Libaries – Where Great Happens

Last Week’s Best Comic Strip:

2010 Reading List

Inspired by librarian.net, I counted up the books I read in 2010:

11 picture books

46 children’s books (other than picture books)

34 young adult books

7 adult books (2 non-fiction, 5 novels)

Total: 98 books

This was much more than I would have guessed if I hadn’t counted them up in my reading journel; probably because the reading was very heavily loaded in the first half of the year.

Standouts were Richard Bernstein’s Ultimate Journey (adult), Paul Fleischman’s Weslandia (picture book), Carol Fenner’s Yolanda’s Genius, Ruth White’s Belle Prater’s Boy (children’s), Katherine Paterson’s Jacob I Have Loved, and Stephen Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower.

What did you read last year?

Maurice Sendak, Artist Extrarodinaire

Maurice Sendak comes out in this NY Times article Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are.

He never told anyone that he was gay because he didn’t think it was anybody’s business. I’m glad he changed his mind about that, because we all need role models.

Sad and surprising that he doesn’t recognize the greatness of his art. I wish I could bundle up about a hundred random children and send them to him. (Also, all the children’s librarians I know and almost all the parents I know. But I think the children would be more convincing.)

If you think he is an artist, and not a “mere illustrator,” come on over to my Facebook group, Maurice Sendak is a Great Artist.

Thanks to Emily Lloyd for the link.

Our Daemons

If you haven’t read the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman yet, I highly recommend it. As a tie-in to the the movie of the first book, you can find your Daemon at the website for The Golden Compass.

Mine is a
Snow Leopard named Themius

I like the Snow Leopard, but I’m not sure it’s a great match since I don’t think I have anything in common with Lord Asriel. (Assertive? I wish.)

Spragoon’s Daemon is a lynx named Aurora — assertive, spontaneous, inquisitive, solitary, & proud.

Adidas did it too, and it was a raven, but I forgot her name.

Do you think they are good matches?