faith in him.  Not because they have a tradition of terrorizing the poor soul that occupies this office.

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Back from ALA

I had every intentions of blogging from ALA so I could keep up with everything going on but the unthinkable happened.  My hard drive crashed on Friday!!  I'm so glad I brought my old laptop and not the one with all my "stuff" on it!  I was totally out of touch after that. 

On Friday, I had the pleasure of working at Harris Elementary School as part of the Librarians in the Community project.  The library had been closed for four years and been used as a makeshift storage area.  Thanks to Audrey, a dynamic librarian who has taken on the challenge of resurrecting the program, we had a great day getting things organized.  While others weeded the collection, I cataloged the small collection that was left.  I have never used the system before so probably make a few mistakes.  Sorry Audrey :-)

I attended AASL Affiliate Assembly as the NH delegate.  We spent Friday evening reviewing our concerns that will be brought to the executive committee.  This was my first Affiliate Assembly and I was very charged by the energy in that room.

I spent Saturday at the exhibits and getting autographs.  I admit that I spend too much time getting signed books.  But who can resist "meeting" John Green, Mary Downing Hahn, Nancy Garden, Sherman Alexie, Lois Lowry, Gail Giles, Laurie Halse Anderson, Marcus Zusak and Judy Blume.  There were so many more that I just didn't have a chance to meet.  I did manage a program or two also.  I tried to get to the Reader's Theater program but there was just no room.  The Graphic Novels program was very crowded also but I did manage to get it.  The last program I went to was Picture Books for Older Readers.  Great info although people were fighting over the handouts.  Saturday night I went to dinner with the folks from Boyds Mills and authors Marilyn Nelson and Carolyn Coman..  How cool is that!?

Sunday started with the YA Authors Breakfast.  What a great time.  It was managed a bit like speed dating with the authors moving from table to table every 10 minutes or so.  There was certainly not enough time to meet all the authors but it was fun to meet so many Printz award winners.  Our table hosted Garret Freymann-Weyr, Gary Schmidt, Walter Dean Myers, Alan Stratton, Marilyn Nelson, Ellen Wittlinger and David Almond.  I was absolutely speechless sitting next to David Almond!!!  After the breakfast, I hurried over to the AASL Affiliate Assembly that had started earlier.  Sunday was more time at the exhibits getting signed books.  Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Cecil Castellucci, Carolyn Mackler, Sonya Hartnett, Karen Beaumont, Jane Dyer, Sara Zarr, Barry Lyga, Garret Freymann-Weyr, Dana Reinhardt, and Ellen Wittlinger.  I was too late to get into the Judy Blume program:-(

Monday I went to the YALSA program on popular paperbacks. The YALSA President's Program, A Day in the Life of a Teenager, featured young people doing readings from the past years of YA lit.  They were very good.  Then a panel of YA authors spoke about how YA lit has evolved since the 1960s.  On the panel was David Almond!  Oh yeah, Robert Lipsyte,  Nick Hornby and Joanna Cotler.  Michael Cart moderated.  I also went to the DVDs for YAs program.  On the exhibit floor, I finally got David Almond to personalize some books for me.  I also got signed copies from MT Anderson, and Sharon Draper

Tuesday I went to the closing session with Garrison Keillor.  What a treat.  I then dropped by the exhibits one more time.  I was able to get a signed copy from Gene Luen Yang without waiting in those horrible lines from the past couple of days!  I then headed out to Capitol Hill for the Library Day on the Hill.  Very exciting.  I was unable to speak with either of my Representatives but I left my message and know they are both supporters.  I don't know it they ever took me up on the invitation to star in a Read poster!

Wednesday I went site seeing and then headed off to the airport.  My plane was over 6 hours late.  I finally got into NH at about 4:00 am.  I really wished I hadn't signed up to go to a workshop on Thursday but I made it through the day on minimal sleep.

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Off to ALA

I've spent the day packing and tying up loose ends getting ready to head off to Washington bright and early tomorrow morning.  I'm going early so I can have some site seeing time before the conference gets into full swing.  On Friday I'll be volunteering at an elementary school and then attending the AASL affiliates assembly Friday night.  There are so many programs I want to go to and so many author signings in the exhibit area, I will be going like mad through the next few days.  I am skipping the banquets this year but may sneak in to hear the speeches.  Whatever I end up doing, I know I'll have a blast.  When I first starting going to ALA a million years ago, I was a bit intimidated by the size.  But now, I love spending hours walking around the exhibits talking with vendors and meeting authors.  And I always bring something back from the programs. 

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Presenting with BER

Wahoo!  I just found out that I will be presenting with BER next year!  How cool is that?  I'll be presenting a seminar on Best Children's Books of the Decade.  I have four dates but don't know the cities yet.  This is so great.  I am seriously looking forward to working with such a prestigious organization.  Wish me luck!

