Seen reading on OC Transpo

In line

• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (one of my 2010 favs)
• Half-broke horses by Jeannette Walls
  
• Lucky stiff by Deborah Coonts
• The hero's walk by Anita Rau Badami
• A Romani - French Dictionary
• The power of full engagement: Managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
  
• Me: Vital signs by Tessa McWatt and Uncommon criminals by Ally Carter
  

Favourite teen books of 2010

So, funny story. I have sort of been reading fewer teen books this year. I was worried I was using them as an emotional crutch in life, a kind of lazy bibliotherapy. I actually didn't realise how much I had cut back until I ran a list in LibraryThing for YA2010 tags, and there were a pitiful 10 titles. Well, that makes a Top 10 list hard to write! So here's my top, um, 5.

Heist society by Ally Carter - Slight guilty pleasure. Carter is a pretty good writer, but she airs on the side of repetetive, sometimes. That being said, don't let the cover put you off this book: while it looks chick lit-y, it does have some serious art history in it. Katarina Bishop is tired of being involved in her father's art heist schemes, and enrolls herself in a private school; alas, her "vacation" from the family is short-lived, as her father ends up the prime suspect in a major heist that, ironically, he claims he didn't pull off. In an attempt to clear his name, Kat assembles a team of teen accomplices to retrieve the stolen art (which ends up being stolen Nazi art). Great descriptions of exotic locales, fancy espionage techniques... I really stick with Carter for the humour, though.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - Captain Obvious, I know. The Hunger Games Trilogy was, in my mind, absolutely brilliant, and one of the most complex, disturbing teen titles to come out in a long time. I previously wrote about my anticipation of Mockingjay, the third and final book in the trilogy; in that post, I quoted an interview with Collins in which she described how her father told her stories about the war growing up. She said that "if the whole concept of war were introduced to kids at an earlier age, we would have better dialogues going on about it, and we would have a fuller understanding." Well, I think Mockingjay does that; the novel covers topics such as PTSD, child soldiers, media, and propaganda in an action-packed drama with real appeal to teens. Many meaningful links are drawn in all three books between Katniss' society, the ancient Romans (the candy-coloured buildings, the Latin phrase panem et circenses, or bread and circuses) and our modern age (media embedded with soldiers, the meld of performance, politics and battle - hey, we live in a world in which Stephen Colbert testifies - in character - in front of the Senate). Katniss is a tough girl to like, all right, but then so is any child soldier: she is selfish, and her relationships with those close to her (especially her mother) are forever marred by her experiences, and the choices she has had to make. Lots to chew on.

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland - Seventeen-year-old Louisa Cosgrove is a (mostly) respectable Victorian girl, with some not-very-respectable ambitions: she wishes to be a doctor, like her father. After her father's unexpected death, her somewhat unorthodox interests, which had been tolerated by her mother and brother until then, are promptly dismissed. When Louisa objects, her family has her committed to Wildthorn Hall, a home for lunatic women, under an assumed name. Deprived of her very identity, and faced with inhumane treatment by nurses and doctors, Louisa tries to hang on to her sanity, and forge bonds of trust with other residents of the Hall. Wildthorn is inpsired by true stories of women who were incarcerated in asylums in the nineteenth century.

The secret fiend by Shane Peacock ("The Boy Sherlock," #4) - This series works for kids 10+, but I'm putting it here anyway. There is a lot of darkness in Peacock's Sherlock, and I think Sherlock's growing self-awareness, and control over his emotions, is better appreciated by a more mature audience. I've been a fan of the boy Sherlock since Book 1, which blew me away. Peacock has mastered a truly remarkable, unique voice in these books: they are taut, gritty, realistic, historically authentic, and also, at times, touching and tender. Future classics.

Red: A Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas - What is Haida manga, you ask? Haida manga is a hybrid art form that com­bines clas­sic Haida design and sto­ry­telling techniques with manga. I enjoyed this book a lot because it was so utterly unique. I don't read a lot of folk tales anymore, but the art in this book drew me in. I read a review in Quill and Quire, and was fascinated by the fact that Red was constructed as a single giant mural; in other words, if you put every page together, they compose a single artwork. Each double-page spread also has its own image (see this for an example). The story itself comes from the oral tradition of the Haida Gwaii, and features a young man, the titular Red, seeking revenge. A more eloquent review of the book, with more spectacular scans of the art, and a video, is here.

