Authentic voices of children

National Library Week: Young adult novelist Chris Crutcher spoke to an audience of local librarians at our library yesterday morning before addressing a public gathering later that evening. The author's two appearances at our library were in conjunction with several presentations before high school classes as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival. In introducing him to the evening audience, high school senior and teen library board representative Ryan Nelson said that Chris Crutcher portrays the facts of life as they are, not as they ought to be.

Talking about how he got started telling stories, Crutcher recalled overhearing a locker room story of a coach who instructed his players to injure a talented opponent to knock him out of game. This became part of the inspiration for his novel "Running Loose." The coach's voice - not character - based on his own high school coach. After his novel was published, he returned to his high school back to school, and found out his book was restricted in the school library, requiring parental permission to read, despite his being the only published author in the history of the town. His book was censored because it got into philosophy of sports, and addressed issues of challenging authority.

Crutcher worked at a mental health center in Spokane, dealing with child abuse and neglect. He felt a need to write about the authentic voice of what was happening to abused children. He became conscious of the tension between the need to protect privacy and not share personal stories, versus the need to tell the story of societal problems. He found that due to limited resources, child protection does not protect rich kids, nor anyone over age 11. His fiction pushed the boundaries of young adult literature. Booklist declined to review "Chinese Handcuffs" because they couldn't recommend it. Crutcher started to wonder if he had crossed a line between fiction and real life that should not have been crossed. When a girl in Texas waited a long time to speak with him privately after a school talk, she told him: "When I read 'Chinese Handcuffs', I thought you knew me. I didn't think anyone understood my life." At that point he felt validated, and became more confident he was doing the right thing.

"If you start thinking about what's going to offend people and what isn't, you're not going to be able to tell the story." He related the story of a gay kid, who parents thought he was confused about his sexuality. The kid wasn't confused, but his parents were in denial. The boy told Crutcher the hardest thing in his life was hiding who he was, and knowing he would have to keep hiding at least through high school, asking: "Who wants to be Matthew Shepherd?"Stories are a way out - it's not about a secret, it's about the story. If other people understand the story, you're not alone. It's safe -- there's a place inside a book where it's real.

He related an Iowa book challenge, where a student got up and said to the school board "I'm an honors student with a 3.8 GPA. I could go to any college, but I'm going into the service. Do you mean to say that if I were to come back and write a book about my experiences in Iraq, using authentic voices, you wouldn't let people in this town read it?" That decided the issue.

More statements from Chris Crutcher:

• The person at risk in a controversy is not the author or publisher, it's the teacher or librarian who gives the book to kids. There are kids who are invisible in their schools and if you ban the book, you ban that kid.
• There is so much about the true nature of why we don't want to talk about things that's just under the surface.
• If my book is banned in a high school, I send five copies to the nearest public library and write the newspaper that I did it.
• Harper Lee guided me because of the intimacy she put into the creation of Scout. If I wanted to tell stories I needed to get the voices right. Storytelling voice is the thing you have to get.
• When we don't grieve properly, when we don't allow ourselves to feel the awfulness of what we've lost, we get stuck and we get sick.
• [About play therapy] You see the world through that kid's eyes, and that's where you start.
• Every time I see a book get taken out of a classroom or library, I think we're taking ourselves out of the short list of people to turn to because when we ban the stories we ban the kid.

I'm glad we have writers like this, who not only tell a good story but an honest story, who will struggle to help those authentic voices be heard -- and spend time with librarians to remind us of the importance of making sure the stories will reach people who need them. There are stories that need to be told, even if secrets are kept. There are those who need to read these stories. Not everybody has to like it, and not everybody has to read them, but freedom isn't free. We owe it to those children to let their stories be read, even if sometimes we have to fight to keep them on our shelves. Chris Crutcher helps us see the world through their eyes, and that's a start.

The power of collaboration: Fox Cities Book Festival kicks off

It's National Library Week, and for the third year in a row, it's also the Fox Cities Book Festival. Over the next eight days, 50 authors will appear at 18 venues, including libraries, schools, universities, museums and coffee houses. One of the first is occurring here at the Appleton Public Library, as Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, discusses her writing.

