Week 9

Assignment 1

I've watched a few book trailers over the past year, so this concept is not new to me. I was actually influenced by one book trailer to read the book (which is surprising as both the articles mention that few people actually pick up the book after seeing the trailer). When I saw the book trailer for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, with its Harry Potter-esque feel to it, enchanting music, and above-average acting, I couldn't wait to pick up the book. The book proved just as exciting as its book trailer promised. Unfortunately, this was the first book trailer I had ever seen and, with its superb quality, it set my expectations high for subsequent book trailers. Alas, many of the book trailers I have since seen have paled in comparison.

One of the book trailers that I watched on Youtube was for The One and Only Ivan, which I recently listened to on Book on CD. It had interesting animations and quotes from the book along with the author's illustrations. I think it would have compelled me to read it if I had not yet already read it.



I also watched the trailer for Wonder (another book I have recently read). I don't think this trailer succeeded since it did not capture the true horror that August's unique face brings to onlookers. Instead, all the children in the trailer were simply staring at August with deadpan expressions on their faces. However, I did enjoy how the trailer actually included a passage from the book through voice-over (and, fittingly, a young boy narrated it).

I also decided to watch a book trailer of a book that I had not yet read, just to see if it would compel me to read it. So, I chose Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. This was a delightfully corny trailer that made me think I was watching a mix between Downton Abbey and a bad SyFy network tv show. I believe it captured the essence of the book perfectly, but it did not really make me want to read it, perhaps simply because it only focused on one scene. I think I'd maybe feel compelled to peruse the book to see how it was written but would not actually check it out.

Assignment 2

For me, I think the book trailers that succeed are the ones that make it seem as if you are watching a movie trailer. They draw you in and make you wish that the book were actually being made into a movie. I can understand that some readers might have a problem with having a specific image in their mind of the actors and the setting (and then having this image ruined by the book trailer), but this usually does not bother me as long as the chosen actors play their role well and are true to the character. I honestly do not think I would have the patience to watch a video of the author standing in front of the camera with a black backdrop behind them while they read from their book or discuss it for a great length of time.

I believe these book trailers will be great tools for children who come into the branch to get their summer reading books. Many of them have a list of books they can choose from and are only given one or two sentences about the book. If I were to show them the book trailer, then this might help them to gain a better idea of the book's subject and might make them excited to tackle their assigned summer reading.

Assignment 3

I learned a tremendous amount about readers' advisory from this training. I now have a wealth of resources at my fingertips, which makes readers' advisory much less daunting. In addition, because of this training, I have now become a daily follower of sites such as Early Word and Forever Young Adult.

I feel that the only way this training could be improved was if it included a section on children's readers' advisory. Children can either be the easiest or the toughest crowd to suggest books to. Sometimes all it takes is pulling any first chapter book on fairies/monsters/horses/etc... off the shelf, and the child is already jumping with joy. Other times, I have suggested numerous titles to children and they've taken one look at the cover and handed it back over with a "No, I don't want this" and no further explanation as to why or what they would like. Therefore, in the future, a week focusing on children's readers' advisory would be very welcome!

Week 8

Assignment 3

The four genres I decided to choose were memoir (Dewey number- Bio), history (Dewey number- 900-999), medical (Dewey number- 610-619), and contemporary social issues (Dewey number- 300-399). Out of these categories, I chose the following four books to recommend to customers:

Memoir

The Glass Castle (Bio Walls)

History

Leap Into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe (940.5318 B) 

 

Medical

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (616.027 S)

 

Contemporary Social Issues

Behind the Beautiful Forevers (305.569 B) 



Assignment 4

Leap Into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe by Leo Bretholtz is about teenage Bretholtz's multiple escapes from the Nazis during the Holocaust. This book has a fast-paced plot and is suspenseful despite already knowing that the author survives. I classified this book as history, since Bretholtz includes numerous facts about WWII throughout his book and BCPL's call number for it is 940.5318 B. However, I would also classify it under other narrative non-fiction genres, including memoir, adventure, travel (Bretholtz recounts his travels through Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Switzerland), overcoming adversity, and disaster/survival. Therefore, this one title can appeal to many different readers. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. A final appeal factor of this book lies in its author, who currently lives in Baltimore, MD, and travels around to high schools in the area speaking to students (I got to meet him during one of my college classes). He is truly a humble, loving man, which is conveyed in his writing, despite all the horrors that have happened to him.