Previous "Favourite teen books" of the year on this blog: 2009, 2008.

Waiting for Mockingjay

Have you read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire yet? I am not heavily into teen books, but I do read about 10 a year. One series that I really, really loved recently (along with the rest of the world) is the Hunger Games trilogy, of which the third book, Mockingjay, is coming out soon (but not soon enough). In fact, everything is coming up Mockingjay in anticipation of its release on August 24:

• Adults are all over it
• People are making lists of other dystopic fic to read while you wait
  
• ... and the book trailer is getting lotsa hits, even if it is boring:

If you're thinking, "Whaaa?" right now, let me explain: Collins's scifi series is set in a post-apocalyptic future, in which twelve districts are ruled by the all-powerful Capitol. Every year, to remind the districts who's boss, the Capitol forces each district to send 1 young woman and 1 young man as a sacrifice to the Hunger Games, a sort of latter-day gladiator battle in a giant arena (each year a different landscape) - the last teen standing wins. When the book opens, Katniss Everdeen's sister's name is pulled for the District 12 (poorest) rep for the Games, and Katniss steps up in her place. She embarks on the trip with a young man who has always had a crush on her, as he has been chosen as the other rep from District 12. Will she win? What will happen if Katniss does? Will she have to betray her male District 12 counterpart? I can't keep writing, because if I talk about book 2, it will be a spoiler for book 1 if you haven't read it yet. Anyway, the books are suspenseful, obviously, but also touching, and complicated, and full of romance, politics, and psychological suspense.

Personally, my favourite recent pre-Mockingjay news was the SLJ interview with author Suzanne Collins. Below are two quotes I found particularly interesting, relating to her depictions of war in the trilogy:

"My father was career Air Force. He was in the Air Force for 30-some years. He was also a Vietnam veteran. He was there the year I was six. Beyond that, though, he was a doctor of political science, a military specialist, and a historian; he was a very intelligent man. And he felt that it was part of his responsibility to teach us, his children, about history and war. When I think back, at the center of all this is the question of what makes a necessary war—at what point is it justifiable or unavoidable?"

[....] "One of the reasons it’s important for me to write about war is I really think that the concept of war, the specifics of war, the nature of war, the ethical ambiguities of war are introduced too late to children. I think they can hear them, understand them, know about them, at a much younger age without being scared to death by the stories. It’s not comfortable for us to talk about, so we generally don’t talk about these issues with our kids. But I feel that if the whole concept of war were introduced to kids at an earlier age, we would have better dialogues going on about it, and we would have a fuller understanding."

I would add there are several "large" concepts that we could introduce to kids at an earlier age, in order to foster "better dialogues" and "fuller understanding."

Mindfulness

I was reading this last week in the paper (why do I never read the Work section? There were three good articles) and it really hit home. Me, worry? Dear readers, you know I never have that problem! I had already started to practice some of the techniques mentioned in the article: locating my senses, emotions and thoughts during the course of the day ("When you're listening to a co-worker, observe your own body language. Are you clenching a pen or reaching for your phone?" Me, clench a pen? Never!). Reading this only reinforces my efforts to continue to take a deep breath and focus on the now. I'm happy that it's spring and I can start running outside again, which helps me focus (and sleep better!) and also releases stress.

This is definitely going to be a week to focus on the now (I just typed "new" instead of "now" twice... Freudian slip?). It's my last week at the St-Laurent Branch - next Monday, I return, temporarily for now but hopefully that will change, to Rideau Branch, in a newly-created Acting position. I am really happy about this: I will be able to return to serving all ages in an urban setting. I have enjoyed my time at St-Laurent: it taught me a lot, and getting to know the staff here has been a gift. I also got to know myself better: I had my first "official" supervisory position, and I learned a great deal about interpersonal relations and being a leader.

On the other hand, I now know for sure that I'm not as happy in a position that serves children and teens exclusively. I enjoyed the focus in some ways (it's simply easier to concentrate on one segment of the population sometimes!) but I did miss adult services, especially adult readers' advisory, my first love. It was hard not to be as involved in that area for a year. I think the opposite would have been true: if I had been working exclusively in adults for a year, I would have missed children's services, but not as much.

