Category: Events

ALA Annual Convention 2026: Highlights!

While we are both currently out of the library field, one way that we like to stay in contact with the field is to attend the annual convention for the American Library Association. This year’s convention for the 150th Anniversary was in its home city of Chicago, Illinois, so we road tripped across a couple of states and spent a long weekend immersing ourselves in all things libraries and books! Here are a few highlights from our time!

Exhibition Hall

Always so many things to see and do in the exhibition hall itself! From snagging some of our most anticipated titles, to meeting beloved authors, to attending even more panels, the day feels packed without even leaving this massive area! Per the usual, it was a manic time! But we both managed to grab quite a few ARCs from favorite authors, many of which we’ll surely be reviewing here in the coming months.

We also spent way too much time waiting in lines for various authors, but sacrifices must be made! Serena was particularly excited to get yet another book signed by Veronica Roth, to meet Allison Saft and get “A Fragile Enchantment” signed by her, and, of course, the most exciting of all, Lois Lowry herself! As for Kate, she was able to get a signed copy of Shannon Hale’s newest “Princess in Black” book for her kid, and was able to attend a panel that ended up with a signing by Cynthia Pelayo as well as other thriller and horror authors.

Panels

We often joke that we feel like two ships passing in the night at this convention: we meet up in the morning, but once the exhibition hall opens, it’s rare that we see each other again before we meet up for dinner at the end of the day! Well, this year we accomplished the truly unexpected and ended up at the same panel together! The panel was titled “Leading the Way with Speculative Fiction: Leadership Lessons from Imaginary Worlds” and included three authors speaking to this topic in relation to their latest books. We got to hear from Veronica Roth (“Seek the Traitor’s Son”), TJ Klune (“We Burned Bright”) and Terry J. Benton-Walker (“The Drakon King”). It was wonderful hearing all of their thoughts on what makes up a good leader, and, more importantly, a bad one.

Kate also had to opportunity to hear LeVar Burton speak about his upcoming memoir “Take My Word For It” in the main hall, where he ruminated about his time in “Roots” and on “Star Trek” and “Reading Rainbow”, and how much reading has meant to him and how it shaped his life from such a young age (she may have started bawling the moment he walked on stage because he was such an important figure in her early reading life due to “Reading Rainbow”). She was also able to attend a few horror and thriller themed panels.

Chicago

It is always so fun to go to Chicago for this convention. Not only can we drive, as we live just two states over in Minnesota, there is always so much to explore in the city itself. This year we went to the Field Museum as our pre-Conference adventure. The Field has such an outstanding collection of exhibits, from Sue the T-Rex and other impressive prehistoric creatures, to some taxidermied notorious man eating lions and other animals, to fantastic artifacts from around the world. We spent a solid amount of time just wandering and learning.

And Kate also insisted on going to the Pokémon exhibit that they have that compares Pokémon ‘fossils’ to the actual fossils that are their real life equivalents. It’s charming and cute, and Kate DID leave with some Pokémon swag for her kid…. And also for herself. Throw in deep dish pizza, a stop to a Tiki Bar we have been visiting since our first Chicago ALA back in 2017, a Great Lake, and some charming walking neighborhoods and it makes for a memorable trip every time.

It is always such an educational and gratifying experience to go to ALA. We have once again left the conference with some really exciting books, some new information from the library world, and great memories. Next year ALA will be in New Orleans, and hopefully we will be able to attend and report back from the Big Easy, but until then, thank you ALAAC26 and Chicago!

ALA Annual Convention 2025: Highlights!

While we are both currently out of the library field, one way that we like to stay in contact with the field is to attend the annual convention for the American Library Association. This year’s convention was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania so we hopped on a plane and spent a long weekend immersing ourselves in all things libraries and books! Here are a few highlights from our time!

Exhibition Hall

The Exhibition Hall itself is always one of the most fun parts of the convention! Both intimidating and exciting, you never know what you’re going to find around the next aisle corner. We got to nab a few anticipated ARCs, some cool new tote bags, and meet a lot of publishers to talk about their upcoming titles.

We also got to meet a lot of great authors, both some we had read before and some exciting debut authors! Serena was thrilled to get to meet K. A. Applegate for the second time and continue filling out her collection of signed Animorphs books from her childhood. Another few favorites included Alix Harrow with “The Everlasting,” Erin A. Craig with “A Land So Wide,” and Makilia Lucier wth “Dragonfruit.”

For Kate the highlights included seeing Tiffany D. Jackson with “The Scammer” and Clay McLeod Chapman with “Acquired Taste”. There were also a few panels that had some great horror representation (more on those in a bit), and she was able to get a signed book from Becky Spiegel Spratford with her upcoming anthology of “I Love Horror”, a title that she has been looking forward to for awhile.

We were also both very excited to meet Kiersten White! She was signing an older titles of her (“The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein”), but through some diligent scouting, we were both able to snag ARC copies of her upcoming title “The House of Quiet!” Definitely expect to see a joint review for that one!

