Ineffable: what makes a good book to yours Drewly

I would like to take some time and space on my blog to reflect on what makes a book good, especially a kids, youth or YA book to yours Drewly.

First off  Please read this New Yorker article on what makes a children's book "good"

I agree that there are two popular schools of thought on the matter. The content camp and the results camp. The Content camp is stuck with the belief that good book for children being somehow instructive or nutritive, often morally so. 

Another part of the content camp is the psychological value that the content minded people push for, while more substantially non instructive, there is still clinging to the idea that there must be some positive value gain from the content of the book.


The other camp that often has more members, is the results camp. Results” can range from book sales (“Goosebumps,” in that case, would definitely be good) to making a child laugh (any book written by Jon Scieszka would loudly ring that bell) to life impact of a story.

These two children's book quality criteria camps, like the nature side versus the nurture side of that debate are often struck and stay stubborn, remaining unmoving impervious, unchanging despite the overwhelming evidence and support for the crucial need for construction for a bridge for the nonsensical gap between the two schools of thought.

I like Gidwitz in the article linked to above, follow the prophet Walt Whitman: I contain multitudes, and I contradict myself whenever I choose to. In the case of determining quality in children’s books, I have two answers, I want to bridge that thinking gap.

 Gidwitz hits it right on with "We give children’s shoes to children because they fit children’s feet. And why would we denigrate a waltz that can only be danced to? Children, in particular, are made to dance." We all need to dance, explore, create and enjoy life more, and an easy way to do that is to read or be read to and encourage others to do the same for books that interest them, at any age.

As Gidwitz says, "Kids will like a book with a great story. But they will only love a book that makes them see the world in a new way." The impact and the change a book makes in anyones life is the best way to gauge if a book is good for anyone. 

What is important is that kids are reading, and anything we can do as adults to keep them reading is the what we are called to do. 

Who is to say the true value of a book, the true quality of a book, certainly publishers cant be, certainly authors cant be, that leaves us avid and caring readers.
But you don't ever have to take my word for it.

What makes a book worthy or worth reading for you?

My Bookselling, a reflection

My Bookselling, a reflection

Looking back I remember growing up around captivating books, magical and real stories of all kinds, and parents who encouraged my imagination and wild creativity.

I was always caught up by sage sayings, surrounded by the genius of others.

I saw myself as a writer ever since I could write back in kindergarten. But I have since learned the difficulties, the stress, the deadlines, and the loneliness of writing.

I remember thinking librarians were always old ladies who loved to shush people and allow others to take books for free and really only offer their worn out advice. I later learned that librarians could be much more dynamic, in time with current and ever new realities. In library graduate school I learned a lot of intricacies, details, and behind the scenes work and little understood procedures and even less well known responsibilities and grunt work job duties. Each of these added to make libraries less attractive to me. Even with all the perks and positives, library school taught me transferable skills and above all the harsh realities of librarianship.

On the other hand Bookselling, to me was always more mysterious and magical than other book related careers. Over the years before me Bookselling career I have see bookselling remain a constants honorable and esteemed career choice. While others see it as simply book peddling or book hawking I see it as empowering and relationship building. I have always had a deep respect for people who are both of and for books. I have a special place in my heart for book love and all things books and reading, this passion/obsession has only grown since I have starting working as a bookseller.   

When I started my Bookselling career 6 and a half years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. Oh, the many songs of the ignorance of inexperience. In my first years of working at and with Reach and Teach, I first experienced the flame of salesmanship and out of the resulting inner fire, my drive for Bookselling was hatched like a Phoenix in earnest. It was there and then I first experienced the warmth and glow of sharing my understandings of products and especially books with all customers new guests and loyal customers, unhappy people  and joyous customers alike.

Serving the public and selling to all identities and communities from both local and visiting publics is a blessing, an honor and a privilege only few of us choose to experience day in and day out.

As my knowledge and passion grew so did my skill sets and “expertise” for children’s and young adult literature. From my studies and all my experiences as a bookseller have vaulted me into a lovely calling.

It was first felt during my time with Reach and Teach back in 2011 that what I was doing might be something more than a job. My bookselling might be a calling towards creativity, a ministry of magical books after all.

SInce I have had five and a half years of mostly magical work and stunningly surprising service to the book minded, book souled and book hearted people of the bay area. I thank everyone that has worked with me, everyone who i have worked with, and every person I had the privilege of serving. I have no idea how many people I have influenced suffice it to say regardless of number what means the most is personal impact.  I have learned more in the five and a half years as a bookseller then I did in my over 8 years of undergrad college experiences.

