Reviewer Spotlight

Branch: Mountain Island Branch

Reader's Club salutes Snow, a teen librarian at Mountain Island Branch, who is a prolific reader. She has reviewed books for both adults and teens, including several graphic novels. Here are thoughts on reading and writing reviews:

"I don’t remember learning to read. To me it seems like I’ve always been reading from as early as I can remember. My family are book people. We give books as presents and we always like going to bookstores and libraries.

When I was about ten, my best friend Melanie and I discovered comics. We especially loved Elfquest, the X-Men, and Wolverine and after reading the stories we’d make up new stories of our own and act them out. As I got into middle school and high school, I became more of a fantasy and science fiction reader and a gigantic Star Trek fan. It was there that I discovered authors whose work I still enjoy to this day: Tamora Pierce, Anne McCaffrey, Peter David, Robin McKinley, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov.

It wasn’t until I was in graduate school preparing to be a librarian that I discovered that I loved working with teens and that I loved teen literature. My favorite part of my job is talking with teens about books they love and recommending new titles to them. That’s why I started reviewing. I wanted to be able to share that love of books with a wider audience. I like the challenge of writing an informative review in a limited word count, which I probably get from my mother, who is a poet.

These days I read a wide variety of teen literature, fiction, nonfiction, manga and graphic novels. Some of my favorite authors/artists are Nobuhiro Watsuki, Fumi Yoshinaga, Joseph Delaney, Meg Cabot, Diana Wynne Jones, and Makoto Tateno. When I get the chance to indulge in adult fiction, I like fantasy and romance, especially authors Sophie Kinsella, Jayne Ann Krentz, Lisa Kleypas, Lynn Flewelling, and Guy Gavriel Kay.

Thanks, Snow!