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a compelling story about an African-American woman whose contribution to science changed the medical world as we know it today. Scientists, after taking some cancerous tumor cells from her in 1951 without her or her family knowing, learn that her cells (HeLa cells) are the only ones that can be reproduced millions of times without dying (they are essentially "immortal"). She died soon after scientists discovered this, but her cells have lived on to help in the creation of the polio vaccination and to aid in AIDS, cancer, and gene mapping research (they have even been to space!). What is appealing about this book is that it does not focus solely on the scientific aspect of Henrietta's story, but also includes the impact that these cells have had on her family, who did not learn about these cells until recently and have thus not benefited from any of the profits made by those who have been selling her cell line over the years (this is particularly heart-wrenching when you find out that most of her family members were so poor that they could not even afford health insurance). This book would be appealing to people who like an intriguing read where they can become wrapped up in a story of family while also learning about science. Fortunately, the scientific concepts are described in layman's terms to be understood by everyone. Like Leap into Darkness, this book would be appealing to BCPLers because of its focus on the Baltimore area (specifically Johns Hopkins Hospital). Many of the Lacks's family members travel around the area to participate in talks about the book (I have been fortunate enough to meet Lacks's son, nephew, and granddaughters).



Week 7

Assignment 2

I read all of the articles listed (except the last one- the link was not working), but I specifically want to mention points made in three of the articles.

"New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak or Valued Subgenre?"

I had already heard of the "new adult" genre in grad school. It's been creating a lot of buzz among students who are getting their certificates in teaching and are planning on working in school libraries. I thought one interesting point raised by the article was that the age of characters in new adult literature is not as important as the theme, voice, and style are. Unfortunately, the article doesn't mention what the typical theme, voice, and style are in these books, which would have been useful information. The article does mentions some interesting facts about the term "new adult." I agree with Kenny Brechner's viewpoint on it- that the term does not have much appeal or pizzazz. I actually think that this term is confusing, for if we were to label a shelf as "new adult," I believe that most patrons would perceive this shelf as containing simply books that were new for adults. Seeing as many bookselles are not yet aware of this term (as pointed out by the article), it is unlikely that patrons are aware of it.

"The Next Big Thing: Adults Reading Teen Literature"

Concerning this article, I simply wanted to mention how much I enjoyed the ten reasons the author listed for why adults are reading teen literature. I had noticed that popular adult authors like Patterson and Picoult were writing teen literature, but it had never crossed my mind that this could be one of the reasons why adults were venturing into this genre.

"YA Comes of Age"

I thought this article made a fascinating point about the Hunger Games covers being appealing to all ages and genders. When I was a teenager, I remember that I wouldn't pick up a book if I disliked its cover. Although this does not happen to me now, I have a feeling that many readers still judge a book by its cover. Thus, the attractive covers on these teen books must definitely be reeling in adults.

Assignment 3

Forever Young Adult

I really enjoyed the posts on this website- lighthearted, personal, and highly entertaining (e.g. hilarious commentary on the mini-series North & South). I also think it has a great design that is feminine, yet not too "preteeny" girly looking. This post (http://foreveryoungadult.com/2013/06/04/stay-sweet-fya/) actually mentions who the intended audience is (female adults interested in reading a YA blog). I'd say that this website is quite successful. Each post gets at a few comments on it and their facebook page has over 5,800 likes. This blog is definitely for adults though. For instance, a blog post on Rick Riordin's Lightening Thief movie is accompanied by a drinking game - http://foreveryoungadult.com/2013/05/31/book-vs.-movie-the-lightning-thief/. There are numerous authors for this blog (all listed here- http://foreveryoungadult.com/cast-of-characters). All seem to be young women (except one male contributor). Each blog post is followed by a short biography of the author (of the biographies that I have read so far, they seem to be quite hilarious!).

Cassandra Clare's Tumblr

I've never actually used tumblr before, so this was a new experience for me. Once I got used to the format of the website, I was able to determine that Cassandra Clare is the one who posts, her intended audience are fans of her books, and her tumblr seems to be quite popular (each of her posts have been reblogged or liked thousands of times).

Assignment 4

Harper Teen

Harper Teen's website has two nice lists of the top 10 most popular books and top 10 most popular authors. I was surprised to see how many times the Pretty Little Liars books appeared in the top 10 books list (four times). This shows that one of the current trends in teen literature are books that have been made into tv shows. Harper Teen's homepage actually features a link to information about the Carrie Diaries book/tv show. Dystopian teen fiction is also still popular, as two of Veronica Roth's books appear on the list of top 10 books and she is the #5 author on the top 10 authors list. The #1 author, Michael Grant, also writes dsytopian/supernatural teen fiction.