Panels

There were also several excellent panels that we checked out! Serena was excited to check out the “New Voices in YA” panel which feature three very different sounding titles! Of course, the fantasy title about a world where bodies can be swapped at will (for a steep price, of course) definitely stood out, but all three looked interesting! She also went to a great panel called “Found Family in Speculative Fiction” and was able to meet Sarah Beth Durst and Marie Lu there and get signed copies of their upcoming titles.

Kate’s focuses were generally on horror, and she went to multiple talks on the genre, including “I Found My Thrill: What’s Trending in YA Horror & Thrillers”, and “Crossing Thresholds: The Rise of Transgressive Horror”. It’s always fun to listen to horror people gush about the genre, and Kate now has a lot of new titles to check out. We also both went to a Library Reads panel that hosted five different speculative fiction authors! This was a match made in heaven for us, as there were three fantasy authors present and two horror writers.

Philadelphia

Per our usual Friday escapades, we spent the first morning of the convention exploring the city, before all the book madness really took off. Luckily, our hotel and the convention center were located very near many of the hot spots, so we were able to quickly walk over to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. In a lack of foresight, we didn’t think to get tickets to Independence Hall ahead of time, and, of course, all of the other librarians had had the same idea and were more on top of things than us! So this pic from outside was the best we could do! We did get to go in and see the Liberty Bell though and meander through the incredibly informational museum that surrounds it, including the President’s House Site.

Our hotel was also not only right next to the Convention Center, but also right next to both Chinatown and the Reading Terminal Market. Which means we got some tasty foods between panels and book signings. But most uniquely, the first night we were there we went to Franklin Park for the Chinese Lantern Festival, where we got to see many gorgeous lantern statues that were all lit up. Granted, we had to leave before it got super dark, as a thunderstorm was coming, but it was still really neat and a great art experience that was beautiful.

Overall it was a very successful conference. We feel like we learned a lot, we got a lot of exciting new books that we can’t wait to dive into, and having a fun break in routine together was a pleasure. Next year the conference is going to be in Chicago, a city that we are familiar with but always manages to be exciting and interesting no matter how many times we go! So thank you, Philadelphia, for being a lovely host city, and thank you ALAAC for being a great time once again!

ALA Annual Convention 2024: Highlights!

While we are both currently out of the library field, one way that we like to stay in contact with the field is to attend the annual convention for the American Library Association. This year’s convention was in San Diego, CA, so we hopped on a plane and spent a long weekend immersing ourselves in all things libraries and books! Here are a few highlights from our time!

Exhibition Hall

We, of course, spent a huge amount of our time in the exhibition hall itself! It’s always overwhelming just how many booths and exhibits there are to explore, and even after several days, we always leave feeling like we must have missed something! There were opportunities to hear from and speak to many publishers about their upcoming fall and winter catalogs, so our TBR lists have grown exponentially. As you may have seen on our Instagram page, we also picked up a ton of new ARCs that we’re excited to read and review here on the blog (though this might have been an “our eyes are bigger than our…reading abilities” situation, and we likely won’t be able to review them all here fully!)

We also got to meet a lot of great authors, both some we had read before and some exciting debut authors! Serena was particularly excited to get a signed copy of “When Among Crows” by Veronica Roth as well as Mary E. Pearson for “The Courting of Bristol Keats.” For Kate the highlights included seeing Stephen Graham Jones as he signed copies of both “The Angel of Indian Lake” and “I Was A Teenage Slasher”, and meeting Hayley Dennings as she signed copies of “This Ravenous Fate” (vampires are so hot right now. Heck, even standing in line with fellow fans was a treat, as Kate had some lovely conversations with other book enthusiasts as she stood in line waiting ever so patiently for the book signing to commence.

Panels

There were also several excellent panels that we checked out! Serena was particularly interested in a mystery panel titled “Writing Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century.” Not only was the topic right up her alley, but Laurie R. King was one of the featured panelists and her “Mary Russell” series is one of the first adaptations of Holmes that Serena read and loved! Kate had three panels in particular that she found particularly fascinating. The first was a panel on Indigenous Representation in Children’s and YA Literature and how it has changed and grown over the years, and how more Native voices have started to come through.

The second was a author talk from a few horror and thriller authors that all have books coming out this fall and into the winter. And the final one was about Genre Fiction and how ir can reflect certain aspects of society, with authors who all work through indie presses talking about their inspirations and what it is like working with indie presses as opposed to larger publishing companies. There were certainly a few titles from these panels that Kate cannot wait to check out.

San Diego

We also had a lot of fun exploring San Diego! We both went down and ventured around the marina at various points (while we weren’t stuck waiting for various freight trains to move along the tracks and allow pedestrians to cross out of the convention hall!). We also ate at several nice restaurants, with live music and even belly dancing! On our last night, we ventured up to the rooftop bar at our hotel and got to hear the opening part of the Blink 182 concert that was playing at the stadium next to us! Luckily, they have a hard cutoff time of 11 pm for concerts since we’re now old ladies who need our sleep!

It’s also always nice being so close to the ocean, and while we didn’t get TOO close, we could see it from the convention center and could see various boats, as well as a view of Coronado Island. And given that it was generally sunny and bright while we were there while back home in Minnesota it was pretty rainy (as it par for the course this summer), it was nice being out and about and not having to carry around an umbrella.

