Moving!

You can probably guess what this is about:

The blog is moving to Wordpress: TheGraphicShelf.wordpress.com Please remember to update your book marks and feeders!

After being a loyal Blogger way longer than I should have, Google's stunt on February 24, and immediate backpedaling by February 27 was the final straw. My honest belief is that Google is getting ready to shut down the platform. They're being underhanded because remember how everyone felt when Google Reader was shut down?


To be honest, I've been toying with the idea of moving the blog since the start of the year. I've held back for a while (mostly because I didn't want to make yet another change), but as I started to look between Blogger and Wordpress, I was starting to feel that Blogger did not meet my needs anymore.

I'll leave this here as a reference, but posts have moved to the new site so you can find the same information there too.

Thank you!

The Caldecott Honor of 2015

It's on everyone's minds: HOW did a graphic novel get a Caldecott Honor? This is nothing like when Hugo Cabret won. That could be justified, but a graphic novel? A YA book no less? How was that possible?

I don't know, but what I do know is that there is going to be discussion about it for months to come.

This Horn Book blog post from Calling Caledcott raises great points and a lot of points I considered: Wednesday Morning Quarterbacking: the Process Edition.  (HT Twitter Julie Jurgen @himissjulie).

When I mentioned to my husband that there will be discussion (and crazy discussion at that) he brought up the Sandman by Neil Gaiman, issue 19 caused a bit of a stir for winning a Short Story Award:

At the 1991 awards, comic book The Sandman issue #19 "A Midsummer's Night Dream" scripted by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles Vess, won the Award for Best Short Fiction.^[3] The widely circulated story that the rules were subsequently changed to prevent another comic book from winning is not entirely true. The official website states: "Comics are eligible in the Special Award Professional category. We never made a change in the rules."^[4] Gaiman and Vess, however, won the Award under the Short Fiction and not the Special Award Professional category.

From Wikipedia: World Fantasy Award 

I suspect the Caldecott rules will change after this. This One Summer will be harder to explain to parents. I'm surprised it's considered a 14 and under title. I'd put it in high school range, but that's just because of the topics dealt with in the book. It is a darker story.

So this raises a bunch of questions: who is the Caldecott for? Will more graphic novels be included or will the rules change? Have graphic novels always been included? Or will it change nothing and we'll go back to the usual picture books for the next few years until the next oddball? Time will tell.

Best of the Best Reading 2014

Source: OpenClipart.org

Normally, I don't do "Best of" lists but after seeing a few other librarians saying that they're reading them or just trying to expand on their reading, I decided to join in as well. Why? Mainly because I tend to believe I should read what I find interesting, not what everyone else thinks is cool. I do admit that if a book becomes wildly popular, it is very hard for me to read it during the hype. I have to get to it either before the hype or way, way after the fact.

On the flip side, I'm missing out on a lot of great stuff. Just looking at some Best of lists for Youth books, I've done ok in YA but missed a lot of chapter books and picture books (remember, I'm a Youth Librarian by day). I'm generally aware of what's getting the hype, but don't always read it or I save it for later. So enter my reading the Best of Lists.

Youth

For Youth, I've selected the Notable Children's Books of 2014. It's short and sweet with about 6-10 books in each section. I can do that.

After that, I'm going to try School Library Journal's Best of 2014 list. At 70 books, that seems like a lot, but I'm hoping some ground has been covered in the first list.

Graphic Novels

I really hate to admit I have no idea where to start in finding a "Best of 2014 Graphic Novels List." That's not good and won't do. In the spirit of being a better resource (because if this week showed me anything, it's that people see me as a resource), I started to seek out lists.

To make it easy on myself I've started with these since they cover a lot of the same ground and are sources that the average person might use:

• Publisher's Weekly Best of 2014 Comics List - at 5 books, this should be easy.
• The AV Club's Best Comics of 2014 List - This is their Graphic Novels and Archival list. It's a little more hefty but at a glance, seems to cover some good ground. Plus, Husband is always reading AV Club so...I may have just picked them from name recognition.
• GoodReads Choice Awards: Best Graphic Novels & Comics 2014 - I vote in it. You probably do too. I missed a bunch in their list (as usual). This covers a slightly different ground but a lot in common with the above. Plus I've already read a few! Yay!

