Libraries & comics. Graphic novel reviews, thoughts, and sometimes other geeky or library stuff by a librarian. Formerly Reads, Rants, Raves and Adventures of a Library Elf.
Good morning! I realized that my Twitter account is separate from here. I've been retweeting a lot of good stuff. In the next few days, I'll add the widget back with my account. Eventually, I'm hoping to create an RSS feed account where you can see when I updated. All of this is eventually.
I practically live on Twitter. I've had a lot to muse on this morning and wanted to share some of it.
First, yes, it is cold and if you're in the south eastern portion of PA, you should follow these guys. Generally, they are spot on with weather predictions. Then occasionally they have stuff like this:
MEGA ALERT BREAKING WEATHER NEWS: It's winter and it's going to be cold. Cue flashing graphics and icons with tag team meteorologists!
— PhillyWx.com (@phillywx) January 7, 2015
Next, a comic artist I follow on Twitter muses about her library experiences as a page and in an awesome pop culture library I did not realize exists. Star Trek Memorabilia? YES!
I manage 2 nonprofit Facebook pages (my library and another) and I admit, I haven't actually sat down to read this yet, but it looks intriguing. I like 99u for their inspirational posts.
I love reading Questionable Content. Lately, he's been having a lot happen in the library with characters...but including some interesting commentary on libraries. Take a read here: First part and a follow up. I could go in-depth on this, but just enjoy the humor and how Marten and Claire (intern) and Tai (the head librarian) have their opinions of the [academic] library.
Last, Story Time Underground has this neat blog prompt called "Resolve to Rock." I first heard about it through Laura at Literacious (who is awesome). I may do this just for myself. I know it's time to set my vision and goals for the coming year so this might help me focus professionally.
Anything you found interesting so far this week? Want to discuss something? Share in the comments.
For two months now I've been toying with the idea of dusting this place off. I told myself I would think about it...indefinitely because I think I have good ideas that turn out to be too much work and I only have so much time. Also, right now, I really don't need to add something into the mix.
Right now, I'm working on NaNoWriMo and am slated to reach my count by Nov. 23. (Side note:it has been so entertaining/wonderful to see librarians getting into this. I'm happy but it's like shiny and new to librarians but I've been aware of it since 2000-something and this is my second official year participating). Also, I have an orchestra concert this week which means my next two days are this: morning routine, work, hour-ish dinner break, rehearsal until who-knows-when (2-3 hours), NaNoWriMo, with Friday being the concert. (I'm pretty stoked, honestly. We sound great and it is awesome to be part of the community this way). Not to mention, we have a toddler of a 1-year old cat who thinks it is a great idea to do things to get us up between 3-6 AM.
So why now? Why did I decide, "sure, I'm going to give it another go and if it doesn't stick, I seriously need to consider giving up for good?"
I attended PaLA's SEPLA annual meeting and workshop today. Our special guest was Becky from RA for All. At this workshop/meeting, she talked about RA and how we have all the tools to be "virtual superstar librarians." She spoke a lot on "bridging the physical-virtual divide" and brought up lots of points I hadn't considered before. Some points are:
take your RA in the the library to virtual spaces to create a seamless experience
keep your voice the same or similar to how you are in real life (something I've been struggling with on this blog)
RA really highlights your backlist. The new stuff gets enough attention when it comes out; don't worry about it now.
Other takeaways I had from looking at the blog and from the workshop included blogging for yourself, that the review format I have is very similar to what was on other RA blogs, and well, I have this energy that I want to use now, but can't (not a bad thing. I just would hate to jump in only to discover I have to shift gears quickly).
I honestly started this blog because I always seem to get fellow librarians in real life (irl) saying "You know about graphic novels, can you help me with XYZ." So, I wanted to share what I read. What stopped me recently (apparently in May) is that I was forcing myself to read new stuff and was growing annoyed I couldn't read what I wanted to read that was new because of money (yes, I'm on Netgalley, but when you have a manga fix, Netgalley doesn't always work). I want to buy manga but at $10 a pop with 15 volumes to a series easily vs. my 16 year old cat with asthma (in May it was the 17 year old Orange Cat with cancer who we lost in July) vs. the car REALLY needed new tires vs. music stuff and other stuff, the comic money I had as a teen is just not there (helloooooo adulthood).
But I still read comics and I am currently, sorta on a manga kick. My original intent was to blog about whatever I was reading graphic novel-wise. More recently, I thought I had to read what was new. I also felt that I couldn't cover YA because it is so overdone (in my opinion).
Thinking about the workshop and exploring the blogs today shows me I should just go back to my original intent: covering graphic novels (and YA occasionally). Eventually, I want to cover my idea of a "core collection." I want to index the reviews by titles (OMG). I have a few other ideas too...so...
