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Bertie Botts' Every-Flavor Blog
No cohesion to this entry, just pure, unadulterated brain-dump in list format.
1. In spite of my worries, the aftermath of Summer Reading Club has not been bad at all so far. One of my coworkers made some great signs warning people of the club's approaching deadline, not to mention a banner that hung all summer with the beginning and end dates. They seem to have helped. We've had relatively few stragglers, and no problems that I've heard about. Both our membership and completion rates were up from last year, which is cool.
2. Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf has a new op-ed feature. This week's entry: When YA Might Not Be OK. Librarian Shannon Stevenson tackles the question of how to respond when middle grade children ask for books with mature themes. My personal approach is more hands-off but similar in spirit. If a parent's doing the asking on behalf of a child, I'll be very forthright about mature content, in a "Just so you're aware..." context. If it's a kid, I'll say with a certain amount of significance, "That'll be in the high school section..." But I leave it there, figuring that the book will go over their heads and/or that parents will do their job.
ETA, 8/8/08: More reactions to the article at...
3. I've obtained a rental copy of Breaking Dawn so that I can see for myself what all the fans are complaining about. So far I've kept myself spoiler-free. I hope this doesn't devour my entire weekend.
4. I'm registering for SCBWI Wisconsin's Fall Retreat. I'm both excited and nervous about the prospect. I've never been to a big (um, or even small—so this feels big to me) writing event like this before. I'm excited because I'll get to meet other writers, including Julie Bowe, who's been nothing but sweet to me in answering lots of my questions the past few months. I'll also get to meet my agent in person. I'm nervous because I have to get a 10-page manuscript sample together for critique, and I have to figure out how to get to Racine, preferably without driving.
Yay for writing retreats! You are going to come back so raring to go, I bet. I need to get on with joining SCBWI.
Can't you ride the Metra to Racine?
If I'm reading my info right, I can take Metra as far as Kenosha, then catch a bus to Racine (10 miles beyond). Apparently there's plans to extend Metra as far as Milwaukee via Racine someday, but it hasn't happened yet.
That PW article was very timely, for me. I'll be the volunteer librarian at a small Catholic school in the fall. Whoever did the purchasing before me added in titles which are age-appropriate in a normal context, but would probably have to be skewed up to be safe in this one. (Catherine, Called Birdy and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret come to mind off the top of my head.) But how to go about it without insulting the poor kid? That seems to be one option among many, though to be on the safe side when they've got only 20 minutes a week to browse I'll probably go with "I'm sorry, that title's more appropriate for older kids, try this one instead!"
And then they'll get interested and take it out of the public library down the street. It all works out!
You nailed a huge issue right there: context! When you're talking about a school, and a religious one at that, "appropriate" takes on whole new shades of meaning, doesn't it?
One of the things I love about working in a public library is that we don't have the "in loco parentis" issue schools contend with. As I recall being told more than once in elementary school by my teachers, "Yes, it may be a free country, but it isn't a free school!"