Sword & Laser Kids

imaged used with permission 

I'm going to start a new feature here on the blog called Sword & Laser Kids.  Sword & Laser is an online book club and podcast dedicated to science fiction and fantasy.  They have a vibrant discussion group over on Goodreads and every so often there are questions on the forum concerning kids books in the genres.  I've actually met the hosts at Dragon Con and asked for permission to something like this and was given the okay.

It's been rolling around in the back of my head how best to go about this.  Right now I don't have the time for a video or audio show (even though I'm sure I could pull it off and still might someday).  I thought about starting a thread in the forum but wasn't sure how to begin with that. So I've finally decided to write posts on the blog which I will link to on Goodreads, G+, Twitter, etc. and we'll see how that goes.

The official S&L show picks a different SF or Fantasy book each month, rotating the genres month to month.  Tom is the Laser guy and Veronica is the Sword lady.  I'll do the same.  Fantasy for February, SF for March, etc.  I will primarily be discussing books for kids from K-8 with only the occasional YA book.  This is because I'm an elementary school librarian and also YA is getting plenty of exposure right now.

I plan on covering some "classics" (Harry Potter, Ender's Game) and new stuff the kids are excited about (Land of Stories), and things I just think are generally good books for the acre and feeding of the young geek mind.

Now I'll try to stick to the every other month SF/Fantasy schedule but there is a lot more Fantasy than SF for this age group.  I might be stretching the genre definition pretty thin some months and may even cross over into geeky science nonfiction at times for the Laser months.

In the spirit of the whole book club thing I'll try to grab other people's views from reviews posted online and even some comments from my own students.  And of course, as always, your questions and comments are very much encouraged.

Does Your School Have a BLT?

The first time we had a BLT meeting at my new school they had to come get me because I didn't know I supposed to go.  I didn't even know what BLT stood for.  I know I'm on the ILT (Instructional Leadership Team) and I'm on the Technology/Media Team and Committee but...BLT?

Well, I'm not afraid to ask stupid questions so I said, "Sorry I"m late...um, what does BLT stand for anyway?"

Building Leadership Team!  It's the administrators, the principal's assistant, a counselor, me and the tech lady, the head custodian, the cafeteria manager, and the bookkeeper.

It may sound boring but it's one of the things that makes this school way better than others I've worked in.  We meet every couple of weeks, go over everything on the calendar and make sure we all know what's happening, how we can help and anything to be aware of.  It's all the minor logistical stuff that can often fall through the cracks.  We discuss things like the best time for a fire drill, what room to use for certain events, what equipment or personnel will be needed, etc.

It's a short meeting and never revelatory or anything but way less things fall through the cracks here. If you don't have something like it at your schoolI highly recommend trying to set one up.  Even if they don't know what BLT stands for, everyone will be glad you did.

I Feel Guilty Because We're Home, Safe and Warm with Full Teacups and Kindles

Not so for much of the Atlanta Metro area.  My Lovely Bride and I have been debating which is worse.  Having to spend the night in your car on the highway or overnight at a school full of kids. She says the car since cars don't cry and whine.  I say school because I've been stuck in traffic for many hours but can't imagine doing it over night in sub-freezing temperatures.

Thankfully, we don't have to test our theory because we were lucky enough not to have to endure either situation.  Stay safe everyone.

My library book-buying strategy and a Bigfoot story

I buy things people want to check out and read.  Sounds simple, no?

But seriously, some school librarians buy things because they get awards or good reviews or are classics.  I'm not saying I don't buy those kinds of books, but I don't buy them because of those attributes.  I buy them because someone asks me to or because I know someone (usually more than one) who will want to check it out.

I don't get a lot of money to buy books, so to get the biggest bang for the buck I make sure I'm getting things people (be they students or teachers) want.

I have a page on my library website where anyone can make a request.  I also add things to my "consideration file" when I hear someone is looking for something we don't have (or don't have enough of) and I add it to the list.  Sometimes it's a specific title.  Sometimes it's "more superhero books."

This strategy has led to some very happy patrons.  I actually get hugs and thank yous on days I put out new books. Sometime back a young man and I were discussing his obsession with the imaginary creature known as Bigfoot.  He, of course, believes it to be real.  No matter, I added some new cryptid titles to my list and they came in recently.  I brought the new Sasquatch book over to him and he just stood there looking at it and quivering.  I was about half way across the library when he regained the power of speech and yelled, "I love you!"

I yelled back, "I love you too, man!"

That's how I pick library books.

TBR Dare and reading update

Remember when I said there are better book bloggers?  One of my favorites is Ready When You Are, C.B. who is hosting the Triple Dog TBR Dare.

[edit: James has a new blog at jamesreadsbooks.com because of Blogger feed issues but is still hosting the TBR Dare at the link above.]

I'm not one for reading challenges because as soon as I lock myself into a fixed list I'm not happy.  There's a reason he calls it a "dare" rather that a "challenge."  It's shorter than most of the year-long challenges and you've already created the list yourself.  It's your To Be Read list or pile or shelf.  And while you're locked into a list, it's one of your own making and you can choose how you go about it.  When I started participating in this challenge a few years back, I had over a hundred titles on my TBR list.  I'm always adding and deleting but this has kept me focused on it and now it's under 50 titles in as long as I can remember.

The thing about the challenge is that you can still buy books and I make exceptions for book club books, but you just don't read anything other than what you've already bought or had on your list for a while.  It's a great way to clear the decks for the rest of the year and deal with some ever-present reader guilt.  If you do it right, when April comes around you feel happy and proud and can't wait to tear into some new books!

Since January 1 I've only finished two book.  The first was A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson ( a re-read for me and part of my book club) and Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic.  That one is part of the Discworld series.  I read his and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens a couple years back and loved it.  Our book club did Guards! Guards! some time back and I loved it.  Then last year there was a sale on the first few Discworld books for the Kindle and I snapped them up,  This one is really a continuation of the story from the first book, The Color of Magic.

Now you may think it is weird we read book 8 in a 40 book series for the book club.  But you have to imagine the Discworld series as if J.K. Rowling wrote the first seven Harry Potter novels, then wrote a handful of books about the dragon trainers in northern Europe, then a few books about the ghosts, then maybe some Ministry of Magic books and maybe a series about Neville Longbottom and called them all "the Hogwarts Novels."  They'd all take place in the same universe, but they're really different characters and stories.  So book 8  is the first book in a continuing series about the City Watch guards and it's hilarious.  A great place to start and know if you enjoy this kind of Douglas Adams/Monty Python-type of funny and bitingly satirical fantasy.  The first two books are earlier works, so not quite as tightly written and while I quite enjoyed them, I think book 8 is probably a better place to try the Discworld on and see if you like it there. I did, so I'm going to go read them all.  Eventually.