MLA Conference 2008

Happy Hour Question of the Night List:

RART Happy Hour/Business Meeting
Chili’s, Bloomington, MN
Wednesday, November 19, 2009


Guilty Pleasures – Fiction, Films, Music and Periodicals

Books that defy categorization
The Story of O by Pauline Reage

British Women’s Fiction
Penny Vincenzi
Marcia Willett

Children’s books
Fancy Nancy
Harry Potter
Comics
Garfield
Calvin & Hobbs
Pearls Before Swine

Magazines
Hello
Us

Movies/TV Bones (tv)
Cold Comfort Farm
Dear Frankie
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Nanny McPhee
300
WALL-E

Music Ricky Martin
Show tunes
Guys & Dolls
Singin’ in the Rain

Mysteries
Lee Child, “Every man wants to be Jack Reacher, and every woman wants to be Reached.”
Janet Evanovich
Robert Parker, Spencer series, “They’re all the same but I love them all.”


Nonfiction
Biographies of dead royalty
Diet & exercise books that you read but never actually follow
Guy Fieri, Diner’s Drive-ins and Dives: An All-American Road Trip…with Recipes!
Home decorating books
Knitting books
Pet schmaltz, aka “Sentimental Pet Stories”
Marley & Me

Romances
Elizabeth Hoyt, “You haven’t read Elizabeth Hoyt?!?!?”
Georgians
Eloisa James
Regencies
Georgette Heyer

Vampire Fiction (aka “Fang Bangers”)
Charlaine Harris

Happy Hour Pics

50 in 75 Book Talks presentation at MLA Conference 2008

1:30-2:45 50 in 75 Book Talks (RART, PLD, CYP, LMRT, RASS)

The Readers Advisory Round Table presents 50 titles (or more) in 75 minutes. Take four librarians, ask them to talk about 50 titles in 5 different areas, and it’s book heaven! We’ll cover new and interesting titles and maybe one or two old favorites in Romance, Literary Fiction, YA, Mysteries, and WWII. RA is one of the toughest and enjoyable aspects of librarianship. Whether you are a daily or occasional practitioner of RA, we all can use new titles to share with our patrons. We just can’t read everything, so book talks like this help spread knowledge.

-- Jennifer Brannen, St. Paul Library; Sarah Nagle, Carver County Library; Barbara Pierce, St. Paul Public Library; Jody Wurl, Hennepin County Library; with Angie Noyes, Washington County Library as moderator.



Mysteries:


Nesbø, Jo. Nemesis. translated by Don Bartlett.
London : Vintage, 2008
New York : Harper, 2009
Grainy CCTV footage shows a man walking into a bank and putting a gun to a cashier's head. He tells her to count to twenty-five. When he doesn't get his money in time, she is executed. Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case.

Holt, Anne. What Never Happens. [translated by Kari Dickson].
New York : Grand Central Pub., 2008.
In the cold of an Oslo winter, celebrities have been turning up dead in the most macabre of positions. Their killer may be seeking retribution, but for what?

Indriðason, Arnaldur. The Draining Lake. translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder.
New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2008.
When the water level of an Icelandic lake suddenly falls following an earthquake to reveal a skeleton half-buried in its sandy bed, Inspector Erlendur, Elinborg, and Sigurdur Oli look into the long-unsolved disappearance of a young, left-wing student during the Cold War.

Larsson, Asa. The Black Path. translated by Marlaine Delargy.
New York, N.Y. : Bantam Dell, 2008.
A grisly torture-murder, a haunting northern Sweden backdrop, and a dark drama of twisted sexuality collide in a masterpiece of suspense.

Jungstedt, Mari. Unspoken. [translated by Tiina Nunnally].
New York : St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007.
Det. Supt. Anders Knutas and his team look into the murder of the alcoholic former news photographer Henry Dahlström. In the course of their investigation, they discover evidence not only that the man maintained a good income doing illegal repair work for most of Gotland's leading citizens but that his death may somehow be linked to missing 14-year-old Fanny Jansson.- From Publisher’s Weekly.

