It’s Delicate(s)!

When Sheets, published by creator Brenna Thummler, dropped in 2018, I read it and enjoyed it. When its sequel, Delicates, dropped in 2021, I read it and was moved by it. Then the last of the trilogy, Lights, dropped in 2023 and not only did I read it, I read it from an advanced copy and completely melted. But maybe that’s not the right analogy with a series full of ghosts. I was levitating.

To be brief: the series follows lonely Marjorie, a motherless girl being raised by her dad running a laundromat where ghost friends including Wendell live. Making friends is a struggle and when Eliza and Marjorie pair up as oddball friends, there’s the sweetest sense that they’ve found someone special. But teenagers are fickle creatures and school is hard. The characters drive the story but equally evocative is the carefully selected color palette enhancing every scene. Feelings are felt among every panel and page because of the skilling coloring and illustrations.

Those feelings were no different when I figured out a way to drive nearly six hours from home for the last of only three staged musical readings of Delicates at Dramashop in Erie, PA. My only regret is that I didn’t bring my teenaged sons to see it with me. Not only would they have admired the talent of the cast (so, so much talent) but the skilled storytelling and the whimsical use of the small set and props. The experience of watching the pianist play right in front of the audience and the intimate setting of being so close to the stage with the lights the same colors as the colors in the graphic novels felt like a warm hug. Layered with raw emotions like Marjorie’s loneliness or Eliza being bullied while her helpless dad tries to help are turned upside down when the audience can’t help but laugh at the catty popular girls’ snarky comments and Marjorie’s little sibling. In two hours, everyone relived their youth. It was all laid bare through Thummler’s story.

Of course only one thing could top the night, but I made sure in advance that there would be a cherry on this sundae and that was the presence of the creator, Brenna Thummler herself. Wearing a fabulously fantastic pink jumpsuit with a vivid backpack, she had her pastel Sharpies ready to sign the books I brought only after she wiped away the tears of love and gratitude for the cast and crew to bring life to her stories on stage. She was being gifted items from fans and friends after giving us all the greatest gift to see it live.

 

The book had…

Cheeky displays in libraries that highlight patrons who come in looking for a book only by something they faintly remember about it such as a blue cover or the word “heart” in the title. I love those displays and have done a few of them myself. But what I love more are the actual readers advisory interactions with said patron to try to find the specific book they were looking for. This happened several months ago in our high school library and I haven’t gotten it out of my head.

I’m going to start by spoiling the ending– we found the book.

Specifically SHE found the book again by endlessly combing the shelves in the area she remembered it being after we both spent several afternoons going back and forth about what she remembered and where she remembered discovering it on the shelf one day after school.

She remembered the “diverse characters on the front cover” and that they were in a kind of “school setting” and that it was in “this specific area” in the fiction section.

In this case, I wasn’t much help, but she persevered. She ended up checking out the book because when she had first pulled it off the shelf she had only started a chapter or two and hadn’t checked it out then. I like that she ended up finding it herself, maybe if only to remind myself that I’m human. And I loved that there was a happy ending- a reunion of book and reader.

 

Life had other plans

I wish I was here to give you a gushing event recap of our author visit today, but instead, I’m going to share a reminder that there are things that are out of our control and we have to roll with them. Yesterday, life had other plans instead of an author visit.

With an unfortunate medical emergency, our author’s relative reached out that they were not able to be at our school and that when better, would reschedule. It was a hard hit after all as the last few details had been put in place including the event setup of chairs from our maintenance staff and school secretary making the 15-minute reminder announcements for students to head to the library.

It might be a dirty word in education, the word “pivot”, but that’s exactly what happened. We pivoted. We still had the students who were invited to the special-invitation lunch down to talk about their books and reading in general because the food had been pre-ordered. We reopened the library. Students still came to grab the books. Staff and students came to express their sadness and disappointment. We told them that the option to reschedule will be our next big announcement and we’ll welcome the author back since so many students had been reading the books or were excited about meeting an author even if their classes weren’t and they were reading them independently. It still stings just a little. Yet it was out of our control entirely.

