Finding Audrey

I came across this book by Sophie Kinsella one day at the library I work in. I was intrigued by the cover. A girl in big sunglasses, with the title Finding Audrey?
I wondered if it was about a teen girl obsessed with Audrey Hepburn as a role model? I checked it out. It was a quick read, only took a day. But it was very enjoyable. Audrey is a girl in Britain who suffered a severe bullying incident at her school. Details of the incident are never given, but it has caused her crippling anxiety and depression. She is unable to be around people, except for her crazy family, and she wears sunglasses all the time even indoors. Her family is loving, supportive, quirky and very real. A friend of her older brother named Linus becomes more than a friend to Audrey and helps her to break out of her anxiety disorder and take off her sunglasses.

I found this book to be very refreshing. It isn't sappy or traumatic. The romance between Audrey and Linus is sweet and appropriate. Family life is depicted as hectic, funny, and there is a great deal of conflict, but underneath it all the reader gets the picture that this is a stable and supportive family. There are many examples of Audrey's brothers and parents being there for her when she needs them, and she is there for them too. This healthy-although-crazy family dynamic is what is keeping Audrey afloat and enables her to heal from her trauma without becoming a victim to it. I thought it was especially refreshing to read a book where the parents are parents. Audrey's mom goes a little crazy from time to time but it turns out that she is sacrificing herself for the well-being of her family and is willing to do what she sees as necessary to help her children become great human beings. Such selflessness is rare today in anyone, but tragically even in moms. Of course the fact that this mom goes to great extremes is part of what makes Finding Audrey so funny and enjoyable! I highly recommend this book.

Minecraft, or What is it that is taking over my son's life?

Both of my sons hit a Minecraft addiction, hard core, in 6th grade. For my oldest, now a sophomore, it lasted through his 6th grade year and then was over. He occasionally plays a little now and then but he has mainly reverted his gaming to XBox. My youngest son, now in 8th grade, also immersed himself in Minecraft in 6th grade. He emerged at the end of the year, took a little time off to pursue other mainly Lego-related activities, then rejoined the Minecraft world, although much more sanely the second time around.

This obsession with Minecraft is not unusual. Many of my boys' friends' mothers also reported losing their children to Minecraft for a brief period of time. I'm not sure what the appeal of it is to various children, but in the words of my youngest, "I don't know. It's fun." So we can conclude that although Minecraft may teach a variety of things useful for the developing mind, self-expression is not one of them. I did enjoy it when he had cats in his Minecraft world. They kept meowing and I thought it was one of my (real) cats. I looked all over for them to see what was wrong when he came out of the computer room and said "My cats are driving me crazy! They keep meowing!" He named them Blockhead, Blockhead, Blockhead, and Phil.

Our teen librarian has game nights every now and then.I've always thought this was a great idea to get teens involved in library programs and keep them occupied. I think in the world of gaming Minecraft is a great bet. It's clean, teaches a lot of computer skills, and is great fun. When you think of all the things kids can get involved with that are not good for them, it's great to be able to provide safe alternatives.

Social Networks

My experience so far with social networks has been to successfully avoid them. However, as a class project I've been required to sign up for Facebook and Twitter, so I am expanding my very private world to include a little intrusion from selected friends. Facebook is somewhat interesting. I enjoy links that people share to interesting articles. I also enjoy knowing what friends thought about new movies and books they have read, as well as what is upcoming and exciting to them. I am thankful they have not posted what they had for lunch. Twitter means absolutely nothing to me. I don't know anyone who uses it very much, and I've always sort of associated it with star-struck Hollywood addicts. I would rather read a well thought-out article by a person who's opinion I am interested in rather than an off-the-cuff, spur of the moment tweet that may or may not be of any substance. As a library professional I can see the usefulness of Facebook and Twitter to announce what has just been uploaded to the catalogue and is available for reserve, upcoming programs, etc. I think this will become more of a common thing as my city's patrons become more and more electronically savvy. As for me, I will continue on Facebook and I am enjoying expanding my knowledge of computer-based tools in readiness for my upcoming new profession, but the glamour of social media still eludes me.