This and That

Well it was back to the grind yesterday, spring break is over, it got REALLY cold here in the ATL but the good news is there are only 31 days until summer vacation!! I am off today because of sick kids and dentist appointments, so I can't complain too much. Book fair hits my media center on Friday, so I need to rest up!

Here are some interesting tidbits I have found in the past few days:

Independent Booksellers Finding it Tough - an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) business section today, it is telling us nothing new, that the big guys, like B&N and Borders are doing well and so are online giants like Amazon, but the little guys aren't. Every time I read an article like this I cringe a little more. I LOVE the little bookstore. my favorites are Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA, Armchair Bookstore in Dennis, MA and Yellow Umbrella books in Chatham, MA (so small they don't even have a website!). Of course, I buy books for the big guys and I link books on this site to Amazon. I think someone (I forget who) was debating linking to smaller, independent bookstores instead of Amazon, I am thinking I might just have to look into that also.

Atlanta's Author Ambassador - another AJC article from last week, I love my job, but sometimes I see an article or hear about someone with a cool job and say HEY, in my next life I want to do THAT (which is essentially how I got to be a media specialist, but that's another story...) This article is about a woman named Esther Levine and she is an independent author escort, which means she escorts visiting authors around town, to book signings and readings and school visits - basically she acts as the authors (or illustrators) hostess with the mostest - HOW COOL!

How 2B hip - a blog entry by Diane Chen on the School Library Journal Blog Practically Paradise. Chen, asks the question, how do you stay hip on what's going on with the kids that you teach, meaning, what are they listening to, what are they reading (hopefully you have a pretty good idea of this) what is the hot game/tv show/movie for the age group you serve. Right now, I have it easy in that department, I am the media specialist at a K-8 school and I have a 6 year old, 9 year old and just turned yesterday 11 year old (Happy Birthday Ryan!). SO my life is all about baseball players and High School Musical and Hannah Montana and Webkinz and Under Armour and Limited Too and Runescape and, well I could go on and on with pop culture for the grader schoolers. But someday (soon) I will be out of that loop and I do wonder, like Ms. Chen, how you stay "up" on the current "hot thing" for the under 13 set. Case in point, yesterday at my daughters dance class a few of the girls were comparing webkinz before class and one of the teachers (who is 21 and still in college) had no idea what the kids were talking about. I think the answer lies in hanging out with a tweener for a few hours and pick their brains (even better, take them out for ice cream and you are sure to hear lots!)

and one more, non-kidlit related item, I found a baseball bracelet that I have told my husband I want for Mother's day (if we can afford it after the kids dental work!) - it is a must for any female baseball fan. Check it out here!