Talking in the Library

All Our Pretty Songs by Sarah McCarry My rating: 4 of 5 stars An intriguing, dark tale about two teenagers with mythological connotations, an evocative Pacific Northwest setting, and characters who are products of the punk and grunge scene, including the main characters Aurora (based on a combo Frances Bean, Kurt Cobain's daughter, an imagined daughter of Jimi Hendrix, and Edie Sedgwick?) and Maia, her best friend. Aurora is the daughter of a deceased rock star who owns the town. She is a tragi-glamorous figure whom Maia, the daughter of Aurora's mother's ex-best friend (they were groupies back in the day) loves and protects until Jack, an incredible, mysterious musician comes along. They are both pulled towards him, but in different ways: Maia is in love with him, and Aurora shares his need for darkness to survive. Can Maia have her best friend and the man she loves? Or is this asking too much? Where does Maia end and Aurora begin? How will Maia survive without Auror

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ooh, this is a good one. Ms. Reimer recommended it to me, and happily it was in our latest order of new books, so this was a no-brainer vacation read for me! A total page turner filled with suspense, superb use of parallels to describe and illuminate character, subtle and not so subtle explorations of racial identity, and finally, what it means to make and be a family. Teens should love it because the main character around whom the story revolves is Lydia, a teenaged girl who goes missing. Lydia's disappearance introduces the previously unexamined question: "who was Lydia?" Everyone has a different idea about her identity, what happened to her and why: her brother, her mother, her father, and the police. A fascinating exploration of where our identity and others' conceptions of us begin and end, and what kind of power we have over these ideas. The book can be read on two satisfying levels: as a page-

Neverhome by Laird Hunt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wow. One of the best books I've read in a while. A masterful historical novel about war, gender, memory and how we make sense of our lives and fears. Set during the Civil War, Constance Thompson leaves her farm and husband in Indiana to satisfy her urge to fight for the Union, where she is noted for her bravery, gallantry and good sense and shot (yes, disguised as a man). I know there is a body of powerful Civil War historical fiction--however, I am not familiar with it, so I can't make any comparisons for you. The narrative becomes a phantasmagorical epic told from the first person perspective, with interlacing dreams, and evocative yet beautifully simple language. Meaty symbolism, adventure, suspense, and brief, simple and powerful meditations on meaning and memory make this an excellent choice for readers looking for a challenging and satisfying novel. In addition, the simple language, first person voice, and (mostly) line

Nothing by Janne Teller My rating: 5 of 5 stars A spare, allegorical, very bizarre and European tale about meaning. A group of Danish middle schoolers grapple with the question of meaning after one climbs up a tree declaring that nothing matters, nothing has any meaning. His peers desperately try to prove him wrong by sacrificing the most important things to them (conceptual and physical) and adding them to a pile in a barn. The pile and the kids transform into something no one could have predicted. I read this in about an hour--it was that compelling, simply and beautifully written. If you're in the mood for something unusual, short and satisfyingly European (they can be so satisfyingly symbolic in their literature), spend some time with Nothing. View all my reviews

The Maker Lab at Brandeis University Why does a librarian care about makerspaces?  3d printers, laser cutters, and sewing machines? Isn’t that the province of engineering or the home ec department of old? All I can say is, the librarian’s job revolves around technology and inquiry. We spend lots of time helping students with the (sometimes dreaded) printer: Is the printer working? Why is it taking so long for my paper to print? How do I print this bizarre document in a weird format? So, it’s natural (and brave, considering the challenges we have with 2d printing) that librarians would think about 3D printing and makerspaces. Not sure what a makerspace is or why they are a thing? Makerspaces are learning labs in libraries, schools, universities, and shared commercial spaces where people of all ages make things. The things they make vary according to age of the maker and the equipment in the space. Elementary students experiment with rudimentary circuits using Little Bits

