Coffee Table Books

Do you love coffee table books? I do! Guess why? I love the pictures. When one teaches elementary school too long, their vocabulary goes to pot so maybe that's why I love the pictures so much. Honestly, not all my books on the coffee table, hearth, floor, and end tables are just pictures, but very close! I have three new ones, perhaps you are interested. The first one is Ruin Photographs of a Vanishing America by Brian Vandren Brink. Brink is a much sought after architectual photographer. This book contains pictures of abandoned structures in America. Their beauty is ehanced by Brinks' amazing photography. The beautiful photos, in both black and white and full color photography highlight Brinks' PURE talent in this field. The book is quite large and has some real weight to it, imagine a small atlas and is a historical comment on buildings once so useful and stunning, now lost amongst grass and apathy. On a lighter note, I purchased, at VLA, Golden Legacy by Leonard S. Marcus. This book is the how, when, why anniversary book about Golden Books! I have been collecting old Golden Books for years so this book was an instant purchase! Two hundred forty four pages chock full of history and information about the pheno called Golden Books. It was 1942 and these little books cost 25 cents. I wonder if your favorite one is pictured inside?? Last one for tonight's post is compiled by Anita Silvey who will be one our keynote speakers at VEMA next year. I have been a fan of hers for quite some time and then when I read the title, I knew this book had to be in my personal collection as well. Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book. She has interviewed many people, written about them, and used quotes from the interviews to hightlight their favorite children's book. This is lots of fun and I would have shared this with all my teachers when I was an LMS. Anita Silvey is on fb and has a website, www.anitasilvey.com, in case you are interested. Think Christmas gifts today as you finish this post or perhaps your personal Christmas list would be more appropriate. Lots more thoughts to share with your before the holidays kick off. See ya, Roxanne

Latest reads

Hi,
I have some new titles to share with you. I wonder if you have already read them as sometimes I am a bit behind some of you and then again some of you are behind me. Funny, how reading books works out that way. The Letter Writer by Ann Rinaldi was very engaging. It put a human face on the Nat Turner uprising. Told from the perspective of a young lady who was living on a plantation with her dad's ex-wife ( not her mother) she befriends Nat Turner and unwittingly gives him critical information. Rinaldi is an excellent writer and I think this book shows off her talents very well. I also finished Return to Sender. This book also brings a human face to the story, but this story is current realistic fiction. Return to Sender is about illegal migrant workers from Mexico. Several different sides to this story are presented through the eyes of the youngsters who are living this story. Using alternate chapters, the author uses a young farm boy and a young Mexican girl whose family is working his family's farm. His father has suffered a heart attack and is in danger of losing the farm without workers wiling to work the fields. Numerous events occur in this book which strength the relationships between the white family and the migrant workers. This is such a hot topic in the news right now so this book could spark some excellent pro/con discussions. Both these books are from my readings for my multicultural grant work. Both will be part of our workshop at ODU next month. I hope some of you will come over and check out our extensive book collection. ODU is the Southeastern Regional Examination Center so publishers send wonderful books to the Learning Resource Center. I have been very busy reading as many as I can. Next I will share some of the picture book titles with you.

New book

Just a quick post before I leave today , my hair is wet and I have not eaten, but I was convinced I had to create a post. Sharon Creech was in a recent post so when I got my new Booklist magazine, I had to tell you this. There is a full page color ad for The Unfinished Angel written by Sharon Creech. The reading guide is available at the HarperCollins website. Let me know if you read it before I can!

Grab them at the door!

I am a firm believer in great signage, but I believe even more strongly our libraries need awesome displays! Grab their attention right at the front door. Use some basic marketing skills! Every LMS knows if they put it on display it will disappear so let's use what we already know. On Thursday my grandaughter and I walked over to the library near her house. I checked out a book called, A Thousand Days of Magic Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House by Oleg Cassini. I would never have searched the catalog for that book. I would never have browsed the stacks for that book. I am not sure how I would have even known the book existed, had it not been for a cool display on FASHION. It caught my eye and led me right to this book. As many of us I was fascinated by Jackie since I was a little girl. The book provided several hours of intriguing entertainment for me at a much cheaper price than the local movie! So get out there and create some displays! Make them interesting, colorful and fill them with books (head out to a bookstore if you need some inspiration!).