Each year's Book Festival is a huge collaborative effort, requiring a year of prep work. The Board includes representatives of all the local public libraries, plus public schools and higher education, as well as many community volunteers passionate about books and reading. A highlight is always the appearance of the Fox Cities Reads author, who will speak at many different area libraries and schools.

None of this would be possible without both inspiration and hard work. The original inspiration for the event came from Ellen Kort, an Appleton writer and teacher who was Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate. Ellen talked for years with interested people before a committee finally gelled and organized the first book festival. It's now an annual event including committees to do fund-raising, coordinate dozens of volunteers, make author arrangements, organize the community read and market the event. None of this would work without a broad cross-section the whole Fox Cities community, and it's no wonder that our libraries are deeply involved.

As Kim Edwards advised budding authors: "Read, read and read, and write, write and write."

Give a Child a Book

Reading to kids is vital. On the Washington Post site last week, there was a terrific column including some big points. Authoritatively:

the single best predictor of how a child will do over 12 years of school is: how much s/he was read to prior to the first day of first grade.

if we want to change America, we need to change how parents read to their children.

This reading requires two-way interaction--lots of talk. So the parents are pushing their children, and all they need to do is read aloud, with joy and talk. Doing this is like treasure and gold for a child’s life and with libraries, does not have to cost either.

Which is why our Friends' Give a Child a Book campaign, now in its 11th year, is important to the future of our community. The library encourages parents to read to kids, encourages kids to read on their own and gives them the means. Putting books directly into the hands of children who would not otherwise get them is a big step, and our Friends group works together with other local libraries to distribute books via the Salvation Army and the Boys & Girls Club.


New books or cash donations may be brought to the library through Dec. 12.

Books: here to stay

To the Best of Our Knowledge on public radio had a recent segment on libraries, books and reading. They featured Jonathon Rundman's Librarian song, and one of my favorite authors, Ursula K. LeGuin, talking about her essay in Harper's magazine, "Staying awake: Notes on the alleged decline of reading."

The essay is worth re-reading. We have noticed here at APL that although the use of media is increasing, more books are being used as well. LeGuin notes:

The book itself is a curious artifact, not showy in its technology but complex and extremely efficient: a really neat little device, compact, often very pleasant to look at and handle, that can last decades, even centuries. It doesn’t have to be plugged in, activated, or performed by a machine; all it needs is light, a human eye, and a human mind. It is not one of a kind, and it is not ephemeral. It lasts. It is reliable. If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you’re fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you’re reading a whole new book.

This is crucial, the fact that a book is a thing, physically there, durable, indefinitely reusable, an object of value.

I am far from dismissing the vast usefulness of electronic publication, but my guess is that print-on-demand will become and remain essential. Electrons are as evanescent as thoughts. History begins with the written word. Much of civilization now relies on the durability of the bound book—its capacity for keeping memory in solid, physical form. The continuous existence of books is a great part of our continuity as an intelligent species.

If I were interested in something like, say, building a library, I'd be paying attention.

Diverse book recommendations

Toward Community: Unity in Diversity held their annual Celebrate Diversity picnic on Aug. 16, 2009. Attendees were asked to write down their favorite books. Though only a minority of folks participated, they came up with an interesting list that reveals diverse ages, backgrounds, and literary tastes. Thanks to Toward Community board chair Kamal Varma for compiling and sharing.

• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
• What is the What - the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng: a novel by Dave Eggers
  
• Blue Sweater: bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world by Jacqueline Novogratz
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
• Drums of War by Edward Marston
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
• Invisible Man by Herbert George Wells (and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is pretty good, too - TD)
  
• Song of Solomon by Tony Morrison
• Black like Me by John Howard Griffin
• Stuffed Starved by Raj Patel
• Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
• White Teacher by Vivian Gussin Paley

Conkey's & John Zimmerman honored by City

It will be a sad day for many of us when Conkey's Bookstore closes after 113 years in Appleton. At last night's City Council meeting, Mayor Hanna read a proclamation honoring John Zimmerman and Conkey's for their many contributions to our community. Aug. 13 will be "A Day for Conkey's and John Zimmerman", with a special celebration in Houdini Plaza at 4:00 PM -- I hope there will be a huge crowd!

The poor economy has exacerbated the plight of the independent bookseller. We'll have something seriously missing from our lives when Conkey's is no more.

