Classic Pick: God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

Published: 2010

Pages: 96

Setting:Lethal Injection Execution Facility in Huntsville, Texas (also, Heaven)

Time Period: late 1990's

Synopsis: Kurt Vonnegut writes a tongue-in-cheek novella about interviewing dead people via controlled "near-death" experiments. Vonnegut interviews historical villains (Hitler), scientists (Sir Isaac Newton), writers (Shakespeare and Mary Shelley), etc. The premise of the book is that his interviews are being recorded and broadcasted on a radio for viewers. 

X 7

Forget-Me-Not Review: 

*7 Forget-Me-Nots: Great story but didn't make me think too hard or have bouts of intense emotion. I will remember my favorite scenes but not necessarily anything else.

Characters: 

Kurt Vonnegut :as himself

Dr. Kevorkian: a doctor who makes sure that Vonnegut's trips to the afterlife are "round-trip." 

 St. Peter :as himself, guarding the Gate of Heaven. 

I chose this book because I'd never read any Kurt Vonnegut before and I was ashamed of this fact. Erin from my Readers' Advisory class recommended it to the class and I immediately placed a hold on it at the library. The book is a fast read. Like, ridiculously fast. It IS only 96 pages. I love reading witty, satirical things and this book definitely satisfied me. The wit was very tongue-in-cheek and reminded me of some essays by Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce. I think my favorite person that he interviewed was probably Shakespeare. Vonnegut states that "In effect, he told your reporter to go screw himself" (60). I guffawed at this point. And then St. Peter makes it even better by stating that nobody was willing to submit to his lie detector test and claim authorship of "Shakespeare's" works.

Characteristics that fit the genre: 

Tone/Mood: humorous, tongue-in-cheek

Frame/Setting: a prison in Texas as well as Heaven

Storyline: interview style

Style/Language: experimental (NoveList)

Characters: witty, satirical, historical figures

Pacing:  fast due to each interview only lasting a page or two. 

Appeals

1. Satire/humorous tone.

2. Interview style writing/ experimental

3. Historical figures. 

Author Read-A-Likes:

Connie Willis (NoveList)

Andrei Codrescu (NoveList)

Douglas Adams (NoveList)

Christopher Moore (NoveList)

James Morrow (NoveList)

Title Read-A-Likes

Tooth Imprints on a Corn Dog by Mark Leyner (NoveList)

You & Me by Padgett Powell (NoveList)

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (NoveList)

Last Call by Laura Pedersen (NoveList)

Wrecked by Carol Higgins Clark (NoveList)

Readers' Advisory Paper

Krystal Taylor

Prof. Genovese

4/25/2013

Readers’ Advisory

            “Readers’ advisory service…is a patron-centered library service for adult leisure readers. A successful readers’ advisory service is one in which knowledgeable, nonjudgmental staff help fiction and nonfiction readers with their leisure-reading needs” (Saricks, 2005). With this assignment, I attempted to provide the best knowledgeable and nonjudgmental readers’ advisory that I could. Because I don’t work in library yet, I decided to create a readers’ advisory survey and pass it out to some people that I work with and a facebook friend. The people filled out the surveys, returned them to me, and then I compiled a list of five suggested titles using a combination of: NoveList, Goodreads, and Amazon.com. The reading suggestions I created included: a title, a picture of the cover, the reason for the title suggest, and a plot synopsis. Four of the patrons stated that I did a good job with my suggestions, while the fifth has yet to respond to my requests for feedback.

            The first person I provided readers’ advisory service was to Subject B. Subject B is a 23 year old male that I work with. His favorite types of books are fantasy, action, and adventure. I purposefully wrote “types of books” instead of “genres” as a way to avoid jargon and make the survey more easily understood. Subject B’s least favorite types of books are romance and mystery. His favorite authors are Evelyn Waugh and the author of the book “the right to destroy myself.” I had looked up and found that the actual book is called I Have the Right to Destroy Myself and is by Young-Ha Kim. Subject B is the subject that has not gotten back to me yet. He is also a student at IUPUI and has finals coming up, so I’m sure he’ll get back to me when he has more free time.

