Historical Fiction Annotation

The Secret Wife

By: Gill Paul

Published: August 25, 2016

Publisher: Avon

Pages: 417

Genre: Historical Fiction

Period: WW1 and Present

Summary:

This novel is a blend of two stories from very different eras and how they are connected. The story during the WW1 era focuses on Dmitri Malama and Duchess Tatiana and their forbidden romance. We eventually come to understand their connection to the main character, Kitty. The present day portion focuses on Kitty as she learns of her husband’s infidelity and flees to a cabin she recently inherited from a relative she knew nothing about. Kitty restores the cabin and searches for information about her great grandfather and what caused him to live in this secluded cabin estranged from family.

Genre:

This historical fiction novel focuses on Duchess Tatiana and the rest of the royal family. Due to the many theories about whether all members of the family truly died; there is a dedicated following already in place for this story. The story provides a wealth of information about life in Russia, the royal family, and other historic events. The author did a wonderful job including these in the story without including too much information. The novel flows at a leisurely pace following the main characters lives.

Read-alikes:

These historical fiction novels feature the Romanov Family.

This Nonfiction choice provides a very close look at the Romanov Family.

These Historical Fiction choices are written in a similar style to that of the author.

Book Club Experience

Book Club

I am part of a book club at my school that consists of 8-10 female teachers. The school librarian organized this at the beginning of the year. At our first meeting, we discussed what type of books we wanted to read and we agreed that we wanted to choose books that were made into a movie, books that were not overly depressing, and books that were realistic. We communicate through email and the librarian will send out a google form for us to choose our top picks for our next book.

The first book that was read is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach. Some teachers used paperbacks provided by the library and others used e-readers. The group was given a month to read the book prior to meeting to discuss it and watch the movie. We met in the library after school, the librarian had provided snacks and arranged the comfy chairs in front of a projector screen we could watch the movie on. The atmosphere was one of friends talking and relaxing together away from the stress of teaching.

All attendees were excited to discuss the book and watch the movie. The librarian asked some probing questions about topics addressed in the book and everyone had the chance to respond and talk about their opinions. One member did dominate much of the conversation and one did not speak much, the librarian did a good job of moderating and trying to give everyone a chance to participate. Considering that all of the members work together and know each other pretty well everyone felt comfortable enough to give their honest opinions about the book and movie.

We watched the movie as a group and enjoyed it immensely. After the movie, most of the discussion revolved around the major differences in the book and the movie and everyone’s opinion on this. We thought there were many significant changes from the book to the movie, but that the changes made the movie work. The movie was nominated for many awards and was considered a box office hit.

I had seen the movie before reading the book and found the book hard to get into because I was constantly comparing it to the movie and thus did not finish it. I found all of the different characters interesting and their backstories were provided in the book giving you more insight to each of them. I loved the movie and some of my favorite actors star in it such as Maggie Smith and Judi Denche. I decided in the future to always try to read the book before watching the movie.
                                                                             

I have also joined the RW Book Club on Facebook, this is Reese Witherspoon’s book club that takes place on Facebook and Instagram. The discussion takes place on Facebook and the books are announced on Instagram. We are currently reading: The Dry by Jane Harper & The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. The discussions have not taken place yet, but the club members are very active and post frequently about what they are reading, looking for recommendations, and news about other books.

We are doing a March book exchange and all members that want to participate can. The theme of this exchange is "green." You may interpret this however you'd like (cover is green, the book is about money or flowers, etc). One of the admins of the group is organizing it and will send out who you are sending a book to on March 15th and all books need to be sent by March 31st.


I can’t wait to be a librarian full time and get to participate in more book clubs or help with one.

Special Topics Paper - Reader's Advisory For Teens

Social Media is a great tool to use in Reader's Advisory for Teens. Here are some ideas on how social media platforms can be used to provide book recommendations for teens.

Reader's Advisory for Teens

Booktalks are a great way to to promote reading to teens. Many social media platforms now allow videos to be posted including: Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. When creating a booktalk to post on social media, the librarian needs to keep in mind the time constraints of each platform, for example Snapchat videos are limited to ten seconds. Snapchat also allows the user to add filters that pertain to the setting or content of the book. Videos could be created for new items in the Teen Section, Read-alikes, and other items the library is currently promoting.

A book snap is a picture of text from a book that is focusing on a quote or idea in the text with emojis, text or other content added to illustrate the point. The book snaps are typically shared on Snapchat and Twitter.  The librarian can share quotes or highlights from the book they are reading or promoting and post it to the social media app. Book snaps could also be used to share what the librarian is currently reading by posting a picture of the book cover with a few words about the book or with the words, currently reading. Book snaps of a book cover could be shared on all social media platforms. Sharing what one is currently reading or has read recently is a great way to get teenagers talking about books.

There are multiple websites available that will allow a patron to get a reading recommendation, Goodreads and Library Thing are among some of the popular websites. The teen librarian could create a profile on these sites to promote what they are currently reading and assist teen patrons in doing so as well. Posting links to these accounts on the library website and social media platforms will allow the library to reach more users. Goodreads allows a user to add friends and follow what they are reading and make recommendations to others as well.

Infographics are graphic visual representations of information and have become very popular. There are many free programs that allow you to create these, such as: Piktochart, Canva and Venngage. This is a great way to recommend books through the use of Read-alikes or specific topics.  For example an infographic could be made about what to read if you like the tv series The Walking Dead. These posters could then be displayed at the library in the teen section or shared on the library’s social media platforms.