Now, if I really feel up to it, I might poke at this list from ComicsAlliance. It looks fun with all their "Best of Categories" but it was originally 5 parts and is a hefty list. I don't want to
overwhelm myself (a bad habit I have) so I'm listing it for you to check out. I will also look at ALA's list for teens when it comes out at the end of the month and will probably grumble about half of it like I usually do.

EDIT (1/13/15): Here's another list to consider: IGN's Best of Comics List.

Will there be reviews of graphic novels? Maybe. It depends. Some I do have on hand because I was already supposed to review them for the county library sysem. If you want to see reviews, let me know either in person on in the comments.

Thursday Morning Musings

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 Was a Librarian http://t.co/JjZUdcg5hp
— Kelci Crawford (@KelciDCrawford) January 8, 2015

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.

A day in apps: The social media manager’s edition. http://t.co/f6tmW3Rbwa
— 99U (@99u) January 8, 2015

Remember Ferguson Library? They are still doing awesome work.

Now Trending on Twitter: Public Libraries http://t.co/gEYTl6dKDx
— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) January 7, 2015

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.

This Graphic Novels Collection Survey Nails It

Have you looked at last week's Extra Helping? I have to point out that there's a nifty link to a Graphic Novel Survey [and video games] research article. The link in the newsletter calls it:
Graphic Novels a "Gateway to Adult Literacy," Claims Study  by Gary Price (InfoDocket/Library Journal).

To be honest, that's a much better title than the actual title on the blog post: "New Research Article: 'A Survey of Graphic Novel Collection and Use in American Public Libraries.'"

The link offers you a "TL:DR*" version (the abstract) or a link the full text article of A Survey of Graphic Novel Collection and Use in American Public Libraries** (click for full text.). The full text, while scholarly, is definitely worth a read. In the literature review, the author, Edward Francis Schneider, covers the reasons to have a video game and graphic novel collection as well as the fact that cataloging is a nightmare. Things I already know all too well.

The discussion was interesting too and I, personally, would like to see more about borrowing/buying habits and compare and contrast why.

 *TL:DR = Too Long: Didn't Read
**The article is available under a Creative Commons License which is awesome.


**Citation (in APA)
Schneider, E. (2014). A Survey of Graphic Novel Collection and Use in American Public Libraries. Evidence Based Library And Information Practice, 9(3), 68-79. Retrieved from http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/21236/17129

An Interesting Marketing Thing

In the age of webcomics, to have a book that is going to be published all ready, but is uploaded like a webcomic is pretty neat. Basically, for some reason I was Googling Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, the graphic novel, which I'm currently reading the ARC of. The first result was this: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, the website. Basically, until the book is published, a page will be updated weekly. It is kinda, sorta, similar to Erstwhile and Red String and some other webcomics I read with an overarching plot, but updated weekly. Erstwhile was all ready published in the beginning (and generally, I get the impression the stories are done when they start uploading them) and Red String is an online manga that the author is working on all along.

The only downside to this is that the free version will probably disappear eventually (as what happened to Friends With Boys), which is a shame. I like my webcomics and until I can get my hands on the book, rereading it online will have to do (and I don't get many of those because I do not have extra cash for books).

Debate anyone? Thoughts? Either way, if you want to preview it, there it is.

Cards Against Humanity (NSFW...seriously.)

We've had a bad week. We've probably been having a bad two weeks now to be honest from a list of things. It'd probably be nice if they were all tied together (as in the drama is all from one area of our lives) but it isn't and that's that.

After going back and forth with one of my best guy friends (in real life) about how we need to get together and do something fun and silly and nerdy to get past this stuff and de-stress, he finally got an impromptu party together. So last night, I finally got to play Cards Against Humanity (TM).

