Reading Profile - S524 Spring 2019
I have always been an avid reader going back to Ramona
Quimby Age 8, Charlotte’s Web, and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler in the 1980s. In high school and throughout college, I
expanded my fiction horizons from Willa Cather and Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca
being a favorite) to plenty of classic hispanic fiction (required for my
Spanish major). I became a fan of poetry through my college studies, as
well, and still prefer poetry written in Spanish, its lyrical qualities being
vastly superior to English.
In 2005, I began working at a rural public
library which helped me branch out further with my reading. I remember Extremely
Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer being one of my favorite
novels during those early years working at the library. I also dove into
my comfort zone, women’s fiction, and read many novels by Anita Shreve and Jodi
Picoult. I tried some mysteries for the
first time, discovering Ruth Rendell as a new favorite author. I read
lots of non-fiction about religion, science, politics, and the intersection of
those topics. In short, I read all the
time and my interests were wide and varied.
Towards the end of 2005, I became the children’s
librarian at our library. Over the next ten years in this role, my
reading life took an entirely new turn as I fell in love with children’s and YA
literature for the first time since I was young. I even started reading
some fantasy and dystopian novels which I had previously steered clear of.
Even though I have read widely in adult fiction
over the years, my reader’s advisory experience is mostly with kids, teens, and
parents looking for children’s and YA literature. Because of that, I am
looking forward to expanding my knowledge with the topics in this course. Saricks’ Rule
of Three is a fabulous tool for looking at the essence of a novel and breaking
it down into manageable pieces when describing appeal to a reader (Saricks,
2009). I’m anxious to get started on annotations using some of her
methods!
My top 5 (adult fiction) reads in 2018 were:
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
- Little Fires Everywhere
by Celeste Ng
- Still Me by Jojo Moyes
- The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth
Ware
- The Couple Next Door by Shari
Lapena
References
Saricks, J. (2009, October). Rule of Three. Booklist,
25.
My Chosen Genres for the Semester:
Thriller
Gentle Reads
Fantasy - a stretch for me in adult fiction
Non-fiction
YA - my area of expertise
My Chosen Genres for the Semester:
Thriller
Gentle Reads
Fantasy - a stretch for me in adult fiction
Non-fiction
YA - my area of expertise
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned several of my favorites:
Ramona - for me as a kid, everything Beverly Cleary was a given; I read her teen novels, too (Fifteen, Sister of the Bride, Jean and Johnny)
Charlotte’s Web
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Willa Cather (I was born in Omaha, NE), particularly My Antonia
Rebecca (have you seen the 1940 film?)
I am impressed with your Spanish major! I thought of majoring in Spanish, but I let an upper division medieval literature class discourage me. I was the only non-native speaker, and reading El Cid did me in. I still love the language and plan to take more classes to at least attain some fluency. I spoke Italian as a child and the expressiveness and fluidity of Romance languages still appeals to me.
Your experience with Young Adult novels is similar to mine. Working in youth services exposed me to formats I wouldn't have tried otherwise. I 've found graphic novels, dystopian fiction, and even some steampunk works that I really like. I mainly program for young children and my RA experience is predominantly about children's literature. We do get questions for literature that eases the middle school transition into YA. Any recommendations?
Hi Rebecca,
DeleteMiddle school is such a tricky spot. Kids are all over the place with maturity and reading levels. There isn't a one size fits all answer to easing that transition. I ended up dividing our middle grade collection into more 2nd to 4th grade and 5th to 8th grade collections, one remaining juvenile fiction and the other becoming "young teen fiction". The YT collection included Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, Rick Riordan's series, and dystopian works like The Hunger Games (which was very popular with Middle Schoolers). Choosing where to put what was a book by book choice and never set in stone. I looked for language, situational events, violence, etc. and read a lot of parts of books in order to find a good placement for them. Having a new section of books for that middle school age was helpful to parents and kids (some of whom thought they were ready for YA but really weren't.) Kids were allowed to check out whatever they wanted to. I never stopped an 11 year old from checking out a YA novel, but I found that having the options for good middle grade fiction nearby helped them find appropriate books.
I am passed the kids stage, since my youngest is 22, but I did take a Children's Literature Class several years ago. I was introduced to many great books that I had missed, which were written after my oldest child had grown up. I really enjoyed that class. I am glad you mentioned Charlotte's Web. I remember my library used that theme for their summer reading program. I really loved that book. I also, remember reading My Antonia in high school. I was raised on the Classics as a child, so I am unfamiliar with reading materials for kids today. I do know Graphic Novels are very popular. I guess what is important is that kids ae reading and want to read, not so much as what they are reading that counts.
ReplyDeleteSince I am out of touch with that age group, I gravitate to adults, who really a lot of them are just grown up kids who want some form of entertainment through books. I can see where fantasy for Youth and Adult can overlap. I can relate to that better.
I wish I was fluent in Spanish. I took it in college, but I am not comfortable in speaking it. My languages in high school were French and Latin. I loved Latin, becasue we just translated it and it was not used as a spoken language.
I loved your reference back to books from your childhood! Those were some of my favorites as well! I also loved Harriet the Spy, Wrinkle in Time books, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (I was always so sad I could never find it in a movie version lol... didn't know until I was older that not all books were made into movies! There was not an internet to look any of that up!) The Westing Game... just so many I loved! We had a small family owned book store on our square... The Book Worm. My parents let me visit weekly to purchase new books; I was always reading!
ReplyDeleteI have seen many people reference The Woman in Cabin 10... I will add that to my list for the year.
I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and 2 years in college; I wanted a Bachelor of Arts degree instead of a Bachelor of Science... and I also did it to dodge all of the humanities classes where people had to read a book a week... I knew THAT would never happen! My son is a freshman this year and taking Spanish! It is a great refresher for me. We have a very small Hispanic population in my town so I really never get to use my Spanish.
Hi Shannon,
DeleteMy Spanish is rusty right now as I don't get enough practice. My son is a freshman taking Spanish, too, and he let me help him with a speech last night. (My daughter is a senior and took 3 years but didn't let me help her study much!) And I loved Harriet the Spy and The Westing Game, too!!
It sounds like you have had quite the reading journey. It is cool to meet someone with such varied tastes. For myself, I read a little bit of a lot of genres but the main area I read in is fantasy. I am excited to hear your thoughts about adult fantasy once we get into the heart of this class.
ReplyDeleteExcellent reading profile, full points! You had quite a few good comments on your post too :)
ReplyDelete