I’ve been really busy with work…like, REALLY busy…and school doesn’t even get out until 2:30 tomorrow…  I feel like I’ve been running a perpetual race, but I think that’s because I’ve been ignoring stress, which has lead to an inability to prioritize, which has, in turn, lead to crappy time management.  I’m not sure why I’m telling you this.

I do want to show you this cool thing that I accomplished over the last several weeks.  It’s like one of those miraculous water/wine things.  See, I turned this:

into this:

I didn’t want to make too many changes at once, so save your breath about the late ’90s background graphic, okay?  My focus was on usability, anyway.  And, can I just say?  It’s no fun trying to create consistent navigation when all you’ve got is a bunch of static pages.

Anyway.  That project is approaching its natural resting point for the summer.  I’ll be blogging a few times before the end of the month, but I don’t think you’ll hear from me much during the rest of the summer, neither here nor on the social networks.  I never fully recovered from the infamous April detox/retox, and that’s because I’ve been lazy about it.

Time to do the work.  And by “work,” I mean fix the problems cited in the first paragraph.

My social acceptability meter is on the fritz, so that’s about all I can say today.

While this is non-breaking news, I have to declare my excitement for two picture book sequels that will be out in September.

I’m so glad I never publicly called Ian Falconer a sell-out (though I may have said so to a patron once…) but I assumed he was done with Olivia once the TV tie-in books started rolling out.  Those books are rubbish, and don’t do the character—or the show—justice.  (It’s actually a decent show.  It’s dissimilar to the books by necessity, as Falconer’s work is not very plot-oriented, but good in its own way.)  I was prepared to cut him some slack if he started a new, completely awesome project.  Teaming up with David Sedaris, like they did in Little Lit, to create Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modern Bestiary (Oct.) is, of course, promising.  But a reprise of canonical Olivia?  Even better.

Yay!  Not only is the existence of this book exciting, but the fact that the title doesn’t make me cringe visibly is pretty cool, too.  And sooo much better than those Cat the Cat books.  (I know it’s against the law to dis Mo Willems, so lets couch this in positive terms:  the Cat the Cat books would work very well as board books.  I can’t explain it any further without breaking the aforementioned law, so I hope you catch my drift.)

Anyway…the problem becomes, how does a reasonable person manage this unholy waiting period?  September?!  Pfft.  Publishing.

Dear everyone,

1. This is going to be a list post.  Just in case you couldn’t tell.
2. Let’s start with why I went weeks without updating last month.  Well, there are a lot of reasons, but I’m going to go with the one that makes it look like I was actually being productive.
3. I started a new project!  It’s called Kids’ Music for Libraries, and despite the fact that it’s a work in progress, I sort of soft-launched it last week.  So you may as well know about it.
4. It considers itself a (potentially) professional resource, which is obviously a huge departure from what I do here.
5. That’s also why I haven’t written any reviews lately.  I’ve been sorting out what I want to post here, vs. over there, and how my tone might need to be adjusted for the new site.
6. But I decided I’m not going to change my tone much.  Honestly, I can’t.  As a friend once poignantly stated, “You write like you talk.”  Yes.  Yes I do.
7. So.
8. I went to Kindiefest last weekend!
9. It was extremely awesome, except I missed almost the entire day on Saturday.
10. Here’s why:
11. I take a couple of psych meds with short half-lives, and those meds didn’t come with me to Brooklyn.
12. Let me tell you, detoxing sucks.  It starts with insomnia, and during the day it feels like a hangover.  Eventually there are emotional outbursts and psychotic episodes.
13. On the drive home, as we were passing a rest stop, I saw a convertible with a GIANT pink stuffed monkey in the passenger seat.
14. I know that I saw it, but I’m not convinced that it was actually there.
15. Because that would be pretty damn weird if it was.
16. But I’ve never hallucinated before.  So I don’t know.
17. Regardless, I’ve retoxed, and am more or less back to normal.
18. Woo…
19. …hoo.
20. More or less.

Love,
Amy

Sometimes, things look a lot different in the distance than they do on your front lawn.  I’ve always considered blogger-to-blogger awards to be trivial and chain-lettery.  (You MUST give this to 17 people or your firstborn will be mauled by a bear!!!)  But, upon receiving one such award the other day, I got really excited.