Teens@Random

The other site I explored was Teens@Random. Listed under its new releases are three science fiction titles (dystopian and fantasy/magic), two books classified as romance (one historical, another modern), and four books dealing with social situations (such as family). It's good to see that there is a range of different types of books being published. I particularly enjoyed how this website breaks down its releases into different genres, including books specifically for girls and those specifically for guys.

Week 6

Assignment 1

Street Fiction
I felt as if I learned a lot about the different subgenres of urban fiction and its origins from Street Fiction. For instance, I did not know that Donald Goines was considered the "godfather" of this genre and that, looking even further back, urban fiction could have emerged from stories such as Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders. I did not like that Street Fiction pulled its book information straight from Amazon. However, I did enjoy that the website had a specific section dedicated to librarians and helping them learn more about this genre. I enjoyed Daniel Marcou's article on this page, but I could not access the first two articles. I actually found a few dead links on the site, and some of the interviews with the authors were poorly done (though still fun to read!). The general appearance of this website needs to be updated, and the book reviews should be written by skilled writers instead of utilizing just the Amazon book synopsis and customer reviews. Nonetheless, I still felt as if I gained a general idea of what comprises this subgenre.

Assignment 3

The three subgenres that I picked were chick lit, cozy mysteries, and zombie horror. I found the following websites for them by doing a simple Google search with the subgenre's name followed by the words fan page or fan club.

Chick Lit

One chick lit fan website I found is offered through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/chicklitclub). With a "membership" (or rather a "like" count) of 2,643, Chicklit Club definitely showed me what is currently popular among this subgenre's readers. For instance, a recent post about the new Bridget Jones's diary (#3) had 20 likes. Another book called Calling Mrs. Christmas by Carole Matthews had 20 likes as well. This page posts multiple times per day and provides author interviews, updates on new books, and other interesting links such as "Milly Johnson's 10 Commandments for Writers" and a link to a list of good movies to watch before a wedding. The three authors that seem to most typify this genre are Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones's Diary), Sarah Bushnell (Sex and the City), and Sophie Kinsella (Confessions of a Shopaholic). Jane Green and Emily Giffin are also very popular.

I also want to note another website I found called ChickLitBooks (http://chicklitbooks.com/). Although it is for fans, it is run by one woman and does not allow fan interaction or have any message boards for fans to post. However, I enjoyed it because it thoroughly described the different subgenres within this subgenre, including Hen Lit, Mommy Lit, Working Girl Lit, Wedding Lit, and Glamour Lit. This website also helped me find out more about the appeal factors of this genre: fast-paced writing, first-person perspective, and plots involving city life, mothering, friendship, and/or careers. This subgenre is usually humorous and light.


Cozy Mysteries

Once again, like with the Chick Lit subgenre, the best fan website I found for cozy mysteries was a Facebook page called Cozy Mystery Book Reviews (https://www.facebook.com/cozymysterybookreviews). It has a total of 1,367 likes. Some of the popular posts on this page are links to the books Nickled and Dimed to Death by Denise Swanson and There Goes the Bride by M. C. Beaton and a post advertising a book tour for A Cookbook Conspiracy by Kate Carlisle. This fan page also recently held a poll for determining what the June book club pick would be and Murder at Castle Rock by Anne Marie Stoddard won by a majority. Another popular post on this page asked fans what their favorite Christmas-themed cozy mystery is for a Christmas in July. There were numerous answers.

This website - http://www.cozy-mystery.com/ - seems to be a great resource for fans as it has lengthy, in-depth lists of cozy mystery books. It also helped me learn more about this subgenre's appeal factors, which include a small-town setting, neighborly-type characters, very tame stories (no gory details or sex), a smart, female amateur crime solver with a job such as a teacher, gardener, librarian, book store owner, a fast-paced plot, and endearing characters that develop throughout the story (or the series, as many cozy mysteries are series). Some authors that typify this subgenre are Agatha Christie (particulary her Miss Marple series), Lillian Jackson Braun (The Cat Who...series), Rita Mae Brown (Mrs. Murphy series), and Nancy Atherton (Aunt Dimity series).

In my searchings for a fan website, I stumbled upon this entertaining blog that is run by seven different mystery authors who post their recipes - http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/. I must try the apple pie fruit roll-ups!

