Monthly Archives: June 2010

How those books get on my library shelves

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I am officially in my summer vacation! Hooray!

The end of the school year means prepping for the next school year, which, for me, means getting my book order in, well, order. I thought authors and other folks might be interested in how at least one librarian makes those decisions.

Through out the year, I read the professional journals like Booklist and VOYA and keep a running list of titles that sound good to me. I note the price and the review source. If a book is reviewed in more than one place, I try to keep note of that, too. I also consult what might be called the popular press like The New York Times and, um, People.

I am looking for fiction that seems in line with what has been popular, current trends, etc. I work in a high school, and need books at reading levels from about second or third grade up through, well, off the charts. I need books to entice kids who have at some point in their lives decided they hated reading. And I need new and exciting books for kids who have read every book in the library.

For nonfiction I need all of the above plus in support of the curriculum. Actually, I need fiction to go along with the curriculum, too (historical fiction for social studies, sci fi for the science classes, etc.). Since nonfiction is often more popular with boys, I’m also looking for high interest titles for the students to choose for free reads.

I also have to add in extra copies of very popular books and books that seem to walk away. (If Ellen Hopkins could send me her backlist every year, that would be awesome. Also any books by or about Kurt Cobain or Tupac Shakur would be more than welcome.)

So then I get to the end of the year. This year I had about 600 fiction books and 400 nonfiction. This was more than I have money for, of course, so the cutting comes. This is impossibly hard. Luckily, I only had to cut a little from my fiction this year. But still, I have to ask myself, “Do I take a chance on the new author, or go with the bestseller even though the reviews are only so-so?” Of course this question has particular resonance for me, but I only need to look at my shelves to see books that have never gone out, still shiny in their plastic covers.

The nonfiction was really hard because it was coming down to choices between the “fun” stuff and the curricular stuff. We are making a real literacy push so those high-interest books are essential. But so are the books that faculty requested for their classes.

I did get it all done after two straight days of work. I may make some more changes over the summer. Then I put my order in just before school starts. Several hundred books show up a couple of weeks later, shiny and new. Which brings up another point: like most school librarians, I think, I tend to make a HUGE purchase in the fall because I don’t want a budget freeze to steal my budget. Sometimes I can make a couple of small orders later in the year, but the general philosophy seems to be to spend it while you know you have it.

So there you go, a year’s worth of work crammed into a blog post.

This Book is Not Yet Rated? And why I love Kevin Smith

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Last night I watched Kirby Dick’s terrific 2006 documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated. Go watch the trailer!

Even though I worked in the film industry, I never gave much thought to who made ratings decisions and how. This film tried to open up that world. The raters are supposed to be parents of children ages 5-17, and they are supposed to remain anonymous. The parent part does not always seem to be the case. What’s especially troubling is that raters are given no guidelines; they just go by their guts. So filmmakers have no idea what to expect when they send their films in for ratings.

Generally I tend to disagree with the ratings which, as the film pointed out, tend to think sex is always terrible and violence is okay. I read reviews to find out if it’s a movie I am going to enjoy or not — and whether or not it contains content I would find objectionable. What’s troubling about the ratings system is that independent movies tend to be treated more harshly. Violence gets a pass while sex does not. And if it’s gay sex or if the woman in a heterosexual couple seems to be enjoying herself too much, well that’s almost begging for an NC-17.

And that’s what scares me about the idea of age-rating books that flares up from time to time. Because what’s offensive? Who decides? Can I get a warning label for bad writing? Because that offends me far more than two girls realizing they are in love (or two penguins for that matter). In all seriousness, as an author and a librarian, I believe it’s up to the parents to find out what a book is about, what themes and topics it covers, and if that’s the right book for their child at that time. That information was never very hard to find — just ask an librarian. Now with the internet and a million blogs and Goodreads and LibraryThing and all that it’s beyond easy.

As an aside, Keven Smith had perhaps my favorite moment of the film. Paraphrasing, he said that if were to make a rating system, rape and violence against women would be the biggest strike against a film because there are already too many films that use the woman-in-distress as a plot point. I actually raised my fist in the air and said, “That’s right! That’s why I love Kevin Smith.”

Taken to Task

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I want to steal Janet Trumble’s description of herself from her blog:

YA writer, activist, librarian, and straight human with gay tendencies.

Although, I think I really need to work on the activist part. Maybe I can be “YA writer, mom, librarian, and straight human with gay tendencies.”

Anyway, she has a terrific guest post from fifteen-year old book blogger, Brent, in which he describes a school librarian who tells him that books about LBGTQ teens are inappropriate. Such an arrow through my heart as both an author and librarian.

As many librarians have commented on the post, we are, of course, not all like that. But what matters is that some are. I’ve met them. It sucks. And frankly, I’m afraid, some of these librarians are not going to change their deeply-held beliefs that being gay is wrong and/or controversial and so books that portray homosexuality should be kept out of the library.

So what’s a teen to do if his or her library doesn’t stock these books? Ah, the wonder of ILL — interlibrary loan. Not every library does this, and some may charge, but it does open up a whole new world of books, more than could ever fit in one single library. Many libraries even allow you to do this online, so you don’t have to have a face to face conversation with the librarian. If you are having trouble with this, please let me know, and I will help you to navigate the system in your region/state.

Of course, you don’t know what to request if you don’t know what’s out there. Here’s a list of sites that offer reviews of books with LGBTQ characters of both of the types that Brent describes (“books about gay characters, and books whose characters just happen to be gay.”):

Daisy Porter’s Queer YA

Reading Rants: Closet Club

ALA Rainbow Project

GLSEN Booklink

These are usually where I start when looking for books. Any other suggestions?


Endings

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By now, I think just about everyone has commented on the ending of Lost. So I’m a little late, as usual. Still, if you haven’t seen it yet, there are spoilerish things coming.

I loved the show Lost. I loved that it ended without answering all the questions or explicating itself. What I really loved about the ending was the way it mirrored the opening sequence: Jack in the bamboo, eye opening in the first episode, closing in the second. Vincent runs by in the opening, and snuggles in with Jack at the end. There’s the shoe caught in the bamboo. In a show about circles and mirrors and time folding in on itself, this ending makes perfect sense.

Opening:

Another favorite series ending is that of Homicide: Life on the Street, one of my all time favorite shows. The closing dialog is the exact same as the opening. Another circle, this one exact! And once again it totally fits the show. The characters may try to grow and change, but they are existing in the world of crime, where each case can blend into one another relentlessly.

People often ask writers if they are plotters or pantsers. I hate the term pantsers. I imagine people running around pulling down each other’s pants. Alas, I am not a plotter, so what else can I call myself? I like to think of it as following the story where it goes. Usually, though, I have the end in site, whether it’s a final scene or a final line.

I knew where Secrets was going to end — at a place where it could be called a happy ending. Actually, Happy Ending was one of the working titles. I knew that I wanted the last line to be: “But I’ll stop here because, just like Owen, I want a happy ending.” Likewise, I have the final line for something I’m working on now. I think it helps to know where you are going so you know what moments need emphasis in order for that moment to resonate.

And yes, getting back to Lost, I do believe that J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof knew where they were going. I’m a big geek for this show, and I’ve gone back and watched the two-part pilot again, and you can see them dropping hints.  And if I had to guess, I’d say they were plotters who also let themselves follow story lines off into tangents. Maybe they didn’t tie it all up with little bows, but that’s okay with me. Life (or death or purgatory) just doesn’t work that way — so why should fiction?