Daredevil by Mark Waid Vol. 1

Daredevil hasn't had the easiest career in the Marvel universe; Matt Murdock is blind, has a profound love for Hell's Kitchen, New York, and unfortunately received the Ben Affleck treatment in 2003 (don't get me started on this). I was never totally familiar with Daredevil, his world, even though it happens to be our own, or the bad guys he faces. After reading Daredevil Vol. 1 by Mark Waid, I feel like Daredevil is definitely one of the more likable superheroes. Now I know what my husband is so crazy about.

The graphic novel opens up with your average, run-of-the-mill Mobster running, quickly destroyed by The Spot. Of course, Daredevil is blamed for ruining the nuptials, and everything breaks loose. After the wedding, I found out that he was a lawyer. Not just any lawyer, though; apparently in this universe (or 52, I'm not sure which), Matt Murdock is exposed as Daredevil, but constantly denies it. So does his goofy, pudgy and loveable partner, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson.

The rest of the story is your typical superhero story line. In trying to expand my knowledge of things outside of Batman/X-Men, I found that Daredevil is an enjoyable series. The art is very traditional, even though it is a newer series. It's reminiscent of 1980s comics, with the shading and portrayal of villains.

It was fun reading this novel, and perhaps I'll read volume 2.

Most likely, I think I'll start Court of Owls.

Shifts

Shifting books is difficult for me. It's not visualizing where the things could go, so much, as to separating the books from their former shelfmates. Oh, I'm sorry for sticking you in the corner, Ramona, but there's got to be changes when a shift is made.

This is also probably pretty hard on the kids, at times. Last year, I didn't shift a lot because, honestly, there wasn't any room to. Now that we have much more wiggle room, I want to make sure the shelves are even dispersed, that nothing is being wasted, and that everything is lookin' fabulous.

Easier said than done.

I'm a little slow at the moment, so my spatial analysis is a bit on the wonky side. Every shelf I move, it looks a bit better. Then I make it back to the A section. Eh, still a tad bit on the crowded side. As a matter of fact, it looks like I'll have to shift maybe twice more today. Why? Because I'm being anal about shelves. That's really all.

The nesting phase that I'm going through in my personal life must be taking root in my work life. I have been perusing Pinterest for decorating ideas not only in my home, but in the library. Now that we have golden (yes, GOLDEN!) walls in our Lower School Learning Commons, I feel like we (or I) can sneak in little cute things here and there. I have a keen interest in Washi tape right now that needs to be satisfied.

Wouldn't that look cute on the edge of a bookcase? Lining the creative works of such creative people with creative-looking lines in a creative atmosphere?

Maybe I'm alone on this. Or maybe I'm with everyone on Pinterest, who are not in the real world, but some ideological land where people live right next to Ikea, Home Depot, and Hobby Lobby, where Craig's List has more nice stuff than normal and the people are not super sketch.

I digress.

I just want the library space, as well as the program itself, to help reflect the child-like nature of, well, a children's area in a library and school. It should reflect the nature of the people who work there, but more importantly, the clientele in which it serves. Shifting books is obviously the easiest choice for change in appearance, convenience, and atmosphere.

With little steps, I'm hoping that I can help the library keep its warm, inviting atmosphere, while bringing a little bit of spunk into it. We've already started with our new space, then the wall, pictures of students, signage, and stuffed toys. This is only the beginning.

You have been warned.

An Ode to Thanks Giving

As the hustle and bustle of Christmas starts earlier and earlier (Hobby Lobby selling trees in August!), I'm trying to focus on the what should be theme of before Christmas: giving thanks. I don't feel like I do it enough, or am simply bad at it. This has to change.

In my effort to have a happier, peaceful, and more productive existence, I have decided to cherish things more than I have before. I could deviate quickly into all the difficult or negative things in my life. They are few, but feel significant. There have been more blessings this past year than I could remember in years past, and I need to take a step back and soak it all in.

Mostly, I am grateful for my wonderful new husband, Justin. We of course have experienced ups and downs, like anyone, and I am thankful for his love, companionship, and never-ending support. Without him, I can honestly say I don't know where I would be. He keeps me going everyday, is the one thought in my head motivating me to press on, and the love of my life.

