The Danger Box by Blue Balliett

Zoomy has never met his father or mother and has lived with his grandparents all his life. That's fine with Zoomy, he loves his grandparents and doesn't want anything to change. Zoomy hates change, sudden change can make him get stuck, unable to move until things are in order again. It helps to keeps lists of things, so Zoomy has all sorts of notebooks for his lists.

Then suddenly, Zoomy's father, Buckeye, turns up, in a stolen truck with a mysterious box in the back. Buckeye and Zoomy's grandfather have a fight, and Buckeye takes off, leaving the box. All that's in the box is a blanket and an old notebook. Zoomy studies the notebook, trying to figure out what would make it so special. With the help of his friend Lorrol, Zoomy embarks on some serious library research to figure out the secret of the notebook. But they don't have much time. A stranger is in town, and Zoomy is pretty sure he's looking for the notebook too.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

It's good to read a nonfiction book aimed at adults every now and then. It breaks up all the supernatural romances, which I think I need to take a break from for a while.

In Switch, Chip and Dan Heath take a look at how to change when you really don't have a lot to work with. How can you change things when you aren't in a position of power, don't have a lot of people, and no money? While this book is really more aimed for business, the techniques looked at can work for anyone, and since reading it I've been trying to apply these strategies to my teaching.

For Dan

Curriculum Frameworks did not sound like a very exciting class, no, not exciting at all. But it turned out to be great for a couple of reasons. First, it was where I really became friends with people, and second, because Dan Fleming was teaching it. Dan was amazing. He was one of those incredibly genuine people you should only be so lucky to meet in your life. He thought every single one of us was special and fabulous and would do great things. And it made us want be be great, because we would never want to disappoint him. You can't fake that kind of enthusiasm. I wish that I could be that kind of person for my students.

Whenever I was feeling frustrated from jumping through hoops with my practicum requirements or trying to figure out what I still needed to do for my certification, Dan had a way of making everything seem simple. It sometimes felt like everyone was trying to be as confusing as possible, and then Dan would cut through everything with straightforward advice and direction. It was comforting being with Dan.

I would like for Dan to be proud of me, and it inspires me to be a better librarian. But it's also comforting to know that even if I have a day where I was not being the best librarian I can be, Dan would never be disappointed in me. Because I'm fabulous and special and I will do great things. I won't forget to feed the rabbits.

In memoriam

Three years ago I was a brand new library science student. I spent the first semester muddling my way through, trying to figure out if the school library track was what I really wanted to do and if I could handle being a student again. My second semester is when I think my real experience began. I finally remembered what it was to write a five page paper, read a text book, and sit through three hour lectures; more importantly I was making friends and fine tuning the classes I was taking. One class sticks out in my mind, not only because it is where I met my fellow wandering librarians but this is when I met Prof. Dan Fleming. I wish I could fully encompass my first impression of Dan. I wish I could in detail tell you how knowledgeable, supportive, kind, and nurturing he was. With his little sayings like: "feed the rabbits," "You want fresh? I can be very fresh," and "do NOT gossip with the teachers, they talk and you just listen;" he became not just a professor to us but a mentor, counselor, cheerleader, and generally someone we would always turn to to share our achievements and failures. Dan was the first person who really showed me what it would be like to work in a school library. It was his influence that shapes my vision of what my library is and can be. I do not think I can fully express how much he still is a part of my outlook on life even though we hadn't spoke to one another in over a year.

Today, looking down at his casket, all I could think was, "It's so small." Dan's personality emanated from his body, his enthusiasm and kindness preceded him wherever he went. He's truly gone, and an entire community has lost someone very special. Dan passed away from cancer on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010. He is survived by his wife, three children, and all the librarians and students that he made excited about going out into the world and changing it for the better.

Scumble by Ingrid Law

To say that Ledge's family is different would be an understatement. Once every child hits their thirteenth birthday, they don't just join the ranks of the pubescent adolescence they also develop their savvy. A savvy is a secret magical ability, it can range from controlling minds to being invisible, and Ledge has just gotten his. This isn't a seemingly cool ability like his mom's ability to control people's actions with a smile and comment or the much hoped for ability like running at incredible speeds, no this savvy seems to be literally destructive. As Ledge scrambles to scumble his savvy, try and break out from under his mother's controlling thumb, readjust his father's hopes and dreams for Ledge's running future, he breaks the family's cardinal rule and reveals the family's abilities to nosy thirteen year old Sarah Jane aka SJ Cabot; the same SJ whose father is trying to take over the family's safe haven. Now Ledge is trying to not only control his destructive powers but also try and figure out SJ and have her help him stop her dad. Turning thirteen just got a little more complicated.

The Poisons of Caux: The Tasters Guild by Susannah Appelbaum

I apologize for taking so long to write my reviews, and to be honest a couple of them have since been published, but in my defense I wasn't super stoked about a couple of them and had to work up the enthusiasm to start. On with the reviews!

This is a sequel which started with The Hollow Beetle, when I went to the stall at the ALA conference, I was told that this could be read as a standalone. HA! Let me give you the fast summary of the first book that was at the beginning of The Taster's Guild: Caux is a land that used to be known for its healing knowledge, now a tyrant is ruling and poisons dictate your position in the new regime of which Ivy our protagonist is a prodigy. Ivy is a noble and is given two food tasters to keep her safe, both whom have hidden agendas. Ivy is not satisfied with the status quo and secretly starts learning healing potions, which get her into trouble with the Taster's Guild (the power behind the throne), and lead her to discover that she is the Noble Child that is destined to save the rightful king and restore the kingdom to its healing glory.

Now onto the plot of the sequel. A very talented forger has taken mystical texts from the Tasters Guild, and his knowledge of creating the books has caught the attention of the deadly Tasters Guild. It seems by creating such perfect copies of the original texts, that he has stumbled upon a deadly plant that could end up destroying the entire land. It eats away at the land and drives people crazy as it kills them. In the mean time Ivy has been learning greater healing knowledge of healing through regimented apothecary lessons. She becomes impatient to begin her quest to find the king and heal him so that the kingdom can be restored to greatness. With the help of her friends she is able to escape her home and head towards the magical gateway that is supposed to lead her to the alternate reality where the king is being hidden. Unfortunately the only known gate is in the Tasters Guild underground labyrinth, where the director is concocting a plan to destroy the land's hope and kill Ivy so she cannot restore the king. Taking many risks, making a few mistakes, and losing some friends along the way, Ivy and Rowan make it to the king only to discover that their quest is not nearly as easy as they first assumed.

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

Nina Revskaya, once a famous ballet dancer, is auctioning off her equally famous jewelry collection. Supposedly it is to raise money for the arts, but Nina has more personal reasons for wanting to get rid of all her jewelry, although they are among the few things she still has left from Russia, since she defected in 1952. Drew Brooks is handling the jewelry's auction, and finds herself in the middle of a very strange story. Grigori Solodin, a 50 year old Russian professor, has a piece of amber jewelry that he thinks matches those that belong to Nina. He has tried to speak to Nina about this before, believing the piece of jewelry holds the key to his unknown parentage, but Nina has never allowed him to speak to her. Drew is trying to piece it all together, as she attempts to prove if Grigori's jewelry is indeed a missing piece to Nina's.

As the stories in the present are told, it is interspersed with the story of Nina's past in Russia, becoming a dancer, meeting her husband, and the danger of living in Russia. As more of the past is told, the present begins to make more sense. Nina may have made a horrible mistake.