I'm late to this. I know I am because I kind of hoped it'd blow over when I actually wanted to see the lists again. As it should be semi-public knowledge here, I normally pick on the "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" lists that YALSA puts out. I like them. They can be a good start, BUT there's just some stuff on there that doesn't hold a teen's interest (Prime Baby [my review] is a prime example). I've tried to be involved, but only learned last year that I can actually suggest stuff. I have one to suggest for this year actually...
Well, today, I finally ran into YALSA's "block." Basically, if you have been under a rock, when you decide to take a look at YALSA's lists, you see a "Thanks for your interest blah-blah give us your information or skip all this and sign in."
I hate signing in. Mainly because for some dumb reasons my passwords hate me. Or the system hates my password. I also don't always remember my user name and/password and ALA Connect and Member Services have still left a bad taste in my mouth (basically, I asked recently why we can't get invoices. The state library association gives me one right off the bat AND I can access it for say, when I want to print it off for taxes. I asked if this could be consider and got a "no"). As if ALA doesn't get enough of my money right now.
Yeah, I could just end my membership there, but if I didn't like YALS so much, I would.
Ok, so why did I finally run into this block? I wanted to add the book lists to my resources page because it looks somewhat sparse and I haven't started looking for stuff to add yet. My first thought was "Let's check to see if that block is there."
Here we go. First, all the information about the awards is available outside of the wall, EXCEPT the actual list themselves. So, I can nominate a book without actually signing in or giving them my information (except in the process). That means non-members could try to nominate books. In certain cases, I understand that, but I'd think that should be more behind the wall than it is. I can also learn all I want about the award, see nominations (WHAT?), but not actually see what won. That is messed up logic.
"Members who want to access the lists on reference desk computers or other non-personal computers and don’t want to login with personal information can also bookmark the links for the lists and awards. These URLs are now posted in the “Members Only” section of the website." That's kinda nice, but something about this irks me. That is also somewhat messed up logic. If I want to book mark the link, am a non-member, but need it to do my job, I have to get a membership to get special links? Um...
"Fourth, several people have raised the question about whether it is worth it to ask for this information. The answer is we’re not sure yet, but we think it might be." Ok, you've been at this since February to when this was posted on May 30. Frankly, you should know whether or not this is working. I'm not impressed with the statistics.
"Fifth, some members have indicated that they are against this change because they feel that YALSA is restricting or putting up barriers to information. In fact, YALSA is doing the same thing that most of you do every day in your own libraries..." Yes, but when I want e-books from my library or want to browse my library or any library collection, I don't have to log in to do it. While I get the database analogy, it doesn't fly because it isn't true of every database or even the catalogs. I also can get that library card for FREE (the majority of the time) in order to access the information. In order to get access to these lists, I have to do what Facebook's apps basically do: get my information to enjoy it or pay a lot of money for a list.
YALSA, you are "putting up barriers to information" especially in a time of budget crunches and closures. I'm thinking of city librarians who just want to promote reading or justify the need to purchase books. The time strapped librarian who doesn't have time to fill out forms and forgets when s/he gets home because of how tired the person is.
I'm also looking at this fact, which is wrong, absolutely wrong:
The Newbery and Caldecott List is public, but the Printz is not. And don't get into the fact that these are different divisions. I recognize that, but they are also respected awards and I find the Printz equivalent to that. If other divisions can do this, so can YALSA. Put other stuff behind the walls. Stuff that people would be glad to pay for.
Disclosure: This is a rant. I may not know all of the details and may not have read up on all of the details leading to this decision on YALSA's behalf. It may not be prudent to take this discussion out onto my blog, but honestly, others are doing it too and I restarted the discussion on twitter. I'm very annoyed about this and am just using this as a way to vent. There are great blogs out there and a very nicely written post,with more comments and links, was done by Liz B of A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy (link to her reaction to the update from June 5)
Things Discovered...after the majority of this was written
The Philosopher Musician thinks that as a patron and person, lack of access to the links is uncool and that the basic list itself should be available freely as it is very basic information...SO
He just discovered the Printz List is available on Wikipedia. To be honest, I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't think of this first and am sorry if YALSA forces it to come down after this information comes to light.
Also, kudos to whoever is maintaining that Wikipedia page.
My mom got a blog. Oh noes. Not really. I'm part of the reason why she has it: to talk about romance novels and libraries. Frankly, like me, she knows a lot on that genre. She's been reading romance since I can remember and for the last 5 years or so has been seriously studying it. If you bookmarked her old page, please update it, because due to a Google Hiccup, she had to start over so...
I'm experimenting. I'm trying to write more, especially since I'm reminded of Ray Bradbury on this sad day. Also, my other blogging gig has been revealed.
Simply put, this is my explanation about my reviews here and over there.
Currently, I get GNs that are of interest to me or I feel I should read because everyone is talking them up. Mainly, the talking up bit is because, well, I should know about it and generally I have to wonder, if the librarians are talking it up, is it really that awesome (lately it has been 50/50)?
I get books from the library, Netgalley, purchasing them (wish I had more funds for that...I miss my manga habit) and if people give them to me for free (ARCs, friends, etc).