Alvtegen, Karin. Missing. translated from the Swedish by Anna Paterson.
New York : Felony & Mayhem, 2008.
Born into privilege, Sibylla lives by choice on the chilly streets of Stockholm. When she spend a night with a businessman, and his body is found the next morning, she becomes a wanted woman.

Tursten, Helene. The Glass Devil. translated by Katarina E. Tucker.
New York : Soho Press, 2007.
Detective Irene Huss and her boss check on a teacher as a favor for a friend, only to find him shot to death, and as they go to tell his parents, they discover their bodies and wonder if they will find clues with the only remaining family member.

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, recently at the wrong end of a libel case, to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance. Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker, possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age--and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness--assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, an astonishing corruption at the highest echelon of Swedish industrialism--and a surprising connection between themselves.--From publisher description.

Mina, Denise. Slip of the Knife : A Novel.
New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2008.
Paddy Meehan is no stranger to murder--as a reporter she lives at crime scenes--but nothing has prepared her for this visit from the police. Her former boyfriend and fellow journalist Terry Patterson has been found hooded and shot through the head. Paddy knows she will be of little help--she had not seen Terry in more than six months. So she is bewildered to learn that in his will he has left her his house and several suitcases full of notes. Drawn into a maze of secrets and lies, Paddy begins making connections to Terry's murder that no one else has seen, and soon finds herself trapped in the most important--and dangerous--story of her career.

Atkinson, Kate. When Will There Be Good News? : A Novel.
New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2008.
On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever. On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound. At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening.



Romance Titles:

James, Eloisa. Duchess by Night. (2008)
Written by a Shakespeare professor, this book set in Georgian England plays with the classic plot twist of cross-dressing and gender misidentification and features James’s trademark wit and humor. Harriet, Duchess of Barrow, wants to attend a scandalous fête peopled with rakes and intriguing miscreants. And Lord Strange discovers that the man he is disconcertingly attracted to is in fact the most beautiful woman in the room.

Davis, Mary Ellen. The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter. (2007)
Set in Georgian England, this retelling of Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman” received a starred review in Booklist and would likely make an excellent cross-over read for non-romance readers. Elizabeth Wyndham, an authoress who will “more likely be attacked by an army of frogs” than marry, meets Rand Remington, a highwayman seeking to redress social injustices perpetrated by the ruling class, with the two forming an unlikely connection over Elizabeth’s latest novel.

Boyle, Elizabeth. Tempted by the Night. (2008)
This paranormal historical Regency explores the old adage, “be careful what you wish for,” as a magic ring turns lives upside down with the wishes it grants. From Booklist: “Tempted by the Night will enchant readers with its wonderfully witty mix of uniquely entertaining characters, cleverly constructed plot, and delectably sexy romance.”

Parker, Olivia. At the Bride Hunt Ball. (2008)
Think a Regency-era version of The Bachelor complete with ambitious misses and machinating mamas as the Duke of Wolverest brings the marriage mart to his own doorstep in order to snare a bride for his younger brother.

Krahn, Betina. The Book of True Desires. (2006)
Recipient of a starred review in Booklist, this romance set in the late Victorian era finds the archeologically inclined Cordelia Blackburn trying to obtain funding for an expedition by chasing down three Mayan carvings and the mysterious “gift of the jaguar.” This leads her into the Caribbean and Mexico accompanied by her grandfather’s superior and irritating butler (who’s not quite what he seems) and with whom sparks and snark fly.

Hale, Shannon. Austenland. (2007)
If you happen to be inordinately fond of Pride and Prejudice or just fond of Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy, then the plight of 33-year-old Jane Hayes will make sense to you. She inherits a vacation to Pembrook Park in Kent to visit a Jane Austen-themed resort. Even as she finds a real chance at love with an unlikely candidate, she discovers that she may have sabotaged her 13 previous relationships with her Darcy fixation. Received a starred review in PW and a positive review in SLJ for teens and adults.

