Special Paper- Book Awards

BOOK AWARDS! 
There are A LOT of book awards out there. However there is not a lot written about the book awards.  There is no general history about book awards so I can't tell you when all of the award craze first started as I had planned.  What I did write about were different awards.  I know when they started, what they were given for, what the prize is, and more- if that information was available.  I searched about 45 awards and settled on the following 13 awards.  Here are their names and what they are given for:

• Agatha Award - traditional mystery
• Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction - any book that guides adults to select quality reading material.
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award - Books with focus on racism and diversity
• Bram Stoker Award - Horror
• The Center for Fiction: First Novel Prize - fiction
• Edgar Award - mystery, crime, suspense, and intrigue fiction
• Goodread's Choice Award - readers' choice in 20 categories
• National Book Award - fiction, nonfiction, poetry, YA
• Neustadt Prize - International award -poetry, fiction, drama
• Nobel Prize in Literature - Outstanding lifetime Work in Literature
• PEN/Hemingway Award - debut novel or book of short stories
• Pulitzer Prize - journalism, letters and drama, education, poetry, music, photography
• RITA Awards - romance

(To read more about these awards go to the following blog:

http://maryshafer.doodlekit.com/blog)

Week 7 Prompt Response

For our prompt this week, I want you to think about fake memoirs, author mills (James Patterons), and celebrity inspired book clubs. Basically write a readers' response to one of the articles you are reading for this week (see syllabus or links in this post for readings) - or talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work 

I'm choosing to talk about celebrity book clubs: "Numerous celebrities have decided to encourage reading by becoming bookstagrammers or launching their own online book club."  I say if it calls for a certain celebrity to start a book club to get people involved and interested in reading then let's get them involved.  Reading is an important life long skill people need.  I believe that celebrities are in an unique place of being a role model  and their reading and book clubs have the opportunity to reach a lot of people who may otherwise not e interested in books and reading.  These celebrities maybe getting some kind of 'payment' (more followers to their book clubs, money, etc.) for sharing their reading, however I think if they didn't enjoy reading they wouldn't be out there promoting it. So, I say, bring on the celebrities who want to start book clubs and promote reading, I'll let them do it all day long.

• Liao, Angela. (2017) Celebrity Book Clubs Create Virtual Reading Community. Retrieved from https://www.bookstr.com/celebrity-book-clubs-create-virtual-reading-community

Mystery Book Annotation

 In the Bleak Midwinter by: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Genre: Mystery
Publication Date: 2002
Number of Pages: 556
Geographical Settings: Millers Kill, New York, Adirondack Mountains
Time Period: Contemporary
Series: Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Novels

Plot Summary: Clare Fergusson is at he new priest at St. Alban when a new baby is left on the steps of the church.  Clare and the police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, search for the baby's mother.  During the search, town secrets keep coming to light.  Some of the secrets lead to murders and attempted murders.  Is this the work of one person or different people? Is the baby's mother ever found? As Clare's and Russ's friendship grows so does the urgency to find the murder(s).

Subject Heading: Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.) - Fiction
New York (State) - Fiction
Police chiefs - fiction
Episcopalians - fiction
Women clergy - fiction

Appeal - believable, captivating, engaging

Characteristics of Mysteries:
Story Line: The solving of a crime, usually murder drives the plot.  Detective and reader understand "whodunit" and why by the book's conclusion.
Characterization: Investigator or investigative team is the focus.  In this book, Priest Clare and Chief Russ are the team.
Frame/Setting: The frame in which the story is set play a crucial role in its appeal.   Here we are in Millers Kill, NY., a small city, and also in the Adirondack Mountains.
Tone/Mood: Ranges from dark and gritty to lighthearted and witty.  Spencer-Fleming is offering a thoughtful side to this gritty, edgy book.
Pacing: is relentless and compelling, sometimes slowed by details of time and places but always moving towards a solution.

3 Read a likes:
The Crossing Place by Elly Griffiths - suspenseful, mystery, compelling writing
All Through the Night by Mary Higgins Clark - suspenseful, abandoned baby, mystery
Crooked Heart by Cristina Summers: Mystery, suspenseful, compelling, Police chief, clergy woman.

Integrated Advisory - Horror

I'd like to set up a passive program for patrons to vote for their favorite Horror book(s).  On a rectangle table in the adult section of the library, have about 8 books (with their audio books or DVDs) sitting out with a small box in front of them.  At the head of the table have the Title sign read "Which stories scared your socks off?".  In front of the sign have a box with chips (round colored of pieced of paper) that patrons can take and put in the box(es) of the books that they would like to vote for.  Leave the voting up for about a week and on the second week display the books in order of the winning votes.

