Tessa Fox Reads
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Me

Exciting news: I got hired as a full-time youth librarian!

9/21/2016

4 Comments

 

Paid vacation, sick time, health insurance - OH MY!

I'm thrilled to announce that earlier this week I accepted my first full-time job offer as the new youth librarian at the Community Library in Salem and Twin Lakes! That means going from two part-time library jobs down to just one – essentially cutting my commute time in half! Did I mention I'll be getting a substantial raise in addition to the fact that now I'll be getting paid to do what I love for 40 hours a week? It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
Since I've already been working at the Community Library part-time for two years and grew up visiting the Salem branch, I'm very familiar with the library's patrons. But now that I get to turn my attention from working with adults toward serving children and teens, I'm even more excited because I get to help kids in the area where I grew up foster their love for reading and thus, learning.

​From strengthening and creating new children and teen programs to doing local school and daycare outreach visits; diversifying the youth collection and hopefully getting some new educational play materials at each location, I have high hopes that what I aim to achieve in this new position will help bolster my ever-growing youth librarianship skills, many of which were built during my youth services internship at the 
South Milwaukee Public Library, where today I worked my last shift. 
Picture
The Community Library, located in Salem, Wis.
Almost exactly two years ago I started this website. A few weeks after that I got my first library job and a couple months later I found myself in graduate school. In a few more months I will officially have my Master's in Library and Information Science and it's incredibly comforting to know I already have a full-time job in my field under my belt. 

Thank you to all my family and friends for supporting me – especially my parents, librarians and teachers who encouraged my love for reading since before I could even hold a book, let alone read. I also need to extend a huge thanks to everyone at the Community Library and South Milwaukee Public Library for helping me start my professional career off with a strong foundation and I can't wait to see where it takes me next! Here's to another new chapter!
4 Comments

Starting my final(!) semester of library school at UWM's SOIS

9/14/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
I'm a couple weeks late on this one, but I've officially started my final semester of library school at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's School of Information Studies! Even better than that, this last "semester" is really only one class. That's right, folks! Just one measly, tiny, minuscule class separates me from my Master's Degree in Library and Information Science!

My final college class that I will *ever* take is Electronic Publication and Web Design (INFOST 685). Not only do I expect this class to be extremely beneficial professionally, I know the skills I learn in it will also be useful in my personal life – including on this blog! In the class we'll be working with Adobe Creative Cloud programs and learning some coding to eventually create our own website by the end of the class – one that doesn't use a cheating drag-and-drop template like the one I'm currently using! ;)

While I'm working on getting back into the swing of graduate school again, I also just moved into my new house over the weekend and am currently living out of boxes as things get unpacked. That, on top of work and planning my wedding next summer has kept – and will continue to keep – me pretty busy! Oh, here I go again with the excuses for not blogging more! But don't fret, I'll also have another big excuse for being busy to share early next week ... stay tuned!
Picture

​Information.

International.

Interdisciplinary. 


​UWM's School of Information Studies

0 Comments

Book Review: 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel

5/21/2016

0 Comments

 
Out of all the genres covered in my readers' advisory class, it looks like we've saved the best genres – or at least, my favorites – for last. This week we covered mainstream fiction, which is definitely my most-read genre. To me, mainstream fiction can be determined based on how you would describe the book to another person. Some books you can clearly say, "Well it's a mystery about _____," or "It's a really exciting thriller about ____." When it comes to mainstream fiction, there isn't necessarily an easy label to describe it with like there is for genre fiction.

Mainstream fiction is more about the story itself, whereas genre fiction is about the type of story that it is, if that makes sense. Whereas I think literary fiction tends to be a bit more lofty and reminds many people of the books they've read in high school English classes, mainstream fiction generally does not require as much literature analysis, it can just be read and enjoyed for what it is while still having substance. 

This week our assigned novel was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which I absolutely loved. It had been on my to-read list for quite a while and this course finally got it pushed up a few places. I listened to the book on audio in the car and thought it was extremely well done. I'm a bit of a Francophile, so anything set it France or includes French generally gets two thumbs up from me. That, and the Museum of Natural History in Paris (where the beginning of the story takes place) is hands down my favorite museum I've ever been to. I find books and movies about WWII also tend to be pretty incredible since it was such a fascinating and devastating time in history, so there's lots for the author to work with. This book was great because it also appeals to readers of historical fiction. It checked all the boxes for me as far as character, setting, language and plot, and was the only assigned book for that class that I gave as five stars from this class (although many of them did get four). 