Kwitney, Alisa. Flirting in Cars. (2007)
Frequently described as smart, funny, and sexy, this book lives up to those accolades as it tells the story of professional journalist, passionate New Yorker, and single mother Zoë Goren. When her daughter is diagnosed with dyslexia, Zoë picks up stakes to move her to an excellent school for kids with LD—in the middle of nowhere. Her urban savvy hits some real road blocks in rural small-town living (needing to learn how to drive and cook, for example) even as she meets Mack a recently returned Iraq vet who might just be the happily-ever-after she never saw coming.

Crusie, Jennifer, and Mayer, Bob. Agnes and the Hitman. (2007)
Agnes, food writer and cookbook author of Mob Food, has something of a temper. (Don’t make her angry when she has a frying pan in her hand.) While Shane is a pretty calm guy who just happens to be a hitman. Throw dognapping, jewels, and the mob into this South Carolina mix and you have a hint of what you’re getting into as real estate double-crosses, big breakfasts, and clueless criminals abound.

Acosta, Marta. Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. (2005)
This smart and hip take on the ubiquitous vampire romance is suffused with satire and wicked humor. Heroine Milagro de Los Santos finds herself caught between Sebastian, her ex-boyfriend who’s renewing his attentions to the point of abduction, and the mysterious Oswald with whom she has serious chemistry and who, along with his cranky grandmother Edna and his Cousin Sam, happens to be a vampire.

Brockmann, Suzanne. Into the Storm. (2006)
Romance and suspense drive this intelligent thriller, which is a good entry point into the talented Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series. Seal Team 16 and Troubleshooters, Inc., pair up for a winter hostage/terrorist training exercise. During this, the complicated and nascent stop/start romance of Petty Officer Mark Jenkins and TS operative Lindsay Fontaine develops even as a member of the training op disappears under disturbing circumstances and a paralyzing winter storm moves in.

Linz, Cathie. Big Girls Don’t Cry. (2007)
Big girls don’t cry—they get even. Plus-size model Leena Riley returns home and finds herself working for the town’s handsome veterinarian Cole Flannigan, who also happened to be the bane of her existence in school. He’s seeing her in a whole new light—can he get her to do the same for him? Selected by Booklist as one of its 2008 Romance Fiction Top 10 of the Year.

McLane, LuAnn. Trick My Truck but Don’t Mess with My Heart. (2008)
This light, cheerful Southern romance finds its heroine, Candie Montgomery, the town pariah when she returns home for the first time in two years. Why? Because her twin sister Sarah blames Candie for the breakup of her engagement. Completely baffled, Candie decides to get back in the town’s good graces (and prove her innocence) by getting herself a (temporary) boyfriend. Cowboy Tommy Tucker fits the bill, and even though Candie’s made it clear that their relationship is an act, Tommy’s decided to play for keeps.



YA Titles:

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak.
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.
Cole, Stephen. Thieves Like Us.
A mysterious benefactor hand-picks a group of teen geniuses to follow a set of clues leading to the secrets of everlasting life, secrets which they must steal and for which they risk being killed.

Fredericks, Mariah. The True Meaning of Cleavage.
When Jess and Sari, best friends since seventh grade, begin their freshman year of high school and Sari becomes obsessed with a senior boy, Jess wonders if their friendship will survive.

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid .
Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship.

Marr, Melissa. Wicked Lovely.
Seventeen-year-old Aislinn, who has the rare ability to see faeries, is drawn against her will into a centuries-old battle between the Summer King and the Winter Queen, and the survival of her life, her love, and summer all hang in the balance.

Schumacher, Julie. Black Box.
When her sixteen-year-old sister is hospitalized for depression and her parents want to keep it a secret, fourteen-year-old Elena tries to cope with her own anxiety and feelings of guilt that she is determined to conceal from outsiders.

