Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

I don’t watch the Office so I didn’t really know who this girl was when I checked it out. I thought maybe she worked for SNL since her book has quotes comparing it to Tina Fey’s Bossypants. But she didn’t. Well she did, for two weeks as a temporary writer, but apparently she hated every second. This book was funny in certain parts, as comedic books usually are. I listened to it on audiobook and it was read by the author, which I always appreciate. This makes it easy for them to tailor their own funny stories because it happened to them and they know exactly what tone of voice and words to enunciate. I would suggest it as a skimming book. Find the funny stories you want to read and then skip the others. Kind of like short stories. Skip the boring ones and move on to the chapters with awesome titles.

17-yr-old gets 3-book deal!

I don’t know about you. But when I was 17 I was watching George Clooney on ER and making t-shirts for powderpuff football games. I was not writing books and getting 6 figure deals with Random House. This girl is. Beth Reekles wrote a book called The Kissing Booth which was published on a website called Wattpad. No idea what that website is but click it and check it out. I’m going to after I finish this. Anyway, the book got 19 million views which got the attention of Random House. It’s been released as an eBook and will soon be published in paperback on May 14. Better check this out.

“When Elle decides to run a kissing booth for the school’s Spring Carnival, she locks lips with Noah and her life is turned upside down. Her head says to keep away, but her heart wants to draw closer–this romance seems far from fairy tale and headed for heartbreak.”

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Power of Talking to Your Baby

There is a NYT article from last week titled The Power of Talking to Your Baby. I can’t even tell you how much this article spoke to me. I almost want to have kids just so I can be awesome at raising them for school and reading. It should be noted that I would be less than stellar at other parts of raising them, like potty training. So we’re gonna stick to the no kids thing. BUT, as a librarian who works mainly with kids age 0-3 and creates the early literacy programs here I find these articles empowering! TALK TO YOUR BABIES Y’ALL! DO IT! These are some parts of the article that stuck out to me in particular if you don’t have time to read the whole thing.

“Children whose families were on welfare heard about 600 words per hour. Working-class children heard 1,200 words per hour, and children from professional families heard 2,100 words. By age 3, a poor child would have heard 30 million fewer words in his home environment than a child from a professional family.” This does not mean that kids from poor families should be at a disadvantage forever. It means that we need to recognize this disparity and encourage parents in this socioeconomic status to talk to their kids MORE. Not only that but the people who did the research said, “If everyone talked to their young children the same amount, there would be no racial or socioeconomic gap at all.” Let’s try and make that happen people.

“Parents talk much more to girls than to boys (perhaps because girls are more sociable, or because it is Mom who does most of the care, and parents talk more to children of their gender). This might explain why young, poor boys have particular trouble in school.” You think??

It all makes me want to go out and talk to every baby I see. Don’t know how to talk to your baby? Here’s a video of how to narrate your child’s day.

 

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Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

This is a long title. And the author has three names. Its just all very long. The book actually isn’t that long though. It is about Aristotle, or Ari as he likes to be called, and his new friend Dante.  Neither Ari or (nor?) Dante have any friends so when they meet each other at the pool one day they bond. When I picked up this book, due to a review somewhere, I had no idea it was a “coming out” story. But it is. So bear that in mind if that’s not what you want to read about. However, its not a typical coming out story. Not that I’ve read a lot of them to compare. But this one is great! Its also set in the 80s which I think is why I originally picked it up from the reviews I’ve read. I enjoyed The Future of Us immensely (by Jay Asher), also set in the 80s, because it was nostalgic. Walkmans? Oh yes, I remember those. Those were the days. Anyway, this book doesn’t really reference anything 80s-ish except for the fact that they don’t have cell phones and have to write each other real letters instead of emails. Since I can’t explain the story without ruining some twists I’m going to supply you with the dust jacket summary. Not that the summary there tells you a lot either haha. Happy reading!

“Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.”