The mainstream fiction title of my choosing for the week was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. While I'm not always a huge fan of dystopian fiction, as I think it's been a little bit overdone as of late, I loved that this book was written in more of that literary fiction style. Below is my review.

It’s not often that a book can be both science fiction and mainstream, but Station Eleven is. Alternating between different characters and settings, Station Eleven is a realistic dystopian story that takes place before, during and after the collapse of modern civilization due to a pandemic flu.

The story begins one snowy night at a Canadian theater just hours before the global virus outbreak. The production stars famous actor Arthur Leander in the lead role of Shakespeare’s King Lear, but the show can’t go on when he suddenly collapses dead on stage.

Fifteen years after the Georgia Flu epidemic, an actress named Kristen travels the Great Lakes region with a nomadic band of actors and musicians known as the Traveling Symphony. The troupe’s motto is “Survival is insufficient,” as they journey town to town preforming the works of Shakespeare for others who are also still alive. But when they arrive in the next town the Symphony encounters a violent, self-proclaimed prophet who does all he can to prevent anyone from ever leaving again.
​
St. John Mandel masterfully weaves together diverse characters and details of various subplots, resulting in an incredible story about the resilience of people. Station Eleven is speculative fiction at its finest.
Picture

I give this book:
★★★★★

Another excellent read that takes place in the future aftermath of a devastating plague is The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman. This dystopian thriller features fifteen-year-old Ice Cream Star and her wandering tribe made up almost entirely of children. The plague is a strange disease called Posies that has been killing people before reaching the age of 20 for generations. When her brother starts showing symptoms, Ice Cream Star sets off on a quest desperate to find a rumored cure.
0 Comments

Book Review: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams

5/13/2016

0 Comments

 
Science fiction is a really interesting genre to me because I always sort of discounted it as not being "for me," but every Sci-Fi book I've read I've actually enjoyed. Maybe Sci-Fi is for me, I just didn't know it before. A few of the reading stepping stones I took in my readers' advisory course that made me realize I like Sci-Fi were John Scalzi's 2005 book Old Man's War and the 1979 classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy​ by Douglas Adams.

Old Man's War was the required reading for the course's Sci-Fi week, and while I initially approached it thinking, "Oh boy, a story about an old man in space ... I can hardly contain my excitement ..." I actually thought it was quite good! In particular, the humor of the book and the way it portrayed the humanity of the characters – even those who were not really "humans" – was impeccable. Overall, it was just a really well written novel with a neat concept, and one of my favorites that I've read for this class so far.

And for the Sci-Fi book of my choosing this week, I could not pass up one of the most canonical titles of the genre. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is hands down one of the funniest – if not the funniest – books I've ever read. Below is my review.

Picture

I give this book:
★★★★★

When Arthur Dent discovers his house is about to be bulldozed to make room for a new bypass, he thinks his world is over. Within the hour, his world is over – or at least it’s been destroyed. Coincidentally, Earth also needed to be demolished to make room for a new bypass, albeit an intergalactic one.

Luckily, Arthur is able to escapes Earth’s destruction thanks to his friend Ford Perfect who is, as it just so happens to turn out, actually from another planet entirely. Ford has not actually been living on Earth all these years he’s known Arthur, but rather has been temporarily trapped there as he travels from planet to planet writing new entries for the ultimate interstellar encyclopedia known as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Hilarity ensues as the duo bounces from spaceship to spaceship and they meet a very strange variety of characters along the way. Perhaps one of the most classic and timeless works of humorous science fiction to ever be published, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will have you laughing out loud and never wanting the madness to end. Luckily for you, there are four other books in the series.
Another canonical and hilarious science fiction book is Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Similar to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this book is also a story of global destruction dripping with deadpan humor and irony, although it is a bit heavier in content. This book is another great example of a Sci-Fi “oldie, but goodie,” originally published in 1963.
0 Comments

Book Review: 'Odd Thomas' by Dean Koontz

5/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Horror week in my readers' advisory class was an interesting one. I’m not one to be particularly attracted to horror generally speaking, however, once in a while it strikes me – maybe only when the moon is full? This week I found myself thinking a lot about the horror genre as it pertains to films. Many a horror book finds its way to the big screen, and generally it involves some sort of supernatural element, particularly hauntings and possessions as of late. Horror movies nowadays seem to be moving away from the psycho serial killer thing that makes up most of the classics like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween. Interestingly, the non-supernatural element that makes up canonical horror films like those listed above does not pertain to horror books, where by definition there is almost always a supernatural occurrence.

