Book Review: Amigurumi! Super Happy Crochet Cute

Having just completed the cheeseburger pattern from Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth A. Doherty, I have to say that if this pattern is representative of the other patterns in the book, it's not one I plan to buy for my collection. I like to borrow craft books and recipe books from the library before buying them whenever possible, and in this case, I'm very glad I did. The pattern was difficult to follow at times, required much more counting than necessary (ex. Rnds 3-8 increase by 6 stitches evenly spaced each round rather than telling you how many stitches to do between each increase), and the pattern for the top bun had major mistakes in the round numbering which led to ripping out and starting over.

The end result is pretty cute, but I'm sure there must be other patterns out there for similar types of products that are easier to follow. This particular burger will be part of Isaac's birthday present (so don't look Isaac!!).




I got three new amigurumi/crochet pattern books recently: Tasty Crochet, Super Cute: 25 Amigurumi Animals (not to be confused with the other Super Cute Crochet book I just reviewed), and Amigurumi Two!, and I can't wait to try some of the patterns in them!

Book Review: Super Cute Crochet

With no schoolwork to occupy me, I spent some of my free time the past couple weeks crocheting a pattern from the book Super Cute Crochet: Over 35 Adorable Animals and Friends to Make by Nicki Trench. I used the "guinea pig" pattern, and adapted it into a hamster pattern. I found the pattern easy-to-follow, although the actual execution was tricky for parts like sewing on the felt nose and continuing to crochet it closed after it was stuffed.

The end result: Four furry hamsters for Lori's children!



Although I didn't try any of the other patterns in the book, there were a bunch of other patterns that looked super cute!

Grades...finally!

As of last night, the grades were finally in for my other class, and now I can really relax and stop thinking about school and grades until the beginning of January when classes start back up. My GPA is safe for another semester ;)

A few weeks off!

I turned in my last paper of the semester on Sunday evening, and classes don't start back up again for the Spring 2010 semester until January 6, so I've got a little break from school now.

Grades still aren't in for my Management of Info. Orgs. class which is driving me crazy! We turned everything in for that class before the end of November! As a result, 60% of my grade is still unknown for that class, and grades aren't due until 12/16, so it's possible I won't know until then!

On the plus side, grades are in for my Info. Needs of Young Adults class, so I can at least relax about that one.

Yesterday, I ordered some of my textbooks for next semester. For some reason, I always get excited about that, and yes, I know that probably makes me a big dork, but I don't care. Even when it's stressful (which it is quite frequently), I am still so happy I decided to go back to school for library science. I love all of the new things I am learning, and I can't wait until I can put it all to use one day!

The Fall 2009 semester is coming to a close

Tuesday night was my last Management of Information Organizations class meeting. Monday night I turned in my last assignment for that class, so I am officially 100% done with that class other than waiting for grades.

Tonight is my last class meeting for my Information Needs of Young Adults class, and my last paper for that class is due Sunday night at midnight. I should probably try to get a little bit of work done on it right now before class starts. I really don't want to spend the entire weekend working on it.

Both classes have been a lot of work and challenging in their own ways, but I think they've also both been really good classes. I'll be glad to have a few weeks off of school work. Maybe I can finally get that extra paper I need for my school media portfolio done (that was for a class I took last fall but didn't know it had a school media-specific project at the time).

Just a few more...

On Sunday night, my team turned in our Strategic Plan, and last night we presented it to the class. Now I just need to finish my individual reflection journal about the experience of creating the Strategic Plan, and I will be done with that class; it's due this coming Monday.

Monday night I turned in my poetry anthology project for my YA class. It's due this Friday, but due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I needed to turn it in before we go out of town. One more small assignment due next week and one more paper due the week after that in that class, and then I'll be totally done for the semester!

I can't believe this semester is almost over. It's been so much work! I feel like I say that every semester, but I feel like it's especially true this semester. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and I can't wait.

Good book and end of semester progress

On the school front, I turned in my YA lit paper last night. Next week two more big projects are due. On Monday, my team will turn in our Strategic Plan, and on Tuesday, we'll present it to the class. I have my YA poetry anthology due on Friday (because Thursday is Thanksgiving), which basically means I need to have it done and turned in on Wednesday, before we leave for New Jersey. I'll need to work on homework there too though, since I have my Reflection Journal about the Strategic Plan experience due Monday, 11/30, and a Read and React in my other class due that Thursday, and then my final paper of the semester due 12/6.

This weekend I will be busy working on my YA poetry anthology, helping to finalize my team's Strategic Plan, and working on my piece for our group presentation.

A few weeks ago, between work and school, I managed to fit in reading a book that I really loved. It's a beautiful YA retelling of Cinderella called Ash and is written by Malinda Lo. I wasn't ready to return it to the library when I was done. I love fairy tale retellings in general, but Cinderella is usually not one of my favorites (the exception being Ella Enchanted, which I love). Some people may be turned off by this book because Ash does not end up with the prince. Instead, she falls in love with another woman. Here's a video of Malinda Lo talking about it:

What I did instead of homework this weekend.

I'll probably be working on homework like crazy during the week this week, but it was totally worth it, I think.

Instead of working on homework, I spent time with my adorable nephew and niece (and my parents, sisters, and brother who turned 21!):

Issac liked the gingerbread pancakes at IHOP!


Lila actually smiled a couple of times!

Projects and papers galore

It's now at the point in the semester when all of the big projects and papers are due. I spent most of last week working on school work, and there's still so much more to do.

In my Management of Info. Organizations class, my group project, writing a Strategic Plan for a school media center, is progressing. It has been so much work so far, and there's more work yet to do, but I can see the end now. That's good, because next week is the last week for us to work on the group portion. I'm glad that part will be done before Thanksgiving! The individual reflection journal portion is due after Thanksgiving, but that hopefully won't be too bad, since we are supposed to keep up with it writing one entry per week - all I should have left is the summary/overall observations portion by that time.

In my Info. Needs of Young Adults, we just got our Booktalk projects back, and I did well, so that's good. Our biggest paper, the YA lit paper, is due next week. I have most of it written; I just need to finish up a couple small parts and then revise. The week after that, our poetry anthology project is due, and I've barely started it. Then a smaller assignment, and then our last paper is due the first week of December.

