Reading Is Good For You

Can I say I like how sassy teen librarian, Leila, is in this blog (http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/)? I know exactly how she comes by it, too -- if you spend any amount of time around middle schoolers and teens like I did last year as a teacher, all that sarcasm and naughty sense of humor tends to rub off on you (of course, I think most who want to work with young people already tend to have a bit of a sassy side to them -- I know I do). I think it makes her blog 'real' and would be appealing to the young patrons she serves.
She certainly doesn't come off as a stuck up bibliophile in the reviews of books she has read, or any of her posts for that matter. I know from my teaching experience that kids enjoy it when an adult employs humor in their instruction and aren't afraid to act a little goofy -- kudos to this blogger for catching on to that. I particularly love the asterisked sidenotes she tends to include in her posts, such as in her review of the ridiculous sounding Marked:House of Night #1, as seen here: http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/bookshelves_of_doom/2008/10/marked-house-of-night-1----pc-and-kristin-cast.html
Just for the record, I will never read a book where vampire is spelled V-A-M-P-Y-R-E (how cheesy is that?) and said vampyres speaks as if he or she is stuck in a badly done Elizabethan-style play.
All snarkiness aside, I like how Leila also sheds light on articles and issues that matter to librarians, such as an article on the decline in quality of Newbery winning books (see here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600688.html).
Overall, a great blog whose feed I will continue to keep up with long after I am finished with this class (though I'm not sure I can say the same for Blogger -- all these visible hyperlinks make me miss LiveJournal's LJ cuts, and I really don't like that I can't seem to find a way to search for other blogs or view an updated version of my own blog. Grrrr . . .).

Mmmm, I love this blog (http://theyayayas.wordpress.com/). Not only do these three young adult librarians do the traditional book reviews and advice on programming and displays, but they feel free to rant and rave a bit about their experiences in this particular field. As someone interested in becoming a YA librarian, I find it helpful if someone's not all puppies and rainbows about the job, so I can know what to really expect (that would have been really nice when I was in the education field during undergrad).
As far as their book reviews go, I really appreciate the honesty of these bloggers. They don't simply stick to reviewing books that they love and sit there and gush about them (though they do give liberal praise for the books they do enjoy). They're not afraid to let you know that a book got merely lukewarm reception from them or was downright terrible and should be avoided at all costs. I don't like to waste my time reading bad books, so I am glad when someone gives me the heads up.
Also, I was more than pleased when I opened the feed yesterday and discovered that two of the bloggers had posted advice on booktalking, which is something I tried to do as a reading teacher last year and at which I never quite felt successful. They pointed me toward some great websites with sample booktalks, which I am posting for all who are interested:
http://www.motherreader.com/2006/06/bookhooks.html
http://www.motherreader.com/2007/10/teenbooktalking.html
http://www.motherreader.com/2006/03/extreme-booktalking.html
Also, Nancy Keane, Scholastic and Random House all offer book talk samples.