This week the assigned class horror title was 
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War​ by Max Brooks, and frankly, I did not enjoy it. It was a cool concept for a book, but not for me. I listened to WWZ on audiobook, and since the book follows a whole range of global characters, the narrator changed with each person in the book, which was really neat. However, I found the book difficult to enjoy because none of the different characters or subplots really related to each other, other than the fact that they all took place after the zombie outbreak. As far as recommending this book to someone, they would definitely have to be interested in zombies to like it. A person looking for a general horror book without much interest in zombies or post-apocalyptic material would probably not enjoy this one very much. 

The horror title I chose to read for this week was Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. I personally found this one more of a supernatural thriller than a horror book, and enjoyed it quite a lot as seen in the review below. 

The first installment of the Odd Thomas series introduces the 20-year-old clairvoyant fry cook of the same name as he navigates life in Pico Mundo, California. Odd is, as his name suggests, a little different than most people – most significantly he sees dead people (including Elvis)!

When he’s not frying up breakfast at the Pico Mundo Grill or spending time with his soulmate of a girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn, Odd can be found wandering the fictional desert town helping the ghosts he meets resolve their unfinished business and pass on from this world.

One day when Odd sees a strange man enter the restaurant followed by a horde of mysterious bodachs – a clear indicator of imminent evil – he gets a psychic feeling that he’s about to start seeing a lot more ghosts in town.
​
Aside from the types of real life terrors mentioned in this book, it’s pretty tame as far as horror goes. Filled with a few mutilated body parts here and a few good chuckles there, this title is a paranormal thriller that probably won't keep you awake at night. With the last and final Odd Thomas book released last year, this book will make you want to pick up the other six titles in the series – and fast!
Picture

I give this book:
★★★★

For a read-alike option, Stoker Award winning author Douglas Clegg offers another paranormal thriller with minimal blood and gore in his 2004 book Afterlife. Following the mysterious murder of her husband Jeff, Julie starts having nightmares about her late husband’s involvement in Project Daylight, a now-defunct, privately-funded school that conducted experiments on kids with ESP. With the help of her family and a popular TV psychic, Julie unearths unnerving secrets that she never would have imagined.
0 Comments

Book Review: 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman

5/4/2016

0 Comments

 
The next genre covered in my readers' advisory course was the one that really got me into reading. I mean, I always liked to read, but once Harry Potter hit the scene it became one of my favorite pastimes. I grew up with Harry & Co., and while waiting for the last book to come out in 8th grade, I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy to kill some time, and earlier this year finished reading all of the Game of Thrones books that have been released, so far *cough cough*. I plan to get around to the Outlander series eventually too, so I'm definitely not a stranger to big, long book series that tend to make up much of this genre!

The required class book for this week was Hounded, the first book in author Kevin Hearne's series, the 
Iron Druid Chronicles. While I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if I were browsing for a new book to read myself based on the cover art or book description, I found myself quite enjoying it. It has a lot of Irish folklore blended in with the usual fantastical creatures like werewolves and vampires, though not in the traditional sense. There's also some really tremendous humor in the book – particularly from the mouth of a snarky Irish wolfhound named Oberon, who can communicate with his druidic owner and the series main character, Atticus O'Sullivan. While I would read the next book in the series, I won’t be going out of my way to see what happens next. Considering all of the other great books out there I don’t feel obligated or particularly excited read the next one (at least not anytime soon).

My selected fantasy title for the week was the tremendous Neil Gaiman's, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, published in 2013 and reviewed below.

Picture

I give this book:
★★★★

When a middle-aged man returns home for a funeral, he somehow finds himself at a farmhouse down the road from where he grew up. Trying to piece together why he was drawn there, this unnamed man’s mind is suddenly awash with details of forgotten memories involving Lettie Hempstock, the remarkable little girl who once lived there, and maybe still does.

