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The 2019 End of Year Roundup!
Dec. 31st, 2019 05:15 pmIt’s time again for a run-down of the year5842448 —isn’t that the year The Time Machine takes place in? Sam just reached over and typed on the number pad to be obnoxious, but I’m leaving it because it looks like I’m talking about the year 5842448.
Stuff That Happened This Year
2019 wasn’t an abnormally eventful year, so I’ll just list the top five non-library happenings in chronological order since none of them stick out as bigger than any others.
Stuff That Happened This Year
2019 wasn’t an abnormally eventful year, so I’ll just list the top five non-library happenings in chronological order since none of them stick out as bigger than any others.
1. Maddie, as did her brother before her, signed up for the 4th grade’s traditional Battle of the Books. Unlike her brother, she and her team decided that, me being a children’s librarian and all, I should be their coach. This stressed me out more than I thought it would, but it’s still a good experience, and Maddie’s team conveniently came in 4th, the highest they could get without having to go on to the district-level rounds.
2. In continuing attempt to actually treat my ADHD, since stimulants work on my brain properly but apparently also give my body panic attacks, I started Strattera, a non-stimulant, that worked okay for awhile, except I felt more depressed again, and then after several months I had a delayed allergic reaction or something, which was very frustrating and scary as everyone was like “How can you have a delayed allergic reaction?” but what else explains that it was making my throat swell up? And also making me dizzy and shaky? It was a mess. The psychiatrist said, well, I guess all we can do now is double down on therapy, and he signed me up with a counselor in his practice, but she only really had experience with mood disorders and addiction and I found myself educating her about ADHD, so I sought out a new therapist on my own, and found a lady who not only has experience as a life coach for ADHD women but she HAS ADHD HERSELF, and that level of understanding is MUCH more useful.
3. So, we didn’t take any trips this year, in part because of the stupid retaining wall. The retaining wall beside our driveway has been slowly collapsing for years and now there's a big railroad tie sticking flat out into the driveway. We reserved enough of our tax refund and Jason's yearly bonus to get the retaining wall replaced, and I started a time-consuming but not unpleasant process of transferring all the bulbs along that side of the driveway (we have a LOT of daylilies) to other places and to pots for replanting once the new wall was finished. Unfortunately, that dang wall was still sticking into the driveway, and ironically I managed to dent up Jason's car on it, which we had to spend part of the money we'd saved on fixing, so we had to POSTPONE replacing the wall because the wall in its broken condition made us spend the money to replace it! For the next few months, we were in limbo. The guy who would replace the wall didn't know when it could fit into his schedule, so we didn't make camping plans because that MIGHT be the week he could do the wall. We kept trying to build up the savings again, but too many times we had to dip into it because we couldn't stop doing everything else just for a wall that might or might not happen. In the end, we put it off until next year. It was THE MOST frustrating aspect of our year. I mean, personally. Not counting the wider world being a mess!
4. In happier news, I wrote a freaking lot of fanfiction. This may not seem much in the way of Happening to you, but it occupied a good and pleasant chunk of my life this year. I am buoyed up by writing it. Here’s my AO3 page, and there’s more to come!
5. Sam, to everyone’s surprise, started cross-country. To even more of everyone’s surprise, he loved it, and now he’s going to do track in the spring. Normally I stick to writing about my own personal happenings in this section, rather than on the kids’ (unless, like Battle of the Books, it directly involves me), but this may actually have been the most interesting thing to happen in this household this year. I’m really proud of him for trying something new and persevering at it even if he wasn’t immediately good at it. It makes up for him not doing music.
Note: You might notice there are some LINKS in the paragraphs above. I'm going to put a lot of links throughout this post, if you find any of these things interesting. The links may go to more detailed things I've written elsewhere (usually GeekMom), or they may go to pictures (because I cannot get Dreamwidth to actually display any pictures I try to put into these posts DIRECTLY for some reason). OCCASIONALLY, usually in the case of the books, it'll go to a not-me link so you can find out more, but most of the time it's stuff I wrote and I'd love for you to continue reading my stuff by clicking through, if you haven't read said links before!
This next bit, though, the links are specifically all pictures:
2. In continuing attempt to actually treat my ADHD, since stimulants work on my brain properly but apparently also give my body panic attacks, I started Strattera, a non-stimulant, that worked okay for awhile, except I felt more depressed again, and then after several months I had a delayed allergic reaction or something, which was very frustrating and scary as everyone was like “How can you have a delayed allergic reaction?” but what else explains that it was making my throat swell up? And also making me dizzy and shaky? It was a mess. The psychiatrist said, well, I guess all we can do now is double down on therapy, and he signed me up with a counselor in his practice, but she only really had experience with mood disorders and addiction and I found myself educating her about ADHD, so I sought out a new therapist on my own, and found a lady who not only has experience as a life coach for ADHD women but she HAS ADHD HERSELF, and that level of understanding is MUCH more useful.
3. So, we didn’t take any trips this year, in part because of the stupid retaining wall. The retaining wall beside our driveway has been slowly collapsing for years and now there's a big railroad tie sticking flat out into the driveway. We reserved enough of our tax refund and Jason's yearly bonus to get the retaining wall replaced, and I started a time-consuming but not unpleasant process of transferring all the bulbs along that side of the driveway (we have a LOT of daylilies) to other places and to pots for replanting once the new wall was finished. Unfortunately, that dang wall was still sticking into the driveway, and ironically I managed to dent up Jason's car on it, which we had to spend part of the money we'd saved on fixing, so we had to POSTPONE replacing the wall because the wall in its broken condition made us spend the money to replace it! For the next few months, we were in limbo. The guy who would replace the wall didn't know when it could fit into his schedule, so we didn't make camping plans because that MIGHT be the week he could do the wall. We kept trying to build up the savings again, but too many times we had to dip into it because we couldn't stop doing everything else just for a wall that might or might not happen. In the end, we put it off until next year. It was THE MOST frustrating aspect of our year. I mean, personally. Not counting the wider world being a mess!
4. In happier news, I wrote a freaking lot of fanfiction. This may not seem much in the way of Happening to you, but it occupied a good and pleasant chunk of my life this year. I am buoyed up by writing it. Here’s my AO3 page, and there’s more to come!
5. Sam, to everyone’s surprise, started cross-country. To even more of everyone’s surprise, he loved it, and now he’s going to do track in the spring. Normally I stick to writing about my own personal happenings in this section, rather than on the kids’ (unless, like Battle of the Books, it directly involves me), but this may actually have been the most interesting thing to happen in this household this year. I’m really proud of him for trying something new and persevering at it even if he wasn’t immediately good at it. It makes up for him not doing music.
Note: You might notice there are some LINKS in the paragraphs above. I'm going to put a lot of links throughout this post, if you find any of these things interesting. The links may go to more detailed things I've written elsewhere (usually GeekMom), or they may go to pictures (because I cannot get Dreamwidth to actually display any pictures I try to put into these posts DIRECTLY for some reason). OCCASIONALLY, usually in the case of the books, it'll go to a not-me link so you can find out more, but most of the time it's stuff I wrote and I'd love for you to continue reading my stuff by clicking through, if you haven't read said links before!
This next bit, though, the links are specifically all pictures:
Top 5 Interesting Presents:
I normally do a little bit of a Christmas present roundup each year, but it doesn't seem exciting enough to do several different lists for different recipients and such, so, just highlights:
1. I got a new desk set up. This was actually a birthday present, last spring, but it is so awesome and I didn't take a picture of it back when I finally finished, that I'm going to highlight it now. I really feel it is a space of my own-- not least for all the personalizing I've done to it. Also, the roll-out table/desk part really proved itself useful this past month for both cutting out sewing patterns and wrapping gifts!
2. I never knew before a few months ago that Travelers' Notebooks are a thing that exists. They're like a wallet that you can put various refillable notebooks into, so you can have a journal, a calendar, a to-do list, a sketchbook, a whatever all in one that you can replace individually as you need to. This is so perfect for me! NOW I don't have to carry around a huge bag to carry all those separate things! So my in-laws got the one I put on my wishlist for me.
3. I'd seen some good reviews for a game called "Throw Throw Burrito," and when Maddie saw it in a store and was completely tickled I knew it must be our family's Pickle Present (the gift for the whole family that the person who finds the pickle ornament gets to open). It's basically a cross between PIG/Spoons and Dodgeball. It's ridiculous and everyone had a good time playing it after Christmas dinner, even the grandparents.
4. I saw this shirt online and knew there could be nothing more Maddie. Judging by her expression I think she agreed. Don't know if the school dress code allows it though.
5. I also made the kids Marauders Map shirts, and a bunch of other clothes, and a hat for my mom based on a hat I have that she liked, and a really fuzzy pair of Star Wars sweatpants for Jason, which he's really pleased with.
Stuff That Happened: Library Edition!
Top 5 Family Night (My weekly all-ages storytime) Themes
1. Time Travel: This is an example of me going completely overboard, which almost turned out to bite me in the butt because none of my regulars showed up. Luckily there was a girl really bored waiting for her brother to finish an assignment who I could recruit, and she got to enjoy it thoroughly. I have put lots of pictures and description in a Google Doc.