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The Robot Olympics by Victor Appleton

Appleton, Victor.
THE ROBOT OLYMPICS (TOM SWIFT, YOUNG INVENTOR, 2)
New York : Aladdin Paperbacks, c2006.
IL 3-6, RL 5.9
ISBN 1416913610
Swiftbot leaps to make the basket. He's coming along nicely but young Tom Swift is still wishing his robot could play just a bit better. After all, the robot Olympics will be starting tomorrow. He really wanted Swiftbot to win. Especially against Andy Foger's entry. When the kids arrived at the event, they were greeted by protesters from the TRB -- a terrorist group who rejected technology. But that didn't discourage Tom. Security was really tight and there was no way that TRB could get into the Olympics. So he concentrated on Swiftbot and the games. But what was really going on around here? More than you can imagine.

Summer Vacation!!!

Summer vacation at last!  The last day for students was Wednesday and we had to attend workshops on Thursday and Friday.  It was fine though as I spent the two days in planning a major unit that will integrate technology and library skills for a year long project.  Very exciting.

I have so many projects I'm working on this summer, I don't know if I'll have a lot of time to read.  This is usually when I can catch up on my reading.  Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day working on a project for the public access channel that highlights the children's choice nominees.  All that work for a 30 minute broadcast..  But if it gets the kids to pick up a book, it will be worth it.  I can also run it in kiosk mode in my library this year.

But, I am managing to get in a few books on the side.  I am back in my biography mode and have a stack of middle school biographies to read.

Meyer, Flora.
MAO ZEDONG : THE REBEL WHO LED A REVOLUTION
Washington, DC : National Geographic, 2007
IL 3-6, RL 6.8
ISBN 1426300638
Mao Zedong was always a very ambitious man.  From his teenage years, Mao decided that rules that others lived by didn't apply to him.  He was egotistical and had a sense of importance.  He also had very little regard for others.  He had a hunger for knowledge and spent many years in study.  He also had a hunger for power and spent many years trying to achieve his goal.  And he did.  In 1949, Mao seized control of China and ruled with an iron fist until his death in 1976.  These were dire years in China.  Find out about this amazing man in Mao Zedong : the rebel who led a revolution.

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The Night My Sister Went Missing

Whenever I have a student looking for a mystery book, my first recommendation is The body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum Ucci.  This is a really popular read in my library.  The kids come back looking for more by the same author.  And now I have another good mystery to recommend.  Plum Ucci's latest is a real page turner again focusing on a missing teenager and the secrets the come out.

Plum-Ucci, Carol. 

THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING

A shot shatters the familiar sounds of the teen party.  A splash?  Not really.  A scream?  Or was it laughter?  There are so many questions but one thing is certain -- Casey is missing.  And her brother Kurt is desparate to find her.  But the night is pitch black and the police want all the kids to come to the station for statements.  Kurt and his friend are ushered into a small room and left there while the police questione the other teens.  But what the police have forgotten is that this new room looks into the interrogation room.  So while the police parade the other kids into the room for questioning, Kurt and Drew are able to hear what is being said.  And what they hear is not always pretty.  It turns out that there are a lot of secrets on the island of Mystic.

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Shout out to Mrs. Lovett’s 5th grade class

I got a great note today from Mrs. Lovett's 5th grade class in Moorestown New Jersey.  The kids have been listening to my podcasts and using them to select their summer reading.  How great is that??!!  It just made my day.

If any of the kids from Mrs. Lovett's class are reading this, send along a comment and let me know what book you are reading!

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June update

Spent the day finishing the June update to Booktalks Quick and Simple.  This month features many state lists.  I love seeing the similarities and differences among the state selections.

Also had the time to finish up Todd Strasser's new book.  Very grim and makes you think about what really goes on in boot camps for kids.  The media portrays them as a good alternative for unruly kids.  But are they?

Strasser, Todd.
BOOT CAMP
New York : Simon & Schuster Books, 2007
IL YA
ISBN 141690848X
This is for your own good.  How many times have you heard that but were not sure that it was true?  Parents tend to say that when they know something unpleasant is about to happen.  But what if your
parents hire people to kidnap you and send you to boot camp?  I've seen reports about these places on television.  They are touted as being the answer to unruly teens.  That's what happens to Garrett.  Now, Garrett is not a bad kid.  He's a rich kid who is a bit spoiled.  And he is dating his teacher.  But it's not like he's in a gang or failing school or anything.  But his parents don't like his choice of girlfriend so they sign him up for Lake Harmony.  They've done their research and are sure this is for Garrett's own good.  What they don't know is what really goes on behind the walls of Lake Harmony.