            Subject C was a friend I haven’t seen or talked to in a long time and I asked if I could enlist her help in this project through Facebook. She is 24 years old and is a manager at a security firm. She told me her email address so I emailed her the survey and she filled out the form and emailed it back. Her favorite types of books are mystery, romance, and fantasy and she really enjoys dialogue, a fast-paced plot, and suspense in her books. Her least favorite books are biographies and her favorite authors are: Lisa Kleypas, Judith McNaught, and Stephen King. She doesn’t care about violence, romance, or curse words in her books and the most recent book she read was The Gunslinger. Her feedback was through Facebook chat. One of the recommended titles I wasn’t too sure about because it seemed a little dated, but that ended up being the title she read and loved.

            Subject H is a 37 year old female coworker. Her favorite types of books are romance, fiction, psychology, biographies, religion, and self-improvement. Her least favorite types of books are: horror, science fiction, politics, and westerns. Her favorite authors are: Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, Emily Griffin, Nora Roberts, and Kristan Higgins. She said that a little violence is okay, steamy romance is fine (as long as it isn’t pornography), and she doesn’t care about curse words. The most recent book she read was Nicholas Sparks’s Safe Haven. She had not had a chance to read any of the titles yet, but she read the plot summaries and said that all of them looked so good she put them all on her “wish list” for her Nook.

            Subject J is a 26 year old female who happens to be married to a coworker of mine. I asked the coworker if he would like to take the survey and he said no, but his wife would. Her favorite types of books are historical fiction and fantasy and her least favorite types of books are mystery. Her favorite authors are Diana Gabaldon, Jane Austin, and Traci Peterson. She doesn’t care about violence, but doesn’t want steamy romance and doesn’t want the curse words to over-run the story. The last book she read was Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. She Facebook messaged me a few days later saying that the titles looked great and she was really excited to read The Stars for a Light by Lynn and Gilbert Morris.

            Subject L is a 30 year old female coworker. Her favorite types of books are: romance, paranormal romance, mystery, fantasy, and erotica. She does not like anything “boring” which she said included school books and anything that “has to be done, not enjoyed.” Her favorite authors are: Lora Leigh, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christina Dodd, Lori Foster, L.J. Smith, J.R. Ward, Jaci Burton, Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris, Lynsay Sands, and E.L. James.  She doesn’t care about the violence or curse words but wanted steamy romance. The most recent books she had read were Play by Play by Jaci Burton, the Fifty Shades series, and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. This subject is an avid reader. She reads about 10-15 books a week. She said that I did a great job with the title recommendations. So good, in fact, that she’d already read two of the titles: A Hunger Like No Other and Dark Prince. She was shocked she forgot to put Christine Feehan on her list of favorite authors. She was impressed that I was able to suggest a few authors she’d never heard of and she said that she read and loved the Katie MacAlister book that was recommended. She said that it was as funny as a Lynsay Sands book.

            This project was really fun and I’m glad that I was capable of suggesting titles that the subjects enjoyed. One thing that I found was that it was more difficult to suggest titles to people the better I knew them. I found myself wading through titles suggested by NoveList and discarding them based on plot summaries found on Goodreads. I did the surveys based on the “Personalized” readers’ advisory services that public libraries are offering now, but I think my survey should have gone a little more in-depth. I forgot to ask what the subjects liked about their favorite types of books, and I found that also made it more difficult to find them books based on generic genre titles. One book I suggested to Subject B was a fantasy that I thought he’d like just because it was very popular right now and was a “fantasy” title.

References

Saricks, J. G. (2005). Readers' advisory service in the public library. Chicago: American Library Association.

Nonfiction Work: Rick Steve's Ireland

Published : 2012
Pages: 560
Setting: Ireland
Time Period: Current day
Synopsis: This book is a great travel aid for people visiting Ireland. Rick Steve goes around Ireland and provides funny anecdones and tips to making a trip to Ireland great.

