Tag Archives: Books

Virtual Video Book Talks

A few weeks (or months?) ago I posted about some audio book talks I created, aimed for grades 2-5, for our library’s SoundCloud platform. I knew that eventually I wanted to return to video book talks, as our book talk audience typically uses YouTube more than SoundCloud (2nd-5th graders), my library has a larger following on YouTube, and YouTube adds a visual element that allows for deeper exploration of picture books and graphic novels.

My first few videos are below. I expect these to evolve over time. They are all edited using the YouCut app through an Android phone. Due to the quick cuts and simple editing, these actually take me less time than an audio book talks–I never like to read from a script, and this format allows me to write out my thoughts but only have to worry about a few sentences at a time–I don’t memorize my script, but only having to talk through 1-3 sentences that take no more than 30 seconds total allows me to have a few potential retakes for each snippet and still be done filming in no more than 15 minutes. Editing takes about 20 more minutes. Of course upload speeds are always changing, but at least that can happen in the background while I work on other projects.

These video book talks span ages a bit more as well, with a baby and preschool title added to the mix.

Learn more about my Virtual Book Talks – with many more video examples – in this post.

Woke Baby by Mahogany L. Browne:

Grandma’s Tiny House: A Counting Story by JaNay Brown-Wood:

Meet Yasmin! by Sadia Faruqi:

Ana & Andrew by Christine Platt:

Jada Jones Sleepover Scientist by Kelly Starling Lyons:

What Lane? by Torrey Maldonado:

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia:

The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (6/22/20-6/28/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Everything Else:

Note: Still tired, though I am super excited to have real new books again (instead of eBooks and eARCS). Of course, physical new books, plus eARCS means more reading. This also meant a lot of picture books that I needed to turn around quickly.

This week’s favorites:

And one more highlight — Smart George. What. Is. This. Fever. Dream. Of. A. Book.

Michala’s Reading

Note: I got distracted from reading much of this week by my beautiful baby boy! His front legs are shorter than his back legs and his tail is about 6 inches too short for his body. He waddles and snores and is so weird and I love him. This is Professor “Frankie” Frankleton adjunct purr-fessor of meow-thematics.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (6/15/20-6/21/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Graphic Novels:

Everything Else:

Note: Wow working in the building again is exhausting, especially since most of my in-building duties involve physical labor. That combined with Elephant & Piggie Storytime on Saturday left me exhausted, and I’m glad I read more earlier this week because nothing was happening after my in building days Friday and Saturday.

No details on these because I’m tired, but these books were particularly awesome:

Michala’s Reading

Note: I’m in that limbo state where you work part time in the building and part time at home so you feel like you are both always working and not working enough….

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (6/8/20-6/14/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Graphic Novels:

Everything Else:

Note: Pushing through as much reading as I can before I officially start partial back-in-the-building work this week, and (most likely) regular back to work schedule at the end of the month. Reading will drop off then between the commute, regular work exhaustion, and the added cleaning measures due to COVID and taking care of folks that are high risk.

Michala’s Reading

Note: I’m back in building 2 days a week now and am feeling extra burnt out. I was already dying from no human interaction and ramifications from the plague, now physical activity that I haven’t done in months and human peoples I don’t know how to interact with anymore combined with online burnout from my teens not coming to programs since they aren’t the same kind of weird fun we normally get to do (I don’t know how to make a Hunger Games Nerf War online!) and I am officially all kinds of destroyed. Positive note, I get a cat this week so hopefully he helps my morale a bit.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (6/1/20-6/7/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Graphic Novels:

Everything Else:

Note: My reading is slowing down a little, and I expect it to continue to do so between real-world issues taking precedence and the return to working in the library. Not looking forward to that commute.

Reading Highlights:

  • Love is Powerful – Timely picture book focusing on promoting love and kindness and the power of peaceful protest.
  • Sherlock Bones – Fun, quick mystery that is written and illustrated in a style that will really appeal to Bad Guys fans.
  • Lightfall – Yet another Amulet readalike that will have a great audience. Looking forward to the rest of the series. I hate to say “yet another” because all three of these graphic novels from the last few weeks are really strong on their own–it just feels odd to be reading them in such succession.
  • Measuring Up – Cooking, friendship struggles, and a much needed diverse, realistic fiction graphic novel great for fans of Smile.
  • What Lane? – Torrey Maldonado does great work again with this realistic fiction story of a young mixed boy beginning to recognize the differences in his (white and black) friend groups and the acts of racism that surround him everyday. Particularly great because while the main characters are in middle school, I feel comfortable handing this to a 3rd-4th grader.
  • Eels – Wow, eels are incredibly weird, strange creatures. Well written, appealing non-fiction that is easy to booktalk.

Michala’s Reading

Back next week!

Social Media Collection Promotion Part 2

I’m in a weird time right now where I have a ton of (virtual) programming coming up to share with you all over the next few weeks–sometimes two virtual storytimes a week, sometimes a full week of Pokemon programming, sometimes a special Elephant & Piggie storytime, plus the weekly graphic novel book club–but I’ve been spending most of my work time preparing for those things or other future projects that I don’t want to write to you all about until they’ve happened.

So, I’m revisiting a project I wrote about two months ago, Social Media Collection Promotion through Instagram stories. I’ve continued this project since we’ve closed with a daily Instagram story advertising an ebook, series, ebook website, or virtual program.

When I started this project, I rotated through age ranges and formats more carefully–about 40 days into making Instagram posts, I stopped being as careful and just grabbed content that felt relevant and appealing. I still try to select titles that are either immediately available through Hoopla or do not have long hold’s lists through Overdrive or Cloud Library. Even though we have opened for curbside, I am still focusing on ebooks.