Forty years earlier, the nameless man was just a nameless boy with a passion for reading and an affinity for his pet kitten. One day a peculiar man steals the family’s car and commits suicide down the road near the Hempstock farm. After the 7-year-old boy and his father go to retrieve the car, the boy’s life quickly turns into something out of one of his storybooks – sometimes fantastical, other times terrifying. Luckily for the boy, his new friend Lettie has sworn to protect him … no matter what.
​
A book that started out as a short story, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is an incredible work of fiction. An enchanting story about sacrifice and true friendship, this title has received a variety of awards and nominations, including winning the 2013 Goodreads Choice Awards for Fantasy. A book that Gaiman wrote “for anyone who has ever been seven years old," The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one not to be missed.
If you're looking for a read-alike title, John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things is quite similar to The Ocean at the End of the Lane with its pacing, language and description of a young boy’s magical childhood. After the death of his mother, 12-year-old David seeks solace inside his beloved books. When the books begin to whisper to him, David soon finds it difficult to discern fantasy from reality. Thrown into a strange world that mirrors his own, David must navigate the terrors within – without the protection of little Lettie Hempstock.
0 Comments

Book Review: 'The Bright Side of Disaster' by Katherine Center

4/26/2016

0 Comments

 
One of the genres I was most looking forward to covering for my readers' advisory course was women's fiction – although I do have a bit of an issue with the name and definition of the genre itself. "Women's fiction," as it is so called, is that of books dealing with *traditionally* women's themes: love, loss, divorce, raising a family, etc. But ... umm, hello? With the massive exception of actually growing and giving birth to another human being – are these not all also important parts of men's lives too? Or at least, shouldn't they be? I, and many of my classmates, would say an emphatic yes.

I think the name of the genre also puts women in a bit of a box by telling them (and in turn, telling men) what should and should not be a woman's interests, experiences, etc. Another big issue for me is that by labeling the genre as belonging to women, many men are deterred from reading it. There is no "men's fiction," why should there be a "women's fiction?" While I agree that these types of books definitely belong in their own genre, perhaps a better name for it would be something involving “family” or “relationships," don't you think? 

I find myself most drawn to issue-driven women’s fiction, and am not *generally* a big fan of chick lit. There’s something therapeutic about issue-driven books for me. I like reading dramatic stories about other people’s lives that I can either distract myself with, or connect with on a personal level. For this week’s assigned book, Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston, I found it just OK. I thought the concept and content was excellent (infertility and miscarriages are such a taboo topic and need to be talked about more). I also liked that the characters were portrayed as real humans who make mistakes and have complicated relationships.

That being said, I never found myself personally connecting with the characters. I wanted to slap almost every character at one point or another, and not just out of passionate reader’s distaste. Usually, character is the big draw for me when reading/enjoying books, but the plot of this one was more appealing. Maybe that’s why this book just sort of fell a little flat for me. However, someone who has personally experience infertility (or infidelity, I suppose) could definitely find this book very relatable! The other book I chose to read this week was The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center, reviewed below.

Jenny always hoped to fall in love, get married and then get pregnant. But when those things all happen in a different order, she eventually finds herself two weeks overdue and deserted by her garage band-obsessed fiancé a few weeks before their wedding. Within a day of finding Dean's poor excuse for a break-up letter, Jenny goes into labor.
​

Juggling a fussy newborn as a single mom while trying to cope with heartbreak, Jenny gets some unexpected (and much needed) help from her handsome new neighbor, Gardner. Seven months after giving birth, Jenny finally starts to feel like she’s getting the hang of this whole motherhood thing, but life is about to throw her another curve ball. After her first date with too-good-to-be-true Gardner, guess who Jenny finds sitting on her couch when she gets home? That’s right – it’s Dean, who says he’s finally ready to be a father.

Filled with smart humor, anger, exhaustion, disappointment, family, friendship and love, this book features as many different emotions as you would expect from a hormonal, suddenly single and new mom. A touching novel about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of being a first-time mother, The Bright Side of Disaster encompasses just how messy, crazy and unpredictable life can be.  
Picture

I give this book:
★★★★

For another charming pregnancy-related read, check out Bed Rest by Sarah Bilston. Working professional and busybody Quinn "Q" Boothroyd has found pregnancy to be a breeze … that is until her doctor tells her she must spend the last three months of her pregnancy lying prone in bed. Desperate for something to do, Q’s new life parked on the couch leads her to learn a lot about herself and the little baby growing inside of her.
0 Comments

'The Heretic's Daughter': A Book Talk

4/22/2016

0 Comments

 
In addition to all of the different book reviews I am required to write for my readers' advisory course this semester, I also have to produce two book talk videos of titles from a genre of my choosing. For the first of my book talk videos, I chose the historical fiction bestseller, The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent.