A standing ovation for the Zimmermans after the proclamation is read.

Mayor Hanna reading the proclamation.

Book Festival wraps up

Elizabeth Berg, who was the last program of this year's Fox Cities Book Festival, is finishing up in our program area. She drew a crowd of 183 people and we had to scramble to set up additional chairs. A whole bunch of volunteers and Book Festival Board members quickly materialized to help get the chairs out.

That's just the way the whole thing has been -- all sorts of people, from all over the Fox Cities, pitching in together to promote authors, books and reading. It'll be awhile before all the heads are counted and all the evaluations are read, but I'd say it was a howling success. Our library had almost 1,100 people attending programs over the past four days. Michael Perry, our community read author, drew about 1,500 people speaking at every public library in the Fox Cities, plus the UW-Fox campus and in concert at the Performing Arts Center. Our National Library Week door count was 1,868 people a day coming to our building.

But numbers hardly tell the story. The real news was in all the conversations that sprang up, all the connections that developed, all the people exposed to authors and ideas they didn't know before. You get a lot of laughs hearing Sherman Alexie describe his appearance on the Colbert Report, or watching Nikola-Lisa wearing shades, playing the blues harp and doing a rap version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" -- and then you can talk to people about it.

It took a lot of work, a lot of donations and a lot of hours of volunteer time by a lot of people. Every public library, and a lot of the school and university libraries, in the Fox Cities has been involved, along with many other community-minded folks who work for the joys of books, readers and writers. I'm betting we'll do it again!

photo: Michael Perry @ APL. Photo by Michael Kenney

Community Read: Michael Perry

We've kicked off this year's community read, with Wisconsin writer Michael Perry and we got a nice article in the Post Crescent:

Fox Cities Reads program hopes Michael Perry gets Valley laughing
Humorist's books chosen for community read

By Cheryl Anderson • Post-Crescent staff writer • January 23, 2009

APPLETON — Three of best-selling Wisconsin author and humorist Michael Perry's works will be featured in the 2009 Fox Cities Reads.

The public libraries of Appleton, Neenah, Menasha, Kaukauna, Kimberly and Little Chute and the library of the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley kicked off the third annual community read Thursday at the Copper Leaf Hotel. [entire article here]

We're pretty excited, and had not only the newspaper, but three television stations and three radio stations give us coverage. Rev. Will Bloedow, APL Board member -- and with his wife Ruth, co-chair of the Fox Cities Book Festival -- said:

Every library in the Fox Cities is here today, along with two mayors and a village administrator. This shows a sense of community which our leaders tells us we need badly to rebuild our nation and our world. It's an example of working together to build community and efficiency through collaboration.

Websites to check:

• Fox Cities Reads
• Michael Perry
• Fox Cities Book Festival
  

"The best gift to give a child is a book"

A book can make a difference in the life of a child.

Our community is fortunate to have an active and effective Library Friends group, which for the past ten years has worked to gather and distribute books for children at the holidays. At today's Friends meeting, Ralph Dorn, our hardworking Children's Committee chair, shared the following, which he also submitted to the Post Crescent. The staff joins in thanking Ralph, the committee, our Friends and everyone who contributed:

GIFT OF BOOKS: A sincere thank you to those who contributed to the 10th annual Give a Child a Book Drive sponsored by the Appleton Friends of the Library — 3,737 new and gently used books were donated, the second-highest total in our 10 years of collecting and donating books for local underprivileged children. Books were distributed to four local organizations that serve children in need:

• the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley,
• Harbor House,
• the Salvation Army and
  
• the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley.
  

And $952 was donated for the purchase of additional books by the children's department of the Appleton Public Library. Many area schools also participated in the book drive, with Horace Mann Middle School in Neenah, Huntley Elementary and East High in Appleton leading the way in donated books. Thanks also to Jane O'Hagan, DeDe Corbett and Dick and Donna Kilsdonk for helping me count and sort thousands of books. The best gift to give a child is a book. It opens the world of knowledge and understanding for them.