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson My rating: 4 of 5 stars These twins love each other but almost destroy themselves in the process of competing for affection and approval from their mother, an art school, their peers, their crushes. The novel's elements of suspense, romance, magical realism, and a series of great "reveals" at the end make it unique and appealing to almost anyone. A big plus is the HAPPY ENDING for which so many of us yearn. Jude (girl) and Noah (boy) are quirky twins, children of academics who live in a coastal community in Northern California. Their mother is an eccentric art scholar who decides the children should apply to a prestigious and highly competitive local arts academy for high school. Not only are they competing for admission to the school, they are also competing for their mother's favor, which drives them apart in a ferocious and tragic way. A fun, compelling, imaginative read especially suited kids interested in art. The m

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton My rating: 4 of 5 stars A dreamy, historical fiction-ish magically-realistic novel about a family of supernaturals who move from France to Manhattan, and then out to Seattle in the early days of the 20th century. I kind of zipped through it, and think that it is more of a book to savor, like the delectable bakery treats Emilienne makes. Emilienne is the family matriarch, who settles in Seattle and makes a life for herself after her husband dies. Everyone thinks she's a witch--and there are some strange things about her. Her grandaughter Ava is even stranger--she has magnificent wings like an angel. When a new man comes to town he becomes obsessed with her and sets a tragedy in motion. The writing style is beautiful, just like Ava's wings, and the details of this magical world will stay with you long after you close the book. View all my reviews

Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero My rating: 4 of 5 stars Gabi is a high school senior in Southern California and this her diary. SO MUCH DRAMA!! Her voice is funny, good natured, honest, and searching. She's smart, a poet, loves to eat (gotta love a girl who keeps beef jerky under her pillow!) her father's a meth addict, her two best buddies are going through some major life upheavals--and she's finally getting a love life. She treads a careful line between honoring Mexican cultural traditions and becoming herself. One of the themes of the book is connection to, acceptance of, and agency over young women's bodies. Gabi is not stick thin and she wrestles with this throughout the book, culminating in a zine she creates that we get to read. I recommend for a few reasons: teens tend to love first person narratives and SO MUCH DRAMA!--just like the telenovas that Gabi's aunt Tia watches every day--yet the drama has a purpose: Gabi does a lot of seriou

Chinese language collection at Weston Public Library This morning district librarians and ELL teachers visited the Weston Public Library where we learned how the library supports English language learners in our community. Did you know that the Weston Public Library offers group conversation classes every Wednesday morning from 9:30-10:30am? matches students with individual tutors? (currently people seeking tutoring outnumber available tutors) developed a great collection of materials to help English language learners get to know their new community, customs, schools, and language? offers a large collection of books in Simplified and Traditional Chinese? Help our English language learners take advantage of the high quality services our public library provides. Let them know these services exist for them, and that a library card is free to all Weston residents.  Better yet, if you are student who is friendly with an English language learning student, think about invit

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno My rating: 4 of 5 stars I didn't really know what this book was about when I picked it up, but I saw a review from one of my friends on Goodreads that it was about Dissociative Identity Disorder and thought, hmm, I liked Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities (I mean, who didn't) let's give this a try. The story presents as a mystery. Why can't Molly remember things? How did she become involved in that motorcycle accident? How do people know her when she doesn't know them? What is happening when her friends and family look at her strangely and move on in the conversation? Who is Molly Pierce? The author answers that question deftly through two major characters. This was a quick, satisfying and ultimately hopeful read. View all my reviews

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is strongly modeled on one of my favorite books of all time Edie: American Girl . You would think that would mean I *wouldn't* like this one, but, happily, I LOVED IT! Addison Stone is a charismatic, beautiful, artistically talented, driven, original, schizophrenic girl from Rhode Island who breaks out due to her artistic talent, and takes the New York art world by storm. She's in all the tabloids, dates famous guys, stages artistic stunts that get lots of attention, develops her talent, is exhibited at the Whitney Biennial.... She's a wunderkind. This kind of person that art dealers, sons of famous people, and others hang onto for perks, influence, and income. The kind of person who everyone thinks is in control. The truth is she's not in control and her highs, lows, and hallucinations/communications with a ghost drive her to her death. The novel is presented as nonfiction,