Overall it was a very successful conference. We feel like we learned a lot, we got a lot of exciting new books that we can’t wait to dive into, and having a fun break in routine together was a pleasure. Next year the conference is going to be in Philadelphia, and we are hoping that we will be able to go and report back from there as well. Until then, thanks ALAAC24!! We had a great time!

ALA Annual Convention 2023: Highlights!

While we are both currently out of the library field, one way that we like to stay in contact with the field is to attend the annual convention for the American Library Association. This year’s convention was in Chicago, IL, so we were able to carpool our way down and spend a long weekend immersing ourselves in all things libraries and books! Here are a few highlights from our time!

Panels: We attended several panels over the course of the weekend. As both of us our very interested in readers advisory, many of these discussions featured authors discussing their books and the trends they are seeing in various genres. Serena attended a panel titled “Isn’t it Romantic?” that saw four romance authors discussing their upcoming titles and the continuing trend of the expanded horizons about just who romance titles can be written about and for! This included a romance about a environmental activist, as well as one that featured a chronically ill leading lady. As for Kate, she was able to go to a panel called “Boo!: Horror in Children’s and Young Adult Literature”, and got to hear some insights about why horror appeals to young people by people like Ryan La Sala, Daniel Kraus, Alex Brown, and and Kristen Simmons. It’s always really fun to see what authors have to say about the books they have written, and what they think about the process itself.

Authors: One of the highlights of ALA every year is the opportunity to meet some of our favorite authors! And this year was no exception! While Serena was very disappointed that T. Kingfisher had to cancel at the last minute, she was excited to meet Ehigbor Okosun whose upcoming fantasy title “Forged by Blood” is on her TBR pile for August. Another favorite was Beth Revis and Sara Raasch whose book, “Night of the Witch,” is slated for later this fall. She was also excited to meet Sherri Duskey Rinker and get copies of two of her “Construction Site” picture books for her boys! Kate’s highlights included getting to meet a couple of her favorite authors at the moment. The first was the always amazing and deeply insightful Stephen Graham Jones, who was promoting his new graphic novel “Earthdivers Vol. 1: Kill Columbus”, and the second was the horror queen Darcy Coates, who has jumped into the YA horror scene with “Where He Can’t Find You”.

Books: Sooooo many books! We both picked up a ton of upcoming and backlisted titles that we can’t wait to check out! Do we have an unreasonable number of tote bags and books to add to already-strained TBR lists? Yes, yes we do. Do we feel any shame about this? No, no we do not. Serena was incredibly excited to get copies of Pierce Brown’s upcoming “Red Rising” book, “Light Bringer,” as well as Mara Rutherford’s “A Multitude of Dreams” and Thea Guanzon’s “The Hurricane Wars.” And Kate’s haul was immense and mostly horror themed, with “Black River Orchard” by Chuck Wendig and “What Kind of Mother” by Clay McLeod Chapman being included in the bunch. But then there were the more surprising titles, like the upcoming romances “Check & Mate” by Ali Hazelwood and “Kiss the Girl” by Zoraida Córdova (and yes, that is a “Little Mermaid” reimagining if you were wondering.

And really, the setting of Chicago was a a lot of fun too! We live in Minnesota as you all know, so we were able to drive. Road trips are always super entertaining, after all. But Chicago as a city is always a joy, with deep dish pizza, a Great Lake, easy to walk attractions, and a certain vibe that just can’t be replicated by any other big city in the U.S.

Given that we are both happy and exhausted as ALAAC23 has come to an end, we want to thank everyone who made it so special, from the organizers to the authors to the publishers to the librarians. We will hopefully see you all next year in San Diego, California!

Blog Award Winners 3: The Revenge

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That’s right, guys. We are, once again, Blogger Award Winners!!! We really, REALLY are so very humbled by this honor, and wish to extend our thanks to everyone who reads this blog. We are two women who loves books and reading, and are so thrilled that our love of books and reading can be shared with all of you.

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The Liebster Awared is given to bloggers by other bloggers. It has been around since 2011 and is to help promote blogs! We were nominated by Brit at Book Beyond, and we have to thank you, Brit, for being so kind! The rules are as follows:

1. Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award.

2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you.

3. Give 11 random facts about yourself.

4. Nominate 11 blogs (with under 200 followers).

5. Notify these blogs of the nomination.

6. Give them 11 questions to answer.

So let’s get started.

The Questions:

1. God appears before you. “Hey friend,” he says, “because you’re so great, I’m allowing you to choose your own life expectancy. How long do you fancy being alive for?” You could be alive indefinitely if you so choose – how many years do you ask for?  

Kate: I would like to live as long as I have control of all my faculties.

Serena: I second what Kate said. I’ve read too many stories with “fairy gifts” like this that end up with you living forever but still aging normally. The stuff of nightmares.

2. If you could be incredibly talented at one thing, what would you choose?

Kate: Writing.

Serena: Piano

3. What would you like to be famous for?

Kate: I don’t want to be famous. Too much pressure.