Holiday Shopping FYI

For those of you who read this and like to buy books for children, right now (and I think through the holidays, but I'm not 100% sure on that) Kohl's is selling four different "If You Give..." hardcover picture books for $5 a piece as well as the matching stuffed animals for $5 a piece. They had:

• If You Give a Pig a Party
• If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
• If You Give a Moose a Muffin
• If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

This is a really great buy. The same books from a bookstore would probably be at least $15 (almost $13 on amazon). For $10 from Kohl's you can buy the book and the stuffed animal. The stuffed animals are pretty big (and cute) too.

The Kohl's near me had them right in the front of the store by the cash registers, and they had tons.

PS. Lindsey and Anna, don't let Isaac and Lila read this because they're getting some of these for Christmas. I won't say which though, so it's a surprise.

Director of Research

This week is the start of working on strategic plans in my Management of Info. Organizations class. My group is creating a strategic plan for a fictional school media center, and last night we selected our roles. My role in the group is "Director of Research," which basically means I will be responsible for researching everything that needs to be researched for the group - or at least for finding the resources the rest of the group can use for completing their assigned parts. I will also be responsible writing for two of the appendices.

Now that work on this has started, the next five weeks should be crazy. This project is 60% of our grade for the class.

And of course, although my other class has been busy all semester, the really big projects are coming up now in that class as well.

Booktalk

One of the major assignments for my Info. Needs of Young Adults class is to perform a booktalk for a group (no less than 6) of young adults. On Monday morning, I performed my booktalk assignment for two 7th grade Honors English classes at Rachel Carson Middle School. I think it went OK, but the kids looked kind of bored. I'm hoping that had more to do with the fact that it was 8 am on a Monday morning than with how boring I actually was.

A booktalk is essentially an advertisement for a book. It's supposed to get people interested in reading it, and there are many different ways you can do this. You can focus on a character, a scene, the plot, or the setting. You can do it in first-person as if you are a character from the book if you want. Whatever it takes to get potential readers interested.

Because the English classes will have an assignment coming up for which they will have to select a novel in verse to read, I chose a novel in verse to do for my booktalk. I wasn't totally happy with how my booktalk came out, but I ran out of time to revise it, so here's what I came up with:

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

Missing an arm is like wearing a coat,
a really big, hot, ugly coat
that I can’t take off.
Ever.
It’s all that people see (Bingham, 2007, p. 116).

Jane Arrowood named her right arm Chuck. Chuck isn’t her real arm though. She lost her real arm in a shark attack. Chuck is her prosthetic arm, and she doesn’t like Chuck very much. Chuck is itchy, makes her look like Captain Hook, and can’t help her do the things she used to love.

Before the shark attack, Jane was an artist. She was the best artist at her high school, and now, she can’t even draw a circle. She used to love to cook too, but now she can’t even take out the trash without making a huge mess. Under the circumstances, it's understandable that she might feel depressed, and sometimes she does, but most of the time she’s just angry. Angry at her brother for not going into the ocean with her. Angry at the people on the beach who just watched, and angry at the guy who videotaped it and sent that tape in to the news. She's even angry at well-meaning strangers who send letters and flowers and teddy bears.

Dear Jane:

My Uncle/Aunt/Brother-in-Law’s Friend Had Their Leg/Foot/Toe/Finger or Hand Amputated Because of Diabetes/Frostbite/Circulation Problems/War/Job Injury, But You’d Never Know It, Because They Are So Funny/Athletic/Good-Natured/Spiritual/Successful/At Ease with Themselves/Happy.

If I have to listen to one more story,
I will scream (Bingham, 2007, p. 142).

They’re just trying to help, but she doesn’t want to be inspired. She wants to know why this happened to her. Is this what her life will always be like -- searching the internet for tips on how to button her pants one-handed, having panic attacks at the thought of going out and being stared at or talked about? Will she find a way to make art again? Get dressed by herself again? What does she need to do to stop being Shark Girl and start being plain old Jane again?

Bingham, K. (2007). Shark girl. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.

Registration for Spring 2010

Today was the first day of registration for the Spring 2010 semester. I'm not sure if I just got lucky or if they've updated the registration system to handle more load, but I was able to register in no time this morning.

Next semester I will be taking:

TSL 5325 English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Instruction in the Content Areas

This course is designed to prepare non-ESOL teachers to instruct English language learners in public school content areas (i.e., science, math, social studies) and specialized areas (i.e., art, physical education). It places emphasis on language sensitive instructional planning and delivery, adaptation of instructional materials for enhanced comprehension, testing and placement of students, and cross-cultural awareness. It satisfies the teacher certification requirements for content area teachers. It is not part of the ESOL Endorsement required of primary language providers.

LIS 5512 School Collection Development and Management

The course is designed to provide an understanding of the attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to manage human resources and provide effective leadership in a school library media program. Covers collection development and management in school libraries. Required for school media certification. Recommended to take the semester before taking the State of Florida media specialist exam.

This includes my first education class. I know it will require some sort of tutoring and/or observation of an ESOL student, so we'll see how that goes.

Ethics and Booktalks

The focus in class last week in my Information Needs of Young Adults was on booktalks - how to do them and why they are important. A week from today, I should be performing my booktalk assignment. Let's hope I can pin down what book I want to booktalk and actually get it written before then :)

This week, the focus is on fantasy, and our related readng was Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I enjoyed it a lot, so it should be fun to discuss in class on Thursday.

In my Management of Info Orgs class, group work is starting to ramp up. This week we don't meet in class, but as a group we have to complete an ethics assignment. This will be a warm up to working in the same group for the rest of the semester to create a strategic plan.

Week 6 already?

Last week and this week in my Info Needs of Young Adults class we are discussing the developmental task of intimacy (friendships, romantic relationships, and sexuality). Last week we discussed the novel, Doing It by Melvin Burgess, and this week we are supposed to read a non-fiction book about sexuality/reproductive health/sexual identity geared towards young adults.

I picked up two books to choose from, Cycle Savvy: The Smart Teen's Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body by Toni Weschler and The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality by Michael J. Basso. I'll read both and see which one I like better to use for class. I got the Basso title from the recommended list our professor provided and the Weschler one because I read her adult book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, out of curiosity several years ago and learned things about menstrual cycles that I wish I had known as a teenager. I'm curious to see how her book geared towards teen girls handles that information.