Ralph Dorn,
Appleton Public Library Children's Committee chair,
Appleton

(reprinted by permission of Ralph Dorn)

Book sale - recycling the collection & donations

Good things about the Friends' fall book sale:

1. it recycles used materials for fresh users
2. it raises money to support library services
3. it makes books available cheaply
   
4. it's a community event
5. it's done with the hard work of dedicated volunteers
   

The last word on "Twilight"

OK, maybe not the last word, but with the release of the movie this weekend, this video featuring two of our teens is timely. Nice job by both of them -- Ryan also represents teen concerns as a representative to the Library Board.

Teen Book Talk Videos

Our awesome YA staff and teens strike again! Check out our Book Talk playlist on YouTube.

"Connecting writers and readers" -- Book Festival to return

The book festival is coming back. Today's Post Crescent has the story:

Second Fox Cities Book Festival set for six-day run in April 2009
The sequel to Fox Cities Book Festival 2008 is due out this spring. [read full story]

The will be many needs and opportunities to donate or volunteer time. Our library is proud to participate, with other libraries, schools, organizations and individuals. Featured authors next year will include:

• Samantha Chang
• Sherman Alexie
• Michael Perry
• Sandra Kring
• David Giffels
• A. Manette Ansay
• Elizabeth Berg
• Philip Gulley
• Simon Armitage
• ...more to come...

Watch the Book Festival website for more information.

Literary music

We were fortunate to have singer-songwriter Anne Hills perform at our library yesterday. The Allmusic Guide says of Anne:

A stunning soprano tone has made Anne Hills one of contemporary folk music's premier vocalists. But her affinity for choosing unforgettable material and her knack for writing heartfelt original songs have brought her to the upper echelon of her craft.

Anne gave a terrific performance for an appreciative crowd -- and took the time to express her admiration of librarians' support for intellectual freedom. Her beautifully expressive voice brought tears to many eyes with her best-known song, "Follow That Road."

But the centerpiece of her concert was songs from her two latest CDs, both of them adaptations from Victorian literature. The earlier, Beauty Attends: The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley (2006), excerpts the childhood diaries of gifted naturalist and educator Opal Whitely, first published in 1920. The University of Oregon describes this as "a world as a child of 6 and 7 sees it, alive with creatures, fairies, talking trees, and singing creeks." Anne's songs, with music by Michael Smith, bring this 19th century child's view of nature to life.

Her most recent effort is Ef You Don‘t Watch Out!: Anne Hills Sings the Poems of James Whitcomb Riley (2007), reviving the work of the beloved Hoosier poet. I admit to a great personal fondness for Riley's work. My grandfather, who had a university education and whose own father taught high school, spent his life as a family farmer. Riley's writings combine another Victorian perspective on nature and the importance of the family farm with his well-known humorous and cautionary poems for children, and Anne's songs bring both these worlds beautifully into the 21st century.

Anne was a joy to work with. This was her second visit to our library, following a 1981 appearance in the Voices of Winter trio -- but I hope not her last.

Summer reading packs educational value

by Elizabeth Burmaster, State Superintendent of Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction

Summer reading is fun, but there's a special value that extends into the school year. Students who read four to six books during the summer return to school ready to learn.

Research has shown what teachers have known forever: students who do not engage in educational activities during summer vacation suffer learning loss. That loss can amount to as much as two to three months of learning each year. The greatest learning losses are procedural and factual information, meaning children who don't read in the summer tend to start the school year fuzzy on math and spelling. Summer readers, however, return to school in fall more enthusiastic about reading and learning. Many gain a month of learning by staying engaged and involved during the summer break from school.

It really doesn't matter what kinds of materials children read during vacation; in fact, it's better for youth to pick what they like. Joke books, magazines, mysteries, or sports stories-whatever suits their fancy is best for recreational reading. There are no tests or reports. This reading is at a comfortable level to keep it fun. Still, recreational reading develops vocabulary and builds reading speed and comprehension skills.

Wisconsin's public libraries are great for children to select reading material, and the price is right: free. Adding adventure to the reading fun, each year Wisconsin joins 46 member states in the Collaborative Summer Library program, which provides high-quality summer reading materials based on a topic. This year's theme for preschool and elementary students is "Catch the Reading Bug!" Programming for teens centers around "Metamorphosis@Your Library."