Serena: Cat-whispering

4. Where is your favorite place you have ever been?

Kate: Hawai’i. Or London. OR Savannah, Georgia. I refuse to pick one.

Serena: Tricky. Neatness-wise, Cinque Terre in Italy. But favorite implies more, so probably the remote cabin I grew up in in northern Idaho.

5. If you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Kate: Jeans, a tee shirt, and sneakers. Ya gotta be comfortable.

Serena: Skirt, leggings, tank top and cardigan. For the same reasons.

6. Who is your favourite classic Disney character of all time?

Kate: Of heroes, it’s gotta be Belle. Of villains, Maleficent all the way (and NOT the Angelina Jolie nonsense version either!).

Serena: Same with Belle, pretty much a required opinion for librarians! But since we’re including villains as well, I’d go with Scar based purely on the fact that I think he’s got one of the best villain songs.

7. Which book would you just ADORE a one of a kind, cloth bound, beautifully illustrated copy of?

Kate: “The Lord of the Rings”!!!!

Serena: “Daughter of the Forest” by Juliet Marillier

8. If you could know the answer to one world mystery or conspiracy theory, what would you pick?

Kate: I think finally figuring out who Jack the Ripper was could be pretty cool…

Serena: The fact that I can’t even think of a world mystery off the top of my head might say something about me.

9. Who was your childhood crush, and why?

Kate: Jeff Goldblum!!!!! I have a thing for tall, geeky, charming Jewish men. See my husband for proof of this.

Serena: Cary Elwes, mostly from “The Princess Bride” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” I feel like the “why ” of this one is fairly obvious… Also Jeff Goldblum. There’s a reason Kate and I are besties.

10. Who is your current crush, and why?

Kate: My husband if I’m being boring and pragmatic. If I’m being fanciful, well…. JamesSpaderBobOdenkirkAdamDriverMichaelMcMillianKitHarringtonJoshCharlesMichaelIanBlackIdrisElbaetcetcetc… Because I’m boy crazy.

Serena: Same with the actual answer (my husband, not hers, obviously). But the more fun one is probably Jensen Ackles from “Supernatural.” Which has probably been the same answer I’ve had to this question since I started watching that show like a million years ago (true fact: it’s almost been a million years at this point, they’re on season 13 for crying out loud!)

11. What is your favorite internet meme that never fails to make you smile?

Kate: Well I have a lot of them, but currently I’m enjoying THIS ONE a whole lot.

Serena: 1013401_778010429150_1381175429_n

11 Facts (Split Between Us)

Kate’s Facts: 

  • Up until very recently I was lactose intolerant. Now I can basically consume all the dairy products. Except for, ironically, milk itself (was that the correct use of irony or the Alanis use?).
  • I once met former Minnesota Governor/Current Conspiracy Wackadoo Jesse Ventura at a reception where Vincent Bugliosi was speaking. It was high school and a friend and I got pulled into a conversation about slush funds with him.
  • I once met Prince when he came through the museum I was working at. Did I keep my cool? Not really.
  • I’ve played the flute and the guitar (both not terribly well), and I sang in choir throughout high school.
  • Some friends and I made movies in high school, two as final projects and one just for fun. We did an adaptation of “Hamlet”, the myth of Theseus, and then for fun we did our own version of “Once More, With Feeling”, the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” musical. I still have the raw tapes of the Buffy one.

Serena’s Facts:

  • I am allergic to nickel which results in major life changes like…not wearing all types of earrings?
  • I used to drive a Toyota pick up and now I drive a Scion IQ. The change is major.
  • I have a cat that I named Tucker after the character in the short-lived 90s Disney TV show “Flash Forward.”
  • I took tap dance lessons for 5 years.
  • I love ping pong and, at one point, was (embarrassingly) good at it.

Joint Fact: 

  • As well as trivia, for awhile we were on a volleyball team together (though Kate had to quit because she’s a self-professed temper tantrumer).

11 Questions For You:

  • If you could be transported to any fantasy world just for a day, where would you go?
  •  Do you know your Myers Briggs Type? If so, what is it?
  • You can have any kind of mystical creature for a pet. Which do you pick?
  • Did you have any irrational fears when you were growing up? What were they?
  • Do you have any favorite myths (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, etc)?
  • Who would you bet on in a fight? A witch or a vampire?
  • Desert island: which five books?
  • If you could have one super power, what would it be?
  • If you could visit only one website for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  • What household chore do you hate the most?
  • What is your favorite snack food?

Our Nominees:

The Untitled Book Blog

CoffeeLoving Bookaholic

The Ceaseless Reader Writes

BookVBook

Midnight Breakfast Cafe

YA and Wine

Dressed to Read

A Book. A Thought.

jenacidebybibliophile

Literary Dust

Yaps

 

Announcement: We’re Blogger Award Winners… Again!

We are once again humbled and honored to announce that our blog has been nominated for an award! The Versatile Blogger Award is an award that “… consider[s] the quality of the writing, the uniqueness of the subjects covered, the level of love displayed in the words on the virtual page. (source)”

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The Rules of the Versatile Blogger Award (as taken and quoted from their website):

  •  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
  •  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
  •  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
  •  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
  •  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

So first and foremost, we want to give a big thanks to Denny at his blog The Ceaseless Reader Writes, who was kind enough to nominate us for this blogging award. Kate and Denny connected because they had both read and reviewed the book “Cold Calling.” He is a voracious reader and poet, who along with reading enjoys going outdoors and writes poetry. Definitely check that blog out!