This week in Management of Info Organizations, we are discussing leadership. For class tomorrow night we are supposed to select three seminal leaders in the field of library science, preferably ones related somehow to the group we are assigned to (I'm in the school media center group). We'll discuss our choices in class. I chose:

• Melvil Dewey - Dewey Decimal System, helped found American Library Association, started first library school, and more
• Mildred L. Batchelder - children's librarian, a school librarian, the first school library specialist on the staff of the ALA, first executive director for ALSC, and promoted the sharing of quality international children's literature (hence the ALA award named after her for best work translated to English)
• Frances Henne - key figure for developing standards for school libraries/school media centers, especially making sure school media specialists work with teachers to create lessons, etc.; very involved in the American Association of School Libraries
  

Students in Emotional Distress and Communication Issues

This week I have two big assignments due (three if you count another case study).

LIS 5565 - Information Needs of Young Adults:
Description of my local laws and policies that deal with how a librarian or school media specialist should deal with students in distress. This covers topics such as suspected child abuse or neglect, suspected drug abuse by a student or young patron, and suspected suicidal tendencies in a student or patron.

So far, the most challenging part of this assignment has been to a) figure out the correct APA citation format for the local statutes and b) to find anything at all that applies to a non-school librarian. I'm hoping that just means that there aren't laws in VA that apply to librarians for these cases. I ended up having to ask the FSU law library how to do the citations because my APA 6th edition guide didn't have examples that seemed to apply to what I found.

I got a large chunk of this assignment done this weekend, but I need to finish two sections and clean it up. It's due on Thursday by 7 pm.

LIS 5408 - Management of Information Organizations:
Communication Barriers Memo. A faux memo (for their eyes only) to a member of senior management within our current work organization discussing communication challenges within the organization and potential solutions. We're supposed to describe examples from our actual jobs.

Another case study. We have to do 4 out of 8 case studies in the first part of the semester. I've done two so far. I'd like to get them all out of the way as soon as possible, so I'll probably try this week's case study. This week the case study is about how to deal with a colleague who continues to take credit for work they didn't do themselves. They sure don't make these case studies easy!

I haven't started on either of these yet, but I've thought about them. I need to finish up this week's reading first. Both are due on Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Busy, busy, busy

The third week of the semester is coming to an end, and I already feel like it's been months.

Last weekend I had my first two assignments of the semester due in my Management of Information Organizations class:

1) a personal statement discussing what life events led me to the MLIS program at FSU, whether I think that information organizations should be service oriented, and whether I see change in the future for information organizations
2) the first of four case studies that I'll need to complete throughout the first half of the semester - this one was about a newly hired head of an archive/library who was charged with bringing it up-to-date, but the employees were very resistant to change and not technically savvy.

This weekend I have another case study due, this time about whether or not it would be a good idea to use a volunteer in order to preserve many rare resources at a historic state park and make them available to the public, or if a different solution would be better.

The first assignment in my other class, Information Needs of Young Adults, is due this coming Thursday. I have to interview a teenager (thanks Patrick Henry!) and then write a paper about what I learned in the interview.

I've also gotten a head start on reading some of the assigned books for that class. I have finished Doing It by Melvin Burgess (contains quite a bit of crude language and content that is likely to be shocking for many parents), The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (I found it really depressing, but hopeful at the same time), and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (the 2009 Newbery Medal winner).

I thought all three were very good in different ways.

Fall 2009 - first week of class completed

The first week of the semester is complete, and I think both classes will be good (but hard and a lot of work). I've had one professor already and really like her, and my impression of the other professor is good as well.

Tuesday was my Management of Information Organizations class and last night was my Information Needs of Young Adults class. In that class we broke into small groups to discuss what our goals for the class were as well as what our favorite book we had as a young adult and why. It was fun, and almost every person's "favorite" book was one I love too (Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, A Wrinkle in Time, etc.).

What to do in the two weeks between classes?

Since the end of the summer semester, I have tried really hard to pack in all of the house projects that were put on hold due to lack of time while taking classes.

I was able to fix my basement back up (patch holes in the drywall from the plumbing leak last year, paint, rip out the last of the old carpet, lay down new carpet tiles, put the book cases back, bring all of my books back downstairs so they weren't on the floor in my dining room anymore, and rehang the pictures). Dad helped with the drywall patching since I didn't have a piece of drywall that fit in one of the holes, and Mike helped me by ripping out the old carpet tack strips, but I did the rest by myself.

I wish I had taken before pictures, but here's what it looks like now:

The holes in the drywall were basically behind the Lois and Clark poster and in the ceiling right above there in the second picture down.

I also managed to get my closet redone. It had water damage from a roof leak and was a really inefficient use of the space. It's a small closet with a weird slope in the floor because it's right above the stairs. This time I did kind of take a before picture as well as afters.

Before:

The shelves I ripped out:



The water damage in the corner:



The weird glue that held the shelf on. I had to scrape it off and it ripped the top layer of the drywall which meant I needed to do a lot of patching:



After:



My first class of the Fall 2009 semester starts tonight at 8pm, so I finished these projects just in time!

Getting Ready for Fall 2009

Grades are in for the summer semester, and my 4.0 streak continues! Woohoo! I know that this coming semester is going to be a challenge though, so I'm not sure if that 4.0 will survive this coming semester.

I'll be taking the last of FSU's four "core" classes - LIS 5408 - Management of Information Organization:

This course is designed to develop a conceptual framework for integrating fundamental management concepts, principles, theories, and practices into an effective personal management process that relates to information organizations of the 21st century.

From what I've heard, this course is a lot of work including a huge group project.

I'll also be taking LIS 5565 - Information Needs of Young Adults:

Study of media for young adults in relation to their characteristics, needs, interests and abilities. Evaluation and use of printed and audiovisual materials.

I'm really excited about this class! If it's anything like my Information Needs of Children class, there will be lots of great books to read and projects that are interesting. I just ordered the books for this class, and we'll be readings some books that I've been meaning to read for awhile; I guess now I have a good excuse to finally read them!

My textbooks are ordered, and I'm ready for the semester to start. I just wish that the break between semesters was a week or two longer to give me a little bit more relaxation before getting back to the hard (but interesting) school work I know will be coming this semester.

Summer semester - over at last!

Although supposedly the summer semester is only 1 week shorter in terms of classes and 2 weeks shorter if you count fall and spring's exam week, this summer semester has seemed so long.

I just turned in my final paper and attended my last class session of the summer tonight. Now I guess it's just waiting for grades.

