Review: This is Not a Drill

Emery and Jake never expected this to happened when they signed up to teach French to first grade students. The high school seniors are put into a terrible position when a father comes to pick up his son in the middle of the day.

The father, recently returned from Iraq is in the middle of a custody battle with his wife. However, he's not about to take no for an answer. Worse, he has a gun.

Emery and Jake must help the first graders remain calm. They don't want to do anything to agitate the man. The kids are scared.  Their teacher tries to stand up to the man, but soon she's injured. Can Emery and Jake keep all the kids safe and together until help can arrive?

My Thoughts: The story alternates perspectives between Emery and Jake.  In the beginning of the story, it's revealed that Jake and Emery have a past together. Over the story, bits and pieces of that past come into view.  It's a hard story to read.  On one hand, it's a terrible situation. On the other hand, your heart aches for the man who just wants to see his son, but who is going about it the wrong way. McDowell creates realistic tension, where the fast pace of the book makes it hard to put down. I really enjoyed this story which had the perfect blend of action, danger, emotional drama, and a tiny bit of romance.

Cover Thoughts: Perfect
Source: YA Lit Symposium

Pinterest for Libraries

I gave a short presentation last week at a YA Librarian meeting about using Pinterest in Libraries.

Here's a link to my PREZI presentation: http://prezi.com/lt5byc-wh19k/pinterest/

I discovered Prezi at the YA Lit Symposium and days later made my first use of it.

From St. Louis into Action

Last week, I was in St. Louis for the YA Lit Symposium. Afterwards I was on vacation, reading, writing, and relaxing. The relaxation was great, except that part of me was itching to get back to work and start putting ideas into action. As it was, I settled for making a

To-Do List

1. Host a fan art night - where teens showcase their fan art and then create more
2. Create a What are you Reading Board (see photo below)
3. Look at sample enhanced books on Overdrive 
4. Play with Prezi and other technology programs
5. Work to become more involved with YALSA
6. Take a deeper look at my collection and make book lists
7. Attend the 2014 conference in Austin, Texas
8. Ask my teens about fan fiction - I haven't heard them talk about it, but that doesn't mean they're not participating in any communities
9. Take a look at the #yalit12 on twitter to read about the programs I missed while attending the awesome ones I did. 
10. Try to do more passive programs surrounding pop culture
11. Try to add more to my review: Similar Reads or For Fans of, try not to say "a great boy book" but instead "great for readers who like...", and try to combine the personal reasons of why I liked the book with critical analysis of the book. Basically, I need to make my reviews more well rounded. And of course, share my reviews with publishers/authors. 
12. Comment more on blogs. I've been slacking on this lately, but I need to start commenting again. 
13. Take another look at my Jane Austen inspired fan fiction and start working on it again. 

Over the weekend...

I was lucky enough to go to St. Louis to attend:

It was my first time attending this conference! I'm already planning to attend the next one - 2014 in Austin, Texas. I love meeting YA people (librarians and authors). I'm still trying to think of all the things I want to attempt at Otis Library. I have a list of things to do when I get back (I'm on vacation this week). Plus I want to read about the sessions I didn't get to see. The sessions were amazing. if you weren't able to go, you can still get a good idea about what happened on Twitter under #yalit12