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer My rating: 4 of 5 stars I could not put this book down! But first, a description: this is a combo of an Americanized-70's New York version of Brideshead Revisited , the New York version of Tales of the City , and a more fictionally fleshed out version of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement . Suburban Jules meets a band of glamorous New York teenagers at an arts camp in 1970 something. They christen themselves "The Interestings" and spend the rest of their lives orbiting around the charismatic Wolf family. I classify this as historical fiction because New York in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s is a major character. Read this if you like book long on plot and short on description. The pacing is fast and the plot works hard to resolve itself in a dramatic and satisfying way. At the end you'll feel like you watched an HBO miniseries--and as a matter of fact, this would make a great one. View

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is amazing because it's tightly focused on the extremely difficult to discuss issue of race and how we all perceive and act on our prejudices, yet the plot, tone, and characters are so engaging, accessible and just plain good natured that you keep on reading. Ifemelu is a charismatic young Igbo woman who grows up in Nigeria who moves to the US to go to college, and settles here for a while. She starts a popular, almost humorous blog about racial perceptions from an NAB (non-American black) in her new adopted country. Never content to follow the herd, she searches hard for her identity, work, love, and for what feels right for her as an individual. You will love this woman and cheer her on through her struggles. As a white reader I learned a lot about race perceptions, particularly how race is always an issue for black people in American society. As Ifemelu says, she was never black before she left Nigeria.

When I heard the theme of the American Association of School Librarians conference was "Anytime, Anywhere Learning, " I knew I had to go. I've been living "anywhere anytime" learning for months, creating and teaching my first online course, Research and Technology (required for all freshmen--more about this in another post), this fall. Naturally I was hoping the conference would focus on online learning and I was a little disappointed. Instead we learned about and discussed different ways of learning in the library. My takeaways from the conference: The Weston High School library program is pushing the boundaries of library services and instruction. It's fascinating to see the different paths library programs take to meet the needs of their students. I have a plan to develop my leadership. The annual AASL Websites and Apps for Teaching and Learning are now a touchstone for my technology training and use The Storify below gives you a tweet narrat

Saint Monkey by Jacinda Townsend My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm going to take a risk here and predict that Saint Monkey will become a classic. Pookie and Audrey are first neighbors, then lifelong frenemies. Actually, "frenemy" describes merely the surface of their relationship. They are star crossed soul mates bound tightly together, testing, loving, hurting, disappointing and seeking each other throughout their entire lives. Born in the "Colored" part of a tiny Appalachian town in Kentucky during the 40s, they have big dreams. Pookie will go to Hollywood. Audrey is afraid that she doesn't have the guts to do it herself. The story is told in their voices, in alternating chapters. They are both unreliable narrators, so readers have to fill in the blanks and wonder why the girls tell their stories the way they do. I often thought about who was more alone, who was more loved, who loved best, who knew themselves the most. Audrey "escapes" and gets a

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block My rating: 4 of 5 stars I love everything by Francesca Lia Block and was happy to enter her LA fantasy world again. I like dystopia, too, so imagine my surprise when I realized this is Block's dystopian effort beautifully embellished with her fantastical characters, images and visions. Pen is a teenaged girl whose idyllic existence in Venice, CA is abruptly ended by the big one--a catastrophic earthquake called The Earth Shaker. For her safety she has to leave her home and find a new existence. On the journey she finds companions, sees some really freaky stuff, falls in love and and and....you'll have to read it to find out! View all my reviews

