Kampung Boy by Lat

Although this is Lat’s first book to be published in the United States, he is an incredibly well respected writer in Southeast Asia.  The winner of numerous awards, including the Special Jury Award given by the Malaysian Press Institute, Lat is clearly an undiscovered gem in our society.

Kampung Boyis the story of a young boy, Mat, growing up in a rural part of Malaysia during the 1950s.  The story follow Mat as he remembers aspects of his family life, societal norms, mischievous happenings, and the struggle of their town’s way of life among the impeding tin mines.  Eventually, Mat is shipped off to a boarding school in the city.  As he leaves, he wonders what will be left of the town he grew up in.

Kampung boy is a wonderfully drawn and narrated book.  The work between both narration and drawing provide an incredible insight into a foreign culture in which many Americans have trouble grasping, if not view as primitive.  Through Lat’s talents for storytelling, he makes these social boundaries disappear and shows that even though societies may differ, people are generally the same.

Along with my other recommendation for American Born Chinese, this stands out as a superior publication by First Second Books and a must-have for any respectable graphic novel collection.

As for school libraries, I would say this book is good for 7th-12th grade.

My favorite Pirate joke…

Since September 19th is recognized as International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I thought I would tell you my favorite pirate joke. 

A pirate walks into a bar.  The bartender looks up sees that the pirate has his steering wheel stuck to his pants.  Trying to be polite, the bartender leans over to the pirate and says, “Hey buddy, I hate to point this out, but it looks like your steering wheel is stuck to your pants.”

The pirates bellows, “Yargh, I know… it’s drivin’ me nuts!”

I’ve never claimed to have a sophisticated sense of humor…

Teens In the Library

“Why don’t we just turn the library into an arcade!?” 

I tend to get this response from the more, umm, veteran professionals when I bring up gaming programs in the library.  Truth is, I’ve gotten similar cynicism for other non-traditional teen programs as well (and I know I am not alone).  I’m not completely sure what the issue is but it seems an odd reaction.  Why hate programs that bring people into the library?

Or is the issue that these programs bring teens in the library?

Teens are not always seen as an asset in the library community and, sometimes, they are viewed as an outright nuisance among our co-workers.  At my previous job, also as a YA Librarian, I had several co-workers flat out state “they do not work with teens.”  In fact, a great crux in my job is battling for our teens’ rights to be wherever they please in a library.

I hear many of my cohorts express the same difficulties. 

But why teens?  Why teen programs?  Why the feeling that teens have no place in the library?

When I asked my coworkers why they had issues with teens, I heard a lot of the same answers.  When I asked them what their greatest frustrations were with patrons in general, I heard pretty much the same answers as before.

The following is a list of general complaints I have heard.  As you read them, ask how many of these are exclusively teen issues and how many actually apply to the general patron population:

They are loud

They are rude

They use bad language

They only come here to use computers

They only come here to rent videos

They look at inappropriate sites

They steal books

They only read magazines

They sleep in the library

They disrupt other patrons

They smell

Feel free to add your own list.

Rethinking How We Catalog Graphic Novels

In this instance, I think libraries could learn something from book retailers.We actually do have a graphic novels and Manga section for our collection in the library, but it is strictly for teens.  So, when new graphic novels come into our library, my co-worker and I are faced with the question of whether or not it is acceptable for our Teens to read, Charles Burns’ book Black Hole is the perfect example.  If the themes are ‘too adult,’ we are told to transfer it into the adult collection…Mind you, not an adult graphic novel section, just their fiction or non-fiction section depending on content.

So, here’s the real problem; if we put this in the adult section, it is generally lost among the rest of the books. Most of our graphic novel readers, whose ages span decades in difference, are not going to look in the adult section for these books.

In a year, when it comes time to weed, many of these books may be discarded because of lack of borrows.  Considering how many books are checked out through browsing, it seems an unfair fate for the graphic novel (it isn’t even in the right spot).

Perhaps the answer is to start thinking of graphic novels as a format rather than a genre. 

