Whew! What a month it has been! I don't know about you, but I have really cherished the time I spent this month dedicating my reading to middle grade books. I read more than I normally do and I read and blogged about some truly great books. Let's hope I can keep the momentum going as we head into summer. (My first summer in 10+ years that I will not be stressed out about the Summer Reading Program...)
Our final week of Middle Grade May 2018 is all about diverse books. Akoss asked us to talk about books that portray diversity in an uplifting way. I couldn't narrow it down this week, so I have six booktalks for you with some of my favorite recent diverse reads.
Books mentioned in this video:
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokski (Disney-Hyperion, 2018)
The Serpent's Secret by Sayantani DasGupta (Scholastic, 2018)
Stef Soto, Taco Queen by Jennifer Torres (Little, Brown, 2017)
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (Algonquin, 2015)
The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez (Viking, 2017)
Rebound by Kwame Alexander (Houghton Mifflin, 2018)
How'd your Middle Grade May go? Did you read some great middle grade books? I'd love to hear about them - let me know what you've been reading!
Showing posts with label booktalking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label booktalking. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018
#MiddleGradeMay Week 4: 2018 Debuts
This fourth week of #MiddleGradeMay is all about those debut authors and there have already been some FANTASTIC debut books coming out this year! I'm really excited to tell you about four of my favorites that have come out so far this year in the video below. (Do you like the videos I'm making? I am a totally newbie at YouTube, but I have been enjoying it.)
Books mentioned in this video:
Front Desk by Kelly Yang (Scholastic, May 2018) - comes out next week on May 29!
P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy (Feiwel and Friends, March 2018)
Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake (Little, Brown, March 2018)
Whoops - this is not actually a debut novel, but it is Blake's first middle grade novel and also I want you to know about it, so I'm leaving it in there!)
Like Vanessa by Tami Charles (Charlesbridge, March 2018)
These debuts are awesome! You should definitely check them out and I hope that we'll
Books mentioned in this video:
Front Desk by Kelly Yang (Scholastic, May 2018) - comes out next week on May 29!
P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy (Feiwel and Friends, March 2018)
Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake (Little, Brown, March 2018)
Whoops - this is not actually a debut novel, but it is Blake's first middle grade novel and also I want you to know about it, so I'm leaving it in there!)
Like Vanessa by Tami Charles (Charlesbridge, March 2018)
These debuts are awesome! You should definitely check them out and I hope that we'll
Sunday, May 13, 2018
#MiddleGradeMay Week 3: Underrated Middle Grade
It's the third week of #MiddleGradeMay and we're almost halfway through the month. I hope you've found some awesome middle grade lit to read this month! The theme set by our Booktuber host Akoss for this week is Underrated Middle Grade, meaning books that have less than 1000 ratings on GoodReads. I have three of my favorite underrated books for you today in this week's video:
Books mentioned in this video:
The Emperor's Riddle by Kat Zhang (Aladdin, 2017).
The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtald (Feiwel & Friends, 2015).
(Second Buckle & Squash book is The Gigantic Giant Goof-Up)
Unidentified Suburban Object by Mike Jung (Scholastic, 2016).
I was a little surprised at some of my favorite titles that have less than 1000 ratings on GoodReads once I started looking at it. You might be surprised, too! What are some of YOUR favorites that you wish more people would read?
Books mentioned in this video:
The Emperor's Riddle by Kat Zhang (Aladdin, 2017).
The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtald (Feiwel & Friends, 2015).
(Second Buckle & Squash book is The Gigantic Giant Goof-Up)
Unidentified Suburban Object by Mike Jung (Scholastic, 2016).
I was a little surprised at some of my favorite titles that have less than 1000 ratings on GoodReads once I started looking at it. You might be surprised, too! What are some of YOUR favorites that you wish more people would read?
Sunday, May 6, 2018
#MiddleGradeMay Week 2: Heartbreaking Reads
How is your #MiddleGradeMay going? I have been reading some really great books and today I have some suggestions for you if you're looking for something great to read. Our Booktuber host Akoss has set themes for each week of #MiddleGradeMay this year. This week's theme is Heartbreaking Books and I've got booktalks of three of my favorites in this video:
Books mentioned in this video:
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry (Laurel Leaf, 1977) - the first book that ever made me cry. I read it for the first time in fifth grade.
