And So It Is Done

and fittingly so.

My heart is satisfied, and I can move on.

Thank you, Ms. Rowling.

Harry Potter

It's HARRY POTTER DAY.

This is a Children's/YA/Adult book with which I have absolutely no problem.

Nothing negative to say.

Simply great smiles all the way around.

I must go now...have to frizz my hair for our branch Harry Potter Party (I'm going as Hermione, you see. Dedicated, aren't I?).

Nich & Norah Save the Day

I am re-reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, as my teen bookclub is reading it this month. And Nick & Norah saved the day. Rachel Cohn and David Levithan put together a book that is uniquely adolescent and of truly excellent quality. Whether or not you can handle the F-bomb several times on each page, it is easy to see how this book is better than any of those Nannies Move to New York or Hollywood and Fall in Love with Their Boss's Son and have Sex on the Pool Table and May or May Not Be Vampires books that are on offer to (and being read in bulk by) teens. The book really captures that teen (and early twenties/college) sense of a night that lasts forever, of every experience, ever moment mattering just...so much. And this book could not possibly have been written for children and certainly not for adults. It's a book that captures the adolescent experience without patronizing teens or forcing formulaic nonsense down their throats.

And there's no way it could have been done any better or any different.

And reading this book for a second time has reminded me why we have YA Lit and why YA Lit matters.

YA Librarians are Cool....Aren't We?

I may be a bit biased...

but in the recent article in the NY Times about hipster librarians, there is not one single mention of a Young Adult Librarian. They've got a couple of law librarians, one who works at a museum and another who's a librarian at Entertainment Weekly. Don't get me wrong, I know that the word "librarian" brings up all kinds of stereotypes, but I tend to think they generally apply to those who more often interact with the public. I just don't think that the stereotype of a shushing librarian came about because of a moody old woman working at an entertainment magazine.

So, in some ways, yes, I do think that those who work in public or school libraries, encounter the most negative feedback as a result of the stereotype.

And I also think that we deserve a mention in an article like this. Seriously, have you see any librarians who tend to be more "hipster" than YA Librarians? Honestly, have you? At ALA, I saw more tattooed, pierced, pink-haired, great-shoe-wearing librarians at YALSA events than I could possibly have imagined even existed.

In any case, it was interesting to read the article, and I was curious about the alcoholic beverages labeled only by Dewey Decimal Number. I wonder if I could use that for a program? That would make some people happy...

What Actually Works

Last night I tried to have a Warcraft III program. The computers freaked out on me, and so, the program was cancelled.

This morning, I told a couple of co-workers and my supervisor that the program was a no-go.

"Oh, no one showed up?" They said, down to a person.

"Well, actually...," and I explained what had happened.

Their initial reaction, though, sparked something within me. They know that it's hard enough to get teens into this library on a Thursday evening, but getting them into play a game that's WAY more fun to play when you pay for it and it's called World of Warcraft? Now, that's a tough sell.

Sure, I'm one of those truly dedicated YA Librarians who has learned how to use My Space (blech), Facebook (yay!) and has even played World of Warcraft (I'm a rogue! yay!), all for the sake of teens who visit my library.

If I were to offer free My Space access for three hours on a Thursday Night, I'd likely have a better turn out...and I wouldn't have to rely on software. Now, there's a thought. Open, supervised My Space.

Wait a minute. That's just a regular day.

p.s. Why is M.T. Anderson so freakin' awesome? Well, because he's a great writer, he's funny, AND because he said that my teens could e-mail him any questions they have about Feed, which we're reading in August (plus, making this face in public? how could he not be awesome?).