Sweet Valley

Ok, the world is a-buzz with Sweet Valley news.  It's all over twitter, The Mountain Goats even tweeted about Sweet Valley.  Why is it everywhere?  Because!!  There is a NEW SWEET VALLEY BOOK out!  Yes!  It has happened!  Elizabeth and Jessica got past those pesky teen years (or I guess they did that sometime in the series when I had given up reading?  I heard something about an earthquake and people dying and what not).

I am about to embark on a review reading from over at Forever Young Adult but before I spoil myself too much I am going to wax all poetic about my on-going love for the crap-fest that is Sweet Valley.

So yeah, basically chicky-babe Francine Pascal, or whomever, wrote a shitton of books about the physically perfect Wakefield twins and their idyllic, and not so idyllic, lives in Sweet Valley, California.  The girls somehow managed (at one point in time) to be 6 years old, 12 years old, and 16 years old all at the same time (see Sweet Valley Kids, Sweet Valley Twins, and Sweet Valley High).  These books shaped my youth.  Or they were part of it.  Seriously.  Yeah I still remember asking for Sweet Valley High 40 for Christmas in 5th grade, then pouring over it the whole day (or well the hour and a half it took me to read it).  Because that was the book where REGINA DIED!  Yes, the infamous, try coke once and you DIE story-line!

The girl who modeled for Lila on the cover of the original books was the most beautiful girl I'd seen, and dude, I don't care if he is the biggest lamer EVER (aside from Jeffrey French) but I was totally in love with Todd.  Seriously.  I couldn't help it.  He seemed so nice, and sweet, and I was 9.

I loved those books, and of course the Baby-Sitter's Club, and some of the other generic and random series that were all craptabulous but that I loved.  So, it's been awesome to delve into the Sweet Valley Nostalgia...well aside from the nice trips down memory lane that Forever Young Adult offers every so often with the Sweet Valley drinking game posts.  Now, off to read the review of the newest Sweet Valley book!

I got to meet Markus Zusak!

Yes!  You read that correctly.  I, Kat Werner, got to meet MARKUS ZUSAK!  The author of I am the Messenger, The Book Thief, and more.  This morning at the Michigan Library Association's Spring Institute conference Mr. Zusak addressed a room full of librarians.  He talked about his relationship with his brother, writing The Book Thief, and generally made us all laugh and adore him.  Seriously, he is teh awesome.

After he spoke, I went to my room to get my bag and check out of the hotel.  When I was done with that I went back to the convention area to get ready for a break out session.  Well, whom did I see slightly cornered by librarians in the hallway but Markus Zusak himself!  He was signing books for the librarians.  So, I patiently waited my turn, and approached him sans book, instead I asked if instead he'd take a picture with me.  He nicely obliged and even let me touch him!  Ok, that sounds a little stalkerish...I realize that, but I am seriously still geeking out about it!


I also got to meet the awesome Jennifer Brown who wrote Hate List.  I did not get to get a picture with her, but I did get to say hello, and she was also very nice.  She spoke last night at the conference, and did an amazing job.

The Walking Dead Vol. 1

So, zombies freak me out.  I love zombies at times, but also, get the hella scared of them.  Told my boyfriend about what I mean when I say scared, and his eyes got kinda big and he looked a little worried....cause yeah, when I say I get 'scared' I am not talking like creeped out, I mean OH GOD OH GOD WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, and they are going to totally reever our asses while like doing adult things to our bodies, all while we are still alive and now turning into zombies ourselves.  But that fear only comes in the middle of the night, when I am home alone.

That all said and done, I read The Walking Dead Vol. 1.  I've seen the entire first season (I did NOT watch the show while alone), and decided I'd also like to read the books.  The first volume is a quick read, if you are familiar with the TV show you will know the premise of the story, and see that the show follows pretty closely to the book (but also takes some big liberties).  I have to say that I enjoyed the book.  I probably enjoy it more because I have seen the show, and I am more involved with the characters because of the show.  I'm going to read more volumes, in fact they are waiting to be checked out right now.

Three Black Swans

Cousins Missy and Claire have always been close, and people often mistake them for twins. So, when Missy decides to pull a hoax and introduce Claire (who lives 20 minutes away) as her long lost identical twin, she has no idea what sort of secrets she might dig up. 

I loved Caroline B. Cooney when I was younger, and this book got good reviews, so it went into the pile to be read. I have to say that it started off a little choppy, but I couldn't help but get involved in the characters. I actually teared up near the end of the book. I'd suggest it mostly for female readers, because I think girls will relate to at least one of the girls in the book

Easy A - a review

As a Teen Librarian I get to order and process books.  Well, I also now order, process, and maintain a teen DVD collection as well.  A recent addition to this collection is the movie Easy A starring Emma Stone.  I was pretty psyched to see this movie because it looked funny, and I think Emma Stone is awesome (even if she is starting to get a little too Lohan skinny).

The movie Easy A finds Emma Stone's character, Olive, selling made up sex and make out stories to boys who want to help their reputations.  Olive gets a reputation as the school slut, and then starts dressing up to that reputation.  All the while, she is secretly (or not so secretly) in love with a fellow student, and she has yet to even sleep with anyone.  During this time, Olive's English class is reading The Scarlet Letter, and Olive relates more and more to Hester Prynne and the movie goes along.

I could easily tell that whomever made this movie LOVES 80's movies, because I saw a ton of homages to my much beloved decade of movies.  Also, there were some downright hilarious parts in Easy A.  On a whole though, the movie fell kinda flat.  Emma Stone kept making faces, and wasn't as fun and spunky as she was in Zombieland or Superbad.  Most of the "teenagers" looked way older than they were supposed to be, and the romantic plot was pretty obvious.  Plus, what school is going to let a girl go around in bustiers all the time?  Meh.  Not overly impressed.

Also, this movie has the WORST lighting I've ever seen.  Emma stone didn't look pale, she looked like she'd been dead in the bottom of a river for 3 months then dragged out and forced to star in this movie.  She was that level of pale.  

Publication

I got an article published!  This week my very first article in VOYA (Voices of Youth Advociates) magazine came out.  The article is about Twitter, and using Twitter as a librarian.  I'm so proud, and very excited.  I love writing, love my job, love technology, and this article combined all three.  :-)

2011: The Year of Awesome!

So, 2011 is a bit new, but so far it's been the year of awesome! 

I haven't blogged in a bit, but that's cause my normal routine got all thrown out of whack the middle of last month.  I had some personal stuff go down, and it didn't seem to be fun but things turned out great!  Through a little bit of pain I realized that I have awesome friends, and I realized that people I didn't know cared about me really did.

Also, earlier this week, I found out that I was 1.5 lbs away from my weight loss goal.  I hate to admit this in many ways, but it's hard to deny what I used to look like...but that means that a few days ago I had gotten to the point where I'd lost 150 lbs.  The day after Christmas I hit my jean size goal.  Now I am at a place I never thought I'd ever be.  I am healthy, beautiful, and happy with my body.  I mean not perfectly happy, but happier.

Since I never did a "year in review" thing, I am kind of doing that now.  2010 was great.  It was hard, it was crappy, but it was great.  I learned I can do it on my own, and I learned that I don't have to.  I learned that I have real friends, and awesome family.  I reconnected with people.  I loved, I lost, and I realized that I will survive, and can even look forward to what comes next. 

So far this year I've gotten a new piercing, I'll be getting a new tattoo, I've worked on moving on some more, and I have tickets to a concert!  Frick yeah Interpool!  This is only three weeks in?  Yeah, I can't wait to see what the rest of 2011 brings.  I'm ready!