Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies

How could a person see this book and not want to read it? Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies (due out May 2010) is a hilarious middle-grade sci-fi adventure in which twins Kevin and Joules Rockman need to save Camp Whatsitooya from sugar crazed, telepathic, man-eating rabbits from outer space.

This book literally had me laughing on every page. Occasionally the narrator laughed with me.

The story is presented in a variety of formats, moving seamlessly from traditional text to illustrated comic book style sequences, to charts of helpful information, to SPAM advertisements. My personal favorite was Kevin's Chart of Famous Last Words, compiled from his and his sister's own life experience and many many episodes of the Late, Late, Late Creepy Show for Insomniacs.

And just what does have the power to repel the Fluffs and save both Camp Whatsitooya and the world? Glitter? Junior High Musical Seven? The Plumbing Channel? SPAM? You'll have to pick this one up and find out! You won't regret it.

Zebrafish

Zebrafish, by Peter Reynolds, was the first of my ALA freebies that I sat down to read. My primary interest in picking up the title was that included in my registration materials was a coupon for a prize pack of promotional materials for the book. Once I read the blurb on the back cover, I knew I had to read it right away.

Zebrafish is about Vita, a self-declared indie girl who lives with her cancer researcher brother and wants to start a band. None of her friends have any musical talent, but with the help of a little computer animation, everyone can be in the band, named Zebrafish after the clear-skinned fish that help researchers study cancer. And what do bands do but put on concerts? In this case, a computer-animated, one song benefit concert. But instead of saving the pandas like band member Tanya wants, Vita decides to help something a little closer to home--the local hospital where her brother works and Tanya goes for chemo treatments.

The book is a fast read (it took me less than half an hour), with only 19 short chapters written in graphic novel style. The illustrations are great, and definitely suitable for middle-grade readers. And I can't think of a single middle schooler who wouldn't think a book about kids starting a band and making a difference was totally awesome.

Where this story finds its heart is in the deepening friendships between the band members and their decision to do something to help a friend in need. And the best part? This heartwarming conclusion encourages kids to think about ways in which they can make a difference. The prize pack was full of items promoting generationcures, a program based at Boston Children's Hospital.

This book is set for a release date of May 2010. I highly suggest keeping an eye out for it if you are or know anyone who enjoys entertaining and heartwarming middle-grade books.

the hills are alive

For as detail-oriented and nit-picky I can be about the little things in life, I have a pretty lax approach to handling the big things. It's not that I'm unconcerned about my future, it's just that I take seriously God's promise to work together all things for the good of those who serve him. The larger decisions in life I find easier to let go of and wait for God's leading because they're already out of my hands and too big for me to fully comprehend.

The first prime example of this is my decision to come to USF. I always knew I wanted to go there, probably because my cousins had loved their time at the school. But there was no way we could ever afford it unless I got the very top scholarship the school offered. I'll admit to being a little worried about that one for a little while, but I knew I didn't want to go anywhere else, so I trusted that it would work out. And it did. God cleared the way for me to spend four amazing years being nurtured and challenged by friends and professors and an amazing Christian community.

The summer I first worked for the Sioux Falls Parks and Rec department I quit my job at Hy-Vee before I knew what I would do instead and made plans to live in Sioux Falls for the summer. All I knew was that I didn't want to work another summer at the salad bar, away from the home I was making in Sioux Falls. I turned in an application at Parks and Rec so late in the spring that I shouldn't have had a chance, but another girl left a position at Tuthill, and they needed a new person at the last minute (I got the call just as I was finishing spring finals), but their required background check took exactly as much time as I needed for my trip to the Boundary Waters and my brother's wedding. I couldn't have planned it more perfectly if I had tried. But God planned that one. He gave me the gift of spending one last summer with my grandma, living in her house and being closer to her than ever before. I am so grateful for that.

And then there was Boston. I had never heard of Simmons College, and possibly never would have, before Dianna suggested we go to Boston over fall break our senior year. She had people and a school to visit and wanted me to come along. So I did a little searching and found a school in Boston with a library science program that I could visit, to legitimize missing the last day of class before break. Enter Simmons College and a school visit that would change my life and draw me back to Boston for my graduate studies.

This is how I live my life: I see things that look fun and try for them. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I get something better instead. I've been turned down for jobs at both Harvard and the JFK library since coming to Boston. Instead, I spent an awesome summer as a tour guide at Park Street Church and look forward to doing the same after graduation this May. I think that job has done a far better job of preparing me for what's coming next.

And what is coming next? In case there's anyone left who hasn't already heard, I'm going to Salzburg, Austria in the fall for a three month library internship at the Salzburg Global Seminar. Don't feel bad if you haven't heard of it--I hadn't either before the internship announcement found its way into my inbox. I initially applied on a whim, figuring that it wouldn't go very far but I may as well take a shot at such a great opportunity. After weeks of hearing nothing, I got an email just days before Christmas from the director, asking if I would be able to do a phone interview in January. Well, that got me pretty excited, and I started actually telling people about the internship possibility, since it suddenly seemed like a real possibility. The more I talked about it, the more excited I got, and I had to remind myself I hadn't actually gotten accepted yet.

My first full day back in Boston I spoke with the director, Cheryl. Apparently the seminar hasn't been able to keep a full time librarian for a few years now and there is quite a bit of work to be done. The actual collection is only about 10K volumes, most of them rather old, but Cheryl wants the library interns to look into ways for the library to expand online services to visiting scholars. She figured that recent library school graduates would be the best to fill this role, since we've just had two years of reading and talking about the most current library science topics and should be better prepared to help bring the little old library forward into the digital era. It's a little overwhelming to think that I will be the sole librarian working on this in September, but it's a challenge I look forward to. I wouldn't want a job that was too easy, even in such a place as Salzburg.

