Booked for the Evening 2009

A Review of Children's and Young Adult Literature

PANELISTS

• Carla Olsen Petersen MLIS ’02, Media Specialist, Red Rock Elementary, South Washington County Schools -- PRIMARY READERS
• Gail Nordstrom ’81, MLIS ’94, Youth Services Librarian, Stillwater Public Library -- INTERMEDIATE READERS
• Sara Swenson MLIS ’94, Librarian, Edina High School -- YOUNG ADULT READERS
• Lisa Howes MLIS '02, Youth Services Librarian, Augsburg Park Library (Hennepin County Library System) YOUTH NONFICTION

SPECIAL GUEST



Dr. Sarah Park, Assistant Professor in the MLIS Program, was a member of the prestigious 2009 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Committee. She described the winners.

For more on these books,






THE PANELISTS' BOOK LISTS
First Picks and Too Good to Be Missed

Traditionally, the experts pick their very favorites (a hard thing to do!) but then, of course, they have a whole other list of books they love but don't have time to talk about, so those end up on the second list -- the books "too good to be missed." So make sure you check both lists attached below. In each category, the expert at the event provided overall thoughts and suggestions about how each book could used be in a class or library setting, along with ideas of other books to complement and extend them. They also call attention to interactive materials on the publishers' web pages. They gave so much great information that we can't possibly recap it all, and you will just have to come next year to get the full deal!




PRIMARY READERS

Carla Olsen Petersen MLIS ’02, Media Specialist, Red Rock Elementary, South Washington County Schools -- PRIMARY READERS

Carla has always been crazy for books, visiting the Carnegie library in her St. Anthony Park neighborhood every chance she got when growing up. And yes, she even played "library" as a kid! After spending years in retail and then office management (both medical, and then collegiate at CSC), she followed her dream of becoming a librarian and received her MLIS from CSC in 2002. She is in her eighth year as a school library media specialist and loves it. She is a member of the nomination committee for the Maud Hart Lovelace Minnesota Children's Book Award, the library committee of the Danish American Center, and the executive board of the Minnesota Youth Reading Association.




Carla began her picks with a book sure to be a favorite with librarians and teachers, one that gives advice on how to treat a book: Read It, Don't Eat It! From there she covered a wide variety of themes, some centering on the color red (Red Sings from the Treetops, Red Sled and even perhaps Not All Animals Are Blue), some with water connections (Pond Circle, Boats, That's Papa's Way) and frozen water (The Snow Day),some on being very young ( Little Chick, All of Baby Nose to Toes), pets (Always, There Are Cats in This Book, I Don't Want a Posh Dog!) and wilder animals too (The Lion and the Mouse, Peter and the Wolf). She mentioned fun books for considering points of view and questions: Duck! Rabbit! -- an argument over which the seen animal is, That's Papa's Way-- a fishing trip where father and daughter do things differently-- and Not All Animals Are Blue -- which asks questions for the readers to decide, based on their perspectives. That's not all -- there's a Muslim holiday tale and so much more. Check out the full list.




INTERMEDIATE READERS

Gail Nordstrom ’81, MLIS ’94, Youth Services Librarian, Stillwater Public Library -- INTERMEDIATE READERS

Gail works with children of all ages, their parents and caregivers. She had the honor of serving on the 2002 Newbery Award Committee for the American Library Association and will serve on the Caldecott Committee next year. She has also organized local Newbery and Caldecott mock discussions for librarians and teachers since 1997. She is an adjunct faculty member at St. Catherine University Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) Program where she has taught a course on library services to children and teens. When she is not reading books for young people, she can be found chasing squirrels with her 75-pound canine or chuckling at the antics at Dunder Mifflin.



Gail noted recurring themes this year: eco-adventures and stories of naturalists (Pirates of Crocodile Swamp, Operation Redwood, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate), the work of keeping a family together, especially with someone at war or back from one (Peace, Locomotion; Heart of the Shepherd), fantasy (The Magician's Elephant, The Thirteenth Child, Amulet series), and as is often the case, horses (Wild Child, The Georges and The Jewels, Highway Robbery). Gail mentioned some of the new types of graphic novels as well, from the Lunch Lady series to The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook. She observed, also, the presence of good middle grade books that can be used to discuss points of view -- We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes and Anything But Typical. Joseph Bruchac has offered us another Abenaki story made new, this time coming frighteningly alive in a boy's life in Night Wings. Grace Lin tries a similar literary feat with a Chinese folktale and a contemporary girl in Where the Mountain Meets the Girl. Gail has a contagious enthusiasm for so many other books that you'll just have to check the lists.





