Pride Month Display & Book Recommendations

If you follow me on Twitter, you might’ve seen me post about my (small, inclusive, non-offensive) Pride Month display (pictured below) that I put up in the library that was taken down.

 

I couldn’t care less about the work I put into the display. What I care about are the teens who didn’t get to see the display before it got taken down, who didn’t get to find a book that they could find themselves in, who didn’t get to see that at least one librarian cares about them in this state. I’m sad because none of the teens who could’ve benefited from this display were asked what they thought about it. I’m sad because before the display was taken down, FOUR of the books in the display were checked out, which means at least one teen saw that display and thought, “Wow. This is for me,” but no other teens were given that option.

I can’t say much about the display or why it was taken down, unfortunately. There was a much longer post here, but all I’m going to say no is that the display was taken down. Kayla, the young adult librarian at one of the other libraries in our system, also had to take her display down (pictured below).

What Kayla had to say:

What you’re saying is, “The kids who need these books, this visibility, and this support are not as important as the people who might get upset about it.”
….
What I just got told, by the people who refer to us all as a family, is that I can only be proud of myself if other people don’t have to see it. What I just got told, by the people who are supposed to uphold the idea of freedom of information for the public, who are supposed to serve the community as best they possibly can, is that some parts of that community matter more than others.

Good to know.

Kayla and I are not giving up and we will continue to find a way to continue to support our LGBTQIAP+ youth and ALL youth in our communities.

————————————

So while all of this was happening, someone asked me on Twitter so share a list of the books I put in my display so he could add them to his TBR. I wanted to share them with all of you, so here’s the list of books I had in my display plus a few I wanted to include but were already checked out. I hope that you’ll find at least one of them that will benefit you.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Anything Could Happen by Will Walton
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
What We Left Behind by Robin Talley
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Two Boys Kissing and Every Day by David Levithan (honestly, everything by David Levithan)
In Real Life by Joey Graceffa
Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Binge by Tyler Oakley
Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

A Work in Progress by Connor Franta
Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator Is Changing the World by Jack Andraka
More Than This by Patrick Ness
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Far from You by Tess Sharpe
Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz
The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

Other books that I wanted in my display but they are already checked out (which is even better):

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
Winger and Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Jerkbait by Mia Siegert
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

There are so many other books I wanted to include. I would also recommend checking out Dahlia Adler’s LGBTQ Reads website for more recommendations!

If you are interested in hearing about what happens with this situation, I’ll be tweeting updates, so follow me @StefaniSloma.

Thursday Thoughts: Cinder Book Club at the Library

As most of you know, I’m a Young Adult Librarian. I’ve posted about some of the programs I host and you guys always seem to enjoy when I talk more about my job. One of the things I’ve been doing is posting about the teen book clubs I do every month. We’ve read THE RAVEN BOYS and MOSQUITOLAND and THE YOUNG ELITES (but I realized I forgot to post about that one, so I’ll do that soon). During the book club I ask my teens to describe the book and each of the main characters using only one word. It’s a lot of fun for all of us and it gets them to use their vocabulary. Plus, I think you guys like seeing these. Right?

This month we read CINDER by Marissa Meyer. I just read this series for the first time a few months ago (and finished WINTER recently), so I was really excited to talk about this book with my teens. We talked about the persecution of cyborgs, what cyborg ability they’d like to have, the morality of what Dr. Erland did, the setting, the fairy tale parallels, and more. Everyone seemed to really like/love the book, and we had a good discussion. And then we got to our one-word part. Here we go:

THE BOOK

beautiful // perfect // amazing // fascinating // favorite

CINDER

outcast // independent // relatable // sassy // b.a. // sarcastic

KAI

This was the only response – *giggles and blushes* – literally, one of my girls giggled and blushed

IKO

sassy // adorable // fierce // sweet

DR. ERLAND

wise // smart // deceptive // secretive // protective

PEONY (spoilers!!)

awwwwww // sweet // lovable // not one word, but (very seriously while also being silly): taken from this world too soon

LEVANA

ugly // psycho // controlling // manipulative // a witch

ADRI & PEARL (we grouped these together)

bleh // horrible // rude // not a fan // manipulative // cold

What do you think of my teens’ descriptions?