Turner, Megan Whalen. The Thief.
Gen flaunts his ingenuity as a thief and relishes the adventure which takes him to a remote temple of the gods where he will attempt to steal a precious stone.

Volponi, Paul. Rucker Park Setup.
While playing in a crucial basketball game on the very court where his best friend was murdered, Mackey tries to come to terms with his own part in that murder and decide whether to maintain his silence or tell J.R.'s father and the police what really happened.

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies.
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese.
Alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture. Presented in comic book format.



WWII Titles:

Sara Helm. A Life in Secrets. (NF)
Once rumored to have been the inspiration for Ian Fleming's Miss Moneypenny, Vera Atkins climbed her way to the top in the Special Operations Executive, or SOE: Britain's secret service created to help build up, organize, and arm the resistance in the Nazi-occupied countries. Throughout the war, Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored the agents for the SOE's French Section, which sent more than four hundred young men and women into occupied France - at least one hundred of whom never returned and were reported "Missing presumed dead" after the war. Twelve of these were women and among Atkins's most cherished spies. When the war ended in 1945, she made it her personal mission to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines, tracing rigorously their horrific final journeys. But as the woman who carried out this astonishing search appeared quintessentially English, Atkins was nothing of the sort. As we follow her through the devastation of postwar Germany, we learn Atkins herself covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past." "In A Life in Secrets Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera Atkins's many veils. Drawing on recently released sixty-year-old government files and her unprecedented access to the private papers of the Atkins family, Helm reconstructs a complex and extraordinary life."--BOOK JACKET.

Diane Ackerman. The Zookeeper’s Wife. (NF)
The true story of how the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw--and the city’s zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Żabiński began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Żabińskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants--otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes--and keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.--From publisher description.

Anonymous, translated by Phillip Boehm / A Woman in Berlin: eight weeks in the conquered city: a diary. (NF)
Friday, 11 pm, by the light of an oil lamp, my notebook on my knees. Around 10 pm there was a series of bombs. The siren started right in screaming. Apparently it has to be worked by hand now. No light. Running downstairs in the dark, we slip and stumble. Finally we're in our cellar, behind an iron door that weighs a hundred pounds. The official term is air-raid shelter. We call it cave, underworld, catacomb of fear.

David Stafford. Endgame, 1945 : the missing final chapter of World War II. (NF)
Highlights the gripping personal stories of nine men and women, ranging from soldiers to POWs to war correspondents, who witnessed firsthand the Allied struggle to finish the terrible game at last. Through their ground-level movements, Stafford traces the elaborate web of events that led to the war's real resolution: the deaths of Hitler and Mussolini, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau, and the Allies' race with the Red Army to establish a victors' foothold in Europe, to name a few. From Hitler's April decision never to surrender to the start of the Potsdam Conference, Stafford brings an unprecedented focus to the war's “final chapter."



Owen Sheers / Resistance.
1944. After the fall of Russia and the failed D-Day landings, a German counterattack lands on British soil. Within a month, half of Britain is occupied. The seat of British government has fled to Worcester, Churchill to Canada. A network of British resistance cells is all that is left to defy the German army. Against this backdrop, Resistance opens with Sarah Lewis, a twenty-six-year-old farmer’s wife, waking to find her husband, Tom, has disappeared. She is not alone, as all the other women in the Welsh border valley of Olchon wake to find their husbands gone.- From www.bn.com

Peter Ho Davies. The Welsh Girl.
Esther Evans, the seventeen-year-old, daughter of a shepherd in the rugged Snowdonia Mountains, works at the local pub. It is 1944, and the Worl War II has come to her village just after D-Day in the form of a new POW camp. Although the presence of the English Guard is only grudgingly tolerated at the pub, the arrival of the German captives brings the entire village to the hillside above the camp. At first Esther watches from a distance, but her attention is caught by one of the soldiers, Karsten Simmering, a troubled young man who has begun to question what he is fighting for. One evening, as Esther lingers by the camp fence, she is astonished when Karsten call out to her in English. Their fate becomes entwined when their relationship calls into question all their assumptions about national and personal loyalty--Publisher.