Picture

I give this book:
★★★★

A highly compelling and well researched story, The Heretic's Daughter is about the real life persecutions of an alleged witch, Martha Carrier, and her family that occurred in colonial Massachusetts in the early 1600s during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

​As an actual descendant of the real Martha Carrier, Kent does a tremendous job of telling her ancestor's story, as well as that of the hundreds of other men, women and children who were accused, "tried" and/or executed for supposedly practicing the devil's magic during this historical time of mass hysteria and paranoia.  


I actually read this book over spring break while I was on a road trip down south. Toward the end of the trip when I was starting to get a little "vacationed out," I found myself looking forward to the end of each day when I could return to the hotel room and lay in bed just to read this book.

Read any great books lately — historical fiction or otherwise? Tweet me!
​

@TessaFoxReads
#TessaFoxReads

0 Comments

Book Review: 'Yours to Keep' by Shannon Stacey

4/15/2016

0 Comments

 
When I first signed up for my readers' advisory class, the genre I was looking forward to reading the absolute least (well, besides maybe western) was hands down romance. Now, anyone who knows me is well aware that I am an emotional person and can cry over just about anything. That being said, I'm not really into all that mushy gushy stuff, so I had just sort of dismissed the genre for that reason. But in reality, most romance books are much more steamy than they are lovey dovey. And while I can definitely appreciate a good sex scene in my novels, I find it a bit overwhelming when they are practically the entire premise of the book. But now that I've learned a little bit more about the different types of romance novels out there, it turns out some of them might not be so bad!

The required romance novel for the entire class to read was Trial by Desire by Courtney Milan – a regency romance set in 1841 England filled with a whiny male lead and way too many petticoats for my liking. While it was refreshing (and a little unexpected) to find so many Feminist themes in this book, it was my most disliked out of any that I had read for the class thus far. After all, you (or at least I) can only read about someone's pants stiffening so many times before it starts to get a little old ...

Hopefully there aren't upcoming titles for this class that I like even less, because that would be a pretty difficult feat to accomplish. Lesson learned: Regency romances are not for me! All that being said, I was surprised to find myself actually quite enjoying the contemporary romance novel I picked to read this week, called Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey. Below is my review.

Picture

I give this book:
★★★★

Within hours of returning home to New Hampshire after a long stint in the Army, Sean Kowalski is stunned when a stranger named Emma Shaw knocks on his door claiming to be his fiancée. It turns out the long-legged landscaper was looking for a way to put her grandmother’s mind at ease after she moved to Florida, so Emma fabricated an intimate relationship with one of her best friend’s handsome relatives.

With a visit from her grandmother looming, Emma must convince this "stranger" Sean to play the role she invented for him or come clean to her grandma that she lied about the whole thing. With no other real plans of what to do now that he’s out of the service, Sean eventually agrees to the crazy scheme – surprising Emma, his family and even himself.
​
A cute and comical contemporary romance, Yours to Keep will have readers laughing at and rooting for Sean and Emma as they attempt to keep up the happy twosome charade in front of both of their families. After the two actually get to know one another it turns out “being a couple” comes pretty naturally to them – even if they are the only ones who can’t see it.
If you enjoy light reads like Yours to Keep, be sure to check out the other books in Stacey's Kowalski Family series. Looking for another contemporary romance filled with family drama, humor and a fake boyfriend? Too Good to Be True by Kristan Higgins follows the story of 30-year-old Grace Emerson, a history teacher who was dumped by her fiancé for her sister two weeks before their wedding. Desperate for something to say when people keep questioning her about her love life, Grace invents a new boyfriend of her own … one who just happens to look a heck of a lot like her new neighbor that she may or may not have called the cops on and beaten with a hockey stick.

Overall, this week of class gave me a newfound appreciation for the romance genre and the millions of people who read it. Fun fact:  Romance books generally outsell all other fiction genres, making up approximately 13% of the fiction sales market! Who knew?!
0 Comments

Book Review: 'Hondo' by Louis L'Amour

3/26/2016

1 Comment

 
Western week in my readers' advisory course was certainly an interesting one. I am not – nor have I ever been – a fan of westerns. I went into the week knowing that, and I came out of the week believing that even more strongly (haha). Considered a small and somewhat dying genre, the westerns being written today are embracing the idea of the genre-blend – incorporating elements like mystery, romance and the super natural from their respective genres and tying it into a more traditional western plot. Not only does it spice up life in the Great American West, it also makes non-western readers (me!) more likely to give the genre a shot. Based on my impressions from this weeks' readings, it looks like next time I will have to rely heavily on a good genre-blend if I'm to make it through another western ...

