Wednesday, May 22           
Week 5 Assignment 2

Customers at Parkville seem to like mysteries, SF, Amish fiction, chick lit, urban fiction, some bestsellers and book club material, and blockbuster authors.  They enjoy leafing through the Hot Titles binder and placing holds on upcoming new fiction.  They sometimes want to read a book before the movie comes out, if the movie has been getting good publicity.  EarlyWord really helps out here, especially if the book carries a different title than the movie.  This valuable site has great resources to use with customers who are interested in titles that are trending now.  There are awards lists, links to publishers' catalogs, publishing news, best books of the past year, movie trailers, watch lists, and categories of books for all ages.  The section that I would use again is the very comprehensive Non-Fiction read-alikes, for those customers who choose to read NF and want suggestions.  The site is superlative.  It goes without saying, since it's edited by a former BCPL'er.  (smile)

Week 5 Assignment 3

I selected The Yonahlossee Riding Club for Girls from the PW link from the right-hand nav Coming Soon Season Previews because it was vetted by Curtis Sittenfeld and I enjoyed his novel Prep, a coming-of-age story about girls an an exclusive preparatory high school.  This new one is set in the 1930's south, however, not present day but deals with girls in trouble, teen angst, and what goes on in these private girls' schools behind the ivy-covered brick walls.  This would be an emotion book, and not expected to be fast-moving.  It should be popular with teens and fans of historical chick lit, readers who enjoy books about school life.  The appeal factors would be the campus setting, tone, and characterization.  Readers would also like The Catcher in the Rye, Disobedience, The Life All Around Me, Old School, and Bill Warrington's Last Chance.