In an odd way, I don't think our wedding would've happened without me having a new job. That's why I am beyond thankful for the place, people, and students I get to work with. It's surreal to think about how I affect kids' lives daily, whether they realize it or not. Running into two kiddos at the mall yesterday made this obvious to me. They were so excited to see me, tell me of their adventures they were having with their Grandma, and about the exciting toy helicopter they were about to buy. I know it sounds a bit silly, but oftentimes I lack a sense of importance. But when the students are happy to see me, or I recommend a book they truly love, it means a lot to me.

Last, but not least and certainly not last on my list, is my family. My "new" family, combined with my "old" family, is made up of a colorful cast of characters that I am so blessed to know and have in my life. I hope that they see me as the same blessing as I see them. I have the BEST mother-in-law and am so grateful that she is so kind and loving to me.

I know it's not library, work, or literature related, but I wanted to share these thoughts. This is all what is on my heart today, the eve on the day when we're supposed to give thanks, and it seemed mighty appropriate.

Only two weeks until Thanksgiving?

Wow, this school year is flying by so fast. Maybe it's because of all the other stuff that's going on, or my working on the promotional video for the library, or just because that's what happens when work is so busy.

I'm excited that the next few days are super busy. There's something about getting as much as you can done between classes that keeps me going. Especially now, since our book order has arrived! Woohoo!

Also, getting back to that weekly reading bandwagon...I made it a goal of mine to read at least 4 chapter books a month. I haven't really been good about that, but am starting today. I have book one of A Series of Unfortunate Events at home, and am going to start Wildwood, Drooling and Dangerous, and The Lightning Thief. 

This weather is finally absolutely perfect for reading!

Right now, I'm working on some research for the promotional video, and making sure I have all the software I need. Here's hoping that Movie Maker is sufficient enough for this task. I still don't know how I'm going to be recording audio for the interviews, but I have some professional mics at home I can probably use. We'll see.

We're also developing our own research model, and are having a couple of board discussions in the following month. I'm trying to familiarize myself with some of these research methods. I will be presenting information about another local schools inquiry method. I'm trying to be well-versed enough to answer questions, but I imagine I'll also be pretty darn nervous. Just have to be prepared!

Off to finish Zita the Spacegirl and then start on some other PowerPoint projects.

What a whirlwind!

My posts have been lacking as of late, and I do apologize for it. Getting married seems to suck out every ounce of energy, time, and sanity from everyone involved! Now, I'm married and am slowly recovering from the exciting whirlwind, back to thinking more seriously about things in libraryland.

Before I left to get ready, I worked on a website for 2nd grade's Texas unit. You can check out the website I made here! Carrie and I wanted to make it user friendly, with all the info about Texas on one page. It's a little challenging to find facts about our great state, but we perused many encyclopedias and things to make sure we got what we needed. I cited things as best as I could.

This website project got me so excited; making things is what I love doing best. Weebly is so super easy and lets you be creative in ways you never thought possible. I have a personal website on there, too, which needs heavy updating! Now that I'm more confident in my Weebly skills, I may revisit that idea in the future.

Another fun thing we've all started doing is displaying what we're reading! We all have laminated pieces of paper saying "Mrs. So-and-so is reading ____". Mine is hanging on the back of my monitor, and is super awesome. I love how it is keeping me accountable to reading, and is a great conversation starter with the kiddos.

Right now, I'm finally reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. I know! I should have read it a long time ago. I wasn't sure what to think of it when it first came out, but I think I may like it better now than before. We'll see :)

FanGirl trend: Divergent

I thought I was done with trilogies, series, sagas, or whatever you want to call them. You know the type of books that are milked until they have sucked all the energy, love, and money out of their fans. Harry Potter was the most rewarding (obviously), while Twilight left me disgusted with myself. Had I really invested my time in a series I decided that I didn't like anymore? (I left out the word "hate" because I'm trying to be more positive, but my distaste in Twilight leans more towards that word than any other in the English language).

Plus, I'm older now. Who has time for that? Midnight releases (so 11th grade), t-shirts, Hot Topic paraphernalia. Pish-posh. Though I think I'm too mature for series books, I still watch cartoons and read children's books. Go figure.

Regardless, dystopian literature is my thing. It has been since I was in middle school; my love for the unknown, an underdog defeating an evil power--ah, my heart sings when it's being wrenched, apparently.

I had heard about the Divergent series, and how a movie was being made of it. Having been burned by the entirety of the Hunger Games experience, I'd decided to read at least the first book before the movie comes out. At least.