The award I received was the Lemonade Stand Award from Zoe at Playing by the Book.  Why am I so excited?  First of all, I didn’t even know she read my blog, so I’m exceedingly happy about that.  Second, I’ve found myself in really good company among the other blogs she issued the award to, and it’s given me a chance to read some really cool stuff.

Now, being a children’s librarian is typically a whole other ballgame from working reference, but I played an adult reference librarian for several years, and I love doing research.  In that spirit, I decided to figure out the origin of the Lemonade Stand Award.  Seeing as every ten seconds someone forwards it on to ten people, it was no small feat…but I have a hypothesis, based on these events:

• October 20, 2008 – The Lemon-Aid Stand presented a “Gratitude with Attitude Award” to MS Maze (and others), accompanied by the image on the right.
• October 20, 2008 – MS Maze presented the award, under the same name, to Chronic Chick Talk (and others); due to technical difficulties, she was unable to upload the image.
• November 9, 2008 – Chronic Chick Talk presented the “Lemonade Award” to others, displaying the same rules and conditions as the Gratitude with Attitude Award, along with as the above image.  She also thanked MS Maze for the award and apologized for the time lag.
• Thereafter – The Lemonade Stand Award spreads like the best of memes.

What do you think?  Did I nail it?  I suppose I could contact Chronic Chick Talk and ask her to confirm or deny, but where’s the fun in fact-checking?!  And by “Where’s the fun?” I mean I’d be really disappointed if my hypothesis were disproven. ^[1]  Also, I don’t want to bother anyone, least of all someone who is chronically ill, with my inane questions.

Back on point, I must admit that I’m not properly accepting this award, because I’m not spreading the love to others.  But I do want to properly give thanks to Zoe, which I guess is what this long, digressive post is supposed to be accomplishing.  Reader, I’d be thrilled if you went and explored Playing by the Book.  I think you’ll like it there.

^[1] And that’s why I’m not a scientist!  But I do love science, regardless.

Previously » Part 1 » The ratio of music to audiobooks in ALSC Notable Recordings lists, and how youth librarians seem to gravitate toward book-based media. (read it)

If you’ve browsed my blog for at least ten seconds, you know how much I love, love, love kids’ music.  I get excited when I hear a great album or see a great show, and I think everyone should know about these things.  I’ve only been clued in to the field of family music since 2007—I vaguely remember the day when I had my there-must-be-something-better-out-there epiphany, and the ridiculous Google searches ^[1] that got me on my way—and I would love to facilitate that sort of discovery for others.  It was a major contributing factor when I started this blog:  subjecting my unsuspecting readers to the wonderful world of kids’ music.

By unsuspecting, I mean my original goal was for this to be a kidlit blog, with some music reviews thrown in for good measure.  Long story short, I don’t really fit into the book blogging culture.  I still blog about books—I have to, it’s compulsive—but writing about music is just as important to me now, and it’s the one area where I’ve received some marginal recognition.

So, my driving force is to let anyone and everyone know about the best in family music, but I’m realizing now that I also need to consider addressing other librarians.  So, the question becomes, how do I infiltrate my own profession?

Er, what I mean is, most children’s librarians have better things to do than sit around reading my blog.  Where and how will I reach my peers, and what’s the road to credibility?  Do I start with professional reviews? ^[2]  Presentations?  Research and publication?

I have over 31 years (that’s not a cringe, it’s a smile, really!) until I retire if I stick with my day job.  Maybe I’ll get to serve on the NCR committee at some point.  Of course, that means I’ll have to model the open-mindedness I hope others will have toward music by forging a love for audiobooks.  Stranger things have happened.

Audiobooks should seriously come with falsetto alerts.

Image credit:  “Music” by Flickr user Maciej Lewandowski, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license.

^[1] Search engines like to deny it, but natural language counts for something.

^[2] What?  I can be professional!

In the interest of disclosure, I should preface this post by saying that I had a bad experience with an audiobook once.  (It pulled a knife on me in a dark alley…)  No, it was the fact that the narrator felt the need to read the female characters’ lines in falsetto.  This is probably undue punishment on an entire industry, but I’ve haven’t tried to listen to an audiobook since.

