Parenthetical.net

Musings and snark about YA lit, libraries, and geekdom, from an overly opinionated middle school librarian.

Parenthetical.net bookshelf

There was this statue of Columbus…

November 2nd, 2008 · 1 Comment

Via Bookshelves of Doom:
Sherman Alexie is totally a match for Stephen Colbert. Hi-larious!

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Tags: Links

Cybils: Rapunzel’s Revenge, by Shannon Hale

November 1st, 2008 · 2 Comments

It’s about time for a Cybils review of something I love unreservedly… and fortunately, here it is! Rapunzel’s Revenge has the somewhat unlikely premise of Rapunzel set in an alternate magical Wild West, but it totally works.

The wicked witch is a greedy landowner whose growth magic allows her to run a slave [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Cybils: In the Small, by Michael Hague

October 30th, 2008 · 8 Comments

My love of post-apocalyptic science fiction is no secret, so I was all kinds of excited to check out In the Small: a mysterious blue light covers Earth, reducing human beings to the size of… well, iPods, to judge by one of the panels. Collapse of civilization! Humanity stretched to the limit! [...]

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Tags: Reviews

Cybils: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

October 28th, 2008 · 4 Comments

I read the original Coraline, but — and I say this as a total Neil fangirl — I found it overrated. Meh, the other mother has black buttons for eyes and some rats. WTF-ever! (My boyfriend thinks I don’t watch enough horror movies to be properly scared by anything. He’s probably [...]

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Tags: Reviews

Cybils: Three Shadows, by Cyril Pedrosa

October 23rd, 2008 · 3 Comments

My first Cybils review! Woot! There were things I loved about it, but I have some concerns.
First of all, let me say that I loved the art. I tend to be a realism kind of gal. But these black-and-white drawings have so much energy and motion, I couldn’t help but get [...]

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Tags: Reviews

The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages

October 21st, 2008 · 2 Comments

In 1944, Los Alamos doesn’t officially exist. It’s a top-secret military research base in the middle of the desert, whose sole purpose is to develop the weapon known as “the gadget.” This is the story of two girls — wannabe social climber Suze and cheerfully geeky loner Dewey — who live in Los [...]

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Tags: Reviews

John Green: the “exclusive” “interview”*

October 20th, 2008 · No Comments

* If by “exclusive,” you mean “me, a couple of other librarians, some bookstore folks, a publicist, and 500 students.” And if by “interview,” you mean “hanging out while madly selling books at lunch, and then listening to him speak to a few English classes.”
Summary first: John is awesome. He is intelligent, [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Tag, I’m it!

October 20th, 2008 · 3 Comments

The lovely and talented Kate Diamond tagged me on the “page 56″ meme a while ago, and I have slacked. Anyway:
Here are the rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Sam-la

October 18th, 2008 · 4 Comments

I’m not generally in the habit of posting pictures of myself in this blog (or anywhere else on the internet), but I figure if I’m going to use my real name, I can use my real face. And I’m unreasonably proud of this:

(My colleague is making a display of librarian favorites, and [...]

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Tags: Libraries

Grown-up table: My Antonia, by Willa Cather

October 16th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I read a classic! On purpose! Without coercion! Twelve-year-old me wants a medal.
My Antonia is the story of a sort of pioneer Magical Mystery Girl, as told through the eyes of Jim, a boy who travels from Virginia to frontier Nebraska to live with his grandparents after his parents die. A [...]

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Tags: Grown-up table · Reviews