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All-in by Pete Hautman

I was so excited to open a box of review copies to find Pete Hautman's new book!!  Once again, I learned about something I knew very little about -- Texas hold em poker.  I don't know how to play and learned a lot about the game in this book!  And I was routing for Denn to win it all.

Hautman, Pete.

ALL-IN
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2007
IL YA
ISBN 1416913254
Denn is only 17 but you wouldn't know it if you were sitting across the table from him.  When Denn is playing poker, he is a real professional.  And that's one of the reasons he left home and made his way to Las Vegas.  You see, he had won a restaurant back home but lost it after six months.  Yes, he is that good at poker but not so good with the people side of things.  And he is sure that he is going to make it big in Las Vegas.  But after meeting a beautiful casino card dealer, his luck may just be changing.  For the worse.

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New Hampshire Great Stone Face nominees

This year's winner has been announced -- Ghost's Grave by Peg Kehret -- and now the children start reading the nominees for next year.  I've loaded the booktalks for the new nominees of the New Hampshire Great Stone Face award.  I am also adding podcasts for the titles as well.  I love this time of year!

Auch, Mary Jane.  ONE-HANDED CATCH

Cottrell Boyce, Frank. FRAMED

Duble, Kathleen Benner. THE SACRIFICE

Fardell, John.  THE 7 PROFESSORS OF THE FAR NORTH

Hahn, Mary Downing. WTICH CATCHER

Haven, Paul.  TWO HOT DOGS WITH EVERYTHING

Hobbs, Valerie.  SHEEP

Jones, Kimberly.  SAND DOLLAR SUMMER

Kehret, Peg.  TRAPPED

Lord, Cynthia.  RULES

Lowry, Lois.  GOSSAMER

Lubar, David.  PUNISHED

Mowll, Joshua.  OPERATION RED JERICHO

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. ROXIE AND THE HOOLIGANS

Nuzum, K. A.  A SMALL WHITE SCAR

Paterson, Katherine. BREAD AND ROSES, TOO

Pennypacker, Sara.  CLEMENTINE

Roy, Jennifer Rozines. YELLOW STAR

Russell, Christopher. DOGBOY

Schlitz, Laura Amy. A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR : A MELODRAMA

Springer, Nancy.  THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS : AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY

Stanley, Diane.  BELLA AT MIDNIGHT

Stewart, Paul.  FERGUS CRANE

Woods, Brenda.  MY NAME IS SALLY LITTLE SONG

Yep, Laurence.  THE EARTH DRAGON AWAKES : THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE OF 1906

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New England SCBWI

For the past two days, I've attended a whirlwind of activities at the New England SCBWI conference.  With keynotes from Bruce Coville and Sid Fleischman, how can you go wrong?  Both authors were delightful and encouraging.  I also got to attend workshops by Kathleen Benner Duble, Cheryl Zach and Laura Faria Stolarz.  I met many more authors during the two days.  So exciting.  Today I attended a two part workshop on story structure by Jacqueline Davies.  Fast and furious but informative. 

Now that all my conference gallivanting has come to an end, I can get back to doing my podcasts and catching up on my reading!

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New Hampshire Libraries Conference

On Thursday and Friday, I attended the New Hampshire Libraries Conference at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods.  What a beautiful location!  Unfortunately it rained the whole time so we didn't get the full beauty of the mountains.  But the hotel is lovely and I would recommend it highly.

I was involved with two presentations.  On Thursday, I was on a panel about using digital audiobooks with children.  The entire panel was very positive and the value of the audiobooks.  It makes me sad when teachers or parents tell their children they can't listen to books because they are good readers.  Why not listen?  Isn't that a skill that needs practice?  I listened to a book on the ride to the conference and the ride home. 

The second presentation was lots of fun.  It was a twist on my usual round up of YA lit.  Author Michael Sullivan shared the stage and we did "He Said She Said" with Michael concentrating on "boy books" and I did the chick lit.  Lots of fun and laughing!

Workshops I attended included Robin Brenner's No Flying No Tights presentation on graphic novels.  OK, now I have to really start reading them more.  She is such a good ambassador for the format!

I went to a presentation on the invisible Google.  Reg Aubry is great.  If you ever have the opportunity to see him, go.  He's well worth it.

It's always fun seeing old friends and making new ones.  For two days each year, I am lucky to be surrounded by New Hampshire librarians from school, public, academic and special libraries.  Such fun!

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New Hampshire Isinglass Award winner announced!

Congratulations to "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer with 277 votes!  Winner of the Isinglass Teen Read Award for 7th & 8th Graders.  

