Week Three Readers' Advisory Prompt Response

Week Three Prompt Response (Cont'd)

6. Patron seeks recent literary book that has been turned into a movie.

Hidden Figures (2016) by Margot Lee Shetterly portrays three female African American mathematicians employed at NASA, crossing the traditional professional gender roles.  The novel was made into a motion  picture in 2017.

Live By Night (2016) by Dennis Lehane describes the dangerous and riveting life of a petty thief turned rum runner in the Prohibition Era.  Live By Night was released in theaters on January 13, 2017.

12 Strong (2017) by Doug Stanton launches the true-life story of the Horse Soldiers, an elite special force, quest against war-engulfed Afghanistan immediately following the events of 9/11.  12 Strong is set to be released as a motion picture on January 19, 2018.

Every Day (2013) by David Levithan is a creative and engaging story of a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, faced with a different life, every day.  A copes and endures by avoiding attachment and interference, until he wakes one morning and meets someone he truly wants to know.  Every Day is scheduled to open in theaters February 23, 2018.

7.  Patron seeks a thriller novel that does not contain foul language and sex scenes, but is fast paced.

Seven Wonders (2014) by Ben Mezrich is a complex adventure thriller similar to Indiana Jones and The DaVinci Code style of plot.  Jack Grady, an anthropologist, searches for his brother's killer, uncovers a road map that may lead to the Garden of Eden and reveals the mystery that links the Seven Wonders of the world.  Conspiracy, mystery and truths propel this fast paced storyline.

The Thieves of Darkness: A Thriller (2010) by Richard Doetsch tracks Michael St. Pierre, a reformed master thief as he sets off to rescue his friend from death and imprisonment in a desert prison.  The fast paced, complex storyline propels the race for ancient artifacts, the sought after freedom from the Middle Eastern prison and St. Pierre's transition from criminal reform back to lawlessness to save his friends.  This book was listed as a "clean read" on Goodreads.  

Week 3 Prompt Response

Week Three Prompt Response - Reader's Advisory

1.  Patron just completed the third book in the Anita Blake series and would like to read the next book in the series:

The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton is a popular urban fantasy series consisting of 28 books, to date.  The third book, entitled Circus of the Damned (1995) is followed by The Lunatic Café (1996) where Anita is dating a werewolf who questions his own self-respect.  The mystery thickens when the city's shape-shifters suddenly start disappearing.  Anita is confronted with requests to investigate the disappearance of George Smitz's wife, a person murdered by a shapeshifter, and the disappearance of shapeshifters and seeks to determine if these events are related and who or what is behind them.

2.  Patron seeks a book with a writing style similar to Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, but, would like a book that contains a faster pace.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver uses a descriptive and detailed writing style to establish the characters and plot; a protector of wildlife, Deanna Wolfe, and her meeting and relationship with a pragmatic hunter, the relationship of two farming families amid their struggles with arguing neighbors, pesticides and invasion and detachment from their beloved natural environments.

Something Rising (2010) by Haven Kimmel Cassie Claiborne witnesses her mentally fragile mom after her dad acquires a new wife, and her sister, Belle, balances delicately between brilliance and fragility.  Cassie, frustrated with so many needing her care, finds respite on the pool hall, where she learns restraint and control and seeks to right unjust wrongs.  Kimmel provides a descriptive, lyrical style (similar to Kingsolver) that briskly sweeps the reader into Cassie's adventures as she undertakes the role of the good daughter in her small Indiana town and then sets off for excitement in New Orleans where she meets vivacious characters adding humor and a quickened pace to the story.

My Absolute Darling (2017) by Gabriel Tallent is a teenage survival story of Turtle Alveston, who, at 14, finds comfort as she wanders in the Californian forests, away from the despair of her mother's death and the impact of her tortured, charismatic father.  With an urgent pace and striking language, Tallent brings the reader into Turtle's emotional struggles and evolution as she wards off attempts of friendship and encounters someone she actually wants to know.  Tallent's novel includes characters with an environmental connection, a fast pace and descriptive language, aligning with the patron's request.

3.  Patron seeks descriptive writing style in a historical fiction novel set in Japan.

The Teahouse Fire (2006) by Ellis Avery takes place in 19th century Japan.  Avery uses an engaging writing style to compare two drastically different lives, the daughter of a respected tea advisor, Yukako and Aurelia, a French orphan.  When Yukako finds Aurelia hiding on the family's land, the Shin family adopts Aurelia.  Lively and lushly detailed, Aurelia tells the story of the two women as they navigate Japan in a time of extreme transition, when Japan accepts western influences. 