Turns out I pretty much love this series. I'm not a true fan, I suppose, as I've not caught up with the series (a little under halfway through Insurgent at the moment) but I'm excited to see where Tris and Four wind up. Ahh! This goes to show that anyone can enjoy series books, especially if there's enough action, suspense, and a little bit of romance (just a teeny bit, for now).

I love getting to put myself in the characters shoes, especially when you first enter this world. It's all so foreign and militaristic, but that's just society in general. The whole selection process for leaving your faction, and in turn your family, is terrifying. I don't know if I could have done what Tris did!

With that being said, I don't believe I would be Dauntless or Abnegation. I think I lean more towards Amity myself. And that is perfectly fine with me.

Peggy Sharp's Book Extravaganza (or so it should be called)

My first year at Greenhill, I had no idea about professional development or what that really meant. It had never applied in any job I'd had before, but assumed it was long lectures, or classes and workshops that would enhance my position greatly. Each workshop I attend has some benefits, though some are not always evident the minute you walk out of the seminar.

That's not how Peggy Sharp is.

I was told last year that she was one of the most phenomenal, excited educators who still worked with children. She LOVED books, had various lessons to go with books for varying ages, and had great ideas for book promotions, apps, and all sorts of things.

Fortunately, I was able to see her this past Monday through Region 10 Education Service Center in Richardson, Texas. Not far from our school, I always appreciate and glean a lot from the sessions there. It's exciting to get to meet all kinds of teachers, librarians, and assistants (like me!). Terry Roper is basically the head honcho when it comes to the library gatherings, and she always does a great job of finding presenters.

Is it sad the thing I was most excited about was getting her fabulous book of the latest children's titles, coded, of course, for their appropriateness for different ages, grades, and if there is additional lesson content in the back of said book. If you haven't been to see her, or cannot, find someone who has and grab their book! She seems to go a million miles an hour at times, which is why a highlighter and a package of sticky notes is essential to a successful Peggy Sharp seminar.

This was her first stop on her yearly book tour; it is also her last year of doing this! It's sad, but exciting for her. She's a very hard worker and should get to enjoy her time in retirement if that's what she pleases.

One of the ideas I love (and Carrie and I even loved last year) is printing a color picture of the cover of a book, and creating a "review folder". Inside the folder, which is a colorful file folder, are a few reviews from different journals and publications, as well as what other students have said. There is also the blurb from the inside jacket of the book. The most compelling part is the back of the folder has a copy of the first page of the book. Authors know that's where you must suck your readers in; they have just a limited amount of time to grab their audience.

Overall, her presentations are sharp as ever; she likes to engage the educators like she would students in a classroom. It helps solidify ideas that she's given to us.

I'm sad to see Dr. Sharp go, becoming a birder and natural-trail hiking guide; I am thankful that I have been able to see her and utilize her booklists, teaching, and her encouraging spirit in our library.

Vaguely library related

Sometimes, I feel that it's necessary to update with things that are of personal interest and vaguely library related. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself this very moment, as I type this.

Someone on the AISL list serve sent out a link to a fabulous dress. It's way out of my price range, as far as dresses or anything I would wear go. But it's so cute and I'm going to stalk it until it is 60% off.

Say whaaat?

Though I do like clothes, I don't know how this dress would look on me. I also don't know how I feel about being that nerdy. It is cute, though!

Mwahaha--Halloween!

I'm super excited to be able to decorate the larger library space this year. Now that we are included in the entirety of the library, we can stretch out a little, maybe put a few pumpkins, and some spooky gravemarkers. Um, well, I already did that part.

My desk looks awesome! (Except I cannot hang garland very well.)

My dead flowers. 

One side of spooky.

The other side of spooky!

Not so spooky, but just cute and fall-y.

Sea of (mostly) orange books!

Our "Must Reads" shelf. This month is all about the creepy/spooky/insert-Halloween-adjective-here.

I think it looks pretty darn awesome. I'm sad that I won't be here on Halloween or the day after (well, I'm getting married two days after...), but I hope everyone enjoys these decorations. Oh, and remember, when the winter holidays come around...

You haven't seen nothing yet.

This past week

The past week, or two, has been CRAZY busy in the absolute best way.

Except for Monday.

Monday was the day we had a flood in one of the conference rooms (it technically belongs to technology, but we also use it occasionally). There was a devilish, little white hose spewing water, along with the knocking around the contents of the cabinet it had lived in, which had been going on for perhaps a couple of days. Things in our work room were soaked!

