Review: Homesick by Kate Klise

If you're looking for a chapter book for your fourth grade class's unit on the 1980s, then Homesick, by Kate Klise, is the book for you!  Of course, nobody teachers units on the 1980s, but wouldn't it be awesome if they did?  With its land lines, game boards, and mix tapes, this book answers the question, what was life like before the internet?  Also, it's about hoarding. 

Review: Listening for Lucca by Suzanne LaFleur

I loved the mood of Suzanne LaFleur's Listening for Lucca: summery, sinister, dreamy, mysterious.  Siena's family moves to a house on the beach in Maine, hoping the change will encourage Siena's little brother Lucca to start speaking.  Siena welcomes the move.  In Brooklyn, she has developed the reputation for being weird because she sometimes sees things that are not there.

Book Review: YA Roundup

Since I work at an elementary school library, I can't really call my YA reading "professional."  In light of that, I don't usually post reviews here.  But sometimes I just have to say something about what I've read!  So I've decided to occasionally indulge in some mini reviews of YA books that got my attention.

Online Tools: Infographics

I decided that I wanted to make an infographic as part of my annual report this year.  So at 12 p.m. yesterday I started playing around with a couple sites and 11 hours later, I had an infographic!  Seriously, I spent forever on this.  But sometimes you just have to give yourself permission to be obsessive and inefficient so you can learn a new skill, right?

Fortunately, I am really happy with the results, and I have a few thoughts on the sites I tried and on infographics in general.