The Paginated Babysitter

by Jas Faulkner

Theresa* is a middle school librarian in Tennessee.**  When budget cutbacks hit her county, she didn’t mind taking on the additional hat of media specialist.  Doing so meant that she wouldn’t have to do circuit administration, meaning that she would be responsible for only one school.   She understood that all of that was part of working in public education.  And like many educators, she found that in the past five years, her job has turned into a constant battle and it has nothing to do with scrabbling for her share of the shrinking budget.   Her biggest opponent is not student apathy or parental antipathy, but the ubiquity of handheld gadgets.

Read more

Books about Books–Better Known as Biblios–Part 1

Biblios = Books about Books Part 1: Books about Books–Better Known as Biblios Part 2  Bibilos Focusing on Booksellers/Collectors Part 3  Bibilos Focusing on Writers Part 4  Bibilos Focusing on Writers Part 5  Bibilos Focusing on Publishers Biblio–def.: ‘the Greek root for a variety of words referring to the book, such as bibliography, bibliomania, etc.’ I’ve often … Read more

"Too Dark" For Young Adults?

I don’t read young adult literature, and don’t have any young adults around at the moment who do. So, I’m not in a position to say whether all the books out there for teens are full of horrific violent profanity ridden dreck or not. But apparently a writer for the Wall Street Journal has read … Read more