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decaf Jess



★★★★★

Blood Heir (Aurelia Ryder #1) by Ilona Andrews

out January 12, 2021
ISBN: 9781641971584

It is unthinkable that a fan of the Kate Daniel series by the same author would even consider passing this one up.


Pictured: members of the Book Devouring Horde on release day

Eight years have passed since the events of Magic Triumphs, when Julie left Atlanta and headed out west with Erra -- both of whom, presumably, wanted some distance from the rest of the family. 

Julie has been practicing and absorbing powerful magic under Erra's tutelage, magic so powerful that it has remade her face, body, and voice, rendering her unrecognizable. Upon receiving a disturbing prophecy that Kate is in danger, she must return to Atlanta to protect her. However, the prophecy also states that if Kate sees Julie, she is in even more danger.

Armed with her newfound powers and a new, beautiful, and anonymous face, Julie returns to Atlanta under the name of Aurelia Ryder. There is an interesting dynamic here where Julie encounters people she knows, but without being recognized. (She is basically secret-shopping Atlanta.) While it would be a lot easier to just announce "HEY IT'S ME JULIE HELP ME OUT!." she has to re-earn the trust and respect of people who actually already trust and respect her, all on a time crunch, while her adoptive mother is in danger. 

Plus, DEREK IS IN TOWN, TOO! 

Fans of the series will be happy to return to post-shift Atlanta and revisit these well-known characters in a new series. (I say series with a heart full of hope that this sells well and we get like nine more of them.)

arc received from the publisher for review


★★★★

How to Survive in Ancient Rome by L.J. Trafford 

out December 30, 2020
ISBN: 9781526757869

A spritely hop through deep and heavy history of ancient Rome, touching on several different topics with a lightness that will irritate the hardcore history crowd and delight casual readers. As someone with a light-to-moderate interest in ancient Rome (as in, I'll watch a documentary, but it's unlikely I'll read a book larger than this) it was just enough to keep me entertained and give me a handful of fun facts to spout off when there's a lull in conversation.

(Like, did you know ancient Romans washed their clothes in pee? Fun.)

Also, I laughed out loud many times.

Recommended for people who like to breeze through some miscellaneous nonfiction now and then.

arc received from the publisher for review
Whether your library building is closed due to a pandemic, remodeling, or you're just looking to beef up your online presence, creating virtual book displays on Google Sites is an easy, free, and quick way to showcase your collection to patrons and help recreate that browsing feeling from far away.

Google Sites is very intuitive and works well with copy and paste. 




We're going to create a simple virtual book display about dogs.


1. Visit sites.google.com. You need to be logged into Google. If you have a Gmail account, that's all you need. If not, you can make one pretty quickly. 

2. In another window, open up your library's card catalog site/OPAC. 



3. Choose "Blank." 


You will notice on the right an option for "Theme."  You can tinker with this to your heart's desire. Some themes will let you change the photo background of your header, or upload your own.


4. Let's add our first book. Go to your library's OPAC and search for books about dogs. 

If your OPAC shows book covers, you can right click on the book cover and select "Copy." Then, go to the window of your new Google Site, click on the middle of the page somewhere, right click, and select "Paste." (You can also use the keyboard by Control + C to copy and Control + V to paste.)

If your OPAC does NOT show book covers, you'll need to do some digging. I'd recommend going to Amazon or Google Image search and looking for the book cover there. Then, right click on the book cover and select "copy", and go to the window of your new Google Site, click on the middle of the page somewhere, right click, and select "Paste." (You can also use the keyboard by Control + C to copy and Control + V to paste.)

5. You can now tinker with the size of your photo. Notice how Google Sites uses gridlines to help you keep things orderly? How nice of them.

6. Next, let's add the book title. If your OPAC is like mine, the title of the book is probably also a link to the catalog page. If so, highlight the book title, right click and select "Copy" (or hit Control and C on the keyboard). Now go to your Google Sites page, and right click and select "Paste" (or hit Control and V on the keyboard.) You should now see the book title, and it should be a link!

If your OPAC does not have it linked, you can go to your Google Site, select "Insert" and "Text box", and type in the title. Then, go to your OPAC, copy the link to that dog book's catalog page, and then go back to Google Sites. When you highlight book title, you should see a few things popup. Click on the link button (pictured below) and copy/paste the catalog link there. 


You've added your first book to your display!

