Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

Does anyone else think the girl on the cover of this book looks like Kristen Stewart?

Lady Catherine Archer is one of Queen Elizabeth's attendants. She, like everyone else in Elizabeth's court, constantly strives for the Queen's favor. No one can do anything without the Queen's favor, not even fall in love. Catherine becomes fascinated with Walter Ralegh, who is held in very high esteem by the Queen, and she funds his explorations to the New World. When the Queen learns of the letters and poems Ralegh has been sending to Catherine, she has Catherine sent off to Ralegh's colony of Roanoke in the New World while keeping Ralegh close to her at court. Catherine, who now calls herself Cate, is determined to learn to live in the New World, where she experiences freedom for the first time. But life is much harder than she ever could have dreamed.

HILARIOUS!

Onion is one of the most hilarious magazines ever. I guess they've branched out to radio, because here's a clip about a young urban man who dies in a library. While part of me can't help but just giggle, the other part is a little sad at the play on old librarian stereotypes. Oh well!

The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson

Jeff, an editor to his very core, is working as an administrative assistant. He isn't loving it. Then he gets a slightly crazy idea; take a road trip cross country and help those in need. In need of editing that is. And then he actually does it. With various friends along the way, especially Benjamin Herson, Jeff tracks down typos and fixes them. Sometimes with permission, sometimes without. Things go along pretty well until the two are accused of vandalizing a sign in a national park. And then the typo hunters enter dark days indeed.

MSLA Conference

Hello all! After a long day in Sturbridge, here's the lowdown of what I saw during the MSLA conference "Working Smarter."


Keynote: Michael Dahl

So after waking up at 5:30 this morning, and an hour and a half commute, Michael Dahl was the perfect way to wake me up. He's from MN, so bonus points there, and is a big supporter of graphic novels, so much like Lane Smith we're big friends. He works for Stonearch Books and has written several mystery books and a hi-lo series called The Library of Doom, which FYI looks fantastic. Most of his talk was about the influence of libraries and librarians on his life. How libraries "found (him), at the same time (he) was looking for it." He talked about how the amazing power of a story led to his future choice of career, and that books should always show that there was thought and effort behind them because kids can tell. Kids can pick up on the effort put in took to make it and it can increase their self-worth, and that librarians can guide them to those books. Dahl says that librarians help equate reading with pleasure, helping students plow through reading when it must be done for assignments.

"Save a librarian, save the world."

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

This past Friday I got to attend the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, which were held at Simmons College. It was delightful, although in all honesty not super exciting. Horn Book is not one of the publications we get at my library, but it's a lovely journal. We got a copy of the latest edition in the folder they gave us, and it happens to have the most adorable cover ever. As my colleague said, "I would wear that on a shirt." Me too.

The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards are a bit different than other awards. First of all, the book does not have to be written or illustrated by an American citizen, although it does have to published in the US. Also, when a book wins, both the author and illustrator (if applicable) gets the award, which I think is lovely and totally makes sense since so often it's the two together that makes the book excellent. There are only three categories, nonfiction, picture book, and fiction/poetry. There are two honor books and one winner in each category.

MSLA 2010

This wandering librarian has made it to Sturbridge, MA for the annual MSLA conference, "Working Smarter.". Today's topics will cover literature and technology as well as a myriad of other subjects. Personally, i am interested in attending the learning.commons panel and the session on grant writing (though they are at the same time) and session on new children's books. So, more to come on those and more . . .

As Banned Books Week Comes to a Close...

Check out this interactive display of the most targeted books of 2009. From Good.is.


Ban the Banners! The fabulous Jo Knowles has started a meme in honor of Banned Books Week and #speakloudly, which goes a little something like this:

1. Go find your favorite banned book.
2. Take a picture of yourself with said book.
3. Give that book some love by explaining why you think it is an important book.
4. Post it to your blog.
5. Spread the word!

Reposted from Gwenda at Shaken & Stirred