Anthony Capella. The Wedding Officer.
In the sumptuous tradition of "Chocolat" and "Captain Cornell's Mandolin," and already optioned for a major motion picture, comes a magical tale of romantic passion and culinary delight for an innocent young captain in Italy.

Chris Bohjalian. Skeletons at the Feast.
As Hitler's Third Reich crumbles, an aristocratic Prussian woman and her child flee west away from the approaching Russian army. Eventually they form an unlikely alliance with a Jewish man escaping from the concentration camps--Publisher.

David Downing. Silesian Station.
"Returning home to Berlin in July 1939, British journalist John Russell learns that his girlfriend Effi has been arrested by the Gestapo. Having agreed to work for American intelligence in exchange for an American passport, Russell hoped he could stay in Germany with Effi and his son if war with England broke out, but now he's being blackmailed." "The Gestapo will only free Effi if Russell will work for Nazi intelligence. His former Soviet connections make him a perfect spy. Russell agrees but secretly offers his services to the Soviets instead. He won't do anything too dangerous, though, and only if they'll sneak him and Effi out of Germany in an emergency." "It seems like a good plan, but soon things get complicated. A Jewish girl has disappeared, and Russell feels compelled to search for her when the police won't. And the Soviets end up demanding more than Russell expected. As Europe lurches toward war, Russell must chase the latest stories while trying both to satisfy his secret masters and to retain some sense of personal integrity."--BOOK JACKET.

Dan Vyleta. Pavel & I.
Set during the winter of 1946-47, one of the coldest on record, Pavel & I unfolds against the tattered social fabric of postwar Berlin. Pavel Richter, a decommissioned GI, finds himself at odds with a rogue colonel in the British Armed Forces and a Soviet general when an American friend deposits a dead Russian spy in his frozen apartment. The race to take possession of the dead spy's quarry soon begins threatening Pavel's friendship with a street orphan named Anders and his budding love for his upstairs neighbor, Sonia. As the action hurtles toward catastrophe, the hunt merges with one for the truth about the novel's protagonist: Who exactly is Pavel Richter? Peopled with pimps, prostitutes, spies, and a gang of child thieves, Pavel & I explores the power of storytelling to wrest meaning from the wreckage of civilization.

David Benioff. City of Thieves.
A writer visits his retired grandparents in Florida to document their experience during the infamous siege of Leningrad. His grandmother won't talk about it, but his grandfather reluctantly consents. The result is the captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive against desperate odds. Lev Beniov is small, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for the army, who spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter with friends from his building. When a dead German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged to jail. He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake--Publisher.

Debra Dean. The Madonnas of Leningrad.
"Seamlessly moving back and forth in time between the Soviet Union and contemporary America, The Madonnas of Leningrad is a searing portrait of war and remembrance, of the power of love, memory, and art to offer beauty, grace, and hope in the face of overwhelming despair"--Jacket.

Literary Titles:


John Green. Looking for Alaska. (modern characters in realistic setting)
Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.

Margo Lanagan. Black Juice. (story collection with fantastic slant)
Provides glimpses of the dark side of civilization and the beauty of the human spirit through ten short stories that explore significant moments in people's lives, events leading to them, and their consequences.

Meg Rossoff. How I Live Now. (dystopia)
To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

Ian McEwan. On Chesil Beach.
The story centers around two newlyweds, Edward and Florence Mayhew both virgins who must struggle through their internal battles with sexual anxiety.

Lionel Shriver. The Post-Birthday World.
"Children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet and settled life in London with her partner, fellow American expatriate Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual at a prestigious think tank. To their small circle of friends, their relationship is rock solid. Until the night Irina unaccountably finds herself dying to kiss another man: their old friend from South London, the stylish, extravagant, passionate top-ranking snooker player Ramsey Acton. The decision to give in to temptation will have consequences for her career, her relationships with family and friends, and perhaps most importantly the texture of her daily life."--BOOK JACKET.

