Final Reflection on 5391

I consider myself pretty familiar with digital technology and social media. I'm relatively young and I teach high school, so my students keep me young and familiar with growing technology trends. That being said, this course definitely opened my eyes to ALOT of applicable digital technologies that I would've never known to explore in the library and classroom had I not taken it. For me, it wasn't necessarily challenging but it was definitely eye-opening and I feel that I learned a lot that I can take back to my profession in education.

I really enjoyed creating infographics the most. This is something I've seen all around, but I've never had the opportunity to create my own. This was a very valuable skill and tool that I can utilize, and I think students respond to visuals like this really well. Furthermore, it's a fairly easy and eye-catching way to present useful information that will reach anyone who even just walks past it, and that's valuable!

I loved the idea of incorporating comics into our instruction because I think students and teachers alike would enjoy it and get a laugh out of it, which is a great way to break the ice. However, I found this one more difficult. It takes inspiration, creativity, and time to create a comic that doesn't look dated or amateur, and that's difficult overall. It's definitely something worth exploring and working on, though.

Screencasts are something that I have encountered in both my personal education and my career, but I never knew how to create one. I loved that we were given the tools to do that. It's not difficult, nor does it require any special equipment, it just takes a little preparation and time, and I loved that tool. I think this will be a huge benefit to myself as an educator and my students. Even in my current profession as a dance teacher, I'm realizing how I could utilize this for things like instruction on music cutting, music mapping, or YouTubing relevant skills.

QR codes are another useful and applicable tool that students will love. Anything that creates instant access is going to be popular in our current world. I always knew how to create QR codes, and I've used them for my students to reach surveys before, but I never thought about utilizing them to link useful resources to. I love this idea, and students will, too! Furthermore, YouTube is one of THE most popular avenues of social media that our students watch today. Creating YouTube videos and utilizing YouTube for video resources is too relevant to their lives for us to ignore. You could link QR codes to certain YouTube videos and give your students access that way. I'll definitely be taking this back to my classroom/library.

I love the idea of listening to your community, your classroom, and focusing on their need before you 'throw' a new technology in their faces just because you get carried away with the excitement, ease, or concept. As always, identifying the needs of your students should come first so that whatever you choose to utilize is relevant and meaningful to their educational needs. Technology is the most beneficial when it's used properly, at the right time, and in the right way. It's important to remember that what technology you choose shouldn't start with you, but with your classroom needs.

Overall, this was a busy, hands-on, and very applicable course. While some of these tasks were intimidating, it was valuable to jump in and create via different avenues of technology so that I can teach my students to do the same. It taught me that even if I have not tried it before, or even if I am intimidated by it, it could still be very useful and worth it in the end. I will pass this message onto my kids as they try new technology as well.

Podcasts with a purpose

Podcasts are certainly trending, and more and more often I have started listening to them myself. As a new mom, I love listening to parenting podcasts. I've also come across podcasts geared towards children- some promote good behavior, hygiene, or learning for children, too.  "A survery of 436 parents conducted by Kids Listen found that 74% of children take an action, such as initiating a conversation or researching a topic, after listening to a podcast" (Blatter, 2018). A few of my favorite podcasts are TEDtalks, Teachers Aid, and Messy Parenting. Finding a podcast that interests you is as simple as a search based on what you may be interested in. 

As a teacher, we could use podcasts to get messages out to parents or students, review books, or explain grading procedures and syllabus requirements at the beginning of the year. I personally use YouTube in a similar way to send out to my drill team booster club parents; I create videos for them to review where often I go over paperwork that I have handed out to their daughters, and then I send out the link. It would be just as simple to create a podcast and do the same for your classroom or library. The hard part is keeping it interesting and concise, because if you talk too long or monotone, people stop listening. Another challenge would be keeping it updated and often. I try to send out a YouTube to parents every 6 weeks or so, or anytime I pass out important handouts. As the year goes, it's hard to stay consistent. The easy part is that once you get going, it's really quite easy to record yourself; have the handout, book, or topic ready and in front of you so that you can stay on topic, and make sure to keep track of your time.

