Tera Lynn Childs at Otis Library

Don’t forget that on Monday, Tera Lynn Childs will be visiting the Otis Library at 6:30!

 

I’m super excited to host her and hope that you can make it.

 

~ Jennifer

Are you planning to attend BEA?

BEA is like Christmas for me. I love chatting about books with bloggers and other librarian. I adore stalking chatting with authors. I like talking with publishers about books I really enjoyed and upcoming books I can’t wait to read. Basically, it’s one of my favorite days of the year. If you haven’t been, look into it, because it’s simply amazing.

Plus, you can get a little break if you’re part of the CT Library Consortium (and also if you sign up before May 5th!)

Thanks to the CLC for the discounted rate! (to get the discount, register using the link from here)

~ Jennifer R.

Ghosts & Graves Tour

 

I recently attended the Ghosts & Graves Tour at Otis Library in Norwich and had a great time meeting the YA authors, Jessica Verday and Michelle Zink.  They talked about their latest books – the 2nd of a 3 part series for each of the authors.  We got to learn a little more about them as they answered questions from the audience.  Jessica really does make perfume, as does one of the characters in her books.  And Michelle has a teenage son that wrote a musical score to accompany her novels.  They each read from their latest book and I was instantly hooked. 

The authors had a raffle of some cool prizes – perfumes, books, cds, and an iPod shuffle.  Some lucky teens (and teens at heart) were thrilled. 

We were able to purchase copies of Jessica’s books, The Hollow and The Haunted, as well as, copies of  Michelle’s  books, Prophecy of the Sisters and Guardian of the Gate.  I purchased The Hollow and Prophecy of the Sisters and can’t wait to read and then donate them to the YA shelf at the library. 

The authors were available to sign books, chat with fans, and more than happy to be included in pictures. Check out Jennifer’s blog,  http://yabooknerd.blogspot.com/, for some awesome photos of the decorations, the authors, and the books. 

Oh, and no author talk would be complete without some tasty treats.  We snacked on tombstone cookies,  brownies, and gooey eyeball chocolates!  Thanks, Jen, for bringing these amazing authors to the area. 

Mary G., Scotland Public Library

Authors at Otis Library

This week, we have two amazing authors coming to the library:

Morning with an Author: a library fundraiser featuring Sarah Strohmeyer

Spend the morning with Sarah Strohmeyer, author of eleven novels, including the Bubbles mystery series for which the Oxygen Network has purchased the television rights. Her novel, The Cinderella Pact, premiered as a 2010 Lifetime movie, and Penny Pinchers, her most recent novel, will be out in paperback this summer.

Enjoy bubbly, morning refreshments, and the chance to mingle with Sarah, who will discuss her writing, answer questions and read from her work. Books will be available for purchase and a book signing will conclude the morning. This fundraising event is perfect for book clubs and fans of women’s fiction.

Saturday May 22^nd at 10 AM at Otis Library $10 tickets are available for purchase at the Otis Library Circulation Desk or at the door on the day of the event

*Books will also be available for purchase*

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Marley Gibson (who also writes as Kate Harmon) will be joining us on Monday night, May 24th at 6:30 pm in the Community Room. She’ll be chatting about her ghost hunting experience and will have books and other goodies available for purchase after the event.

We’re super excited about these two lovely ladies joining us and we hope to see you there!

Girls in YA Lit

I only took a quick look at this – the Girls Voices Literature Database – but it looks like a good link to bookmark. It was posted to YALSA-BK this week.

At the same time, I sometimes feel like there’s no dearth of literature about girls. A new author whom I am paying attention to, Cynthia Jaynes Omolulu, has an interesting post to her blog today. A novel that she wrote some time ago, but has never found a publisher for, has recently had some interest. But she has been asked to change the protagonist from a boy to a girl! In light of a recent flurry of discussion related to a media specialist’s controversial plea to publishers (on/in SLJ-do read the comments!), this is an interesting thing to know. (Some responses to the plea can be seen here: Justine Larbalestier, Lisa Chellman).

Oh, and check out this article in the Washington Post: Boyhood is Not a Disease.

~Linda W

Ann Brashares visit: rescheduled

Sisterhood Central presents

Meet Ann Brashares on Tour Meet the bestselling author as she discusses and reads from her latest novel, 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows! Join us as we celebrate the next chapter of the Sisterhood! Upcoming Event: Southbury, CT Thursday, February 26 at 7:00pm click for details

Check out the book trailer I made

using the free software at TrueMedia

I could be a great tool to use with teens – maybe first do a workshop and then hold a create your own book trailer contest…

Jennifer R.