Denis Johnson. Tree of Smoke.
The lives of Skip Sands, a spy-in-training engaged in psychological operations against the Vietcong, and brothers Bill and James Houston, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war, intertwine in a novel of America during the Vietnam War.

David Wroblewski. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
A tale reminiscent of "Hamlet" that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father's death

One Conference, One Book

Start reading local author Will Weaver's young adult novel Defect, winner of the Minnesota Book Award, in preparation for the annual state conference November 19-21. To quote his website,

"Maybe it was bad karma. Maybe it was just bad luck. Whatever the reason, fifteen-year-old David was born defective. His bug eyes, pinched face, and hearing aids are obvious, but there is a secret David keeps from everyone, even his foster parents. Because of a thin layer of skin hidden under each arm, David can fly–well, glide is more like it. Terrified of doctors, wary of letting down his guard, David is determined to hide his secret at any cost. But then David meets Cheetah, a girl whose own defect doesn't diminish her spirit, and suddenly his life begins to take wing. In this arresting new novel, Weaver creates an unforgettable character on the path to discovering that some blessings can be a curse–and some curses a blessing. "

• [E]erie cover and enticing premise will draw readers in for a big payoff.—Booklist.


• [P]rovocative novel."—VOYA(Voice of Youth Advocates).


• This story is incredibly touching and powerful, and honest. . . .—TeensReadtoo.com.


• [A]touching story that has a lot to say about whether we wear our bodies or they wear us.—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.

Author Commentary: This novel has much to do with some time I spent at the Mayo Clinic as a thirteen year old. I had a facial injury (my nose) which took some fixing, and that feeling of being disfigured (temporarily) stayed with me. Defect also has to do with the literary issue of the young adult "problem novel." Nowadays, fictional realism has hit a wall in terms of problems to explore; that is, the problem under investigation had better be really interesting!

• See Will Weaver on Thursday morning Nov. 20th from 7:00-8:00 a.m. at the Sharon J. Lerner Lecture Fund Breakfast where he'll speak about "The Value of Children's Literature and Children's Publishing."


• Immediately after that from 8:00-9:15 a.m., attend the One Conference, One Book Discussion of Defect.

RART @ MLA Conference

RART @ MLA Conference November 2008



WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19
8:30-10:00p.m.
MLA Business Meetings:
Readers Advisory Roundtable (RART)
Happy Hour
place to be determined



THURSDAY November 20


8:00-9:15 One Conference, One Book Discussion: Defect
(RART, CYP, PLD, ARLD)
The One Book, One Conference session is a joint effort between the Readers Advisory Round table and MLA’s president to choose a title for the MLA community to read. The session offers an opportunity to discuss the book amongst ourselves and with its author Will Weaver. Discussion questions and information about the author will be provided at the conference and also will be found on the MLA Website.
--- Jody Wurl, discussion facilitator, Hennepin County Library


10:00-11:15 When Love Hurts: Taking the Pain Out of Romance RA
(RART, RASS, PLD)
Romance can be an awkward genre to conduct RA in for both
librarians and patrons. This session will give attendees a crash
course in the Romance genre and some of its more popular
subgenres, examine the genre’s popularity and reader base, give some tips on making the library and reference staff more user-friendly for romance readers, and feature a discussion with some popular local authors. Attendees will come away with several tools for future use: a list of romance resources for librarians and patrons and assorted annotated reading lists to use with patrons.
---Jennifer Brannen, Library Associate, St Paul Public Library


1:30-2:45 50 in 75 Book Talks (RART, PLD, CYP, LMRT, RASS)
The Readers Advisory Round Table presents 50 titles (or more) in 75 minutes. Take five librarians, ask them to talk about 50 titles in 5 different areas, and it’s book heaven! We’ll cover new and interesting titles and maybe one or two old favorites in Romance, Literary Fiction, YA, Mysteries, and WWII. RA is one of the toughest and enjoyable aspects of librarianship. Whether you are a daily or occasional practitioner of RA, we all can use new titles to share with our patrons. We just can’t read everything, so book talks like this help spread knowledge.
-- Jennifer Brannen, St. Paul Library; Sarah Nagle, Carver County Library; Barbara Pierce, St. Paul Public Library; Jody Wurl, Hennepin County Library; with Angie Noyes, Washington County Library as moderator.


