Mister Pip – best book for 2009!

Lloyd Jones’ takes his reader on a journey into the mind of coming-of-age Matilda, his protagonist and narrator, as she discovers the world of story.  Mister Pip, named after the character in Dickens’ Great Expectations, reveals the benefits of story and story telling.  Set on a war torn island in the south Pacific, Mister Pip takes both the children of the island and the reader into a world of imagination.  Jones is so talented a writer that even the reader is shocked back to ‘reality’ when confronted with the brutal deaths of two principal characters.  This is a must read for anyone interested in story telling and its benefits.  It is also what I think of as my best read of 2009.

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, 2008, Toronto:  Random House, ISBN 978-0-676-97928-2.

Embedding video interviews on blogs

The following web site has a lot of information concerning embedding videos from YouTube and using Skype that could be useful for librarians and/or anyone working on blogs.  It is called “Social Mouths” and can be accessed at:  http://socialmouths.com/blog/2009/12/21/how-to-produce-video-interviews-for-your-blog-using-skype/

Story Tubes – A contest for children

This contest appeared on the ALA news.  It has children in the U.S. and Nova Scotia, Canada, create a short video about their favorite book.  It is certainly something worth looking into for other libraries and can be accessed, along with the ability to view past winners at:  http://www.storytubes.info/drupal/node/1

The Incident Report, a novel by Martha Baillie

Martha Baillie’s Incident Report is a librarian’s novel.  It is the story of a women who works in a public library but also a love story.  It walks the reader through a series of incidents that make up the life of this particular librarian.  It is an eye opener for anyone who is thinking of becoming a librarian as it attests to the public service/social aspects of librarianship.   While Baillie’s sense of humour is evident, it is the form of this novel that interests me most.  It is not a traditional chapter by chapter work, with one chapter building on the other.   Baillie herself is a librarian with Toronto Public.  paper back.  195 pgs.  Toronto:  Pedlar Press, 2009.  ISBN  978-1-897141-25-0.

Free Web Design Classes Online

See the following link for free web design classes online:  http://bestwebdesignschools.com/2009/50-essential-free-open-courseware-classes-for-web-designers/

These are worth a look!

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins’, The Hunger Games (2008) is an interesting take on society in a future North America.  It’s a story of survival for 16 year old Katniss and her peers.  It’s a love story.  It’s a story of a world gone mad.  At one end of the spectrum is the Capital – a place where image is everything.  At the other end you find the surrounding regions – where individuals do whatever they can to survive.  The Hunger Games is where the two come together.

When Katniss younger sister is the one chosen to fight in the Hunger Games on behalf of her region, Katniss steps in for her and we, the readers, are taken on a trip to a world not unlike those we see in survivor television shows only these participants are fighting to the death in order that they will survive.  The Hunger Games is surprisingly difficult to put down.  I would recommend it to all teens, male and female, but I suspect boys might like it best.

Gay-themed Picture Books for Children

The following compilation was assembled by Patricia Sarles of Jerome Parker Campus Library, Staten Island, New York.  http://booksforkidsingayfamilies.blogspot.com/ It serves three purposes, one:  for parents who would like to find books for their children about the experience of being a child in a gay family, or having a gay friend or family member, two: for librarians who would like to develop collections on this topic, and three: for counselors and therapists who would like to use these books in their practices.

World War I

Library and Archives Canada has digitzed photos of WWI and published them to the web.  Their war exhibit can be found at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/firstworldwar/index-e.html with photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/

Short Story Reading Clubs

Booklist has just published an article on their blog entitled “How to run a short story group”.  The things I’ve gleaned from it are as follows:  In addition to having read the story and prepared questions for discussion, have some background on the author to use as your introduction.  Print it out for your attendees.  On how to select your stories, I’ve re-posted what was said on the Booklist site as follows:

“Pick stories. I’ve relied on the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, The Best American Short Stories of the Century, and the annual Best American Short Stories collections. But I’ve also dipped into Best American Mystery Stories, 50 Great Short Stories, and various themed anthologies. I’ve tried to group stories to read that offered opportunities for discussion. So, at times I’ve picked authors whose work gets lumped together by critics – such as Edith Wharton and Henry James. At other times I’ve picked authors by country of origin, such as Chekhov and Turgenev. I chose many contemporary authors, and many woman authors because these are often, but not always, popular with the group. The first two stories I chose were “Guest s of the Nation,” by Frank O’Connor and “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” by Flannery O’Connor. Frank O’Connor was a pen name of the Irish author Michael O’Donovan, and Flannery O’Connor was an Irish-American author from Savannah, Georgia. Is that enough of a connection? Sure, because the stories are really great works of art about which there is lots to say, and lots to ponder, and lots to try to figure out. So be creative, mix and match, pick stories you’ve loved, pick authors you’ve heard a lot about, pick a wide variety and figure it out as you go.”  I would be tempted to make thematically linked sessions – say popular Canadian authors’ short stories, or short mysteries, or three stories from an anthology spread out over three sessions.

Another thing Booklist points out is that you should have some knowledge of past reviews of the stories you’re reading.

One of the comments was especially helpful.  Alex says,

“We run our short story group differently and market it more as a ’story time for adults’ type event. No preparation is required for the attendees – they show up and we listen to the story together.

Either I’ll read it or I’ll get a CD version. The stories are about 40 minutes long (20 pages for me) and then we spend the rest of the time talking about it.

Group members like it because it’s low stress – they just pop in and have the group.”

I think Alex’ way is the way to go.

Technology planning & assessment for libraries

Librarian in Black has posted a useful way of planning and assessing technology for libraries.