Lisa Barham

Today, I just had Lisa Barham in the library for an author event.  It was the second one I’ve ever had and the turnout…was well..poor.  But the event was really fun and Lisa is super cool. For those of you unfamiliar with her, here are her books.

They’re really cute and have fabulous illustrations.  They’re about one girl, Imogene and her love of fashion and the crazy adventures in the fashion world.  Lisa is a local author and just fabulous.  She’s also on myspace and has a new website.  Be sure to check her out.

Nerdfighters

At our meeting last Friday, I mentioned Nerdfighters and there was only one person who knew about the whole Nerdfighters phenomenon. So I decided to write something on this blog to explain my enthusiasm and… well downright AWE.

If you have time for no other link in this post, DO take 10 minutes to listen to this interview with Hank and John on NPR: Brothers Reconnect Using Video Blogging (about 6 minutes), and I Am Not a Pornographer (4 minutes).

Here is a fairly short article that explains it:  A Year of Sincerity and Humor with Brotherhood 2.0. From that article: “The brothers’ enthusiasm and humor has been infectious. Their viewership quickly grew to include more than 10,000 regulars. A few timely or particularly funny shows pulled in phenomenal numbers, like the one featuring a song by Hank called “Accio Deathly Hallows.” That one was viewed nearly 900,000 times. Some of those viewers stuck around. Lately, the daily video blog audience has swelled to more than 40,000 viewers, many of who identify themselves as “nerdfighters” with an endearing earnestness… The brothers are funny, true, but, while John sometimes has an ironical glint in his eye, their sincerity is what sets them apart.” And another article on ReadWriteThink: How 2 Nerdfighters Took Over YouTube.

John Green, author of the Printz Award winning Looking for Alaska (and An Abundance of Katherines, and out soon, Paper Towns) and his brother Hank, an environmentalist, agreed to a full year of non-textual communication. They took turns posting videos to a blog they called “Brotherhood 2.0” (here’s John’s first post). They alternated days, and posted 5 days a week. The resulting vlogbrothers videos continued all the way to the end of 2007, created a cultural sensation (they even have t-shirts), new words and phrases (like Nerdfighters, Made of Awesome, World Suck, Happy Dance, and My Pants), and made being a “nerd” a good thing (which is a GREAT thing – see this book which was recently discussed on the Faith Middleton Show). Funny, irreverent, but full political commentary, book discussion, discussion of values and social conscience, the video blog continues, though a bit different than it was in the Brotherhood 2.0 year. The blog earned so many fans that there is now a lot of fan inolvement. You can sign up for a page (example) on The Nerdfighter website (the Ning) like you can on Facebook. I believe signing up constitutes an admission of your nerdiness.

The best speech I ever heard was delivered by John Green at the ALAN Workshop in Nashville. Since then, I have been a big fan (here’s his Printz Award speech to give you an idea of what I’m talking about). And my all-time favorite Brotherhood 2.0 video is (don’t miss this one!) I Am Not a Pornographer. (OH! And John answers the question, Edward or Jacob).

It’s kind of hard to go back and get through a whole year of videos, however short. So here’s Hank’s “playlist” of the best Brotherhood 2.0 videos.

A random selection of Nerdfighter blog entries: The Project for Awesome (ALSC), Nerdfighters Unite on YouTube (TeacherLibrarianNing), Brotherhood 2.0 (The Loud Librarian), Nerdfighters for the Win! (Anything that is Awesome), Nerdfighters: Musical Videos (BookMoot), Nerdfighters and Holidays (Shari Green), Author: John Green (Pop Culture Book Review), World Suck Levels @ an All Time Low and this is why (Pham Pants). Nerdfighteria in the Omnictionary.

John’s recent speech in Chicago – part 1, part 2, part 3. John & Hank’s MySpace.

So -DFTBA! ~ Linda Williams

FYI: Catherine Clark fans

I just ordered this book and it was ready for check out yesterday. I LOVE this author, so I snagged it before anyone else. While reading the back of it, I realized that it took place inside the same ice cream store that the first book I read by this author did. Cool, I thought. But then I checked out the cover and in little tiny print…I found out the truth.

The bad news: It’s the same book Truth or Dairy

The Good News: It has a better cover – similar to other rest of her books.

The Best News: The sequel is also being republished (which is awesome, because the book was no longer in print)

Also by this author, another reprint…it used to be called Frozen Rodeo

~ Jennifer