Sass and Serendipity: Take the poll!

Please welcome ShelfConsumed's very first guest blogger, YA author Jennifer Ziegler! 

Jenny is the adorable author of How Not to be Popular, a 2009 Texas Lone Star reading list selection.  Recently a fellow librarian and I ran into her at the TLA conference, and she asked our opinion about the cover of her new book, Sass and Serendipity.  "I love the cover," Jenny remarked, "But I don't know which girl represents Gabby (Sass) and which one is Daphne (Serendipity)."

Since I'm obsessed with the covers of books, I love Jenny's idea of a poll in which you, the readers, get to cast your vote as to which sister is the one in the purple dress with the crossed ankles. 

Let the fun begin!

Jennifer Ziegler writes...
Growing up, I hated having a sister. My sister Amanda spied on me and tattled on me and took my stuff without asking. She even once pulled a knife on me. (It was a round-tipped butter knife and all she did was threaten – but still!)

Amanda and I shared a bedroom from the day our brother Jason was born until the day I left for college. It was tough not having my own space where I could keep my stuff – and my secrets – safe and sound.

Now that we’re both adults, Amanda and I are the best of friends. It’s comforting to have someone who understands you so well … who knows what worries you and what cheers you …who can pick out the perfect gifts and YouTube clips to pass along to you … who can recall the exact face Dad made the day he discovered the petrified piece of something in your brother’s room and then laugh about it with you.

Back when I was sixteen and yelling at Amanda that I wish she’d been taken home from the hospital by a different family – preferably a gypsy family who roamed far away from our house – I never would have guessed that someday I would miss her and want to see her more often. But I do.

My relationship with Amanda was a big source of inspiration for my new novel, SASS & SERENDIPITY, which comes out July 12. The book is about Gabby and Daphne Rivera, two sisters who live in a present-day small Texas town. Gabby is the older one. She is sassy and super-responsible and believes that “true love” is just an excuse for people to go crazy. Daphne, the younger sis, is an optimistic daydreamer who believes that any guy could potentially be “the one.” It was a joy to write and I’m very proud of the results.

One of the last steps in creating a book is the concept for the cover art. As the author, I can have input on the cover, but I don’t design it. Mainly what I do is cross my fingers and hope that the art department at my publishing house will “get” my book and create an image that evokes both the theme and mood of my story. Happily, they did both with this design. In my view, it perfectly captures the classic-meets-modern, silly-meets-romantic, sweet-meets-edgy atmosphere of my novel.

But one detail isn’t clear on the front cover: Whose feet are whose? Do the crossed ankles of the sister in the purple dress belong to Daphne – the one who believes in romance, true love and serendipity? Or do they belong to sassy, dependable, no-nonsense Gabby?

I’ve decided to let readers decide. What do you think? Please cast your vote and help me decide which girl is which.

Help! Who do the crossed feet belong to?

Gabby (SASS) or Daphne (SERENDIPITY)?

QuestionsView Results

Working on your "to don't" list

Other people's "to do" lists fascinate me. Many people simply jot a list of tasks on a legal pad and mark them off when finished. Others have elaborate systems involving color-coded pens, multiple notebooks, and grids.

I quit writing a "to do" list a year or so ago when I realized a) it was depressing, and b) I was spending time on the "to do" list that I could actually be spending "to doing" instead. But that's another post.

You may not be ready to give up your "to do" list, but some management geniuses think you should work on a "to don't" list.

Come again?

In a fantastic piece this week, Daniel Pink draws from the ideas of Tom Peters and Jim Collins to suggest that we could improve our work with a "to don't" or "stop doing" list. Some of my colleagues have been talking about a similar idea of selective abandonment. Selective abandonment!

In other words, what things can you just not do anymore?

*Things that cause you to lose focus (Tom Peters)
*Things that cause you to be busy but not productive (Jim Collins)
*Things that cause you to spend less time doing good work & on the people you care about (Daniel Pink)

In regard to the library, I would also add the following:

*Things that take time away from helping kids and teachers
*Things that serve as a roadblock to kids or that make the library less welcoming
*Things that misplace the focus of the program

Below are a few items that I would encourage you to consider for your "to don't" list:

*Fines (punitive; sends the wrong message; a hassle)
*Overdue notices (ditto)
*Library orientation (wastes valuable time on procedures & stuff kids won't remember)
*Passes & signing in (your administrator may require this, but if not, why do you?)
*Fixed library schedule (ditto)
*Lessons in isolation (i.e. here's how to use the databases for LATER; not how we learn)
*Assigning the task of checking out to library staff (more efficient and empowering to allow kids to cko)

What would you add to the list?

As with goals, lists become real when we write them down. Why not begin your "to don't" list for the library today?

Counting the cost of librarian job losses

Early this morning I received an email from the Texas Association of School Librarians (TASL) listserv.  Carolyn Foote, a high school librarian near Austin, TX, has created a Google map to pinpoint job losses of librarians, library aides, and library directors in Texas.

When I first opened the map this morning, it was basically blank.  This afternoon it is a sea of blue pin points, and I'm sure more will follow.  It is heartbreaking.

It is heartbreaking to consider the hundreds of persons who will be out of work. 
It is heartbreaking to consider the hundreds of schools that will be without library services.
It is heartbreaking to consider how many years it will take to rebound from these cuts.

And most of all, it is heartbreaking to consider the thousands of kids who won't have a librarian. 
Who will hand these kids that one book that turns them into readers for life?
Who will show these kids how to be fluent in this information age?

The cost of these jobs is devastating on so many levels and for so many years to come.

Spring for PoetryTagTime

With the arrival of April, spring and poetry are in the air.  An exciting way to celebrate both is with the very first electronic-only poetry anthology, PoetryTagTime.  In this delightful offering for kids of all ages, 30 poets create new poems in a "tag-you're it" fashion.

Jack Prelutsky, Nikki Grimes, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Douglas Florian, Helen Frost, Jane Yolen, X.J. Kennedy, Paul B. Janeczko, and a host of others share a poem as well as the inspiration from the previous poet that sparked the idea.

The idea for the anthology is the creative work of Dr. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, and poetry lovers will want to explore both their sites for fabulous poetry resources.  PoetryTagTime is available on Amazon or bn.com for only .99, and the format looks great on both my iPhone and iPad.

Spring for PoetryTagTime and share a poem and a special moment with your favorite kiddo today.