I offer my newest poem as a reflection on the first five years of my bookselling career. Here’s to many, many, many more years of serving everyone’s imagination and inspiring the lives of all I serve!

Bookseller panache

Henceforth may you gather and gain

the wild panache of Cyrano himself

embodied in your own new bookseller form

clothed in your own stylish and abundant gifts

Shared amongst the shelves and cases

amidst all the stories and stages

of our lives and the lives of others

May you stay wholly new,

evermore..... your best self

May the magical power you gather and gain going forward,

Grow your passionate genius

to empower the imaginations as well as

Heal and strengthen the very lives of others

 

Reading life reality check in for 2016

readers note: I often use audible to read as it can read to me while I read or just read to me while I am on the go through Audible. 2016 was a many adulating milestone year for me personally but a rather slow year for my reading, total of 26 books finished this year so far. 8 books over half done with and several more just started.

In 2016 As of today I’ve read

Finished:
Most Books for NCIBA YA book of the year panel including

Tell Us Something True by Dana Reinhardt

1 Brie Spangler, Beast
great book! I really feel for the socially awkward big guy who has horrible self image, mom is trying to help, friends have their own agenda, identity, relationships

2. Tracy Chee, the reader
amazing epic fantasy fable of subversive magic and power of reading

3. Everland by Wendy Spinale
Steampunk Peter Pan with strong Wendy lead

4. Laura Stampler Little black dresses, little white lies
girl gets lucky gets blog teen interest internship in NYC
only thing, she gets the relationship blog and has never been in a relationship, forced to have summer flings, and start as dating amateur giving "advice" very relate able to today's YA readers

5. Lily Anderson the only thing worse then me is you
Great nerd relationship puzzle, extremely well written.

6. Tim Floreen, Tattoo Atlas
redemption forgiveness, change, transformation
can sociopathic killer be redeemed changed and programmed to care?
free will discussion

7. you know me well by Nana LaCour and David Levithan
Identity, coming of age, empowerment, character driven

8. Stacy Lee, Out run the moon
great depiction of San Francisco founding of China town, 1906 earthquake, identity

9. Front Lines Michael Grant
historical retake on world war 2 where women could fully join millitary

10. Timekeeper by Tara Sim
Great steam punk use of time and other fantastical elements

shadow of the wolf
Connect the stars
Wilfull machines
Warren the 13th
Odds of getting even
.tell us something true
Click here to start
Sugar
When we collided
The Real boy
Every single second
Every single word

23 books total

Read completely For 2nd time

The Last Wild
Book of Elsewhere the shadows
 Ghost hawk
Love in the time of global warming

26 total

Ready Most of the way through
The Reader
Jerkbait
Boomerang effect
Wonders of the invisible world
Night Gardener
Fuzzy
Little black dresses, little white lies

Partially done with several more

Resolution:
Write reviews of books and post to blog, while taking better reading notes, do book report projects, and write found poems from favorite pages.

2017 reading goal 36 full books with reviews, found poems and annotations,
Keep calm and READ ON!!

Stories Blog

Newest Blog post:

Scholars, common folk, sages and fools all through the ages continue to prove that we are a storytelling species. We are a species that, regardless of seasons or reasons, regales those around us dozens of times a day with an abundance of lessons, tales, myths, fables, fiction, memories, mysteries, narratives, anecdotes, advertisements, articles and all other types of stories. But are we also good story listeners? We here at Reach And Teach sometimes feel that as a species we can too often be far greater storytellers or ‘story givers' than we are as story receivers.

One of the key themes that guides us as an organization is that the shortest distance between two people is a story. And, the difference between an enemy and a friend is a story. When arguing about a particular social issue, instead of sharing an opinion, we are more likely to say "Let me tell you a story about my experience, my story, because that story shapes how I feel about this issue."

What is a story? A story, for the purposes of this blog and from our friends at Webster's Dictionary, is simply any account of imaginary or real incidents or events or a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question including narratives and anecdotes. Thus stories are basically anything we tell or write to ourselves or others through written, nonverbal or verbal language. All a story really needs is an observer (listener or reader), content (the story), a storyteller (writer or performer or storyteller), a willingness to share, and attention (hopefully) given on both sides to the story being portrayed.