I will not hesitate to rip into a book (aka give it a negative review). If you want to know what I mean, please find the review on Marvel's Pride and Prejudice. I cannot stop talking about how much that book irked me and yet it got such high praise.
Since I sometimes give negative reviews, please look at it as another voice out there and not that I hate your book. I truly believe that books have their readers and places and that we can't all love the same books. If we did, life would probably be boring. On the other hand, I will make every effort to find some sort of positive in the book, be it that it is suited better to school librarians, adult readers (see Prime Baby as an example), etc, or that the art is pretty or the plot was pretty good but not for me. Negative reviews should exist and I find it my duty to tell you my thoughts on the book.
I'm writing from both a professional stance and that of a graphic novel reader. My main reading habits include the following: comics, graphic novels, manga, young adult books, and non-fiction for grown-ups. I dabble in chapter books and picture books (but picture books are so easy to read in a few minutes and so much fun). I will probably post YA once in a while, but like non-fiction for grown-ups, it is mainly pleasure reading and to improve my RA skills. Huzzah!
If you want a completely professional stance, visit The Graphic Classroom. They have great professional reviews and that is where you can find my "professional voice."
If it looks like I have a DC slant, I do and openly admit to the fact I love Batman. He is my favorite hero and have read a lot about him (and Catwoman). I will read other comics though. Believe me. I will read almost everything in a comic format (excepting gore. No. Way. Not my style.).
Not every comic/graphic novel I read will get reviewed. I gotta have my mind candy and truly pleasure reading.
This blog exists mainly as a place to tell my friends and family (Hi Mom!) about what graphic novels to get for their libraries since I'm seen as some expert because I read comics. Go figure.
Ok. I think that's it regarding the "Important Stuff You Should Know" about my reviews. One of these weeks I'll get into:
Why I don't read book blog book reviews.
Why I tend to blog only reviews and very rarely other stuff.
Why I love webcomics and eventually web comic reviews (or web comic book reviews)
And other mysteries as I feel I have to explain them.
Small update today and that was to add an audio book and correct the title of another all the way at the bottom of the page. I'm in the middle of two audio books currently: Ecological Intelligence and Omnivore's Dilemma. I don't post the title until I finish them because sometimes I abandon them (i.e. The Secret Life of Prince Charming).
I just wanted to mention that for those of you on Twitter, you should follow Publisher's Weekly's Comic thing: Twitter.com/PWComicsWeek Very useful links to useful articles, such as Amazon's recent Ban on Yaoi (definition: boy loves boy manga which, I might add, is not always "steamy." Some is very innocent).
Hope you checked out Free Comic Book Day yesterday. I couldn't. :(
From my own Twitter Account: “Good idea. Poorly excuted(sic): TOTAL disregard for Zombie Lore. (1st broken rule: building w/windows) http://bit.ly/feNhlm ”
The McPherson College's Miller Library (Kansas) has created a Zombie Apocalypse “graphic novel” to introduce students to the library. While a great idea (commendable, really), it is poorly executed, mainly in that the story has disregard to Zombie Apocalypse Lore. With this in mind, I shared this doozy of a graphic novel to some friends the other night to get their opinion to make sure my opinions were valid. They agreed.
The issues I have with this:
Trying to hard. The introduction says WAY to much about librarians and not enough about students. The introduction is one of those things that makes me cringe for librarians. It is at moments condescending (librarians are information literate people, not you) and these are the kinds of words that turn freshmen (or those not associated to libraries) off of libraries. Don’t explain WHY you did it (although, the last bit about saving the day is good). Just publish the damn novel and see what happens or just say “This guide is for you. Enjoy!”
“Comic Book” NOT “GRAPHIC NOVEL.” (The Philosopher Musician cringed as I read this sentence aloud, after he saw bits of it the other night). 23 pages of zombie apocalypse goodness is actually print comic book-length. The comic itself is even smaller than that.
The overall dialogue. At moments it flows, at others it doesn’t. Right off the bat, it seems forced and…odd…(what is the bit about “state college?” As a PA person, I think about State College, PA). The dialogue sounds like a bad movie, but really bad, not cheesy-bad. “Oh you silly kids…” (p. 4) reminds me of Scooby Doo and readers will drop it then. After this outburst, the whole comic turns into a comic infomercial.
The librarian is psychotic. He doesn’t care that his student workers are dead (p.5)? He’s more interested in finding books about voodoo. Great. Librarians are heartless.
Breaks in Zombie Apocalypse Lore:
STAY AWAY FROM GLASS BUILDINGS. That library, as far as I can tell, would have been the first place to lose it in a Zombie Apocalypse. It’s covered in glass.*
Why zombies crave brains. Ok. I don’t know why, but the craving knowledge was cute…but it missed the mark somehow. If the factoid about zombies craving brains was included in the general story, with the students going, “OH! Zombies crave knowledge!” that bit might have been funny.
