As we get closer and closer to the school year starting, I find myself really excited to get back into the booktalking swing of things. I was so excited to see a great post about booktalking in my feed last week: Teri Lesesne on the importance of booktalking. She and Donalyn Miller recently presented on the subject at the International Literacy Association Conference and Teri very eloquently speaks about how booktalking can help create a culture of reading.
I won't lie; it's been nice to have a little break from the intensive booktalking that we did last school year. It's been nice to read at my own pace, to pick up some adult books and teen books among all the middle grade reading I need to do to prep. But I've missed seeing the kids. I've missed our regular visits and telling kids about all the great books I've been coming across.
I'm ready to get back into the booktalking swing of things.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Lunch Bunch at the Library
This summer, we tried out a new program that was really fun and easy: Lunch Bunch at the Library!
Our Lunch Bunch met every weekday for one week during the summer. We met from 12:30-1:00pm and invited families to bring a sack lunch to the library and listen to a chapter book readaloud while they ate.
Disclaimer: This is where I tell you that attendance was really low for this program. The highest I had all week was five children and two adults. I did have one day where I only had one child. This is not really a sustainable number for us, but it was so easy and fun that I want to try it at least once more and see if we can't grow the program a little bit.
AND I will say that even though the numbers were low, the kids who did attend LOVED the program. I had three very loyal kids who came every day they could to hear as much of the story as possible.
Here's how I prepared for Lunch Bunch.
I picked out a chapter book to read aloud. I wanted something that would appeal to our lower elementary age group and that I could easily read in five 30ish-minute sessions. I chose the book Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins, which turned out to be a really fun read.
A couple of weeks before the program started, I actually read this book out loud in my office, noting about how long it took me to read each chapter. This helped me plot out how much I would plan to read each day and it helped me develop the voices that I would use as I read, so I could try to keep them consistent.
I set up the room with tables facing the front of the room so that families could sit at the tables to eat their lunches. I had space on the carpet for any that didn't bring a lunch and I invited the kids to come sit on the carpet when they had finished their lunch. I kept the lights down a little bit, which made a really relaxing atmosphere (at least for this librarian!). This was my little oasis during this hectic summer week.
I pulled a selection of readalikes and several copies of Toys Go Out to put on a display in the room. If families couldn't come every day, they were welcome to check out a copy of the book to keep reading at home.
How it went:
Reading a chapter book aloud is a different animal than reading picture books aloud, and it's really fun. This was a program I honestly looked forward to every day, made even better when my small crowd became loyal listeners. This was a program that was fun for kids and librarian alike.
What I did not super realize when I picked Toys Go Out was that the chapters are very episodic, making it easy for families to drop in and understand the story even if they hadn't come every day. This was nice, but not totally necessary. The kids did a great job of remembering what we had read about the day before and I asked them questions at the beginning of the program to refresh their memory.
I found that the chapters took longer to read with the kids than they had when I was alone because I would pause every so often and ask the kids questions to keep them attentive and make sure they understood what was going on in the story. I also took about 5-10 minutes at the beginning of our programs to allow the kids to get their lunches ready and refresh them on what we had read the previous day.
For next time:
Before I even started, I wondered how this program would go. I thought that if attendance was low, I might try a different format next time: reading the beginning of a different chapter book each day and then providing copies for children to check out. I still may try this format (I think it would especially work as a once-a-week program), but it was really a great experience to read one entire book with these kids.
Maybe I will try one book over a week's time again during our school breaks, and next summer try out a weekly program reading the beginnings of different chapter books.
Although I thought that having an episodic novel would encourage more listeners to pop in throughout the week, it didn't really work out that way. I wouldn't especially look for an episodic book next time. I also wouldn't worry as much about finishing the book within a certain span of days. It's certainly nice to read the entire book from start to finish, but if I'm able to provide copies for check out, that might even encourage families to read together at home to find out the ending.
What I love about this program, too, is that it introduces families to chapter books that make good family readalouds and it emphasizes the importance of reading aloud to kids of all ages.
This might also make a great (easy!) program to take on the road. We may consider offering it to daycares and summer camps (although I guess the concern there would be that we would potentially have ALL the kids, not just the kids who would elect to sit and listen to a book, so I wonder if we'd have behavior issues).
I'm glad that we tried it out. It was a good experience. And I will try it again to see if we can get attendance up.
Our Lunch Bunch met every weekday for one week during the summer. We met from 12:30-1:00pm and invited families to bring a sack lunch to the library and listen to a chapter book readaloud while they ate.
Disclaimer: This is where I tell you that attendance was really low for this program. The highest I had all week was five children and two adults. I did have one day where I only had one child. This is not really a sustainable number for us, but it was so easy and fun that I want to try it at least once more and see if we can't grow the program a little bit.