The historical, physical, social and most of the other parts of the scientific record give credence to the need for a listening and attention revival. New and recent books and articles galore argue about the role of attention merchants and advertisers, the role of attention on memory, and the deterioration of communication attention spans into tweets, short profile updates, soundbites and snapchats. The impact of social media on listening and reading attention spans is clearly a hot item in social science and psychology today. Better storytelling and better listening can be remedies to attention spans run amok......

As the saying goes, listening is an act of love. Yet contrary to what would be healthy communication, instead of actively listening and thoughtfully reflecting... so often we immediately attach ourselves to the content and context of what the other is communicating. This is not healthy as it is an entanglement with the words being conveyed. If we allow ourselves the perspective of a listener and untangle the attachment to what is being said or written then we allow time and space for more complete understandings and discernments of the messages being shared............

http://www.reachandteach.com/content/article.php/stories

books not violence

Its been a while since I have posted anything in this blog and there are countless reasons for that, but the main reason I am writing now is I am fed up with and sick of the fear, suffering and violence in our society that is mostly race based evil. 

 The majority of the masses of our society are ruled by fear and/or ignorance. While ignorance is just ignorance, the related fear is based on biases that are founded on brutally dishonest portrayals of minorities. The portrayals of minorities in all forms of media, from film to TV to magazines, to books to music, are found in our homes, our schools, our bookstores, and even our libraries all act to pigeonhole, marginalize and alienate entire communities and normalize the fear of “other” people. To act on such ignorance and fear is understandable yet entirely unjustifiable even with the mind-numbing manipulation that media has in our 21^st century lives. All of this simply discrimination and is criminally unjustified and evil and wrong.

A quick note about percentages, statistics lie and are manipulated all the time. The fact remains that white heterosexual men like me are privileged more then ever these days these privileges need to be addressed. I think the first step is to address the reasons for such privileges. As a an avid reader, I think of how we are taught and what we are taught and what is left out of our lessons especially the books we grow up with both at home and at school influence us deeply for the rest of our lives.  

As a man who lives a book centered life, I have to put a lot of the ownership most ignorance and most fear in all its guises on a complete lack of adequate cultural competence, that is based on insufficiently cultural relevant books for kids of all ages from board books to Young adult books.  This lack of cultural relevancy is based on the misrepresentation and a serious underrepresentation of people of color in the lives of our young people.

While the youth of today are becoming increasingly diverse, and with the fact that many experts agree that with in the next 50 years or so the United States of America will become a “minority majority” certainly adequate representation in all media but especially books, the tool we use most often to teach our children and youth about the world around them, across the board there is a lack of sufficient culturally competent material. How do we expect peace to come to our world if our kids are segregating themselves and their peer groups based on inaccurate biases found in the world all around them?

Recent studies have shown the lack of diversity in children’s publishing as well as the lack of sufficient people working in the publishing industry. Such problems are starting to be acknowledged and remedies are being applied through out the industry. Much like the actions being taken to address systematic racial discrimination are continually evolving in our society, books must stay culturally relevant as well. 

Links to studies:

http://blog.leeandlow.com/2016/03/03/required-reading-top-ten-responses-to-the-diversity-baseline-survey/

http://blog.leeandlow.com/2015/03/05/the-diversity-gap-in-childrens-publishing-2015/

http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/01/27/dont-blame-white-guys-book-industry-diversity-problem

Closing remarks

All the violence internal and external that has been sensationalized in the media is simply a reminder of a few things. for me.

1. There is no real difference between human beings. but there is difference in human doings.

2. As they say, Do justice, love, kindness and walk humbly with each other. The golden rule is no joke.

3. If anyone knows what I and what we can do to bring more peace to our world and our neighborhoods let me know.

4. I am so thankful for every chance to be the change i want to see in the world we live in.

5. The question all this violence leave us with is How will you bring peace to your life to your sphere of influence?

Reflections on my SJSU iSchool experience

Reflections on my SJSU iSchool experience

My experience in the MLIS program at SJSU was a long self-exploration just as much as it was an exploration of the library and information science field. My journey through SLIS was also a ‘sneak preview’ of my future path, where I discovered my passions and developed my knowledge and skill base for my chosen vocation, a public librarian.    

I once reflected that, “even when I’m having a horrible day, I find myself in service.” I am passionate about serving people and I have been my entire young adult life.  

I did not have much experience working in libraries except a little volunteering at my old elementary school library during my first year in the program.  Throughout my years in MLIS and especially in certain classes or during two internships while in the program, I gained invaluable experience and skills to help my future goals.  I have also been working simultaneously for over three years at Linden Tree Books, a children’s bookstore in Los Altos.  For two of those years I have worked as a bookseller and one as a manager, and this is why I see great potential in building working relations between public libraries and local independent bookstores.