I have two weeks off until the fall semester starts, and then I'll be back in class! Two weeks doesn't seem long enough to recover from these two summer classes. They were a TON of work, especially near the end. I had at least one project or paper due every week for the last month in addition to the normal weekly readings and discussion board posts.

The summer's almost over!

Last weekend I turned in my first big paper in my Information Organization class, so I was thinking we the summer semester must be half over. I looked at the calendar for the rest of the semester and realized it's almost over! Including this week, there are only four more weeks left!

For some reason, this summer semester has just flown by much faster than any other semester so far. It's been busy, but not too busy, and I've had a lot of homework, but not too much homework. The two classes I'm taking work really well together, I think, and that may have helped some.

All that's left now is one more big paper in Information Organization, and a final paper in References Services about my experience answering questions for the IPL (which thankfully, I answered all three questions I needed to early on before the homework level really picked up in both classes and the competition to claim questions picked up as well). Obviously there's also the usual weekly readings and discussion board posts, but those aren't too bad.

Excellent Professor

This weekend my first big paper in my Information Organization class is due. I have roughly 3/4, maybe a little more, of the first draft completed, and already I've e-mailed chunks of what I have so far to the professor for comment, and he's responded with good feedback. (Fortunately none of it has said, "This is no good, please start over," because I would cry; the paper is already 24 pages without counting the references at the end. I can't imagine having to completely start over on it.)

He is willing to read as many drafts as we send him, complete or partial, and send back comments within 24 hours. How nice is that? It's been really nice to know, before getting a grade, whether I'm on the right track, if there are areas that I should expand on, or if I left something important out altogether. And because he only accepts drafts up to 3 days before the due date, it's a good motivator to not wait until the last minute to get at least the first draft done.

I have never had a professor make this kind of generous offer before; it has got to be extremely time consuming to read through the drafts and offer constructive comments on them. I wonder how many students take him up on his offer?

Resource Guide

The most recent school project I've been working on is a resource guide, or pathfinder, for my reference services class. The requirements are that it be either a MS Word document or a web page, is for a specific audience, and includes 10-12 web reputable web resources on the topic of the resource guide. We were given the option to also include some print resources if they seemed appropriate to our topic, but the total number of resources could not be more than 15.

I decided to make a resource guide on vegetarianism for teenagers, and to make use of the XHTML and CSS I learned two semesters ago to make it as a web page.

My Teen Guide to Vegetarianism

It looks kind of cheesy, but if I keep working on it, I'll keep finding things to change and never turn it in.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I finally got to the top of the waiting list at the library for Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games. I can see why the wait was so long! It was a really exciting read. Generally not the type of book I go for, I wanted to see why it is so popular. Here's the book blurb:

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

And here's a book trailer I found for it (I don't know why, but I really get a kick out of book trailers):



The frustrating thing is that the ending is obviously leading up to more, and now I have to wait until the fall when the next book, Catching Fire, comes out.

Wikipedia - Good? Bad?

This week in my reference services class, the discussion board topic is Wikipedia. Do we like it? Do we use it? Would we recommend it to patrons?

We also read this article from The New Yorker as a starting point for the discussion.

I had no idea that people felt so strongly about it one way the other, but it's turning out to be a very interesting discussion. Some people are very strongly against its use as anyone can write or modify an article making it hard to trust any information 100%, but the fact that anyone can contribute is also what makes it so vast and powerful as well.

I feel that, as with any information resource, each article should be evaluated on its own merits, and one should never use a Wikipedia article as a source for an academic paper, but it's a great starting point in research - it can give a decent overview and point someone in the direction of other, more verifiable sources. I love Wikipedia, and use it all the time.

"The Amaranth Enchantment" by Julie Berry and "The Perilous Gard" by Elizabeth Marie Pope

I recently finished reading both The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry and The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope.

I enjoyed both of them well enough, The Perilous Gard a bit more than The Amaranth Enchantment.

The Perilous Gard was a Newbery Honor book in 1975. Set right before Elizabeth I became queen, the main character, Kate Sutton, was one of Princess Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting until her younger sister sends an ill-advised letter to Queen Mary complaining of their living conditions. Kate gets blamed for the letter and is banished Elvenwood Hall, a castle also known as the Perilous Gard. All is not quite right at Elvenwood Hall and Kate takes it upon herself to solve the mystery of Sir Geoffrey Heron's missing daughter and what exactly his brother's involvement in that disappearance was. Kate determines that it was the fairy folk under the hill that stole her in order to pay the teind. Sir Geoffrey's brother, Christopher, who feels responsible for the little girl's disappearance offers himself up in exchange for the return of his niece. Unfortunately Kate witnesses the exchange and is sent underground as well. Many allusions to the balled of Tam Lin are throughout the story.

My only problem with the book is that, to me, it felt a little bit too modern. Maybe I was influenced by the hideous cover on the paperback copy I borrowed from the library.

The Amaranth Enchantment is kind of a Cinderella story. There's a prince, going to a ball in disguise, and a once rich girl who is forced into the life of a servant by her evil stepmother aunt.
Lucinda Chapdelaine must get back the gem that was stolen from her and then sold to the prince. It was cute enough, but nothing spectacular.

Who knew something like this existed?

I'm sure librarians knew, but I didn't! One website that both of my classes this summer have talked about is WorldCat.org. It's a basically a library catalog that lets you search for books/DVDs/CDs/articles, and it will tell you what libraries *all over the world* have that item.

For instance, I searched for the book The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon, and it has listings in Australia, Singapore, Netherlands, UK, but the very first listing is one of my local library systems. The closest libraries are listed first and on to the farthest away ones. You can enter your own location to measure this, but it somehow already has one as default - not sure if it's based on IP address or what. How cool though?

The Internet Public Library

In my reference services class, one of our big projects is to answer real questions that get submitted to the Internet Public Library's Ask an IPL Librarian service. Over the course of the semester, we have to answer three real questions from people and then write a paper about the experience.

Over the weekend I completed the pre-quiz, got my login information, and completed my practice question which I submitted for evaluation. Today I got cleared to start answering real questions. It should be interesting to see what kind of questions get asked.

PS. There's also a section specifically for kids to send questions in to Ask an IPL Librarian.