For this week's assigned title, the class read Doc by Mary Doria Russell, a novel about the famed dentist-turned-gunslinger, Doc Holliday. While a few members of the class with great interest in the OK Corral and Holliday's life raved about this book, I found myself agreeing with others who found it slow and hard to get through. It's well-written and thoroughly researched, but if you're not into westerns or the beginning of popular American dentistry – don't bother.

The book that I opted to read this week is a classic western: Hondo by Louis L'Amour. Again, I found myself struggling to get through it because of its slow pacing, but readers of the genre claim it is one of the best. It's definitely a "must-read" selection as far as westerns go, but nothing I would naturally recommend to the casual reader. Below is my review of the acclaimed Hondo – a great book, but one that I did not personally enjoy.

Picture

I give this book:
★★

In the baking sun of the Arizona frontier Hondo Lane, a lone government dispatch rider and sharp-shooter, roams the desert scouting for Apaches braves. When he comes upon a secluded ranch deep in the heart of Indian territory, Hondo meets the beautiful Angie Lowe and her young son Johnny. Hondo can’t understand what sort of man would leave his wife and child alone in such a hostile environment, and Angie immediately feels more at peace with a strong male presence around.
​
After Hondo exchanges some labor for one of Angie’s horses, he heads back to the fort only to discover the remains of a brutal Apache attack along the way. Suddenly worried about Angie and Johnny’s safety, he begins to contemplate disobeying orders and returning to the ranch. Meanwhile, Apache chief Vittoro and his men begin to make repeated visits to the farmstead, leaving Angie and her son wondering if and when the mysterious man will return.

Canonical western author Louis L’Amour transports us into the rugged frontier with this enduring genre classic. A traditional western with a little bit of romance, this book was reportedly dubbed the “finest western” John Wayne had ever read. With a slower pace and befitting cowboy speak throughout; Hondo reminds its readers of a simpler time in America’s past.  ​
For another western about a gunslinger with a deep understanding of Native American culture, check out Hombre by Elmore Leonard. After being raised by the Apache, John Russell finds himself on a stagecoach bringing him to his new life in the white man’s world. His fellow passengers want nothing to do with him until a band of outlaws shows up and the outsider becomes an unlikely leader.

As for this cowgirl, I don't see myself picking up another western any time soon ... there's just too many other good books out there waiting to be read!

1 Comment
<<Previous

    Author

    Tessa Fox is the Early Literacy Librarian at the Kenosha Public Library. After working in the journalism and publishing fields, Tessa decided to dedicate her life to books and public librarianship, and went back to school to get her Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she graduated in December 2016. Tessa has been working in public libraries since 2014. Disclaimer: The views expressed here are mine alone and do not reflect those of my employer.


    Connect with me online!

    Picture

    Picture
    Picture

    Picture

    Tweets by @TessaFoxReads

    Archives

    April 2020
    December 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    July 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014


    Categories

    All
    Adult
    Audiobooks
    Banned Books
    Best Picture Books Of The Year
    Book Contests
    Book Crafts
    Book Displays
    Book Lists
    Book News
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Bookshelves
    Bookstores
    Booktalking
    Book Trivia
    Children
    Children's Books
    Community Library
    Diversity And Inclusion
    DIY
    Fantasy
    Favorite Books
    Feminism
    Fiction
    Girl Power Books
    Halloween
    Historical Fiction
    Horror
    Humor
    Kenosha
    Kenosha Public Library
    Librarian
    Librarianship
    Libraries Now A Day In The Life
    Library
    Library And Information Science
    Library Contests
    Library Ideas
    Library Internships
    Library News
    Library Programs
    Mainstream Fiction
    Mike De Sisti
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee Public Library
    MLIS
    Mobile Libraries
    Movies
    MPL Express
    Mystery
    Nonfiction
    Personal
    Picture Books
    Poetry
    Politics
    Public Library
    Quotations
    Reading
    Refurbished Furniture
    Representation
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Sci-Fi
    Seasonal
    Self-publishing
    Social Media
    South Milwaukee Public Library
    Storytime
    Summer Reading Programs
    Technology
    Television
    The Journal Sentinel
    Thriller
    UWM Grad School
    UWM School Of Information Studies
    Video
    Webinars
    Western
    What I'm Reading
    Why Books Matter
    Why Libraries Matter
    Women's Fiction
    Writing
    Young Adult
    Youth Services

    RSS Feed