In exploring ways to create podcasts, I created free accounts with three different sites:

AudioBoom- 

It's quite easy to use AudioBoom to create your own podcast, but I had a hard time searching on AudioBoom for other podcasts and relevant content for me. The search features seemed limited. However, if you're looking for a way to create podcasts or help your students do the same, this site seemed easy enough!

SoundCloud- 

This is a popular one, so I was excited to explore it more. SoundCloud is kind of like YouTube, but for audio files. Some people share podcasts, some share music. For me, I felt like it was geared towards more recreation and music than educational podcasts. However, I did find some podcasts via SoundCloud and uploading your own audio files would be simple as well. It seems to have more of a "social" presence than the others, so commenting, and sharing is a bigger part of the atmosphere on this site. You may like that, you may not. For me, this seems like it could be more risky to introduce in the classroom.

Podbean-

I had already created a podcast with Podbean last year, so this is the one that I used to create a new podcast. It's very simple to use, but it seems outdated, and it's just not very pretty. The good news is that it's extremely affordable, even the upgraded version. Listen below to my review of a children's picture book entitled Don't eat the baby by Amy Young created on Podbean:

Sources:

Blatter, L. C. (2018, June 07). Tooth-Brushing Tips and Less Screen Time: The Rise of Children's Podcasts. Retrieved July 16, 2018, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-of-childrens-podcasts-1528382827

Cartoons and Comics

Three ways to explore/create your own comics for enjoyment or education:

Toondoo

I liked Toondoo in a lot of ways, and it was my favorite of the three sites/apps that I tried in regards to comics. It seemed to have a wide variety of images and backgrounds, and I liked that the categories of objects were searchable. It was pretty easy to use, and I think students would find it usable and fun. The only issue I had was that the "waiter" character that I found was just a torso, and I wanted him to have legs, but I couldn't figure out how to make that addition, so I just ended up positioning him in a way that it didn't matter. It also took me a really long time to figure out how to save my Toondoo, but I eventually did figure out how to save it to my gallery on Toondoo. Still, I couldn't figure out how to save the image to my computer so I just screenshot it and cropped it. One of the downsides of Toondoo is that it's a bit cluttered so it can seem overwhelming; there's a learning curve with this one, which is why I couldn't do anything too complicated.

Pixton

Pixton was okay, but the free version did not have many options for fonts, characters, and saving, so you would have to upgrade to appreciate those features. I liked the guided tutorial that it opened up with as it was helpful and concise. The characters seemed to all look the same as far as size and shape goes, which students would probably dislike, and I don't see them wanting to pay for an upgraded version of it. Overall, comic making is complicated and the free version of this site was just average for me.

I created this comic and I'm sure all of us librarians can get a chuckle out of this- kids these days just want to google everything and it's part of our responsibility to teach them information literacy in a digital age of overloading information!

MakeBeliefComix.com

"BABY STEPS"

While MakeBeliefsComix.com was functional enough, it seemed very dated. One of the options was "Save to disk," and I couldn't even get that command to work, so I had to screen shot the comic to crop and save it myself. It also didn't have a very large variety of characters, etc, and it was very difficult to manipulate objects. For instance, I couldn't get the font to change size or adjust to the size of the speech bubble it was in, which was very frustrating. Overall, it did the job, but I wouldn't use it again. However, I think the overall end product/look was more of what I was imagining than any of the other sites. Students would probably not like this site because it is so dated and not really that usable.

I created this comic because I'm currently pregnant with my second child, and us moms can always get a laugh out of our new found priorities! Ha!

As a teacher-librarian...

A great way to use your own comics around other teachers would be to use them as an ice breaker when opening up staff meetings, etc, and it would be a great way to then introduce them to any sites or apps that you could teach them to use. Open up the staff meeting with a humorous comic that you created, take them to the app or site, run them through a quick tutorial, and give them some ideas of how they could use them in their classrooms or curriculum as well! Send them off with a document, hard copy or on their google drive, of notes and steps for a refresher if they need it.

