Some things that are off topic but mostly things that aren't

I have just enough time to get a post in before January ends so Happy New Year!

I've been procrastinating on my blog posting - obvs! - so I have quite a bit to catch you up on.

I've gotten interested in knit wear pattern design so I've been working on a couple of designs in the last couple of weeks.  One - a pair of fingerless mitts - is currently being tested and the other - a super funky hat - needs to be written so I can get it tested.  It's a fairly time consuming process, I'm discovering.  I come up with an idea and start knitting it.  As I'm knitting it, I have to keep pretty meticulous notes about what I'm doing so I can convert those notes into a pattern.  In the meantime, I'm discovering what works and what doesn't work and then I might have to tweak my design and start the project all over again.  Then I give the pattern to testers and they try it out and find all my typos and math mistakes and provide me with feedback for a final draft.  It's an interesting process and immensely satisfying when it works out the way I want it to.  I will post these projects here once they've completed the testing process.

I've been listening to podcasts mostly while doing all this knitting.  Mostly comedy for grown-ups type podcasts which led Mr. Richards and I to spend this past weekend in San Francisco for Sketchfest. Sketchfest is a festival of comedy and features stand up performances, sketch comedy, improv, and storytelling.  We stayed in the city because we had tickets for 7 different shows, several of them were live versions of some of the podcasts I listen too, including The Thrilling Adventure Hour.  This is a fantastic show that is usually performed monthly at Largo in L.A., recorded, and the segments are released as a weekly podcast.  They're tagline is 'The new time podcast done in the style of old time radio."  The show contains a serialized segment that's basically a western on Mars, and 3 other non-serialized segments.  It is delightful and funny and family friendly and I highly recommend it.  Getting to see it performed live this weekend was so much fun!

So that's what's been going with me, now some news!  The American Library Association announced the winners of they're big awards this week, specifically the Caldecott, Newbery, Geisel, and Sibert awards.  I'm particularly excited about the Caldecott medal as the winner is a Marshall Lane favorite as are several of the Honor books.  The winner is that hilarious follow up to I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen.

This makes me very happy!  Another thing that makes me very happy is that Extra Yarn received a Caldecott Honor.

I just adore this book and its author and illustrator.  I look forward to seeing more of their work and as a matter of fact, Jon Klassen is collaborating with Lemony Snicket on a book called The Dark which will be released in April!  I may lose my mind from the happy!

In other news, we've begun reading the California Young Readers Medal nominees.  I have to keep them in the library until voting is over but I'm sure you can find them at the public library or at Amazon.  The Primary (grades K-2) nominees are:

 And the intermediate (grades 3-5) nominees are:

Finally, all the new books from Book Fair have been processed and are now in circulation and many of them are circulating very well.  My shelves are looking pretty full so I'm going to have to start weeding out some of the older, worn out and poorly circulating books to make room for all these fabulous new titles.  

Well, that's all and enough for now.  Come by the library and say hello and tell me what you are reading!

ALA Youth Media Awards Announced!

It's that time of year again.  When the librarians hand awards out for their favorite books.  May of this year's winners are already on the shelves at Marshall Lane Library.  For a complete list of the winners, you can go to the ALA website. Winners and honor books that can be found in the library are:

Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos.  This the Newbery Winner for 2012.   I haven't read this yet, but I've just purchased and downloaded the audio book so I can start listening to it right away.

 
The Caldecott Medal winner is A Ball for Daisy, by Chris Raschka.  Blackout, by John Rocco and Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith each won a Caldecott Honor.

 

Coretta Scott King Author Honors went to Eloise Greenfield who wrote The Great Migration: jOurney to the North, which was illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist and to Patricia McKissack for Never Forgotten, which was illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.

Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick won a Schneider Family Book Award for "embodying an artistic expression of the disability experience."

 

The Elephant Scentist, by Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson and Drawing from Memory, by Allan Say are two informational children's books that were given Robert F. Sibert honors.

And most exciting of all, the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award went to Tales for Very Picky Eaters, by Josh Schneider, with honors going to Mo Willems' I Broke My Trunk, featuring local favorites Elephant and Piggie, and also to Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back which has become quite a favorite at the Marshall Lane Library!