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart (Scholastic, 2015).
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown, 2016).
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic, 2004). (There is also a sequel, which I forgot to mention but which is also awesome: After Ever After.)
I hope you'll join us in reading and celebrating middle grade books this month! What are YOUR favorite heartbreaking middle grade reads?
Books mentioned in this video:
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry (Laurel Leaf, 1977) - the first book that ever made me cry. I read it for the first time in fifth grade.
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart (Scholastic, 2015).
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown, 2016).
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic, 2004). (There is also a sequel, which I forgot to mention but which is also awesome: After Ever After.)
I hope you'll join us in reading and celebrating middle grade books this month! What are YOUR favorite heartbreaking middle grade reads?
Monday, April 30, 2018
#MiddleGradeMay Week 1: Memorable Characters
Welcome to MIDDLE GRADE MAY!!!
Yes, it's that time of year when we drop* all other reading and devote ourselves to middle grade books! Read middle grade during the month of May and post about it on any social media you like with the hashtag #MiddleGradeMay so we can all see what awesome books everyone is reading!
*Okay, I'm not entirely dropping all other reading, but I'm definitely making space for middle grade this month!
This year our lovely Booktuber Akoss has set some weekly themes to give you ideas on what to post about or just to highlight some great books that you might want to check out this month. And the theme for this first week is Memorable Characters in Middle Grade Lit.
And I made a video!! I am not normally a vlogger, but Akoss has inspired me to give it a try. Below you'll see three of my most memorable characters in middle grade lit.
If you don't feel like watching it or if you want more information, here are the books mentioned in this video:
One Crazy Summer (Gaither Sisters series) by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad, 2010). Other books in the series: P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama.
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Dial, 2015). Sequel is The War I Finally Won (also awesome).
Ghost (Track series) by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum, 2016). Other books in the series: Patina and Sunny.
Stay tuned this month for tons of posts about middle grade lit. And I hope you'll join us in reading middle grade this month!
Who are YOUR favorite characters in middle grade lit??
Yes, it's that time of year when we drop* all other reading and devote ourselves to middle grade books! Read middle grade during the month of May and post about it on any social media you like with the hashtag #MiddleGradeMay so we can all see what awesome books everyone is reading!
*Okay, I'm not entirely dropping all other reading, but I'm definitely making space for middle grade this month!
This year our lovely Booktuber Akoss has set some weekly themes to give you ideas on what to post about or just to highlight some great books that you might want to check out this month. And the theme for this first week is Memorable Characters in Middle Grade Lit.
And I made a video!! I am not normally a vlogger, but Akoss has inspired me to give it a try. Below you'll see three of my most memorable characters in middle grade lit.
If you don't feel like watching it or if you want more information, here are the books mentioned in this video:
One Crazy Summer (Gaither Sisters series) by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad, 2010). Other books in the series: P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama.
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Dial, 2015). Sequel is The War I Finally Won (also awesome).
Ghost (Track series) by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum, 2016). Other books in the series: Patina and Sunny.
Stay tuned this month for tons of posts about middle grade lit. And I hope you'll join us in reading middle grade this month!
Who are YOUR favorite characters in middle grade lit??
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Video Booktalks!
In previous years, we've been able to visit our local schools frequently for booktalks, but since our staffing level was cut we've had to rethink our approach. For the past several months, my staff members have been hard at work on creating video booktalks and we were able to send out links to our first batch this week!
Here's the full playlist if you want to check them out:
We decided to make separate videos for each age group that we would typically booktalk to. So for this first round, we have videos for 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th/6th grade, and 7th/8th grade. We made five videos total, each under 15 minutes long. Each video features five great books that kids and teachers can check out from our library. This is patterned after our monthly class visits where we would spend about 15 minutes per group and feature 5-6 titles each time.