We lost some cardboard boxes and some paper, which wasn't necessarily bad, but the water was standing in our work room! It had soaked through the carpet, a little into the library and an adjacent conference room, and a tiny bit in the Lower School Learning Commons. After the strain of that day, things were much better!

Carrie and I helped 4th grade with a really cool data research project. Well, she worked with them a lot--I helped when they were in the new Lower School Learning Commons. It was fun to help them search for things, or even encourage them to think of creative ways to search...even sometimes to the point of just telling them to maybe find something new. That was perhaps the most difficult part.

We also got a new book order in, found out we had a bunch of books randomly donated to us, and another stashed of books that had been donated who-knows-when that we are fortunate to have! Getting books ready is always a challenge. Now that I'm posted at the circulation desk, it's an ever exciting challenge to get everything covered while checking little ones out. I don't mind; it's kind of fun to make it a challenge against myself.

This following week will be a little lighter in some ways. We're preparing for our next book order, and next Monday, I get to go to Region 10 for a professional development course with Peggy Sharp! She is a very dedicated educator, who absolutely knows everything about books. Seriously. I'm pretty sure you could name any title at all, and she could give you a lesson plan or fun song to go with it.

I'm also working on the promotional video for the library. So far, I've taken about an hour or two of footage and need to set up times to interview people. This is a creative challenge for me and that is something I dearly love. Fingers crossed it will be awesome!

Libraryland Update

This week in some ways has gone by fast--the amount of classes we've seen some days, the Founder's Day rally (which is always fun!), and our book order's arrival have all helped us to push through our first 5 day week.

The beginning of this week was slower-paced. The letter days we started out with had large gaps in them, leaving us with lots of space to read about books, and sneak in some Insurgent reading time.

I'm trying to become more active in reading, and have started using GoodReads to log my books. It's so helpful! Though I think I created it a long time ago and pretty much had just one friend on it, I've found a bunch of people in my circle and love seeing what they're up to. It's exciting to find people excited about reading :)

Seriously, I feel sometimes that I am a bit slow at reading; I hate the stories to end, and the characters to go away. I know the Divergent trilogy will be ending this October, but I still am reading Insurgent soooo slooowwwly. That's okay, I guess. Just delaying the inevitable.

Another thing I've been reading, is one of the lesser-known subreddits on the social networking site Reddit. Granted, there are a lot of, how shall we say, weirdos on Reddit, but I've found the people on /r/libraries to be educated, excited, and passionate about their jobs. I kind of stumbled upon them on accident, through looking for craft resources online.

I may post a real live book review this weekend! Fingers crossed.

Quick update!

It's the end of the week. Phew. It hasn't been as crazy as the first week of school, but the second is a bit more fun. The new lessons start, kids are getting familiar with the idea of checking out books again (and our faces). I've made a goal for myself to get to know what they're reading, and try to get them interested in similar books. It's been working fairly well so far.

I've gotten the hang of processing and sorting the mail and periodicals. It's not really bad, just the initial summer load that's a tad overwhelming. I enjoy being in a flexible position, too. It frees me up to do research for our promotional video that we'll start working on pretty soon. That's a plus!

Overall, great second week. Finished covering last year's books, had a birthday celebration (along with too much cake), and fiance got a new job. Pretty memorable week in my book.

Staring

From John Green's A Fault in Our Stars:

Finally, I decided that the proper strategy was to stare back. Boys do not have a monopoly on the Staring Business, after all.

 Oh, how I love this book. On page 12 and I cannot stop.

First Week

The first week of school is always hardest. Maybe it's the getting up early (or not staying up late), doing laundry in a timely fashion, or not wearing myself out with all-day Sims marathons.

Anyway, this year, our first week was a success! Not that last year's wasn't, but I believe this year we were both more prepared than our first (hopefully obvious, but I was nervous with all our changes). The new schedule we are on (fixed checkout time, schedule on an as-needed basis for lessons/research) is quite refreshing. It helps enable us to focus on library tasks, as well as creating lessons and displays.

It's been fun for me, to be honest. I've been given more clerical tasks than I had previously, and I also am going to be directing (sort of) and editing (definitely) an introductory film about our library. I feel comfortable in my new position, as well as challenged. I always like to have new challenges. That's when creativity can show up at it's finest.

The kids are very sweet, and I think this 4th grade class will be so great. They're strong learners, and were a joy to be around last year as 3rd graders. I hope I can help with some of the research projects, even though I'm not 100% sure about most of the research methods. It's always exciting, though.