Stairs. Do not be in a place with lots of stairs. Zombies can climb them. Again, this library fails in zombie stronghold (ok, just realized that the point isn’t that the library is a stronghold, but I’m not sure they would have lasted even this long with this building).
Wait, records are by primitive humans? (p. 9) (Good sarcasm fail.) Also, the idea of using records to attack zombies is totally ripped from the movie “Shaun of the Dead.”
Lastly, in the last panel, I’m bothered by the librarian’s speech (The Philosopher Musician is bothered by his zombie-like expression). Again, I cringe for librarians because it is that kind of “we’re smarter than you and look at the trick we just pulled with this awesome graphic novel; you will know how to use the library and be the awesome students we know you are.” That’s it. It is a motivational speech, which is really fake-sounding.
All in all, I find this a novel and commendable idea. The art is fantastic and the ideas for physically fighting zombies in a library were kind of useful for people in a zombie apocalypse. I actually love the art, but the text is terrible. Too much showing, not enough telling, and not enough “guided instruction.” Honestly, his guided instruction did not even give the students a chance to deduce how to look for or find certain things. Yes, in a Zombie Apocalypse, you have a limited amount of time, but I’m sure the students could have figured out some more about zombies by applying some research skills he introduced them to (I’m a firm believer in “guide on the side”). I wanted so much for this graphic novel, but instead it falls into that category of “too much obvious lesson, not enough hinted lesson.”
I sincerely wish this library luck in getting this into student’s hands. The nerds will devour this. Graphic novel enthusiasts will devour this. Unfortunately they will enjoy this for all the wrong reasons, which I outlined above, if it even makes it into their hands.
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*In college, friends and I used to try to figure out in the event of a zombie apocalypse which building would be the best building to go to for safety. It wasn't the library.
Here's what happened
March is a crazy month for me. It seems that March is one of the few months of the year (the others being May and October for sure) that I just get hit with workshops, programs, meetings, and all sorts of obligations that I must meet (or want to meet). Generally, I chose this craziness, but this March, I almost over scheduled myself because I wasn't using the right planning calendar. Oops...
Which means, I didn't pay attention to the blog. It's sad really. I have so much "back log" review-wise you'd think I'd be ready to go, but I just don't feel like booting the computer up some days, especially after spending a day staring at the computer for various reasons. I'm going to try to change this, and also try to warn you if there seems to be some down time happening.
What's going to happen now
April is my "new leaf" month, at least for the blog. Really, I've marked May 1st as my "turn around date" for a lot (I don't believe in just New Year's Day as the only goal setting day of the year). I've just spent a few hours clearing up the back log and getting posts ready to go. From this weekend out, you'll see regular updates on Sundays. If the Sunday post was volume 1, check back on Monday for a possible bonus post for volume 2. Wednesdays in April will be a slew of "bonus" posts to hopefully make up for my March absence. I'm also going to try to prepare some bonus posts since Book Links has been focused on Graphic Novels, which is an interesting surprise (They reviewed Axe Cop of all things!).
In 2010, I participated (sort of, I guess?) in 3 reading challenges. First, I would like to say that I enjoy the challenges (and there are a zillion out there on any reading thing you want to do). On the one hand, I'll read or listen to the books anyway, on the other hand, it forces me to try and focus on something new, such as hunting down the next fun audio book to listen to.
So, how did I do? I'm going to go from worst to best.
First, we have the Terry Pratchett Challenge. I made a valiant effort on this one, which The Philosopher Musician is happy about, but my mood for Pratchett just never aligned with us in the car on the trips to family/grad school visits. We started three audio books but I just wasn't in the mood or we talked instead (whoops?). My attempts included Good Omens, A Hat Full of Sky (I'm up to 3 attempts and I finally purchased a copy after finding it in Goodwill), and Nation1 (The Philosopher Musician determined it would be better physically read than to listen to ["No offense to Stephen Briggs and all" - The Philosopher Musician])
Goal: 3 books Total: 0
1Nation, I HAD listened to in 2009, and still think it should have gotten the Printz award over the actual 2009 winner, which was a "no one really had heard of this book." He's done a lot for reading (and now for Alzheimer's), why can't he get SOME ALA award?
Next up, we have the Graphic Novel Challenge. Even though I read graphic novels, I decided to challenge myself to a feat I've been hoping to accomplish: read my way through an ALA Great Graphic Novel list. The focus on this one was to read through at least 10 of the ALA Great Graphic Novel List of 2010. I thought I had but...
Goal: 10 books Total: 8 books
Last and best is my favorite and probably most successful challenge: The Audio Book Challenge. Audio books are really fun. I honestly have to say that I enjoy the change of pace by letting a narrator guide me through a story (and a GOOD narrator to boot; if they annoy me, I'll look for another book). Out of all of the audio books (which I'll list for you below since the former website does not have a finished list), The Hunger Games trilogy was my favorite. I would yell out while I was listening to it. I was glued to the story, and I wanted errands to run just so I could work through another disc. I was excited to be part of the Mockingjay hype. I generally miss out on the excitement of counting down to these books, but there I was trying to determined which "Team" I was. Since finishing the books, I have recommended listening to the series often, and two of the people I recommended it to (both librarians) said that I was right, and it is fascinating to hear.