I suppose at our fifteenth in-person author visit, maybe there’s a statistical probably that it would happen. Life happens. It gets in the way of carefully laid plans. We pivot.

Look for a new post in the next few months where we celebrate the coming of our author, we know we’ll be ready!

 

On the eve

What does a school librarian whose love language is baking desserts do on the eve of an author visit?

Bake.

We’ll have an invite-only lunch with a small group of students nominated by their teachers to attend. While the fare is typical for teens– pizza and a salad– I wanted to add a homemade treat. But because I couldn’t decide on chocolate chip cookies, brownies, or Oreos, I found a recipe in which the cupcake includes all three. Win, win, win.

I’ll fangirl about our author, students, and activities tomorrow….

 

Teen sports books

With the one of the biggest nights in sports happening tonight, I wanted to highlight twelve teen sports books from the more nontraditional sports rather than the mainstream ones with an inspirational one-liner.

• No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon (Young Adult Adaptation) by Erik Weihenmayer and Buddy Levy about kayaking
  • There’s nothing you can’t do if you set your mind to it.
• Life In Motion (Young Readers Edition) by Misty Copeland about ballet
  • Dance like you mean it.
• Proud: Living My American Dream (Young Readers Edition) by Ibtihaj Muhammad about fencing
  • En garde!
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston about cheerleading
  • You’re stronger than you appear.
• Press Play by Eric Devine about lacrosse (and football)
  • Don’t let the bad people win.
• Leverage by Joshua Cohen about male gymnastics (and football)
  • Stand up when it matters.
• Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks about girls hockey
  • Be who you are.
• Blue Box by Kouji Miura about badminton (and basketball)
  • All’s fair in love and sports.
• One Good Punch by Rich Wallace about boxing
  • If you get knocked down, get back up again.
• The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn about surfing
  • You have to start somewhere.
• Peak by Roland Smith about rock climbing/mountain climbing
  • It’s in your blood.
• Swim the Fly by Don Calame about swimming
  • Surround yourself with people who support you and make you laugh.

 

Last & first

I quickly finished a book that I wasn’t really feeling via audiobook early last night. But I didn’t want to end January with a book I wasn’t a fan of. I realized I had borrowed several last-minute titles via Hoopla before the end of the month a few days ago including a picture book award for Sydney Taylor at the Youth Media Awards called Two New Years by Richard Ho and illustrated by Lynn Scurfield.

And boy, that was a good choice to end January with. The book’s content was quietly celebratory and the illustrations perfectly complimentary to the text. What I loved most is the meditative short sentences that honor the Asian and Jewish heritage that readers find out is the shared heritage of the author, Richard Ho in the author’s note. In addition to the informative story, there’s additional explanation in the backmatter about specific foods, activities, and attire that compliment what was left out of the picture book but serve to add layers to a combined upbringing that, as he mentioned, have more similarities than anyone would think.

At the start of February, I’m only a few page in to The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla and I’m already hooked. It comes highly recommended both as a Schneider Family Book Award for middle grade at the Youth Media Awards but many librarians I know. I’m excited to report back when I’m finished.

 

Cheers near & far

Monday was the Youth Media Awards presentation in Baltimore, Maryland at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX (midwinter) conference. It is the yearly celebration of literature for children and teens. Committees work for a year or more to choose award winners in categories from the Sibert to Giesel to Odyssey to Alex. Don’t know what each of them is about? You can learn more on the website including watching the award ceremony or reading the press release for all of the honorees and winners.

I had the honor of being on the Alex Award through YALSA this year which meant we were reading loads of adult titles to find the best titles that have teen appeal. We create a top ten and will have a long list of an additional twenty titles. The long list will be published shortly. This meant that the ALA conference was extra special in being able to bond in person with most of the committee members (including sharing a meal while we made author calls followed by a champagne toast). Yet it’s also about learning. Over three days of programming, I learned a tremendous amount from librarians across the country whether it was in conversations, presentations, or in line. And there were the unique and inspiring speeches of the recipients of the I Love My Librarian award that kickstarted the event on Friday night amid a Baltimore surprise– snow!