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

YOUTUBE

YouTube is such a great way to get information out to students, staff, and parents, and I think the best thing that we as librarians can use YouTube for is instructional videos for basic information and simple how-tos. Examples may be navigating the library website, the OPACs, or any online library resources. Other ways to use YouTube may be promoting library events, or simply keeping the library visible in the community by showcasing day to day events involving students and staff. Below I explored some library channels and picked the videos I thought would be most enjoyable for students as well as the most helpful:

From the NHS library channel:

1) The most enjoyable for students: 

2) The most helpful for students: 

From the Unquiet Library channel:

1) The most enjoyable for students: 

2) The most helpful for students: 

From the Pikesville HS Library:

1) The most enjoyable for students: 

2) The most helpful for students: 

From BBMS media channel:

1) The most enjoyable for students: 

2) The most helpful for students: 

ANIMOTO

I created a free account on Animoto and applied for the Educator upgrade, which allowed for longer videos. I love that we as librarians can easily use Animoto to create book trailers to promote reading, both for leisure and for school, to our students, staff, and parents.

"About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him—and I didn't know how dominant that part might be—that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41865.Twilight) 


Below is a book trailer I made with Animoto for the first book in the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer.


I also created a QR code that can be used to access my book trailer. QR codes are be a fun, easy, and interactive way to "spread" these book trailers throughout the school; create a trailer and corresponding QR code, and make promotional posters for the library and surrounding hallways that include the QR code and a quick synopsis for intrigue. Check it out:

Instagram, Flipagram, and Screencast-O-Matic

Instagram 
I love Instagram, and I use it both personally and professionally. Below is a post from April when we were promoting our Spring Show, and it's a great way to reach a lot of people with a fun visual promoting an event. You could use Instagram in the same way to promote any event going on in your school, your library, or your community!

Flipagram/Vigo Video
I had never used Flipagram before, so I created one by downloading the free app to my iPhone. I decided to make a slideshow of one of our most recent events, Officer Camp, which is where I took a our leaders from our drill team to camp for 4 days. I enjoyed how easily I could create a fun, animated slideshow of moving pictures. I had a hard time moving the slides from place to place to switch up the order of the slideshow, so I need to figure out my user error there. It was also extremely slow for me, I only uploaded about 10 pictures to create my slideshow with, and it took forever for it to "prepare" the data and create the slideshow. I'm not sure if it was slow because of my memory space, or the app itself, but I had great service at the time and it was pretty frustrating to have to wait so long for it to create the product.

Then, I realized that the Flipagram I had downloaded was not a public/social media platform. I continued to look in the app store and I had a hard time deciphering which app was the correct one, as it seems Flipagram and Vigo Video are one in the same (?). I tried Flipagram (with the movie reel and coffee cup icon), and it didn't seem to be conducive to public social media, so then I downloaded Vigo Video. 

I easily created an account through Google for Vigo Video. I actually used the video I created in Flipagram to upload to my Vigo Video: Officer Camp 2018

Here is my profile, feel free to follow me @taliaalyssa11

To be honest, this was my least favorite of the three and I couldn't really even imagine how I would use this in an educational way. Even adding hashtags was difficult, as it seemed to only allow me to add one at a time? This was just a confusing platform for me all around. I don't really see myself using it.

Screencast-O-Matic
I am familiar with Screencast but I had never used it myself, and it's definitely something that takes practice! My presentation was a little choppy and rusty, and if I were to use it to actually present something real, I would need some practice. It was easy to create an account, watch the tutorial, and start recording. Here was my attempt at introducing Prezi using a screencast:

Overall Recommendation
I think it's super important to be familiar with Screencasts for educational and teaching purposes, but overall I feel that Instagram is the best choice for many reasons. It's extremely user-friendly, popular, and easy to upload both pictures and videos to. The kids use it constantly so it's the most visible for them. Depending on what you need, though, Screencast-O-Matic or Instagram may be your best option. I am not a fan of flipagram and I still can't really understand what it's useful for. It seems dated and unpopular as well.

Infographics, and tools to create them

I love the idea of presenting information in infographic form, and I know our students do, too. As someone who is very visual, looking at information presented in graphic form is both comprehensive, informative, and appealing. I've been playing around with three different sites that offer templates and tutorials of how to make impressive and interactive infographics. I'll give you my thoughts on Easel.ly, Piktochart, Infogr.am:

Easel.ly is a simple way for students and educators to create infographics. There is both a free version and an unpgraded version that costs only $3.00/month, so if you are thinking of using something worth subscribing too, this is extremely affordable. With the paid version, there are dozens of templates, and countless fonts and images. Still, the free version provides a range of free images and fonts to utilize as you create an infographic. In the end, I really like Easel.ly and am considering paying $3.00 a month for it. I love the sample templates it had; they seemed colorful, unique, and fun, and they stood out compared to the other two sites' sample templates. Easel.ly is also available in many different languages which, as an educator, is a highly notable quality. 

