And the winner is....

Congrats to Charlotte who won!

And a big thank you to everyone who entered.

I hope to have this at least once a month.

So what book did Charlotte win?

I thought this book was perfect because it came from my library's Friends bookstore but also because author Rick Bragg is from Alabama.

Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani

In Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani, Shalini has only known one world: India. She lives in a massive house with 37 of her relatives and loves it. She has been engaged to Vikram, the man of her dreams, since she was three years old. Nothing could spoil her wonderful life…except when her father decides to take a new job and uproot her family to L.A. How could she possibly adjust to this completely different lifestyle? Her little sister seems to jump right in, while her mother struggles more and more with these new surroundings. As Shalini adjusts to live in California, will she be able to hold onto the world she has always known and the person she has always known herself to be?

                I instantly gravitated to Lovetorn because of my unhealthy obsession with anything related to India. This was a pretty easy and straightforward read. The author provides a glossary to help the reader understand the different foods, phrases, and words that Shalini uses. This is a great reference tool and I was really glad it was included. Daswani creates a storyline around Shalini’s mother that I thought was very well written and crucial to Shalini’s struggles to accept this new lifestyle. Some of Shalini’s actions and feelings did not seem genuine to me. I think the author could have spent more time on Shalini’s transition from being completely in love with Vikram to realizing that she might feel different. I would have liked to have seen the author develop more into the secondary characters, especially Sangita, Shalini’s little sister and Toby, an American boy who makes Shalini rethink everything she knows. Other than that, Lovetorn provides an insightful look at the lifestyles of India and the transition that many teen immigrants face.  

Book Giveaway Contest

So I have decided to do a book giveaway contest! Mainly to get rid of some of the books in my house.

Here is how its gonna work. You can either...

1. Comment on this post

2. Follow this blog.

3. Share this post. FB, Tweet, any form of social networking.

or

4. Do all of the above and have 3 entries into the contest!

When you comment on this post besure to include how many numbers of entries you have...

example: Can't wait to see what the book is! I also followed your blog and retweeted.

Total number of entries: 3

Make any sense? hope so...

I will pick a winner (at random) on Tuesday January 31st. From there I will notify the winner and send the book

What's the book? Well that's a surprise. I promise it won't be anything dreadful or in horrible condition.

GOOD LUCK!  

Interview Questions

So at my library we interview in teams. I have already been on one interview team for my department and was recently asked to sit in on another. I thought I would post some sample questions from the interview. Oh, the department was Children's.

Sample Questions:

Summer Reading is a large part of our year. From the months of May, June, and July we are very busy. Since this is a crucial time for our department, vacation time during these months is limited. Does this present a problem?

What experience do you have working with children?

The children's department has several animals that we care for. Do you have a problem caring and cleaning up for the animals?

The Children's department can become quite chaotic place sometimes, would you able to work in this environment?

We have a set of policies and procedures that are strictly enforced, even if they are not always popular. Do you feel comfortable enough enforcing policies?

Some generic questions were asked, like "Tell us a little bit about yourself" and "Do you have any library experience?"

Hope this helps anyone on their interviews

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

“Hershey’s Kisses, the Thin voice said. Twenty-five calories.
The Thin voice whispered, Brown rice, one hundred thirty-five calories. Steamed broccoli, two cups, fifty calories. One bite of chicken, thirty-six calories. Two hours on the exercise bike.

A diet is temporary, the Thin voice said knowingly. Being thin is forever.”

The Thin voice won’t go away. It is constantly there to remind Lisabeth Lewis that she is a failure. Everyone is thin, why not her? Life deals another twist of cruel fate when Lisabeth makes a deal with Death himself. Her new job? She is now Famine…as in one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Lisabeth must now face hunger in a way that she never thought of. She is slammed face first into a world were millions go without food every day, not because they are on a diet, but because they are on the brink of starvation and death. Lisabeth must learn to use her new power to not only help fight the injustices of the world and keep balance, but also the personal demons that live inside her.

Jackie Morse Kessler uses the historic story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the current epidemic of eating disorders to create a story that will suck you in. As the Thin voice plagues Lisabeth into a world of despair, you are completely enthralled at the ironic twist of her being forced to be Famine. Kessler’s unique writing style is sharp, refreshing, and completely addicting. Given the fact the Hunger is only 177 pages, Kessler is able to create a storyline that is well developed, but quick to the point. Hunger is the first installment of the Riders of the Apocalypse series. Rage, the second in the series, was released in April of 2011 and the third installment in the series, Loss, is scheduled to be released in March 2012. Once you start this series you will not want to put it down.