All right, here's the disclaimer. This game is not at all safe for work and if you decide to click and read the above link, I am not responsible if you are offended by the random cards appearing on your screen or you spit coffee at your computer because you laughed too hard or I don't know what.  You've been warned.


Cards Against Humanity(TM) can roughly be explained as (this is a quote from My Guy and is edited): "Apples-to-Apples meets Mad Libs meets..." and I've added "20 Questions" and just said it can get offensive. Basically, the game has two sets of cards. One set is questions and fill in the blank while the other has nouns, places, situations, body humor, celebrities, pop culture, and almost any and everything. The game is best played in groups. I actually first discovered this game thanks to the wonderful Wil Wheaton who posted pictures of some awesome plays on his Twitter feed.

How we played: We played it last night with a group of about 9 then 7 people and it took roughly an hour to two. One person started the game by picking from the questions pile and everyone else put in their suggestions. The person judged which response they liked best or was a crowd pleaser and awarded the question card to the winner. We played until I pulled the "Make a Haiku" card (a recommended ending to the game) and we never did determine who was the worst person. We just all agreed we have to play that again.

Now, the website says that they are sold out (major bummer because I had full intentions of buying it). I found a copy for $50 and decided against it. The creators charge roughly $25 and I plan to get it when they publish more. I'm also getting the expansion packs directly from them. Yet, if I didn't buy it how did I get it?

Enter the beauty of the Creative Commons, my stash of card stock (at home), the printer, and a very determined Guy. He spent roughly 3 hours printing and cutting them so we wound up with these:

Creative Commons License allows us to print off the PDF, remix it (hence the white cards are gray, the black cards are pinkish), and print them to play ourselves.

Epically awesome. Yes, he's a keeper. I know that.

My thoughts: One of my thoughts after playing this is that some librarian is going to hear about this and think "Oh man! What a great idea for teens! Let's get that!" My assumption is based on the huge popularity of Apples-to-Apples in the library. Apples-to-Apples in the library is fine, but there is the mature way to play and the immature way (take a guess as to which way I learned first. Let's say, immature, which includes certain cards are seen as "trump cards" and they include gems like Helen Keller and Samuel L. Jackson, not to mention you also want to make the crowd laugh, not make sense).

Read this: DON'T. DO NOT put this in your library for teens. Don't. No. I don't care how mature your teens are, they have parents who get offended by stuff (and the rules tell you it is recommended for 17+). This game has really disgusting stuff and let's just say, if you heard the winning haiku last night, it'd be embarrassing (except for the crowd I was with). I'd say that if you are trying to reach the 20-something crowd, that might not be too problematic, but take a closer look at my layouts:

Oh man, these are still not great examples, although, my friends would get a kick out of "Step 1: Keanu Reeves. Step 2: Prancing. Step 3: Profit." Just go back to the website and watch the examples for a few minutes.

Done? Good. No? The filter got you? Yeah...they swear a bit on the site.

Now, my overall thoughts. My Guy thought I'd be offended by this game. He thought, somewhere, something would offend me. We played through all of the white cards (our gray cards). Nope. Not one bit. Twice in playing, I cracked up to the point of tears. There were many times players were reading the cards out loud and just started laughing. I think every one of us reached that point at some point.

I. Loved. It. CAH was exactly the humor I needed right now.

This is such a horrible, horrible game and I am apparently a horrible person (in a very dark humor kind of way). Not the worst in our group last night, but I was in the top 3. Either way, I absolutely cannot wait to play this again. I've played Apples-to-Apples. I've played Munchkin. I love those games, but honestly, this has got to be my new favorite party game. It is best played with those who have a similar humor because it could get very awkward, very quickly. This is a much more, grown up, adult version of Apples-to-Apples, Mad Libs, 20 Questions, and all those dark humor jokes.

Play it after a tough day at the library, but avoid bringing it into the library (unless you're playing with a crowd who knows what they are getting, don't mind a lot of swearing [how did your library like Go the F--- To Sleep?] but avoid the teen crowd).