3:30-4:45 Inspirational Fiction (RART, PLD, RASS)
Can’t think of what to recommend in this specific genre? Come to this session designed to be an in-depth introduction for librarians to Christian/inspirational books with highlights on key authors and book talking of popular titles in this genre.
-- Sharon Hinck, author and Jody Wurl, Hennepin County Library




FRIDAY November 21


9:30- 10:45 Jumpstart RA (RART, PLD, RASS)
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the myriad of new reader's advisory tools available? Are the mile-long waiting lists for recent bestsellers leaving library patrons discouraged? Are you tired of weeding wonderful titles because they get lost in the stacks and simply don't circulate? Join us for a discussion on how to promote your library's fiction and nonfiction backlist using a variety of simple, inexpensive, indirect RA tools: booklists, displays, websites and much more.
--- Katherine Stecher, Readers Services Division, Rochester Public Library

UReads '08

http://www.cce.umn.edu/ureads/

"U Reads is a recommended reading list sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education, adults' gateway to the lifelong learning resources at the University...

check out the June 16 Curiosity Camp about U Reads, titled You Have to Read This! Curiosity Camp offers summer daylong events for adults that will engage your mind and refresh your spirit. You Have to Read This! will feature talks by Doug Armato, director of the University of Minnesota Press; Toni McNaron, professor emerita of English; Patricia Simmons, phyisican and chair of the Board of Regents; and author Faith Sullivan."

Minnesota Book Awards 2008- RART Table

Fiction-L Dinner during PLA Minneapolis

Fiction_L Dinner PLA 2008 Minneapolis Fiction_L Dinner PLA 2008 Minneapolis

Fiction_L Dinner PLA 2008


6:00 – 7:15 pm Happy Hour and Dinner Registration

7:30 – 9:30 pm Dinner


Food choices:

1. Walleye (the closest we could come to lutefisk)

2. Chicken Shepherds Pie (your basic hotdish)

3. Pot Roast (just like Mom’s, doncha know)

Along with
Pre-selected
salad and desert

Authors attending:

R.D. Zimmerman, Connie Brockway, Lois Bujold, Erin Hart, William Krueger Kent

The food, space and company were quite good. You all missed a fun night. Enjoy the images below from our evening of food-authors-conversation!

Up close and personal with the authors- book signings...
Just happy to be at The Local and talkin books!

Our local Fiction-L Queen and host for the dinner. Caught in mid conversation- an action shot.

Will any of us be in his next book??

Getting to know eachother at the author tables.

Oops got Ms. Bujold with her eyes closed...she's so demure.
Erin Hart didn't want the fantasy writer to feel so alone, so her eyes are closed too. We think the camera on the flash really go to them.
Who can't resist loving Connie Brockway;-)
Oh then the man himself, Mr. William Krueger Kent, can we say we got girlie with him?

And just a few more...really you should have been there...

More graphic novels...


Anna, along with Rebecca Marjesdatter, gave a very good introduction to manga materials.

Thier knowledge and enthusiasm for the format was amazing.

More Pictures- yes you should have been there!

Christopher was really good about answering our questions.
The next presenter had fabulous graphic novels from Japan. Next post will have more...

Pictures from the 2008 RA Retreat

We had a really good time and learned alot! Whose afraid of graphic novels now?!


We listened intentley to the history of comic books.
And had good discussions during the breaks.

RART Chair Jody Wurl making a presenter laugh...good way to start a new session, with a good chuckle.

