Congratulations on achieving a Cannonball your first time out! How does it feel?
It feels great! I didn’t worry too much about completing it, as I have to read a LOT for work as a librarian. But I still completed it much sooner than planned, so that worked out nicely.
How did you hear about CBR? What made you decide to sign up?
I am a member of the Pajiba group on Facebook and I believe MsWas commented on a book related post I left there encouraging me to join!
Who’s your favorite character to cosplay? Do you ever get to cosplay with your library kids?
This is a very hard question! I am most proud of my Sally cosplay, because it is very beautiful and I did makeup and wig work I’ve never done before. But Tina Belcher is probably the most fun, because she’s a crowd-pleaser and it’s comfy. Cosplaying with kids at the library is a true joy! Between Halloween and fandom events, at work I have cosplayed as Effie Trinket, Elsa, Wonder Woman, Merida, Dr. Olivia Octavius, Cruella DeVille, Other Mother, Sally, Catwoman, Amelia Bedelia, a Clockwork Droid, many Harry Potter characters, and most recently Edna Mode.
You’re on a middle grade book award committee? That sounds like an awesome librarian perk. What’s your favorite find from that so far?
I am on my second year with the RI Middle School Book Award Committee, as their chair-elect! Book committee work is definitely rewarding and challenging! It is a great way to get to know literature and your colleagues. My favorite book I’ve read for this committee is How We Roll by Natasha Friend, which made it onto the 2019 Nominees. It’s technically not middle grade, but it’s not really YA either – sort of an in-between book. Because we serve grades 6-8, we need to choose books for a wide age range – what a new sixth grader reads can be very different than what a seasoned 8th grader is into.
When your TBR list is wide open (no reading for work, no CBR Bingo contortions), what do you gravitate toward?
COMIC BOOKS and graphic novels!! Recent favorites are Paper Girls, Four Kids Walk Into a Bank, and Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World.
What three authors would you pick to be on your trivia team?
Mary Roach, Stephen Colbert, and Mac Barnett. I would be mostly useless, but I’d get to have a beer with three cool people.
Favorite place to sing: in the car, in the shower, on a karaoke stage? Other?
Everywhere! I am a lead singer in two bands, a professional Christmas Caroler, I do local variety shows, and I jam monthly with some friends. My mom used to be a jazz singer and my dad a band teacher, so we are a very musical family. But even with professional singers, shower-singing is peak-singing.
Anything else to share?
I have two black cats named Miles (Davis) and Louis (Armstrong), I like beers with a fruit-bend, and my most prized possession is my NY Comic Con photo opp with Levar Burton (Butterfly in the skyyyyy!)