You've been warned.

YALSA Book Lists: A Rant

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."

Yes it was. What the hell?

Now read this post on the YALSA Blog.

Read it? Did you take a look at the comments?

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.

By the way membership is down 3.7% according to the President's Report



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.

Oh! Shiny! Something new.

If you have been following my Twitter feed, you’ll know I just spent a few days at the PALA Annual Conference. One session I attended surprised me, was not what I expected, but was also an exciting new development with graphic novels. What was this new development?

Another book award.

The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize which is presented by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book and is brand new. Oh, it is so sparkly and shiny, and there has only been one book winning and one book honored (neither of which I’ve heard a thing about) so far.

The session, titled Graphic Novels of the Year (which never really talked about specific graphic novels of the year, mainly nominees for the award whose titles I don’t really remember), introduced Lynd Ward, an artist whose work I am now interested in “reading”, and the creation and qualifications of the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize. I’m not going to go into details because the site has the Prize detailed here. I’m interested in seeing where this goes.

Also, I didn’t realize the PA Center for the Book had some nice resources. For example, if you’re looking for a good definition of a graphic novel, they have it as part of the prize or if you’re looking for some links or resources, they’ve got a little. I’m hoping that they add more soon resources and information soon. This page could be really useful.

Web Comics and Libraries

Here's something that's starting to bug me: Libraries and Web Comics. Basically, the titles that are in libraries are limited and I would kind of like to know why. Lately, it seems there are a lot of great web comics are coming out in book format, but are libraries picking them up? Not really. The epic exception seems to be Unshelved, which while great and is library humored, is NOT really what I'm talking about here. Unshelved will be the example to explain web comics. Basically, a comic done by an artist with or without a writer and syndicated on the Internet. Simple.

The latest web comic to make waves in library land is/was the epic Axe Cop (which, my library copy got no where fast because the binding split). Every review I saw was like "THIS IS AWESOME." Don't get me wrong, I know it is awesome (even though I haven't read the first volume but I've seen a few strips). It is entertaining and fun, but of ALL the web comics in the last few years, this is what catches everyone's eye? What about Dr. McNinja (which I need to read but hear about a LOT from The Philosopher Musician)? What about Machine of Death which is a hybrid of sorts and includes a collaboration of web comic artists, authors, and The People (not to mention is coming out with a sequel and had a blast fighting it out with Glenn Beck not too long ago)? Many artists are coming out with books and loyal fans are picking these up. But what about poor readers who can't run out and buy every book, no matter how much they want to support the artist? What about exposing readers to comics they haven't seen? What disservice are we providing when all we have are the "classics*"?

I'll tell you. Simply you are missing the 20-somethings, the 30-somethings, and maybe their kids. I don't read as many web comics as I used to but I am partial to Questionable Content (which mind you, brought you the She Blinded Me With Library Science gear), XKCD, Red String, and a few I really can't mention on my blog (epically awesome, epically NSFW). I have respect for many, many more web comics because I've read bits here and there and despite not reading them after a period of time, they are still good or have improved. Plus, The Philosopher Musician has his list of web comics he follows (and is known to go on "archive binges" here and there) and many of my friends love different web comics yet we share a love of many of the same titles.

So, what's our excuse? Tight budgets? They're indie published? We don't have the reviews to justify them in the collection? We don't want those 20 somethings in the library? Real comics are books? That's all available on the Internet; why would they want the book? Tell me why you don't have them. I really want to know.

In the mean time, tell me what collections you want me to review. I'm starting with what I have easy access to (QC vol 1, Red String vol. 1, Axe Cop vol. 1, and Wondermark), but want to find more. Got stuff your teens are talking about? Let me know. Web Comic Wednesdays will start up soon where I'll talk about web comics where either The Philosopher Musician or me will talk about a web comic turned book, or the web comic itself.