Some things I’ve learned:

  • Posts get about 200-250 views a day no matter who I tag, use of hashtags, popularity of materials, etc..
  • Engagements, profile clicks, and responses (and, from what I can tell checkouts) only really occur with materials that are already very popular–I got a stronger response when I shared that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is free to download on Overdrive and that the new Hunger Games prequel is available on audio via Hoopla.
  • Honestly? I don’t know how much of an impact these are having. Part of my personal goal for the year was to create a long term plan for social media collection promotion, and frankly I don’t know if it is worth it, at least through Instagram stories. Most of my viewers are library staff. I’d like to potentially try less frequent posts in a different platform–even an Instagram post once every two weeks–but that wasn’t an option before the pandemic, and I know social media has a different purpose at the moment as we start to reopen.

Instagram Stories – Picture Books:

Instagram Stories – First Chapter – Chapter:

Instagram Stories – Program Advertisement & General Service:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (5/25/20-5/31/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Graphic Novels:

Everything Else:

Note: This week was very picture book heavy, with a ton of great eARCs mixed in with Hoopla Bonus Borrows (many of which aren’t included here because they are fairly well known books, and isn’t this list long enough?). Finished the Babymouse series this week and almost done with Nikki & Deja.

Reading Highlights:

  • Animals Brag About Their Bottoms – This is just another adorable picture book title where it is exactly as advertised–animals brag about their big, stripey, furry, unique bottoms. Somehow mixes what will be a humorous read aloud about animals with body positivity.
  • Superhero Gran – This one stood out to me as a great storytime book, especially with the amount of grandparents we have in our community.
  • This is a Book of Shapes – Is it terrible that I wish this book didn’t have the animal inserts and humor and was literally a book of “this is a square” with an illustration of a square on a white background (about two thirds of the book is formatted like this)? Why can’t we have more really, really simple books that don’t try to be more? Do publishers have any idea have many copies I would beg my library to purchase that were literally just “A” “a” on a white background that were big enough to trace with a finger?
  • Fence: Rivals – Fence is back! More Fence! More Fence!

Michala’s Reading

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (5/18/20-5/24/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Graphic Novels:

Everything Else:

Note: Some part of my brain decided that this was the perfect weekend for cleaning, creating real storage solutions (instead of hodgepodge-ing what I own), and going through my Disney pin collection. About twelve hours into all of that, my brain wanted to know why I thought this was a good idea. Too late now.

Reading Highlights:

  • Slow Samson – I’m always up for a sloth picture book, even if I’m not as obsessed as Michala, and this is a solid read with a good plot about friendship and embracing differences.
  • The Weirn Books – This is my second stand-out fantasy graphic novel in the last two weeks (Beetle & the Hollowbones was last week’s). There are going to be a ton of great titles out there by the end of the year for fans of Amulet and Snapdragon.
  • Sasha & Puck (Elixir Fixers) – I love this first chapter series, and I really hope more books are published. It is a great mixture of a spunky and intelligent female main character, a sprinkle of scientific thinking, and a touch of magic. Plus diverse main character. I want more.
  • **Note about Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion – I feel bad for this title–if it had been published in an alternate universe, I wouldn’t feel like I would need to write something. However, we are living in a pandemic-filled world. The book digs into a mystery connected to the Spanish Flu, specifically the (dead) daughter of a mansion owner. There is a part, small as it is, that essentially says (not exact words, I was listening to the audio)–“The Spanish Flu was scary and millions of people died, but don’t worry, we have doctors and great medicine now, so that will never happen again.” This may not be the best title to hand to a child at the current moment.

Michala’s Reading

Note: Happy Memorial Day! Plant some geraniums, thank a veteran, wear your masks, and wash your hands!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (5/11/20-5/17/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Everything Else:

Note: More books! Much of this reading is happening because I don’t have a commute anymore–I imagine my reading will have to decrease once I have to wake up earlier than 10 minutes before I want to start work.

This week’s highlights:

  • History Comics – This series will fill a much-needed Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales readalike void.
  • Beetle & the Hollowbones – Gorgeous illustrations mixed with a great fantasy-adventure story with a touch of LGBT romance–this is a definite winner, perfect for fans of Snapdragon.
  • Arlo Pips: King of the Birds – Why have I read two upcoming graphic novel releases about crows? And how are both books actually engaging, good reads?
  • Some Pigtails – Cute first chapter book about a young girl and her fight for the right to have crazy pigtails. I hope this becomes a series.

Michala’s Reading

Note: I channeled my best Annamarie this week and read the last of all the things I had in the house. Because apparently I go

I’m gonna need to grab a brain candy for teen reads next week cause this week was way too heavy on the angst for the times we are in right now. #Ineedfluff

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

We are joining the blog trend of Monday posts about what we have read during the last week (5/4/20-5/10/20).

Annamarie’s Reading

Picture Books & Readers:

Everything Else:

Note: And my reading picked up again. It may keep increase for a bit as many of my favorite TV shows are wrapping up. I think I got a bit caught up in eARCs, and I’m not sure that trend is over yet. I want to try to focus more on books that I’m more personally engaged in than the “all the books” mentality I’ve been in lately.

This week’s highlights:

  • Party Problems (Emma Every Day) – Everyday-adventures reader series starring a young deaf girl. Her and her friends use sign language throughout.
  • Act – This is a great graphic novel series, and you see more of the main character’s character development here. Hoping the end of the real book is less abrupt than where the eARC ends.
  • Fox & Rabbit – This is a great beginning reader graphic novel series that will appeal to fans of Elephant & Piggie or Narwhal.

Michala’s Reading

Note: I am feeling the people isolation very very hard this week. Most of my reading focused on graphic novels this week, because it was the only stuff really keeping me engaged.

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