My enthusiasm, my ability to learn and adapt quickly, and my imagination are all key parts of who I am and are my most clear strengths.  

My professional growth plan

I aim to work diligently on my professional goals:

(1) To provide excellent service for all the publics around me, including careful and curated assistance to all identities and demographics. I will make presentations and create programs to serve everyone I can in the library.  I especially like to organize periodic displays of recent good books in the collection with particular appeal to user subgroups, by age, gender, and ethnicity.

(2) To stay current with developments in technology and best practices through my own research as well as alert membership in public library associations. I plan to take occasional on-line classes, or night classes at local colleges, in order to keep up my skills in this regard.

(3) To evaluate the programs and service at the library where I work using OBPE and SWOT, perhaps every 3 or 4 years.  I’ll discuss the results with my library colleagues, and then work to implement the changes and improvements that are called for.

(4) To explore the great potential in relationships between public libraries and local independent bookstores.  As mentioned in Competency O, I see this relationship as improving community engagement and increasing circulation at both the library and sales at the local bookstore, through such means as special events, summer reading programs, and other shared objectives. I will connect with local bookstores and other pertinent community organizations to improve the library and provide the best service possible.

(5)  I will also document my work towards these goals in a blog, a video blog or, if there is more general value in what I find, perhaps in a few podcasts.

Closing remarks

One chapter of my life is ending, but it is a happy occasion!  That just means that another chapter is still being written.  A chapter that will introduce new characters, possibly a new setting, a new plot, inevitably new conflicts and a number of potential plot twists. My life is an open book and by completing the program at SJSU I have opened up so many new pages. I’d like to thank all contributing authors to my life as a book project.  You know who you are. You have made the chapter rich and fulfilling, and I have deeply enjoyed how the plot has developed to this point.  I love and thank you all so much!!

Culture and Metaphor in coding? {code me IN}

The ideas of cultural tolerance, cultural sensitivity, and cultural literacy are just three of the many emerging and exciting cultural ideas that people need to understand and use more seriously especially from now on, I believe. This is clearly evident in the movement for culturally adaptable websites. 

I found an article by Shen, Wooley and Prior, talked about how the main goal of user interface is supposed to be to assist users who play “multiple roles according to their contextual environment and purposes of use.” (p. 822, Shen et all, 2006) Though few websites are ideal in everyway, there is a push for more culturally sensitive World Wide Web (WWW). May different times of “-isations” or ways of viewing the cultural world are described from globalization to localization the combination known as glocalisation, and iconisaztion and cultualizaiton are described in the article and much of a sociological history and discussion of the importance of cultural literacy is described before turning toward user interface and the WWW. The development of a user interface or a whole new type of WWW product one that is a local cultural construct as opposed to a globalized produce adapted for target cultures especially those based on geography is becoming clearly necessary. Culturally Centered Design (CCD) is needed and will be a new method of web usability and a whole new aspect of website accessibility. 

For some there is a need for appropriate and workable interface metaphors for the to bridge the cultural gaps. Interface metaphors are ways to use aspects of a website to help users to understand abstract content, create a sense of familiarity, trigger emotions, draw attention and motivate action. Examples of website metaphors are icons, buttons, images, as well as
text and styles as long as they increase understanding of information, I'm all for it.

The CCD filer is composed of the designers socio-cultural filter, where the website designer needs to figure out and learn and present relevant cultural data and check the technical specifications such as usability and evaluation tools. Then the designer should create culturally relevant content for their target culture including jargon, dialect, thought patterns, behaviors and be sensitive with social taboo issues. The designer must be well aware of cultural differences, outsider biases and opposing viewpoints. The designer must do his or her best to think, and use the web design from the perspective culture they are preparing CCD WWW material for. 

I think the world need more metaphors and more people to understand each other. Thus, I am intrigued by the idea of a interface metaphor, especially as it pertains to creating a bridge across cultural and personal gaps. Anything that coding can do to spread peace, love and understanding to new and underrepresented cultures then both cultures and the World Wide Web win in ever bigger ways. 

Shen, S. T., Woolley, M., & Prior, S. (2006). Towards culture-centered design. Interacting with computers, 18(4), 820-852. Retrieved on 4/8/2015 from http://cecs.wright.edu/~yan.liu/IHE733/Articles/Culture/TowardsCultureCe...