Goal: 6 audio books Total: 8 audio books (woo!)
The list:
1.) Going Bovine by Libba Bray (completed March 9, 2010)
2.) The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (completed April 2010)
3.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (completed June 2010)
4.) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (completed July 2010)
5.) Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith (completed August 2010)
6.) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (completed September 2010)
7.) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (completed later September 2010)
8.) City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (completed October 2010)
And just as an FYI, I did finish the Mortal Instruments TRILOGY. I just don't know about the next book. I'll also sit down and finally read Tantalize (the book before Eternal) as I just can't do the audio of that one, which is a pity...I'm definitely looking forward to Blessed though.
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If you've read this far, kudos. I know that is a lot of text (or at least it looks like it on my small computer).
Now for this year's Challenges (aka goals)! For 2011, so far I'm doing two challenges:
Goal: Expert Level 10+ Limiters: 11 GNs from the 2011 ALA Great Graphic Novels List (which comes out NEXT WEEK! I hope my suggestions made the cut!) Aiming for: as many as I can read from this list.
Things have been crazy. I didn't realize my last update was in October. My thought was the last update was in November sometime. A lot happened in November.
What has happened since that last update? Well, in the whirlwind that was the end of October I made a professional move from teen services to all youth services, changed libraries, changed counties, got an apartment with the Philosopher Musician, moved (am still moving stuff over), and found myself basically being an adult. All in the span of about two weeks. It was impressive. It has been a great move.
Now, according to last week or so, I finished grad school. Yes, I'm done (with a few exceptions). I can focus on my life again, whatever that is. One thing I've discovered as of late is that I'm a gamer. Yes, a video gamer. I purchased a Red Nintendo Wii (anytime I can get a red electronic, I do) which came with the awesome Super Mario Bros Wii. We lucked into a cheap, working Xbox and picked up a few games for that. I was getting into Steam again until my old computer tower (at least 10 years old) decided it wasn't going to see the Slave Drive. SimCity 4 was just on sale (I "have" it, but can't play it). The Netbook is just not good for gaming.
That's where I'm at and what I've been up to. The Philosopher Musician is coming on as a full partner here when we can get focus.
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For the goodies! For Christmas, The Philosopher Musician got me...COMICS! (I had figured out one of these things because he said he looked at my comic collection! HA!)
Ruse Issue 16, which I may or may not have all ready. Catwoman Issue 2 since I have number 1!
Catwoman Issues 25 and 34. Filling in some story arcs. Very well done.
YES YES YES YES. The store, he says, was surprised they even had this one! One of the few that I willingly own the Issues AND the book. :)
My apologies for the bad pictures. My camera took a dive a few weeks ago (it rattles) so these were taken with a cheaper camera.
I got him Axe Cop vol. 1 for Christmas which we're both pretty excited for.
This is probably old news by now, but I just couldn't help linking to this.
XKCD has made a map of the Internet as countries (at least that's how I see it). Either way, it is a nifty representation of web sites from Facebook to blogging and how "popular" one site is from another. It is pretty wicked cool. Although, book blogs don't rank anywhere...
In other news, I'm going to do some blog cleanup one of these days and move the blog to a better (more logical) address (I have it! I'm squatting!). I've got a small vacation (translation: lots of time at grandmom's house) coming up and hope that I can put some "blog" stuff on the agenda. My time has been eaten up by little things such as my job (yay school visits) and school work. Here's hoping I get a better handle by the end of next weekend!
First, I must say that the following has nothing to do with my politics. In fact, I'm not even in this particular state, so I assume it doesn't really matter, but just wanted to let you know.
When I first clicked on this link ("An Open Letter to Maryland State Senator Nancy King", ReTweeted by J. Torres from Dean Trippe) in my twitter feed today, I could not stop laughing at the picture. Seriously, the link that laying off teachers means kids will go off and read comics and not learn anything? I just had to laugh.
Unfortunately, I can't believe this stereotype is still around today. I mean, this stereotype goes way back (thinking the stuff from 1950s/1960s). I link it to you today because Dean Trippe has a lot of good things to say about comics and education. In fact, he even links to a non-profit that is linking educational comics to teachers. ------ Speaking of comics, tomorrow is International Read Comics in Public Day. I'll find a way to participate even though I'm working...
(Or How Alison Dare Explored My Basement Instead of Crossing a Famous River)
Welcome! Today is the second to last day (day 9) of The Double Blog Dare Tour (week 2, more links in the link) and boy has Alison Dare had many an adventure around the world! She even took the time to visit my house where she immediately took off to explore my basement (just a word about my basement: half of it is solid rock that they had to "blast" out in the 1900s when they moved the house to its current location). Onward to Alison's Basement Adventure. Here we see her beginning to climb in the dark:
Alison Dare in the Dark.