2. Smelly Storytime: What’s great about this was not the plan, but the results. I’ve done Smell Bingo before at programs, though I don’t know if I’ve written it up here. That’s where everyone sniffs a canister with a familiar scent and has to mark it on their bingo sheets? But it turned out there’d been a candlemaking program in the storytime room the night before. A SCENTED candlemaking program. And basically? We almost had to cancel Smelly Storytime because the Storytime room was too Smelly! Luckily we were able to move it out into the play area, and everyone found the irony really hilarious, so good stuff, after all.
3. Shakespeare Day: Never let anyone tell you you can’t do a Shakespeare program with young kids. I found a picture book retelling of The Tempest that was actually still too long for my crowd, but that’s okay, I’m good at simplifying on the spot. So basically what I did was read— er, TELL— the story and had the kids act it out as I went. The kid in the tube is Ariel stuck in the tree, by the way. It was hilarious and fun and I highly recommend it.
4. David Wiesner: I like to spotlight picture book authors whose birthdays happen to fall on Family Night days. I didn’t want to NOT salute the master of wordless books, but what should we do for an activity? What I ended up doing was printing and cutting out various frogs from Tuesday, had the kids choose a frog or five and draw a place for them to fly to, then glue the frogs in. Awesome.
5.Dewey Decimal Day: I stubbornly keep taking every opportunity to try to get people to understand how Dewey works— it’s really not that complicated!— but I never had the success I had on Dewey Decimal Day this year. I assigned the kids numbers, one at a time, for them to find in the nonfiction section, like a scavenger hunt. And not only did the kids keep running back for more numbers every time they found the first ones, every family there ended up checking out a STACK of books they’d found at each number in the game! It warmed my geeky little librarian heart, let me tell you!
Top 5 Family Night (My weekly all-ages storytime) Themes
1. Time Travel: This is an example of me going completely overboard, which almost turned out to bite me in the butt because none of my regulars showed up. Luckily there was a girl really bored waiting for her brother to finish an assignment who I could recruit, and she got to enjoy it thoroughly. I have put lots of pictures and description in a Google Doc.
2. Smelly Storytime: What’s great about this was not the plan, but the results. I’ve done Smell Bingo before at programs, though I don’t know if I’ve written it up here. That’s where everyone sniffs a canister with a familiar scent and has to mark it on their bingo sheets? But it turned out there’d been a candlemaking program in the storytime room the night before. A SCENTED candlemaking program. And basically? We almost had to cancel Smelly Storytime because the Storytime room was too Smelly! Luckily we were able to move it out into the play area, and everyone found the irony really hilarious, so good stuff, after all.
3. Shakespeare Day: Never let anyone tell you you can’t do a Shakespeare program with young kids. I found a picture book retelling of The Tempest that was actually still too long for my crowd, but that’s okay, I’m good at simplifying on the spot. So basically what I did was read— er, TELL— the story and had the kids act it out as I went. The kid in the tube is Ariel stuck in the tree, by the way. It was hilarious and fun and I highly recommend it.
4. David Wiesner: I like to spotlight picture book authors whose birthdays happen to fall on Family Night days. I didn’t want to NOT salute the master of wordless books, but what should we do for an activity? What I ended up doing was printing and cutting out various frogs from Tuesday, had the kids choose a frog or five and draw a place for them to fly to, then glue the frogs in. Awesome.
5.Dewey Decimal Day: I stubbornly keep taking every opportunity to try to get people to understand how Dewey works— it’s really not that complicated!— but I never had the success I had on Dewey Decimal Day this year. I assigned the kids numbers, one at a time, for them to find in the nonfiction section, like a scavenger hunt. And not only did the kids keep running back for more numbers every time they found the first ones, every family there ended up checking out a STACK of books they’d found at each number in the game! It warmed my geeky little librarian heart, let me tell you!
Special Programs and Projects, not really Top 5 as much as What Was There
I wasn’t involved with too many new or unique programs this year, so I’m including non-programming projects, too, like
1. The Awesome Space Wall! Kids could fly their rockets up through layers of atmosphere as they completed Summer Reading challenges. And I put this sky up all by myself!
2. Fan Fest: this was our remarkably successful attempt at throwing a mini ComiCon in the library. And I got to dress up as Peggy Carter! And we’re totally making it an annual thing now!
3. Being Clifford at the Halloween Bash: I did NOT get to make my own Halloween costume this year, because instead I was recruited to be Clifford. This was an interesting experience.
4. Peggy’s Mirrors and Windows Project: For the past couple of years (yeah, you'll notice that article is from last year) our director has been trying to get a “Mirrors and Windows” multicultural collection development project of some sort started. At first it was about trying to secure a grant, and it was going to be some kind of outreach program; now she’s settled for doing a presentation at a professional conference. But for all of these potential outcomes, she wanted me to put together the actual booklists of multicultural books. At first she seemed to be under the impression that we could somehow gather ALL the multicultural picture books that exist into one collection— I guess the variety was just that much scarcer back when she was a children’s librarian. My job actually turned out more to be making sure we had the widest variety of identities represented, and well, on the list. In effort somewhat just to get MY thoughts organized I ended up writing some really nice annotations, but in the end she asked me to send her a new file with JUST the books listed. Nyah. But I did some very nice work on her behalf, thank you very much.
5. This isn't anything I was really involved in, but while I was getting the links to the photos on the library's Facebook page I saw the FRIGGIN' ADORABLE picture of little Henry and his new
It's Reviews Time!
Books!
Top 5 2019 Picture Books
1. Field Trip to the Moon, by John Hare: I almost missed this delightful wordless scifi because I hadn’t seen any reviews for it when I was placing my All-the-Space-Themed-Books-for-Summer-Reading order, so thank you Junior Library Guild subscription for coming to my rescue. It’s about a kid who gets accidentally left behind on said futuristic field trip, but ends up sharing the Wonder of Crayons with a group of aliens. It’s awesome.
2. When Aidan Became a Brother, by Kyle Lukoff: “When Aidan was born everyone thought he was a girl” is just such a perfect sentence to describe his situation as a transgender boy: so simple! So straightforward! To think people struggle with how to explain such things! But this is not a message book about what it means to be transgender. This is about Aidan wanting everything to be perfect for his new baby sibling: because he’d been so frustrated early on with people getting things wrong about him, he’s extra-worried that he’ll make a mistake about the new baby, and it’s just really, really sweet. You want to cuddle him up and tell him it will be okay, just as his own parents finally do.
3. Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot! by Cece Bell: It’s such a ridiculous title that it made me laugh out loud, on a bad day, when I first saw it in the upcoming releases announcements. The actual book doesn’t disappoint in its ridiculousness. Yes, the order to “smell my foot!” does actually carry an entire plot through four or five chapters of easy-reader simplicity (I put it under “picture books” because I did actually read the whole thing at Smelly Storytime), though maybe it also includes stuff about manners and misunderstanding and not getting eaten. It makes me happy purely by existing.
4. Truman, by Jean Reidy: This is about a tiny turtle deciding to go rescue his Person who has disappeared for an entire day (at school), though by the time he gets moving she’s back home again. It’s the thought that counts, and Truman has a lot of thought! It’s great!
5. Birthday on Mars! by Sara Schonfeld: The thing with nonfiction books, there aren’t a lot that make good storytime selections, and for our space-themed summer reading, there were all these great space books that I just couldn’t use. So I was really excited that this existed, explaining what a Mars rover does simply and like a story, based off the time it really did sing “Happy Birthday” to itself. I may have used it more than once this summer.
Books!
Top 5 2019 Picture Books
1. Field Trip to the Moon, by John Hare: I almost missed this delightful wordless scifi because I hadn’t seen any reviews for it when I was placing my All-the-Space-Themed-Books-for-Summer-Reading order, so thank you Junior Library Guild subscription for coming to my rescue. It’s about a kid who gets accidentally left behind on said futuristic field trip, but ends up sharing the Wonder of Crayons with a group of aliens. It’s awesome.
2. When Aidan Became a Brother, by Kyle Lukoff: “When Aidan was born everyone thought he was a girl” is just such a perfect sentence to describe his situation as a transgender boy: so simple! So straightforward! To think people struggle with how to explain such things! But this is not a message book about what it means to be transgender. This is about Aidan wanting everything to be perfect for his new baby sibling: because he’d been so frustrated early on with people getting things wrong about him, he’s extra-worried that he’ll make a mistake about the new baby, and it’s just really, really sweet. You want to cuddle him up and tell him it will be okay, just as his own parents finally do.
3. Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot! by Cece Bell: It’s such a ridiculous title that it made me laugh out loud, on a bad day, when I first saw it in the upcoming releases announcements. The actual book doesn’t disappoint in its ridiculousness. Yes, the order to “smell my foot!” does actually carry an entire plot through four or five chapters of easy-reader simplicity (I put it under “picture books” because I did actually read the whole thing at Smelly Storytime), though maybe it also includes stuff about manners and misunderstanding and not getting eaten. It makes me happy purely by existing.