Zombie Horror

This subgenre looked like so much fun that I just had to choose it. I found an interesting fan site for zombie literature at this link - http://www.undeadinthehead.com/. Undead in the Head has 83 members through Google+ and is run by Lyle Perez-Tinics, who writes zombie horror fiction himself. He provides book reviews and his interviews with authors of zombie books. Unfortunately, he has not posted since April 2012, so this would only be a good resource for fans wanting to browse older titles. I also found this useful website - http://www.zombiefiction.net/ - but like the other website, it has not been updated since 2012. Some popular titles in this subgenre are I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, Cell by Stephen King, Travis Adkins' Twilight of the Dead and Walking with the Dead, Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and The Zombie Survival Guide, and Day by Day Armageddon by J. L. Bourne. Also, Robert Kirkman's graphic novel series The Walking Dead and its tv show has certainly caused more interest in this subgenre. Another fascinating book that has arisen from this subgenre is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I could not really find any great links that describe characteristic features of zombie horror novels, but I would surmise that all of these books contain graphic gore, violence, and suspense and likely share similar characteristics with the subgenres of disaster adventure, post-apocalyptic science fiction, and apocalyptic horror.

Finally, I came across this fantastic little zombie web comic that is told through lego characters - http://bricksofthedead.com/.

I mentioned Pride and Prejudice and Zombies above, which is a good time to bring up the last part of this assignment - the mashups. This title is a mashup of classic English literature and zombie horror. Another title that would be considered a mashup is Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is historical fiction combined with vampire horror.

Week 5

Assignment 1

Early Word
EarlyWord has turned out to be an entertaining resource where I can quickly gain information about new books (I enjoy the brevity of the blog posts). However, I feel that its book reviews are lacking a little both in the length of the actual reviews (brevity here is a negative) and in the fact that I found EarlyWord to concentrate just as much (if not even more so) on media news concerning books than actual book reviews. I was surprised to see that EarlyWord not only focused on movies that are based off of books, but also tv shows (for instance, I learned that a tv show is airing in June that is based off of Stephen King's novel Under the Dome). I find that, as librarians, we often dedicate a lot of time to learning about new book releases and not enough time to finding out more about new movies and tv shows. Since BCPL provides movies and tv shows (and since they are some of the most highly circulated items), viewers' advisory is just as important. I often have customers come up to me asking to place Downton Abbey on hold. I recently learned through EarlyWord that the new season of Downton Abbey is premiering in January and that one of the main actresses is not returning. This blog post also mentioned two books related to Downton Abbey (one on Lady Almina and the other on Lady Catherine). I have suggested that customers read these books and have also given them suggestions to watch Upstairs, Downstairs, Mr. Selfridge, Parade's End, and Call the Midwife (along with reading Jennifer Worth's memoirs). It's great that, through what I learn from EarlyWord, I can engage customers in a rich readers'/viewers' advisory experience beyond just placing Downton Abbey on hold for them. Therefore, I do like the emphasis that EarlyWord puts on media, though I feel as if I would have to utilize different resources (such as Goodreads or NPR) for quality, lengthy book reviews.

Assignment 2

I would say, hands down, that popular fiction (those on the booklists such as The New York Times Best Seller List) are the most checked out books at Reisterstown. I believe that customers tend to want to read a book after the movie comes out, rather than before (I have a feeling that most customers are unaware that a movie has been based off of a book until they see it listed in the opening credits, unless it is a very popular book). For instance, I have had no requests for Ender's Game yet, despite the fact that it is coming out in December of this year. However, I have a feeling that I will start to get requests for this title after the movie has come to theaters.

Since I chose EarlyWord as one of my readers' advisory resources, I have become familiar with the site over the past five weeks, so nothing was a new discovery for me this week. I'd say that the best resources that this site offers are the Movie & TV Based on Books sections. I will continue to frequent these pages. Another part of this site that I will start to use continually is the People Magazine Book Reviews Index, seeing as most Reisterstown Branch customers desire popular fiction (and I've had a few come to me with clippings out of People magazine of the books they want to be placed on hold). It's great that EarlyWord compiles these reviews in one section, since People does not have an online index of their reviews.