Caldecott Pick....

Here is my 2012 Caldecott Medal Pick

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

Since I am on a winning streak (A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead) I am confident in my choice.

Here are a few images why this should be the next Caldecott winner....

Oh, and I pretty much think Lane Smith is a genius. I wanted Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl who Floated to win for 2010.

I haven't really read anything that I would pick for Newbery, so I won't voice an opinion on the award. Though I have heard amazing things about Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

Elise Benton is a pretty normal teenage girl, but her life is turned upside down when her family moves to California and she is enrolled in the elite prep school, Coral Tree Prep. Her new school is filled with the children of A-list celebrities, who are just as glamorous as their famous parents. Elise just doesn’t fit it. Now add in the fact that her mother is the new principal and Elise has a one way ticket to outcastland. When Elise’s older sister catches the eye of Chase, one of Coral Tree Prep’s most popular students, Elise begins to hangout with Derek Edwards, who is definitely the most popular student at school, Chase’s best friend, and a total snob. Or is he?

In Epic Fail, author Claire LaZebnik paints a modern day high school version of Pride and Prejudice. Normally, I steer clear of retellings, but this one took me by surprise. In fact, I was half way done, before I realized it was a retelling. I kept thinking, "this sounds so familiar." LaZebnik was able to develop the characters in a way that they stood on their own, even though they were modeled after Austen’s infamous characters. The modern day twists that LaZebnik adds to this classic story plus her easy going writing style makes this version not only entertaining, but quite enjoyable.

Items I have checked out....

I am always curious to see what other people check out and return. You can learn a lot about a person based on what they check out from the library. So I decided why not post what I have checked out?

Here you go!

New Year....New Post!

Hello Libraryland!


Not too much new to report right now. Just checkin and checkin out items. I've been having some hand trouble lately, which as caused me to go slow at my work. Not sure what it is, but I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to find out. Im hoping that I have just been sleeping on my hand wrong.

Ooooh, I have joined the 21st Century! I got a Nook back for graduation in May and a friend took it and rooted it into an Android Tablet. So, basically I have been playing Angry Birds for two straight days. I did successfully download my first ebook. And what book did I choose? Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler. I have the paperback copied checked out, so I decided to try the ebook version too. FourI will have to say that Overdrive does not make things simple at all! It took me an hour of following their instructions and helpful hints before I gave up. I went to my old library's ebook help page and followed their step by step instructions (with pictures) and had it downloaded within 5 minutes. Take that overdrive!

Jefferson's Sons

Most people know Thomas Jefferson as the third President of the United States, author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the founding fathers. But there is a lot more to Thomas Jefferson than was covered in your American History class. In Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, the reader learns about the last twenty years of Jefferson’s epic life. Told through the eyes of three young slave boys, Beverly, Madison (Maddy), and Peter Fossett, you learn of the scandalous and not so secret life of Thomas Jefferson.


Beverly and Madison are definitely not ordinary. Though they are slaves, they are keeping a big secret, which everyone knows about. They work at Monticello, but both are troubled by the daunting secret that their master and owner, Thomas Jefferson, is their father. The novel raises the question of how can the man who wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” not only own slaves, but also let his children be slaves?

Sally Hemings, Beverly and Madison’s mother, has been a topic of controversy for over two centuries. Bradley portrays her as a woman determined to see her children free above anything else. I have always been fascinated by the story of Sally Hemings, so I was quick to grab this new Young Adult book. Each perspective is different and each will cause you to feel a range of emotions. Maybe it is the fact that each character starts out as a young child with naïve eyes and as they grow both the character and the reader are exposed to the hypocrisies of the situation. It would have been interesting if Bradley chose to represent the character of Harriet, Jefferson and Hemings’ daughter, and her perspective on the situation at Monticello. The last character portrayed in Peter Fossett, who is another young slave boy. Peter’s situation tells of the aftermath after Jefferson’s death. The last scene is harrowing and you cannot help but feel distraught at the entire situation.

Bradley provides additional research information for anyone who wishes to research more about the Hemings and Jefferson. All in all, Bradley did an amazing job of connecting all the characters and presenting the situation well enough that the reader is more than moved by the story.