As you tinker with Google Sites, you'll get more and more comfortable with it. Explore a bit! You can add more text boxes and separate your book display by age or reading level. You can add more links to other things, or even YouTube videos. 


7. Publishing your site when you're done creating it: First, you will need to make sure your sharing settings will allow people to view it. Click on the sharing button. (Shown below.)



Under "Links," make sure "Published site" is viewable to "public."

Next, click the "Publish" button on the upper right side.

Success!

More Ideas

If an item you are displaying is available in more than one format, consider adding links to patrons can order it in additional formats. (Large type, CD audio, Playaway, etc.) Don't forget about your ebook holdings -- if you subscribe to OverDrive, Kanopy, etc., include those links as well.

You can make a page that changes over time. We use a New York Times Bestseller page to showcase links to bestselling books in our catalog. You can also create a "Staff Picks" page. Any time you make changes, just click the "Publish" button again to update it.

As you get more comfortable, tinker around with the "Pages" option to add more pages to your Google Site. 

Sample Virtual Book Displays

Here are a few examples of book displays from my library: (Note: My library is not affiliated with and does not sponsor this blog, but I am using it as an example here!)

New York Times Bestsellers: https://sites.google.com/sschlibrary.org/nytbestsellers/home
Staff Recommendations: https://sites.google.com/sschlibrary.org/decemberstaffpicks/home

Good luck!




★★★★★

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

published in 2016
ISBN: 9780765387868

I somehow missed this book when it came out in 2016 and recently saw it come up as a suggestion on Goodreads. It's a short read, coming in at just 149 pages, and packs a lot of story into a slim paperback.

Tommy is a hustler in Jazz Age Harlem, doing what needs to be done to help provide for himself and his ill father in a world that is at times hostile to their very existence as Black men. That includes doing some odd jobs like finding a forbidden tome for a mysterious old crone, or playing music for an eccentric old white man who seems to have one foot in our world and one in another. Tommy isn't a wizard or anything like that, but he has a wary appreciation for the existence of the unexplainable. 

When a routine job goes bad, Tommy finds himself pursued by abusive cops and dark magic and must decide just how far he will go down the rabbit hole of forbidden knowledge.

LaValle does a masterful job of creating atmospheric tension and creepiness that is almost Spartan in its brevity, cuts like a sharp knife, and will make you look around the room uneasily if you're alone.

This is a riff on Lovecraftian themes and is loosely based on The Horror at Red Hook. (You can read it here if you're interested, but it's not that great and it's not necessary for appreciating LaValle's story. In fact, you really need no prior Lovecraft exposure to appreciate The Ballad of Black Tom.) 

I'm keeping this recommendation in my back pocket for patrons who are looking for a quick horror read.


★★★★★

The Dark Archive (Invisible Library #7)  by Genevieve Cogman
out December 1, 2020
ISBN: 9781984804785

This book is dedicated to librarians and I FEEL IT. <3

***

Irene continues to be my literary role model with her quick thinking, intense bravery, and stoic wit. She is remarkably unruffleable for someone who is frequently an assassination target. 

The book begins with violent shenanigans that erupt while Irene and Vale are out on a shouldn't-be-especially-dangerous adventure. In her escape, Irene discovers an unexpected and magical door, which opens to reveal someone dangerous who should already be dead.



Much more violent shenanigans ensue. Spectacular escapes. Verbal sparring and fisticuffs. If Vale is fulfilling a Sherlock archetype, his Moriarty is emerging. 



And of course, Irene, Kai, and Vale now have Lord Silver's niece Catherine tagging along as an apprentice. New characters into established series can be a gamble, but I'm looking forward to Catherine's contributions. 

Overall, this adventure was another engrossing read with new and old characters and villains, and a big reveal at the end that helps propel the plot forward. 

If you're not reading this series, you're missing out.

arc received from the publisher for review
When you cannot safely interact in person with your patrons, how do you stay relevant? 

I am the head of youth services at my small suburban library, which has been closed to the public since the middle of March. I’ll leave the issue of whether or not to reopen in the hands of public health professionals and instead focus on what we can do in the time we are closed. 

Around May 2020 when it became apparent that we were in this for the long haul, I began experimenting with online programming. Videos would get a few dozen views, which slowly trickled to less than ten. Our adult programmer has been posting recipe and craft videos, some of which get 500 views, and some of which get less than five. We are seemingly at the capricious whims of Facebook algorithms. 