Another thing that makes the challenges easier to face is the library itself. I have seen one picture so far, and it is beautiful. The Salzburg Global Seminar is housed in the Schloss Leopoldskron, Max Reinhardt's old home, the 18th century "castle" of Sound of Music fame. The outdoor scenes of the movie were actually filmed on the lake, though not on the actual property, due to conflicts in scheduling between filming and seminar sessions. But if you think about the Captain's estate in the movie, that's pretty much where I'll be working. And where I'll be living. The internship is unpaid, so they provide room and board, as well as paying for my travel to and from Salzburg. I will have a room (with private bath) in the Schloss, and will take my meals with the seminar interns and visiting scholars. And apparently I'll also have the use of Max Reinhardt's office. And the great music hall, where Mozart is said to have performed. Could someone please pinch me?

There are, of course, a few more hurdles, including applying for a three month work visa. But there's plenty of time to get the details smoothed over. And learn a bit of German so I'm not completely lost when I leave the seminar for tourist-y fun. Plus finish library school and learn as much as possible about what I'll be doing at the Schloss.

But I trust that will all come together.

-Kim

am I the mouse or the man?

Making plans is a dangerous activity. It tends to lead to the mistaken perception that I am in control of my own life. Not that I am suggesting it would be better for me to float from one thing to the next with no goal or plan in mind. That would be far worse. No, what I mean is that I tend to overreact when my plans are changed.

Take this past week, for instance. Last week I was supposed to have a few days off after my ALA convention and then have my second big gum surgery. I figured this would be the best possible timing, because I would have much of the healing done by the time I had to start actually doing homework for my classes (which start today). Enter the common cold, the proverbial monkey wrench in the gears of my well made plan. I fought with the cold throughout the conference, sleeping as much as possible but refusing to altogether skip anything. By Monday the cold was a sinus infection, but because of the holiday it took until Tuesday for me to see a doctor and get antibiotics.

This did not bode well for my dental work. On Wednesday I was supposed to have a check-up and my three month measurements on the first surgical site. I didn't make it to that one. So on Thursday I spoke with my dentist, and we decided that the surgery should be put off until I was completely well. By Friday I was well enough to turn my surgical appointment into a check-up, so we got the measurements taken and my teeth got a once-over sort of cleaning to prepare them for the next operation, which will be in about a month. It was the best we could do, so I'll just have to live with it. (Side note: the periodontology department has moved to the remodeled 12 floor, where everything is shiny and new. Several chairs even face huge windows looking out over the city--I hope I get to have one of them when I go back for my surgery.)

By now I've gotten used to the idea, and really, it was good to have a few more days to rest and recover from this bug so that I can be healthy going into the semester. But my initial reaction was frustration, and I even resented the extra time I had been given, because now I had to think of something to do this weekend now that I wasn't going to be recovering from surgery. That is not the reaction I should have when presented with free time. Something is clearly wrong with me.

I have decided to claim this realization as a teachable moment. I cannot control my own life, and I need to stop pretending I can. Even though the next year is largely planned out already, that's no reason for me to be complacent and just assume everything will go the way I want it to. Life happens, and more importantly, God often changes our plans in ways we cannot comprehend. Somehow this is easier to understand with the big things, like school, careers, internships, and harder to live out day-to-day. It's as if I can trust that God is planning the larger arc of my life, yet somehow think he has no say in the smaller details or that he leaves me to deal with these complications on my own. Thank goodness that isn't true. He cares that I get frustrated, and when my plans fall through he has another option waiting for me.

Sometimes, though, my plans and God's plans seem to line up beautifully, but that's a story for another post.

-Kim

ALA Midwinter Meeting

This past weekend I attended my first professional conference, the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association. I found myself coming down with a head cold during the conference, which limited what I could do, but I still got my money's worth.

On Friday night I went to the opening ceremonies, explored the preview of the expo area and helped run a session called "Games, Gadgets and Gurus." I was a guru, which meant I had volunteered to be available to talk to other librarians about the wonders of Facebook and what it could do for them. It was a good time. I also got to play a little Rock Band before the night was over.

On Saturday I spent my time collecting books. Most of the publishers have uncorrected proofs (aka galleys, advance reader's copies) available for free. This afternoon, however, there was the added bonus of several authors being onhand to sign their books. This "spotlight on adult literature" (to differentiate it from the large number of children's and YA titles available) began at 2pm, during the last half hour of Al Gore's speech about global warming. So I did the only smart thing--skipped the speech to be first in line for the free books. It worked out pretty well.

On Sunday I was more careful with the book collecting, since I wasn't feeling well. Later in the afternoon I went to the only talk of the conference that truly interested me--Yohannes Gebregeorgis talking about his Ethiopia Reads program. What he as done to increase literacy in the country of Ethiopia. Besides establishing libraries in schools, he has also instituted Donkey Mobile Libraries, which are just what they sound like--carts of books pulled through the Ethiopian countryside by donkeys. You can learn more here.

In the end, what I took away from this conference is what every conference attendee throughout the history of conferences has treasured above all else--swag. Now that I've had a few days to organize and total my haul, here is what I collected:

71 books
27 adult level books (10 signed)
44 YA/kids books

7 bags

5 pens

5 posters

3 packets of tea

1 mug

1 neon green Mango languages t-shirt

1 amazing purple hat

1 fuzzy green teddy bear

1 pair orange ear buds

1 promotional prize pack for a YA book

1 green origami pig

Pretty nice haul, huh? As I work my way through the pile of books, some will turn out to be worth the effort of hauling them across town, and some will not. Watch for posts coming up reviewing the ones I think will be worth your time.

-Kim