YOUNG ADULT READERS


Sara Swenson MLIS ’94, Librarian, Edina High School -- YOUNG ADULT READERS

Sara has also loved reading from an early age. She is the librarian at Edina High School (EHS) and a National Board Certified teacher. A book about the book clubs led by Sara and other teachers at EHS has been published, Reading for Themselves: How to Transform Adolescents into Lifelong Readers Through Out-of-Class Book Clubs. In addition to teaching at EHS, Sara is also a reference librarian at the Minnesota Historical Society and an adjunct faculty member at both Hamline University and Cardinal Stritch University.






Romance, most certainly, is never far from the minds of many teen female readers, and there's plenty to be found, even for girl protagonists who don't fit the model image -- that is, once they learn to accept themselves (Along for the Ride, Confessions of a Serial Kisser, North of Beautiful, Ten Things I Hate About Me.) In North of Beautiful, the young woman has to get beyond a disfiguring purple birthmark on one side of her face and in the latter, she has to figure out if she is the typical Aussie girl or a Muslim one, or if she can be both. In the darker Wintergirls, the young women struggle with anorexia, guilt, and friendship.

Fantasy is never distant for teen readers either, and the adolescent fiction book lists offer numerous fine titles and series. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, will give the Twighlight series a response from the perspective of the wolf pack and men-wolves.Susanne Collins released her second book in the Hunger Game series, Catching Fire. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn features a girl pretending to be a boy, pretending to be an apprentice, pretending to be a lord, who is unexpectedly chosen by a dragon to be a leader. Talk about shifts in perspective and layers! In a more straightforward thriller vein, Walter Sorrells has just released the third book in his Hunted series -- Whiteout. On a less fantastical bent, Notes from a Dog and Project Sweetlife present some humorous perspectives of unexpected summer jobs. Chris Crutcher, the beloved writer of often-angry teen misfits, has put many of his misfits together in the same encounter group and book -- Angry Management.

The topic of soldiers and war is never far away these days, and this is shown in Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19 Year Old GI. Societal tensions between evolutionary theory and traditional religious interpretations of Scripture are played out in the lives of Charles Darwin, the scientist, and his wife, Emma, who stands by her belief in a Creator God. Are they incompatible? Not in this love story, based on the letters and diaries of these two individuals. The environment also gets its due in an eco-adventure/fantasy for older students, set in a carbon-restricted future: Carbon Diaries.




NONFICTION READERS

Lisa Howes MLIS '02, Youth Services Librarian, Augsburg Park Library (branch of Hennepin County Library) YOUTH NONFICTION

Lisa's father often wondered if she'd ever get her nose out of a book when she was a kid. Things really haven't changed since then and, happily, Lisa has passed this love of reading on to her two daughters who will often disappear with a book. Lisa is very involved in the community, spreading the word about the library through the Richfield Community Council, visits to local schools, and an ongoing teen arts grant. She's often found in local hockey rinks, book in hand, ready to start discussions with kids and parents alike.





With so many terrific nonfiction books out there to choose from, Lisa tried to represent various topic areas, approaches, and audience ages. History got its due from varied perspectives, starting with the very personal and moving photographic history of Anne Frank and her family (from her father's collection), the hidden annex, and the concentration camps. One of the most significant battles of the American Civil War made its way into Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel, and Barack Obama joined the Book of Presidents. From the perspective of how history is deciphered and recorded comes the rollicking Raucous Royals -- Test Your Royal Wits: Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries, and Deduce which Royal Rumors Are True (try your wits at the fun web pages). The mythological world is not neglected either, with Fairypedia and The Mythological Handbook, or the child sorcerer-become-legend, Harry Potter Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died.

Moving to science, Lisa called special attention to the incredible photographic science books of all flavors (such as Animals Up Close), but particularly, The Frog Scientist because it fulfilled so many goals at once. It showed the natural world as fascinating and stunning with its photos and the process of scientific discovery unveiled in its pages, but it also highlighted an African American scientist role model with all his dedication and brilliance. The incredible arena of space took a prominent place with the newly updated DK Encyclopedia of SPACE and indirectly, through Teacher-Astronaut Sally Ride's book with Tam O'Shaughnessy -- Misson, Save the Planet: Things You Can Do to Help Fight Global Warming.

Be careful, though, not all of nature is lovely or in need of protection! Students love the 100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet or the gross things they can create in their own kitchens: 100% Pure Fake. If that is not enough, they can explore their refrigerators in a new and sometime scientific way in Chill: Discover the Cool (and Creative) Side of Your Fridge. Not to be outdone, factoids still have their ever present attraction to kids, just try the Atlas of Firsts to get reluctant readers (and the rest) engaged.





THANKS TO OUR EXCITING EXPERTS
AND THE RED BALLOON!


Our gratitude to The Red Balloon Book Shop for selling the books from the book list. The Red Balloon, co-founded and co-owned by alumna Michele Cromer-Poire SP '69, is celebrating 25 years in November!

Related Links:
MLIS Program
The Red Balloon Bookshop