Celebrate National Poetry Month & Become A Book Spine Poet!

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidyuweb

April is a month absolutely bursting with celebrations! We frequently associate April with events like April Fools' Day, Earth Day, and the beginning of spring.  However, April also happens to be National Humor Month, International Guitar Month, & National Welding Month! 
Here at NCS, we are especially excited that April is also National Poetry Month! 


To acknowledge this month-long celebration of verse, the NCS Library is challenging everyone in our community to become book spine poets!

What in the world is book spine poetry?

 

Book spine poetry appeared in pop culture back in 1993 through American artist Nina Katchadourian’s 'Sorted Books' project in which she grouped books from various collections into clusters so that the titles on their spines could be read in from top to bottom as a sentence. The concept was further adapted by critic and writer Maria Popova who featured the idea of creating short poems from the spines of arranged book piles on her blog ‘Brain Pickings.’ 

Check out these examples of book spine poetry!

 

'Akron Stacks'-Sorted Books project by Nina Katchadourian

 

'The Spark of Love'-- BrainPickings.org by Maria Popova

If you'd like to look at further examples, check out this article on BookRiot.org or the galleries of book sprine poetry on Travis Jonker's blog 100 Scope Notes. 

 Interested in becoming a book spine poet? 

• Find some books!  You can use books from home, from a friend's home, from a public library, from the NCS Library, etc.
• Arrange the books into a stack so that the titles on the spines can be read from top to bottom as a short poetic sequence.  Arrange and rearrange books until you create YOUR poem!
• Snap a photo of your poem and email it to ncs.bkspinepoems@gmail.com.  Please include your name and your poem's title (if you wish to title it) in the email.
• Watch for your poem here on the blog and on the display screen in the NCS Library's display area!
• In May, students will vote for their favorite poems from the entries and the winners will receive exciting prizes!

We look forward to seeing your poetic book spine creations! 

Ms. Dickinson's Purple & Gold Pick of the Week: How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford

Sometimes amid a flood of fantastic fantasy novels featuring dragons and superhuman abilities and heart-racing dystopian adventures full of thought-provoking doom & gloom, I crave a story grounded in our so-called 'real world.'  At the right moment, there's really nothing better than a solid piece of contemporary realistic fiction.  Natalie Standiford's lovely novel How To Say Goodbye In Robot goes beyond solid realistic fiction into the realm of brilliant stories.  Behind its quirky title and deceptively pink cover hides a raw and emotionally resonant story of two people searching for connection during that bizarre period bridging the end of high school and beginning of real life. 

When Beatrice started her senior year at a new school, she assumed she’d find friends among the many average, cheerful, and friendly girls she met on her first day. But alphabetic destiny pairs Beatrice up with the class loner Jonah—AKA Ghost Boy.  At first being assigned a locker and a seat beside the guy whose name has apparently become synonymous with 'weirdo' seems like a simple bit of bad luck.  But Bea soon discovers that she and Jonah have more in common than their ajoining positions in the class roster.

Bea & Jonah are destined to be friends. But their relationship is not going to be an average friendship, bound by shared gossip, parties, and hobbies. Bea & Jonah forge an intense connection based on secret truths, daring adventures, and late-night calls to the same old-time radio show.  As unconventional and undefined as their relationship might be, their connection is painfully, powerfully real.  It’s not quite romance—but it’s definitely love. The kind of love you never forget.

This lovely novel is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching and it stands out as one of few book that explores the tangled, consuming, wonderful, and painful realities of friendship.  I would especially recommend this novel to fans of The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and John Green's novels (especially Looking For Alaska). 

Check out Natalie Standiford's  How To Say Goodbye In Robot,  on display now in the library's fiction section! 

 

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Arnold "Junior" Spirit has always been something of an outcast.  Born with various medical conditions, Junior has been made fun of by nearly every other kid on the Spokane Indian Reservation.  With his glasses, abnormally big head and serious lack of muscles, Junior is an easy target.  But while Junior might be goofy-looking and scrawny, he has plenty of good things going for him.  He's got a decent jump shot, a powerful talent for cartooning, a best friend, and a loving (if imperfect) family.  And most of all, Junior has dreams.  He dreams of getting an actual education--from a school where the textbooks aren't the same ones his mom used a couple decades ago.  Even more importantly, Junior dreams of demanding more from life than mere survival.  He dreams about getting off the "rez" and escaping the cycle of unhappiness and disappointment that seems to trap all the adults in his life. 

So when his teacher suggests that he look into attending the all-white, public school in the nearby farming town, Junior decides to take the plunge and give his dreams a shot--even though he's sure the attempt will end in disaster.  Now, Junior must learn to navigate a whole new world where the only other Indian is the school mascot--while everyone on the rez (except his parents & grandmother) have decided that he's a traitor.  Even his best friend refuses to speak to him.  How can Junior escape the bad parts of life on the rez without leaving behind his heritage or his family?  How can he make all the pieces of his identity fit into his divided life?