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"Classics" include such hits as Penny Arcade, MegaTokyo, Wondermark, Gunnerkrig Court, and...Unshelved

Still here

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. :(

Response to "Using the Living Dead to Teach Information Literacy" from Librayr Journal

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 ”

Library Journal: Using The Living Dead to Teach Information Literacy



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.

The HarperCollins Issue

"You know, the general public still doesn't know about this," The Philosopher Musician said to me last night after I brought up my continual annoyance at the HarperCollins Issue.


"Yeah. Yet another quiet battle the quiet librarians are fighting for their readers." I said quietly and in disgust.

Despite the NYTimes article, despite BoingBoing, despite the major news circuits and Twitter, I wonder how much the general population realizes is at stake. As I look for more information on this I can't help but find that these are the facts:

• HarperCollins wants to limit circs to 26 times per title (meaning if 50 people want it, 24 are shit out of luck, go buy it, or ask the library to buy more copies but suffer when it comes to other best sellers you want now). 
• Librarians are currently trying to boycott HarperCollins from not touching the books to not purchasing (no offense, but not a smart move considering they are quite the mover and shaker in publishing...or rather the publisher a lot of books. Boycotting their eBooks makes more sense).
• A lot more is at stake than I think people realize (Librarian by Day).

When I was in grad school last year, I took a fantastic course on copyright. What I remember most is how the music industry handled the whole digital issue and the possibility that the book industry is going to go in that direction as well. If you have even read a few works on copyright, you'll realize that by trying to control digital media only forces people into other, questionable routes.

What I'm asking for at the moment, is that librarians don't give into this decision. In fact, I say we take it to the public and post a huge notice on the OverDrive page. Those who use the service will see it. We also need to make it clear that something like this is only in the interest of the publisher, not the reader. This is not in the interest of the libraries. Boycotting the books will not help as the works that are popular include HarperCollins works. As it stands, HarperCollins is winning the publicity side of things, too. Of all the (top 5) book publishers, HarperCollins has the social media side down pat. I see tweets daily from HaperTeen and HarperChildren.

Since the digital age began, publishers have seen libraries as "the bad guys." What publishers often see is "$." What librarians see are people and readers. What has happened and what will continue to happen is that readers will get their books the way they've always gotten them: through the library or purchase them, and at that, either used or new. You cannot control the buyer. Please stop trying to control the buyer. This nonsense has to stop. We need the right to purchase a book and to purchase it where we want to purchase it; or, we need the right to borrow it where we want to borrow it.


PS: We can actually make a difference as OverDrive is trying to determine what to do next (I don't expect an answer overnight, but it'd be good if it were before the month is out).

Cybils Announced!

How did I miss the Cybil announcement? Was it not on Twitter?

Either way, the winners have been announced and frankly, this is what the ALA award list should have looked like...or at least close. These are better books. Most are what I see move on the shelves. I mean, the Newbery Winner is no where to be seen and the one title many thought should be the Newbery is here. The picture book, I think is a Caldecott runner up. The GN Cybil titles? Not ones I'm particularly enthused about (haven't read them yet so there's still a chance). On the other hand, those two got a lot of press the past year.

Either way, I'm excited for the winners. All are great titles!

Machine of Death: The Review

Well, we first visited the topic of the book Machine of Death around when it was published. Some updates on it before I (The Philosopher Musican) give a review:

It has begun to see a wider distribution. In fact, it has slowly been appearing in major bookstores. It has also just garnered a more high-profile review at The Onion A.V. Club.

The editorial team also released an e-book version for free under the Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 license at the start of November.

So, now, its profile is still growing. But, most of the issues Little Librarian highlighted in her previous post are still present. We still haven't seen a NY Times review, nor has it been on their best-sellers list. The professional titles still haven't touched it (as far as Little Librarian knows).

Now, here's a review for you:

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Title: Machine of Death

Editors: Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, & David Malki!

