Would you swap your dad for 2 goldfish? (rated 4 stars)

The Day I Swapped Dad For Two Goldfish

by Neil (Illustrated By Dave Mckean) Gaiman

This is a short funny tale about a boy who swaps his dad for 2 goldfish. We follow him as he tries to recover his father after his mom finds out. It’s really funny. He walks all over town swapping things because everyone passes his father along for something else, like a guitar and a gorilla mask. The little sister is really silly.

The illustrations by Dave McKean are not your typical light-hearted children’s book illustrations. They are dark in color with lots of sharp lines. I loved them.

Just a fun book to read with your kid.

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Another Year, Another Winter Break

This past week flew by. It it hit me again that my very first class is leaving to go to different schools or leave our campus. I received a very lovely card from one of the boys and I know, I am going to miss them. He is one of the kids that Ambookgeek and I can have a lot of fun with. We actually made posters when one of the kids decided it was "hug-a-[insert name]" day. He told us about it and, of course, we had to take the opportunity that he handed us on a platter to celebrate the day and share it with the other students. He received hugs all day long (to his dismay - but he's a good sport so he took it in stride). Anyway, it still trips me out how quickly they grow and leave the middle school. The transformation in those 3 years is really extraordinary. They are taller, find their style, get less shy or more shy. Some get quirker, some we worry about, some come into their own...of course, this again will change but it is amazing to witness and some times, be a part of.

We start winter break and for the first time in a long time, I woke up close to 11 am. I usually continue on my schedule of waking up at 5 am so this had me thrown for a bit of loop this morning. I will spend the break in San Diego catching up on reading and getting prepped for Jan. 5 when we return.

Hope everyone is has a happy holiday and a wonderful new year!

Acknowledging a breakthrough...I love my job

ssshhhh. don't tell anyone!

I actually twittered that I am very happy at my job. The first two years I was glad and pretty happy but I was also extremely overwhelmed and a little lost. Being a school librarian is a very challenging specialty of librarianship. No one ever tells you that. All you ever hear about is how you will lose your job and how under-appreciated you are by teachers and administrators. Luckily, I am at a place that appreciates us and what we do. I hear it and feel it everyday when students come up to me and say, "Thank you." Yes, there are moments where I am "ssshhhing" and there are moments where I look around and wonder, "where are their teachers?" But, for the most part, I am so very very lucky.

We have only a few more days before the Winter Break and I can honestly say that I feel really positive about the year so far. My class management skills are much improved. Sometimes, I wish I had a video of my classes before. I think I looked a bit frazzled. Trust me, there were moments where I would walk out of my class and it looked like I was hit with a bomb. I had fun and I trust that I taught my students well, but by this time last year, I was grabbing a cocktail and trying to relax and not feel so burned out. This year I just feel happy.

Living like a Hermit

The last couple of weeks I feel like I have pretty much just holed up in my studio and have not gone out much. Granted, I have been sick and I put my self on a pretty tight budget (I've gotta save money for China) - so I ended up reading a whole lotta books. I try to write little book talks here and I was going to try to be ambitious and do mini movies but I think that may be a little too much for me at the moment.

I also have been in a locked in my headspace kind of place so I tend to not want to be around people...

But here is a list of what I have finished reading. I always wondered how those librarians who give those book talk workshops do it and now I know. (1) they don't sleep
(2) they don't go out
(3) they don't have tv (or they do and they don't really like to watch it)
or
(4) they have tv but only receive 1 channel so really what is the point? (that's me!)

Here are books I have finished:

• Ancient Philosophers by Don Nardo. This 110 page book is a brief introduction to ancient philosophy and covers both the east and the west. Nardo focuses on Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Buddha and Confucius but he also mentions Socrates, Thales and Theophrastus. It contains maps of where these different philosophers lived in relation to one another as well as illustrations and depictions of these men. He pulls out the main questions that each philosopher focused on, writes on their childhood and lives as well as each man's contributions. In the end, there are passages attributed to each philosopher that asserts their contributions or views on things Nardo mentions in the earlier chapters. For example, Nardo writes about how Aristotle believed that slavery was natural and excerpts a passage from Politics to support this point. For Buddha, Nardo emphasized that Buddha focused on suffering and the passage is about how evildoers will not go unpunished. It is short but filled with a lot of good information and a great list for those interested in reading more. As always, Nardo is very accessible for those of us who are not philosophy majors or experts.
• The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. This is based the true story of a German boy named Helmuth Hubener, who at age 16 was tried and executed by the Nazis for spreading "propaganda" on the truth about the war. Bartoletti interviewed Hubener's friends, 2 of who helped him spread his fliers and also were tried with him. It is told with Hubener in prison counting down the days to his execution looking back at his life. His family was very patriotic towards Germany. It is another perspective, one that I do not think we really acknowledge. The Germans who were against Hitler but also loved their country. Life and decisions are much more complicated than they seem. Bartoletti also included photographs of Hubener, his family and his friends.
  
• When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris. This was much better than Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim. Sedaris again takes us on a hilarious ride as we catch glimpses of his life with Hugh and his family and living in France and then in Japan. The last tale focuses on Sedaris' quitting smoking. I can say that I know exactly how he was feeling except I did not spend $20,000 to do it. I really enjoyed his stories of following Hugh, who sounds like he's a speed walker, and his quest to quit smoking and his impressions of people. One of my favorite stories is about a plane ride where he doesn't want to give up his seat. His lozenge ends up somewhere awkward. You read it to find out where and what happens.
  

Also in my hermitude, I watched a couple of movies, which at the moment, I cannot remember any of the titles of..One of them was "27 dresses" - meh. Also watched "There Will Be Blood" - I don't get the big deal. Why all the hype? Daniel Day Lewis' character, Daniel, is an a--hole but I guess, it was a masterful performance of an a--hole. Then I watched some old favorites, like "Kinky Boots."

On My Mind: Dealing With Eating Disorders

Being stuck up on the hill and no longer being at the heart of campus, I do not see as many students as I did before. The library used to be at the center of campus, so I saw kids who did not normally hang out in the library but would just pass through. I did not realize how separated and possibly out of touch we are now that we are so separated from the classrooms. Yes, students still come but now they come with a purpose - to work.

However, now one of the obvious drawbacks in now seeing a lot students is that I do not feel I know what is going on.

Recently, I saw a girl who I taught and I was struck at how unbelievably thin she had become. I remember seeing her at the beginning of the year and it was a marked difference from September to now. I was concerned and then I was told, "Oh, they (the important ones) know. It's actually better now."

Not that I think everyone on campus should know about these things but how transparent are most schools about certain students? I felt strange voicing my concerns so late especially when "they" are dealing with the situation. Maybe it was the look and tone I received when I shared my concerns...

I still have no idea what to do in those situations. I suppose, we are lucky that we have a really great counselor and also wonderful deans but still what would you do as an educator? Does it depend on your relationship with the student? Do you just ask how they are doing and leave it at that and hope and trust that the situation is being dealt with the best way the people above you know how?

More traffic at the library

This morning I was flipping through the LA Times (I still look through the print edition) and found this article on the increased use of libraries during these tough economic times. Not only is supporting your local libraries a great idea, you can also save money too :)

I can say for a fact that this is true. Sundays are the BPL are now even busier than it has been in the past. People come in for all sorts of reasons, great events, checking out books, using computers, reading magazines and newspapers, and even checking out videos and dvds. I am also pleasantly surprised at who comes into the library - star sightings have been known to happen. You really never know what or who you'll find at the library.