FORGET-ME-NOT Review:

I'm not going to rate this book because nonfiction books don't fit into my rating system. It's a great and useful book though. I would definitely recommend any of Rick Steve's travel books. He also has a travel show. This book has packing lists, road maps, and great places to visit in every city of Ireland. My favorite part of the book was his anecdotes from his trips. He says that the best part about visiting Ireland is talking to the Irish people. I really enjoyed when he asked if the guy was born there and the reply was: "No, I was born up the road a-ways."


Title read-a-likes

Back Roads Ireland by DK Publishing (Amazon)
Fodor's Ireland by Fodor's (Amazon)
Frommer's 25 Great Drives in Ireland by Penny Phenix (Amazon)
Ireland for Dummies by Elizabeth Albertson (Amazon)
Lonely Planet Ireland by Fionn Davenport (Amazon)

Divergent by Veronica Roth

YA Pick: Divergent by Veronica Roth


Published: 2012
Pages: 576
Setting: Chicago
Time Period: Dystopian Future
Synopsis:
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her (Amazon).

x 10

Forget-Me-Not Review: 

*10: Oh, crap. It's The Diary of Anne Frank all over again. 

Major Female and Male Protagonists:

Beatrice (Tris): I love Tris. I want to BE Tris. Tris is one of the fiercest, most kick-booty heroines that I've read in a long time. I think Tris amazed me so much because she wasn't raised for violence or trained for violence, and yet she handled a completely different environment as if she'd been born into it. 

Tobias (Four): Four is amazing. If I didn't respect Tris so much, I'd try to steal him for myself. Four is amazing because he takes care of Tris and allows her to see his fears. 

Basically, I loved this book. I think this book is BETTER than the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games has a little too much angst. Tris is definitely a more butt-kickin heroine than Katniss! 

Characteristics that fit the genre:

Tone/Mood: suspenseful, fast-paced, full of action

 Frame/Setting: a dystopian future Chicago

Storyline: world building, dystopia

Style/Language: fast-paced, full of action 

Pacing-Break-neck, I could NOT put this book down

	Author Read-a-likes:
	Suzanne Collins (NoveList)
	Jeanne DuPrau (NoveList)

Margaret Peterson Haddix (NoveList)
 Lauren Oliver (NoveList)

Title read-a-likes: 

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

 Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Starters by Lissa Price

Special Topics Paper

Readers’ Advisory for Teens

           

            Teenagers, teens, young adults: a rose by any other name. No matter what we call them, we need to serve them with the best readers’ advisory service we can provide. This “group of library users ages 12 to 18” (Jones 3) are under-represented and misunderstood in their local public libraries. From the initial contact to checking out, teens need to know that they are welcomed, un-judged, and have our complete attention focused on them and their reading happiness.

            Before you serve teens, you need to realize that you are serving teens. It is your job to stay on top of current young adult literature and know pop culture. If you aren’t a teen librarian, and absolutely cannot stand young adult literature, then you don’t get to “pass” on providing readers’ advisory service for teens. Teens comprise “one quarter of the users of public libraries (Jones 3). There are readers’ advisory guides that you can use and should be familiar with. Most public libraries have “NoveList”, but if your library can’t afford this database then using sites such as “Goodreads” or Amazon can help as well.

            The initial contact is vital. If the teen doesn’t feel comfortable approaching or being approached by a librarian, then they surely aren’t going to feel comfortable enough to share their reading preferences. Librarians are very invested in acting ‘professional’, which sometimes comes across as too formal and creates uneasiness in our patrons. This is even more so in teens. Smile, make eye contact, and have a friendly tone when you begin the interview. Sometimes, “moving out from behind the physical barrier of the reference desk and into the YA area is a good place to start” (Booth 34). This helps break down some of that uneasiness that patrons feel.

            Let the interviewing begin. First, remember the basic structure of an interview. One asks a question and then lets the person answer. If the person doesn’t understand the question, rephrase until they do. Librarians don’t realize the sheer amount of jargon that they use offhand and it is important to keep in mind that teens may not know exactly what “tone, plot, and appeal” mean when talking about books. It is important to find out what “the purpose this book will serve” (Booth 34). Is it for school or pleasure? If it is for school, find out the requirements of the project. It would be very beneficial if the librarian could reach out to the local schools and have teachers send them notifications on readings lists so that the librarian can have to books available.

