For my 9th Graders this week

Welcome!



First, I'll read excerpts from a few books, and then...

we'll watch some creepy book trailers:

Alice in Zombieland


Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 


Dorothy Must Die

Dragons in the Stacks--October

This is our NHS Library's October newsletter. Please take a look!

It's Monday. What are YOU reading?

I just finished listening to Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper on audible.

Y'all.  This book.
THIS BOOK.
I absolutely loved the duel settings of modern day and WWII, as Laurel attempts to solve the mysteries of her mother's past. Gorgeous.  It was a lovely LONG listen--so not for a quick road trip, but certainly worth the investment of time

My high school faculty book club is reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  First, his name is pronounced ooh-vuh, which through me for a quick minute (yes, I'm listening to this one, too, and SO grateful because otherwise, I would still be calling this man by the wrong name) but I am really enjoying this book.  Ove is a curmudgeon of the first order.  Everything has a place and should by god be there.  While most folks would overlook him as a bitter old grump, the new young family next door finds a way to connect and bring out the best in him.  I have laughed right out loud at this one, and have also found it to be a lovely, poignant story.

You know you have a winner when your high school students start passing around the picture book in the before-school crowd.  I heard the "you've gotta read this one right now" whispered from person to person as it made the rounds.  #allthefeels

What are YOU reading?

Winning at F-A-I-L

I have the most amazing job in the universe.
And yesterday was just awful.
This does not make me love my job any less. Saying this does not make me a negative person.
It's just the real honest-to-gosh truth of my day.
Today will be better.

I believe in putting positivity out into the world.
I also believe in being real.  These are NOT mutually exclusive things.
I think it is especially important in this age of Instagram moments and Pinterest and look-at-how-awesome-this-is social media that we also remember to share our first attempt at learning moments.
Yeah, that spells F-A-I-L.

The problem is not with failing and acknowledging our fail----this is not a negative, folks.
The problem would be STAYING in that place.

Everything in the world (just about) that could go south yesterday, did indeed go south.
I want to share that with you for two reasons. One, I sorta need to vent/examine/feel my feelings so I can move forward and begin to see the humor in the sheer craptastic-ness of it, and two, I need you to know that I'm not winning all the time, and that is OKAY.

No one is winning all the time.
NO one is winning all the time.
NO ONE IS WINNING ALL THE TIME.

Winning all the time doesn't happen.  It isn't real.  It is a facade.
However, when all everyone does is acknowledge only our winning moments it can SEEM like everyone else is winning all the time.  Except you.

Don't believe it, folks.
It isn't true.  That isn't how life works.
Not one of us can do everything in superhero mode all the time.
Not.One.Of.Us.

And that is okay.
And you are okay.
And I am okay.
And WE are okay.

Y'all.
It isn't negative to say,
         look--I'm struggling.
         hey, this didn't go so great.
         I tried, but I didn't love the way it went down.
It is real. 
Fail Forward.

That is one of the most positive things you can do.
I promise.