Garth Brooks - A Storyteller

What kind of excuse exists for an English teaching librarian who blogs about books and things related to books to write about what a great concert she saw this weekend.  The two don't necessarily go together, the literary mind and country music, but I have been a Garth Brooks fan since his beginning way back in the late 1980s.  He is the only artist for whom I have waited in line for hours to get tickets to a show (before internet ticket ordering was a thing, ouch!).  The concert 20 or so years ago?  Worth every cold and damp minute that it took to get those tickets. I have long since left most of country music behind.  Not necessarily intentionally, but Brooks retired, and live moved on, and so did I. About a year ago, we stumbled onto the televised version of Brooks' Vegas show.  Very quickly we were drawn into his story - the story of how his life was changed by music. When the opportunity came to seem in in concert again - much more easily this time through a gift of tickets, I was thrilled.  For a couple of hours this weekend, I was nearly thirty instead of nearly fifty, with 20 years of opportunity sparkling ahead of me. So again, why do I indulge myself here?  I think because, as I was singing along this weekend, I was reminded again that Garth Brooks is a story teller.  Most of my favorite songs are short stories.  And while they don't maybe illustrate my life, they have become the fabric of part of my life.  Much like my favorite stories.  I can pick up Laura Ingalls Wilder and remember clearly being snuggled up at my grandparents' house reading her for the very first time.  The house, my grandparents - long gone, but the memories evoked by the book are so real. The same way with the music.  Mostly as an educator, I just want to make my students to feel, even if just briefly, the power of the story to shape lives, to reflect our world, to change the way we see things. We compare that power in AP Literature to the power of music.  I felt that up close and personal this weekend.

Harper Lee's Sequel

As a 25 year veteran literature who has had the privilege of reading To Kill a Mockingbird with countless young people. As a 7 year school librarian, I have had the privilege of introducing the book to even more readers. So, my initial reaction to a sequel? Thrilled of course.  What literary person, what reader, hasn’t wondered what happened to Scout.  What was she like as a grown woman?  What did she do with her life?  So, I will order Go Set a Watchman, and I will read it. Likely, I will donate it to my school library, and I will encourage others to read it.

But...at some level, I find myself starting to wonder if Harper Lee is fully engaged in the process of this publication.  I have read the stories of recent lawsuits; I have heard that she suffered badly after a stroke.  I remember that Lee’s sister, largely responsible for the protection of the author’s privacy, has recently died.

The following articles in The Atlantic online shed some interesting light on the topic for me without providing any definitive answers.  

“Harper Lee: The Sadness of a Sequel”

“How Harper Lee’s Long Lost Sequel Was Found”

Like so many others, I will be following this story with great interest in the months to come.

American Library Association Youth Media Awards

I'm not going to lie.  The youth media awards day is one of my favorite librarian days of the year. The fact that it fell on a snow day this year and that I could watch them live was absolutely a bonus.  I am always way too busy at school and have to settle for the press release as soon as I get a chance.  Right or wrong, I generally evaluate my successes or failures at collection development in part at least on how many of these titles that I own.  I eagerly prepare a book order to gather the ones that I don't have. And, I prepare to book talk the titles at my next available opportunity.

I have already shared my thoughts on Brown Girl Dreaming here. Certainly glad I found the time to read such an honored book: National Book Award; Coretta Scott King Authpr Award; Newbery Honor Award, and Robert F. Sibert Honor Award. I loved this book and am sharing it with as many kids, especially aspiring writers as I can.

I have this year's Newbery The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.  I will be adding it to my to do list. The seventh graders will definitely be hearing about it in the next book talk. We just talked about a number of Coretta Scott King books as we prepared for Black History Month.  It will be lovely to add this title to the mix.

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming has intrigued me since I read the first review.  Now that it's an award winner times two: Robert F. Sibert Honor and YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, I will really have to get after it.  Currently it is checked out; a good sign.

I didn't do so very well in the Printz category.  I bought, read, loved, and book talked And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard. I am drawn to all things Emily Dickinson related.  Certainly, I've noted before, the boarding school books intrigue me!

These are some of the titles I got right in the last year.  I am sure anxious to get into several of today's winners.  I love that ALA gives me so much food for thought each year!