So seven things about ourselves. Since there are two of us, we will each take three on our own, and then will share the last fact together.

Kate’s Facts:

  1. Along with reading, I also greatly enjoy landscape photography. I’m no Ansel Adams by any means, but I like to take photos of all kinds of landscapes whenever I travel.
  2. I like going to Sci-Fi/Fantasy conventions, and yeah, I do the occasional cosplay. The most recent cosplay I’ve done is Edina Monsoon (and a friend of mine was Patsy Stone) from “Absolutely Fabulous”.
  3. I used to work at two historic sites in the Twin Cities, Historic Fort Snelling, and the Alexander Ramsey House. At the Ramsey House during the holiday season I usually was in charge of baking cookies on a wood burning stove. No lie.

Serena’s Facts:

  1. Another hobby of mine is cross-stitching. Yes, I am well on my way to fulfilling all of the cat lady requirements. Life goals! I am currently working on a massive project depicting scenes from most of Shakespeare’s plays. It has already taken years, and will take many more to finish, but I love it.
  2. I do, on occasion, venture out of the house. In fact, my husband and I both very much enjoy hiking and camping. We’re taking a trip to Glacier National Park this coming fall and are very excited about it.
  3. Before librarianship, I’ve worked in a lot of weird jobs: community fire brigade, wilderness EMT, bus driver, house keeper, cooking at a bakery, newspaper copy editor, and last and definitely least, Subway “sandwich artist.”

Joint Fact:

  1. We are on a weekly trivia team together with our husbands and a couple other friends. One of us is helpful (Kate). And one of is…less so (Serena). Serena’s just there for the wine, let’s be honest.

We Nominate:

The Perpetual Page-Turner

On Starships and Dragonwings

Dark Wolf’s Paraphernalia

Navigating Neverland

Fine Print

The Middle Shelf

Sci-Fi Fan Letter

Rinn Reads

The Untitled Book Blog

ReadRetRead Podcast

Kristen Twardowski

YAPS!

Bec’s Books

Books That Shook Us

Book V Book (Note: This site hasn’t updated in awhile, but it is still a great idea!)

Once again we are so thankful to those of you who follow us, and to Denny, who gave us this shout out.

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Thank you and good day. (source)

 

Serena’s ALAAC17 Experience: Books I Got

Over this past weekend, we had the honor to attending the Annual American Library Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois. ALAAC17 was a get together of librarians from all over the country (and in some cases the world) to come together and celebrate libraries, literacy, books, and information sciences. This week we are going to share with you the things that we saw, the things we did, and the books that we got that we are the most excited for.

Serena’s Top 5 Books from ALAAC 2017

33158525“Wishtree” by Katherine Applegate

As we all know, I am a massive fan of Applegate’s Animorphs series, and for a long time, that’s all I ever knew here as. It wasn’t until I was in library school and her Newbery Medal award winning book “The One and Only Ivan” was assigned as a reading requirement that she came back on my radar. It was pretty shocking to me, in a lot of ways. I mean, I always knew she was a great author, but the Animorphs books, rightly and not rightly, were not thought of as “high literature” for kids and teens. So it was thrilling to see her literary talents on display in KIMG0622a manner that couldn’t be poo-pooed away as just all that sci-fi nonsense. All of that said, once I knew she’d be at ALA, I gathered up my favorite Animrophs book and got in line. The book she was signing is her latest middle grade novel, “Wishtree,” a story told from the perspective of “Red” an ancient oak tree that has come to be known as the wishtree by those in its neighborhood. When a new family moves into the area, Red learns how important wishes are for those who aren’t always welcomed everywhere they go. Also…I got a picture with her and it was so exciting! I was at my all time most fangirling state ever.

83067411“Thick as Thieves” by Megan Whalen Turner

I got to meet Megan Whalen Turner twice, not counting the third time when I got to listen to her present at a panel! It was all super exciting for me, a long-time fan of her “The Queen’s Thief” series. It’s been around 5 years since her last book came out, and there’s typically a rather lengthy period between the publication dates of her novels. To me, this just builds the anticipation. But I felt so bad for her! Both at the book signing and at the YA Coffee Klatch where I met her a second time, she was busy apologizing for the long wait for her book and I just wanted to hug her and be like “Stop apologizing! We’d all wait forever for your next book! They’re THAT good, and if it takes longer to write them to maintain the ridiculous level of quality to storytelling that you have, don’t apologize for it!” Her latest story features Kamet, who we met several books ago, and who is the personal slave to a Mede diplomat. Slave or not, Kamet sees a bright future of power and control coming his way, as he is soon to be given to the heir to the emperor. All of this goes out of the window when his master is murdered and he is blamed for it and must go on the run with an Attolian soldier, fleeing to the backwards kingdom of Attolia itself with its ridiculous thief-made-puppet-King, Gen. Expect a review for this one coming up soon, as I’ve already dived in!