Thoughts a week into the summer session

LIS 5603 - there is a lot to keep track of for this class:
1) The Course Topics area of the Blackboard site lists the readings for each week as well as any pre-recorded lectures that need to be listened to, and if there are any assignments due that week. Each week has at least some readings (combination of text book and other articles) *and* one or more pre-recorded lectures to listen to on top of the actual regular class lecture/in-class activities
2) The Course Library includes a folder that has additional readings that the in-class lectures are based on
3) The Discussion Board postings can only be made M-F and have to be 300-400 words and must cite outside readings. Excluding weekends seems strange as I would think people have the most time to work on school work on the weekends.

LIS 5703 - This class seems easier to keep track of so far:
1) Readings - not too many and only listed in the Calendar portion of the Blackboard site - one place to look
2) Exercise/Discussion Board postings - Instructions in the Assignments area of the Blackboard site and the actual Discussion Board in the Discussion Board areas - only need short posts a few times during the course of each week. This seems to facilitate better actual "discussion" than requiring word counts and outside citations.

"Tender Morsels" by Margo Lanagan

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

I wanted to read it because a) it's based on the fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red and b) it is one of the 2009 Printz Honor books (the Printz award is for excellence in young adult literature).

After reading it, I'm not sure what to think about it. This book is certain to cause upset for some people. There is incest, rape, and forced abortions all before you are even 100 pages into the book. I think a lot of people who pick this book up will never get past that part.

Liga's mother died when she was very young, so she lives alone with her father. He sexually abuses her, impregnates her three times in total, and goes to a local witch to get herbs and teas to terminate the pregnancies - all the while, Liga does not really understand what is going on with her. The first time, she did not know she was pregnant. The second time, she did not know she was pregnant until she lost the baby and it actually looked like a baby. The third time she was pregnant, she figured out that she was before her father did, so she pretended to have her period for several months before her father figured it out. He never makes it back to their cabin after another trip to visit the witch - his head is bashed in by a horse on his way home.

The truly uncomfortable part of the book is not over yet though. Liga lives alone and gives birth to Branza (the Snow White character), and is so happy and amazed that she could be blessed with such a lovely, good, sweet little baby even if she was created in such a horrible way. Some town boys see her with the baby and make assumptions about what kind of girl she must be to have a baby and no husband. They take turns sexually assaulting her, and it's almost too much for her to handle. She tries to kill her baby afterwards and plans on killing herself as well.

She is saved by what she calls a "moon baby," a baby made of light who gives her two gems, a red one and a white one, and tells her to plant them near her house and then go to sleep. When she wakes up, everything is the same, but it's not. It's how she would imagine a perfect world. It's safe for her and her child, no one speaks of her father. The boys who raped her do not exist. Everyone is nice and helpful. Nine months later, she gives birth to a second girl; this one has a fiery temper and she names her Urrda (the Rose Red character). Liga raises her two beautiful girls in this perfectly safe, perfectly kind world.

Everything is wonderful until a greedy dwarf finds a way in to Liga's heaven world, and then a succession of Bears make their way in as well.

This is the story of Liga as she learns to heal from her past. It's the story of Branza and Urrda as they grow up and eventually learn to cope with the harshness and realities of the real world they truly belong to.

It's definitely a powerful and well-written book, but I can't say that I enjoyed it.

"Silver Phoenix" By Cindy Pon

Earlier this week I finished reading Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon.

The book trailer for it is really cool, so I'm going to attempt to embed it from YouTube here:




It's a young adult fantasy set in a fictional world based on ancient China, and the trailer really gives the gist of it better than I can. I think fans of Tamora Pierce will enjoy this because of the strong female protagonist. There's a little bit of romance, although it's not the focus, and the ending is left very open-ended in that respect, so those who like their books to have a happily ever after romantic ending may be disappointed.

LIS 5703 - Information Organization

Last night I had the first meeting of my second class of the summer term. This course will be conducted completely through Blackboard text chat and discussion boards. I'm not really a fan of classes by text chat, but despite the fact that the syllabus says this course will be "very hard" and "time consuming," I do think it sounds pretty interesting so far.

According to FSU College of Information course description website, the course description is:

Establishes the conceptual and theoretical framework for organizing and retrieving information, including the study of systems, their objectives and structure, formats. standards, and vocabularies; and the information object and its relationship to organizing systems and to other information objects.

We'll see how it goes as the summer progresses

LIS 5603 - Introduction to Information Services

Tonight was my first class of the summer session. The description on FSU's course description site is:

Introduction to reference work using both print and online sources; relationship of reference work to other information services in libraries and other information-providing agencies.

The class's Blackboard website is a little convoluted, but I think this will be a really useful class. We get to do a practice reference interview on someone we know, answer real reference questions submitted to the Internet Public Library, and assorted other reference work-related assignments.

"Princess of the Midnight Ball" by Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

This is a young adult retelling of the fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," and it's the first novel-length version of this story that I have really enjoyed reading. I love the Faerie Tale Theatre version of the story, so I'm always excited to see books based on it; so far though, they have all disappointed me.

This version focuses on the soldier, Galen, and the eldest princess, Rose. The war is over and Galen has nowhere to call home, so he heads to Bruch, where his only living relatives live, an aunt and uncle on his mother's side. On the way, he encounters an old woman and shares what little food he has with her. In return, she gives him a ball of white wool, a ball of black wool, and a cloak that renders its wearer invisible.

His uncle is the head gardener for the king, and Galen begins working with him on the king's gardens. While working on the gardens, he happens across Princess Rose. While working at the castle, Galen hears the gossip about the princesses; they are wearing out their dancing slippers every night even though they never leave their rooms.

The princesses are cursed by a pact their mother made with the King Under Stone. He forces them to dance for him every night with his twelve sons. In the end, he intends for the princesses to marry each of his sons, and none of them want this. Though many princes try and fail to discover the secret, Galen is determined to help Rose and her sisters.

The story doesn't stray too far from the original story and yet enough is changed and enough details are filled in to make it seem interesting and new. Galen, a soldier for most of his life, loves to knit in his spare time. Rose is very likable as well, and watching the relationship between her and Galen is very sweet.

For those interested in knitting, the book includes two knitting patterns in the back that tie into the story. The author also posted several more knitting patterns related to the book.

"Goose Chase" by Patricia Kindl

Now that the semester is over, I finally have time for some free reading again! I have a stack of books (some leftover from my bibliography project that I didn't get to because of their likely "young adult" classification).