Let’s be honest: our patrons are burnt out on the internet, especially parents whose kids are e-learning, and it costs a lot of staff time and energy to film and edit these videos, not to mention the hassle of navigating copyright concerns of storytime. Can we acknowledge that there is already a vast pool of educational children’s videos and readalouds available at a higher quality than I can make with my inexpensive setup? Can I acknowledge that I have been going through the motions, doing what I think I should be doing, even though it is clearly not what our patrons want? Can I confess that these Sisyphean tasks are mainly to try and prove my relevance to my boss and peers, even though it’s clearly not vibing with my community?

I am officially calling it: I am giving up trying to do regular online children’s and teen’s programming for the time being, because it is failing and I’m tired of getting to the end of the month and counting my stats on one hand.

So, we try something else. 

Some things have been working: mainly, the online book & movie displays I’ve been making on Google sites and linking to on our website and social media, like this one on horror movies I posted in October. People have been ordering these books and they have been getting clicks.

Also, the Facebook album of our new releases has been driving new release circulation. 

Interlibrary cooperation has been working. Our library and a few others nearby have gotten together the last few years to offer a once-monthly STEAM activity for area homeschool families, with each library taking a month in the school year to host them. This year, since most of our families are sort of homeschooling with e-learning, we’re posting these activities online on a shared Google site and promoting it to all families. We’re only on our second month but people seem interested. This cooperation conserves staff time, reduces burnout as each library only has to focus on one great program instead of several, and promotes networking and sharing among libraries. I’m interested in seeing what other kinds of shared programming we can do.
 
I tried doing craft and book giveaways in the late spring but no one was interested, possibly because we were still very worried at that time about the spread of COVID from touching items. Now that we know that is much lower risk than originally thought, I may try it again. Who knows, I may even start making some videos again in a month or two. I’ve already made a November Story Room, so I’ll monitor those stats this month, but we may take a break from that in December. Maybe I’ll see if I can get my husband to help me with some filmed storytimes to see if the addition of a new face changes things. Who knows what I’ll do. 

In sum, let’s be brave enough to admit we’re failing, fail quickly, and try something else. Repeat as necessary.



★★★★★

The Haunting of Beatrix Greene by Rachel Hawkins, Ash Parsons, and Vicky Alvear Shecter

appearing now on SerialBox.com
ISBN: 9781682108130

A delightfully spooky and short gothic haunted house adventure.

Beatrix Greene is a fake medium who uses her perception and acting talents to develop an impressive reputation as a leading spiritualist in London by convincing people she is communicating with their deceased loved ones. Dr. James Walker, a wealthy skeptic and researcher, hires her to accompany him and a few others to a reportedly haunted house to definitively determine if it is indeed haunted.

Upon arriving, Beatrix sets up her usual farcical séance and prepares to put on a show. However, something does, in fact, answer her, and it is angry and violent and will not let them leave until it is finished.

The plot moves along at a good clip and it is engrossing. Speaking of gross, there is one particularly gross and gruesome scene that will make horror fans darkly chuckle and turn up their nose. My only complaint is the instant romance that occurs, which felt rather unlikely and out of place. (To illustrate, when my husband and I were newlyweds we lived in a tiny and disgusting apartment with mice, and knowing there mice in the room with you at night is a bit of a mood-killer... so I imagine having a ghost/demon in the house would similarly douse the romance.)

Overall, I enjoyed it and would read a sequel.

This is being realized by SerialBox as a weekly serial, but I read it all at once. I believe it would be easy to read weekly, however, because the chapters are clearly delineated and the plot is not overly complicated.

arc received from the publisher for review



★★★★★

She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore

released September 2018
ISBN: 9781555978174

For the last couple of years I've been trying to read more books that feature people and places abroad, and I picked this book out blindly to represent Liberia.

I am glad I stumbled upon it because is one of the best books I've ever read.

The prose is lovely and artistic but still makes for a smooth read, and is full of the kind of deep insights into our shared humanity that makes you feel a little more human having read them.

If you're going to read this book, allow yourself time to get into it. Don't try and speedread skim over it like it's a quick paperback you picked up at the airport. Let yourself really fall into the stories of Gbessa, June Dey, Norman, and the mysteriously omnipresent narrator, and savor them. You'll be glad you did.
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