1. Jessica Helfand has my new favorite job: "visual historian". I am LOVING her book Scrapbooks: An American History. Talk about eye candy! But more than just pretty pictures, Helfand delves into the real history revealed in scrapbooks over the years. Oh, and Zelda Fitzgerald just got even cooler to me, if that was possible. Go. See.

2. ShelfElf has a review up at GLW on Francisco Stork's new YA title The Last Summer of the Death Warriors. I'm reading this right now for my June column and enjoying it a lot. A bit of Kerry's thoughts:

When I tell you that Francisco X. Stork's The Last Summer of the Death Warriors is a story about the meaning of life, I'm not kidding. I'm not making a dramatic statement just to be dramatic and make you want to rush out and get your hands on this book. The best way to describe the story is to say that it explores the meaning of life.

3. Booklist liked Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky: Wild about movies, prescient about the impact of the Internet, and happiest writing, Wallace is radiantly present in this intimate portrait, a generous and refined work that will sustain Wallace's masterful and innovative books long into the future.

I can't help but wonder if this would be a good one for older teens - giving them a peek into the mind of a fascinating & yet doomed artist. (If you can love On the Road at 17, why not Wallace? Maybe this would get them curious.) It's on my list, that's for sure.

4. Booklist also makes me intrigued about the YA title Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper (from Harper Teen, alas. I'll never see it): In rapid-fire succession, Seth gets dumped by his girlfriend, Veronica; spots his dad cozying up to a woman who most certainly isn't his mom; and gets canned from his fourth summer job. He pours his heart out in a series of anonymous podcasts he calls The Love Manifesto, which, naturally, don't stay anonymous for long. Chapters oscillate between heartbroken musings; idle time on the golf course with his snarky best friend, Dimitri; and some light detective work tracking his dad's side woman. At the same time, Dimitri's gangly younger sister suddenly isn't so awkward, and Seth eventually realizes that there's a difference between relationships of convenience and those of genuine feeling.

5. The Luper book reminds me of some comments that flew at last weeks kidlitchat on twitter about how bloggers/online reviewers are mostly women and mostly write about books with female protagonists. I wasn't too happy about seeing that. After banging the drum for male protags for so freaking long (and developing Guys Lit Wire primarily for this purpose) (of course basically no one on kidlitchat had heard of GLW), it drives me insane to hear this kind of thing. But then I see a book like this and wonder why Harper isn't sending it all over the place to drum up PR for it and then I remember all over again it's not our fault, it's theirs. You make the book available and send it out upon req and maybe you'll get some coverage. I think publishers see female bloggers and think they only want book with female protagonists. I get stuff all the time that makes no sense and is very teen girlcentricl (and clearly is from people who have never read my column).

6. And then from FSG adult I received Young Romantics by Daisy Hay which sounds quite intriguing: The book focuses on the network of writers and readers who gathered around Percy Bysshe Shelley and the campaigning journalist Leigh Hunt. They included Lord Byron, John Keats, and Mary Shelley, as well as a host of fascinating lesser-known figures: Mary Shelley's stepsister and Byron's mistress, Claire Clairmont; Hunt's botanist sister-in-law, Elizabeth Kent; the musician Vincent Novello; the painters Benjamin Haydon and Joseph Severn; and writers such as Charles and Mary Lamb, Thomas Love Peacock, and William Hazlitt.....It is an enthralling tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, and friendship, all of which were played out against a background of political turbulence and intense literary creativity.

I have an unending curiosity about the inner lives of creative people and this bunch was so off the rails in so many ways. Hay made an interesting discovery in her research (I love it when stuff is found in archives). I didn't request this book, but I think it will be some delightful summertime reading.

7. Librarians take note of this new manga series: Library Wars by Kiiro Yumi. Here's a bit: Well, what librarian hasn't dreamed of being a hero in the war against censorship? In the near-future world of Library Wars, the government has opened an office of information management. To counterbalance any abuse of power, a band of courageous "book soldiers" defend libraries and librarians against censorship with their powers of reason, and when that fails, they pull out the big guns -- literally.

8. Finally, we have crossed 600 books for Ojo Encino and Alchesay High in the Guys Lit Wire/Operation TBD book fair event for two Native American school libraries. (Ojo has pulled a bit ahead by 30 books or so; if you're looking to shop, please hit Alchesay first.) We continue until Wednesday and appreciate all the buying, blogging and tweeting that everyone has done in support of this event. I promise I will have a post up at GLW on the kids' reactions sometime this week (after the bulk of the books start arriving).