So back I go, hopefully bringing back with me not only the six boxes of stuff (how does one accumulate so much?) but a new approach to supervisory work, and a new state of mindfulness.

What I've been reading:

• Various articles about library services in England: letters to the editor, theories about wireless and weekend services, overall rants about the appalling statistics regarding library visits (verdict: #s are tanking), and much-needed levity (sweet! Washing machines? Can I come over? Mine's broken).
• The Library Paraprofessional Movement and the Deprofessionalization of Librarianship, by the incomparable Rory Litwin: I am sorry to say that longer, academic articles often fail to hold my attention these days, but this one did, completely. I thought what Litwin pointed out about why librarianship is a semi-profession was interesting, and his overall thesis was well-put: "To the extent that service to clients by institutions ceases to be given by individuals who have a mastery of theory, a motivation focusing on intrinsic rewards, a commitment to the service objectives of the organization, a sense of accountability toward colleagues, and who are monitored by their professional peers, institutions are able to operate with greater economic efficiency, but are less helpful to the people who encounter them [...]. Deprofessionalization [...] represents a net loss of autonomy for front‐line library workers and a weakening of those professional values that are in conflict with managerial prerogatives and business methods, despite the apparently worthwhile increase in status that paraprofessionals currently seem to be achieving."
• Just finished: Generation A (my first Coupland... and now I know why: I didn't like it! I found it overly clever, with annoyingly trite characters. I'll go with the Telegraph review: "Instead of being an alternative to the “babble” of the overloaded online world, the novel contains its own burdensome blurt of unnecessary information") and Catching Fire (sequel to The Hunger Games; excellent. Can't wait for #3 in August! The fact that a colleague left Fire in my mailbox at St-Laurent on Saturday reminds me how much I'm going to miss her). Just about to start a few Orange-listed books, including Roopa Farooki's latest.
  

This started out about LibraryThing but ended up as stream-of-consciousness

Hooray! It's Saturday! Pajamas at 1 pm!

No, seriously, this week kicked my butt. It involved a LANCR meeting in which I had to agree to be president for another term (but I did recruit 3 more people to the executive!), I trained one teen volunteer and interviewed another, I doggedly inspected core picture books in English for our yearly replacement list, I cobbled together a scrapbooking program for March Break next week, I hung out at Main Library's Collection Development department doing my CD work (always cool to be with these people, in what I believe to be one of the best-run departments in the library, nay, in the city), and my Algonquin students learned about buying serials.

Highlights of the week: the home-based book club girls discussed The adoration of Jenna Fox (thought-provoking). One girl said this was her fav. book club pick - YAY! I also had a heart-breaking but heart-warming discussion with one girl and her mom about the recent death of the girl's father. I gave her my contact info and encouraged her to talk to me anytime. Like me, she's an introvert. I said to her mom, you must still be numb, and she said it's like a nuclear explosion has occurred. Then I went into the washroom and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I thought about where I've been and where I am, and I washed my hands, and I thought about who is or would be proud, and tried not to cry. On Friday, I attended my second Joint Professional Development Committee meeting (librarians across the OPL system) and not only survived without incident (last year was a lynching, and no, I don't want to talk about it. Amy blogged about this type of thing much better than I did. Or perhaps I'm just afraid of what I might say) but was inspired by a spoken word poet (stop. Watch this).

More on the general weirdness of this week next week, when I am actually allowed to talk about some stuff that happened. End results = good, but the winds of change blew westerly. That's all I can allude to now, dear readers!

I should absolutely not have whiled away the morning finishing The Hunger Games (amazing) reading my McGill SIS newsletter, starting Generation A (my first Coupland, I am ashamed to admit), and reading 200+ items in Google Reader. What was my point? Oh yes, I should be grading my student's assignments - they had to come up with a Collection development policy and build a selection list for a school library. I am behind, um, in the sense that I haven't started grading yet.

If you like me, are wasting time, I would recommend checking out the stats on LibraryThing, an excellent source of time-wasting, navel-gazing book geekiness.

I read 57.8% female and 42.2% male authors, of whom 81% are still alive (the latter surprises me, actually; I would have said more had kicked it). I also find the Vous et nul autre list interesting, not to mention charmingly-named.

Okay, okay, okay. Red pen, here I come....