4. Truman, by Jean Reidy: This is about a tiny turtle deciding to go rescue his Person who has disappeared for an entire day (at school), though by the time he gets moving she’s back home again. It’s the thought that counts, and Truman has a lot of thought! It’s great!
5. Birthday on Mars! by Sara Schonfeld: The thing with nonfiction books, there aren’t a lot that make good storytime selections, and for our space-themed summer reading, there were all these great space books that I just couldn’t use. So I was really excited that this existed, explaining what a Mars rover does simply and like a story, based off the time it really did sing “Happy Birthday” to itself. I may have used it more than once this summer.
Top 5 2018 Picture Books I Read At the Last Minute for our Mock Caldecott
1. Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales: I love Yuyi Morales already, but this one made my jaw drop. The wonderful library-loving details! The sheer perfection! I normally don’t have strong opinions about what does and does not win the Caldecott, because everything is wonderful, but this one was ROBBED, ROBBED I say! (Though it IS possible it wasn’t eligible? It turns out she’s living in Mexico again, and maybe she never actually became a US citizen at the time of the immigration depicted so wonderfully in this book? Could that be the only reason this book was TOTALLY ROBBED of the Caldecott?)
2. The Stuff of Stars, by Marion Dane Bauer but more importantly in this case illustrated by Ekua Holmes: Holmes has evoked the whole swirling dance of the universe into her paintings by incorporating marbling into the collage. You can get completely lost staring at these pictures, they're breathtaking. This was obviously my second place vote in our Mock Caldecott, and it also didn't actually get a Caldecott, so nyah. Both this and Dreamers did win the top illustrator awards specifically for the illustrators' ethnic identities, which makes you wonder if the Caldecott committee was like, "oh, they'll get the Belpre/King, obviously, they don't need the Caldecott, too" but they DID, you see, see?
3. Alma and how she got her name, by Juana Martinez-Neal: now this one DID get a Caldecott honor, but I wasn’t so much impressed with the art, myself, as much as I love the story, about a little girl who learns family history through her many given names, and finds a way to connect to each ancestor she’s been named for. It’s really sweet.
4. Imagine! by Raul Colon: Okay, this is bad, but although I loved this wordless book enough to make it my third place vote in the Mock Caldecott, I can’t actually remember anything about it now! I give it my stamp of approval, anyway! I trust me! Oh, I remember now that I've seen the link, it was because he uses a lot of different art styles to make paintings come to life. That was pretty awesome.
5. A Big Mooncake for Little Star, by Grace Lin: this one was almost my third place vote, instead— I love how the black of her pajamas blends in with the night sky! But it’s also a great story that I ended up using at several different storytimes this year. The first storytime I read it at, in fact, was the morning of the Youth Media Awards announcement. DURING the Youth Media Awards announcement! I left off watching to go do the storytime, then got back just in time for the Caldecott announcements. I excitedly dashed back to the play area to catch any storytime attendees who were still hanging out there. “Guess what! The book we just read just won a Caldecott Honor!” Everyone agreed it was well-deserved.
1. Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales: I love Yuyi Morales already, but this one made my jaw drop. The wonderful library-loving details! The sheer perfection! I normally don’t have strong opinions about what does and does not win the Caldecott, because everything is wonderful, but this one was ROBBED, ROBBED I say! (Though it IS possible it wasn’t eligible? It turns out she’s living in Mexico again, and maybe she never actually became a US citizen at the time of the immigration depicted so wonderfully in this book? Could that be the only reason this book was TOTALLY ROBBED of the Caldecott?)
2. The Stuff of Stars, by Marion Dane Bauer but more importantly in this case illustrated by Ekua Holmes: Holmes has evoked the whole swirling dance of the universe into her paintings by incorporating marbling into the collage. You can get completely lost staring at these pictures, they're breathtaking. This was obviously my second place vote in our Mock Caldecott, and it also didn't actually get a Caldecott, so nyah. Both this and Dreamers did win the top illustrator awards specifically for the illustrators' ethnic identities, which makes you wonder if the Caldecott committee was like, "oh, they'll get the Belpre/King, obviously, they don't need the Caldecott, too" but they DID, you see, see?
3. Alma and how she got her name, by Juana Martinez-Neal: now this one DID get a Caldecott honor, but I wasn’t so much impressed with the art, myself, as much as I love the story, about a little girl who learns family history through her many given names, and finds a way to connect to each ancestor she’s been named for. It’s really sweet.
4. Imagine! by Raul Colon: Okay, this is bad, but although I loved this wordless book enough to make it my third place vote in the Mock Caldecott, I can’t actually remember anything about it now! I give it my stamp of approval, anyway! I trust me! Oh, I remember now that I've seen the link, it was because he uses a lot of different art styles to make paintings come to life. That was pretty awesome.
5. A Big Mooncake for Little Star, by Grace Lin: this one was almost my third place vote, instead— I love how the black of her pajamas blends in with the night sky! But it’s also a great story that I ended up using at several different storytimes this year. The first storytime I read it at, in fact, was the morning of the Youth Media Awards announcement. DURING the Youth Media Awards announcement! I left off watching to go do the storytime, then got back just in time for the Caldecott announcements. I excitedly dashed back to the play area to catch any storytime attendees who were still hanging out there. “Guess what! The book we just read just won a Caldecott Honor!” Everyone agreed it was well-deserved.
Top 5 Other Picture Books Older Than 2019 I Read For The First Time This Year
1. Thank you, Omu! by Oge Mora: This 2018 book didn’t come off backorder in time for our Mock Caldecott, but when it did (having already won a Caldecott Honor by that point), I was pleased to discover that it not only had delightful illustrations, but it’s also a perfect storytime book! With a rolling rhythm and cumulative repetition and the opportunity for knock-knock sound effects and a great story about sharing! I used it for several different storytimes over the year!
2. Don’t Throw It To Mo! by David A. Adler: I did not expect a fun little easy reader about football to be so touching, and I appreciated how it managed to be a completely new take on the “underestimated little kid wins the game” trope. I mean I guess it DID win a Geisel for a REASON. Goes to show what can be done with the easy reader format and that’s amazing.
3. Someone New, by Anne Sibley O'Brien: As a whole with I’m New Here, I studied these for the Mirrors and Windows project, and appreciated the way they showed that immigration is an anxious enough experience even without overt xenophobia. One thing I liked especially about this book is that it’s told from the point of view of ordinary, nice kids, who don’t need to be told to accept the new “different” kids, but still need to learn exactly how to overcome the awkwardness that comes with the language and cultural differences. It’s very hopeful yet realistic.
4. This is a Ball, by Beck and Matt Stanton: one of a series of interactive books, including This Book Is RED and Did You Take the B From My ook? that encourage listeners to argue with them— which you definitely have to have the right audience for, they don’t work so well when the audience is too shy to say that the book is obviously wrong! I think I like this one the most, for the cumulative wackiness as each misnamed object interacts with the others.
5. Earthrise: Apollo 8 and the Photo that Changed the World, by James Gladstone: Like I said above, it was hard to find nonfiction space books that actually worked in a storytime. This one might have, but it was still too long for the audiences I happened to have when I needed it. No matter, it’s a lovely story to think about, the first time the whole world was captured in a single photograph, at Christmastime, no less— peace on earth goodwill to all!
1. Thank you, Omu! by Oge Mora: This 2018 book didn’t come off backorder in time for our Mock Caldecott, but when it did (having already won a Caldecott Honor by that point), I was pleased to discover that it not only had delightful illustrations, but it’s also a perfect storytime book! With a rolling rhythm and cumulative repetition and the opportunity for knock-knock sound effects and a great story about sharing! I used it for several different storytimes over the year!
2. Don’t Throw It To Mo! by David A. Adler: I did not expect a fun little easy reader about football to be so touching, and I appreciated how it managed to be a completely new take on the “underestimated little kid wins the game” trope. I mean I guess it DID win a Geisel for a REASON. Goes to show what can be done with the easy reader format and that’s amazing.
3. Someone New, by Anne Sibley O'Brien: As a whole with I’m New Here, I studied these for the Mirrors and Windows project, and appreciated the way they showed that immigration is an anxious enough experience even without overt xenophobia. One thing I liked especially about this book is that it’s told from the point of view of ordinary, nice kids, who don’t need to be told to accept the new “different” kids, but still need to learn exactly how to overcome the awkwardness that comes with the language and cultural differences. It’s very hopeful yet realistic.
4. This is a Ball, by Beck and Matt Stanton: one of a series of interactive books, including This Book Is RED and Did You Take the B From My ook? that encourage listeners to argue with them— which you definitely have to have the right audience for, they don’t work so well when the audience is too shy to say that the book is obviously wrong! I think I like this one the most, for the cumulative wackiness as each misnamed object interacts with the others.
5. Earthrise: Apollo 8 and the Photo that Changed the World, by James Gladstone: Like I said above, it was hard to find nonfiction space books that actually worked in a storytime. This one might have, but it was still too long for the audiences I happened to have when I needed it. No matter, it’s a lovely story to think about, the first time the whole world was captured in a single photograph, at Christmastime, no less— peace on earth goodwill to all!
