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Starting in 1998, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), started Teen Read Week to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.  It is one of those weeks that I have mixed feelings about.  Just like its great to have Women’s History Month, a week dedicated to encouraging teens to be regular readers […]

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For the third time in 6 years I have packed up my life and moved to a new house. 6 years ago I was single and purchasing my first home in my hometown. 2 years ago I was married and 6 months pregnant with my first child desperate for a larger house to accommodate a […]

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I have completely missed the boat on back to school books. As a stay-at-home/work-from-home mother of a 2-year old, the Wednesday after Labor Day just doesn’t have as much meaning for me as it did when I was a student, school librarian, or even public librarian, so I apologize. However, as the daughter of a […]

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I’m inspired this week by a book I recently reviewed set to be released next month. How To Be a Hero by Florence Parry Heide is the story about young Gideon who just wants to be a hero like those in all the fairy tales he’s read. It made me think about all the fairy […]

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With the recent debut of the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and release of the script there is sure to be in upsurge in demand for the ever popular original Harry Potter series.  Though there is sure to be some backlash at the format of the latest publication, fans new and old will […]

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I have had some amazing experiences thanks to CLCD. Just last month I got to go to my first ALA National Conference in Orlando, FL where I met amazing people and acquired a bazillion(maybe not a word)books. Now most recently I have CLCD to thank for a significant decrease in my bank account and my […]

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I’ve been back home almost two weeks and feel like I’m just coming down from the excitement. I’ve opened the last box of my swag and was so excited to see all of the following books to add to our shelves. If you’ve never been, I highly suggest you get yourself to the ALA Annual […]

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I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to head to Orlando on Thursday for the American Library Association Conference. I have been going over the schedule to figure out an itinerary for myself. The Odyssey Award Presentation will take place on Monday and I am now kicking myself for cutting my trip short as I […]

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If you are nothing like me then you may be a little embarassed about reading YA and children’s books all the time or you may just want to change things up a little bit. Take a look at the winners of the 2015 Alex Awards. The Alex Awards are given to ten books each year […]

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A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to chaperone the teen group that I helped start at my previous job on a trip the 2016 Teen Book Festival.  For those of you who don’t live in Upstate New York, and by Upstate I mean anywhere north of Binghamton, the  Teen Book Festival is an […]

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I remember reading Annie On My Mind as part of my YA Literature class during my Master’s program.  We were assigned a title from each YA “genre” and that was our LGBTQ book I suppose.  I guess at the time there probably weren’t many other choices, either that, or it was because that book was […]

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It seems as though there is a day, week, or month for everything.  “Take Your Dog to Work Day”, “Appreciate your Name Day” (next week, by the way), and “Life Insurance Awareness Month”.  It’s hard to wake up in the morning and remember what I am suppose to be aware of.   It’s not that these […]

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Though George Washington’s birthday is still a month away I have felt compelled to post ever since Scholastic halted the distribution of the A Birthday Cake for George Washington by Ramin Ganeshram.  If you haven’t heard the news yet and the subsequent backlash, the book was pulled because “the book may give a false impression […]

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When I was entering my senior year of college my father asked me, “What’s next, what do you want to do?”  It is still the case now as it was then, I wasn’t too sure but I was excited to figure it out.  After stints as an Elementary Education Major and Psychology Major I had […]

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Day had a normal start and I woke up with Badminton players sounding away behind the house. Morning tea and biscuits followed and then we got the children ready is usual. Kids had their breakfast like a well-trained Army and they were on the move soon after towards school. They were supposed to return from […]

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5:00 AM came quickly and monks were up with the routine of bells and gongs. I am getting used to them and was likely up a few minutes before. After working on the blog for few minutes, I got ready for the morning prayers at 6:00. After some of the explanations from previous night, lot […]

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One of things you don’t understand when you watch the wonderful videos of monasteries on Discovery channel is the impact of those gongs and bells. The depth they go through to in your soul when its 5:00 AM can only be experienced. That is how the morning started for us at the Monastery. Monks do […]

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   September 15th, 2014 marks the fifth anniversary of “a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration,” Today, Dot Day has nearly one and a half million registered participants from over seventy-one countries. Its beginnings were humble. Dot Day began with one teacher, one class full of students and one book, The Dot by author/illustrator, Peter […]

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