Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow - Spotlight & Giveaway

     

     Girl in Pieces has been on my radar for a while.  I've been wanting to read this contemporary from the minute I heard about it, and I had the privilege of meeting Kathleen Glasgow at ALA.  I was able to get an ARC signed by her, and on the last day I was able to pick up an extra ARC because I knew I wanted to give my readers the opportunity to read it as well!

     I was also sent an ARC for review, so now I have TWO ARCs to giveaway to you all!  I'm really excited about this.  Girl in Pieces is a visceral book; you feel what Charlie feels; you go through what Charlie goes through.  It is a difficult story to get through at times, but so beautifully executed.  I think this will be classified by many to be a must read contemporary YA that really examines the aftermath of a life fallen to pieces, and what it takes to build it back up.

Girl in Pieces

Kathleen Glasglow

August 30, 2016

Delacorte Press

For fans of Girl, Interrupted, Thirteen Reasons Why, and All the Bright Places comes Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel about a girl who has lost everything—almost even herself.

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The thick glass of a mason jar cuts deep, and the pain washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.

Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge. 

A deeply moving portrait of a teenage girl on the verge of losing herself and the journey she must take to survive in her own skin, Kathleen Glasgow’s debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.

The room is too quiet, so I walk the halls at night.  My lungs hurt.  I move slowly.

     Everything is too quiet.  I trace a finger along the walls.  I do this for hours.  I  know they're thinking about putting me on sleep meds after my wounds heal and I can be taken off antibiotics, but I don't want them to.  I need to be awake and aware.

     He could be anywhere.  He could be here.

(Page 10)

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My 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Photos

This past weekend, I had the amazing privilege of attending the ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL, along with my fellow Baby Librarian and Book Blogger, Erin (Check her out at her blog: Uniquely Geeky Girl)

So I had a TON of fun!  Being with librarians, who love books so much, is always a blast. Also, everyone is so polite and nice and organized (there was many a time when people just started forming lines because that's what you do, LOL).

And while I went to a few panels, I haunted that Exhibit Hall, met some awesome authors, schmoozed some publishers, and collected all the books!  Like...ALL the books people.

I captured some highlights in the snapshots below, but I was such a bad documenter because I didn't capture half of what I did!  But please enjoy what I have, and if you ever have a chance to go to ALA, take advantage!  It is so much fun!!!!!

The entrance up to the Exhibit Hall, my home away from home for four days!

I am all ready to defeat Day 1!  

Tried to keep it casual, but still nice because, boy, was it hot out!

Yes, that is my haul from Friday, Day 1.

Now the Exhibit Hall was only open from 5:30PM to 7:00PM, and just for full weekend attendees.

I got 34 books in a hour and a half!  CRAZY!

Day 2 here I come!!!!!

So excited to experience more of everything on Saturday!

Waiting for the Jay Asher signing!  We all received an ARC of his latest book, What Light.

Super excited to read that one!

ALA had gender neutral bathrooms.  

To achieve this, they put a curtain around the urinals to offer privacy.

While not a perfect fix, I've always though urinals needed more privacy anyway!

I got to meet Jesse Andrews!  

Sadly, I left my physical copy of The Haters in my hotel room, but he was signing book plates instead!

I loved Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl, and I can't wait to dive into The Haters!

Day 2 Haul!!!  That's 55 books....I got a lot of books!

Erin and I are all ready for Day 3!

We were waiting for the YALSA YA Author Coffee Klatch to start!

Speaking of the event, these are the authors we got to meet!

In order from top down, left to right: Jonathan Friesen, Laurie Halse Anderson (QUEEN), Jenny Han, Peter Brown Hoffmeister, Laura Ruby, Jordan Sonnenblick, Tim Federle, Morgan Matson, and Jonathan Auxier (not pictured: Terry Farish and C.M. Surrisi).

Look at that AMAZING tattoo, Laura Ruby got to commemorate Bone Gap!

If you haven't read that book yet, you really need to.  It is the 2016 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature winner.

So this picture has a story to it: "When Elizabeth was 14 yrs old, she was recommended a book from the Children's Librarian at Hudson Library. This book was titled Speak. 

Elizabeth scoffed at the recommendation because she liked to read adult books, none of that "kid" stuff. But the librarian was insistent, "You will find yourself in this book." (Elizabeth had been having a hard time and through the weeks of visits over the summer, the librarian had come to know about it). Elizabeth took the book, and started reading it that night. 