Top 5 Long Form (as opposed to picture books and easy readers) 2019 Books
1. Sal & Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez: Normally I’m remarkably patient when reading a new book with the kids, perfectly willing to wait to the next evening to continue all together. THIS one captured my need to keep going the way books used to when I was a bookworm. I love this book. It is so completely unique, humorous yet occasionally heartbreaking scifi with really memorable characters. I also appreciate how our title characters are totally poised at the beginning to be archetypal rival frenemies but instead are just like, screw that, let’s be flat-out friends instead! And that even though there is teasing going on and there are obviously interested classmates, Sal himself has no interest in dating or the like, which makes perfect sense in middle school but I’m extra for it. I just really, really loved this book, definitely my favorite of the year. Note that link goes to the "Between the Bookends" with my much more descriptive writeup.
2. The Whispering Wars, by Jaclyn Moriarty: I am very pleased that Jaclyn Moriarty is writing middle grade books now. It’s got all the quirkiness I love about her YA but even more fun because middle grade! I am glad that my kids are enjoying her, too. This one, a prequel to Bronte Mettlestone (see below), inspired Maddie to yell at the characters a lot. I want to link to my Between the Bookends review, but the link doesn't go live until the 1st.
3. Aru Shah and the Song of Death, by Roshani Chokshi: Of all the Rick Riordan Presents books we’ve read, Aru Shah most closely captures the feeling of reading Percy Jackson, but somehow funnier. We were in the middle of reading the first book when this one came out, so I ordered it immediately and then we just donated the copy to the library. Maddie was not happy with me donating it but it would be forever before we got it on the shelves if I didn’t, so there. I did not know that Hindu and Greek mythology BOTH have love gods who use arrows to spread amorous feelings! I would like to know the history of that development!
4.Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages, by Trenton Lee Stewart: This one also inspired Maddie to yell at the characters a lot. She was also yelling “I love this!” a lot. It was very interesting to me how well the three older “kids” were written in this because technically they were now young adults, but even though they had young adult concerns it still felt accessible to middle grade. More than accessible, relevant.
5. Riverland, by Fran Wilde: for once I’ve read a lot of brand-new books this year, and I have four more that could have jostled their way onto this list. But I think I’ll give #5 to this one because of the fun personal connection: the kids helped me review it and then we got to chat with Fran on Skype—or Google Hangouts?— I forget what we finally used because we had a lot of technical difficulties— for GeekMom, so, bonus!
Top 5 Long Form Older-Than-2019 Books
1. The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler, by John Hendrix: This book is frightening in an important way, as you get a good inside look at how Hitler rose to power and anyone who hasn’t been fed propaganda for years can see the modern-day parallels (if you read some of the reviews you can see some people take offense at the author suggesting there ARE modern-day parallels in the afterward: “Now, why did he have to go an ruin a really good book by making it political?” Sigh). And as a progressive Christian I find his story super-inspiring, his determination to stand up for what he knew was right even though his church cared more about placating the earthly authorities. Go, Progressive Christianity!
2. The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone, by Jaclyn Moriarty: see above for the prequel. In fact see directly above for the link, I covered both these last two on Between the Bookends the same month. It was while reading this book that I decided Jaclyn Moriarty must have ADHD, because so many of her characters seemed to have various aspects of it, and anyway it makes sense because she’s clearly an out of the box thinker, and that might be why I adore her so much.
3. Aru Shah and the End of Time Also see above. I don’t think I have anything else to add about this one that I didn’t already say about the sequel.
4. Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor: When the kids and I finished Akata Witch (see below) we just had to dive into this one, but I had never read this one and was a little worried to discover that it’s a bit more YA than the first one was. Luckily, my ten year old is morbid and was undisturbed by the occasionally very disturbing violence, and the occasional innuendo either went right over their heads or they ignored it. I actually may have enjoyed this one even more than the first one, despite the occasionally terrifying parts, and Maddie for one LOVED it.
5. Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech: Nah, I’d never read this before, because it’s well-known to be chock full of tragedy, and in fact, after we’d already discussed it for Battle of the Books, a parent complained that it was too traumatic for fourth graders and the school quietly removed it from the competition. Yes really. But of all the books I had to read for Battle of the Books, this one ended up impressing me the most. And the kids and I still refer to it on occasion (Sam had read it for HIS Battle of the Books, too. Nobody complained that year, apparently).
Top 5 Most Interesting ReReading Experiences
1. The Chrestomanci books: I swear, reading Diana Wynne Jones out loud gives you a whole new way to appreciate her. I had actually started to read Charmed Life to them a few years ago, but they apparently weren’t quite ready for it. This year, however, they were all in, and the books totally came to life as I read them out loud, and I also remembered why I’ve always had a crush on Chrestomanci.
2. Anne of Green Gables: Maddie was really reluctant to start this, but it didn’t take long before she realized she IS Anne, and she was thrilled to get an Anne T-shirt for Christmas.
3. The Mysterious Benedict Society series: I think my kids loved this series even more than I had. I’d thought it might be too nerdy for them, but it was the exact level of nerdy they liked. I was really excited to let them know that there was actually a new addition to the series coming out this fall, see above, and when I gave them the option of several new books for us to start and included that one, they picked it before I could even finish speaking.
4. Akata Witch: I didn't realize how much I'd forgotten. I forgot about the artistic wasp! I love the artistic wasp so much! And of course Maddie loved the artistic wasp, but she also glommed on harder than I ever expected she would to the rest of it.
5. The Ear The Eye and the Arm: Although this takes place in Zimbabwe instead of Nigeria, reading it somewhat soon after the Akata books surprised us with some of the cultural overlap. Like creepy Masquerades and even some similar words. I did not know there was that much similarity across the continent, there. But then, I don’t know much about Africa, period, crappy colonialism hiding these great stories from us. (Ooo, that link is over a decade old now, and still relevant! Luckily a little LESS relevant, as can probably be seen in the very variety of books I've just listed here).
1. The Chrestomanci books: I swear, reading Diana Wynne Jones out loud gives you a whole new way to appreciate her. I had actually started to read Charmed Life to them a few years ago, but they apparently weren’t quite ready for it. This year, however, they were all in, and the books totally came to life as I read them out loud, and I also remembered why I’ve always had a crush on Chrestomanci.
2. Anne of Green Gables: Maddie was really reluctant to start this, but it didn’t take long before she realized she IS Anne, and she was thrilled to get an Anne T-shirt for Christmas.
3. The Mysterious Benedict Society series: I think my kids loved this series even more than I had. I’d thought it might be too nerdy for them, but it was the exact level of nerdy they liked. I was really excited to let them know that there was actually a new addition to the series coming out this fall, see above, and when I gave them the option of several new books for us to start and included that one, they picked it before I could even finish speaking.
4. Akata Witch: I didn't realize how much I'd forgotten. I forgot about the artistic wasp! I love the artistic wasp so much! And of course Maddie loved the artistic wasp, but she also glommed on harder than I ever expected she would to the rest of it.
5. The Ear The Eye and the Arm: Although this takes place in Zimbabwe instead of Nigeria, reading it somewhat soon after the Akata books surprised us with some of the cultural overlap. Like creepy Masquerades and even some similar words. I did not know there was that much similarity across the continent, there. But then, I don’t know much about Africa, period, crappy colonialism hiding these great stories from us. (Ooo, that link is over a decade old now, and still relevant! Luckily a little LESS relevant, as can probably be seen in the very variety of books I've just listed here).
Recorded Media!
TV!
TV!
I’m splitting TV into two categories this year, because it seemed odd to pit returning favorites, which I was judging based on only this year’s episodes, against new watches, which I was judging based more on the show itself. Plus, I tended to like my returning favorites more than my new shows this year, which was kind of unfair when new shows are probably more interesting to talk about. So, to begin:
Top 5 Returning TV Favorites:
1. The Good Place: this is still just a perfect show, hilarious and heartrending, ridiculous and profound, and I realized that I actually want it in book form: each episode IS referred to as a chapter, after all, and something about the arc of it, I just want it all in one nice package, like a book. If I could get a hold of all the scripts to use as an outline, I’d turn it into a book myself. Anyway, this year it got some added fun, because my kids now watch it and love it WITH me!
2. Legion: Speaking of shows that refer to their episodes as “chapters”…is this saying something about me, perhaps? Anyway, the third and final season definitely recovered from the frustratingly uneven second season, so much that I was kind of in a state of joy about how very much I was enjoying it. It wasn’t perfect, and left a lot of loose ends, most glaringly WHAT ABOUT CHARACTER I WON’T NAME EVEN THOUGH THEIR NAME IS KIND OF IMPORTANT TO ME that’s kind of an obvious clue if you’ve seen any of the previous seasons whatsoever so so much for being spoiler-discreet, but seriously IT KIND OF NEGATES THE WHOLE PREMISE OF THE RESOLUTION TO FORGET THEM, REGARDLESS OF THEIR NAME, but it was an emotionally satisfying ending if not logically, and there were not any large Loudermilk-free chunks this year, either. And I wrote a lot of fanfic, speaking of which.
