SBPL Coffee Break - Molly Wetta (Episode 4)

This week we were joined by Molly Wetta, Senior Librarian of Youth and Family Services at the Santa Barbara Public Library System.


Mentioned in this Episode:

Tech Tasting: http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=13521&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2018/07/01 

Chess Club: http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=13565&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2018/06/01 

Art Adventures: http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=13489&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2018/06/01 

Music Academy of the West Concerts: http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=13101&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2018/06/01 

World Refugee Day: http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=11710&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2018/06/01 

Social Justice Book Club: http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=13514&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2018/06/01 

Hard Love: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1 

Locas: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=2 

Locas II: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=3 

Love and Rockets on Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/search?page=1&q=love+and+rockets&scope=everything 

Fun Home: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1 

Fun Home (Soundtrack): http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=5 

Lumberjanes: http://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1

ALA Stonewall Awards: http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt/award/stonewall/honored

Insomniac city - Bill Hayes

Miseducation of Cameron Post - emily m. danforth

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe - Saenz, Benjamin Alire

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.



Horn Book Magazine Reviews
Aristotle -- Ari for short -- meets Dante at the pool one summer day in 1987, and the two boys quickly strike up a friendship that will change their lives in ways both subtle and profound. Ari admires Dante's gregarious personality, his intellectual curiosity, and his close bond with his parents, especially his father. In contrast, Ari's own father, a Vietnam vet, remains aloof, damaged by his experience of war, and both parents refuse to discuss his imprisoned older brother. When Ari saves Dante's life but breaks his own legs in the process, it not only strengthens their friendship but cements the bond between the two Mexican American families. When Dante's father leaves El Paso for a one-year position at the University of Chicago, the boys stay in touch through letters. Dante had telegraphed his sexual attraction to Ari, but now comes out to his friend in writing. When Dante returns, the two cautiously resume their friendship, but when Dante gets beat up in an alley for kissing another boy, it's a catalyst for Ari to examine how he really feels about Dante. Ari's first-person narrative -- poetic, philosophical, honest -- skillfully develops the relationship between the two boys from friendship to romance, leading to the inevitable conclusion: "How could I have ever been ashamed of loving Dante Quintana?" jonathan hunt Copyright 2012 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.

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Openly straight - Bill Konigsberg

Openly straight - Konigsberg, Bill

Summary: Tired of being known as "the gay kid", Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school--but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.




Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Now a junior in high school, Rafe, who has been out since he was 14, is thoroughly sick of being labeled "the gay kid." So he does something bold: he leaves his Colorado school to enroll in a private boys' academy in New England, where no one knows he's gay and he can be a label-free, "openly straight" part of a group of guys. Does this mean he goes back into the closet? No, he tells himself, not exactly: "It was more like I was in the doorway." But is he fooling himself? Can you put a major part of yourself on hold, and what happens when you then find yourself falling in love with your new (straight) best friend? Lambda Literary Award winner Konigsberg (Out of the Pocket, 2008) has written an exceptionally intelligent, thought-provoking coming-of-age novel about the labels people apply to us and that we, perversely, apply to ourselves. A sometimes painful story of self-discovery, it is also a beautifully written, absolutely captivating romance between two boys, Rafe and Ben, who are both wonderfully sympathetic characters. With its capacity to invite both thought and deeply felt emotion, Openly Straight is altogether one of the best gay-themed novels of the last 10 years. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.


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Luna: a novel - Julie Anne Peters

Luna: a novel - Peters, Julie Anne

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Regan's life, which has always revolved around keeping her older brother Liam's transsexuality a secret, changes when Liam decides to start the process of "transitioning" by first telling his family and friends that he is a girl who was born in a boy's body.

Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews
Regan has a lot on her plate. She is under pressure at school and being compared to her brother, the computer genius. She is madly in love with her chemistry lab partner, who is out of her league. Her parents do not seem to like each other very much. And she has to deal with the fact that her brother Liam is actually a girl named Luna. Liam is transgendered, a female born in a male body. He has known since he was little but always hid it from the world. Now that he is a senior in high school, he is ready to make a transformation, and he depends on Regan's support. Luna borrows Regan's makeup and clothes, and Regan helps out with cover stories to their parents and friends at school. As the school year goes on, Liam becomes more aggressive in wanting to be Luna full-time, resulting in much fear and confusion for Regan. Although the book is about Liam's struggle with being transgendered, it is really Regan's story. If one removed that entire theme, there would still be a great novel about teenage life, showing the real strength of the writing and the characters. Peters handles the issue with grace, sympathy, and a huge dose of reality. The book does not scream, "Controversial topic!" Instead it brings up a sensitive issue and shows it in such a realistic light that the reader will come away having learned something, and one might hope, with a sympathetic attitude toward people dealing with gender issues.-Rebecca Vnuk 4Q 3P S Copyright 2004 Voya Reviews.
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The bucolic plague: how two Manhattanites became gentleman farmers: an unconventional memoir - Josh Kilmer-Purcell

The bucolic plague: how two Manhattanites became gentleman farmers: an unconventional memoir - Kilmer-Purcell, Josh

Summary: "Michael Perry meets David Sedaris in this follow-up to Josh Kilmer-Purcell's beloved and bestselling debut memoir, I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS--another riotous, moving, and entirely unique story of his attempt to tackle the next phase of life with his partner on a goat farm in upstate New York"--Provided by publisher.

Staff Review
Josh is a hilarious writer, as fans of his previous more gritty memoir can attest. This memoir centers around he and his partners purchase of the amazing old Beekman Mansion in upstate New York, sort of accidentally becoming goat farmers, and being embraced by their new community of characters. Bonus is that his partner Brent worked for Martha Stewart Omnimedia as "Dr. Brent" for several years, so there's great insider hilarity about Martha-World. They can now be seen as "The Beekman Boys" on Planet Green.

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A single man - Christopher Isherwood

A single man - Isherwood, Christopher

Summary: George is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily life. The course of A Single Man spans twenty-four hours in an ordinary day. An Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he is an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite everyday injustices and loneliness.

No review available.

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