Have you ever wanted to communicate with someone by audio?   Alejandro Yegros is using Audioboo for a class project. I made a short screencast for the class about how to use this simple, fun tool. I'm sharing it with the rest of our community so you can learn how to use it, too. Examples of how you might use Audioboo World Language teachers and students could practice pronunciation and fluency with reading aloud and share with their teachers.  Teachers can respond with private audio feedback. Students could post speeches or debate positions for feedback. To flip the classroom, teachers could make simple audio recordings for students to listen to for homework.  Students could listen to other students' work and respond. Audioboo

#151867485 / gettyimages.com I had a request from a teacher to do a post about the top five new tech tools that are spreading around these days. Here's my highly subjective list. If you have any tools you'd like to add, please comment and I'll build them into a new post. 5.  Kaizena A Google Apps add-on that allows you to make voice comments on Google Docs. Kaizena tutorial 4.  Flubaroo A Google Sheets add-on that auto-grades multiple choice tests.  It also auto-emails grades back to students. Flubaroo tutorial 3.  Canva A super design tool that makes GREAT LOOKING images of all kinds:  business cards, posters, menus. Very flexible. I see this as being a much easier tool to use for infographics than Piktochart. Canva tutorial 2.  Padlet An online bulletin board. Users generate the bulletin board, pose a question and anyone can post to it if they have the URL. Possible use: in small groups, one person starts a board, and everyone contr

If you are human, you have struggled with organizing yourself.  If you're a student, this is a huge issue--and if you have yourself organized, it is MUCH easier to concentrate on the work you're doing. Junior Celine Zhu just showed me My Homework , an app that syncs across all of your devices.  It does amazing things like: keep track of your assignment due dates show your block schedule sync all your info on your phone, tablet, and computer Celine swears by it. Check it out!

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles My rating: 5 of 5 stars Picked this book up and couldn't put it down till I had finished it. Two developmentally disabled girls ("speddies") graduate from high school and are placed as roommates in a wealthy older woman's home. Quincey, a great cook, gets a job as a cook in a market and Biddie cleans house and takes care of the woman, Elizabeth. Told in the alternating viewpoints of Biddie and Quincey, the girls learn from each other and become a family with Elizabeth. The text is spare and you need to make inferences to fill in blanks which makes it a satisfying read. It shows a deep appreciation for individuality, personal strengths and people's ability to learn and grow. Some might be disappointed by how neatly the story falls together, but I enjoyed seeing how all the pieces came together like a jigsaw puzzle. View all my reviews

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars Listen up all you lovers of Divergent and The Hunger Games —read the The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam trilogy to understand why the master of all dystopian fiction (or as she calls it, “speculative fiction”) is Margaret Atwood . In the first volume, Oryx and Crake , we are introduced to Crake and Jimmy, teenaged friends who follow different paths in life because of, you guessed it, one went to a much better college than another. Crake is a mad genius who unleashes a deadly virus on the world so he can repopulate the planet with his peaceful, loving Crakers. However, some human live and this sets up the rest of the series. This book is one of my favorites of all time. The second installment, The Year of the Flood , tells a simultaneous story. I can’t describe it in detail now, because regrettably it has been a few years since I read it. Now the earthy, hippie-like Maddaddamites are intro

John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead My rating: 5 of 5 stars John Henry Days is a complex, sophisticated, heartbreaking and funny novel that explores themes of endurance, change through technology, and the meaning and implications of shared stories. We’ve all heard the story of John Henry, the steel driving man in West Virginia who challenged a steam drill, won and perished a hero immediately afterwards. Here the story is resurrected by placing it at the center of a present-day inaugural John Henry Days celebration in a town that is right next to the town where John Henry supposedly worked. You get the idea—the ownership of the story shifts depending on who tells it. The story is told by a grand cast of characters, current day and historical, including John Henry himself, J. (could his name be John?), a journalist going for a new record for uninterrupted all-expenses paid journalistic jaunts courtesy of being on “The List,” Pamela, the daughter of a Harlem hardware store owner who am