Thursday Thoughts: Kevin Henkes Display at the Library

A lot of you have said that you really like when I share stuff from my job at the library – about programs or displays or whatever, so I thought I’d share this really fun display I did that I’m really proud of.

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) is running a contest centered around Kevin Henkes’ new book Waiting, and the grand prize is a freaking visit from Kevin Henkes!! So, of course, I wanted to try and win. Librarians (and booksellers) could request a promotional kit, and then they were asked to create a display that creatively and effectively promoted Waiting. This is what my display is all about: All of the characters in Kevin Henkes’ new book are waiting on something, so I wanted to see what our patrons (kids to adults) were waiting on. I asked everyone to write what they were waiting for on pieces of paper, and we had a multitude of answers – from Halloween to payday, grades to coffee on the front porch, a new baby brother to a big brother coming home from college, a visit from a fairy tale princess to an appearance by Kevin Henkes’ at the Pearl Public Library. All of the Henkes characters in the display, which come from many of his books, were hand drawn and colored by me, and I placed them around the display as if they were looking up at Waiting. My favorite is Owen with his fuzzy yellow blanket. It was SO MUCH FUN drawing all of these characters and seeing what all our patrons were waiting on. Other favorite answers: more teeth, 5 o’clock, my birthday, college, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Some of my answers: my next road trip, new books,

Thursday Thoughts: Mosquitoland Book Club at the Library

Last month was my very first YA book club at the library, and it was amazing and wonderful. My teens and I had an hour and a half long discussion about The Raven Boys, and at the end of it, they told me they wanted me to pick out the next read. Well, I’m sure you guys know by now how much I love David Arnold’s debut novel, Mosquitoland, right? If not, just check out my 10/10 review of it, and/or check out my Twitter page because I talk about it like 3 times a week at least/my Twitter header image is my copy of the book. My teens decided they wanted to go with Mosquitoland aka I practically word-vomited my love of it and they liked that. 🙂 Either way, we read Mosquitoland for our September book club, and then discussed it this past Monday.

Last month I decided to ask them to describe each of the characters and the book overall in one word at the end of the discussion and they seemed to enjoy that, so we did it again, and here are the words they used for Mosquitoland.

MIM

Sassy // Witty // Spirit-animal // Adventurous // Relatable // Quirky // Smart // Well-done

BECK

Ahhhhh // Heart-Eyes emoji // Responsible // Moral clock // Compassionate // Nice // Charismatic

WALT

Awwwww // Innocent // Adorable // Huggable // Loveable // Wonderful

ARLENE

She smells like cookies // Pizzazz // Warm // #oldpersongoals // Inviting

KATHY (Potential spoilers)

Redeemed // Underestimated

SPOILERS – PONCHO MAN

Creepy // Pedo // Bigot // UGH // *insert bad words here* // Overgrown primate

MOSQUITOLAND

*Sighs contentedly* // Sassy // Indescribable // Realistic // Beautiful // We can’t just pick one word

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I’m really happy that 1. all of them loved the book (like, seriously, it was just an hour and half love fest), and 2. we actually had three new members!

So David, being the wonderful human he is, signed some bookmarks for my teens when I met him at the Decatur Book Festival last month, and my teens were SO EXCITED when I handed them out. Thank you again, David, for being so generous – and also answering some last minute questions via Twitter! My teens are as in love with the book as I am, and they are equally as enamored with you. I was somehow able to tone down my word-vomit love to lead a thoughtful, interesting, love-filled discussion for over an hour with a group of 8 teens about Mim, family, Mississippi, psychosis/medication/etc, romance, road trips, flaws, and so much more, and I’m pretty dang happy about it. All of the teens in the book club – except the one boy who had to leave early for Boy Scouts – are teenage girls, and we talked about how well-done Mim is and how they could relate to her so much because her voice is just like theirs. That, to me, is the mark of an amazing YA book.