She finished it in one sitting. 

That book was written by the woman pictured here: Laurie Halse Anderson. She is the reason I love books and believe in books and treasure books the way I do. Speak was given to me at a time when I needed it (this also influenced me immensely--thank you Ms. Mary!!). 

Speak changed my life, and Laurie has continued to change my life with each book she writes. Then I actually got to meet her, and it was amazing. 

I got to meet my hero, and I cried. I cried for that young Elizabeth who was kind of lost and I cried for the help a simple book gave me and I cried because I don't know where I would be now if that didn't happen. 

So thank you, thank you, thank you Laurie for all the books you write; I'm sure I'm not the only one who's life you've changed."

Then of course, she actually commented when I posted to Instagram!!

I MEAN CAN YOU EVEN?!!!!!

Uh, Day 3's haul...that's 100 books.  

So if you're counting, I'm currently at 189.....

I feel both extremely repulsed and extremely elated.  It is weird.

This is how I started Day 4. So. Very. Tired.

I don't even have a photo from my haul, but I believe it was closer to what Friday's was.

I haven't counted the total yet...I'm still tired.

So that was my first ever ALA experience.  It was a freaking blast, and one trip I will treasure forever!  Authors/librarians/book bloggers/readers are such awesome, amazing, generous people (at least in my experience), and being able to be surrounded by those people for four days was just too good!

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New to My Shelves (2)

Instead of In My Mailbox, I've decided to do New to My Shelves.  I don't always have enough books to do weekly book hauls; this gives me the opportunity to save them up and do them more periodically.  This makes much more sense, and makes me feel less guilty! ; )

My book haul from YALSA's Ya Literature Symposium.

I had such a fun trip with my friend Erin; both of us are LIS majors and it was a blast hanging out with other librarians talking about nothing but YA lit!

We got to meet some amazing authors, make some new friends, see St. Louis, and eat the best dessert ever (Gooey Butter Cake...oh my god, to die for!).

Let me know if you've read any of these books, and if you got any "new to your shelves"

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Bookin' It Round the Web

Everything about books intrigues me.  Because of this I'm subscribed to couple magazines, like American Libraries and the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as a frequent troller of Publishers Weekly, NPR Books, and The New York Times Book section.   

Through these awesome resources, I've gathered a few interesting articles having to do with the book world!  I'm calling this feature Bookin' It Round the Web, and it will be periodically posted when I find some interesting news to share! 

• Are you still in love with books?  Because I know I am, and this article expounds the awesome of print books!
• NPR has an awesome interview with Judy Blume talking about censorship, writing books for kids, and keeping books relevant for the new generation.
• Let's not forget our old favorites in the middle of all these shiny new books; check out this article featuring new books from some loved authors!
• Let's talk about the ironic fact that Fahrenheit 451 is in e-book format.
• Libraries across the country are in desperate straits: Molly Raphael, President of the American Library Association has some interesting things to say on the subject.
• Want to find out what the new trends teens are into after they "stake the vampire", me too!
• Hey publishers, read why you should love the library!  Oh and why everyone else should too!

If you find any interesting, funny, intelligent, or silly book related articles while you're "bookin' it round the web" then drop them in the comments and they might show up in the next edition!

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Banned Books Week: Interesting Articles about BBW!

As a member of ALA (American Library Association) I get their newsletter.  This week's edition has, obviously, some really awesome articles in support of Banned Books Week and some crazy ones about the censorship of books.  For the last day of BBW I thought I'd share some of my favorites/though-provoking ones with you!

Molly Raphael, President of ALA, talks about censorship being alive in the internet age.

Both Whoopi and Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, authors of And Tango Makes Three, participate in the Virtual Read-Out for Banned Books Week.

Here's 12 Banned Books Week Classroom Activities to check out.

What books are being banned in Texas? 

L. D. Mitchell contemplates the reasons behind Banned Books Week being in the last week of September.

Gadsen Public Library director gets "arrested" to highlight banned books and censorship.

Charleton, Massachusetts lifts ban on Mark Twain's Eve's Diary 105 years later.

Commissioner in Lake County, Florida claims Gossip Girl is 'filth' (Okay, I have to say WTF Florida?  I dislike my state sometimes.  Filth?  REALLY?)

The difficult experience of a librarian dealing with censorship in Kuwait.