AND I will say that even though the numbers were low, the kids who did attend LOVED the program. I had three very loyal kids who came every day they could to hear as much of the story as possible.
Here's how I prepared for Lunch Bunch.
I picked out a chapter book to read aloud. I wanted something that would appeal to our lower elementary age group and that I could easily read in five 30ish-minute sessions. I chose the book Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins, which turned out to be a really fun read.
A couple of weeks before the program started, I actually read this book out loud in my office, noting about how long it took me to read each chapter. This helped me plot out how much I would plan to read each day and it helped me develop the voices that I would use as I read, so I could try to keep them consistent.
I set up the room with tables facing the front of the room so that families could sit at the tables to eat their lunches. I had space on the carpet for any that didn't bring a lunch and I invited the kids to come sit on the carpet when they had finished their lunch. I kept the lights down a little bit, which made a really relaxing atmosphere (at least for this librarian!). This was my little oasis during this hectic summer week.
I pulled a selection of readalikes and several copies of Toys Go Out to put on a display in the room. If families couldn't come every day, they were welcome to check out a copy of the book to keep reading at home.
How it went:
Reading a chapter book aloud is a different animal than reading picture books aloud, and it's really fun. This was a program I honestly looked forward to every day, made even better when my small crowd became loyal listeners. This was a program that was fun for kids and librarian alike.
What I did not super realize when I picked Toys Go Out was that the chapters are very episodic, making it easy for families to drop in and understand the story even if they hadn't come every day. This was nice, but not totally necessary. The kids did a great job of remembering what we had read about the day before and I asked them questions at the beginning of the program to refresh their memory.
I found that the chapters took longer to read with the kids than they had when I was alone because I would pause every so often and ask the kids questions to keep them attentive and make sure they understood what was going on in the story. I also took about 5-10 minutes at the beginning of our programs to allow the kids to get their lunches ready and refresh them on what we had read the previous day.
For next time:
Before I even started, I wondered how this program would go. I thought that if attendance was low, I might try a different format next time: reading the beginning of a different chapter book each day and then providing copies for children to check out. I still may try this format (I think it would especially work as a once-a-week program), but it was really a great experience to read one entire book with these kids.
Maybe I will try one book over a week's time again during our school breaks, and next summer try out a weekly program reading the beginnings of different chapter books.
Although I thought that having an episodic novel would encourage more listeners to pop in throughout the week, it didn't really work out that way. I wouldn't especially look for an episodic book next time. I also wouldn't worry as much about finishing the book within a certain span of days. It's certainly nice to read the entire book from start to finish, but if I'm able to provide copies for check out, that might even encourage families to read together at home to find out the ending.
What I love about this program, too, is that it introduces families to chapter books that make good family readalouds and it emphasizes the importance of reading aloud to kids of all ages.
This might also make a great (easy!) program to take on the road. We may consider offering it to daycares and summer camps (although I guess the concern there would be that we would potentially have ALL the kids, not just the kids who would elect to sit and listen to a book, so I wonder if we'd have behavior issues).
I'm glad that we tried it out. It was a good experience. And I will try it again to see if we can get attendance up.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Terrible Typhoid Mary
Booktalk:
What would you do if strangers showed up at your door, accused you of sickening dozens of people, and demanded blood and stool samples from you?
They claim that even though you haven't been sick, you've infected people you care about with a deadly disease. They tell you that you're a menace to society, that you must comply with them or else.
You've never been sick a day in your life. You're a clean person. You know you haven't made anyone sick. The theories they're telling you about sound like gibberish to you.
You haven't committed a crime, but they arrest you.
What would you do?
This is what happened to Mary Mallon; you may know her as "Typhoid Mary". She was a healthy woman, an Irish immigrant, and a good cook who worked for many good families in New York. She was also a carrier of the deadly typhoid disease. Even though she was not sick (and did not remember ever being sick), she carried the bacteria that cause the disease, infecting people through the food she was serving them.
It wasn't her fault. But she was still kidnapped and held prisoner by people who said it was for the public's good. How could this happen? Read Terrible Typhoid Mary to find out.
My thoughts:
This book is excellent. It's a finely crafted work, presenting a balanced view of Mary Mallon's life and the health workers who locked her up for the common good. The prose reads like fiction and Bartoletti draws out the tension slowly as the reader learns who Mary Mallon was and how she became a suspect in dozens of typhoid fever cases.
Historical details paint a picture of life in the early 1900s, revealing the action as if the reader is watching it unfold. Bartoletti is careful to present Mary as a sympathetic character. She brings in statistics and facts from the present day to put this historical event in perspective. For example, she explains Mary's reluctance to believe the scientists by pointing out that 51% of Americans "say they trust scientists and the scientific information a little bit. Six percent don't trust scientists and their facts at all." [page 56] Knowing that even today not everyone trusts scientific information, it's easy to see why Mary might not have been convinced in 1907.