Assignment 3

I chose Flavorpill's (also listed on Huffington Post and The Los Angeles Times) My Brother's Book by Maurice Sendak. This was the last book Sendak wrote before he passed away last May, which will ensure its popularity as many will see it as his "farewell." Comprised of a meditative poem on Sendak's brother (and, as some believe, written in memory of Sendak's partner as well), this book is about two brothers who are separated when a falling star hits Earth. It deals with such themes as sibling (brotherly) love, loss, separation, and reunion. It is beautifully illustrated with watercolors, which will appeal to children, while its treatment of such deep themes will speak to an older, adult audience. Both the poetry and the illustrations are reminiscent of William Blake's work, especially Songs of Innocence and Experience (which, similarly, can be enjoyed by both children and adults). Adults who revel in meditative poetry, who devoured Sendak's writing and illustration style in their youth, and who like authors such as Shakespeare and William Blake, from whom Sendak drew his inspiration, will particularly find this book resonating.

Week 4

Assignment 1

I've had a Goodreads account for close to a year now and have enjoyed adding books to my shelves. I have 544 books on there interspersed throughout 28 shelves. In the past, I usually kept a Microsoft Word document of all the books I had read, but I've found Goodreads to be much easier and quicker to use. For instance, I've been recently reading all of the Caldecott medal and honor books, and it's been so effortless to keep track of which ones I have read through Goodreads. I also know that if I ever need to bring up a title I have read, but do not remember the name or author of the book, I can simply look through my shelves. I think this is where Goodreads can excel as a tool for librarians. I simply can't remember all the titles I have read, but being able to go to my shelves to jog my memory helps tremendously during readers' advisory. Some interesting features that I'd like to note about Goodreads are the following:

• The shelf cloud feature: This visually represents your shelves and shows which ones contain the most books, which is useful for determining the genres in which I need to read more!
• The most read authors feature: Shakespeare was #2 on my list, with Ann Rinaldi coming in at #1!
• The stats feature: This provides an interesting tool where you can see the longest book you have read in each year- a 743 page library science textbook topped the list for me in 2012
• The fun page with trivia and quizzes: This is a good way to kill time, have fun, and learn in the process!

I have not looked into the groups feature yet, but I plan on exploring this more in-depth. I like that the explore page has lists for recent award winners and books that are popular this week, and gives a debut author snapshot. Overall, I think the Goodreads site has a myriad of useful features and is quite user-friendly.

Finally, I recommended Behind the Palace Doors: Five Centuries of Sex, Adventure, Vice, Treachery, and Folly from Royal Britain by Michael Farquhar to Lisa Dibbern based off of her love of non-fiction books (I also noticed she was currently reading Literary Rogues, and Behind the Palace Doors is a similar concept, but focused on the scandalous lives of British kings and queens rather than of authors).

Week 3

Assignment 3

Conversation 1: My first thought was to recommend Wild by Cheryl Strayed, since this memoir focuses on a woman's journey for self-discovery along the West coast with descriptions of the places she hikes through and much of her own reflections. However, this book was an Oprah Book Club 2.0 pick, which means that the customer has probably already read it. Therefore, another suggestion I would give would be Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd, which is similar to Eat, Pray, Love because of its reflective nature, its focus on travel (Greece and France), and its strong female characters (a mother and daughter). Finally, if the customer wanted to veer away a little bit from travel writing, but still wanted a book that was reflective, had some light humor, and focused on a brave and interesting female character, I would suggest The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, which is a memoir about Walls' childhood with her alcoholic, often homeless parents.

________________________________________________________

Conversation 2: There are two suggestions that I would give the customer. First, since the customer specifies that they do not like teen angst, I would recommend The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, which is a more refined read on the topic of vampires. This historical fiction novel delves into the folklore of Vlad Tepes. While a long book, it is fast paced and has all the characteristics of a Gothic novel combined with detective fiction, adventure, and thriller. If the customer is looking for a book that is a little less deep and instead more fun (yet still with none of the teen angst), I would suggest The Southern Vampire Mysteries (or The Sookie Stackhouse Novels) by Charlaine Harris, which feature a tough, spunky heroine and are fast paced, quick, short reads.

________________________________________________________

Conversation 3: The customer here seems to be desiring non-fiction (since they enjoyed the fact that the story was true), and especially narrative non-fiction (since non-narrative non-fiction is usually not a fast paced read). My first suggestion would be anything written by Edward Klein or David O. Stewart, since their non-fiction books are similarly fast-paced and on the topic of presidents. I would also suggest Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candace Millard and The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower, since these are both fast-paced narrative non-fiction books that feature murder plots and presidents. The Hour of Peril would particularly be an interesting read for the customer if they are from Baltimore, since it focuses on the failed Baltimore Plot to assassinate Lincoln.