Goose Chase by Patricia Kindl

I loved this book. It was charming and funny. Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, or Goose Girl as she is referred to for the bulk of the book, was given several annoying fairy gifts. She is more lovely than the dawn, when she brushes her hair she sprinkles gold dust everywhere, and her tears turn into diamonds. These gifts bring her to the attention of the cruel King of Gilboa and the somewhat dim Prince of Dorloo. Both men want to marry her, and they lock her in a tower until she picks one of them. Completely uninterested in either man, Alexandria stalls until she can figure out a way to escape the tower. Aided by her 12 geese, she makes her escape only to fall into the hands of three bloodthirsty, but not too smart, ogresses.

There's a failed rescue attempt by Prince Edmund of Dorloo, magical growing hair, more help from the geese, and evil plots by the King of Gilboa. Fast-paced and very fun.

Information Needs of Children - final project

My final project in my Info. Needs of Children class was a selective, annotated bibliography - modern folktales and fairy tales for children aged 9-12. It contains two lists: a core list of the ten best books that fit my topic - classics and so on - and a recent list of books that are no more than 10 years old (at least the recommended editions are no more than 10 years old), but are also really excellent books. I left out the annotations and introduction here on the blog just for the sake of space.

Core List

Short Story Collections

1. Anderson, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson. Translated by Neil Philip. Illustrated by Isabelle Brent. New York: Readers Digest Association, 2004. ISBN 978-0276428302. 351p.

2. Harris, Christie. Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses. Illustrated by Douglas Tait. Vancouver: Rain Coast Books, 2005. ISBN 1-55192-811-6. 187p.

3. Yolen, Jane. The Girl Who Cried Flowers and Other Tales. Illustrated by David Palladini. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1974. ISBN 0-690-00216-5. 58p.

Graphic Novels

4. Russell, P. Craig. Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: Volume 1. Illustrated by P. Craig Russell. New York: NBM Publishing, Inc., 1992. ISBN 1-56163-056-X. unpaged.

Novels

5. Kaye, M. M. The Ordinary Princess. Illustrated by M. M. Kaye. New York: Penguin Group, 2002. ISBN 0-14-230085-3. 112p.

6. Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997. ISBN: 0-06-027510-3. 232p.

7. MacDonald, George. The Princess and the Goblin. Illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith. New York: Books of Wonder, 1986. ISBN 0-688-06604-6. 208p.

8. McKinley, Robin. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. ISBN 0-06-440477-3. 247p.

9. Napoli, Donna Jo. The Prince of the Pond: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin. Illustrated by Judy Schachner. New York: Puffin Books, 1994. ISBN 0-14-037151-6. 151p.

10. Yep, Laurence. Dragon of the Lost Sea. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. ISBN 978-0064402279. 224 p.

Recent List

Short Story Collections

1. Marcantonio, Patricia Santos. Red Ridin’ in the Hood. Illustrated by Renato Alarcão. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2005. ISBN 978-0-374-36241-6. 186p.

2. Velde, Vivian Vande. Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird. Illustrated by Brad Weinman. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2005. ISBN 978-0-15-205572-1. 144p.

Graphic Novels

3. Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Illustrated by Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008. ISBN 978-1-59990-070-4. 144p.

Novels

4. Coombs, Kate. The Runaway Princess. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006. ISBN 978-0-374-35546-3. 288p.

5. Ferris, Jean. Once Upon a Marigold. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2004. ISBN 978-0-152-05084-9. 277p.

6. Fletcher, Susan. Shadow Spinner. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. ISBN 978-0-689-83051-8. 219p.

7. Gardner, Lyn. Into the Woods. Illustrated by Mini Grey. New York: Random House, 2007. ISBN 978-0385-75115-5. 438p.

8. Nyoka, Gail. Mella and the N’anga: An African Tale. Ontario: Sumach Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-894549-49-3. 159p.

9. Paterson, Katherine. The King’s Equal. Illustrated by Curtis Woodbridge. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. ISBN 978-0-06-442090-7. 57p.

10. Pullman, Philip. I Was a Rat! Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. New York: Random House, Inc., 1999. ISBN 978-0440416616. 165p.

The last assignment is turned in.

As far as work that I need to do, this semester is done. I turned in the wrong version of one of my final assignments, but I emailed the right one to the professor, so hopefully that doesn't cause too many problems.

In the home stretch

Next week is the last week of classes and the rest of my assignments are due by midnight that Friday. I can't believe my second semester is almost done!

All I have left to work on at this point is my final bibliography project for my Information Needs of Children class and my final paper for my Assessing Information Needs class. Only two more assignments, but they are both pretty big.

I'm still trying to finish reading the rest of the books on my list for the bibliography project. I wish I had started this project earlier in the semester so that I could be more leisurely in my reading. I've read some really neat books, but I'm rushing through them so fast, it's not as fun as it could be. I'll probably post at least the list of books here once I'm done.

I hope to get at least half of my Assessing Information Needs paper written before this weekend, at least in draft form, but I'm not sure if I can concentrate enough to do it.

In other news, Flush: The Scoop on Poop and What You Never Knew About Tubs, Toilets, and Showers were a big hit. Isaac should be set for reading materials for at least the next few months.

Children's Non-Fiction - Sex Education book

The week after next, we will be reading and discussing assorted types of children's non-fiction books in my Info. Needs of Children class. I wanted to get a jump-start on my reading notes, so I borrowed the book It's So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families by Robie Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley to read as my "sex education" children's book.

I thought it was really well done - informative, but on a level that isn't too much for children. Many people disagree and feel this book is not appropriate for children under 13 because of the following reasons:

1) It has illustrations that show the difference between boys and girls with labels for all their parts, both inside and outside.

2) It explains what "sex" is - that in can mean both gender and sexual intercourse and the very basics of what that is.

3) It briefly mentions birth control, IUI, IVF, and abortion

4) It mentions homosexuality and talks about different kinds of families (mom and dad, two moms, two dads, divorce, blended families, adoption) and how these are all perfectly fine and normal

5) It actually shows a mother breastfeeding her baby.

6) It discusses puberty in terms of the changes that happen for both boys and girls, and this includes periods, erections and wet dreams.

7) It touches on HIV and AIDS

There are probably more reasons people get upset about this book.

I liked how it really did try to be comprehensive and informative and make sure children know that whether they are a boy or a girl, adopted or not, from a non-traditional family or not - even whether they are curious about puberty, sex, babies, birth, etc or not - it's all normal and OK.

There's even a chapter that touches on good touching versus bad touching and what to do if it happens to you (tell a trusted grownup). Apparently this book has actually been used by children to help them tell a trusted grownup that it *was* happening to them.