Herzog by Saul Bellow My rating: 5 of 5 stars Herzog. I was not prepared for the level of intellectual introspection throughout and had a hard time following Herzog's internal dialogue. Confession: I did a lot of skipping. But first, a description. Herzog is an academic in his late 40s who has reached a dead end emotionally, personally, professionally and philosophically. His academic career is on hold due to his failed second marriage which pulled him away from his work and into a devastating betrayal by his wife and best friend. Herzog struggles to connect to his current girlfriend who, like all of his "mistresses" (the way Herzog interacts with his love interests seems dated) is self-effacing, boundlessly supportive and worshipful of the great Herzog. He sees his children only on brief camp visits and spying on them through windows. While the internal dialogue is tough to follow, they are artful, subtle and meaningful. Herzog writes endless letters to people wit

Yesterday I presented an update on our Learning Commons transition plan to the School Committee.  It was a great opportunity to pause, look at the work we've done so far, and assess what we need to do going forward.  The School Committee was engaged and asked perceptive questions. Thank you to the students and faculty who took the (enormous) Learning Commons survey few weeks back. Your feedback gives the Learning Commons Committee (Harman Bharj, Jacqueline McInerny, Alisha Ukani, Tess Alphas and Henry Moon) the ability to make informed decisions. Learning Commons Update 5/21/14 from Alida_Hanson

It's been busy in and out of the library. In April I presented at the Massachusetts Library Association's "Bending Boundaries" conference about publishing in the library. About eight librarians from across the state--public, school, and academic--explained the publishing projects they had been involved in. I also went to a very cool presentation by the folks at Provincetown Public Library who launched The Provincetown Public Press . Here's my presentation about the publishing project on which I collaborated with Alicia Collins' poetry class:   Bending Boundaries Presentation: Massachusetts Library Association April 2014 from Alida_Hanson

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Videos have been an accepted form of instructional media in schools since the 40s. (See more Coronet Instructional Videos ) The big change today is video on demand: the ability to view video whenever you want. When I walk around the library and glance at students’ laptops, about 50% of them are viewing some kind of video, whether it’s instructional or for entertainment. Here are some tips to help you upgrade your video learning skills: Use a program like YTD Video Downloader  to download YouTube videos and save them to your computer, cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive), or thumb drive. You never know when YouTube videos will disappear. I can upload them to MediaCast for you, too, if you think other people will find them helpful. Bookmark my Diigo video feed and browse for high quality, free sources of videos and tools. Experiment with recently developed programs that enable you to edit YouTube video online. Check out Mozilla Popcorn Maker  and view  tutorials .

" George Saunders and Mark Twain ." Austin Kleon. CC by NC-ND-2.0 If you were to ask me who is my favorite author, I might answer George Saunders (depending on what day it is). He has written mostly short stories and a couple of novels that are funny, thought provoking and usually set in a near distant future or alternate universe. His protagonists are hapless, well meaning strivers doing their best in insanely difficult situations. When I read him I wonder how he manages to create satire that is biting yet radiates love and good will. His masterful piece, The Semplica Girls , was published in his collection of short stories, The 10th of September , and also in the New Yorker . I had to read it a few times to "get it" (basically, what are the SGs?), and it hasn't left my mind since. I've been putting together a list of online reading sources for 9th graders, and came across an interview with George Saunders where he talked about writing the story a

Last week I went to monthly the Diversity Committee where we watched a thought provoking, perceptive film followed by a question and answer session with the filmmaker.   The movie talked about the filmmaker’s personal journey—how racism was subtly and indelibly taught to her as a small child, how she realized the sickness, and what she is doing about it. Many of us asked the filmmaker, how do I move forward?   How do I become aware of things that, as white person, I have taken for granted?   How do I talk about race? One of the things that she told us to do was read and view more.   So here is a list of   highlights from our collection to help us do that.   Courageous Conversations About Race: a Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools By Glenn E. Singleton 379.2 Sin The Education of a Wasp by Lois Mark Stalvey 305.8 STA The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter 305.8 PAI A Girl Like Me (DVD) MediaCast Skin Deep