Check out this picture of my teens with their bookmarks, my coworker (the super tall one) who I convinced to read the book and she also loved it, and me, looking happy af.

Next month’s read is I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson!

The Picture Books I’ve Been Reading

You guys all know I’m a Youth Services Librarian, right? I mostly read YA and MG, but I also read a ton of picture books (through story time or just my own time) because I spend a lot of time recommending books to patrons. I adore picture books. Before I started working in the library, I never read them, but there’s something about the sweet messages, adorable illustrations, and short page length that is wonderfully satisfying and calming to read. SO here are a few picture books I’ve read recently:

The Wonderful Things You Will Be – Written and illustrated by Emily Winfield Martin (Find it on Goodreads)
Published August 25th, 2015 by Random House Books for Young Readers

I checked this one out because I adore the cover. The illustrations inside are just as gorgeous and fanciful. I’m not a mom (yet) but I can just imagine reading this one with my future child – what wonderful things will they be when they grow up? A book about all the amazing possibilities a child has. The Wonderful Things You Will Be is sweet, gentle, and lovely. And seriously, I could frame some of the illustrations. They’re gorgeous.

Rosie Revere, Engineer – Written by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts
Published September 3rd, 2013 by Harry N. Abrams

Inspiring and fun. “The only true failure can come if you quit.” This book is about the importance of failing but continuing to go on, continuing to try, and I really love that message. It’s all about having confidence in yourself and what you want even in the face of ridicule and failure. It’s a quick, fun read, but definitely powerful. Plus, it’s got some GREAT illustrations.

Iggy Peck, Architect – Written by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts
Published October 1st, 2007 by Harry N. Abrams

This one is written by the same team who wrote Rosie Revere, Engineer. After I read that one, I HAD to read this one too. Iggy Peck, Architect is a really cute story with some seriously cool illustrations. It’s not exactly one I would read in story time at the library as there are some parts where the text is rather long, but this one would be perfect for some one-on-one reading with the little builder in your life. A great story about not giving up and doing the things you love.

(Thanks so much to Emma at Miss Print for recommending the last two books to me!)

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge | Week Four Update

This week I started the audiobook for I’ll Give You the Sun. After listening to it for about 35 minutes on my commute to work, I tweeted this:

Started the I'll Give You the Sun audiobook by @jandynelson today. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ IT? Why didn't any of you force it on me?!

— Stefani Sloma (@StefaniSloma) April 20, 2015

It’s safe to say that I’m LOVING it. If you haven’t read it, the book is written from two perspectives – Noah at age 13 and then his twin at age 16. Noah’s narrator, Jesse Bernstein, is just incredible. He’s got me driving down the road cackling and probably looking like a complete idiot, but I don’t even care. I’m really enjoying this one, and I’m pretty sure this will be one of the books I reread again as a physical book so I can appreciate the story in more than one way.

I also read Nova Ren Suma’s The Walls Around Us this week. Magical realism is always fun, and this was just so cool. It’s trippy and strange and wonderful. I was so confused most of the time and I loved it. Usually I don’t like when I have absolutely no idea what’s happening, but I was a fan of it in this case.

This week, I saved a total of $47.94 – $29.99 (I’ll Give You the Sun Audiobook) + $17.95 (The Walls Around Us)

Overall in the challenge, I have saved a total of $242.24! Libraries are awesome!

Each week during the Challenge, we’ve chosen a topic to discuss during our weekly update. This week’s topic is:

Share how often you visit your library.

Again, I feel like I’m cheating a little. I work in a library so I technically “visit” it every day Monday-Friday. HOWEVER, let’s talk about how often I check stuff out from the library, shall we? We get our “runs” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the library. Since  my library is part of a 20 branch system, we can request books/movies/audiobooks/etc. from any of the other 20 branches for our patrons and they’ll be delivered to our branch (it usually takes a couple of days, unless it’s currently checked out). I pretty much get something in our run each time we get one. That’s how often I check out something from my library system. Almost three times a week. Yeah, you could say I love my library.