While the librarian awards began the conference, the book awards ended the conference with the best bookends anyone could ask for. Sitting in the seats reserved for the committee, you’re surrounded by the other committees with their fun accessories (looking at you Odyssey with your matching white headphones) and cool slogans (read: “For the weird ones” on the back of the Printz tshirts) but I thought our Alex shirts, designed by a committee member and executed by another, were a cut above. Switching out the laurel for hot peppers, the tag line was “is this too spicy?” *chef’s kiss*

Whether watchers or listeners were in the room or across the country watching online, you could feels the vibrations of cheers near and far. It’s a special moment for the creators of these amazing stories. Without them, there would be no celebration. There’s a cacophony of excitement from their publishers and editors, their family, and anyone who read and loved their work.

It’s a magical, magical event. If you have the chance to be there live, do it. Or, you can be like one of my favorite colleagues and rally your elementary school in the gymnasium with their socks, and shirts, and posters rooting on their favorites several states away. Either way, cheers were heard near and far.

 

Help, I’m trapped in the library!

After school last week, as a student was walking into the bathroom in the library, he said

Wait, Mrs. Abdul, do you, like, get sick of staying in the library all day?

He’s a library regular that uses the library more for relaxation and connecting with friends than schoolwork. So it was even weirder question because he doesn’t normally engage me in conversation aside from coming and going or when I have to address he or his friends’ behavior.

I paused for a minute– unsure what he was really getting at but then I responded

I like being in the library! But, (pauses) I can leave the library when I want to… like, I meet teachers in their classes and can walk around the building. I’m not stuck here. But there’s no place I’d rather be. I like what we’ve built in the library, we work hard to make it a place that people want to be.

I wasn’t sure if he thought I couldn’t leave the library or that it was boring being in the library all day. I can honestly say that it’s never a dull moment in the library! He seemed content with my answer and went about his business but I had a chuckle at the question.

The library is the best place to be if I had to be trapped, that’s for sure!

 

Reading buddies

A trend I’ve noticed in my high school library over the last few months is buddy reading. Generally two girls, they come in looking for a book they can both read together. They might meander around the shelves picking up books and putting them down or asking for recommendations, but either way, they want the opportunity to connect with one another through literature.

This is easy to accomplish in our library. As a large high school, one of our collection development goals is to purchase multiple copies of many popular, well-written, and influential stories that could be used in the classroom, recommended during booktalks, and for times like these where friends are reading together. There’s nothing more frustrating during readers advisory to be talking up a book as we walk to the bookshelves, only to find it checked out. There are titles that always hit right with teens.

Book clubs are used for socialization more than deep literary conversation, so I have been excitedly encouraged by this newfound trend in our library. What better way to get to know your friend than reading and discussing literature?

Below are some of the favorites I recommend or have spotted friends reading together.

 

This week

I love the week between Christmas and New Year not only because I have it off since I work in education, but because I get to read because it’s vacation. Plenty of audiobook listening when cleaning and organizing plus plenty of tea sipping print book time. So when I saw a blogger @epiblogue’s Instagram post:

I felt seen. It’s a fun series of ladies lounging and reading their books. This one was my favorite and yes, this is exactly what “that week between Christmas & NYE” looks like for me minus the extra thick frock and fan, however I do have a chaise and a book. Endless books. This week has included Duel by the Bagleys, Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of the Lie Detector by Katwala, Ruptured by Rossmassler Fritz, Mascot by Waters and Sorrel, Crazy Food Truck by Ogaki, All the Fighting Parts by Sawyerr, Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up- and What We Make When We Make Dinner by Hauck, New Year’s Kiss by Matthews, The Shadow Prince by Durham, and 100 Unforgettable Dresses by Rubenstein.