• Lifestyle

    48 Hour Book Challenge….

    starts now! Dinner is done, dishes are drying, I’ve got a glass of wine and I’m sitting in a very comfy chair, I’m ready to start reading! Ill be reading from7:45pm on Friday to 7:45pm on Sunday! I’ll be posting quick reviews through out the weekend with longer reviews to…

  • Lifestyle,  Reviews

    Book Reviews and Reviewers

    I love books, it’s pretty simple and I love talking to other people who love books too, especially the same types of books – middle grade and young adult books. Every year, I attend the Kutztiwn Children’s Literature Conference held at Kutztown Univeristy.  They bring in 3-4 authors and illustrators…

  • Lists

    Happy Pi Day

    A lot of people pause when libraries and math are used in the same sentence, but with the popularity of STEM/STEAM programming, more and more children’s librarians are embracing math and science concepts in the library. Today is Pi Day when math nerds celebrate the irrational number 3.1415926 with pie.…

  • Lifestyle

    Youth Media Awards – Initial Reactions

    This is one of my favorite days as a children’s librarian.  I know there are those that don’t take much stock in the youth media awards, believing that many of the awards are given to quality literature, yet are not as interesting or accessible to the children reading them.  But,…

  • Lifestyle

    National Book Award Finalists

    It’s getting close to the time of year when the “Best of the Best” lists come out for just about everything – including books!  The National Book Award just posted it’s finalists in its four areas Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature.  As per usual, I’m really only interested…

  • Lifestyle

    Cybils Nominations

    Nominate your favorite books published between October 16, 2013 and October 15, 2014 in the following categories: Young Adult Non-fiction Young Adult Speculative Fiction Young Adult Fiction Poetry Book Apps Middle Grade Fiction Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Elementary/Middle Grade Non-fiction Fiction Picture Books Graphics Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books for the…

  • Lifestyle

    "Important Life Lessons We Learned From Children's Books"

    When people ask what I do for a living, many people respond with, “Have you read _________?” And that’s where I say, “If it’s an adult book, probably not.  I read mostly children’s books.”  And unless the person I’m conversing with is a teacher or works with children, they often…

  • Reviews

    The Shadow Throne

    It’s been awhile since I posted a book review, but I finally got a chance to finish this trilogy!  I absolutely loved The False Prince and plan on using it as a suggestion all summer long for summer reading.  But, I personally, don’t find trilogies to be very strong.  I…

  • Reviews

    A Season of Gifts

    The only time I have to listen to audiobooks is when I drive to my parents’ home (which gives a solid 5 hours in the car one-way).  I picked up A Season of Gifts for my drive – it’s about a 4-hour audiobook – the perfect length for my trip! …

  • Reviews

    Road Trip

    I took a road trip to my parent’s house for the weekend and tabbed a few audiobooks for the road. It’s a five hour trip across the state and a perfect time to get some “reading” in with nothing else to do but pay attention to the road. I normally…