32991569“Jane, Unlimited” by Kristen Cashore

I’ve been a fan of Kristen Cashore since devouring “Graceling” many years ago. I then proceeded to read the next two novels in the series, and have been waiting for a new story from her since! It’s been a while since she’s written anything or appeared anywhere, so meeting here at ALA was very exciting. She also spoke on a panel I attended and had some interesting thoughts on what it means to write YA and whether young adult readers are really that different from adults. At the same panel, one women asked (rather inappropriately since the panel was a general session, not a meet and greet with the specific authors there….conference 19429839_10154357686492757_3387062802618176631_netiquette lesson!) whether the ARC version of “Jane, Unlimited” had the chapters in the right order (yes, ARCs are uncorrected but not THAT bad!), and Kristen said she wasn’t surprised to be asked. So, now I’m very curious about this book! From the description, it seems like a fairly straight forward story of a girl who is in mourning for the loss of her caretaker and Aunt who died several months ago, when she gets caught up in the glamours, and dangerous, lives of a wealthy family. Excited to read it and find out what’s what!

29246020“Skythe” by Neal Shusterman

The story behind this one was of me walking past a super short line for a signed copy of this book, thinking to myself, “Man, I shouldn’t, I already have too many,” then meeting Neal Shusterman at the YA Coffee Klatch and hearing all about this book which sounded amazing and having all the regrets. I then went back to the booth and was lucky enough to snag a copy, but I missed out big time on that signature opportunity! Shusterman described the idea of this book as his desire to right about what the world would look like after we’ve solved many of the problems we struggle with today. Notably, we’ve cured ageing and it is possible to live forever. To deal with population control, scythes came into existence: an organization dedicated to randomly killing off people. The story follows Citra and Rowan who have been apprenticed to a scythe and are now facing the challenge of what it means to take on this role. Definitely sounds intriguing, so big points to Shusterman for a successful book talk that snagged my interest!

29749085“Wonder Woman: Warbringer” by Leigh Bardugo

Take a guess as to what book on this list was the one that Kate teased up yesterday? Shocking no one, it is “Wonder Woman: Warbringer.” This book has been on my list ever since I heard about it and when I saw a massive crowd gathering around a booth at ALA, I wandered over and was not at all surprised to see that it was this book inciting the hysteria. I snuck my way in and was able to nab a copy for both me and Kate. I don’t think I need to go into much detail about why I’m excited for this book, cuz…obviously. It’s an added perk that this one is written by Leigh Bardugo. This book is the first of a foursome of DC heroes who are getting novel adaptations in a “DC Icons” run, and I have some feelings about the authors chosen to write the other books (notably “Catwoman”s author being Sarah J. Maas whose books have left me pretty frustrated in the past.) But Bardugo is a solid choice, and I’m excited to see what angle she takes for Diana’s tale.

And that’s it, folks! Our week of ALA-related posts has come to an end. Next week we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming with our July Highlights post and more book reviews! Have a happy Fourth of July weekend to all of our U.S. readers!

Kate’s ALAAC17 Experience: Books I Got

Over this past weekend, we had the honor of attending the Annual American Library Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois. ALAAC17 was a get together of librarians from all over the country (and in some cases the world) to come together and celebrate libraries, literacy, books, and information sciences. This week we are going to share with you the things that we saw, the things we did, and the books that we got that we are the most excited for.

Kate’s Top 5 Books from ALAAC 2017

15797848“There’s Someone Inside Your House” by Stephanie Perkins

This book is being described as “YA meets “Scream””, so you know that I am one hundred percent here for it. Students at a high school called Osbourne High are being picked off one by one and murdered in increasingly horrific ways. New girl Makani finds herself in the middle of it all, wondering if she will be next. But Makani has secrets of her own that she is trying to forget. Now she may have to confront her past as well as a killer. I went looking for horror and thrillers at this convention when it came to to the books that I wanted to come home with, and I feel like I found it and then some with this book. It’s been on my personal radar for awhile, and I was absolutely stoked when I was able to get a copy of it to take home. It’s not easy to find slasher horror that translates well to the page, so I am really hoping that Perkins can make it work.

24974996“Dear Martin” by Nic Stone

I really, REALLY enjoyed “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, and when I heard that she had really good things to say about “Dear Martin”, I knew that I needed to keep an eye out for it. It’s a story that feels all to real and relevant, with more and more stories in the news of African Americans being victimized by the police, which means it’s all the more important. Justyce is an A student filled to the brim with extracurriculars and a bright future. But all the police officer to puts him in handcuffs sees is the color of his skin. While Justyce is released without charges, he’s completely shaken up by his experience. He starts to feel the derision and contempt from his classmates and those around him at school, and so to cope he starts a diary in which he writes letters to Martin Luther King Jr. Given that here in Minnesota we are still feeling the fallout from the Philando Castille/Jeronimo Yanez verdict, this feels like a book that I need to read ASAP.