             If you ask a teen what type of books they like and want to know why they like them, ask them if they like them because they are funny, or sad, etc. Let the teen actually talk and pay attention to what they are saying. Another way to go about it is to “find out what a teenage reader didn’t like” (Dickey 15). You may also get someone who doesn’t know what they like yet. In that case, ask them about other forms of entertainment. What television shows or movies do they like? Why do they like them? Whatever they do like, it is vital that the librarian not make the teen feel judged in their personal tastes. This goes for facial expressions, attempts to dissuade them from their genre, etc. This interview is about the teen, not the librarian. Even if the librarian does like young adult literature and loved a specific book, it doesn’t follow that the teen will love the same book.

            Book displays also play a very important role in readers’ advisory. “If you don’t shelve fiction by genre, use displays frequently” (Dickey 15). Having booklists available with those displays is also a good idea. Have displays of bestselling young adult books and “hot” genres. Right now steampunk is a hot trend so a good display would be of popular steampunk novels. Teens can browse these displays at their own leisure or you can direct teens to these displays if you realize they are into that genre. A popular display theme right now is the “If you liked….” displays (Dickey 15). Picking a hot series like “The Hunger Games” would be a good example of this. Displays can be as fun and creative as you want, so use them to try different things and see what appeals to teens and what doesn’t.

            It all comes down to attitude. If you think that teens are a pain and you wish they’d all leave you alone, then you aren’t going to be able to provide good readers’ advisory service to them. Unfortunately, a lot of librarians do feel this way and it is reflected in their readers’ advisory service to teens…if they even provide readers’ advisory service to their teens. Librarians are “authority figures” (Booth 33) to teens, so it is important that librarians use this power for good and overcome any prejudices that they have towards teens. I remember reading every single book that my school librarian handed me because I respected and trusted her. With each successful readers’ advisory service provided, public librarians are earning the respect and trust of their teens. If it helps, remember this: they will one day be adults. If you make a bad impression on them now, that bad impression will continue on with them into adulthood.

           

           

           

           

Works Cited

Booth, H. (2005). RA for YA. Public Libraries, 44(1), 33-36.

Dickey, J., & Jones, P. (1994). Finding a good book: Skills and tools for helping students.             Book Report, 13(1), 15.

Jones, P. (2002). New Directions for Library Service to Young Adults. Chicago: American Library Association.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Mystery Pick:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

Published: 2000
Pages: 301
Setting: Lake Eden, Minnesota
Time Period: Present day
Synopsis: This is the first book in the Hannah Swensen Mystery books. Hannah is a small town bakery owner turned detective. The story begins with a man found murdered behind the bakery. Hannah's brother-in-law, Bill, is a local deputy who asks for Hannah to keep her 'eyes and ears open' to help him solve the case so that he can get promoted to detective. With the help of her sister, Andrea, Hannah digs up the clues.  Hannah gets into some tight, dark, and not-so-nice smelling situations to figure out who in the small town is keeping a big, homicidal secret. 

   x 8

Forget-Me-Not Review: 
*8 Forget-Me-Nots:Pretty good plot-line with a lot of characters I liked.

Characters: Not all the characters, just the ones I actually cared about:

• Hannah Swensen, heroine: Amateur detective who lives in a small town and is okay with it. Owns her own bakery and identifies as average looking who would be happy with a man, but is just as happy without.
• Andrea, Hannah's sister: A real estate agent who has very little time for her family (at least at the beginning of the story). Andrea and Hannah's relationship grows a lot closer by the end of the book, which is one of the best aspects of the story.
• Bill, Andrea's husband:  Bill definitely had his moments where I really liked him. He may or may not try to match make at one part of the story which is just HILARIOUS.
• Lisa, Hannah's business partner: Lisa is friendly and knows when to accept gifts. Lisa is the key reason why Hannah was able to go gallivanting around searching for clues. Her dependable nature allows Hannah to rely on her to cover for her.
• Moishe, Hannah's cat: Incidentally, my favorite character. Moishe cracked me up. His dislike of Hannah's mother made me smile.
• Delores Swensen, Hannah's mother: The woman who only sees you if you don't see her first (at least if you are an unmarried daughter of hers).
• Norman, Love Interest #1: The safe choice. He's a dentist who her mother tried to set her up with. Only in her attempt to investigate him does Hannah realize he's pretty funny and befriends him.
• Mike, Love Interest #2: Team Mike. He's the Tom Selleck of the town. A new detective from the big city. Mike brings the sexy, which Hannah (and this book) seriously needs more of. Mike is the better choice from the two love interests, but he's more earnest than witty--so if she meets someone else who is smoking and witty, I'm jumping ship. 