We started getting organized several weeks before we planned to send them out. I asked my staff to sign up with titles that they would like to booktalk for whichever grades. Once everyone had a chance to submit titles, I went through and narrowed each list down to five titles, making sure to keep a balance between formats, genres, and to include diverse titles.
Then we all recorded the videos for our assigned books. We used our flip camera propped up on a book truck and the microphone on the flip camera was sufficient. I asked everyone to record a brief intro, which we showed at the very beginning of each video, and I recorded a brief ending message to encourage kids to stop by and check out these books from the library.
We recorded each booktalk as a separate video and then two of my staff members edited them together, so we were able to repeat some of the books for multiple videos without a whole lot of extra work. For example, Funny Bones appears in both our second grade video and our third grade video. This is helpful, too, if we ever wanted to put together booktalk videos on a certain genre. We could edit all our our scary booktalks into one video, for example.
To edit the videos, my staff members used Filmora, a video editing software that we purchased. The music in the intro comes from Filmora's library of music. The software allowed us to insert images and the titles of the books. There's a lot more it can do; we're excited to play around with it more.
Once the videos were edited, we uploaded them to our library's YouTube channel and sent out the link to our teachers. I sent the videos to each of the teachers we had been visiting with regular booktalks and gave them first shot at sharing the videos and requesting the books. Then a couple of days later, I sent out the video links to staff at each of our elementary and middle schools and asked our Marketing person to put them on our website and Facebook page, as well.
We're still waiting to see what the overall response will be, but so far they've each been viewed a couple dozen times. The real test will be to see if the books get checked out!
We're planning on sending out another round of booktalk videos before Winter Break and there are a few things we'll do differently:
1. After speaking with our Marketing person, he volunteered to film the next round with the library's HD camera, which may provide a better and more consistent quality of video. We also may look at purchasing an external microphone for better and more consistent sound.
2. We recorded this round in our teen office with the blank wood wall background, but I'd love to look into recording videos in our teen and children's rooms so that kids can see the areas of the library they'd be using.
3. We talked about making our presentations a little more uniform - each starting the same way, maybe making our intros more consistent.
4. We talked about adding a title screen with the season and grade on it to differentiate once we have a more extensive library of videos.
I'm not sure if it will be possible to offer these videos monthly at some point. We're going to start out attempting them quarterly and see what the response is. Compared to the hours and hours we spent driving to and visiting schools, repeating booktalks over and over to reach all the classes at a school, this is MUCH less time-consuming. I think we'll get better at it (recording videos, editing, etc.) as we get more experience, so it's possible it will take even less time as we continue.
So the question will be: are the videos decently effective at reaching our teachers and students? And time will just have to tell on that one. We'll keep an eye on how many times the videos are viewed and how the books check out, plus consider any feedback we get from teachers. Ideally, I'd love to also be able to visit the schools in person at least once a year and that might give our videos more impact. We'll see!
Have you ever recorded video booktalks? What tips and tricks do you have to share? Or what questions do you have about how we did ours?
Here's the full playlist if you want to check them out:
We decided to make separate videos for each age group that we would typically booktalk to. So for this first round, we have videos for 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th/6th grade, and 7th/8th grade. We made five videos total, each under 15 minutes long. Each video features five great books that kids and teachers can check out from our library. This is patterned after our monthly class visits where we would spend about 15 minutes per group and feature 5-6 titles each time.
We started getting organized several weeks before we planned to send them out. I asked my staff to sign up with titles that they would like to booktalk for whichever grades. Once everyone had a chance to submit titles, I went through and narrowed each list down to five titles, making sure to keep a balance between formats, genres, and to include diverse titles.
Then we all recorded the videos for our assigned books. We used our flip camera propped up on a book truck and the microphone on the flip camera was sufficient. I asked everyone to record a brief intro, which we showed at the very beginning of each video, and I recorded a brief ending message to encourage kids to stop by and check out these books from the library.
We recorded each booktalk as a separate video and then two of my staff members edited them together, so we were able to repeat some of the books for multiple videos without a whole lot of extra work. For example, Funny Bones appears in both our second grade video and our third grade video. This is helpful, too, if we ever wanted to put together booktalk videos on a certain genre. We could edit all our our scary booktalks into one video, for example.