32957193“When I Am Through With You” by Stephanie Kuehn

When I asked the publisher rep about “There’s Someone Inside Your House”, one of them said that if I wanted that one she had another one in mind for me. When she handed me Stephanie Kuehn’s new book “When I Am Through With You” I started jumping up and down. As you all know, I LOVE Stephanie Kuehn’s novels, as they take gritty and dark thriller lit and expertly make it seamlessly YA. And this one is a CAMPING TRIP NIGHTMARE!! ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS! When a group of teenagers go camping, something goes terribly wrong. Now Ben is in jail, and while he isn’t claiming it to be a confession, he is saying he will say what happened to Rose, even though he isn’t sorry about what he did. He tells the tale of what happened on the camping trip, who lived, who died, and potentially why. Kuehn is so good at exploring the psyches of messed up and tragic people, and I am very excited to have this one on my shelf.

31123250“Ravenous” by Amy Lukavics

If you recall, I absolutely LOVED Lukavics’ book “Daughters Unto Devils”, but was a bit underwhelmed by her other book “Women in the Walls”. That said, I know that she has a serious talent for writing straight up horror for teenagers, and so I’m more than willing to give “Ravenous” a try. The Canes are a seemingly put together and loving military family, but the reality is the sisters hate each other, their father is always gone, and their mother is lost in her own world of sadness and addiction. But when Rose Cane, the youngest sister of the bunch, dies tragically, the sisters are completely ruined… Until Rose comes back to life, and has a need to eat human flesh. Now the Cane sisters need to figure out how badly they want to keep their family together. ZOMBIES, GUYS.

30251972“Strange Weather” by Joe Hill

As I am sure you guys can imagine, when I saw that “Strange Weather” by Joe Hill was available at ALA I practically screamed. Hill is one of my favorite authors writing today, and I have been aching for this book since I finished “The Fireman” last year. In this book Hill is kind of taking a page from his father’s work structure wise, as it’s four novellas combined into one book. They sound like they run the gamut from the bittersweet to the scary, the surreal and whimsical to the disturbing and finite. A camera erases memories. A cloud is solid and traps a skydiver. The sky rains nails. A man stops a mass shooting but loses his sanity. I just know that Hill is going to write all of these stories with a deft hand and deep insight, and that I will no doubt end up curled up on the floor rocking back and forth either because I’m so freaked out, or because it’s so damn good.

Tomorrow Serena will be giving her book highlights. Keep an eye out, because there is one on there that I got as well and that I’m VERY excited for along with these. Suffice to say, ALAAC17 was a success all around, and I am so glad that we were able to go and experience all parts of it.

 

 

Serena’s ALAAC17 Experience: What I Saw

Over this past weekend, we had the honor of attending the Annual American Library Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois. ALAAC17 was a get together of librarians from all over the country (and in some cases the world) to come together and celebrate libraries, literacy, books, and information sciences. This week we are going to share with you the things that we saw, the things we did, and the books that we got that we are the most excited for.

Serena’s Top 3 Events from ALAAC 2017

As Kate said, this wasn’t our first rodeo at the massive library festival that is the ALA annual conference. In many ways, I feel like this fact allowed me to more fully enjoy this experience. If anything, knowing the ins and outs of things saved me a lot of time standing in lines when I knew better the tips and tricks for when to get where and how early. This was also my first trip to Chicago, and other than the nightmare traffic (thank God Kate was driving and handled all the challenges of massive city driving with aplomb), I very much enjoyed experiencing the culture the city had to offer. As Kate also mentioned, we went with largely the same group of library friends this time around. And, again, being the second go-around I think this opened up more pathways for everyone to pursue panels/speakers/author signings as they wished rather than needing to move in a massive, terrified-by-Vegas-and-the-crazy-convention-crowds group that we did before. I had a great time hanging out with all of my library friends at these various events! But, as I can’t highlight them all, here are my top three! (My phone takes awful pictures, so you’ll have to excuse the lack of photography for my post, unlike Kate’s!)

“Generation Gap: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Look at Youth and Technology” Panel

19510464_10154357686052757_2124766542408213575_nSo, I’ll be honest, the main reason I slotted this panel into my schedule was because I discovered that this would be the one and only place where V.E. Schwab would be signing copies of her books. But, that less-library-oriented-than-it-should-be reason for attendance aside, I was pleasantly surprised by the content of the panel itself and the variety of topics related to technology, libraries, and publishing that were covered. Open access, gaming, and publishing challenges with DRM (digital rights management) were all topics that were brought up and discussed, both from the perspective of the authors on the panel, and through comments by the librarians in attendance. Many of these questions didn’t have clear answers, which was part of what made this panel stand out in my mind. The authors on the panel were:

“Problem Solving: Teaching STEM with Comics” Panel

audubon-cover-rgbOn Friday, before the true madness began, there was a whole day of sessions targeted towards different subjects having to do with comics and graphic novels. While I went in mostly interested in a later panel that had to do with how graphic novels can be catalysts for change in society, looking back, this panel focusing on non-fiction graphic novels really stood out. I’m not a huge non-fiction reader myself, but coming from that perspective, I can see the huge potential for using graphic novels as a way to introduce non-fiction topics in a way that will appeal to readers who may feel intimidated by traditional non-fiction publishing. Specifically, it was noted how graphic novels allow authors to deep-dive into a very specific topic, but leave them free to not provide an entire history of other elements that may surround it, as many non-fiction biographies and histories are almost required to do. I unfortunately failed to take good notes this early in the conference, but “Audubon” and “Inconegro” and “The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation” were a few that were mentioned.