3. Drunk History: We cut cable the other month, because our bill kept going up and the only thing we actually watched live (now that Legion was over) was The Good Place. But now we needed a way to WATCH The Good Place, so we subscribed to Hulu, coincidentally at the time Disney+ was coming out, so we got the bundle of both. And with all those fabulous new things to stream, what was the first thing I sought out? All the episodes of Drunk History I hadn’t been able to access for free on Comedy Central’s website. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a good story told well, you know? Or, not well, with a lot of FEELING and slurred words. I enjoy laughing and learning at the same time (see also The Good Place)! I watched the Agatha Christie one twice. Coincidentally both Ed and Peggy Blumquist from the second season of Fargo were on that one. There’s a surprisingly high percentage of Noah Hawley show alums on Drunk History. I think Aubrey Plaza is the only one I’ve seen from Legion, but still.
4. Agents of SHIELD: This season felt a little like, oh, we thought last season was going to be the finale, so now let’s just have fun and do whatever we want with it! Luckily the fun carried over into most of the episodes, even if they didn’t always make sense. The show’s like a comfortable old friend by this point. When we were watching The Mandalorian the other day (see below), we got to the episode that Ming-Na Wen’s in, and I just got so nostalgic all of a sudden, I miss Agent May. I guess we still have one more summer season left, and if the rumors are true, it may even include some closure for Agent Carter!
5. Series of Unfortunate Events: The problem is we saw the third and final season of this one way back at the beginning of the year, so it’s not as fresh in my memory. But I know I enjoyed the way it played out, and all the little Easter eggs for book fans, and Beatrice being Inara (why am I so amused by actors crossing between my favorite shows? It seems to be a recurring theme, here), and everything with Beatrice II as a resolution.
Top 5ish TV Shows I Saw For The First Time, Even If They’ve Been Around Awhile
1. Stranger Things: It had been on our radar ever since we’d resubscribed to Netflix, but it wasn’t until Megan informed Jason that a minor character reminded her of him that he watched it, and then immediately binged it a second time, and then pulled me to the couch the moment the kids were in bed to watch at least one episode a night together. It was indeed great fun, though we disagree about Jason and that side character, who distractingly on my part appears to have been played by the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender from Series of Unfortunate Events (I’m going to keep these cross-actor references up this WHOLE POST, watch me!). But Max, who shows up in Season Two, is the TOTAL CLONE of one of Maddie’s friends. After awhile I was like, “What have I seen her in before?” and looked at IMDB, but I HADN’T seen her in anything else, she’s just friggin’ Avery! Avery seems to have been informed of this herself, and had become quite well-versed in Stranger Things for a ten-year-old, and this made Maddie want to watch it. We decided she is morbid enough to not be too disturbed, so we let her, and before we knew it Maddie was going as Eleven for Halloween. Avery went as Max.
2. The Mandalorian: We got a Roku for Christmas because our “Smart TV” is now too old to support the software of most of the streaming services we can USE to cut cable, so for this past week Jason and I have been watching this. It’s quite delightful (though I don’t like the drums in the theme music), very Firefly-esque, being a Space Western and all, but with the familiar trappings of the Star Wars universe. ALSO, keeping up my theme here, besides Agent May showing up in an episode, Pillboi from The Good Place was in an episode, too! I yelled “PILLBOI!” out loud, which confused Jason, as the only person in the house who does not watch The Good Place, even though Pillboi’s best friend is also named Jason and we rib him about this quite a lot!
3. Good Omens: this was delightful, too, with some definite brilliant moments and some fun effects and bits that I couldn’t remember if they were in the book or not but being on screen certainly brought them to life. A lot of people seemed crazy obsessed with it, though, which made me feel a little disappointed that I was not crazy-obsessed with it. It was simply good. Oh, since we’ve got the theme going, when Michael McKean showed up on The Good Place last fall I was like, “Now WHERE do I know him from?” only to find out that the answer was “EVERYTHING.” So having so recently learned that, I was amused that of COURSE he even showed up in THIS, inexplicably when the production and nearly everyone else involved in it was British!
4. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: Look, I can’t keep the thing up here, although I’m AWARE that many interesting people did voices for this. Because they were simply voices their existence didn’t jump out at me. Sorry. But you know what this show was? Beautiful. Just a treat for the eyes, basically, that’s what it boils down to. Just pretty. I barely remember the plot, but it was sure gorgeous to look at.
5. Awkward tie: Schitt’s Creek and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Here’s the thing about these two shows. I really enjoyed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I laughed out loud frequently, I immediately recommended it to a friend who I swear the show is MADE FOR, and also guess what PILLBOI WAS IN AN EPISODE OF THIS, TOO, and that amused me. But I watched about four or five episodes and felt like, eh, I don’t need to watch any more. I’ve seen enough to get the gist, but I don’t really care to keep going. On the other hand, I didn’t particularly enjoy Schitt’s Creek, despite many people whose TV opinions I trust adoring it. I just found it slightly amusing at best. But whenever I stopped watching it? I wanted to keep going. It stuck in my head, and I just got too curious not to turn it back on. So I don’t know what’s up with me and new shows this year. If I could combine the positive aspects of both these shows, maybe I would have found something new to love. Instead I just found a couple new things to like.
1. Stranger Things: It had been on our radar ever since we’d resubscribed to Netflix, but it wasn’t until Megan informed Jason that a minor character reminded her of him that he watched it, and then immediately binged it a second time, and then pulled me to the couch the moment the kids were in bed to watch at least one episode a night together. It was indeed great fun, though we disagree about Jason and that side character, who distractingly on my part appears to have been played by the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender from Series of Unfortunate Events (I’m going to keep these cross-actor references up this WHOLE POST, watch me!). But Max, who shows up in Season Two, is the TOTAL CLONE of one of Maddie’s friends. After awhile I was like, “What have I seen her in before?” and looked at IMDB, but I HADN’T seen her in anything else, she’s just friggin’ Avery! Avery seems to have been informed of this herself, and had become quite well-versed in Stranger Things for a ten-year-old, and this made Maddie want to watch it. We decided she is morbid enough to not be too disturbed, so we let her, and before we knew it Maddie was going as Eleven for Halloween. Avery went as Max.
2. The Mandalorian: We got a Roku for Christmas because our “Smart TV” is now too old to support the software of most of the streaming services we can USE to cut cable, so for this past week Jason and I have been watching this. It’s quite delightful (though I don’t like the drums in the theme music), very Firefly-esque, being a Space Western and all, but with the familiar trappings of the Star Wars universe. ALSO, keeping up my theme here, besides Agent May showing up in an episode, Pillboi from The Good Place was in an episode, too! I yelled “PILLBOI!” out loud, which confused Jason, as the only person in the house who does not watch The Good Place, even though Pillboi’s best friend is also named Jason and we rib him about this quite a lot!
3. Good Omens: this was delightful, too, with some definite brilliant moments and some fun effects and bits that I couldn’t remember if they were in the book or not but being on screen certainly brought them to life. A lot of people seemed crazy obsessed with it, though, which made me feel a little disappointed that I was not crazy-obsessed with it. It was simply good. Oh, since we’ve got the theme going, when Michael McKean showed up on The Good Place last fall I was like, “Now WHERE do I know him from?” only to find out that the answer was “EVERYTHING.” So having so recently learned that, I was amused that of COURSE he even showed up in THIS, inexplicably when the production and nearly everyone else involved in it was British!
4. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: Look, I can’t keep the thing up here, although I’m AWARE that many interesting people did voices for this. Because they were simply voices their existence didn’t jump out at me. Sorry. But you know what this show was? Beautiful. Just a treat for the eyes, basically, that’s what it boils down to. Just pretty. I barely remember the plot, but it was sure gorgeous to look at.
5. Awkward tie: Schitt’s Creek and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Here’s the thing about these two shows. I really enjoyed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I laughed out loud frequently, I immediately recommended it to a friend who I swear the show is MADE FOR, and also guess what PILLBOI WAS IN AN EPISODE OF THIS, TOO, and that amused me. But I watched about four or five episodes and felt like, eh, I don’t need to watch any more. I’ve seen enough to get the gist, but I don’t really care to keep going. On the other hand, I didn’t particularly enjoy Schitt’s Creek, despite many people whose TV opinions I trust adoring it. I just found it slightly amusing at best. But whenever I stopped watching it? I wanted to keep going. It stuck in my head, and I just got too curious not to turn it back on. So I don’t know what’s up with me and new shows this year. If I could combine the positive aspects of both these shows, maybe I would have found something new to love. Instead I just found a couple new things to like.
Only 5 Movies I Saw This Year
I really didn’t see many movies this year. This is pretty much the entire list. We eschewed going to Rise of Skywalker on our anniversary in favor of staying in and watching more Mandalorian. In fact I didn’t see any of these movies with Jason. He’s not interested in Marvel movies anymore and somehow, well, I don’t know. I watched most of these while sick with the flu.