10 great banned books that talk about....GASP...sex!

The Book Sluts ask "What subversives are you reading?"

And we're finishing it off with this great poem about Banned Books Week from Girls in the Stacks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unwwjhIUReo

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Banned Books Week: My Favorite Banned Books!

Below are 5 books off the Top Ten Banned Books List from 2001 - 2010.  These 5 books are some of my favorites, and I wanted to highlight each of them for you.
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5. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger - Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group 

The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

4. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee - Reasons: offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often.

3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky - Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group

Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. 

2. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins - Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.   Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling - Reasons: anti-family, occult/Satanism, religious viewpoint, violence

Harry hates living with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their spoiled-rotten son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet beneath the stairs, and the entire family treats him with disdain. What's more, Harry keeps getting into trouble for making strange things happen -- things he seems to have no control over. But then Harry discovers the truth about himself when a determined messenger delivers an enlightening message. It turns out that Harry's mother was a witch, his father a wizard. And not only is Harry also a wizard, he's a famous one! His survival of the attack by the evil wizard who killed his parents has marked him as a legendary hero -- as has the lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead.  Soon Harry finds himself attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he receives training in some magic basics, masters riding a broomstick, and discovers his incredible talent for a game called Quidditch, which is played in the air on flying brooms. And for the first time in his life, Harry has friends who care about him: his fellow students Hermione and Ron and a giant named Hagrid. But all is not rosy when Harry discovers his true destiny and finds he must once again face the evil one who killed his parents. His survival will depend upon the help of his newfound friends, as well as his own wit and powers.

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 Have you guys read nay of these?  If you haven't I highly recommend them.  Yes not all of them are for young children, but that's where being a parent comes in!  But please take a minute and flip through these picks at your local bookstore or library.  They really are some of the best books!

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Banned Books Week: Virtual Read-Out

This was suppose to be for the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out, but it was too long.  I'm going to record a new one, but I wanted to share this one with everyone!  Just Listen by Sarah Dessen was challenged in my hometown of Tampa, at the high school I actually interned at last year! Strange.

Did you participate in the virtual read-out?  If not, you can view other videos here, at the BBW youtube page, and you can still upload your own 2:00 minute virtual read-out video in support!  

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Thoughts from an Acute Triangle (3): The Banned Books Week Edtion

Thoughts from an Acute Triangle is a feature I started where I discuss things related to the book field.  This is a place for me to be a little brainy.  The conversation is always open for comments and if there is ever a topic you want me to discuss, please leave a comment!

Let's talk about Banned Books Week, in particular this pleasant article from USA Today contributor, Jonah Goldberg, in which he claims Banned Books Week is just "hype".

Now this might enrage me a little more than others, as I am a member of the American Library Association and studying to be a librarian, but I feel like this article is simply an attack against the ALA and librarians as a whole.

Goldberg writes, "Banned Books Week is an exercise in propaganda" (2011).  Is it propaganda to promote the intellectual freedom of our society?  Is it propaganda to try to stop individual citizens from applying their opinion and views on every other person within that community?  No, real propaganda is thrown in your face each day when you watch television, when you pick up the newspapers, and when you turn on the radio; Because if you know the definition then you would know that propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself.  I don't think promoting propaganda is what the ALA is doing with their news articles and their highlighting of banned books.  The only thing they possibly gain from it, is the promotion of intellectual freedom and the importance of reading.

Goldberg additionally states, "Indeed, it's a staple of nearly every major newspaper to at least let the American Library Association air its dire warnings about the growing threat to the freedom to read" (2011).  Well let us walk back in time and examine why there would be such a fierce position against the threat to the freedom to read.  In 1933, Nazi German authorities started to synchronize professional and cultural organizations with Nazi ideology and policy.  On May 10, 1933, university students, under the guidance of Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, burned over 25,000 volumes that were deemed "un-German".  This act ushered in an era of state censorship and control of the culture.  Now you might think I'm being ridiculous, but the censorship of books is the first step to this horrendous act.  And book burning still takes place in America, typically by the American right, which is just as much of a problem as Goldberg claim's the "American left" is (2011).