2017 Alex Awards Panel

29093776Kate and I ended up at this one purely based on the unadulterated fun that we had at the Las Vegas conference when we got the sheer pleasure of hearing John Searles present (supposedly) about his book “Help for the Haunted.” What we got instead was, in his own words, “reckless gossip!” and it was amazing. So, while we knew that this previous experience was probably an outlier from what Alex Award panels are typically like, we knew we’d have to slot this one in anyways. There were shockingly few slide shows that involved Zumba instructors in giant Jack-o-lantern tank tops, but it was still quite interesting all the same. I hadn’t heard of many of the authors on the panel, and now have an even longer reading list due to this event. One common feature that became clear was the need for honesty in young adult literature. Teens aren’t looking for the harsh truths of life to be glossed over for them, and many of these authors’ works tackled serious topics in an upfront manner, presumably a trait that contributed to their winning this award. The authors on the panel were:

Next up, Kate’s top five books that she nabbed while at the conference!

 

 

Kate’s ALAAC17 Experience: What I Saw

Over this past weekend, we had the honor of attending the Annual American Library Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois. ALAAC17 was a get together of librarians from all over the country (and in some cases the world) to come together and celebrate libraries, literacy, books, and information sciences. This week we are going to share with you the things that we saw, the things we did, and the books that we got that we are the most excited for.

Kate’s Top 3 Events from ALAAC 2017

Ah, ALAAC (American Library Association Annual Conference). The conference where librarians come together to mingle, educate, and get a sneak preview of books that are coming out in the near future, as well as meet the authors who write them. This isn’t my first ALA experience, as in 2014 I went with Serena and our friends from library school. That time it was in Las Vegas, a city that seems like a strange choice for librarians. The good news is that we got into some odd shenanigans at the Pepper Mill and have many stories to tell. This time, however, it was in Chicago, and the deep dish pizza was far more appetizing than the desert scorch. It was mostly the same group that went again this year, though since it was the second time for most of us we knew the ins and outs of the convention and what to expect. In this post I will talk about the three things I saw that I liked the most.

Gene Luen Yang Speaking

genluenGene Luen Yang is a pretty formidable guy. Not only does he write acclaimed comics such as “American Born Chinese”, “Boxers and Saints”, and “The Shadow Hero”, he is also the current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His big project with this is the ‘Reading Without Walls Challenge’, in which he encourages young people to go outside their usual comfort levels when it comes to reading and to try reading 1) a book about someone who doesn’t look or live like you, 2) a book about a topic you don’t know much about, or 3) a book in format you don’t normally read for fun. He is an inspired speaker and absolutely charming, and hearing him talk about how he started writing comics was heartfelt and inspirational. Plus, he totally passed me during a panel and said a polite ‘hello’ to me, which seriously made my day. He had a lot to say about the need for diversity and windows and mirrors in children’s literature, and he also had some really fun and insightful things to say about Superman vs Batman. Basically, I love this guy and loved that I got to see him. 

The Young Adult Author Coffee Klatch

yacoffeeThe last time we went to ALAAC we participated in the YA Coffee Klatch, in which YA authors visit your table for five minutes and talk about their most recent book. I basically had a heart attach when Marcus Sedgwick sat at our table last time. This time, not only did I have one heart attack, I had multiple, because we got some SERIOUSLY AWESOME authors to sit with us. When the first one to sit down was Neal Shusterman to talk about his book “Scythe”, it was already worth it. But then we also got to hear from Kwame Alexander and Nnedi Okorafor, two other really big authors. Seeing as I LOVED the book “Akata Witch” and am excited for Alexander’s upcoming “Solo”, it felt like we had hit the jackpot with this coffee klatch this year. Though we only scratched the surface of the people that we got to see, we still got some good titles to look forward to, or to pick up already (I still need to get my hands on “Scythe,” and this just reminded me of that). And plus, I’m never going to say no to free coffee, especially when we have to get up early.

The Booklist 50 Years of YA Panel

yapanelOkay, so yeah, it’s all pretty YA oriented for me, but that is my passion as a librarian, and once again there was a great panel about the topic. Daniel José Older, Kristin Cashore, Brandy Colbert, Nicola Yoon, Neal Shusterman, Deborah Heiligman, and Megan Whalen Turner all gave their insights into the genre that they write, past, present, and future. Given that I LOVE Shusterman and Yoon, this was bound to be a winner from the get go. But everyone had some really good things to say about teens, the genre as a whole, and where it should go (as in to keep striving for diversity). It was a very good opportunity to see some of the best in the business.

Next up from me is hearing about the five top books I got at ALA that I’m most excited for. Because yes, this is also the kind of event where not only do you get free books, you get books that haven’t even come out yet. But before that, Serena is going to tell you the cool things that she did while at ALAAC 2017!!