It's here!

Check out our summer reading program public service announcement on YouTube. Starring some familiar faces from West Springfield Public Library. Good work and big thanks to everyone who helped make this possible, from The Robot Creation Task Force to Vinnie and Ms. Cousland at the high school who helped film and get us online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zAaA8UXb3I

The Spectacular Now

Sutter Keely is a live-in-the-moment kind of guy. Sure it's his senior year and he has no future plans, and yeah his fat beautiful girlfriend just dumped him (and he can't really figure out why) and occasionally he gets sent home from work early when the manager smells alchohol on his breath. But is that any reason not to enjoy how fantastic life can be? As Sutter drifts through his last year of high school in an alchoholic daze, it takes the unlikely friendship of school nerd Aimee Finecky to save Sutter from himself. It's more than just help with algebra homework, and maybe Sutter is out to teach her a thing or two about self-confidence, too. They have a connection, but is Aimee too late? It's hard to tell when you're living your life in The Spectacular Now.

NOTE ON THE COVER: This cover is kind of a stinker. I might not have picked the book up myself just by looking at it, but don't be fooled-- the story is awesome! And it was a National Book Award Finalist. Go read it now.

Listen Up!

When I think of summer, two things that come to mind are Summer Reading (aaaargh!)

and long adventurous road trips, or at least increased time in a car (beach, here I come!)

Sure, there are plenty of ways to get your summer reading done, and ways to pass time on a cartrip, but why not combine the two for maximum productivity and enjoyment? Get your summer reading on audiobook, and listen to it on the go! Some things that are great about this are:

1. Audiobooks are read by the pros! Hearing a really great reader do all the character's voices can make a plot that might be dull or difficult to follow leap of the page.

2. You can be doing other things and still absorbing the story. Keep your hands busy weeding the garden, and listen to a story at the same time. This helps BOTH activities seem less like a chore, and you will be amazed by how fast the time and the book pass!

3. Hearing a book outloud educates you about tricky pronunciations.

4. Listening to a story will draw other people in. You might be surprised to find younger siblings, parents, and friends eager to hear what happens next. You might even get a chance to talk to them about the book, and nothing will help you remember it more than a discussion!

5.There's a reason that radio shows were so popular before television. Hearing a story allows you to use your imagination, and you might find yourself swept away (as a word of caution, I find it very creepy to listen to scary stories on long drives alone at night...)

And audiobooks aren't just for assigned reading. We have lots of great books on CDs of our most popular titles. We also have a growing collection of Playaways, single-text MP3 players that allow you to listen to a title the same way you would listen to music, but without the extra step of downloading an audiobook to your MP3 player-- it's all already there for you! And for those "old school" fans like myself whose cars don't have this newfangled CD technology, we even still have books on tape!

Here in no particular order is a quick list of some of my favorite audiobooks, read by some truly talented people:

1. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

2. A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

3. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

4. Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr all by Christopher Paolini

5. All the Harry Potter books-- even if you've already read them, reader Jim Dale will make them come alive in a whole new way!

6. Anything by Bill Bryson-- he's hilarious!

7. The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

8. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

9. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

10. The Absoluetly True Diary of a Part-time Indian

happy listening!

What I've Been Reading: Pretty Monsters

Things about Pretty Monsters that are awesome--

1. Short stories that pull you into their strange magical world so that you are utterly absorbed, yet are over before you can fall asleep in bed with the book smooshed against your face.

2. Author Kelly Link is local! She is also probably a genius.

3. Art work by the great Shaun Tan, with whom I am mildly obsessed.

4. Great cover.

5. The story "Magic for Beginners" is all about a weird (possibly magical) television show called The Library. I want this show to exist! At very least, I want other people to read this story so we can all talk about how cool it would be if this show DID exist. Seriously, if you take the whole book out to only read this story, you will still have gotten your money's worth.

6. If you love fiction where things are a little strange, a little off, but still seem like they could actually happen to you then this is perfect.

7. If you love wizards but aren't into Harry Potter, if you like your monsters pretty, and if you have ever tried to dig up your dead girlfriend to get back the only copy of the poems you wrote and buried with her (I kind of hope none of you have) then this is the book for you!

What I've Been Reading-- Authors from the British Islands

Perhaps because I just returned from a trip to Scotland (my adopted homeland) I have been reading a lot of books by British authors lately. But this might not be a coincidence so much as a testimony to the greatness of the writers in question. First up, our Newbery Winner: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Like Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, The Graveyard Book follows the story of a boy raised under unusual circumstances by a curious cast of characters. Nobody "Bod" Owens escapes the murderer that kills his whole family and seeks refuge in a nearby graveyard. He is adopted by the local ghosts and a mysterious gaurdian named Silas. The story of Bod's childhood is filled with adventure and is also a poignat meditation on what it means to be alive. I would recommend for any reading level.

Next up, Bog Child by Sioban Dowd. Bog Child is Dowd's third book. Saddly, it and a remaining novel are being published posthumously after Dowd died of cancer in 2007. Her legacy will no doubt live for generations through fine books like Bog Child and The London Eye Mystery. Unlike The London Eye Mystery, Bog Child is definitely geared at a teen audience. It is a revealing look at recent Irish history, seen through the eyes of 18-year-old Fergus McCann. It is the 1980s and "The Troubles", a time of political turmoil, have come to Ireland. Fergus is trying to concentrate on studying for his A-Level exams, but is distracted by the fate of his older brother, a member of Sinn Fein, participating in a prison hunger strike. When Fergus one day discovers the body of a girl nearly 2,000 years old preserved in the peat bog near his home, his summer begins to connect as the many threads of his life weave together. Will the mystery of the Iron Age body be revealed? Was it murder? Sacrifice? As Fergus attempts to unravel the answers to these ancient questions, he finds no easy ones for the questions closer to home.

Finally, a strange and wonderful book by David and Ruth Ellwand. The mystery of the fool & the vanisher : being an investigation into the life and disappearance of Isaac Wilde, artist and fairy seeker. This story-within-a-story tells of David Ellwand's discovery of an old trunk in an abandoned house near his home. In the trunk is the fantastic story, with possibly photographic proof, of haunting fairy creatures that can only by seen with the right tools. Do you believe in fairies? After reading this book you might think twice.

Wii Will Rock You @ West Spring Public Library

Great News! The West Springfield Public Library was awarded a grant from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) in honor of Teen Tech Week, March 8-14th. We will be using the grant to purchase a Wii and RockBand and will begin holding gaming programs. The theme of this year's national Teen Tech Week is "Press Play @Your Library". The grant was made possible through funding from Verizon.

We are so excited and grateful for this grant. Stay tuned for more information about this new program, and start practicing your air guitar skills now!

Prizes, Awards, Great Stuff

Hey guys, forgive me for not posting for a while. It's not because I haven't been reading, it's because things have just been so busy at the library. I wanted to quickly give a shout-out to all the winners of the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards. Perhaps better known to you as the Newbery and the Caldecott. But there are many more awards given each year as well, such as the Coretta Scott King Award "Given to African American authors and illustrator for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions, the Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream" according the the ALA website. There is also the distinguished Pura Belpre Award "honors a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose works best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth." And perhaps my favorite, the Printz award, given for outstanding young adult literature.
So who are our big winners? The Caldecott goes to... The House in the Night illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson.
The Newbery Winner is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. The honor books are also wonderful this year-- The Underneath by Kathi Appelt and Savvy by Ingrid Law were personal favorites of mine. We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson has some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen in a book. All of the Printz winners and honor books were so great that I can't even pick one to highlight, they should all be read!
Come in and check out all the award winners and honor books at the library!