I will do my best to acquire the rest of the award and honor books from the ALA list but until then, you can check these out at the library!

Back to Kidlit and knitting

Well, looks like February has been a slow blogging month. But I have passed the 2,000 pageviews mark, which is kind of exciting. It's good to know that someone out there is reading what I write here. Hopefully, it's not the same person reading it 2,000 times. That would be worrisome. I've been on a graphic novel kick, but they are not graphic novels for kids so I didn't want to talk about them here. I want this blog to be about books you can find in the Marshall Lane library. I have been growing the graphic novel collection, though, because I'm a convert. There are some really good stories out there in graphic form. When I first started buying graphic novels for the library a few years ago my intention was to bring more boys into the library. I bought a few Star Wars comics and the boys flocked to the library. Those books never make it back to the shelves. They are always on hold and fall apart by the end of the year. Then I started buying Babymouse for the girls and they flew off the shelves as well. Then I noticed that some girls were checking out Star Wars and some boys were checking out Babymouse. So I decided to throw my gender biases out the window and started buying a variety of graphic novels based on quality and interest. I don't have a huge collection but they are hugely popular. And what I've noticed is that while the boys, generally, keep checking out mostly the Star Wars books, the girls are reading everything else. Which is interesting. Not sure what it means. Except that maybe my purchases are still biased towards what girls like. Perhaps I should start buying superhero comics. Well, I've waxed on about this more than I intended. Let's get back to kidlit.

I read - or rather, listened to - The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, which was the Newbery Medal winner in 2008. The story centers around Lucky, a ten-year-old girl living with her guardian in a very small town in California. Lucky's mother has died and her absent father has brought is ex-girlfriend Brigitte over from France to be Lucky's guardian. Lucky worries that Brigitte, who is homesick for France, will abandon her also. Lucky feels sure that if she could just find her higher power, a term that she overhears the 'anonymous people' use, her problems would be solved. I liked this book. But this is one of those Newbery books that doesn't really appeal to most children. And, in fact, this book has not circulated well in my library. But it is a good story and I would encourage people to give it a read. I read it because my friend Mrs. Freeman recommended it. She's reading her way through all the Newbery books and she told me it was a good one. I trust her judgement. She told me that Al Capone Does My Shirts was good and I agree with her. I pointed her towards Odd and the Frost Giants when The Graveyard Book was unavailable and she liked that. So, the point is, get a book buddy. They help you to read things that you might not normally pick up off the shelf.

I've also just finished Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer. This is the third book in the series and I'm really enjoying it. I was going to just stop at the first one but I'm kind of sucked in now. If you don't like series books, don't worry, these books read well as stand alone titles with recurring characters. The stories are a great blend of fantasy and high-tech thrillers. Action, intrigue, and fairy magic. Even though the main character is not always a good guy, he is likable. If you like the Alex Rider series or the Percy Jackson series, I think you'll like Artemis Fowl as well.

Well, I think I've gone on long enough. Looks like it's feast or famine here at the old Marshall Lane Library Blog. I'll close with some pictures of what I've been working on whilst listening to books:

A dear friend of mine and his wife are expecting their first baby so I knitted her some tiny shoes and a blueberry hat to go with the book Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman.

The object in the last picture is a Cthulhu. A cuddly one. If you don't know what Cthulhu is, you need to brush up on your H.P. Lovecraft. That is all.

Honors and accolades

The American Library Association announced the 2011 book awards today at their Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. They are as follows:

Caldecott Medal (for picture books):

A Sick Day for Amos McGee written and illustrated by Erin and Phillip C. Stead

Also honored were Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill, and (a Marshall Lane Library Favorite) Interrupting Chicken written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein.

The Newbery Medal (for children's fiction) went to Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Honors went to Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm, Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, and Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman.

The Geisel award (for beginning readers) went to Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGee, illustrated by Tony Fucile.

Honors went to Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! written and illustrated by Grace Lin and We Are In a Book! written and illustrated by Mo Willems (a Marshall Lane Favorite Author).

There were many more awards given out and if you are interested, you can read about them at the ALA/ALSC website.

If you are interested in reading these award winning books, you can find the Caldecott and Geisel medal winners and honor books at the Marshall Lane Library. I will get the Newbery winner and honor books as soon as I can. In the mean time, you can look for them at the public library.