Earlier this year, I read and loved Fatal Fever by Gail Jarrow, another book about the typhoid fever epidemic and Mary Mallon. While that book concentrated more on the epidemic and the disease, Terrible Typhoid Mary concentrates more on Mary as a person. I am happy to say that there is room for both books on library shelves, and both are excellent reads.
Readalikes:
For those looking for another great read about typhoid fever, don't miss Fatal Fever by Gail Jarrow (and also check out the readalikes I listed in that post!).
If you're drawn to Susan Campbell Bartoletti's well-crafted writing depicting historical events as a gripping drama, check out The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
George
George by Alex Gino. Grades 4-6. Scholastic Press, August 2015. 195 pages. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.
Summary: When George's fourth grade class puts on the play Charlotte's Web, she wants nothing more than to play the part of Charlotte. When they read about Charlotte's death in the book, it made George cry, and she knows that she can do justice to this part, this role that means so much to her.
George has a secret. A secret that no one knows about - not even her mom or her best friend. And she's hoping that if her classmates and her mom see her playing a girl's part in the play, it might make it easier to tell her secret and easier for them to accept the truth that George has accepted about herself.
George is a girl. She is in a boy's body, but she is a girl.
It won't be easy to convince her teacher and classmates that she should play Charlotte. It might be impossible. But George has to try.
My thoughts:
This is a book that's been talked about a lot (at least in my bloggity teacher/librarian circles) and it's certainly one that people should know about. We need more books about the GLBT experience and this hits the right notes for upper elementary students. The experience of being in a class play is something that many kids will identify with, and I think George is a heroine that kids will root for.
Because the author immediately starts out using the pronoun "she" to describe George, it was impossible for me to see George as anything but what she is - a girl. This is an effective way to introduce our protagonist, and as the narrative continues, the reader starts to understand the problem: that George, a girl, is living in a boy's body.
I appreciated that George has done her research and that the word "transgender" is used in this book, along with some information about what that means. The information is not presented in a didactic way, and it definitely makes sense that a fourth grader curious about what she is experiencing would have done some research and be at least somewhat knowledgeable about what is going on.
I also appreciated the range of characters in the book, some surprisingly supportive and others not as supportive of George's wishes. I do not have firsthand experience to speak to the authenticity of this, but it felt realistic to me.
This book is an important addition to our library shelves and deserves to be widely read and shared. Don't miss it.
Readalikes:
For readers interested in reading more about the transgender experience in middle-grade lit, check out Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky.
The tone of this book reminds me of other school stories, such as Andrew Clements's wide cannon or maybe Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Summer Reading Club Check-In #2
I'm over at the ALSC Blog today, checking in about the Summer Reading Club. Please click through and let me know how your summer is going!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
An ALA 2015 Recap
My friends, the 2015 ALA Annual Conference was such an amazing experience! I am really grateful for all the connections I have made through ALA, for my awesome 2015 Newbery Committee and our honored authors, for the education I received at conference, and for all the FUN this conference brought!
You definitely want to check out the live blogging posts on the ALSC Blog for lots of detail about sessions and goings-on at conference. But I also wanted to share a little bit about what I was up to at this conference:
PS: I am going to use the word "amazing" about 100 times in this post. Deal.
You definitely want to check out the live blogging posts on the ALSC Blog for lots of detail about sessions and goings-on at conference. But I also wanted to share a little bit about what I was up to at this conference:
PS: I am going to use the word "amazing" about 100 times in this post. Deal.
- Learning from other amazing youth services librarians at Guerrilla Storytime.
- Celebrating our amazing Newbery Honor authors, Cece Bell and Jacqueline Woodson, at a fancy dinner with our committee.
- Doing the Dumplin' pose at a HarperCollins breakfast. You do not want to miss this book. I promise. It comes out in September and I have a review coming soon.
- Presenting on an AWESOME panel about managing youth services (check out hashtag #futureYS for take-aways!)
 |
| Photo by Dan Bolstrom, ALSC |
- Meeting up with the ALSC live bloggers and our ALSC Blog manager Mary Voors.
- Sitting in on the Children's Notable Recordings meeting and learning a lot about evaluating and discussing audio recordings.
- Celebrating our 2015 Newbery Medal winner, Kwame Alexander!!!!!
- Picking up some highly anticipated books at the Exhibit Hall. (These are not all, but I didn't actually take that many books home this time around!)
- Drinking wine on the 46th floor before my FIRST Newbery Caldecott Wilder Banquet and...
- Hanging out with this guy in my fancy Newbery dress.
- My first Newbery Caldecott Wilder Banquet. I was completely star-struck the entire time and just sat at my table with wide eyes taking in all the famous authors whirling around me. (Also, Jacqueline Woodson's son was at my table and engrossed in a Babymouse book for the later part of the evening!)