Uglies 221

So B. It 141

Raven's Gate 140

Elsewhere 107

Red Kayak 81

Airborn 70

Last Dog on Earth 62

Surviving Antarctica 55

Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi 53

Lucas 49

Dragon and Thief 47

Things Left Unsaid 45

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo 44

The Skin I'm In 41

Dirt Eaters 32

Private Peaceful 30

Truesight 25

Ask Me No Questions 22

Snow-walker 19

 

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May booktalks update

Well here it is the middle of the month and I have just now loaded the May update to Booktalks Quick and Simple.  It has been such a busy month.  I have finished grading all the projects in the 3 night classes I was teaching.  I now have a couple of weeks to catch up on other things before the summer comes on fast and furious.  I'm teaching one face2face computer class starting June 1st.  And I'm teaching 2 distances classes this summer.  One is for Open-NH and I've taught it before and had a good time.  The other is for YALSA and I'm actually designing the course and teaching it starting in July.  I'm so excited.  And I'm finishing up the online module for University of North Texas.  This is fun stuff!

So the May update has very few books that I have read!  I do have state nominees from Colorado, Washington and the picture books from South Carolina.  More will be on the next update.  Including the New Hampshire award nominees.  We have our annual conference this week and will be announcing winners and new lists.

Today is Mother's Day and it is a beautiful day out there.  Last year, New Hampshire suffered unbelievable flooding on this day.  I had never experienced anything like it.  Things like that just don't happen here!  We had a sink hole downtown and my school was opened as a shelter.  You can't tell me that the climate isn't changing!  Fortunately my house is enough away from the river and on higher ground so we were fine.  We had more flooding last month and people who had just rebuilt their homes lost them again.  How tragic!!

Anyway, here is a book for all the mothers out there.

Wood, Douglas. WHAT MOMS CAN'T DO
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c2001.

There are many things that lots of people can do but moms can't.  Are you surprised?  Do you think your mom can do anything?  Well, how about saying good night?  Moms just can't do that without a hug and a kiss.  Or watching movies.  Don't they need their children on their laps?  What are some of the other things that moms can't do?

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New Hampshire Flume Book Winner Announced

The winner of the 2007 Flume Teen Book Award is Twilight by Stephanie Myers.  Twilight garnered 129 votes out of the total 531 votes cast.  The Flume award is a new award in New Hampshire.  The other titles earned the following votes:

The Truth about Forever  -- 82
Velocity -- 53
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment -- 41
A Great and Terrible Beauty-- 38
Haunted -- 37
Tithe -- 35
The Burn Journals -- 29
Powder Monkey -- 24
Looking for Alaska -- 23
I am the Messenger -- 19
The Geography Club -- 15
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp -- 8

Congratulations Stephanie Myers!

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Author visit today

For the past couple of years, I have had support of the PTO to bring an author in to speak with our 6th graders.  And today was the day!  Author Lea Wait spent the day with our kids and it went really well. She gave three assemblies, had lunch with some student representatives and then did a book signing at the end of the day. 

I never know how the kids will react to situations like this but I was quite proud of them today.  They were well behaved and asked appropriate questions.  Whew!!

Lea spoke to the kids about her journey towards being a children's writer.  She talked about her missteps as well as her successes.  She even shared some editor marked-up pages from one of her novels.  The children were fascinated by seeing those!  Lea also shared school books from the 1820s that the characters in her books might have used in school.  I think they appreciated their 21st century texts!

All in all, it was a great day.  Thank you Lea Wait.

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Hoping for more time

On Tuesday I finished up teaching my evening class at NH Tech.  Interesting presentations.  I now have to finish up grading all the finals.

Finished up both classes for Plymouth State University yesterday.  Now I have to grade 37 cataloging policy manuals.  I really do love teaching Cataloging and Classification but I know it is not the favorite class of any of the students!  But we got through it!

Once I finish up all the grading and a few other projects I have going, I've got to find time to read again.  I've been reading "I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you" for the past two week and am only half way finished.  It's not that I'm not enjoying the book it just that I've been reading it in 15 min. intervals!  Summer school vacation can't come soon enough.  Six more weeks.

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State Book Award time

Children all over the country are voting on their favorite book of the year.  I love looking at the children's choice award winners from around the country.  It's great to see the variety.  And this is the time of year when many states announce their winner and reveal the nominees for the upcoming year. 

For the past few years, I have been including booktalks from state award nominees.  This past week, I have posted the booktalks for the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Award nominees and the Washington Evergreen Young Adult Award nominees.  I have several other lists to include on the site as well.  My own state of New Hampshire will be announcing the state winner and the new nominees in two weeks.  I will have those loaded as soon as I can.

To check out Colorado and Washington nominees, visit http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/state_awards.htm

Some of my favorite books are there.  As well as new titles that I'll have to check out.

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