Children and teens who register for the Summer Library Program receive a reading record to tally the number of pages, minutes, or books they've read. Many libraries offer literacy games and activities and provide incentives to support reading efforts. This year, in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, children who meet their reading goals earn a day pass good for one free car admission to any one of 58 state parks, forests, or recreational areas in the state. There is so much to gain by reading during the summer. I encourage all families to visit the library and "Catch the Reading Bug!"

Nonprofit groups blogging

Below is my presentation to the leadership of Toward Community: Unity in Diversity, a wonderful local organization promoting diversity. Actually, this is a revised version of the presentation, incorporating answers to some of the questions that arose in discussion. Several members of the group have since signed up as blog authors.

As librarians, we do technology training, both formally and informally. Sharing some Web 2.0 techniques in our communities seems appropriate. It's great that more local groups are reaching out to share information.

Sustainability

Over 100 people attended a June 18 library presentation on "Moving Toward Sustainable Communities", presented by Sara James and Torbjorn Lahti, authors of The Natural Step for Communities. Among other things, the book discusses how some municipalities operate their government without fossil fuels. The publisher has a good web page that provides background on the book and authors.

The program was co-sponsored by:

• Appleton Library Foundation
  
• ECOS Fox Valley a local coalition promoting sustainability
  
• Foth (consulting & engineering firm)
  

Since Torbjorn was here from Sweden, and the the two authors would lead a "Conference on Sustainability: Balancing People, Planet and Profit" for 130 public officials and business leaders the next day, it was a real joy to be able to provide a free public program of this this caliber and relevance. If people weren't thinking about sustainability issues before, $4 a gallon for gas may have gotten some thinking started.

It was great to partner with a local issue-oriented coalition and a business to make this happen. Public libraries should foster more such partnerships and more such discussions.

Great books, great technology: CCBC@APL

We're lucky at our library in many ways. First, here in Wisconsin, we have a great resource in the University of Wisconsin's CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) -- an authoritative and helpful information source for children's & YA literature.

Second, we have a great library system, OWLS (Outagamie Waupaca Library System), which brought us the CCBC road show as a continuing education program for area libraries. OWLS is also using an LSTA grant to help member libraries develop new technology applications, including vodcasting. Beth Carpenter posted this video of the CCBC presentation on their 'Casting @ OWLS blog. See the episode archive for all the parts. Now even children's and young adult librarians as far away as Virginia can benefit from the CCBC presentation.

Paper, electronic publishing and libraries

Library Juice cites William Powell's interesting study "Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal", published last year at Harvard. It's a thoughtful examination of trends in the publishing world, and how electronic versions of newspapers and magazines have impacted the face of journalism.

I occasionally appear on a cable interview show hosted by our former Mayor, Dorothy Johnson. When we talk, we frequently touch on question of the future of books. I continue to believe that books will be with us for the foreseeable future -- bound, printed paper is just too good a technology to disappear. Our library got a Kindle e-book reader from Amazon to try; it's interesting, cool and OK as far as it goes, but no world beater. Were Amazon more committed to making the Kindle useful for libraries, I'd like it better, but it still wouldn't replace books.

The future of printed paper is hardly an academic question for those of us who live where the paper industry historically has dominated the economy, nor for librarians anywhere. But for those planning library buildings, it's even more pressing. Consultants tell us that while media and reference sources will become increasingly electronic, books will be important to society and libraries for the foreseeable future. The economics of books, magazines and newspapers may be quite different, but libraries will continue to need a lot of shelf space for many decades to come.

Take a look at Powell's study -- you can even print a hard copy.

Julie Andrews: When You Read

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, decrying possible library budget cuts, movie star and author Julie Andrews speaks powerfully on the value of books, reading and libraries:

I have witnessed firsthand the crucial role our libraries play in providing free access for children and adults alike in the realms of learning and literacy. Public libraries are our great teachers and storytellers, and are a vital adjunct to our schools. In this day of standardized and homogenized education, a library offers individual and personalized learning opportunities second to none.

Perhaps most important, libraries offer a powerful antidote to the isolation of the Internet, providing connection, support and community. Rather than wading in a solitary fashion through the morass of potential misinformation available on the Net, the student who conducts his or her explorations at a library has safe, professional guidance in his or her search for good books and accurate information.

This is another perspective on where we, as a society, find value. We can demonstrate a good return on investment. But the value of libraries doesn't end there.