1. Avengers: Endgame: but this one I did something crazy for. I went to the movie theater by myself! During the day when everyone else was at school or work! There was just too much chatter online, and Amanda-from-Buffalo had specifically said she wanted to get MY opinion on certain aspects of it, but Jason just wasn’t interested so I said, Well all right then I’m doing this myself, and I’m thoroughly glad I did. I DID have quite strong opinions on it that I needed to discuss on the internet immediately, which developed into my only piece currently on AO3 that is NOT Legion-related. Luckily most of my opinions were good ones. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And JARVIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was pretty much all I wanted to say about it for like the next two days, until I had to start arguing about the ending.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: pulled this one out at the library when I realized my kids weren’t getting references to my original favorite superhero. They loved it, and I was very strongly reminded of why Peter Parker had always been my favorite superhero. This movie gets a lot of praise for its style, in how it really seemed to capture the experience of reading a comic book, but being that I have trouble reading comics, that may have actually been a slight negative for me. No matter, it was still awesome.
3. Avengers: Infinity War: since everyone who’d seen this in the theaters seemed to have left it slightly devastated, I was pleasantly surprised by all the purely fun and funny bits. And how devastating could the end really be? We all knew Endgame was coming. So I enjoyed Infinity War just fine.
4. Dumplin’: Sometimes I cheat and just watch movies based on YA books because it only takes two hours and then I know enough more about the book to talk about somewhat confidently to patrons (though I am pretty good at doing this just from reading reviews, sometimes, too). So I have done here, I admit. It was quite sweet and touching. Go it.
5. Solo: a Star Wars Story: this had gotten so panned, and unfairly, I think. I found it quite a lot of fun. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had shelled out for a theater ticket, but watching on Netflix while recovering from the flu was nothing but pleasure. Except for the flu part.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: pulled this one out at the library when I realized my kids weren’t getting references to my original favorite superhero. They loved it, and I was very strongly reminded of why Peter Parker had always been my favorite superhero. This movie gets a lot of praise for its style, in how it really seemed to capture the experience of reading a comic book, but being that I have trouble reading comics, that may have actually been a slight negative for me. No matter, it was still awesome.
3. Avengers: Infinity War: since everyone who’d seen this in the theaters seemed to have left it slightly devastated, I was pleasantly surprised by all the purely fun and funny bits. And how devastating could the end really be? We all knew Endgame was coming. So I enjoyed Infinity War just fine.
4. Dumplin’: Sometimes I cheat and just watch movies based on YA books because it only takes two hours and then I know enough more about the book to talk about somewhat confidently to patrons (though I am pretty good at doing this just from reading reviews, sometimes, too). So I have done here, I admit. It was quite sweet and touching. Go it.
5. Solo: a Star Wars Story: this had gotten so panned, and unfairly, I think. I found it quite a lot of fun. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had shelled out for a theater ticket, but watching on Netflix while recovering from the flu was nothing but pleasure. Except for the flu part.
Podcasts:
Here’s a new category, though I don’t see it changing much from year to year. But I’ve gotten really into playing podcasts while doing chores and other-things-that-don’t-require-thinking-in-words (podcasts do NOT mix well with reading and writing). They have to be about something I’m genuinely interested in or it just seems like noise, and I’ve listened to a few that have definitely crossed into that territory, but here are the ones that actually made me look forward to cleaning so that I could listen to them!
Here’s a new category, though I don’t see it changing much from year to year. But I’ve gotten really into playing podcasts while doing chores and other-things-that-don’t-require-thinking-in-words (podcasts do NOT mix well with reading and writing). They have to be about something I’m genuinely interested in or it just seems like noise, and I’ve listened to a few that have definitely crossed into that territory, but here are the ones that actually made me look forward to cleaning so that I could listen to them!
1. Fuse #8 and Kate: despite the fact that I can’t stand their theme song (sorry. This is also a theme that tends to come up a lot in these yearly reviews, doesn’t it? Otherwise excellent things with crappy theme songs?), this is the one I look forward to the most, my first choice if faced with new episodes from several sources at a time. In this podcast, my longtime favorite librarian-blogger Betsy Bird hoists a Classic Picture Book on her completely non-child-literate sister, Kate, and together they argue over whether it should truly be considered a Classic. They are hilarious, and even when I don’t know the book they’re discussing (which does sometimes happen!), I love it. Granted, it’s probably a little MORE fun because I usually know the books so well, myself. But they just have a genuinely entertaining banter. Here’s a link to the episode in which, towards the end, they read the comment I left about Maddie’s compulsive artist tendencies—I wrote the words, but their interpretation of my words and description of this girl I know so well made me appreciate my own story all the more!
2. Clockworks: So when I friended Jan Moffett on Twitter, I thought I was just friending another children’s librarian who understood the importance of the Beatles, no biggie. But then I saw that she and her husband had created a podcast about my favorite weird little TV show, Legion, so I listened in. I also hate their theme song (but luckily it’s much shorter than Fuse 8 and Kate’s), but BESIDES that, their take on this show is exactly the discussion I want to hear! Not only do I almost always agree with one or the other of them, they study the show to an exceedingly nerdy level, deconstructing every symbol and theme, and while that sort of literary analysis gets on my nerves with most stories, it’s perfect for Legion. They catch things I never would have caught, and make connections that make me go “OhhhOHHHHHHHhhhhh!” out loud. I feel like I so thoroughly understand the show— well, better, anyway— after I listen, and it’s nice (I repeat this, because it’s much more common to find people who DON’T agree with me) to encounter other people online who seem to share my opinions about everything that happens in it.
3. Movin’ Right Along: For the record, these theme songs— there have been two different ones— are rather nice, and impressive: the musician wife of one of the hosts composed these little variations that are highly reminiscent of, but not actually, specific Muppet movie numbers— enough to put the song in your head while completely avoiding copyright issues. Clever! Anyway, for this podcast Ryan, Anthony, and usually a special guest (friends, mostly, though once they got the lady who plays Abby Cadabby!) watch exactly two minutes of a Muppet movie and somehow manage to fill a whole half-hour with fun facts, opinions, speculation, and general geekiness about just those two minutes. It should not work as well as it does! It has no right to be so entertaining! But I listen and laugh and sigh that now I am all caught up on their back episodes and must wait a week between each two minutes of movie!
4. The Good Place: the Podcast: the only Official Professional podcast on the list, so pay attention, people who make Official Professional podcasts! It’s hosted by Marc-Evan-Jackson-who-plays-Shawn, whose voice was just made for hosting podcasts, so that works out nicely, and gathers a variety of people who worked on each episode to talk about the things that went into making it. They are all, by nature of the show they work on, pleasant, funny people, so it makes for great interaction. And Marc-Evan-Jackson-who-plays-Shawn has convinced me that I need to take Improv classes. Everybody needs to take Improv classes. But I really looked into it, and our local theater does some in the summertime, and I put it on my Christmas list and Jason said, yeah, do that, so…?
5. Rewatchable: It kind of turned me off at first listen because it felt so loose, like a bunch of friends just chatting about episodes of TV shows for two hours, but after awhile that became exactly what was so good about it— like you were gathering with friends to chat about TV shows for two hours. I first tuned in when I heard they were going to be covering Agent Carter, then I went back and listened to all their Freaks and Geeks episodes, too. There are some other shows they’ve done in the past that I might check out sometime. I’ve yet to listen to their Firefly episodes, for example, but considering their theme song is the theme song of whatever show they’re currently talking about and I hate the Firefly theme… well I guess that’s just typical for a podcast!
2. Clockworks: So when I friended Jan Moffett on Twitter, I thought I was just friending another children’s librarian who understood the importance of the Beatles, no biggie. But then I saw that she and her husband had created a podcast about my favorite weird little TV show, Legion, so I listened in. I also hate their theme song (but luckily it’s much shorter than Fuse 8 and Kate’s), but BESIDES that, their take on this show is exactly the discussion I want to hear! Not only do I almost always agree with one or the other of them, they study the show to an exceedingly nerdy level, deconstructing every symbol and theme, and while that sort of literary analysis gets on my nerves with most stories, it’s perfect for Legion. They catch things I never would have caught, and make connections that make me go “OhhhOHHHHHHHhhhhh!” out loud. I feel like I so thoroughly understand the show— well, better, anyway— after I listen, and it’s nice (I repeat this, because it’s much more common to find people who DON’T agree with me) to encounter other people online who seem to share my opinions about everything that happens in it.
3. Movin’ Right Along: For the record, these theme songs— there have been two different ones— are rather nice, and impressive: the musician wife of one of the hosts composed these little variations that are highly reminiscent of, but not actually, specific Muppet movie numbers— enough to put the song in your head while completely avoiding copyright issues. Clever! Anyway, for this podcast Ryan, Anthony, and usually a special guest (friends, mostly, though once they got the lady who plays Abby Cadabby!) watch exactly two minutes of a Muppet movie and somehow manage to fill a whole half-hour with fun facts, opinions, speculation, and general geekiness about just those two minutes. It should not work as well as it does! It has no right to be so entertaining! But I listen and laugh and sigh that now I am all caught up on their back episodes and must wait a week between each two minutes of movie!