This second week is pretty short and light for me. I'm hoping to get some more storyboarding done. I've never had to do it for a 3-5 minute feature, just a short news clip which did NOT turn out that well. Ah, well, that's learning. I'm going to try to read a couple book review journals to keep up my knowledge of what's coming out, and maybe glance over the stuff that's new.

Oh! And finish covering those darn books. Heh.

Happy New Year!

There's a tradition at my school where you are greeted with a hearty "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" upon arrival to orientation the week before school begins.Well, this certainly is a new year for us in more ways than one.

At the end of last school year, just a few short months ago, we finally realized a dream and moved our Lower School collection to join its fellow collections in the main library. The old Lower School library was turned into what we now call the Lower School Learning Commons. It's such a great title to a fabulous place. There are story steps, couches, chairs, a puppet area (!), and an area with tables and chairs where our new, moveable SmartBoard can roll wherever it is needed.

Along with that, one of the librarians finally got her own office space (yay!) and now its just me out there on my little island known as the circulation desk.

This past week was a LOT of meetings, training, getting reacquainted with our school life as opposed to our summer ones. At our library meeting, I was given a few new duties, that include setting up and completing inventory, mail, periodicals, the ordering of library supplies, as well as handling the gift books for middle and upper school. Phew. I placed my first purchase order for library supplies, and while it's not super complicated, it is a bit intimidating. Who knew there were so many different types of book covers and book tape in the world?

I'm a little nervous about being in the middle of the library, with all these new responsibilities, but am so thrilled that I'm being honored with more responsibility. I never thought I'd ever have a job with a desk (it is so not a desk job), and am so thrilled of the exciting new challenges this year will bring.

Here's to the first week of school! Can't wait to see the looks on those kids' faces when they see what we've done this summer on Tuesday.

Happy New Year!

What I've done so far...

With all the end of the year craziness, I've found little time to do much else. I feel like I'm getting sick, or am having severe allergies, or something. Yuck. That's the bad part of living in Texas in the spring.

We're in the process of moving our collection from our little world into the main library--a serious task! This is a list of all the stuff I have done this past week:

• Finished inventory! (I completed all the following: nonfiction, half of junior fiction, one shelf of red dot nonfiction, junior readers, junior biographies, new books, graphic novels, Bluebonnet nominees, half of everybody picture books, folk tales, as well as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Easter, and Halloween, professional development, audio books, and reference)
• Read shelves: I only was able to read junior fiction, part of nonfiction, graphic novels, and a minute portion of everybody books. 
• Merge collection: I was able to change the category of our LSC PL (lower school professional learning) collection and move those out with all the others, then moved the 000s to 499s red dot nonfiction to the other nonfiction. PHEW. That means...
• MORE WEEDING. I weeded and weeded, on top of what Carrie and I weeded and weeded. Phew. So many books, such gross covers! Yuck! Who let this book with ketchup in it slide for a million years?!

Today I went back and looked over what was still missing from inventory to find it. A lot of the ones I weeded are not coming up, which is okay. We'll figure that out. They're marked "lost" for now.

It's only Wednesday. I need to pace myself before I have a coronary.

I PROMISE to catch up! TLA left me busy, but I'm going to be doing a write up of some awesome things soon :)

Er, Happy Belated New Year

I've been really bad about journaling/blogging, and I'm sorry about that. Things were kind of crazy over the winter break, and I was completely wiped out with bronchitis the week we got back to school. Yikes! I'm just thankful I'm here to type this sentence, because things were very scary for a minute.

My new goal for this year is to write in this blog regularly, not just ideas or things I've done as a library assistant, but book reviews. I love graphic novels and picture books, mainly because I can read lots of them in a short amount of time. I'm going to push myself to read more chapter books (at least the first in the series) also. It's important for me to help the indecisive 4th graders find books they enjoy!

There are a few books that I've read and enjoyed recently, but my favorite so far? The City of Ember graphic novel is a beautiful, well-illustrated graphic novel adaptation of the book by Jeanne DuPrau. We just ordered it for our lower school, and its stunning. I'll write more of a review when I have the chance, as well as one about Salt Water Taffy graphic novel series. They're so fun!

If there is but one hope I have the rest of this school year, it is to encourage a higher circulation rate of fiction books with boys...specifically those in 3rd & 4th grade. The circulation rates are decent, but they honestly could be a lot higher!

Expect another post from me this afternoon, as this is my day to close down shop.

Have a fabulous day in bookland :)
Christine