There are really neat illustrations that show a developing fetus at different stages - some of the illustrations shown at actual size, so a child can get a good understanding of how small a baby starts out and how they develop. Questions that kids really ask are asked by the narrators, the Bird and the Bee. Does a baby poop inside the mom? That sort of thing. It shows a simple diagram of a pregnant woman and where her uterus and baby are as opposed to her stomach (with pizza in it!) and digestion tract so they can see the difference between the stomach and uterus.

Progress

I have slowly been making progress towards finishing all my school work for this semester. There are only 3 more weeks of classes after this week!

Information Needs of Children:

Big Stuff
Revise fiction book review and submit

Multicultural Paper - In progress. I've selected the book I'm going to evaluate and started research

Final Bibliography project - In progress. I've read (and rejected) several books already and taken notes on the ones that are possibilities. Still have a TON to read though.

Normal Stuff
Realistic fiction reading notes - read and write reading notes on 4 realistic fiction children's books, two of which must be "sensitive topic"

Historical fiction reading notes - read The Birchbark House and write reading notes

Multicultural reading notes - started reading Becoming Naomi Leon

Non-fiction reading notes - read 1 biography, 1 sex education book, 1 science book and 1 art or music book and write reading notes

Textbook and other readings - In progress as always

Assessing Information Needs:

Big Stuff
Finish my personal information behavior paper (which is barely started) - compare and contrast my personal information behavior using two different models, theories or paradigms.

Discussion Leading Presentation - create PowerPoint presentation for my turn at discussion leading and then actually present it

Literature Review about the information behavior of a population of my choice - I've started reading and taking notes on articles, but so far haven't read any that I think I can actually use.

Normal Stuff
Weekly text book readings - In progress as usual

Weekly article readings - In progress as usual

Weekly discussion board posts - In progress as usual

Intro. to Information Policy (that I took last semester):

I'm just going to wait to do this until after the semester is over - fit it in before the summer semester starts up.

Book Reviews

One of the skills we are learning this semester in my Information Needs of Children class is how to write book reviews of the sort that appear in professional review media (such as School Library Journal or Booklist). They are very short (we are being held to 300 words - no more and hopefully not too much less either). This makes it a challenge because you need to convey as much information about the book as you can in those 300 words; a librarian can only personally read so many books, so a lot of decisions about whether to purchase a book or not are based on these type of reviews.

As I said, it's really hard to write one that is only 300 words and contains all the necessary information, but it is also kind of fun. Below are the two I wrote for class.

Yolen, Jane. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? Illus. by Mark Teague. New York. Scholastic, Inc. 2000. unpaged. $16.99. PreS-Gr 3. ISBN 978-0-590-31681-1.

This bed time story will make adults and children roar with laughter as it speculates on the nature of dinosaur bed time rituals. Every two-page spread creates a scene that represents one possible way a dinosaur might say good night. "Does he mope, does he moan, does he sulk, does he sigh?" The questions in the text encourage children to participate by guessing what comes next. The illustrations for each scene depict a normal human parent attempting to get his or her dinosaur child into bed. The rhyming text about dinosaur bed time tantrums works well with the unexpected visuals of large dinosaurs in human children's bedrooms to create an overall humorous effect. In one scene, a giant trachodon stomps his feet on his bedroom floor as his father looks on. "Does a dinosaur stomp his feet on the floor / and shout: 'I want to hear one book more!'?" As he stomps his feet, books fly through the air, and his bed is partially lifted off the floor leaving his little dog clinging to the bed post. The bright, expressive, cartoon-like paintings echo the whimsy in the text, and the little details in the illustrations, such as the paintings on the walls and the toys on the floor, really bring the story to life. The illustrations are even a little bit educational; the dinosaur species name can be found in each scene. The text flows easily when spoken aloud and the illustrations are large enough to be seen from a distance making for good story time or one-on-one reading. In the end, the truth about how dinosaurs say good night is revealed, and it just might help get a reluctant child to go to bed without making a fuss (or they might demand you read it again).

Pullman, Philip. I Was a Rat! Illus. by Kevin Hawkes. New York. Random House, Inc. 1999. 165p. $5.99. Gr 4-6. ISBN 0-440-41661-2.

Bob doesn't know what to think when a little boy in a tattered page's uniform appears on his doorstep one night. When Bob asks the boy his name, all he can say is, "I lost it. I forgot it. I was a rat." This is the story of the scruffy page boy, named Roger by Bob's wife, Joan. Roger is unsure of how to live as a boy (and is quite fond of nibbling pencils). The question is: was Roger really a rat? Roger's adventures take him to the palace for study by the Philosopher Royal; to a carnival where he lives briefly as Professor Tapscrew's Rat-Boy, "the Wonder of the Age;" to the sewers and eventually the dungeon as the "Monster of the Sewers." ("It looks uncannily like a small boy." "Appearances are deceptive!") Sensational newspaper covers from The Daily Scourge, a tabloid newspaper, appear occasionally between chapters; the editor "encouraged his reporters to listen up for every kind of weird or sentimental or horrible or sensational story they could find." The articles appear unrelated at first, but they provide clues about the story's origin and enhance the fun of puzzling out the truth of Roger's past. Everything from psychology to the press to society's obsession with the sensational are made fun of. Satire, adventure, a little mystery, and a likeable protagonist are skillfully combined in this funny, fairy tale adventure that will appeal to both boys and girls. The dialogue and colorful characters like the Philosopher Royal and Oliver Tapscrew make this work well as a classroom read aloud. Its fairy tale roots also make it an appropriate example of fairy tale retellings. Roger's story is based on a fairy tale, but does he get a fairy tale ending? Well, he does get toasted cheese.

You can't bring a balloon....

When we were "reading" wordless books in my Info. Needs of Children class, I put a whole bunch on hold at the library. I used the first one that came in for my class assignment, but as other's came in, I "read" them as well.

The last one to come in, weeks after the assignment on wordless books, was You Can't Take a Balloon into the National Gallery by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman (Author) and Robin Glasser (Illustrator). For those local to D.C., it's a *great* book! The story follows a little girl with a red balloon as she goes to the National Gallery of Art with her grandmother. She can't take the balloon inside though, so she ties it up outside. The balloon of course, floats away so the person she left guarding it chases it all through D.C. - up the Washington Monument, through the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Marine Corps Marathon, even through a session of Congress. The illustrations are filled with real people - presidents, supreme court justices, assorted historical figures - there's a guide at the back listing who everyone is on each page. It's almost like a Where's Waldo except for real people. The pages alternate between following the balloon and following the little girl and her grandmother through the museum where they look at real works of art that are actually in the National Gallery.

