Welcome to the new (if temporary) normal. As many of you know, I'm a middle school librarian and most of the time that means I'm helping teachers with lessons, helping students with research and doing my best to connect everyone with the right books and resources. Usually I'm doing all that live and in person. These times though, they are anything but usual. Like many other schools around the world, we are now digital, and this has presented some new challenges to being a librarian. How will I reach all my kids? How will they ask me questions? How do I get them the right books? 

I don't have all the answers- but one thing came back to me from my days as a blogger. It was all digital. I still haven't met some of the wonderful ladies I worked with in person because we live thousands of miles from each other. Still, we managed to not only work together to run a successful book club and website, we were able to connect readers to books and authors every day. So that was my inspiration. It's time to get back to basics, and get everything online. 

So what will that look like? Well, this is my personal blog, but I will be adding a section under books where I will put up a lot of resources that I've been sharing with my students that other people might be interested in. Mostly this will be weekly book chats highlighting books that my students can borrow through our school library system (Sora) or through the local Public library (Overdrive). I am also reading my students a few chapters from some amazing books- and while I can't post those videos here (in compliance with the publishers guidelines), I will share what books we are teasing and where you can get them.  I will also be looking to feature authors who have books coming out during this shut down and who might have had to cancel upcoming events. I want to share as much love for the book community as possible! 

To kick off I'm going to share my first 2 Book Chats that feature some amazing authors and books. Going forward each week will have it's own post and all the Book Chats will be housed on the book page of this blog. 

​Week one featured books by Jason Reynolds, Angie Thomas, Jenny Han, Nathan Hale and Emily Carroll. 

Week two featured books by Marissa Meyer, Jason Reynolds, Kwame Alexande, John Green and Jakob Crane

Summary: 
​Emmeline lives an enchanted childhood on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won’t explain are the mysterious scents stored in the drawers that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too does her curiosity, until one day the unforeseen happens, and Emmeline is vaulted out into the real world—a place of love, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. To understand her past, Emmeline must unlock the clues to her identity, a quest that challenges the limits of her heart and imagination.

Lyrical and immersive, The Scent Keeper explores the provocative beauty of scent, the way it can reveal hidden truths, lead us to the person we seek, and even help us find our way back home.

My Ramblings: 
This is the February selection for Reese's Book Club- and one thing I love about book clubs is that books pop up that I might not have found on my own, but which I end up absolutely loving. This is one of those books. I think it comes down to one simple fact- and that is the existance of everyday magic.

At the outset of the book Emmeline lives on the island with just her father and a machine that captures scents on paper that can be bottled up and opened later, a poloraid of smells. Emmeline believes in that magic, until it's shattered, both figeratively and literally and then Emmeline has to find a new way to exist in a world that she has been kept outside of for her whole life. 

As the book unfolds we find this uneasy balance of reality and magic as Emmeline first moves to Secret Cove where she finds a family that loves and supports her, and then later realizes that even that can be shattered. Again, Emmeline goes out looking for answers and discovers her mother, who she long believed didn't exist, and with her mother discovers some hard truths about who her family really is. Throughout Emmeline tries to hold tight to who she is and navigate a world that is foreign to her. 

What I appreciate most about this book is that Bauermeister doesn't shy away from the hard truths. That even in the presence of magical things, there is also evil. Emmeline's first real friend Fisher lives with his abusive father and a mother who won't ever leave. Fisher learns to read people the way Emmeline reads smells and lives a life where he is always on the edge. This is real life and Bauermeister doesn't hide the damage that living in an abusive home does. Fisher, like Emmeline, is trying to figure out who he is and where he fits in and how he can survive. With Emmeline he finally feels a moment of peace and he spends time oth trying to hold on to that and running away. That the story gives both Emmeline and Fisher time and space to figure their lives out is a great thing that we don't often see in books.

In the end Bauermeister gives us the story we need and not neccesarily the one we want. I was invested in Fisher and Emmeline and wanted to follow them on their happy ever after. The books ends before that, leaving us with the promise of a future for them and the hope that they will face a world full of both evil and magic together and come out the other side okay. 

My Ramblings: 
First off- Happy Book Birthday to Jessica Berg! This book comes out today and the lovely author sent me a review copy to read ahead of it's release. Initially I was unsure whether or not I was the right audience for this story. Let me explain... I could tell from the title and synopsis that this book would have some religious ties. This was confirmed when I started reading. I happen to be an athiest and I'm always aware how my personal biases might influence not just how I read a book, but how I review it. Still, I chose to read and review Amber Waves of Grace because a good story is a good story regardless, and reading a book from a different perspective then your own should help open your mind and understand the other side better, I'm happy to report that this one did! While it was certainly out of my normal wheel house, I really enjoyed the stories and the relationships that Berg presented in this story. 

At it's heart this is a story about people trying to figure out who they are and what they want, which could get boring, however Berg sprinkles in just the right amount of mystery and intrigue to keep the story moving. The main character Corrie is a girl after my own heart, my grandparents owned a farm and I worked training horses for several years, and Corrie is definitely a farm girl right down to her "I can do it myself" attitude and penchant for a hard working farm boy to spend spend her time with. Without giving anything away, Corrie also comes with some baggage from years before and is forced to confront her past and her future when she has to take over the family farm and accept help from the one family she's tried to seperate herself from. Watching Corrie try to figure out what she wants and how to get it is a great story. 

The b plot to this book revolves around a young lady, Violet, who ends up at the farm quite by accident, but who brings with her baggage of her own, namely a pregnancy and an ex-fiance that's bent on revenge. At points it was hard to follow the timeline, but ultimately the story of Violet also figuring out what she wants in life brings in a storyline that both parallels Corrie's and helps Corrie figure out what is really important in life. 

In the end what I really appreciated about this story is what it has to say about family and what you can endure if you have family by your side. For Corrie it provides an anchor to build a life around, and for Violet, a second chance at happiness. Yes, there is also romance, but for me the heart of the story was about who you choose to make a family with and how that can help you become who you are truly meant to be.