- Being with my people. Love.
If I don't get to go to an ALA Conference for awhile, this was a GREAT one to go out on. I had a blast and learned a lot. I already miss my magical world of ALA Conference. BUT I know this guy is happy I'm home:
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Live Blogging at #alaac15
Today, I am headed out West to San Francisco for the 2015 American Library Association Annual Conference.
I am SUPER excited about this conference (which will probably be my last national conference for awhile). I'm excited to see my amazing 2015 Newbery Committee again without the stress of committee work to worry about. I am thrilled to join our Newbery honor and medal winners for dinner over the weekend, and, of course, to attend the 2015 Newbery/Caldecott Banquet.
I will also be speaking on a panel Saturday morning: Managing the Future: Supporting Your Youth Services Innovators with the amazing Cory Eckert, Justin Hoenke, and Kendra Jones!
If you are left behind, NEVER FEAR! The ALSC Blog is stepping up to keep you in the loop. A great group of ALSC Bloggers will be live-blogging and posting short, frequent updates throughout the conference, so you won't miss a thing.
Make sure you're following the ALSC Blog and the Twitter hashtag #alaac15 to see all the great stuff happening at Conference!
I am SUPER excited about this conference (which will probably be my last national conference for awhile). I'm excited to see my amazing 2015 Newbery Committee again without the stress of committee work to worry about. I am thrilled to join our Newbery honor and medal winners for dinner over the weekend, and, of course, to attend the 2015 Newbery/Caldecott Banquet.
I will also be speaking on a panel Saturday morning: Managing the Future: Supporting Your Youth Services Innovators with the amazing Cory Eckert, Justin Hoenke, and Kendra Jones!
If you are left behind, NEVER FEAR! The ALSC Blog is stepping up to keep you in the loop. A great group of ALSC Bloggers will be live-blogging and posting short, frequent updates throughout the conference, so you won't miss a thing.
Make sure you're following the ALSC Blog and the Twitter hashtag #alaac15 to see all the great stuff happening at Conference!
Sunday, June 21, 2015
#48HBC Finish Line
And the 10th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge draws to a close!
My time went from 2:30pm Friday to 2:30pm today. During that block:
Total time spent reading & blogging: 20 hours
Books finished: 7.5
Pages read: 1715 + one hour listening to an audiobook
The books I read during the challenge were:
My time went from 2:30pm Friday to 2:30pm today. During that block:
Total time spent reading & blogging: 20 hours
Books finished: 7.5
Pages read: 1715 + one hour listening to an audiobook
The books I read during the challenge were:
Terrible Typhoid Mary by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle
George by Alex Gino
Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer
Another Kind of Hurricane by Tamara Ellis Smith (this was the half-book I started this morning!)
Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Peterson and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
and the audiobook I dipped into is Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
My favorites this year were the nonfiction titles: Terrible Typhoid Mary, Enchanted Air, and The Boys Who Challenged Hitler.
All in all, it was a fun challenge year with many great books, although it turned out not to be the very best weekend for us. Fiance lost steam after Friday night and he was feeling a little under the weather, so I'm not sure he got much reading done. Ah, well. Maybe next year!
I want to give a huge shout out to Pam of MotherReader for hosting the challenge!!! Thanks for all that you have done. :D
#48HBC: The Sound of Life and Everything
Book finished: The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer
What a strange, beautiful book. In 1950s California, Ella Mae's family is still dealing with their grief over losing Ella Mae's brother Daniel and cousin Robby in the war. When Ella Mae's Aunt Mildred responds to an ad in the paper claiming that scientists can bring Robby back if she has a sample of his DNA (which she does - the blood on his dog tags), Ella Mae thinks she's crazy. Crazier still is what happens next. It wasn't Robby's blood on the dog tags, but the blood of a Japanese soldier. When Takuma is brought back to life, lost and alone in this strange land, Ella Mae's mother ends up taking him in. But anti-Japanese sentiment runs strong in this small California town and it won't be an easy ride for anyone.
This is a really interesting blend of historical and science fiction that made me think of the tone of classic science fiction stories like Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.
Challenge update:
Time spent reading/blogging: 18 hours 20 minutes
Pages read: 1574
Books finished: 7
Saturday, June 20, 2015
#48HBC Check-In
Well, I'm over halfway through my time slot in the 48-Hour Book Challenge. I'm at 16 hours of reading & blogging so far and I have until 2:30pm tomorrow, but we'll probably be leaving for Father's Day lunch earlier than that.
I've slowed down tonight because I'm pretty tired and I'm having a little trouble figuring out what book to pick up next. I did spent some quality time with an audiobook (Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance), but I'm heading to bed soon. Hopefully I will wake up with lots of energy tomorrow and get through the last 4 hours I need to meet my goal!
How's the challenge going for you?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)