4. The Good Place: the Podcast: the only Official Professional podcast on the list, so pay attention, people who make Official Professional podcasts! It’s hosted by Marc-Evan-Jackson-who-plays-Shawn, whose voice was just made for hosting podcasts, so that works out nicely, and gathers a variety of people who worked on each episode to talk about the things that went into making it. They are all, by nature of the show they work on, pleasant, funny people, so it makes for great interaction. And Marc-Evan-Jackson-who-plays-Shawn has convinced me that I need to take Improv classes. Everybody needs to take Improv classes. But I really looked into it, and our local theater does some in the summertime, and I put it on my Christmas list and Jason said, yeah, do that, so…?
5. Rewatchable: It kind of turned me off at first listen because it felt so loose, like a bunch of friends just chatting about episodes of TV shows for two hours, but after awhile that became exactly what was so good about it— like you were gathering with friends to chat about TV shows for two hours. I first tuned in when I heard they were going to be covering Agent Carter, then I went back and listened to all their Freaks and Geeks episodes, too. There are some other shows they’ve done in the past that I might check out sometime. I’ve yet to listen to their Firefly episodes, for example, but considering their theme song is the theme song of whatever show they’re currently talking about and I hate the Firefly theme… well I guess that’s just typical for a podcast!
Other Stuff I Wrote!
The Only Four Things I Posted Here:
1. "A Day In The Life 3.0: July 11, 2019" : in which I wrote down every single thing that happened that day, and you know it was all really interesting, too.
2. "Here Is What Christmastime Means to Me" which is a poem I wrote ACTUALLY entitled "Yuletide." If you read it on a feed reader, you should click directly now, because it's actually a concrete poem with color, and that doesn't show up in a feed reader!
3. "Simultaneously Both the Stupidest and Most Traumatizing Aspect of My Life" is a personal look at my lifelong struggle with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. But I actually wrote a more thorough and professional article about it on GeekMom soon after.
4. "Help My Brain Work" was basically me looking for prioritizing help after the Strattera had just started being ominously goofy. I've written quite a few of those article ideas now, so I've gone back and linked to them!
Top 5+ GeekMom Articles I Have Not Already Linked To Above:
1. There is no doubt, number one is "The Thorough and Pointless Results of My Radio Station Presets Study!" with bonus follow-up post, "The Christmas Edition!"
2. "Bored to Sleep: The Understimulated ADHD Brain" Honestly so much of my life makes more sense now that I know ADHD can cause "Intrusive Sleep/EEG-Negative Narcolepsy."
3. "Many Flavors of Neurodivergence" So many conditions are co-morbid that it can be complicated to discuss them sometimes, so this was my attempt to clear those discussions up a bit
4. "A Is for the Asexual Spectrum" because it's amazing how misunderstood it can be
5. And of course, "A Track-by-Track Trek Down ‘Abbey Road’ On Its 50th Anniversary" because some things are just important.
A Decade-Ending Survey!
When I was looking up old posts, I found an old Year-End Survey that I adapted into a Decade-End Survey. It's ten years later and I prefer my own format for yearly roundups as opposed to these surveys, but since it is a DECADE later, I figured it might be fun to do again.
One somewhat disturbing thing I noticed: THAT decade spanned a really dramatic bunch of eras in my life: from when I'd just started dating Jason to We now have two kids; from college through grad school through my failed attempts at teaching through finally getting a library job; from living at home to being a homeowner. The past decade seems really uneventful in comparison. Where has time gone? What actually HAS happened? Well, let's find out?
1. What did you do this past decade that you'd never done before?
Post on Twitter. Man. My answer to this last decade was "Give birth." Surely there's a better answer. OH, how about "collection development for an entire public library children's department"? Although I had collection-developed for school libraries before that, and purchased for a YA section in 2008 when I was subbing at Peters. Eh. Attended an IEP meeting as a parent. Put my kids on the school bus and wished them well! There was something just in the past few months I remember thinking, "Well, THAT'S a brand-new experience!" but now I can't remember what it was. Oh, you know something cool I did last year? Installed a floor. That's pretty impressive.
The Only Four Things I Posted Here:
1. "A Day In The Life 3.0: July 11, 2019" : in which I wrote down every single thing that happened that day, and you know it was all really interesting, too.
2. "Here Is What Christmastime Means to Me" which is a poem I wrote ACTUALLY entitled "Yuletide." If you read it on a feed reader, you should click directly now, because it's actually a concrete poem with color, and that doesn't show up in a feed reader!
3. "Simultaneously Both the Stupidest and Most Traumatizing Aspect of My Life" is a personal look at my lifelong struggle with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. But I actually wrote a more thorough and professional article about it on GeekMom soon after.
4. "Help My Brain Work" was basically me looking for prioritizing help after the Strattera had just started being ominously goofy. I've written quite a few of those article ideas now, so I've gone back and linked to them!
Top 5+ GeekMom Articles I Have Not Already Linked To Above:
1. There is no doubt, number one is "The Thorough and Pointless Results of My Radio Station Presets Study!" with bonus follow-up post, "The Christmas Edition!"
2. "Bored to Sleep: The Understimulated ADHD Brain" Honestly so much of my life makes more sense now that I know ADHD can cause "Intrusive Sleep/EEG-Negative Narcolepsy."
3. "Many Flavors of Neurodivergence" So many conditions are co-morbid that it can be complicated to discuss them sometimes, so this was my attempt to clear those discussions up a bit
4. "A Is for the Asexual Spectrum" because it's amazing how misunderstood it can be
5. And of course, "A Track-by-Track Trek Down ‘Abbey Road’ On Its 50th Anniversary" because some things are just important.
A Decade-Ending Survey!
When I was looking up old posts, I found an old Year-End Survey that I adapted into a Decade-End Survey. It's ten years later and I prefer my own format for yearly roundups as opposed to these surveys, but since it is a DECADE later, I figured it might be fun to do again.
One somewhat disturbing thing I noticed: THAT decade spanned a really dramatic bunch of eras in my life: from when I'd just started dating Jason to We now have two kids; from college through grad school through my failed attempts at teaching through finally getting a library job; from living at home to being a homeowner. The past decade seems really uneventful in comparison. Where has time gone? What actually HAS happened? Well, let's find out?
1. What did you do this past decade that you'd never done before?
Post on Twitter. Man. My answer to this last decade was "Give birth." Surely there's a better answer. OH, how about "collection development for an entire public library children's department"? Although I had collection-developed for school libraries before that, and purchased for a YA section in 2008 when I was subbing at Peters. Eh. Attended an IEP meeting as a parent. Put my kids on the school bus and wished them well! There was something just in the past few months I remember thinking, "Well, THAT'S a brand-new experience!" but now I can't remember what it was. Oh, you know something cool I did last year? Installed a floor. That's pretty impressive.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
As I said ten years ago, "I can't see how to edit this question to apply to a decade easily." I guess it applies to goal setting and goal achieving. And I'm pretty sure the answer is No.
As I said ten years ago, "I can't see how to edit this question to apply to a decade easily." I guess it applies to goal setting and goal achieving. And I'm pretty sure the answer is No.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Most of my friends from college and my sister-in-law, so that's a good bit, actually.
Most of my friends from college and my sister-in-law, so that's a good bit, actually.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
The only person I can think of is Mim-Mim, my grandmother-in-law. OH, my own grandpap DID die this decade, it was just really early on, 2010. And to be honest, I still mourn Carrie Fisher, so I'm counting her as "close."
The only person I can think of is Mim-Mim, my grandmother-in-law. OH, my own grandpap DID die this decade, it was just really early on, 2010. And to be honest, I still mourn Carrie Fisher, so I'm counting her as "close."
5. What countries did you visit?
Also as I said ten years ago, "Alas, the last I stepped foot on foreign soil was 1999." The farthest from home I got THIS time around was Orlando. Oh wait! That means I went to, let's see, Mexico, Norway, Germany, Japan, China, England, Morocco, ooo, even Mars! Um, yeah, the EPCOT versions thereof. Actually went to, let's see, was South Carolina this decade? New York, Virginia, DC, Ohio, and lots of times to West Virginia but that almost doesn't count. West Virginia's technically closer than my parents' house is.
Also as I said ten years ago, "Alas, the last I stepped foot on foreign soil was 1999." The farthest from home I got THIS time around was Orlando. Oh wait! That means I went to, let's see, Mexico, Norway, Germany, Japan, China, England, Morocco, ooo, even Mars! Um, yeah, the EPCOT versions thereof. Actually went to, let's see, was South Carolina this decade? New York, Virginia, DC, Ohio, and lots of times to West Virginia but that almost doesn't count. West Virginia's technically closer than my parents' house is.
6. What would you like to have in the next decade that you lacked in this one?
Financial stability? Moderately self-sufficient children? Brain power?
Financial stability? Moderately self-sufficient children? Brain power?