Publisher: Bearstache Books

Copyright: 2010

Price: $17.95

ISBN: 978-0-982167-12-0

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Summary and Some Thoughts: It's a fairly large collection of stories about, to quote the comic that inspired the anthology, "a world where everyone knows how they're going to die". This is all thanks to the "Machine of Death" of the book's title. It works basically the same in each story: you put your finger in a slot on the machine, it gets a small blood sample, and spits out a piece of paper. Written on it is how you'll die. You can't change it. Of course, the machine is extremely vague, so the information it gives isn't always useful; in the stories, it tends toward irony instead of straight predictions.

That's what all the stories have in common. They all explore the consequences of The Machine and what it brings to the world. Most of them see a world that isn't completely remade by The Machine. It alters society, but society usually adapts while still resembling the world-of-today (the exception to this is the story, "Loss of Blood"). The tone varies immensely throughout the book. There's sadness, despair, brightness, horror, and humor. Actually, there's a great deal of humor through many of the stories. They all deal with fate in some way, of course. It ends up reminding me of existentialism and absurdism, but that's a topic for later.

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Will Teens Like It: Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't a YA title. So many of the themes are adult (violence and mature subjects; there's not really any sex in it that I can recall) that I can’t at all recommend it for a teen collection. That said, of course some teens will like it. Teens willing to tackle the themes and length of the book could enjoy it. Teens who've heard of it online might well be interested in reading it as well. (This most likely belongs in adult collections folks! -LL).

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Things to Be Aware of: As I said above, I personally don't think this should go in a YA collection, but here are a few things that could get you in trouble with parents: The titles of some of the stories (after all, they're all causes of death; the standout here is "Exhaustion from Having Sex with a Minor." Surprisingly, though, the story itself isn't at all a problem, I'd say.), and some violent subject matter in the stories themselves (a decent amount of murder in various flavors)

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Personal Thoughts: With the recent A.V. Club review I'd love to say that this review is great timing on my part. Of course, that's not really the case. I've been struggling with writing this review for a while, actually. The truth is that there's so much diversity in the book. The many stories, despite the common premise, vary so greatly that I have had a hard time giving a good critical analysis about the collection.

Now, if it wasn’t clear, I loved this book. I'm a fan of many webcomics, so, yes, I'm already a fan of some of the authors. Even when I set aside my own personal views about some of the authors' other works, I can easily say that the entire collection is strong. Compared to what I've been reading recently, it was a fairly long read. I never actually got tired of reading it, though, and it wasn't at all difficult. I loved the philosophical explorations it leads to. As I said above, more details about that would have to go into a separate post (and I might well write one up), but either way, it's right up my philosophical alley.

Really, I’m having trouble coming up with any negative things to say about it. If you can get it into your library collection and get people checking it out, they’ll love it.

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Source: Review copy provided by one of the editors.

Bonus: It has been determined that in the first round of books sent out, a little slip was included that stated how you were going to die. In the review copy, we were surprised to see that there was no slip included, so it was determined that the prophecy from Little Librarian's undergrad days that "librarians don't die" must be true. :)

Machine of Death: a book (or [oh, see in the post])

(Or what to do when customers asks if you bought the book yet or they donate a copy...or five).

It all started last week (maybe before then, but last week it was on my radar) on Twitter when David Malki ! (of Wondermark fame who gave away books to LIBRARIES a while back) and Ryan North challenged the Twitter-verse and web comic fans alike to make their upcoming compilation book the number 1 seller on Amazon for at least one day, which was yesterday. Well, you can see here, here, and here (not sure that link will hold) that it happened, and it has gone into today. Impressive. Many, many kudos to the fact it is an Indie Book and it topped.

Well, today, the story just got a little more interesting. According to David Malki !'s Twitter here and continued here, Glenn Beck (of this book fame [I do not endorse this book, I just know that you may only know who he is by his book*]) called the book "an example of our 'culture of death.'" The Twitter-verse is just RUNNING with this and challenging the fans to buy MORE copies or convince more people to buy copies.

So, as a librarian do I purchase this book for my collection or not?