I moved on to Piktochart, and I loved that it immediately opened with a YouTube preview of how to use it. It was pretty easy and self explanatory, but I did wish the “Free” options were most vast, as the graphics and backgrounds seemed to be a little boring. The subscription for Piktochart is more expensive, at $12.50/month for the Lite version, or $24.17/month for the Pro version. It seemed that the free version did not offer NEAR as many option for images, templates, and fonts as the paid version. I did end up using Piktochart to create the below infographics. Because the instructional YouTube video immediately popped up, it pulled me in and I started creating an infographic right away.

I thought I was going to like Infogr.am right way, as from the beginning it seemed the most self explanatory, but as I started to try to create an infographic, I got very frustrated very quickly, even just trying to change the font size was proving to be difficult. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but it just intimated me and frustrated me. There are both free and paid versions as well, with the costs started at $19.00/month and moving up from there. I did like how their website was set up; it's very comprehensive, professional, and obviously well-established. Infogr.am also has specific templates to suit specific social media sites, which I found really interesting and beneficial.

In the end, I would like to try them all eventually. I went with Piktochart this time because the tutorial pulled me in and encouraged me to start creating. Below is the infographic I created, which took me about 35 minutes to complete.

For a closer look at my infographic, Click Here.

Facebook and Twitter and the school librarian

Checking out Facebook and Twitter in regards to school libraries is really interesting because social media has just completely changed everything about our society, and at the forefront of that change is education and communication with our students.

Facebook definitely seemed to have less presence and significance in the "school library world." I saw posts about summer reading lists, Book Fair promotions, and even library sponsored fundraisers benefiting Santa Fe ISD and the victim's families. Overall, though, these posts seemed to be less frequent and less updated than twitter, with more personalized library information and less news, blogs, and journals related to education. I think the advantage of twitter is that, to me, it can be less cluttered and easier on the eyes- something I think parents appreciate. It's a little more direct and less confusing, and requires less knowledge of "lingo" such as "retweet," "favorite," "subtweet," etc.

I really enjoyed looking through the twitter posts, and Linda W Braun's (@lbraun2000) twitter feed immediately caught my eye with some really neat educational posts, articles, and research. Here are a couple retweets of articles from her that I enjoyed reading through:

This makes me think a lot about interactions w teens, learning environments and learning experiences,  youth voice and leadership, and so much more related to libraries & teens.  Well worth the read. https://t.co/OQi90KkHKD

— Linda W Braun (@lbraun2000) May 28, 2018

This article was super interesting and because I consider myself a fairly emotional person, I loved reading about how emotions are an integral part of learning, what we remember, and how we experience lessons/learning opportunties. Definitely check it out; a great read for any educator!

http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/2018/05/29/new-report-helps-stem-advocates-make-a-stronger-case-for-informal-learning/
I loved this article because I feel that I learn best this way (and I can imagine that most people do), by immersing myself in something enjoyable that teaches or reinforces concrete ideas and concepts. As a parent with a young kiddo, this reinforced great ideas of how to introduce concepts through immersion and informal learning, rather than a more traditional teaching approach.

As I continued to explore twitter and these scholar's twitter logs, I noticed many pros and cons to the Twitter experience in regards to learning, and sharing educational content. Looking at it from the perspective of a librarian gave me a new set of comments and concerns to consider. The advantage of twitter is that it's so easy to share information; with a simple click you can 'retweet' something interesting, pertinent, entertaining, or unique that you want to share with your followers immediately. I also think it seems to be more updated, and posts are more frequent, because that's all it really is: a log of information that is continuous and flowing. Heck, even our politicians are constantly using it! The biggest disadvantage of Twitter is that parents just do not understand it, something about the format and the lingo seems very foreign to older generations. Once you get used to it, though, it really is quite easy and convenient. Another disadvantage is that old information is quite hard to find; the older posts get lost in the clutter and it's more difficult to keep track of past information due to the quick moving nature of information on Twitter.