Works Cited

Brown, David W. "How Young Adult Fiction Came of Age." The Atlantic. N.p., 01 Aug. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2017.

Burgess, Dave. "#BookSnaps!!" Blog post. Teach Like a Pirate. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2017.

Graves, Alanna. "How To Use Snapchat for Readers' Advisory." School Library Journal(2016): n. pag. Web.

Thorton-Verma, Henrietta, and Meredith Schwartz. "The State of Readers' Advisory."Library Journal 03 Feb. 2014: n. pag. Web. 2 Mar. 2017.

Women's Lit Annotation - Big Little Lies

Author: Liane Moriarty

Title: Big Little Lies

Genre: Women's Relationships

Publication Date: July 29, 2014

Number of Pages: 460

Geographical Setting: Australia

Time Period: Present


  Big Little Lies tell the story of three women at very pivotal points in their lives. Madeline, a mother of three, is funny, passionate, and brutally honest. She is struggling with her ex-husband and his wife living in the same community, they both have a child in the same kindergarten class and their daughter from their marriage likes his new wife better than her. Celeste is beautiful, it's all anyone notices about her. Her, her husband and their twin boys are the envy of everyone, they seem to have it all but at what price? Jane is a young, single mother who is new to town. Madeline and Celeste quickly bring Jane into their little group and try to protect her from the other Kindergarten moms. This book explores the relationships between these women, ex-husbands and much more.

Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel (2015), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2014)

This book is a great example of Women's Literature with its focus on the relationship between three women all at a different place in their lives. The book alternates between narration from all three characters points of view. This provides a unique look at each of their personal struggles and how friendships are more important than ever.  None of the women's lives are perfect, they each struggle with something, this is a great example that no one's life is perfect even though it may appear so on the outside.

HBO has made a miniseries consisting of seven episodes that started airing on February 19, 2017. Reese Witherspoon stars as Madeline, Nicole Kidman plays Celeste, and Shailene Woodley is Jane. HBO describes the series as a dark comedy and drama.



Read a Likes:

Each of these novels explores relationships and real life issues.

Week Seven Prompt - Celebrity Book Clubs

The celebrity book club that interests me is the one that Emma Watson started, Shared Shelf, I am a huge Harry Potter and Emma Watson fan. When I heard that she was starting a book club focusing on Women’s equality it perked my interest. I think this is a very important topic in today’s society and I think it’s relevant to her work as a UN Women Goodwill ambassador.

Emma Watson’s Feminist Book Club.

The book the Shared Shelf is currently reading.

I don’t think celebrity book clubs are a bad thing, anything that gets people to read is good in my opinion. I think Oprah’s book club was very beneficial to authors and publishers alike and helped revitalize interest in book clubs. I was curious to see what other celebrities have book clubs and found an interesting article from USA Today. I plan on checking many of these out!

I discuss books with my friends and have started sharing what books I am reading on social media as well. I have enjoyed this because it has sparked some conversations about books we have read or want to read. I don’t think just celebrities can promote what they are reading, I think everyone should share what books they have really enjoyed.

Horror Annotation

Author: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Title: The Strain

Genre: Horror

Publication Date: June 2, 2009

Number of Pages: 403

Geographical Setting: New York City, New York

Time Period: Present

Series: The Strain Trilogy

Summary: A plane arrives at JFK and as soon as it lands everything goes black. A doctor from the CDC that investigates biological threats finds all but four people aboard the plane dead from no apparent cause. In less than 24 hours the bodies of the deceased are missing and the city is faced with a vampiric virus that could destroy life as we know it. Will a former professor that survived the Holocaust be able to help stop the spread of the virus before it's too late?

Characteristics of Horror Genre: The book contains a creepy and suspenseful tone throughout the story and the ending is unresolved, both classic features of the horror genre. The monsters in this story are of a supernatural nature, however; the author provides a scientific explanation to make the story more plausible in today's society. The protagonist of the story is flawed, but I think this makes him more realistic and relatable for the reader. The author uses language that allows the reader to vividly picture the vampires and the danger they pose. At the end of the book the Master gets away and the reader is introduced to another group of vampires, making the reader continue with the next book in the series to get closure.

Read-A-likes:

Fiction: These books will appeal to someone that enjoyed The Strain. They feature vampires, viruses and the potential end of the world.

Nonfiction: The books address the folklore and myths surrounding vampires.

Week 6 Prompt

I would like to promote our zombie horror collection next month, I have some ideas that I am very excited about.

My idea consists of three displays, one by the main entrance, one by the fiction section and a display in the teen section.

The first display would be rather simple and its purpose would be to catch the public’s attention. The display consists of a large green hand made of cardboard and paper holding a Zombies for Dummies book. I would also integrate some of the library’s more popular Zombie movies into this display for patrons to easily check out. This display would go at the main entrance with guidance on where to find more information.

The second display features a poster from Random House highlighting their published Zombie books. This display would be placed in the fiction section with the books we have from the poster out as well for patrons to easily pick up and check out. Zombie memorabilia will make a great addition to this display. I would also post the information from the poster on the library’s social media pages.

This is the poster that I would place in the teen section of the library, I think it will catch their attention. I would place it on an end cap and feature the YA adult Zombie books in the collection to tie it in and provide this list on the library’s social media and make the poster into a bookmark with the books listed on the opposite side.

A couple of programming idea for teens would be to have a showing of one of the recent or classic zombie movies, have a zombie make-up class or a zombie themed book club.

I utilized ideas from Pinterest for this post.