Non-librarians, here is the dilemma: there are no professional reviews backing this up (that I've seen) and it hasn't reached the NYTimes Best Seller list. These are two factors in most libraries when determining whether or not to purchase a book. While it is a talked about book, I find that the audience for this book will be small. The concept is different, but sight unseen, this is one of the few books I honestly can't say I'd pick up for my Library Collection. I'd be likely to pick it up if I knew that there was a huge Glenn Beck fan base in the area (Banned Book, anyone?), but a quick search of the county I work in** shows me this is not necessarily the case. A search of Worldcat also shows me that no one has purchased Machine of Death yet, and judging by what it is, libraries won't even start getting it until a month from now (if they do).


So, non-librarians, you now know why it might not be in your libraries and librarians, you are prepared if you should decide to purchase this book (due to all the suggestions) or know why you might suddenly end up with 1-5 copies of the book (guys, if you do donate, PLEASE don't donate more than 1, also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check with your librarians about their donation policy before donating).

I'm willing to review Machine of Death for this here blog, but I just want to warn you, I'm in a state of upheaval considering I'm hoping to move next week and am starting a new adventure shortly thereafter. If you want me to review before the end of next week, please annoy me (comment below or e-mail me at ReadsRantsRaves [at] gmail [dot] com or @me on Twitter.com/readsrantsraves) and I will get a copy one way or another.

For an added bonus, I challenge everyone to get this thing on the NYTimes Best Sellers list because then EVERYONE will be talking about it. :)
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*In fact, I'd like to go to DC this weekend for the Daily Show/Colbert Report March.

**Not for much longer. It's bittersweet.

Things Librairans Should Unlearn: Comic Book Edition!

[This week's review will be posted in a few days so I can join in on the Manga Movable Feast! YAY!]

I was inspired by Joyce Valenza's post (which was inspired by this post) earlier this week about what Teacher Librarians Should Unlearn and her challenge to create a meme based off of this was almost impossible to resist.

So I present to you, Things Librarians Should Unlearn: Comic Book Edition. This collaborative effort by me, The Philosopher Musician, and Sir Shanley hope to enlighten you about some common misconceptions about comics and the library.

Things Librarians Should Unlearn: Comic Book Edition

1. Graphic novels are not literature
2. Graphic novels and comic books do not belong in the library
3. All graphic novels should only be shelved in the [adult, teen, or children's] collection.
4. The ALA Great Graphic Novel Lists, professional titles, and professional journals are the best and, in fact, only graphic novel collection development tools out there.
5. Book to graphic novel adaptations are usually awesome and a must have. Especially classic books and authors.
6. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and DragonBall Z are the best examples of manga.
7. Anime and manga titles we don't recognize are probably dirty, violent, and pornographic.
8. Only social outcasts and reluctant readers read graphic novels.
9. Only children read comics.
10. Librarians don't read comics.

ALA Great Graphic Novel Nominations for 2011 (1)

I wrote this way back when the list was first published and am only now getting around to posting this. Yay for Grad School distraction! I have since read some of the titles, which I will post reviews of soon.

Somewhere on my Twitter feed, I saw this Tweet that the Nomination for the Great Graphic Novels of 2011 is available. While this is excited news, can I be honest with you? As a librarian and an avid graphic novel reader, even though I'm not as in touch as I have been, about 80% of these titles are no where to be found on my blog rolls nor what I have seen circulating in the library. I mean, where's Gaiman's Whatever Happened To the Caped Crusader? (Ok, a little research shows this should have been on the 2010 list. I nearly CRIED over the brilliance of it). Where's Chi's Sweet Home which looks like it is going to be everyone's favorite all-ages GN (DAWWWWWWWWWW! Expect a review!). I find it uneasy that I don't recognize even half of the nominations.

I honestly feel like I shouldn't complain. I'm not on the committee (yet, but intend to after grad school), but honestly, I'm not that excited about this list. I mean, 2010 had many titles I recognized, wanted to read, and were, I thought, good picks, but this list? I recognize more titles as I look at it, but then I notice all the "book-to-graphic-novel" suggestions, which are seriously hit and miss. I just read a Marvel adaptation that almost killed the book for me (except there are great movie adaptions-expect a review) and one title on this list, when I post the review, isn't pretty as well. And speaking of book-to-GN adaptations, where is the infamous (I didn't/couldn't finish it) Twilight GN? Didn't the book make it to one of the other lists?  Or Maximum Ride?

