Welcome!

Hi! I’m Shanna.  I am a library science student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Welcome to my blog!  I created it in order to keep track of what I read, and share it with other people. A long time ago, a librarian friend of mine gave me a little notebook to write down everything I read, but after I filled it up, I needed to move online.  Every time I read a book, I pick out the best quote from the text, summarize and review it, and then include links to the author’s (sometimes the publisher’s) websites and the publishing information.  I also like to suggest other books to read, ones similar to the one I reviewed.

How did this all get started?  I think I’ve always been this way.  When I was twelve, I ran away to the library and my parents had to send the police to fetch me, chagrined and offended that I was apparently that predictable. But of course, even then, my parents knew me: where else would I go but the library? I love books and sharing them with others.  I think that librarians and teachers have a tough job: in a way, they are book detectives and work hard to sniff out the best books to read and match them with the right person.

I’ve been a nanny for eleven years now, and I can say from experience that it is certainly possible to instill a love of reading in children and young adults. One of my greatest joys is seeing the children I’ve cared for begging for trips to the library, or having to go upstairs for the seventh time to tell them to turn out the light, that if they keep reading, they’ll never be able to wake up in the morning.  I think it’s all a matter of matching the book with the child, finding the right combination of plot and character and illustration that shows them what an incredible world of books there is out there.

Do you know where the name for the blog came from?  Fortitude and Patience are the giant lion statues that stand outside the New York Beaux-Arts Library!  They used to be named Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, and then during the Depression of the 1930s, their names were changed by Mayor LaGuardia, to remind citizens of the qualities that would help them endure the hard times.  I went to visit the lions last year, and loved the way they stand guard over the library steps.

You might notice the tabs at the top of the blog.  Some of them, like the Reading Survey, are for my Young Adult Literature class-where I found out about most of these incredible books.  The best part of the class was that I learned how to find new things to read.  Have you ever been stuck like that?  You want to read something, but you just don’t know where to look?  In class, I learned about www.goodreads.com, a site I use to track what I read and what is on my to-read list, as well as check out what other people are reading. I also learned about what awards are out there, and about trends and upcoming talent in the field of YA Lit.

For class, I had to create a survey and collect data about the reading habits of young adults.  I was most interested in what young people are reading, and how they discover new books to read.  I created my survey at an online host, Survey Monkey, at this link. Then I distributed links to teens that I knew.  I also asked them to pass the links on to their friends, and then I collected and analyzed the data.  If you want to see the data, check out the “Reading Survey” tab at the top of my blog.

You’ll also see examples of my other classwork: my discussion board posts, a short paper about my experience as a reader, and all of the texts we read for class.  Please feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have any suggestions or questions.  Thank you so much for visiting.  Happy Reading!