America’s Obsessives
By Joshua Kendall

Sure, there’s a link between creativity and eccentricity, but what of a link between eccentricity and extreme productivity? Noted journalist Kendall explores the existence of such a link in this engaging dive into the private lives of seven of the nation’s most productive individuals. According to Kendall, makeup maven Estée Lauder, née Josephine Esther Mentzer, never met a face she didn’t want to make over; Henry J. Heinz, of pickle fame, never met anything he didn’t want to measure . . .

He Reads: Librarians
By David Wright

Was it ever common to call people like me “male librarians,” as it once was to refer to “male nurses”? The days of any profession being that bound up with either gender seem to be thankfully retreating into the past. Why, then, did I take “guybrarian” as my Facebook and Twitter handle, potentially irking both men and women on the right side of history? Masculine insecurity? One pretty safe generalization about us guybrarians is that we aren’t shy about owning and celebrating our profession, as seen in these varied titles by and about male librarians. Let the mansplaining begin!

Some years ago, two men working in neighboring library systems in South Los Angeles published warts-and-all accounts of the daily pageant of weird and wonderful that is life in an urban public library.

She Reads: Librarians
By Kaite Mediatore Stover

The world labors under two delusions regarding lady librarians. We are either the timid, bespectacled spinster (see Mary Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life) or we’re the wild ’n’ crazy, bun-loosening fantasy babe (see most stag films from the 1960s).

Actually, we’re somewhere in between; a cross between smarty singleton Bunny (see Desk Set) and hipster fashionista Mary (see Party Girl). We can be kidnappers, ghostly readers, radicals, camel jockeys, and wartime heroes, even if we sometimes need a killer makeover. Very like the librarians in the books listed below.

On the surface, the profession appears predictable bordering on tedious . . .

Unpacking a Standard: With Biographies
By Julie Green

Great biographies are not only introductions to fascinating subjects, they also provide wonderful opportunities to really think about the authors’ choices: what details did they choose to include, what connections did they choose to make, and what concepts did they choose to explore? By sharing the following noteworthy biographies and classroom suggestions, teachers can address these questions while implementing CCSS.ELA-Literacy RI.1.3–RI.6.3. Visit www.booklistonline.com/commoncore for an extended version of this article.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.3. Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

Top 10 Biographies for Youth
By Ilene Cooper

Legendary figures—from Mata Hari to Mahalia Jackson, the Marquis de Lafayette to Martin Luther King—appear in these best biographies for young readers. The titles were chosen from books reviewed in Booklist between June 1, 2012, and May 15, 2013.

Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves & Other Female Villains . By Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple. Illus. by Rebecca Guay. 2013. Charlesbridge, $18.95 (9781580891851). Gr. 7–10.

Girls gone wild! This attractive package rounds up some of the meanest (or perhaps most misguided) group of gals in history . . .