Maybe as a GN reader, I have different expectations of the Great Graphic Novel list, but I think there should be more to the list than book adaptations, or just what looks like it'll work. Yes, plot is important, but we also like pure fluff and sometimes the really zany.

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa (book 1 of 3)

Title: The Color of Earth
Author: Kim Dong Hwa
Illustrator: Kim Dong Hwa
Publisher: First Second (:01)
Copyright: 2009 (2001)
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-59643-458-5
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: In rural Korea, seven-year-old Ehwa starts learning about the differences between boys and girls, men and women. Every situation brings more questions answered the way children answer them followed by a clear explanation by her widowed mother. Ehwa continues learning about men and women as she grows and falls for her first two crushes. Her mother on the other hand, has met a traveling salesman who awakens something dormant for a long time. The Color of Water is a simplistically drawn yet detailed tale about Ehwa, her mother, and taking a moment to recognize the parallels in life. This edition provides a “readers” guide which helps the reader understand the parallels in the story.
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Will Teens Like It? Only the mature reader. This is an adult title with adult themes.
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Things to be aware of: sexual situations, nudity
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Further Thoughts: I was drawn to this title when I read a review of it in Voya ages ago. I promptly forgot about the title until the last two books were reviewed recently and then when I saw it on ALA’s 2010 Great Graphic Novels. Again, we have a title that is picked for teens but is not actually appropriate for them. It discusses a lot about sex and romance. While the romance is something everyone will understand, sex in literature is something that develops with a reader at different times, some can read it early, others can’t.

Yet, for the reader who can read this, it is a delightful and poignant read. First, Kim Dong Hwa has created art that is timeless and speaks volumes from detailed flowers to sweeping scenes on a whole page or two page spread. The black, white, and gray tones provide enough for my mind to create the colors as needed. This is a prime example of “reading a movie” for me.

Ehwa awakens sexually in this story as she learns and sees things that she does not yet understand. The seven year olds are pretending to be older, but don’t really understand how it all works. As Ehwa gets older, she starts to understand and develop appropriately. Ehwa is a character that will grow and you hope the best for her. I cannot wait for the last two parts.
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Bonus: This particular trilogy (next two posts will be the other two) has been getting a lot of interesting blog posting lately and it is similar to the whole "Twilight Feminism Thing" going on out there. Here is one example from The Manga Curmudgeon and showed up in my RSS feeder. At the end of June, there was a Manhwa Moveable Feast where you can check out essays, reviews, and comments about the trilogy (the earlier post was included). Honestly, I'm on the fence about the whole thing because while I enjoy a good love story with stereotypes, I'm not interested in having that in my life. It is escapism.

Months ago, the publisher, First Second (:01) posted this interesting blog post about the covers of The Color Trilogy and frankly, I'm glad the English covers got such a lovely makeover.

A 2010 ALA Great Graphic Novel choice


Source: Library

Queens Library in New York

Foolishly I've been relatively quiet on the issue of Queens Library. I really shouldn't but lately I haven't felt any hope that my own state's libraries (or my job at the end of the year) could be saved so why should I care about Queens Library in NY?

Because I know a fantastic woman who works there. Through a good librarian friend, who met the Queens Librarian thanks to a shared Harrison Ford obsession, I met this librarian when she visited my area and had a fantastic lunch at a new favorite restaurant where we talked libraries, meetings, and just other fun stuff. It was a great lunch and a warm memory.

This librarian also has a lot in relation to my mom, which could be why I'm quite frankly begging you to pass the petition along. Oh and I think they won some award from Library Journal a while back. Why are the award winners the first to go?

Please sign the petition. You don't have to live in NY to do so.

Thank you.