Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows library staff across Canada to collaboratively select their favourite forthcoming titles. Using CataList, the online catalogue service and order management tool available for free to libraries, library staff can endorse the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Juvenile, and Young Adult titles they want to recommend to their patrons. The titles with the most recommendations become Loan Stars picks!
But who are the authors and illustrators behind these great Loan Stars reads?
We find out in our series Meet the Loan Stars.
Meet Rachel Katstaller
Photo credit: Florian Hauser/Herwig Zöttl
Rachel Katstaller is the illustrator of Little Guides to Great Lives: Charles Darwin, Ada and the Number-Crunching Machine, and the author of her upcoming book, Skater Cielo. She is originally from tiny tropical El Salvador but has since relocated to Innsbruck, Austria with her cat, Hemingway. These days, you can find Rachel facing her fears on a skateboard.
You can find Rachel Katstaller’s book, Itzel and the Ocelot, on the May & June 2022 Loan Stars Jr. list!
Read Rachel’s interview below to learn all about the book she would recommend, what being a Loan Stars Jr. pick means to her, and more.
If you could visit any library in the world, where would you go?
I'd go back in time to visit the Great Library of Alexandria!
Do you have a favourite librarian, real or fictional?
My school librarian Ceci, who always let me keep my favourite books for a little bit longer.
Which book would you choose to recommend to library patrons?
Home by Carson Ellis.
What does being a Loan Stars pick mean to you?
For my country's stories to be known by many new children and grown ups.
Thank you for answering our questionnaire, Rachel!
Are you a Loan Stars-recommended author or illustrator who wants to be featured on our blog? Get in touch with us to get started.
Until next time!
How to use CataList reports to keep track of new drop-in titles and changes to key elements that publishers make to their forthcoming titles.