Overall, my recommendation is that you pick social media that you can commit to and update often.  Make sure to pick something you can monitor, update, and add educational, enjoyable, valuable content to! Whether you delegate this task to someone else, or do it yourself, if it's not updated frequently, it really loses it's value and just becomes more noise in the already crowded world of social media.

Feedly, Tumblr, and Blogs.. oh my!

After researching different blog readers, I decided to download the Feedly app to my phone. It's super easy to navigate and a great way to keep relevant content flowing to your different personal feeds. I created two feeds to start: Books, and Library. I chose to follow:

1) Library Journal- https://lj.libraryjournal.com/ reports news about the world of library, mainly focusing on public libraries. I liked that it was a more broad view of libraries, books, and worldly news rather than being specific to school libraries.

2) SLJ is a massive reviewer of books and  publication for school librarians, it seemed obvious that this is a top blog to follow to be up to date on book reviews and anything and everything related to the profession. https://www.slj.com/

3) Teen Librarian Toolbox- http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/ TLT was one of my favorite finds and I followed because I loved the idea behind it, as well as the real world experience of librarians with a collective 50+ years experience. It was created by Karen Jensen and is a part of SLJ. TLT is a professional development site that draws from the experiences of four MLS librarians. Their mission is to to help people, librarians, anyone to serve teens and to share resources by "providing quality information, discussions, book reviews and more." 

4) The Daring Librarian- a blog written by librarian, blogger, tweeter Gwyneth Jones. I was immediately drawn in by the summer reading reviews she has posted! This seemed like a super personal, well rounded, fun blog! https://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/

5) The Unquiet Librarian- I was immediately drawn in by the first post that popped up, "epilogue", and the fact that the author of this blog, Buffy J Hamilton, has been blogging for over a decade. I could tell that she provides great advice from first hand experience, I saw reputable sources that she was linking, and it seemed educational, but also, delightful.

6) Goodreads- Another one of my all time favorites, it has reputable, well written reviews about nearly every book you can think of. It seemed like an obvious choice for me! https://www.goodreads.com/

7) YA Book Shelf- I love book reviews and staying up to date on the latest book releases, and YA books are some of my favorite to read. You could scroll for days reading and discovering from the reviews listed.

My experience with Feedly, so far, has been informational, enjoyable, and convenient! I love that I can keep everything relevant and in one place; as a librarian, I can see how this would make keeping up with library content much less overwhelming. Having the app right on my phone is quick and accessible for every day use, and for me, that's the best part. I highly recommend that you try out Feedly, and let me know what you think! When looking in the app store, it's a bright green icon with 3 stacked lines, much like books. What app or blog reader did you download for this assignment?

I've also created a Tumblr, and I'm excited to add content to it, and continue to use it once I am working in the library! Here is the link:
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/talibrarian

Thanks for reading!

Talia

LSSL 5385 book blogging WHEN WE COLLIDED

Lord, E. (2016). When we collided. New York: Bloomsbury.

Set in Verona Cove, California, Vivi and Jonah collide in the best way- and they truly fall in love despite the brokenness that they both experience. When they meet at a local pottery shop, it's only the beginning of a love that will move you as you read their story. 

Jonah is broken by the the sudden death of his father, a restaurant owner. His mother is grief-stricken at this loss, and that has left him and his siblings to keep up with the restaurant. As Jonah deeply mourns the passing of his father, he begins to express his emotions through cooking. Vivi is the new girl in town, and she has a zest for life that is contagious and likable, but she is also fighting some demons of her own. 

I love that this story explores what makes us human, and digs into the depths of living with mental illness. Vivi's character is attempting to live with bipolar disorder, and despite her efforts, we see the struggles that her mental illness presents in every situation. Meanwhile, Lord tenderly addresses Jonah’s grief and his mother’s depression. Vivi and Jonah's story is a uncommon one that begs the question, is love enough? What happens when it's not?

The strength of this story was the unconventional love story between Vivi and Jonah, and the tender way that Lord addresses living with mental illness. It is an excellent book to help readers understand mental illness, and build empathy for those around them that deal with it. It's not a typical love story, and truthfully, it's not very romantic. It's real and raw and unique and sad... and that's what pulled me in.

