SLJTeen Live!

I hope that you had a chance to attend today’s School Library Journal’s Teen Live. The all-day virtual summit is one of my favorite annual events and this year’s workshop – with the theme of knocking down doors - was no exception. The opening keynote from Samira Ahmed, author of INTERNMENT, was fabulous. She spoke about librarians as curators of culture and lifters of democracy – encouraging her audience by saying, “don’t be a by-stander, be an upstander.” The closing keynote from author and poet Nikki Grimes was very moving – look for her memoir in verse, ORDINARY HAZARDS, coming in October. In between there were sessions on the family, the power of love, writing non-fiction, choosing graphic novels for teens, and on partnering and collaboration. 

I found myself bouncing back and forth between concurrent sessions on Mental Health and Woke Collections – both echoed the importance of knowing your community. I loved the idea of librarians using our voices for kindness and the practical examples of programs and sources for data were very helpful. I know that with our emphasis on diversity and empathy this year that we will definitely be exploring resources like Diversity Talks and Racial Equity Institute which were recommended by Cassy Lee, Chinese American International School and Angel Tucker, Johnson County Library in Kansas in their presentation on activating empathy.  There were plenty of other opportunities to visit vendor booths and chat with authors, too. More information on SLJTeen Live!, including a list of presenters and book titles, is available at the link above or click on the logo image.

Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

NOTES ON A NERVOUS PLANET is another excellent work by Matt Haig (Reasons to Stay Alive).  He returns to the discussion of mental health, but focuses on stepping away from technology and the frenetic pace of modern life. He says “we have to remember:

          There is no shame in not watching news.

          There is no shame in not going on Twitter.

          There is no shame in disconnecting.”

Haig offers numerous suggestions and writes in a calm, comforting voice. He parallels much of the work on stress management and technology addiction that we have been discussing (such as Twenge’s iGen). I particularly liked his poignant observations about education: “we are being taught a kind of reverse mindfulness. A kind of Future Studies where – via the guise of mathematics, or literature, or history, or computer programming, or French – we are being taught to think of a time different to the time we are in.  Exam time. Job time. When-we-are-grown-up-time.”

Noting that “it sometimes feels as if we have temporarily solved the problem of scarcity and replaced it with the problem of excess,” he also echoes comments in the recent New York Times article from Cal Newport on “Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us to Use our iPhones like This.” Throughout, Haig is courageous in confronting his (and readers’) anxiety: “Worry is a small, sweet word that sounds like you could keep an eye on it.” NOTES ON A NERVOUS PLANET is a very accessible text which asks some tough questions (“How do you stay human in a world of change?”) which Kirkus described as an “often wise and inspiring self-help title.”

(Don't) Call Me Crazy edited by Kelly Jensen

(DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY edited by Kelly Jensen contains a series of essays, lists and drawings from “33 voices [who] start the conversation about mental health.” Contributors include familiar names like Kristen Bell, Libba Bray and Adam Silvera.  Jensen, who also edited Here We Are about feminism, dedicated this book “for those who have found their brave and for those who are still looking.” I liked the section where Jensen wrote, “I felt like me, until I didn’t. … I am a person figuring out how to be the best version of myself, one step at a time.” A useful resource is the list of non-fiction and fiction books, online sources, and films which appears near the end of this collection.  Of course, the problem with lists is what is left off and this one, somewhat surprisingly, did not include relevant titles by popular young adult authors like A.S. King, Jennifer Niven, or Matthew Quick. It did include Hotline numbers like National Suicide Prevention at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).  School Library Journal gave (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY a starred review; Kirkus (“highly readable and vital collection”) and Booklist (“inviting, much-needed resource”) were also very positive.  Let the talk continue.