I mention this because I’ve been thinking a bit about the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) list of 2010 Notable Children’s [Sound] Recordings, which came out last month.  Of the thirty titles, only four are music CDs.  Two are Putumayo Kids releases, one is Recess Monkey’s Field Trip, and the other one is some Jewish lullaby album.  It’s a pretty typical ratio for music and audiobooks, and Field Trip is probably the most progressive “notable” to date, so maybe I should be applauding the committee for this step in the right direction.  But I’m not.

I’m not much for lullabies, but I like Putumayo Kids as much as the next guy, and I like Recess Monkey at least as much as the next guy.  But…these inclusions seem a little limited in scope.  I’m not suggesting that the NSR committee search high and low for every independently-released album each year, but I am convinced that they are suffering from one of two problems:  either the committee is largely unaware of this burgeoning genre of music, or they aren’t giving it enough credit.  I suppose, less cynically, I could also leave room for the possibility that neither statement is true, and instead it’s a case of disagreement among committee members.  It’s possible.

I’m sure it’s not appropriate to do so, but in my mind I’m extrapolating these committee decisions, year after year, as a reflection of the profession in general.  I mean, we’re librarians.  We like books.  It’s been the same story with videos—for years, about half of the Notable Children’s Videos titles are from Weston Woods. ^[1]  Theatrical releases aren’t eligible, but (as far as I can tell by the manual), anything else is fair game.  Weston Woods videos are all well and good, but after so many years of putting them on these lists, it’s hard to believe that they are still so “important, distinguished, and outstanding.”

I’m just speculating about the videos—I didn’t spend countless hours reviewing them, and I probably haven’t actually seen any of the ones on this year’s list.  But I do know a fair amount about kids’ music releases from last year, so I guess I should get back on topic.

Next up » Part 2 » Why not listening to audiobooks may hurt me in the long run, and what any of this has to do with why I blog! (read it)

^[1] For the uninitiated, Weston Woods makes short films out of picture books.  The animation is minimal, and very true to the original; the words are on the screen, just like they would be in the book; and the narration…well…the narrator typically has good diction, anyway.

Hi there.

In case you were wondering where I’ve been, I’d like to report that I’ve come down with a (self-diagnosed) case of blogging impotence.  How it works is, I have a post that I want to write, and I sit down to write it, and after about two sentences I get completely blocked.  Even when I already know what I want to say.  Every day that goes by adds a little more pressure to perform, which is not helping things.  It’s also affecting my correspondence with people, which is almost worse.

I usually fall into a winter slump, but this is at least six weeks earlier than it usually starts.  I’m hoping this is something other than seasonal affective issues, so that I might be able to snap out of it.  Fresh air, sunlight, and exercise do seem like they’d hit the spot, though.  Winter’s no good for any of those things.

I hoped writing this would make me feel a little better.  Maybe I just need to give it a little time to take effect.

I won’t be far.

Well, we’re off.  Or, we will be at 1pm, anyway.  It’s going to be a long day, but I finally woke up without that panicky first-time-taking-kids-on-an-airplane anxiety, so I think we’ll be just fine.  I think the real relief for me is knowing I’m done with all the weird dreams.  No more “We forgot our luggage!”  No more “We’re going to miss our flight!”  And, most importantly, no more “Since when does the inside of an airplane look like the inside of a school bus?”  I actually love flying, but you wouldn’t know it from those dreams.

Aaaaahhh!!!  We’re so excited!!!

This is to say, we’re planning to unplug (for the most part) until January 4th.  Have a happy rest of the year, and we’ll be back in 2010!

Setting aside the fact that “blogiversary” is kind of a lame word, it was a year ago today that I made my first rambling, enigmatic blog post.  My first surviving post, anyway, following an episode of self-correction.  I’ve changed names twice, had a major redesign, and continually tweaked my mission, vision, goals, and focus (yes, I have those things, sort of).  Pretty much the only thing that’s stayed the same is the sometimes-forged 11:11 timestamp.  But I think I’ve very nearly gotten things figured out at this point, even if it sometimes turns to self-indulgent posts like this one.

To celebrate what is clearly a momentous occasion, I’m decorating this space with artwork from the girls, made using Tux Paint.

Self-Portrait by Rhys

I Love Flowers by Geraldine

Ms. Geraldine, by the way, got a student of the month award from her school for November.  Not one of those obligatory “you’re all special” awards, either.  When I asked if she did anything special to earn the award, she told me she always raises her hand.  I’m going to go ahead and be a proud parent and assume it’s just a little more than that.