RA Goes Graphic: Comic Books, Manga, & More

“RA Goes Graphic: Comic Books, Manga, & More”

Held Saturday, May 3rd 2008

The 2008 Readers’ Advisory Spring Retreat at the MN Landscape Arboretum

Ice Breaker: History lesson on graphic novels. Share a title that you like or have heard of, or thought was intriguing (though you may not have read it!)

So what’s up with the art work? Christopher Jones, a DC Comic book penciller/artist will help us break down the process of creating a comic. He also will share his knowledge and information on the local comic book scene and make some recommendations.

Christopher Jones (www.christopherjonesart.com) has been working in comics professionally since 1989, penciling, inking and sometimes writing for publishers including DC, Image, Malibu, Caliber, and Sundragon Comics. Most of Chris' work in recent years has been penciling for DC Comics, where he is the regular penciller on The Batman Strikes, the comic based on the new Warner Brothers animated Batman series. Chris currently holds the title as artist of the most circulated Batman and Superman comics of all time. Chris won this trivia-worthy title when he provided pencil art for installments of the mini-comics distributed with the Justice League toys in Burger King kids meals in 2003. The comics had print runs of 35 million copies.

Manga -- An introduction to “That Japanese Stuff.” Anna Waltz will help us answer some of our most pressing questions: Are you confused by these new publications? Do you feel as if you need to learn a new language just to keep up?

Anna Waltz is a local science fiction writer and life-long comic book collector. She frequently speaks at sci-fi and anime conventions. What's good? What do you need to watch out for? Come learn about Japanese manga and why it's so popular. We'll examine the history, lingo, categories, publishing, and trends of this exciting genre.

RART Spring Retreat is May 3

If you love Readers' Advisory or just want to learn a bit more about it, check out the Readers' Advisory Round Table (RART) here at MLA. In addition to proposing RA sessions for MLA's annual conference, the Steering Committe creates a Spring Retreat every year that focuses on a different topic. This year's retreat focuses on Graphic Novels and Manga.

On Saturday, May 3 at the Minnesota Landscape Aroboretum in Chaska, we kick off our meeting at 8:45 a.m. and wrap up our discussions around 2:30 p.m. The Retreat includes free admisison to the Arboretum, a continental breakfast, lunch, and some fascinating conversations!

In addition to discussions on graphic novels in libraries , we have two guest speakers. Local scholar and author Anna Waltz will discuss the history of manga in the U.S. and describe its various subgenres, as well as share some titles she'd recommend for public library collections. Christopher Jones , a local comics author/illustrator known for his work on DC Comics' Batman Strikes!, will share his insider knowledge of the comics industry and recommend some of his favorite books.

Interested? Send registration information with a check payable to MLA as soon as possible to:

RART 2008 Reader’s Retreat / Angie Noyes
c/o Hardwood Creek Branch [WCL]
19955 Forest Road North, Forest Lake, MN 55025.

Early registration (before April 18):

• RART Member $35
• MLA Member $40
• non-MLA Member $45

Late registration (after April 18):

• MLA Member $45
• non-MLA Member 55

*Registration after April 25 risks not being able to receive lunch

Registration information needed:

• Name and Library
• Mailing Address
• E-mail and Phone Number
  

Also, please indicate your choice for lunch with your registration information by selecting one salad type AND one sandwich type. All lunches include chips, whole fresh fruit, a decadent dessert bar, and a beverage.

Salads

• toasted cashew chicken salad
• fresh mozzarella and basil
• penne salad

Sandwiches

• portobello Focaccia with wilted spinach and roasted red pepper sauce
• grilled chicken, crisp arugula and caramelized onions
• oven-roasted turkey baguette with apple chutney, shaved cucumbers and peppery watercress
• turkey breast Caesar wrap
• shaved roast beef, smoky ham, and cheddar on a croissant
• stuffed Greek salad pita

Welcome!

posts coming soon...