Brilliant author, poet, and screenwriter Sherman Alexie blew the literary world away when he published his first novel for young adults in 2007.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has gone on earn a National Book Award, a place on many must-read book lists of teens & adults alike, and space in many middle and high school English curriculums across the country.  But what's the best thing about Diary? It actually lives up to the hype--and it has yet to lose its emotional power or relevance.

Told through Junior's alternatively hilarious and heartbreaking words and cartoons, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an engrossing coming of age story that explores identity, family, friendship, and love with unmatched humor and honesty.  Jumping from basketball and girls to racism and alcoholism, the story doesn't back down from taking on tricky topics--but it never becomes melodramatic and the reader never stops cheering for Junior.  While Diary deals most directly and extensively with Native American and male identities, Junior's struggle to sort his own multfaceted identity amidst stereotypes and others' negative (and positive) expectations will resonsate with everyone. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will make you laugh, cry, smile, and sigh.  Junior's story is one that sticks will you long after you've closed the book.  And it's a perfect book to read as we close November--Native American Heritage Month. 

Run over to the library today to grab our copy of Sherman Alexie's National Book Award winning novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, on display in the fiction section!

 

 

To learn even more about Native Americans--both in the past and the present--check out the National Museum of the American Indian, right here in DC!  The museum's website alone has amazing resources, including outside links, online collections, and multimedia presentations about Native American history and perspectives from a huge variety of modern Native Americans. 

Sample Some Deliciously Fresh Reads This Thanksgiving Break!

The first few months have school here at NCS have flown by at an unbelievable rapid pace! Now, Thanksgiving Break is already right around the corner.

For most of us, Thanksgiving will mean a few days off from classes, a lot of good food, and extra time to spend with family and friends.  It can also mean a chance to catch up some non-required reading! Not sure which new book to start first?  The NCS Library is here to help! 

Check out our Thanksgiving Break 2012 book list, chock full of recently published literary gems! Click the link above to see and/or download a pdf of the list OR stop by the library to glance over a print copy.

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Cate Cahill made a promise. She promised her dying mother that she would protect her sisters--at all costs. The task would be a lot easier however if their family didn't have quite so many dangerous secrets. Their small New England town already finds the Cahill sisters' education and reclusive behaviors suspicious but if anyone were to discover that the three girls are honest to goodness witches, their lives would be over.  Especially since every day the priests of the Brotherhood round up more and more girls accused of witchcraft and send them away to the asylum. 

As if that weren't enough to preoccupy Cate, her seventeenth birthday is fast approaching, which means that in just a few months Cate will have to decide if she's going to get married or join the Sisterhood. Neither option seems appealing right now, especially since both might separate her from her sisters.  Then the discovery of her mother's diary throws Cate's world even more off balance: it turns out that being witches isn't the Cahill girls' biggest secret. Now Cate must race to find the truth about her family's destiny before powerful forces find ways to use her or her sisters for their own interests and in the process perhaps finally take the time to discover the desires of her own heart.

As teenager facing the transition into adulthood and a sudden, unusual influx of responsibilities, Cate will be a familiar figure to readers of all ages. She tries so hard to balance and protect her sisters' safety and happiness but she's also forced herself to ignore her individual potential. But Cate is limited by more than her own family responsibilities and worries; she lives in society where women's power and independence have been extremely curtailed by a male dominated religious order led by the Brotherhood priests.

The world imagined by Jessica Spotswood is one of the highlights of the novel. She seeds the information about the society and history into the narrative, allowing the full picture to emerge gradually and through the characters' pertinent experiences. This method, as usual, works well and avoids weighing down the pace of the story with too lengthy descriptions of traditions or historical events. My only problem was that I found the fictional world so intriguing that I keep wanting more detail! Born Wicked takes place in an alternative universe in which witches and magic truly exist and the United States began when witches left other areas of the world to avoid persecution and colonized the eastern coast of the current U.S. As a result, the population is even more ethnically and racially diverse. However, the religious Brotherhood gained influence and wrested control from the female-run Daughters of Persephone; now, women must either get married or join the female monastic branch of the Brotherhood, in order to control their potential evil.

However, it was not just the intriguing setting and the strong protagonist that drew me into this novel. The supporting characters and the relationships between the characters are well drawn; the complicated relationship between the three sisters is especially realistic in its portrayal. The plot's mysteries and tension grow increasingly exciting as the story moves forward and the novel's pacing pulls the reader in quickly. The romance is sweet and swoon-worthy.  Cate's understanding of her desires emerges naturally and her realizations happen as part of her larger awakenings about her world, her magical abilities, and her options for the future. The tension reaches a dramatic peak near the novel's conclusion that will leave readers eager for the next installment of Cate's tale.