This book is definitely a "cozy" read. It read to me like a grown up Nancy Drew...almost. Hannah is a "wholesome" character who enjoys baking, taking care of her cat, and genuinely cares for her community and the people in it. I think she's also a little judgmental towards her sister, but it made me identify with her. I am the same way towards my sister (I realized with a bit of shame). It definitely makes her more "real".  One thing I had problems with was the concept of cookies for breakfast. It could be a regional thing, but my mama would never allow me to have cookies for breakfast. And yet, here is an entire town who thinks it's perfectly normal to eat cookies for breakfast. Weird. There is only one reference to her dating in college where she became sexually involved with someone, but it was very brief and not descriptive at all. This book would not offend many, if any, people. The town seems like an interesting setting, which is one of the things I really liked about the book. I love small towns full of interesting characters. It's not quite Stars Hollow, but I wouldn't mind visiting.

Definitely read this book if:

1. You enjoy baking/culinary mysteries. The book has all sorts of recipes, one of which I decided to make for myself. It turned out okay, but not really my cup of tea. 

2. You like love triangles. Okay, so it's not as exciting as say...Bella/Edward/Jacob or even Jenna/Matty/Jake. I'm sure you picked up one the Twilight reference, but the Jenna/Matty/Jake triangle is from the MTV show "Awkward" which is AWESOME. 

3. You like for your mystery pieces to not be suspenseful and to be located in a small town with lots of quirky characters.

Characteristics that fit the genre:
Tone/Mood: lighthearted, amateur detective, gentle/cozy
Frame/Setting: small town in Minnesota
Storyline: murder, amateur detective with another job,
Style/Language: relatively clean, emphasis on dialogue
Characters: heroine is smart, funny, and views the mystery as a puzzle with limited danger. 
Pacing: slower, with an attention to detail

Appeal:
1. Culinary mystery
2. Cozy pace
3. Amateur detective, woman

 

Author read-a-likes:
Diane Mott Davidson (NoveList)

Katherine Hall Page (NoveList)

Carol Culver (NoveList)

Jessica Beck (NoveList)

JoAnna Carl (NoveList)

 Book read-a-likes:

Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert (NoveList)

Glazed Murder by Jessica Beck (Goodreads)

On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle (Goodreads)

Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson (Goodreads)

The Chocolate Cat Caper by JoAnna Carl (Goodreads) 

 

Kirkus Review

The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes

What if? What if the horrible accident that happened last summer had ended much worse? This is the question that plagues three high school friends as they try to maneuver their way through the peer pressures of their senior year of high school.

The story is told from the perspective of Paige Sheridan. Paige and her friends are at the top of the food chain. Popular, beautiful, wealthy, and shoo-ins for homecoming court. What more could they ask for? After drinking at a party, the girls get in an accident last summer that has both physical and emotional scarring for the three friends. Paige's mother ships her off to Paris to be an au pair for the summer and when Paige comes back she realizes that there is a distance between herself and her friends that is wider than the Atlantic. All of these emotions get an outlet when Paige takes a creative writing class and begins to question if she can meet the expectations of her mother, friends, and boyfriend. She's always wanted to be a princess...and that's what she still wants, right?

Full of high school insecurity and figuring out oneself, this book highlights the struggles that high school students go through today...even if it is from the shallow and vain end of the spectrum. A decent read, but nothing spectacular.