If you enjoyed this book, you may enjoy checking out Emery Lord's website, https://www.emerylord.com/, or following her on twitter @emerylord.

LSSL 5385 book bloggig THE V-WORD

Keyser, A. (2016). The V-word: true stories about first-time sex. New York: Beyond Words.

The V-Word is a non-fiction book of several true accounts of first-time sex, written by Amber J. Keyser. The memoirs are honest and diverse- stretching from planned sex of those in long term relationships, sexual first-time encounters that reflect experiences in LGBT relationships, and the unplanned one-night-stands. The book also encourages safe sex and provides information on how to practice it. The strength of this book is its honesty and truthful accounts that are provided to its readers. 

I searched repeatedly to see if this fit in YA literature, and in fact, it seems that it does. I 100% understand that teens need sources of information... they need truth, accuracy, and open conversation when it comes to sex. I get that. But, to have actual memoirs in written accounts... I'm not sure that I think this is for "young adults." Then again, I have to remember what a wide range of ages YA covers, and how many poor sources of "sex ed" these young adults have, and it does make more sense to me. Young adults are nearly bombarded with unrealistic sex, in the media, school hallways, TV, parties, and simply because they are going through puberty and experiencing new things, so I can see how a source of accurate information is important. I still don't know that I would feel comfortable recommending this to a young adult, but I see the importance of having it in your library. I would NOT recommend this for anyone younger than 16, as there are better sources of information out there for younger ages. This book seems important to share with a female who is considering experiencing her first sexual encounter.

LSSL 5385 book blogging THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO

Ness, P. (2014). The knife of never letting go (#1). London: Walker.

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) is a sci-fi novel written by Patrick Ness. The content was heavy, but oh-so-good, and I feel like I need to read it again one day... but not today because I'm still a little heartbroken over some of it! 

It's about a boy named Todd Hewitt, who is the youngest boy in Prentisstown, a town of only men. The settlers in Prentisstown were infected with the a germ called Noise, a germ that killed all the females in their town and also allows everyone to hear each other's thoughts.  This germ was sent by Spackle, their enemy who they took over the land from. Todd is on the brink of becoming a man in Prentisstown. Soon, though, Todd only hears silence- there's a hole in the noise, and he is forced by his guardians to flee with only his dog, Manchee. The two stumble upon the source of the silence: a girl named Viola. Who is this creature, and why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the other females in Prentisstown? We find out that Viola has crashed on her journey from another world and she is the lone survivor. 

Together, Viola, Todd, and Manchee run from the enemy army, and particularly Aaron, a man from Prentisstown who is chasing Todd, trying to kill him. The three of them are searching for refuge in a town called Haven which they are told is safe. When Todd finally reaches his destination, after a torturous journey and lives lost, the only person in Haven is the Mayor of Prentisstown, and he is ready to capture Todd.

This book kind of broke my heart, but it was gut-wrenching-ly (is that a word?) good. I cried a lot, and I can't quite forgive Ness for allowing one of these characters to die (I won't spoil it and say who). 

The strength of this book was that it was a science-fiction novel that I really enjoyed. It gives me a great book to recommend for kids ages 14+ who enjoy science fiction, adventure, cliffhangers, and twists. It was pretty mature, and like I said, heart-breaking at times. If you enjoyed this book, then check out the rest of the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness.

LSSL book blogging 5385 THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS

Nijkamp, M. (2016). This is where it ends:. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Fire.

This Is Where It Ends is the story of a school shooting, and it's told from four different points of view during the tragedy that ensues at Opportunity High School. After the principal welcomes the student body to a new semester, the students begin to exit the auditorium and continue on with their normal day. But the doors won't open, and someone starts to shoot, and for the next 54 minutes, gripping, tragic horror ensues. It's our worst nightmare- that one of our own could turn on us the way this shooter has.

The four different viewpoints are told both from the present and the past, flashing back to possible motives and linking each character to the shooter. As you would expect, it's terrifying and horrific to read about. Some of the deaths are very graphically told, and the violence is pretty non-stop from beginning to end.