But I think the statement that Goldberg wrote, which made me the angriest was: "As an educational enterprise, it denigrates the United States as a backward, censorial country when it's anything but.  It demeans parents and other citizens who take an interest in the schools" (2011).  Now I don't believe he understands what the ALA does, but it is conveniently outlined within the ALA Code of Ethics.  Principle II states: We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.  Furthermore, principle IV states: We respect intellectual property rights and advocate balance between the interests of information users and rights holders.  The point is not to demean parents or other citizens, and the point is not that librarians feel the U.S. is some police state, but it is a fact that with the censorship, a limited amount of people are trying to dictate what other people should or should not read, and that is an infringement on their rights.

So with that said, I will continue to fight for peoples’ right to think what they want to think, say what they want to say, and read what they want to read, and yes that courtesy includes Jonah Goldberg even if he doesn't seem willing to extend the same courtesy to others by supporting a movement which is so important.

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In My Mailbox (26)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by one of her friends, Alea of Pop Culture Junkie where we get to post about the books we receive each week through publishers/authors, our own purchases, contests won, and libraries.

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Banned Books Week website: http://bit.ly/oLC4hZ

List of Banned Books by Year: http://bit.ly/oOpQkJ
List of Banned Classics: http://bit.ly/qsqsYt

Virtual Read-Out website: http://bit.ly/ppvfXA
Virtual Read-Out Youtube channel: http://youtu.be/SoicHOW12Ds

Banned Books Week Posts on my blog: http://bit.ly/pFzO01
Banned Books Week Giveaway: http://bit.ly/mQybIf 

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Banned Books Week: 2010 Most Challenged Books

Today I bring you the 10 most challenged books from 2010.  I always find it extremely interesting to see exactly what people, mostly parents, find offensive and why.  Honestly, I find it ridiculous, but I was also reading "inappropriate books" since I was little, so I digress.

The 10 most challenged titles of 2010 were:
And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin RichardsonReasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group

There are two reasons listed above which really bother me.  (1) Homosexuality; it's as if they think that people can "catch gay".  It is both offensive and hurtful to challenge or ban a book because someone might love someone of the same gender.  I don't file any complaints citing heterosexuality. (2) Religious viewpoint; for a country which was founded by people running away from religious persecution, there seems to be a lot of it going on here.  This country is not a "Christian" country, and last time I checked we didn't even have a national religion.  Stop trying to enforce beliefs on others; this is the land of the free, not the land of God.

That's my two cents.  What do you think of the list?  Lists from previous years can be found here.  Let me know what banned/challenged book surprised you most in the comments.  The 2011 challenged book list will be released during Banned Books Week, and I will be posting that as soon as it is up.

Remember: Do your part to support Banned Books Week!

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Happy Banned Books Week!

Today marks the start of Banned Books Week.  Running from September 24th to October 1st, Banned Books Week is a celebration held every year, in the last week of September, to highlight the freedom to read and the importance of the 1st amendment.  The American Library Association (ALA) uses BBW to highlight the importance of fighting against censorship and bringing attention to the attempts or instances of book censorship and banning within the United States.

Intellectual Freedom is the basis for BBW, as the ALA states that Intellectual Freedom is "the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular."  Therefore, the information contained within a book must be accessible to all, even if you don't agree with it.  Of course people have a problem with this, anfd are consistently attempting to deny access to not only themselves and their families, which is perfectly fine, but to other people and thier children as well.  This is a problem, as not each family has the values or beliefs as the next, and should not be subjugated to those beliefs.

To be clear, a challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.  If the material is then removed, that book has now been "banned".  Over the past ten years, American libraries were faced with 4,660 challenges.

• 1,536 challenges due to material deemed “sexually explicit”;
• 1,231 challenges due to “offensive language”;
• 977 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
• 553 challenges due to “violence”
• 370 challenges due to “homosexuality”;
• 121 challenges due to material deemed “anti-family”; and
• 304 challenges due to “religious viewpoints.”
  
  
  In the light of these statistics it is important that people (like all my wonderful readers) take a stand, and support Banned Books Week!   Here are some resources to get you started!

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom publishes the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom and provides regular news updates via the OIF blog, Twitter and the IFACTION mailing list. The National Coalition Against Censorship is an alliance of fifty national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups that works to educate both members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose it.

The Freedom to Read Foundation is the only organization in the United States whose primary goal is to protect and promote the First Amendment in libraries by participating in litigation dealing with free expression in libraries and other venues. Members receive a quarterly newsletter, The FTRF News The First Amendment Center maintains an online First Amendment library and provides breaking news about First Amendment issues via its RSS newsfeed

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