Leadership for the 21st Century

Leadership for the 21st Century

by Ann E. Prentice

As professor emerita of library and information science and former dean at the University of Maryland, Ann E. Prentice is one of the leading scholars in library administration. Prentice shares her latest insights and research in her book Leadership for the 21^st Century (ABC-CLIO, 2013). Although her background is primarily in library and information science, this book is a valuable tool for any discipline.

YA literature resource

I have recently discovered a really good site for YA lit and its even an YA book club!

It is called Readergirlz and its mission is to promote teen literacy and corresponding social services. They have won numerous awards and it is a really interesting site.

They describe themselves as "readergirlz is the cutting-edge literacy and social media project for teens, awarded the National Book Award for Innovations in Reading. It is a nonprofit volunteer organization."

Check it out!

http://readergirlz.blogspot.ca/

Follow up on Eating disorders

Here is a good site on how to recognize eating disorders in other people, especially your children. I also want to include more sites about eating disorders that have been very, very helpful.

German Town Patch

Something Fishy

Sheena's Place

Homewood's Eating disorder program - this is one of the best programs, really taught me the skills I needed to get better

YA Material Review - The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Hill, L. (2007). The Book of Negroes. Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

 “Pink is taken as the colour of innocence, the colour of childhood, but as it spills across the water in the light of the dying sun, do not fall into its pretty path. There, right underneath, lies a bottomless graveyard of children, mothers and men. I shudder to imagine all the Africans rocking in the deep... Some people call the sunset a creation of extraordinary beauty, and proof of God's existence. But what benevolent force would bewitch the human spirit by choosing pink to light the path of a slave vessel?” 

– The Book of Negroes, page 7

Marijane Meaker

Marijane Meaker

Pseudonyms: M. E. Kerr, Ann Aldrich, Mary James, M. J. Meaker and Vin Packer.
Marijane Meaker grew up in Auburn, New York until she went to boarding school in Virginia. She recalls the joy she experienced when borrowing her father’s books at a young age: “My father was an ardent reader of everything. Our living room was lined with bookcases. I was always borrowing books from them to take up to my room and devour. Anything about writing or writers interested me. I romanticized them as other children did movie stars or royalty.”  While reading these books, Meaker remembers dreaming about writing under different names, especially because she was not fond of her own. As an author, Meaker used five different names to publish her novels.

Reading across Media

Now I am the first to admit that I have not read Harry Potter, Twilight, or Scott Pilgrim, but I do have respect for the fact that the franchises encourage literacy for young adults. I will use this opportunity again to emphasize the growing trend of fan fiction. It is a really popular medium among young adults, and a great way to encourage young readers to work on their creative writing. On Fanfiction.net, Twilight alone has 122,298 PAGES (25 stories per page) of fanfiction. Harry Potter has 404,141 pages (as of today). Here are the links to some of the pages:

Twilight: http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Twilight/

Harry Potter: http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Harry_Potter/

Scott Pilgrim: http://www.fanfiction.net/comic/Scott_Pilgrim

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

"Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community" (p. 132)

Although I may not classify this book under the Getting the Laughs category, I really enjoyed this book – my favourite to date from the class readings. I found Junior, the main character, very relatable in many ways. Sherman Alexie is able to fully develop a character yet give him a universal feeling that allows the reader to easily relate to him. This is a rare skill that he has mastered in this book.

YA Material Review - Fanfiction.net

Fanfiction.net is an internet place where people can post their fiction writing as well as read posts by other people for free. With the slogan “Unleash your Imagination” the site allows people to exercise their creative skills as well as learn from other people.

YA fiction online

Rutherford, Leonie Margaret. 2009. “Industries, artists, friends and fans: Marketing young adult fictions online. First Monday 14(4): http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2443

I am looking forward to the discussion for this week’s class because I really enjoy reading what I know as fanfiction.

YA Literature: Information Resources

I am just putting the finishing touches on my presentation for tomorrow's presentation on resources for YA literature. The amount of resources that are out there is outstanding. I am particularly impressed by the availability of reader’s advisory lists that can help librarians (as well as teachers, parents, clubs, teens… really anyone!) find a variety of materials that will ideally appeal to young adults. It is also nice that the ALA offers courses to help expand our awareness of YA lit, something that would be beneficial to take every few years to keep up with trends and new published materials.

Let’s hope that the presentation goes well and that my anxiety doesn’t show too much!