Unfortunately, it's out-of-print. There are two more in the series though, and both of them are still in-print: You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum and You Can't Take a Balloon into the Museum of Fine Arts. I haven't read either of them, but I imagine they are along the same lines except in New York and Boston instead.

More registration frustrations

This morning registration for both the summer and fall semesters opened up at 8 am. Despite trying to get in continuously since 8 am, I was not able to access registration until almost 10 am. This is not acceptable. Especially since that meant my absolute top choice class was full by that point. It's a fall class, so I will just keep my fingers crossed that more spots open up in it before the semester starts. At the moment though, I'm really annoyed. I have been wanting to take this particular class since before I started school at all last fall.

Edited:

Well, I e-mailed the graduate coordinator earlier today to see if any more seats would open up for the class I wanted, and she was able to register me for it!

Spring Break

This week was spring break, and yet it was not relaxing at all. The work I have left for the rest of the semester is a little bit overwhelming at the moment. I intended to get a lot more done this week (like my book review and at least a first draft of my personal information behavior paper as they are due next week). At least I did get a draft done of my book review and my poetry reading notes done, plus the readings for my info. needs class.

Information Needs of Children:

Big Stuff
Revise fiction book review and submit

Multicultural Paper

Final Bibliography project - annotated bibliography with 5-page introduction discussing purpose, audience, resources used and selection criteria. The bibliography will include a list of 10 "best" books in my category and 10 "next best" or really, really good more recent books in my category. I am doing modern folktales (novel, graphic novel and short story collections) for upper elementary (grades 4-6). This means I need to read (or re-read) more than 20 books to make my selection from.

Normal Stuff
Realistic fiction reading notes - read and write reading notes on 4 realistic fiction children's books, two of which must be "sensitive topic"

Historical fiction reading notes - read The Birchbark House and write reading notes

Multicultural reading notes - read Becoming Naomi Leon and write reading notes

Non-fiction reading notes - read 1 biography, 1 sex education book, 1 science book and 1 art or music book and write reading notes

Textbook and other readings

Assessing Information Needs:

Big Stuff
Finish my personal information behavior paper (which is barely started) - compare and contrast my personal information behavior using two different models, theories or paradigms.

Discussion Leading Presentation - create PowerPoint presentation for my turn at discussion leading and then actually present it

Literature Review about the information behavior of a population of my choice - must be a review of at least 20 different sources. I'm hoping to do this on teenagers, but I have not yet found 20 different articles yet.

Normal Stuff
Weekly text book readings

Weekly article readings

Weekly discussion board posts

Intro. to Information Policy (that I took last semester):

Write an essay about libraries and information policy just to upload to my school media specialist e-portfolio for evaluation because when I took the class, the professor didn't mention anything about school media specialists having to do a specific assignment or about uploading to this e-portfolio thing. This has to be done some time before the end of the semester.

Work-School balance

This semester has been very difficult. Not the classes or the work, just finding time. Work has been very hectic since the beginning of the year and will continue to be crazy for several more weeks at least. Long hours, weekends and holidays. I decided not to go in to work today so that I can work on the homework that has been piling up. I just finished reading five beginning reader books and one very strange transitional reader book that was originally written in German. I need to run to the library shortly and pick up one more beginning reader, then write up reading notes on all the books.

After that, I have three scholarly articles about "information seeking" to read and digest for my other class.

I should probably also get started on my writing assignment for my info. needs of children class that is due next week as I don't know when I'll get a chance to work on it this week once work starts up again.

Sometimes I wish I could just not work anymore and concentrate completely on school, but that won't happen. I need to be able to pay for school. And the mortgage, and utilities and food, etc.

Assessing Information Needs

I didn't have any classes this past week due to MLK day plus all of my professors being in Denver for a conference. This worked out well as I had to work late every day this week. Unfortunately, I didn't get nearly as much homework done as I would have liked, so I need to write my first paper of the semester this weekend for my Info. Needs of Children class. I really love the class, but I really do not love writing papers. That's the one thing I did not miss when I was not in school. I missed the learning and the classes and the discussions. Did not miss writing papers even one little bit.

The week before last, I attended the first meeting of my Assessing Information Needs class. It is going to be a very interesting course, and I've already learned a lot. Like I have never really had to write a *research* paper. Not a real one anyway. I guess at Hood, at least in the courses I took, they cared more about what we thought than if we could find out what other people thought. At most I would have to consult a couple of books, but I don't think I ever had to seek out journal articles or any other kind of source than books.

In my Information Needs of Children class, so far I have learned that I have awesome taste in children's books. Unfortunately for me. The lists and professional resources we are required to use to make our selections from are filled with books that I've already read, and therefore I'm not allowed to use them. Not that the professor would know, but the point of this class is to expand our knowledge and familiarity with children's books, so it's kind of cheating if I don't read books I've never read before. And it's not that I object to reading new books, it's just making it more of a pain to find ones to read.

School Media Specialist Time!

I have officially signed up for the School Media certification at school. Now I just need to purchase a subscription to the e-portfolio software they use to keep track of/evaluate our work for it. And figure out how/where to get fingerprinting and background check (plus the proof of these things) for my application to the graduate teacher education program. I've got time - those things aren't absolutely necessary until before my last semester's internship, but still. I don't know how long it takes to do these things.

The start of my second semester!

I had my first class of the semester last night, and I think it's going to be a great class. It was Information Needs of Children, and we basically went over how the class is going to be run, the types of assignments we'll be responsible for, expectations, and then we had a half hour of small group discussions during which we discussed what a child is, what it's like to be a child and what is children's literature.

There is going to be a TON of reading in this class, but the bulk of that reading will be kids books, and I think that will be fun. There are a handful of books we'll read together as a class, but the rest of the books we'll get to pick ourselves based on certain criteria (we have to learn about it using "professional resources," certain weeks are certain genres, etc.).

I'm even kind of excited about some of the papers we're going to have to write. And our big project is an annotated bibliography on a topic of our choice, so I can make a bibliography on kids books about fairy tales or dragons or anything else I want!

The professor seems very organized, and very excited about the subject matter. I can't wait to see how this class turns out.