The Pure Land (2007) by Alan Spence portrays Thomas Glover, a young entrepreneur in 19th century Japan eager to take risks and make profits, secures a job in Japan just as the west is exploring the hostile east.  Unwise involvement in local politics stirs clan violence.  Glover finds and loses love, impacting future generations.  

The Dragon Scroll (2005) by I.J. Parker is a suspenseful mystery novel highlighting Sugawara Akitada, a low-level government clerk in the Ministry of Justice, and his investigation into the disappearance of a series of tax convoys.  Adventure and political Ingrid moves the story quickly as Akitada and his few alliances seek to uncover the town's secrets.

4. Patron seeks a read alike to the mystery, Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George, that is not as "creepy" as books written by John Sandford.

Background

Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George, is a suspenseful, violent novel about a missing student engulfed in sexual bullying an blackmail.  Using compelling writing, George lays out the independent school atmosphere and unspoken code forbidding students from reporting peer misconduct.  When a 13 year old classmate goes missing and is later found dead, investigators struggle to collect evidence among the silent student body.

Read Alike Suggestions

When gathering information from the patron, I would ask specific questions regarding his/ her description of "creepy" in an effort to limit the undesired features in the suggested read alike books.  

Promise Not to Tell (2018) by Jayne Ann Krentz is a thriller mystery that sews together cult culture, murder, secret messages and lost fortune.  When Virginia Troy, a gallery owner and cult massacre survivor, discovers the suspicious death of a client artist, Hannah Brewster, and paintings that she left behind, Virginia questions the cause of death.  With the help of Cabot Sutter and Max Cutler, both cult massacre survivors, they discover secret messages and a trail to a lost fortune, hidden in Hannah's painting. 

To Dwell in Darkness (2014) by Deborah Crombie is a suspenseful mystery where Duncan Kincaid, from the Scotland Yard headquarters, investigates a public explosion.  A young man, believed to be only a protestor who only set off to engage a smoke-bomb, is the victim.  Kincaid sifts through his discovery and finds turns and twists and the disappearance of a mysterious bystander.  When Kincaid's former boss is attacked, Kincaid considers the connection to the public bombing.  Including descriptive, compelling language and a detailed handwritten map, the story comes to life.

A Banquet of Consequences (2015) by Elizabeth George portrays the investigation of the murder of a prominent English feminist writer.  With a complex storyline that includes a tangled web of family dysfunction, suicide, murder, poisoning, lesbian relations and a graphic description of rape, shocking twists and connections are revealed throughout the lengthy novel.  George lushly describes the characters, adding light humor in Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers.

5. Patron seeks book for her husband who is interested in zombies and has enjoyed The Walking Dead and World War Z. 

When engaging in a reader's advisory conversation with this patron, I would seek additional information such as whether her husband has read all of The Walking Dead series books, if not, is he interested in reading more in the series, and what features, in particular, her husband enjoyed in The Walking Dead and World War Z?

Read Alike Suggestions

 The Rage by Pierre Boisserie is a fast paced, violent and compelling graphic novel illustrating the impact of a pandemic virus and spreads throughout the world, but, only affects children, turning them into mindless, blood-thirsty killers.  

A.D. After Death (2017) by Scott Snyder includes both comic, prose and illustrations is a three-part epic describing the world subsequent to a genetic cure for death.  One man questions eliminating mortality and in the process confronts his past and own mortality.

Secret Shopper- Summary

Secret Shopper Summary

Readers' Advisory Services and the Cognitively Impaired Senior

Effective readers’ advisory services must consider the unique traits of the serving community in order to excel at providing exceptional materials to individual patrons, “Librarians across the country have been examining new ways to connect readers with books and to build a community of readers in their larger communities” (Hollands 205).  As our communities grow and change, readers’ advisory services must evolve.  I inquired at a large metropolitan library and two small community libraries for appropriate books to read with my mom, suffering from dementia.  Although I have been reading with her for five years in order to reduce anxiety and increase her quality of life, as her deterioration progresses, I seek new materials to accommodate her specific needs.  Sadly, I have found that libraries frequently overlook and simply cannot meet the needs of their cognitively impaired seniors.