To edit the videos, my staff members used Filmora, a video editing software that we purchased. The music in the intro comes from Filmora's library of music. The software allowed us to insert images and the titles of the books. There's a lot more it can do; we're excited to play around with it more.
Once the videos were edited, we uploaded them to our library's YouTube channel and sent out the link to our teachers. I sent the videos to each of the teachers we had been visiting with regular booktalks and gave them first shot at sharing the videos and requesting the books. Then a couple of days later, I sent out the video links to staff at each of our elementary and middle schools and asked our Marketing person to put them on our website and Facebook page, as well.
We're still waiting to see what the overall response will be, but so far they've each been viewed a couple dozen times. The real test will be to see if the books get checked out!
We're planning on sending out another round of booktalk videos before Winter Break and there are a few things we'll do differently:
1. After speaking with our Marketing person, he volunteered to film the next round with the library's HD camera, which may provide a better and more consistent quality of video. We also may look at purchasing an external microphone for better and more consistent sound.
2. We recorded this round in our teen office with the blank wood wall background, but I'd love to look into recording videos in our teen and children's rooms so that kids can see the areas of the library they'd be using.
3. We talked about making our presentations a little more uniform - each starting the same way, maybe making our intros more consistent.
4. We talked about adding a title screen with the season and grade on it to differentiate once we have a more extensive library of videos.
I'm not sure if it will be possible to offer these videos monthly at some point. We're going to start out attempting them quarterly and see what the response is. Compared to the hours and hours we spent driving to and visiting schools, repeating booktalks over and over to reach all the classes at a school, this is MUCH less time-consuming. I think we'll get better at it (recording videos, editing, etc.) as we get more experience, so it's possible it will take even less time as we continue.
So the question will be: are the videos decently effective at reaching our teachers and students? And time will just have to tell on that one. We'll keep an eye on how many times the videos are viewed and how the books check out, plus consider any feedback we get from teachers. Ideally, I'd love to also be able to visit the schools in person at least once a year and that might give our videos more impact. We'll see!
Have you ever recorded video booktalks? What tips and tricks do you have to share? Or what questions do you have about how we did ours?
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Added to the Booktalking Roster #2
I love developing new booktalks to share with our students at our monthly booktalking outreach. A few months ago, I posted about some books I added to my booktalking roster this year and now I thought it was time to update you once again about which books I'm excited to be talking up to kids.
All the Answers by Kate Messner (Bloomsbury Children's, 2015).
Booktalk: Ava Anderson is a worrier. She’s always asking herself “what if?” What if the girls at her lunch table don’t like her? What if she bombs the jazz band audition? What if her parents get divorced?
And don’t even talk to her about tests. Even though she studies, even though she knows that she knows the answers, Ava is terrible at tests. She gets so worried and worked up that her mind goes blank and all the test answers fall out of her head.
But all of this changes when Ava discovers a magic pencil that will tell her the answers to every test. It’s just an old pencil she found in the junk drawer, but its powers are enormous. Before long Ava and her best friend Sophie are trying out other kinds of questions on the pencil. It can tell them which boys like Sophie. It can tell them what their favorite celebrity is doing right at this moment. It can even tell them what color underpants their math teacher is wearing!
But is it right to use the magic pencil to find out all the answers? What do you think? If you had a pencil that would tell you the answers, would YOU use it? Find out what Ava does in All the Answers by Kate Messner.
I'll booktalk it to: Grades 4-6.
Why it's awesome: What kid wouldn't love a magic pencil that helped them with tests?! It's always interesting to see what a group of kids will say when you ask if they would use a magic pencil. The premise of this book is an intriguing one for kids.
Anna Banana and the Friendship Split by Anica Rissi (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015).
This is a realistic story that’s sometimes funny and sometimes serious. If you like Judy Moody or Clementine, I think you would like the Anna Banana books. And if you like this book, there are two more Anna Banana books that we have at the library!
Hoodoo by Ronald Smith (Clarion Books, 2015).