Kirkus Review

     Dare  Macintosh rescues Molly Alexander and tries to help her figure out who had her kidnapped and why.  All the while they're fighting their feelings for each other.

Mercenary Dare Macintosh rescues Molly Alexander while rescuing the sister of his est friend from human traffickers.  However, Molly is there for another reason.  Molly decides not to go to the police, she decides to hire Dare to help her find out who had her taken and why.  While at Walmart there is another attempt to capture her, but Dare is there to keep her safe.  Dare has just decided this assignment has just become personal.  He takes Molly to the safety of his house where he and/or his assistant Chris can keep an eye on her.  Molly starts writing her next best seller while Dare looks into her father's where abouts. Dare and Molly decide to go back to Molly's house to find more clues, where everything began. While at her house, Molly's sister and boyfriend meet up with them.  Dare rules them out as suspects.  Dare and  Molly make a meeting with Molly's dad and mother-in-law to get more questions answered.  Dare and Molly make it back to Dare's house in time to have a show down with some unsavory characters and find the answers to the questions they've been asking.

Dare and Molly are both believable characters that draw you into their world of romance and suspense.

Week 5 Prompt Response

      I believe Ebooks deserve to be reviewed just as much as printed books.  I also believe all books should be review the same no matter if the author is a big name writer or not.   I think if a book gets more reviews the library collections is going to buy that book before the lesser known book.  I think the person(s) doing the collection development needs to be careful not to get heavy into one specific genre.  So they need to be reading or looking at several different review sources.
     A blog review and an Amazon review can both be reliable.  I believe when someone takes the time to sit down and write how they feel about something - in this case a book - they are going to be truthful.  I think these reviews can give the librarian an idea of what a library patron will think of the book when they read it.  If I was looking for this genre of book to add to my collection I'd probably buy it.
     Just by reading the reviews about Angela Ashes, makes me think this would be a book I personally wouldn't enjoy.  However that being said, the reviews did say it is a book for all ages, so I'm thinking it'll have appeal to a wide range of people.  I did look up some reviews on GoodRead and found most people gave it a favorable rating.  There were a couple not so favorable, but that's to be expected because not everyone likes the same books.  I would probably add this book to the library collections well.
     I don't think it's fair that one type of book gets reviewed to death and another type gets no coverage.   I believe if a librarian is not too careful in building the collection and only goes with books that get covered, the collection will soon become too heavy in the covered genres while other genres may slip into nothingness.  I think places that print reviews need to give equal billing to both the positive and negative reviews.  Not everyone likes the same books.  As for myself I need the two review types to get a better idea of what a book may really be like before I read it.  I don't buy books for the library.  For my personal reading reviews I like GoodRead, Amazon, and BookPage.  I don't put a lot of stock into reviews, but I like to read them to see what other people think.

Romantic Suspense Annotation

        True Devotion by Dee Henderson

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publication Date: 2000

Number of Pages: 470 (large Print)

Geographical Setting: Coronado, California

Time: Current

Series: Uncommon Heroes

Plot: Kelly Jacobs is a lifeguard in Coronado. California.  She's drowning while trying to save the life of a teen boy, only to be saved by her best friend, Navy SEAL Joe ‘Bear’ Baker.  Can Kelly and Joe get over the pain of losing Nick, Kelly’s husband, to find a love of their own?  Besides working on a relationship, Joe’s trying to find the person responsible for stealing military arms and ultimately the one who killed Nick.  Will Joe handle both events or will the stress make him compromise one?

Subject Headings: United States SEALS, widows, second chances, forgiveness

Appeal: fast-paced, engaging, suspenseful

Characteristics of Romantic Suspense:

Pacing: Pacing is crucial, there is enough action to move the story quickly.  Identification with the protagonist and her plight, the desire to unravel the mystery behind events, as well as building suspense, make these page-turners.

Characterization: Point of view is key. The story is told from the threatened heroine's point of view.  Although other points of view are represented, the heroine remains the central character.

Story Line: Romantic elements are as intense and important as the suspense.

Tone/Mood: There is always a sense of uneasiness, even in quieter moments within the story.

Frame/Setting: Most of these novels feature contemporary settings.  Intriguing, detailed backgrounds often frame these stories.

Language: smart dialogue and witty repartee.