I'm not sure how I feel about this novel. It was hard at first to keep track of the viewpoints and I never had time to get attached to the characters. That didn't make the death or subject matter any less heartbreaking, it just left me less invested in the "meat" of the story. I think that a story about a school shooting has so much potential for impact, and such an opportunity to honor victims of school shootings by telling a story that mirrors their emotions, heartache, and gives light to the twisted psychosis of someone who turns a gun on innocent people. For me, I couldn't help but feel that this book took a very serious and tragic subject matter and turned it into a best selling book without really honoring the authenticity of those who have been through this. I don't know how to verbalize what I was feeling as I read this, but it was a hard read and I'm not sure if it did what I was hoping it would do. It just... didn't sit well with me. It didn't seem authentic, it seemed forced. This was a heavy read for young adults, and probably not the best classroom read, in my opinion.

I would recommend 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult if the deep, emotional subject of school shootings intrigues you, but perhaps you would like a more well-developed story and characters.

LSSL 5385 book blogging WHEN YOU REACH ME

Stead, R. (2009). When you reach me. Wendy Lamb Books.

When You Reach Me is a well written book with a mysteriously twisted plot that kept me guessing the whole time. Miranda, the protagonist who gives us her first-person account, is a 6th grade girl who lives in New York City, and she has a best friend, Sal. Overall her life seems fairly normal, but that all changes when Miranda begins to find ominous notes, and Sal abandons their friendship. Whoever is writing the notes, he seems to know what is going to happen before it actually happens, and Miranda just can't figure out how, why her, and what it all means. Suspense builds as Miranda begins to believe that only she can prevent a grave ending.

Speaking back to our recent textbook chapter, this certainly has an element of sci-fi as it is largely based on the idea of time travel. I think this is on the young side of YA novels, but I genuinely loved it, so to me it would certainly appeal to young teenagers. It's amazing to me how novels like this can really have so much impact even for a target age group of 11-13. What a talent it takes to pack a punch like that into 200 pages. 

The strength of this book was just how heartwarming and heartbreaking it was at the same time. I loved how real life it was- the characters just seemed real and Miranda's point of view was expressed really well. It's just... loveable.

When You Reach Me was the 2010 Newbery Medal Winner and a great book to add to the list for your youngest YA/middle school readers.

LSSL 5385 book blogging SISTERS

Telgemeier, R. (2014). Sisters. New York: Graphix.

This is a fun, light graphic novel that would really appeal to middle school kids, I think. Sisters is about, you guessed it, two sisters, Raina and Amara, and their inability to get along. When Raina's (yes, it's based on the author's experiences!) little sister Amara is born, Raina is so excited to have a new sibling to play with. She quickly finds that she is awfully cute, but equally cranky! It's a sweet and funny story about 2 sisters, their mother, and their younger brother, who road trip from San Francisco to Colorado Springs for a family reunion. Just like any good ol' family road trip, many adventures and funny situations ensue.

Why did I love this book so much?! Maybe it's because I read it in the middle of some pretty heavy novels, but it was just funny, sweet, and relatable. I really loved the style of the illustrations, and the writing. I think middle school kids would really love it because of the subject matter- it's something they would likely be highly familiar with. It's funny because it's TRUE!

If you enjoyed this graphic novel, check out the rest of the series. I have a 12 year old niece I want to buy this entire series for. She would adore it. Great summer reading for her! Looking back, this is on the young side of YA, but still applicable, I think.

LSSL 5385 book blogging THE HANGED MAN

Block, F. L. (1999). The Hanged Man. New York: HarperTrophy.

The Hanged Man opens with the unexpected death of the Laurel's father. Laurel, an artsy and unique teenager, lives in a Hollywood with her parents and a pet parrot, Zach, and when her father dies, she doesn't know how to cope. Her mother is weak, and honestly, I pitied her; I wanted so badly for her to protect Laurel on so many levels, but she just didn't. Nonetheless, they are both grief stricken and dealing with his death in different ways. Unfortunately, Laurel beings to battle with anorexia, and it's unclear if this is an eating disorder that is resurfacing from the past or not. Her dreams and ambitions start to dwindle away as her grief, depression, and illness take over her life. Instead, she turns to parties and substance abuse, and she suffers from her eating disorder. 