 

Remembering September 11th

I was going to school at UNC-Charlotte at that time.  I remember waking up to my roommate, who almost never got up before noon, watching TV.  The first plane had hit the towers and was being reported.  We watched the second plane crash and swore it must’ve been a replay of the first one.  But the announcers silence made us realize differently.

 I had a test at 10 AM that morning.  I called my professor, who was clueless to the situation, asking him if we still had class.  He insisted that everyone must show up or receive a failing mark on the test scheduled that day.  With little choice in the matter, I left for class. 

But the crashes kept bothering me and I couldn’t concentrate.  By 11AM I was sick to my stomach and just gave up on even trying to answer questions.  I handed my half-finished paper to my professor said “I’m from New Jersey”  and walked out.

By the time I made it to the student center, everything changed.  The towers collapsed, the Pentagon hit, another plane crashed in a field and supposedly there was a blast outside one more government building and at least one more plane unaccounted for.  I ran to the bathroom and threw up, then I cried.  I found a friend and screamed “f*ck” into her shoulder for longer than was probably healthy.

The one thing I remember most through the whole event and following days was how generally unaffected people were at the campus.  Sure, they cared and everyone once and a while I would overhear someone talk about how a friend’s family member lives up north but their greatest concern was how they were going to be next (Charlotte, surprisingly enough, is the second largest banking industry).  They were hellbent on this idea and any discussion on the situation turned towards how Charlotte was the obvious next choice for terrorists.  Very strange.

I remember calling my parents that night and my father saying something which has stuck with me since; “I hope they don’t use this as a reason to go to war.  I hope they make something good come out of this.” 

American Born Chinese by Gene Yang

 I was lucky enough to have First Second Books company send me a complete run of graphic novels they are publishing this season.  Overall, I am impressed with the selection of stories they’ve chosen to invest in this year.  The one that stands out as the best of them is American Born Chinese.

 American Born Chinese follows three separate story lines, the person, the stereotype and the lesson.

 Jin Wang desperately wants to fit in, but he is the only Chinese American at his school.  When another Chinese American moves into the school, who embraces his Chinese heritage, Jin befriends him but resents him.  And what to do when he starts falling for an American girl.

In the second story, the Monkey King wants to be recognized as a god.  When he is publicly humiliated at a party of dieties, he dedicates himself to training and tries to become more powerful than all the gods.  As punishment, he is trapped under a mountain and the only means of escape is for him to recognize who he is.

In the third story, Chin-Kee is a juxtapose of all Chinese stereotypes.  When Chin comes to visit , he tortures Jin with his traditions and odd humor.

In the end, Yang manages to tie all three stories together and clearly states the lesson within the book.

Accept who you are and love yourself.

I would say this is a must have graphic for both school and public libraries.

Steve Irwin… dead?

I had two immediate reactions when I heard this.

First, I checked the date.  I confirmed that Time was still moving steadily and had not, in fact, warped seven months ahead to April 1st.

 Second, I checked Snopes.  I mean, it sounded made up… the Crocodile Hunter is dead? 

From a stingray?!

Yeah, I know, he wrestled alligators, was chased by Komodo Dragons, handled venomous snakes and swam with sharks.  But that is exactly my point, the dude wrestled alligators, snakes, lizards, and sharks!?  He was already attacked and wounded by animals… it gave kind of an immortal feel to the man.

And then to be taken down by a freak stingray accident, seems to be almost an insult to the legend.

Crikey, baby… crickey!

Pamapalooza

I’m writing this the morning after Pamapalooza, it was a blast.  I met some new librarians, cool musicians (even if the one band forgot their bass), and even got me a henna tattoo with the super-tough badass saying “Shut up and Read.”

Overall, the night was a success. My wife brought our 8 month old daughter to hear me play, and I was amazed that even at that age, she recognized when it was me playing and singing.  People actually sat down to listen, and that was encouraging because they initially all walked to the henna station about two measures into the first song.

The major bummer is that the mp3 recordings did not turn out and so I am unable to post the show.  I was hoping it would be my return to podcasting, but I guess I will have to come up with something new.

Also, I didn’t know that we could swear at the show (I was up first)… oh man, had I known that I would have made Bob Saget look like a freakin’ priest!