Olé! Bloggiesta!

It has begun! I'm technically still at work, but I'm just waiting for my online course to begin. I can get off to a good start.

GOALS:

1. Clean up RSS feeds. Not directly related to my blog, but definitely important to my blogging ability. Thus far I've had blogs delivered to my inbox. I like this because they come right to my attention, but I just don't have time during the day to pay attention to blog posts the way I would like to. So, sadly, I turned off the inbox feature and will plan some time each day to read the blogs. I want to reconcile the blogs in my inbox with the ones on my neglected feed list on Google, or establish a feed reader I like. Any suggestions (for this Mac user)?

2. Spiff up my blog. I don't like the looks of things around here. I want it to look tighter and neater and get rid of any extraneous junk around the edges. Looks like I'll be delving into the Blogger man files. (are they even CALLED man files anymore??)

3. Write at least 10 reviews this weekend. I want to review some of the books I've read recently and took notes for, and I want to get rid of some of the picture book piles in my family room.

4. Write at least 20 comment posts to other Bloggiesta participants. I wish I could promise to write a comment to everyone! Maybe... who knows how late I can stay up. =)

If you stop by, please write a hello and some encouragement. I have a busy weekend, including a Yule tree to take down and two adorable toddlers to play with, not to mention a husband to cuddle and six quadrillion books beckoning me to read... read... read...

Yay, Storm in the Barn!

Matt Phelan's spare, creepy graphic novel about the Dust Bowl era has won the 2010 Scott O'Dell award for Historical Fiction!

I was disappointed when others on the Cybils graphic novel committee downplayed this book's impact. It reminded me of The Underneath in the way it put a folktale spin on a realistic place and time. It is really worth a read.

Oh, and the book trailer makes it look even creepier than it actually is. Excellent.

2010 Challenge: Finish That Series

I'm going to like this challenge: Finish That Series. From the web site:

This is an opportunity for you to finish all of those series that have been sitting on your book shelf looking at you. I don't know about you but I have quite a few. With this challenge you count series completed, not books read. I have a series with 20 books in it, although I'm not sure I'll include this one, it doesn't matter how many books are in the series or if you've read most of them and only have one or two left to read. The object of this challenge is to finish the series.

I'll be participating at the Curious level, in which I will finish 2 series I've been wanting to read. One is the Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows. I'll consider this one done if I read all the books so far published by the end of the year. This is short and light and I'm already mostways through it. The other is Inkspell/heart/death by Cornelia Funke. I've been waiting to read it until I had a reason, since it's thick and daunting and it's always checked out. Well, now I have a reason!

Perhaps next year I'll do more, but I'm more interested in new books than old, so this is already a deviation from my usual focus.

Bloggiesta, here I come!

Me being a newbie blogger and all, I didn't know about the Bloggiesta until just today, but it sounds like a perfect opportunity for me to catch up on my Mock Caldecott reading/reviewing. Maybe I'll even figure out some of these doodads on Blogger.

What are YOUR favorite chapter books?

Okay, I don't call them chapter books, but my kids sure do. I bet you can name your top ten.

The Top 100 Children’s Fictional Chapter Books Poll!

Vote for your top ten middle grade books of all time (not just this year or last year) by January 31, 2010. This will NOT include YA books or early readers. You should list these books in your order of preference. That means, your #1 chapter book would be the one you feel is the most important or the best, so Betsy will give it 10 points. Your #2 choice will receive only 9 points. Etc, etc.

I'm not at all sure if my favorite book of all time, Watership Down, counts as a middle grade novel. As it is, I'll list it as:

0. Watership Down - Richard Adams -- I read this four times before I was twelve. The adventure series to end all adventure series. I spent much of my fourth and fifth grade years pretending to be a rabbit.

1. Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge -- I discovered this one as an adult and was blown away by Goudge's flowery description and absolutely lovable characters. I recently re-read it to see if it would hold up (after 10 years as a librarian) and it sure did.

2. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper -- It's hard not to take this series as a whole, but if I had to only read one of them again, it would be this one. I found this one when I was fifteen in a tiny rural library in northern Michigan and recognized it from Julia Ecklar's filk song of the same name. I fell into immediate love and consumed all five in one week. Since then I've read them many times and find new things to love every time.

3. A Little Princess - Francis Hodgson Burnett -- My favorite by far of her books, and the classic I re-read most frequently (even more than Little Women). Sara's attic just came to life in my mind each time I opened the book.

4. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster -- I think this book inspired my love of puns and wordplay, not to mention math and word games. It brought to earth large concepts like Boredom and Truth.

5. Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill - Maud Hart Lovelace -- Discovered as a child, rediscovered as a teen and still loved as an adult, all the Betsy-Tacy books are worth reading, but this was my favorite. My sister and I played a lot of Betsy-Tacy when we were growing up.

6. Danny the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl -- Even though all of Roald Dahl's books have a special spot on my bookshelves, this is my favorite. It evoked the clearest, simplest feeling of love by a child for a parent that any book has ever done.

7. The Diamond in the Window - Jane Langton -- What a great mix of mystical adventures, houses with hidden places and sibling rivalry (and a nod to some famous American literary figures). I had no idea it was part of a series until I became a librarian!

8. A Wind in the Door - Madeline L'Engle -- I liked this one even more than the first book. I think it was the powerfully imagined character of Proginoskes.

9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling -- My favorite of the seven. Harry had to make an appearance on my list.

10. The Four-Story Mistake - Elizabeth Enright -- This is another book I can't believe I didn't read until I was an adult. I saw it on so many favorites lists, I had to pick them up. Again, it stands alone as a series, so I had a hard time choosing which one was the best, but I have a warm spot in my heart for houses with secret places inside.

I could add so many more...

Holes

Trumpet of the Swan

Frindle

etc, etc.

What are YOUR choices?

Review of 2009 and looking ahead

2009:

It was my first year blogging. I read blogs more regularly as the year went on. I just started to dip my toe into the water of writing my own reviews. I received my first review copy (which I have not yet reviewed, shame on me). My to-read shelf expanded to astronomical proportions (over 250 books at one point, ugh!). I read way more books than I reviewed. I found out about some of those day-of-the-week themed events, like Nonfiction Monday. I semi-participated in one 24 hour blogathon and I am definitely doing that again. Ivy and I did some collaborative reviews, which was so fun. I can't wait to get her writing her own as she improves her ability to type and write. My most exciting aspect of 2009 was participating in the Cybils graphic novel review panel.

2010:

I don't yet have a good sense of my goals here, but I'm having fun and that is fine. I'm trying not to make it about writing regularly or punishing myself for not keeping up with my to-read pile. But, I do want to do more blogging to go along with my reading. I am signing up for some challenges to give a bit of structure to my year. I'm going to do more themed reviews. You'll definitely see more of Ivy; maybe my littler kid will get in on the action as well.

Thanks for reading!

2010 Challenges: GLBT Challenge

Here's challenge #2 for 2010, and it's only January 1!

GLBT Reading: GLBT Challenge 2010

My goal is to read picture books and middle grade books, which will be shorter but will keep me aimed at my target audience. I can easily get off track when I see a beautiful stack of teen/ya novels on my to-read shelf...

Here are the books I have read so far.  I'm trying to hunt down some more picture books before moving on to middle grade, and I have a few I haven't yet read.  

1. And Tango Makes Three - Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson
2. In Our Mothers' House - Patricia Polacco
3. King & King - Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland
4. Everywhere Babies - Susan Meyers
5. Mini Mia and her Darling Uncle - Pija Lindenbaum
6. Oliver Button is a Sissy - Tomie de Paola
7. William's Doll - Charlotte Zolotow