After a moment of uncertainty Alison continues her climb:
Alison Dare hanging on!
Barely hanging on, Alison Dare continues her way up the cliff edge to find:
Alison Dare on the Edge!
She can tell there is something in the dark up there, but what? Now that her feet have found better footing, Alison makes her way up to discover:
Alison Dare and the Mysterious Cave!
A cave! What could be in the cave? Well, readers, this is where YOU come in! Tundra Books is sponsoring a contest to enter and win an Alison Dare Prize Pack, which could include signed copies of Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures and Alison Dare: The Heart of the Maiden and much more (They have all kinds of Alison Dare GOODIES!). Visit here for details on the photo contest.
Now onward to the review! ------------------------------
Title: Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures and Alison Dare: The Heart of the Maiden Author: J. Torres
ISBN: 978-0-88776-934-4 (Little Miss Adventures) and 978-0-88776-935-1 (The Heart of the Maiden ----------- Summary and Quick Thoughts:
Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures sets the stage to introduce Alison Dare, the 12 year old daughter of Alan Dodd, librarian and Superhero Blue Scarab, and of Alice Dare, archeologist with a taste of adventure. This first volume collects individual stories of Alison as she finds a genie and makes three wishes, tells the love story of her parents and the Blue Scarab’s true identity to her best friends, and how she tries to set her parents up for a picnic, except Baron Von Baron stops by to pick up a prized possession.
The first half of Alison Dare: The Heart of the Maiden collects a few more of Alison’s adventures. The first is her story of what she did over summer vacation, quickly followed by an “issue” explaining what really happened. Alison celebrates her birthday and thinks her father gave her a magical stone for her birthday, but was that really the gift and did it really do what Alison used it for? The second half of the book is a full story about Alison and her friends, Wendy and Dot as they discover the nuns of their Catholic school have a secret that they are trying to guard as well as find before the wrong hands do. With Alison’s help, someone discovers the secret, but is it the right group?
--------- Will Teens Like It? This is a GREAT all ages title. There’s something for parents and something for children.
-------- Things to be aware of: none (unless you don’t like that her parents are separated). ----------
Further Thoughts: Alison Dare is a strong and smart 12 year old girl. She knows what she wants to do and often goes out to do it, without thinking through all of the consequences. Luckily for her, she has her friends, her parents, and the mysterious Uncle Johnny to save her at the right moment.
When this book was first introduced to me by the publisher, I automatically thought “Indiana Jones,” but as I read the stories, I actually didn’t see that as much. The stories have a bit of action, adventure, suspense, and mystery to them. Even though I know there are only these two books, I keep wondering “Is there more?” I am curious as to Uncle Johnny’s story, there is something about Dot’s Dad I want to know about, and there seem to be more hints dropped “in passing” that I’m curious to see how they play out. Also, do Alison’s parents ever get back together?
In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, J. Torres mentioned that the separated parents was an addition of his own because it provides a different dynamic. I applaud this, but at the same time, wish her parents were together and was a bit surprised when I came across this information in the story.
Now, to the characters! I’ve had The Philosopher Musician read these books and we both agree each character is a stereotypical character. Typically, I don’t mind this, especially since it can work. Alison is the adventure type, always poking her nose somewhere she shouldn’t. Wendy is the book and nerdy type who always offers the right bit of information at the right moment. Alan Dodd is the typical male librarian stereotype (that I’ve seen in comics). His superhero side is like other popular superheroes. As you can see the list goes on, but this is not a bad thing. In fact, the characters all have slightly different quirks than the typical “stock” characters and help to add interest to the stories. For kids, this adds into what they are all ready reading and all ready know. For parents, this can add a sense of reminiscence. For librarians, this opens the doors to how and where you can recommend this title (J. Torres in the same interview mentioned earlier said Tintin was an inspiration).
My only issue with the books is that in Heart of the Maiden, it seems the stories are out of order as a story with Alison and her “gift” is in the middle of the story arc about her birthday party, which confused me after I read it. This may be my copy though, or there may be something I missed. This is a strong graphic novel title fit for all ages and could even be in school collections.
------ Bonus: This blog tour is a bonus! Visit the Author and Illustrators links for more information about what they do (such as J. Torres who writes all kind of comics, including one that I can say was part of my teen years: Teen Titans Go!)
Source: Publisher provided copies as part of Blog Tour!
If I have learned anything in the short time I've been blogging, it is that a blogger must find her voice. Yesterday's review post marked the end of that particular review format. I'm still tweaking it to what I like, but I think the new format will be better for the "busy librarian" as well as more informative as I'm forcing myself to focus less on the plot and more on the details as well as giving you the information most relevant to you first.
