I Mean This in the Kindest Possible Way (But)
You took me with you when you left
I can't forgive you for that
(While I'm still here)

- from The Way He Lived by Emily Wing Smith

Reprinted with permission from the author. Thank you!

The Way He Lived, which is coming out in November 2008, is a full-length YA novel, not a verse novel. This particular piece is written by one of the main characters.

Discover Emily's definition of "hope."

View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.

Consult the Poetry Friday roundup schedule at Big A little a.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.

The fantastic blog Pop Goes the Library now has a book! Congratulations, ladies.

For Immediate Release:

Pop Goes the Library
New Book Helps Librarians Leverage Pop Culture to Connect with Users and Communities

August 11, 2008, Medford, New Jersey—Information Today, Inc. (ITI) has announced publication of Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect With Your Whole Community. In this new book, blogger- librarians Sophie Brookover and Elizabeth Burns demonstrate how libraries can use pop culture images, events, and programming to engage users and increase public support.

Brookover and Burns offer practical strategies for uncovering and incorporating the pop culture passions of library patrons into collections, programs, and services. They offer tips on marketing and outreach, and recommend useful technology tools and ready-to-go programs. In addition to their own advice, they present insights, techniques, and success stories gleaned from interviews with library professionals in various settings. “Voices from the Field” sections appear in each chapter, offering additional ideas and observations from hundreds of librarians surveyed for the book.

Pop Goes the Library is an offshoot of the popular blog of the same name, launched by author Sophie Brookover in 2004. Elizabeth Burns joined the blog a year later, and today the contributors include eight pop-savvy bloggers from public, school, and academic libraries. The authors emphasize that the book is about “identifying and harnessing the power of your community’s pop culture. It’s about your library, your community, and how to build better and stronger relationships between the two by using pop culture.”

“Pop culture programs come in all sizes,” according to the authors. “Yes, there are big, showy programs and collections, but you can easily add a dash of pop culture to a traditional ‘get to know your library’ scavenger hunt by giving it a reality TV show name such as the Library Amazing Race or Library Survivor.”

( Read more... )