Readers’ advisory services are successful when unbiased library staff assists users with selecting materials for their fiction and non-fiction leisure reading (Saricks 1).  The traditional model of readers’ advisory does not fully satisfy the distinct needs of patrons seeking materials as caregivers.  Such requests likely require a more lengthy discussion and search than what the typical, traditional model of readers’ advisory allows.  Just as finding books that kids love, encourages them to become stronger readers, offering books to enrich the cognitively impaired senior nourishes the senior, enhancing their quality of life (Nesi ).  Reading is essential and reader advisors connect the eager patron to readily available resources, “Readers’ advisors and proponents of the service subscribe wholeheartedly to the philosophy that reading has intrinsic value” (Saricks 1, 4).  Connecting all patrons with appropriate leisure reading material is imperative.

In order to achieve success when assisting a very unique request, the library should offer a combination of form requests and individual conversations and always include follow-up contact.  The patron should relinquish the idea of immediate results and allow the staff to engage in research and conversations with other professionals in order to provide the most beneficial outcome.  Although I found the personal conversations helpful in the above-mentioned reader’s advisory inquiries, I would also appreciate completing a form to include additional information and an allotment of time for search and discovery of particularly helpful materials for cognitively impaired seniors, and follow-up conversations, either digitally or in-person, to gauge the effectiveness of the inquiry results. 

Works Cited

Dinnage, Keith. Personal Interview. 11 January 2018.

Hollands, Neil. “Improving the Model of Interactive Readers’ Advisory Service.” Reference  & User           Services Quarterly; vol. 45 no.3,2006, pp. 205-212.

Nesi, Olga. “It’s All About Text Appeal.”  School Library Journal’s BeTween, 1 August 2010.

Saricks, Joyce. “At Leisure:  Rethinking the Readers’-Advisory Interview.”  The Booklist, 1 April 2007,  pp. 24.

Saricks, Joyce. “History and Introduction. In Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library.” ALA, 2005, pp. 1-13.

Personal Reading Profile

Personal Reading Profile  

I read for hours each day...but not for myself. I read with my children every morning and evening and with my ailing mom many hours a week.  I consider this reading as service reading, especially the time spent providing enrichment to my cognitively impaired mom. With a vast array of developmental abilities, my reading selections range from the very simple, rich texts to more complex plots and characters.  I truly try to match the listener's skills and interests to the book selections.  For example, my mom's continuous cognitive decline caused by progressive dementia challenges me to constantly introduce books to match her abilities.  Therefore, my reading profile is extraordinarily dynamic.

Our best loved children's books include:

•  Vincent Van Gogh (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia [and his other artist and musician books]
• The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco (a favorite with my mom)
• The Clown of God by Tomi dePaola

Our best loved middle grade books include:

• The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
• Book Scavenger (the series) by Jennifer Chamblis Bertman 
• Chasing Vermeer (the series) by Blue Balliet

When I'm not reading to others, I read books that will enrich and enlighten me and my perspective on life.  Because I don't have any spare time, if I'm going to read, I want self-improvement resulting from my investment of time.  It's a tall order for a book to fulfill, but, I have found great success with inspiring biographies and inspirational spiritual books.

My recent reads include:

• Christmas Stories:  Heartwarming Stories of Angels, A Manger and the Birth of Hope by Max Lucado
• The Angel Tree by Daphne Benedis-Grab
• The Adventures of Henry Thoreau; A Young Man's Unlikely Path to Walden Pond by Michael Sims

My personal reading is sparse and I am comfortable reading my select favorites within a narrow list of genres.  When selecting books for others, however, I found that knowledge of current genre trends and appeal factors is essential to correctly match the reading material to the user.  I agree with Saricks' emphasis on keeping up on current genre trends in order to provide effective services to the "fans of a genre" (Saricks 10).  Communicating with others and establishing a useful plan to maintain current knowledge of genres provides necessary information for better patron service (Saricks 10).

For example, in 2015, Emma Rose Sparrow self-published a series of books for dementia patients.  Sparrow's books are categorized for varied developmental stages of dementia, providing unparalleled enrichment and engagement to cognitively impaired seniors. I stumbled upon this series through a basic search, purchased a few and have successfully shared them with several seniors and caregivers.  Yet, my local library collection does not include any books written for dementia patients to read and enjoy.  My hope is that materials for dementia patients continue to grow in popularity and become a respectable subject area in our libraries.

Works Cited

Saricks, Joyce G. The Reader's Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. American Library Association, 2009.