Remember, if you ever have any question, please e-mail me or leave a comment. I'd love to be of help. :)
May is the ULTIMATE month for Geeks it seems. First, we comic geeks have Free Comic Book Day (pics of my goodies soon to come. Probably Thursday) and today is May the 4th Be With You Day (for Star Wars Nerds/Geeks which includes one of my best guy friends). And there just seems to be a lot of good articles, although, some may be from last week a.k.a. April.
I'm predicting a trend toward graphic novels soon. I was at a workshop on Thursday where I brought this up in a discussion about words and how teens and the younger set use text messaging more and more than older communication forms (Pew Research Center). There just seems to be more graphic novels than ever since I started reading them at the tender age of 14 or 16 (really longer than that, but I became serious then). First, the bookstores had one shelf section, now there's 3-5 sections and it is overwhelming and growing. With text messaging, I think that graphic novels will be the next book craze simply because less text, more images. There's also a different reading skill involved, although it is the same (it's very hard to explain). I'm also noticing a trend in the kidlit blogosphere that every once in a while a graphic novel pops up where I'm pretty sure there wasn't any before (but I've only been in this for 6 months to a year).
This is interesting. The trends of high school students from those at School Library Journal. The real reason I link to it though, is look at the center blurb. Graphic novels and the appeal is explained well. Although, the zombies in the top blurb are interesting...
Publishers Weekly had a great article, which I think every librarian should see. Here's a Google Cached version (please tell me if it doesn't work). The article talks about a librarian and an ALA rep who spoke at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo about censorship, library policies to include dealing with graphic novels, and more. The article also covers the recent issue over the 11 yr old and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier challenge from a library staff worker, Tin Tin In The Congo, and Blankets. Overall, I thought this was a very informative article and includes what librarians need to think about when supporting graphic novels (and please do!).
The She Blinded Me With Library Science Story to illustrate the above article. In the comic, the character who is technically Marten's Boss at the All Girls School College Library is a lesbian and first appeared in the series with a text shirt saying "She Blinded Me With Library Science." At the time, this became a heavily requested shirt to be made and when it was, everyone was excited!
In 2008, I went to the state library conference and on the first day, someone was wearing this shirt. I told my mom excitedly I knew about that shirt and I admired her for wearing that t-shirt! Unfortunately, I didn't introduce myself to her and she could have been a good friend. She actually wore pretty awesome clothes and was in many of the workshops I was in. This Christmas, my best guy friend got me the bag and the Science is a Verb Shirt (and Bibliophabian a few Christmases ago). Basically, I recognized a fellow Geek and QC reader. These shirts do more than make a statement for Geeks, it connects us. If you still don't get it, think about your library themed shirts. Same thing.
Part 1: Hot Topic, the store First, flying around on my [private] Twitter Feed this week was the accusation that Hot Topic (popular teen "punk/goth" store) ripped off yet another Indie Artist with a t-shirt design. Since this is buried so deep in Twitter now (and was Retweeted [RT] often by web comic artists who fall under the "Indie Artist" category), see this link for thoughts and links to the original design. It seems Hot Topic did keep to their word and took the work down.
Now, just two days ago I saw this RT from web comic artist Rene Engstrom (of AndersLovesMaria fame - NSFW) saying Hot Topic had ripped off artist Kawaii Not by using her images in two buttons without her permission. Kawaii Not's images are difficult to link to as the buttons were all listed on the same page and hard to find without serious searching, but the images were basically the same as the Hot Topic buttons. The Hot Topic image links are in the RT and it seems, just two days later that Hot Topic has taken these buttons down as well (they are "Error Links").
I bring this up because one of my favorite web comic artists (Jess Fink - def. NSFW) had a design of hers taken about 2 years ago which was already a Threadless shirt at that point. Here's an excellent write up about that issue.
While I seriously should be more angry at the designers (and I am), it is Hot Topic's fault to be selling it. Hot Topic has been very good at taking stuff down when asked, but I can't help but wonder what is or isn't original about the stuff that isn't Twilight, Invader Zim, Lenore or "brand names" any more.
Part 2: Bleach Vs. Incarnate I'm really not going to go into this one mainly because I have not read Bleach yet and Johanna Draper Carlson (I hope I'm attributing this to the right author) does a beautiful write up at Comics Worth Reading. She's included most of the links I've seen just browsing on this topic and I think it brings up a great point about "scanlations" (scans of titles unreleased in the U.S.A. [usually Japanese Manga] available freely on the Internet that may be in the original language or "fan subbed" [translated into English by fans]). I honestly did not know all of the history about scanlations or how the Japanese felt about plagiarism until I read this article.
Why bring these up? As I write these, I realize they are more relevant plagiarism cases for teens. Here are some great "real world" examples of what happens when you are caught and how fast this stuff moves. Basically, I think lessons like the two above are more likely to stick with students than those of "don't copy an author's work for your paper."