I would recommend Born Wicked to readers who enjoy supernatural or paranormal tales (especially those with witches) and fantasy, especially historical fantasy. It might pair well with other historical fantasy novels such as A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce and The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton or with fantasy novels depicting similar family situations (Entwined by Heather Dixon springs to mind).

 

Come by the library today to grab your copy and fall under the spell of Jessica Spotswood's debut novel Born Wicked, the first book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles!

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

If Piper could just learn to keep her big mouth shut, she would not be in this mess. But since she couldn't, Piper is now the manager of the school's suddenly popular local rock band, bizarrely named 'Dumb,' and she's got to get them a paying gig within a month to make the arrangement official and get her share of the profits. However, there are a few problems. Firstly, Piper is deaf. Secondly, and more importantly, even Piper can tell that Dumb does not sound good. But somehow Piper and the other mixed up flavors of people that form Dumb are going to have to learn to make beautiful music together.

Now, there's always a chance that novel with a quirky or catchy premise (such as "deaf girl becomes band manager") will never be more than just that: a good tagline.  However, in the case of Five Flavors of Dumb, the novel not only lives up to its potential; the story actually surpasses it with unexpected depth. Five Flavors of Dumb is a delightful coming of age novel about friendship and family that happens to feature a protagonist who is deaf. Piper is funny, frustrated, sarcastic, angry, and kind. Her deafness is integral to the story in that it shapes Piper's life and motivations; the novel provides a look at the complex social world that Piper and her family live in as part of the deaf community. However, the novel never makes her deafness a gimmick and Piper's conflicts with her family and her shifting perceptions of and relationships with the other members of Dumb are pretty universally relatable.

The novel also includes a plethora of references to famous rock musicians and rock music history.  The practical problems of forming and keeping a band together as well as promoting and succeeding as a successful business venture in the music world are also explored.  The characters are quirky and likable; the combinations of unexpected friendships and a touch of romance hit all the right notes.  Five Flavor of Dumb is a feel-good novel that will put a smile on your face while also shedding light on the complexity within the deaf community and providing a crash course in rock'n'roll history. 

   

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Adaptation by Malinda Lo

In the skies over North America, large flocks of birds suddenly hurl themselves into planes, causing dozens of deadly crashes and forcing airports to shut down acroos the continent.  Reese Holloway, her debate partner and crush David, and their teacher are trapped at an airport on their way back from a debate competition when the nation enters a state of panicked emergency.  During their harrowing drive home to San Francisco, a bird flies in front of their headlights and the car flips, landing them in a ditch along a dark Nevada road.

When Reese wakes up in a strange military hospital a month later, she finds her body mysteriously and miraculously healed of any injuries and her mind confused and full of questions.  What exactly happened in that hospital?  Why can't Reese or David tell anyone anything they remember about the place? 

And after Reese returns home to California and meets the mysterious and alluring Amber Gray, her questions only grow.
What is the government hiding about the thousands of dead birds? What is Amber hiding? And who--or what--has Reese become since the accident?

A large amount of the science fiction recently published for young adults usually fits into the popular dystopian, futuristic, or speculative fiction molds.  But here, in her first foray into the genre,  excellent fantasy writer Malinda Lo, dives right into more traditional, fierce, and frightening science fiction territory: government conspiracies, medical experimentation, and possible contact with forces beyond our planet.  Adaptation presents a scenerio that could happen anytime in the next few years; it's immediate rather than futuristic and in many ways, this fact automatically increases the suspense and the fear factor.  Additionally, novel has a plot that hits the ground running during the opening pages and doesn't stop twisting and turning all the way up to the book's final lines.  The story is action-packed and full of intertwined mysteries that will keep the reader guessing along with Reese as she struggles to make sense of the strange turns her life has taken.       

However, Adaptation is more than a thrill-ride.  Lo continues to demonstrate her distguished ability to create and maintain a richly diverse cast of characters, without ever making any of them seem like a stereotype or a token representation of multiculturalism.  Her characters live in a much more realistically multicultural world than that frequently imagined in fictional visions of the United States.  None of the characters of color or  LGBTQ characters are defined purely by those pieces of their identity.  And in the midst of a science fiction thriller, Lo paints an excellent picture of the fluidity and process of discovery inherent in identity development for young adults.  Moreoever, her characters and their relationships are complex and emotionally resonant. 

Between conspiracy theories worthy of the best X-Files episodes, non-stop action, and truly interesting characters,  Adaptation is a novel you won't be able to put down once you pick it up!