The Dark by Lemony Snicket

I originally heard about this book from an NPR interview that Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) did with Terry Gross in December about his new chapter book, Who Could That Be at this Hour? And can I tell you. He is hilarious. And I LOVE Terry Gross. So that just made it even better. Listen to the interview for sure. The illustrator won the Caldecott Award this year for his book, This is Not My Hat and he’s also pretty well known for his book before that, I Want My Hat Back. The guy likes hats.

I put this book on hold a week ago and was super excited to read it. I am 26 and I’m afraid of the dark (seriously) so I was excited to read this. Laszlo is a kid who’s afraid of the dark, which is probably more common than a 26 year old. The dark usually stays in the basement away from Laszlo but one night it comes to his room. The book was definitely cute. It would help kids with their fear of the dark. Although the explanation takes some thinking. But I liked it!

Family Pictures by Jane Green

I like Jane Green. But I like her older stuff better. Let me just say this is nothing like Jemima J or In Her Shoes so if you like those books you may not like this one. This is a serious book my friends. But her last one, Another Piece of my Heart, was serious also. So if you liked her last one you will probably like this one. The only complaint I have is that one of the wives (its about two wives) is portrayed not as nicely as the first one you meet. But maybe she did that on purpose. Either way, it was a good read! However, let me also say that I ruined the surprise. I’m not a surprise girl. I hate them actually. So if a book has a twist I will open it to the middle until I can figure out what that is & then go back to the beginning. It makes me feel better knowing what’s going to happen. So I think I may have liked it better if I didn’t know the twist. But either way, I enjoyed it.

Audiobook Narrators

You know how you see someone in a movie & you’re like, where do I know that person from? That happens to me a lot. But lately it’s been happening to me with audiobook narrators. And that makes me a nerd. BUT, I love it! I’ve decided that I either listen to too many audiobooks (which is unlikely) OR the audiobook narrating world is a monopoly (which is more likely). I’m okay with either option. Through my discoveries I’ve found my two favorite audiobook readers, one girl & one boy.

Ahem, Jim Dale. I’ve blogged about my love for Jim Dale previously (see blog post here). I’m a little concerned because when I googled him for an image there were a lot of other images that make him look much older than this photo does (he is 77 years old). What if he DIES!? Who will I adore then? Anyway, I first heard his voice in audiobook when reading the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (amazing book btw, I’m going to post a retro blog about how much I love that book soon). And as I was listening to his buttery voice read to me I said to myself, where do I know that voice from? Some of you may be thinking, oh well obviously, he’s the voice of the Harry Potter series. But alas, I first heard him speak to me as the voice over in the show Pushing Daisies. An amazingly hilarious, perfect show that’s on Netflix if you care to take a look. But once I heard him on the Night Circus I became obsessed with his narrating voice. I googled all the other books he’s narrated and started listening to them too. I knew that they wouldn’t suck because he’s Jim Dale & he’s awesome. Why would he choose to narrate a stupid boring book? And its not just me who thinks he’s awesome, he has won MANY awards for his narration.

And now, my favorite girl. Jennifer Ikeda. Not as common a name as Jim Dale. Although Jim Dale probably isn’t a common name unless you’re in the library world or listen to a lot of audiobooks. I first heard this wonderful narrator when listening to The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (also an awesome book, I should do a retro blog post of that too). And then I heard her just today narrating portions of The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. Can I just say, if you are cool enough to be chosen to narrate Jodi Picoult you have made it girlfriend. So I was listening today and I said, where have I heard that voice before? And it came to me, Discovery of Witches. And by “it came to me” I mean I googled the book and had to find her name and go back to every book she’s narrated to figure out which one I heard her read. Didn’t know as much about her as a did Jim Dale (since I love Jim Dale) so then I had to continue to google the heck out of her. Apparently this woman is an actress too. In legit shows like Smash & Suits. Bless her heart. She’s amazing. She doesn’t have a lot of other audiobooks to speak of but I’m thinking about listening to Shadow of Night (I’ve already read the book), the second book in Deborah Harkness’ trilogy just so I can listen to her voice.

I must say as a disclaimer that I ADORE both the books that brought me to these narrators. So perhaps I love their voices because I love my first experience with their narration. But I don’t think so. Eh, either way I think they’re the best.

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