LOVE THAT BOOK

Did you all read Love That Dog? I know a couple of you did cause Ann T. introduced it to me. I read it to every group I could find. There was one group, eighth graders, I was supposed to read for 15 minutes. Well, they were into the story, you can tell by their faces, right?. Well, the teacher gave me the nod and I read this book and read it till we were done! Had one gal in the back with tears in her eyes. Now that is a good book for you. Later a couple of my teacher friends used it with their students. Well, I just got a hold of Hate That Cat, same author, Sharon Creech. I liked it alot, not AS much as the other one but I enjoyed it. Try it and see if you like it. This book will be in one of the goody baskets I mentioned to you in the last post. Yeah, VEMA. I also finished the audio book, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austin. It seeks to explain how Jane could develve so well into love when she had never married. Very nice English sounding lady read to me for 8 disks! I couldn't wait to get back into the car! Those of you who know me, know I live way out and so I usually do NOT want to get back in the car. I thought the period details were well done, though I admit I am not an expert at all! Since I liked that one so much, I selected another English book. Will keep you posted!

Conference Time!

I like to be on time! I think other people like me to be on time, too, especially when I am leading a meeting, but I am really wondering whether I can be on time for all my conference responsibilities. It doesn't help that VLA is this month and next month we have VEMA AND AASL. I also think of my workshops as a mini-conference opportunities and I have two of those this fall. Whew, I am beginning to count on my fingers and toes how many gift baskets, free books, give aways, etc. I need. And ppts, I best count those as well. VLA is October 29 and 30th. It will be my first so I hope I can get out of the vendor area and check it out. AASL is the queen of conferences, not to say anything bad about VEMA, VEMA is awesome, but AASL is just huge! Therefore, it is amazing. The vendors bring their very BEST displays, the giveaways are mostly top of the line ( lots of free books, too). Best of all, no plane flight for me this time! AASL is in Charlotte, NC this year. This is a rare bonus for all of us in the mid-Atlantic area! Come join us? Too far you say well then---Who is going to VEMA? I know, I know, it is in Roanoke and money is tight and time off is impossible but I think you really have to work at it. And if this is your only chance at a conference, you really need to go. Our current conference chair has worked hard to be sure Saturday is awesome so how about if you just come for Saturday??? You need to bring back those new, fresh ideas- you can't do it all by yourself- you need staff development. So how about it????? All for now. My next post is about a wonderful audio book I am almost finished with, see you soon.

Recent historical fiction

I really enjoy historical fiction. For me, it makes me really think. I think about the reality of then and the aspects of what we should have learned or even what we thought we learned, but perhaps it was erroneous! I also get caught up with the writer's choices while writing. The line in the sand between fact and fiction and the research, it is so interesting and makes the book so much more enjoyable for me. I just completed a very light audio book called, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES. ( The author's last book had been popular, P.S. I LOVE YOU. ) I just couldn't get excited about it. However, I am in the midst of THE HOTEL AT THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET and I can't wait to get into the car again so I can listen to it. The history is very appropriate to today and yet filled with information about a time I have no comprehension of. I spent 4 hours on Tuesday in the car and the time just flew by while I was listening to it. Anyway, the book begins in 1986 on the West Coast with a discovery of many artifacts from the Japanese people who were evacuated to internment camps right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Then we get alternating flashbacks to when the main character was a young boy in this same town. I haven't finished it yet so I can't say for certain I will be satisfied at the end but the reviews have been great. The author is Jamie Ford and I believe this is his first novel. Will do a followup post as soon as I finish.