Eventually, Laurel meets Jack, an older man who she builds and intimate relationship with. Jack comforts her, and tries to make her come to terms with her father’s death, her anorexia, and the traumas of her past. In large part because of Jack, we find out that Laurel was abused, raped, and impregnated by her late father, a man she grieves nonetheless. In the end, we have renewed hope for Laurel's recovery as she mends the relationship with her mother and copes with all of the hurt she has suffered.

The strength of this book is that it's written in a poetic, lyrical way that tenderly presents such a dark subject matter. Block touches on some extremely dark and taboo topics, and I think the writing style lended itself to the tone of the book- sometimes her words seemed as if she was in a bit of a haze, which may have been symbolic of Laurel's life in those moments. There is also a wealth of imagery presented through her tarot card hobby, and while I wasn't familiar with that, I was intrigued by it.

This is a quick read, but it's heavy. It's definitely worth noting its many "trigger-worthy" subjects- death, rape, incest, eating disorder. I think a young adult would love this book, and I would recommend it to ages 16+. 

LSSL 5385 book blogging LOOKING FOR ALASKA

Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. New York, NY: Speak.

Looking for Alaska is a moving, authentic, and thought-provoking novel about a high school male student named Miles ("Pudge") Halter who goes to Culver Creek Boarding School in search of the "Great Perhaps." At Culver Creek, Miles finds a group of friends- the Colonel, Takumi, Lara, and Alaska- and they bring out a new confidence in him, as well as bring adventure to his life- alcohol, cigarettes, sleepovers, sex, and pranks. From the start, Pudge is smitten with Alaska Young- she's wreckless, wild, funny, sexy, independent, and unfortunately, taken. However, that doesn't stop the endless flirting or the deep friendship that grows between them. Aside from Alaska's beauty, wit, and charm, she's also has a lot of demons that haunt her. She's often angry and dark, and she suffers from the terrible guilt and memories of her mother's death when she was a child.

Without "spoiling" the novel, I will just say that after, nothing is the same and no one can move on without some answers. 

This book will make you ponder life, death, and everything in between. It begs the question, how do we escape the suffering of life, but through death? John Green also explores the inevitability of death, yet he reminds us that it is nearly impossible to prepare for. 

Looking for Alaska involves heavy subject matter and the reoccurring motif of death, so I wouldn't recommend this for kids younger than high school. If you read this book and enjoy it, I would recommend more books by John Green, like The Fault in Our Stars, or perhaps check out The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

LSSL 5385 book blogging PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ

King, A. S. (2010). Please Ignore Vera Dietz. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.

I listened to this book as an audiobook, and it was read by Lynde Houck as Vera Dietz. At first, this book just seemed like pages and pages of pessimistic teenager complaining to me... but by the last quarter of the book, I was very intrigued by the story and what was going to happen. Overall, it was just okay. 

This book is about Vera, a seemingly bitter and dark teenager who is being raised by her somewhat warped, albeit loving, father. Her best friend and love of her life, Charlie Kahn, has recently passed away mysteriously, after allegedly setting a pet shop on fire. The details of his death are unknown to the community, but Vera knows more than she is letting on. Before he died, though, Charlie and her had some major unresolved issues, and Vera is lost between both her love and hate for Charlie. He betrayed her and ruined their relationship, so does he deserve for her to come out and tell the community the truth? Does he deserve for her to clear his name?

We watch Vera continue on with her life without Charlie, a boy she bonded with over their torn family lives and quirky personalities. Now she spends her time delivering pizzas, making out with 23 year old James, and getting drunk, all while mourning the loss of Charlie and flashing back to the memories they have together, some good, some bad, and some oh-so-true.

I think the strength of this book was the developing story and the intrigue it made me as feel- I just had to know what really happened at the mall pet shop and how Charlie Kahn died. However, I thought the story was rather dark, and depressing. At least, that's how the audiobook felt. It just had such a depressing tone to it; I didn't want to pick it up for fear it would put me in a bad mood! Vera definitely had funny, but very dry personality, and the character development was nice. By the end, I felt like I knew these people, and while I didn't love every second of the book, that was the best part.

I'm not super familiar with A.S. King yet, so I hopped on Goodreads for recommendations related to this title, and I landed on On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Check it out if you enjoyed this read.