My blog reviews new books for young adults and discusses the world of literacy education to help librarians and educators wade through the massive amount of young adult literature being published. Since the experience of reading is in the midst of a complete upheaval, people often ask, "Why bother with anything as old-fashioned as books?" I truly believe books--the physical manifestation of a writer connecting with a reader--will never die, but the delivery medium will change and continue to evolve. So the sharing opinions of good reading material –whether it’s found in a printed book, a Kindle or Nook version or even a EPub file—can help librarians wade through the massive influx of information bombarding us daily via the Internet and allow them the ability to share that material with their students. From time to time I also like to include news items, especially technology related, librarians might have missed to help keep them ahead of the curve.
I have been involved in education in one way or another for the past 30 years. I was a language arts teacher for the first 20 years and then became a librarian--first at a middle school and most recently at the high school level. I have written reviews of young adult books for the past eleven years for School Library Journal. I always teach my students the only way to improve your writing is to write so I must do as I say and write--therefore the blog. I can include my reviews as well as pass along tidbits of news items I feel could be useful to librarians!
We have the opportunity to experience one of the most dramatic changes in publishing history--comparable to the advent of the printing press. Keeping abreast of technological change as it applies to the publishing industry while sharing the love of reading in whatever form the words are delivered--a lofty goal to be sure, but sure sounds fun to try, right?