Part 3: Books too!! Music, movies, TV shows, and other general media aren't the only things getting pirated any more and as librarians we need to be aware of this. Books are going that way too. Laurie Halse Anderson recently posted about "Book Pirates": Part 1 and Part 2. I suspect that the more we see eReaders coming out, the more book pirating will happen. I believe that as librarians, we need to be aware that this exists and try to do our little part in educating users.
It seems to me that many librarians know about YALSA's Best Books for Young Adults, but do you know about YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens? As I understand, this is "the" list to go to if you want to build a "great graphic novel" collection. In the past, I have had major qualms with the lists as I glanced over them. My biggest issue was that it seemed like many titles weren't appealing to teens, but this was me. The 2010 list though certainly has a diverse selection of books and I can say that I like the diversity. I recognize many titles and manga is making more of an appearance than it used to.
Why do I bring up this list? Aside from the fact that this is a good resource for librarians, I have decided to work through as much of the list as I can. I was surprised that as I looked over the list I have yet to read a single title (as of this moment I've read one and am working on the second)! Also, a working knowledge of the literature being discussed is very useful to me.
So there you have it. I hope to read and review all of ALA's Great Graphic Novels for 2010 and give useful reviews.
Also, please pardon me as I attempt to find my voice for this blog. Today, I had my mom proof my reviews and she gave me some good feedback. I keep picturing myself "tripping" as I work through a very overgrown path. I know that the path will clear out, but it will take some time. My mom and I have been talking about blogs and identities, which is interesting if you think about it as you have to figure out boundaries, which I'm trying to do now and post reviews.
Back to our regularly scheduled graphic novel reviews!
I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but believe me, I have quite a few up my sleeve that you will get a bonus update on Wednesday this week and it looks like next week as well.
Some reasons as to why these have been slow coming:
I read many titles at once.
School
I'm easily distracted by other, pretty books, craft projects or KITTIES.
School
I write up the reviews and have to wait for The Philosopher Musician to edit the reviews.
I had to put off posting for a while as I had to determine my username for here and for work (wanted them separate). It was possible I was going to have to change this one. Luckly enough, I figured out a new username for there to keep the one here. YAY.
In other news, I'm progressing SLOWLY through Love*Com. Why did I agree to read this one? I mean, I saw a review in passing, started reading it and to me, it's a little better than a soap but he's yanking her around way to much to make me happy. She was sure, confident and then fell in love and is all weak and whiney. UGH. At least volume 7 shows some progress which makes me wonder what volume 8 looks like. Unforutnately, the next batch I'm reviewing is Love*Com 4-7. It is surprisingly clean though and perfect for the teen angst/drama club (I can't stop reading for the drama. The Philsopher Musician is surprised I'm still reading it).
I really have to point you to this post (a good friend of mine). When in doubt about graphic novels, all I can say is read them. Unless you know someone like me who will grab a copy of League [of Extraordinary Gentleman] and say "Oh, here's a naughty bit, oh and this one, and this one..." and show them to you because I've read it. Although, I don't remember the implied stuff like in Wish (which I'll have to re-read).
What are this Little Librarian's thoughts on it? Well, thanks to ReadingRants on Twitter, I knew the photo shoot was 1.) during daylight hours and 2.) no drinking was really occuring. Either way, the choice of a bar for the photo still didn't make sense to me until someone mentioned (in the comments) the quote is a play off of a beer ad. To be frank, that was a creative idea and I really enjoyed the "This Blog's for You!" as a hook to get me to look at the article.The article itself is very well written and I gained a lot of new knowledge and resources in preparing this blog ("graphic novel reviews for librarians by a librarian who loves graphic novels and other stuff").
The photo: Well, I really don't have any thoughts on it. As a 20-something librarian, I am not surprised about the drinking side of things. Librarians drink. Only about 10% of the librarians I know don't drink (me included for personal reasons). Think back to the last conference you attended. Think back to the latest SCHOOL librarian conference you attended. Every social event included some sort of drinking event at least once a day. I met a favorite author at a drinking thing. I ran into my mentors at open bar in the hotel lobby. Both at a school librarian conference. On the other hand, at public librarian conferences it seems expected we drink.
Also, who sees SLJ in your school? If you are good about your mail, it goes in a box and you read it in the office because heaven forbid you should be caught reading it at the desk (this is my opinion - I could be wrong, but that's me). Also, the only people who see this professional title are other teachers and yourself. Students generally don't know it exists. Believe me on this one. Photos don't influence children and teens to drink, people do. Besides, by the time a child is six, they know about bars and drinking. How they understand that is different. In my opinion, the cover is harmless and at first glance, you don't know it's a bar, especially from a distance. Heck, I had to search for the martinis because I didn't realize they were there.
In fact, the children's librairan and myself discussed this cover and we were saying "Who do you think is the more friendly person?"
If you have a problem with the cover, I am going to be blunt: wake up. Realize we are human and realize we drink. Realize that the "tea-drinking" librarian is a stereotype and it's time to move on or you'll be left behind.