Also, while we’re here, I wanted to share some exciting news! I currently work part-time (well, this month, I’m full time since our Children’s Librarian left), so I work Wednesday – Friday. Starting May 1 (NEXT FRIDAY), I’ll be the FULL TIME Youth Services Assistant at a library that is roughly four times the size of my current branch. The children’s section at the new library is just about the size of the entire library where I currently work. So yeah, the new library is HUGE. It’s also about 15-20 minutes closer than my current branch. I’m really sad about leaving my current branch as I absolutely love working there; my boss is awesome, and I’ll miss working with him every day. I’ll also miss the wonderful patrons I’ve gotten to know over the last 10 months. (Of course, there are a few things I won’t miss, but we don’t have to go into that here). I’ve felt guilty and sad and elated and excited and stressed and a whole bunch of other things for the past several weeks since I found out, but I think I’ve finally settled on excited. I’m ready for a new adventure, a new library, and full-time pay.

So how often do you visit your library? Do you check out items with as much frequency as I do?

LINK YOUR WEEK THREE UPDATE BELOW!

And don’t forget to enter the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge giveaway and participate in the Scavenger Hunt for another chance to win $15 to TBD and discover some new stuff about your library!

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge | Week Two Update

Week two of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge was…not great. I’ve been under a lot of stress recently and I don’t know if it’s that or what I was reading, but I didn’t make much headway this week. As you might remember from last week’s update, I had started The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to DNF it. I read a little over a hundred pages, and I just felt like I had read it before, like it was similar to A LOT of other books I’ve read. So I took a break and picked up Compulsion by Martina Boone, which I really like, but it’s taking me SO long to read it. I also took a break from my Jackaby audiobook. Do you ever just have days (or weeks) where you really enjoy what you’re reading but you don’t really feel like reading? Does that even make sense?

BUT Thursday I raced through more than TWO HUNDRED PAGES in Compulsion and finished it up on Friday, so I think I’m doing better. Fingers crossed I’m not falling into a slump.

Each week during the Challenge, we’ve chosen a topic to discuss during our weekly update. This week’s topic is:

Books you would like to suggest to your library.

Well, I feel a little bit like a cheater because I usually get to order a lot of the books that I want to read each month. I do all of the YA ordering at my library (as well as suggesting several adult titles per month), so, of course, my list is pretty much all books I either want to read or have found through other book bloggers as ones they’d recommend. Because of this, I’m going to share the list of YA and MG books I ordered in April. Because we’re a small library, we have a relatively small budget each month, but I think I did a pretty good job of getting a wide range of books. This list does not include the easy reader/picture books we ordered or the few non-fiction books. [All titles linked to Goodreads, of course!]

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre
Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce
Mosquitoland by David Arnold
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin
Anything Could Happen by Will Walton
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond

What books would you suggest to your library? Let me know so I can expand my collection!

LINK YOUR WEEK TWO UPDATE BELOW!

And don’t forget to enter the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge giveaway!

Bookish Talk: Library Displays!

As you may or may not know I work at a library. One of my favorite things about my job is doing the displays – I love getting artsy fartsy and creative. It’s super fun. I know several of my followers also work in libraries, so I thought it’d be fun to share some of my displays with you. Feel free to use my ideas – just send me a picture so I can see what you did! Also, link me up to your displays in the comments if you have pictures! 🙂 You can also follow me on Instagram where I post most of my displays as well as lots of bookish pictures.

Thanksgiving display

Fall books display – actually most of the books with this are sad, dark books, which I feel are the most appropriate for fall.

No-Shave November display. Sign reads: We mustache you to check out these stache-tastic books!

Halloween/horror books display

Fall display. Floating words say: Fall in love with a good book. All books had “Fall” in the title.

My Teen Read Week display. Theme was “Turn Your Dreams into Reality”

Banned Books Week display

I’ve done a few more, but these are my favorites of the ones I’ve done so far. Would you guys be interested in seeing more of these as I continue doing them? I don’t want to post something you don’t want to see!