Lost and Found

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In this episode, Hauser, Mauser, and McElroy discuss the book Lost & Found, by Shaun Tan.  A compilation of 3 different stories, one of which won an Academy Award for best animated short film in 2011, this book has fascinating art and heartfelt stories.  Part picture book, part art, part fiction, this book is flexible enough to fit into a library for any age and interest level. We discuss several issues with the book including the artwork, why we acquired it, and how to promote books like this one and others.

In the tech segment we discuss safeshare.tv, which enables users to create playlists and safelinks, for displaying youtube videos without ads and similar videos listed in the background. 

Books and Techie Goodness

This episode was recorded at Opal Divine's Marina in North Austin.
McElroy begins reviews with a great book series to encourage boys to read.  Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon, is a funny fiction series that incorporates nonfiction subjects with a nice balance of text and pictures.  In the books, Danny and Wendell have adventures, sometimes get into trouble, and learn new things. 
Hauser shares the book, Ten Things We Did (and probably shouldn't have).  When April's father and stepmother decide to move to another state, she and her friend Vi make arrangements to live together, without telling their parents.  With total freedom and a lack of parental oversight, things quickly spin out of control.  April learns that a lack of responsibility leads to severe consequences.  This book is highly recommended for a high school collection.
Mauser finishes reviews with the first in a series, Blackbringer.  Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is from Dreamdark and not your usual fairy. She travels with a murder of crows and tracks down evils who have escaped their bottles, to recapture them.  This book is recommended for upper elementary through middle school.  
In the tech segment, Mauser introduces Evernote, a tool for saving notes, pictures, and things you find on the web, in one place accessible from the web or through and app.

All Books

Recorded at Opa! in South Austin, McElroy begins reviews with the book, The Cat's Pajamas. With the new STAAR test, it is essential that students study poetry, and also understand idioms. This is a beautifully illustrated picture book of idioms (with a bonus cat hidden in each illustration). The Cat's Pajamas is great for teaching inference and idioms.

Hauser continues reviews with Witches of East End. Upon reading she realized it was not appropriate for her collection, which then begs the question, "What do you do with a book that is not right for your collection." The book, De La Cruz's first for adults, centers around the Beauchamp women in the mythical town of North Hampton. The women are witches who have been stripped of their powers but have begun using magic again. Each has her own specialty in magic (potions, reanimation, etc.) and each has her own inner conflict. Part mystery, part romance, this adult fantasy is a fun read.

Mauser finishes reviews with another Tayshas book, Pink, a new LGBTQ title. The story centers around, Ava, the daughter of liberal parents who has recently come out to them as a lesbian. She has a girlfriend, Chloe, who is the epitome of the "cool lesbian." But Ava has a secret--she loves pink and she's not sure she's gay at all. Because of this inner conflict, she decides to go to another school to start over, but finds she still isn't living the life she wants, she is still trying to please others.

In the second segment we discuss collection development and meeting the needs of our users. Mauser discusses the large proportion of her collection that is dedicated to women's studies and fiction with strong female characters. In responding to a listener's comment, we discuss the tendency by adults to dismiss some YA series fiction and the need to not pass that on to students.

Resolutions, Romance, and Peculiar Children

Hauser begins reviews with Shot Through the Heart, a romantic comedy centered around friendships, new relationships, traditions, and an enormous water fight. A great light hearted read, Shot Through the Heart is recommended for middle school and high school libraries.
McElroy reviews the picture book, Squirrel's New Year's Resolution. This charming book, requested by a teacher at McElroy's school, was written by fellow librarian, Pat Miller. Through Squirrel's efforts to find a resolution, she discovers she doesn't need to create a new resolution, she can continue with something she already does well.
Mauser shares Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Written as a retelling of a family story, this book examines the strange happenings on an island once used as a home for "peculiar children." Filled with intriguing black and white photographs, this tale offers fun for those who like things that are a bit odd and creepy.

In the second segment we discuss New Year's Resolutions both personally and professionally and encourage readers to share their resolutions with us. Please leave your ideas in the comments!

Meanwhile, Gifts, and Mysteries

The weather has finally cooperated and we were able to record outdoors at Spiderhouse.  McElroy began the book reviews with Rabbit's Gift, a beautiful picture book about the riches of sharing.  Rabbit finds two turnips and decides to share with Donkey, who in turn shares with goat, and so on.  By the end, all the animals come together to share a feast.  Mauser continues with The Chronicles of Harris Burdick.  We all loved the original Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and as Mauser points out, one of the wonderful things about that book is that it leaves the stories up to the reader's imagination.  The new book seems to take the magic from the original book which sparked conversation about the possibilities of the stories.  Hauser reviews the comic, Meanwhile, which allows readers to choose a storyline.  In Meanwhile, the panels are connected by tubes which travel in various directions and back and forth across different pages. 
The second segment involves a discussion of what 21st century libraries means.  There are many resources online for librarians to refer to parents and administrators on the AASL website.

Medicine, History, and Magic

Mauser reviews The Poisoner's Handbook, which chronicles the beginnings of forensic medicine and a history of poisons. Hauser shares The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and the wealth of discussion topics that arise from reading it. McElroy reviews Waiting for the Magic, the story of a suddenly single mom, her children, and the animals they adopt, and the communication between the animals and children.
The technology segment looks at the ipad app, Flipboard, as a great aggregator for things of interest.

Toys, Elements, and Certification

McElroy leads off the book reviews segment with the book,  Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic.  This book is not only a great read aloud, but is also a wonderful story of toys and the lives they lead while we're not watching.
Mauser reviews The Disappearing Spoon, which gives the reader a history of the world through various elements from the periodic table.  
Hauser reviews National Board Certification in Library Media: A Candidate's Journal.  This book gives advice for candidates and tips for successful completion of National Board Certification.  This review leads to the discussion of National Board Certification for Librarians, including the four portfolio entries, and the emphasis on reflective practice. 

Literacy, History, and the World

In this episode we finally had a break in the heat enabling an outdoor recording. Mauser begins the book reviews by sharing a professional book, Literature and the Web: Reading and Responding with New Technologies, which is an easy to use handbook for using online resources in responding to literature.
Hauser shares a YA nonfiction book, Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, which examines the role of sugar in changing the course of world history.  
McElroy, finishes the book segment with a review of Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare as a set up for a future review.  This biography, is an approachable read that shows Shakespeare as a real person and the circumstances that enabled him to write as he did.

In the technology segment we review the site http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/.  This site provides quick and easy country comparisons.  The default is to compare the US to other countries, but can also compare any two countries.  It focuses on demographic information drawn from the CIA world factbook.