7. What dates from the past decade will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Not thinking of any. Oh, January 8, 2011. That's the day I imaginarily married Martin Freeman. Yes, that's the only date from this decade that is in my memory at all. What does that tell you.
Not thinking of any. Oh, January 8, 2011. That's the day I imaginarily married Martin Freeman. Yes, that's the only date from this decade that is in my memory at all. What does that tell you.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the decade?
Installing a floor! No, not really. Becoming a core contributor at GeekMom, and more importantly, marginally holding up my end of the bargain as a core contributor by actually managing to (almost) contribute four articles a month!
Installing a floor! No, not really. Becoming a core contributor at GeekMom, and more importantly, marginally holding up my end of the bargain as a core contributor by actually managing to (almost) contribute four articles a month!
9. What was your biggest failure?
Becoming a tidier person. Backing out of the garage while the stupid retaining wall is sticking in the driveway.
Becoming a tidier person. Backing out of the garage while the stupid retaining wall is sticking in the driveway.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
My gall bladder crapped out on me and I had to have abdominal surgery, which sucks. Then a year later the place I had surgery developed a hernia and I had to have abdominal surgery AGAIN, which STILL sucks.
My gall bladder crapped out on me and I had to have abdominal surgery, which sucks. Then a year later the place I had surgery developed a hernia and I had to have abdominal surgery AGAIN, which STILL sucks.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Ikea shelving. Full bookshelves make every room a better place to be.
Ikea shelving. Full bookshelves make every room a better place to be.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Sammy! He has struggled so much with his behavior but that just made every success that much more of an achievement. He's made great strides since preschool.
Sammy! He has struggled so much with his behavior but that just made every success that much more of an achievement. He's made great strides since preschool.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The majority of the US Senate
The majority of the US Senate
14. Where did most of your money go?
Good question. Actually it's an approximate tie between the mortgage and student loans.
Good question. Actually it's an approximate tie between the mortgage and student loans.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
OMG I almost forgot this. FINALLY GOING TO SEE PAUL MCCARTNEY LIVE IN CONCERT.
OMG I almost forgot this. FINALLY GOING TO SEE PAUL MCCARTNEY LIVE IN CONCERT.
16. What song will always remind you of this decade?
"Raining Tacos" by Parry Gripp.
"Raining Tacos" by Parry Gripp.
17. Compared to this time last, um, decade, are you:
a) happier or sadder? OMG happier! Ever since I got diagnosed with ADHD-- just to know exactly WHAT was wrong with me and WHY lifted a huge weight. I'm not a failure, I'm just neurodivergent!
b) thinner or fatter? Probably fatter? I mean I guess I settled into my current weight range somewhat soon after Maddie's birth, so, approximately?
c) richer or poorer? Probably richer. We were definitely struggling financially more at that time. We did get WIC checks after all.
a) happier or sadder? OMG happier! Ever since I got diagnosed with ADHD-- just to know exactly WHAT was wrong with me and WHY lifted a huge weight. I'm not a failure, I'm just neurodivergent!
b) thinner or fatter? Probably fatter? I mean I guess I settled into my current weight range somewhat soon after Maddie's birth, so, approximately?
c) richer or poorer? Probably richer. We were definitely struggling financially more at that time. We did get WIC checks after all.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Read. Write.
Read. Write.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Okay last decade I had "wandering around and/or staring into space trying to figure out what I ought to be doing instead. Hey, I'm keeping this answer exactly from the Year-end survey!" Ah, poor me! I didn't know that was the ADHD! Now that I do know, I feel more forgiving of the times I've wasted zoning out. Still, I probably DO wish I'd managed to make a LITTLE better use of my time. But I think I more wish I'd done less feeling sorry for myself.
Okay last decade I had "wandering around and/or staring into space trying to figure out what I ought to be doing instead. Hey, I'm keeping this answer exactly from the Year-end survey!" Ah, poor me! I didn't know that was the ADHD! Now that I do know, I feel more forgiving of the times I've wasted zoning out. Still, I probably DO wish I'd managed to make a LITTLE better use of my time. But I think I more wish I'd done less feeling sorry for myself.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Not only was this an odd question when expanded to a decade, but it kind of loses something when you save your end-of-year reviews for AFTER Christmas, too.
21. Did you fall in love this decade?
Yeah, with particular books or movies or Martin Freeman, I guess.
22. How many one-night stands?
"Don't think even any of the Performing Arts variety, either," is what I said last time, and it still applies. I only made one appearance as Clifford but that was a matinee rather than evening performance, too.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Okay, I was actually thinking of this question before I even started doing the survey, when I was writing up my favorite TV shows of the year. The number one answer is probably Agent Carter, followed closely by Legion, The Good Place, and maybe Fargo if you don't count season 3. But I think if I had to pick one TV show to sort of BE MY TV show of the decade, it would actually be Agents of SHIELD. Certainly the longest running of all my favorite shows this decade, spans the broadest range of time. It was kind of like my TV touchpoint. The others were all short-seasons or recurring miniseries, special events, like, but Agents of SHIELD was always there waiting for me.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last decade?
Donald Trump. I mean I never liked him-- his similarity to Biff Tannen was never lost on me--but he gained power, which makes him ever more odious. Of course, the answer to #13 stands because THEY'RE the ones that won't do their job to keep him in CHECK....
25. What was the best book you read?
See, the nice thing about end of year roundups is being able to gather your lists from the past decade and compare them. I thought I would have to do Top Five, but then I looked and one title each category DID jump out at me, so: Picture Book: Journey, by Aaron Becker. I take it back, three-way tie for Middle Grade: The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz, both Squirrel Girl novels by Shannon and Dean Hale, and I think I'm putting Sal and Gabi in here, too. YA: Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. Adult: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
For the decade, huh. Hamilton? Maybe.
For the decade, huh. Hamilton? Maybe.
27. What did you want and get?
Complete control of the children's and YA collection!!!! MWAH HAH HAH! Well, not COMPLETE control, they'd give me more money for it if that was the case.
Complete control of the children's and YA collection!!!! MWAH HAH HAH! Well, not COMPLETE control, they'd give me more money for it if that was the case.
28. What did you want and not get?
A solid fiction writing habit. Last decade it was "a book contract," so yes I've taken a step back here.
A solid fiction writing habit. Last decade it was "a book contract," so yes I've taken a step back here.
29. What was your favorite film of the decade?
Hmm. I think it's a tie between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The LEGO Movie.
Hmm. I think it's a tie between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The LEGO Movie.
30. What did you do on your birthday?
Not much. Usually made myself a cake.
Not much. Usually made myself a cake.
31.What one thing would have made your decade immeasurably more satisfying?
If my head was screwed on straight, but then I wouldn't be me, so-- if I'd written more of my own fiction.
If my head was screwed on straight, but then I wouldn't be me, so-- if I'd written more of my own fiction.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept this decade?
If I can make it myself it's even more awesome.
If I can make it myself it's even more awesome.
33. What kept you sane?
Learning about ADHD and how it applies to me.
Learning about ADHD and how it applies to me.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Uh, Martin Freeman. My last decade one was like, "I don't know, maybe this person or that person, it's been a long decade." This decade it's much more obvious. Since January 8, 2011 at least.
Uh, Martin Freeman. My last decade one was like, "I don't know, maybe this person or that person, it's been a long decade." This decade it's much more obvious. Since January 8, 2011 at least.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Fox News being brainwashing propaganda. Really, all political issues wouldn't be QUITE so polarizing and dire if it hadn't been for that.
Fox News being brainwashing propaganda. Really, all political issues wouldn't be QUITE so polarizing and dire if it hadn't been for that.
36. Who did you miss?
I don't know. My last decade answer was "all my college friends" and I guess that's still true. I haven't even seen a few of you at ALL for the past decade.
I don't know. My last decade answer was "all my college friends" and I guess that's still true. I haven't even seen a few of you at ALL for the past decade.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I've made more online friends than real life ones. If you count that, probably E. Louise Bates. In real life, the families of some of my son's friends. I don't know why I've connected with them more than with any of Maddie's friends' families, but I have. The Russell/Ryans and the Borishes stand out the most.
I've made more online friends than real life ones. If you count that, probably E. Louise Bates. In real life, the families of some of my son's friends. I don't know why I've connected with them more than with any of Maddie's friends' families, but I have. The Russell/Ryans and the Borishes stand out the most.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this decade:
When I'm feeling lethargic, it usually means I need to exercise, not rest. It's strange but true.
When I'm feeling lethargic, it usually means I need to exercise, not rest. It's strange but true.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your decade:
"Everything is AWESOME!!! Everything is cool when--" okay sorry. Well maybe. I mean it can be used ironically OR earnestly, so...?
Okay, that's it! Please chat with me in the comments here, on Facebook or Twitter or wherever! Have a nice 2020!
"Everything is AWESOME!!! Everything is cool when--" okay sorry. Well maybe. I mean it can be used ironically OR earnestly, so...?
Okay, that's it! Please chat with me in the comments here, on Facebook or Twitter or wherever! Have a nice 2020!