Booktalk:
Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a hoodoo family, one of the many families in the Southern woods that practice folk magick. Called Hoodoo because of the heart-shaped birthmark that appears on his cheek, he has always been curious about the conjuring that goes on in his family, but he’s never been able to conjure himself. His grandmother tells him that he must really believe to be able to do it, but so far nothing’s working.
Then a mysterious Stranger appears in the woods and starts showing up in Hoodoo’s dreams. And strange things start happening in the woods. Someone starts digging up graves and cutting off the hands of the corpses. And a crow appears to Hoodoo and talks to him, telling him that he must rid the woods of this Stranger or else bring certain doom down upon his family.
So Hoodoo has to figure out who this Stranger is, why he’s there, why Hoodoo is the only one who can defeat him and HOW he’s going to do that (because remember, Hoodoo’s magic isn’t working yet). If you like a super creepy, atmospheric story, this is the book for you.
The Lunch Witch by Deb Lucke (Papercutz, 2015).
I heard she doesn’t say ‘Do you want fries with that?’ She says ‘Do you want flies with that?’ I heard she pulls the legs off spiders and uses them for blueberries. Don’t eat the meatloaf: it’s made from pencil shavings from all the school’s pencil sharpeners.
Believe everything you hear. The new lunch lady at Salem Elementary is a witch. Grunhilda the Black Heart, to be exact, and she’s dying to serve you curdled milk and the most disgusting concoctions you can imagine.
You see, it turns out that there just aren’t a lot of career opportunities for a witch anymore. No one wants to buy her potions, she can’t stand working at the fake haunted house, and there are no listings in the classifieds for “hags” or “crones”.
So it’s to the school cafeteria Grunhilda goes. And she LOVES her new job.
So when one of the students finds out she’s a witch and threatens to tell unless Grunhilda makes her a potion to become smart, Grunhilda has to play along… even if it means doing something nice for someone and really ticking off her ancestors. Things are about to get out of control at Salem Elementary.
If you like a book that’s darkly funny and has a little bit of a gross out factor, this is the book for you.
All the Answers by Kate Messner (Bloomsbury Children's, 2015).
Booktalk: Ava Anderson is a worrier. She’s always asking herself “what if?” What if the girls at her lunch table don’t like her? What if she bombs the jazz band audition? What if her parents get divorced?
And don’t even talk to her about tests. Even though she studies, even though she knows that she knows the answers, Ava is terrible at tests. She gets so worried and worked up that her mind goes blank and all the test answers fall out of her head.
But all of this changes when Ava discovers a magic pencil that will tell her the answers to every test. It’s just an old pencil she found in the junk drawer, but its powers are enormous. Before long Ava and her best friend Sophie are trying out other kinds of questions on the pencil. It can tell them which boys like Sophie. It can tell them what their favorite celebrity is doing right at this moment. It can even tell them what color underpants their math teacher is wearing!
But is it right to use the magic pencil to find out all the answers? What do you think? If you had a pencil that would tell you the answers, would YOU use it? Find out what Ava does in All the Answers by Kate Messner.
I'll booktalk it to: Grades 4-6.
Why it's awesome: What kid wouldn't love a magic pencil that helped them with tests?! It's always interesting to see what a group of kids will say when you ask if they would use a magic pencil. The premise of this book is an intriguing one for kids.
Anna Banana and the Friendship Split by Anica Rissi (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015).
Booktalk:
Anna has two favorite things: her best friend Sadie and her dog Banana. Anna loves that Sadie is always coming up with really good ideas, like her idea for Anna to have a picnic birthday party. And when it rained on Anna’s birthday, Sadie saved the day by suggesting they have the picnic inside and even bringing a handful of plastic ants.
But at Anna’s birthday party, Anna and Sadie get into a big fight. Suddenly Sadie is acting like Anna’s best ENEMY, not her best friend. Anna’s not really sure what to do, but she knows that she needs to save her friendship with Sadie.
So Anna comes up with a plan. A plan to save her friendship. But what if Sadie doesn’t want their friendship to be saved?
But at Anna’s birthday party, Anna and Sadie get into a big fight. Suddenly Sadie is acting like Anna’s best ENEMY, not her best friend. Anna’s not really sure what to do, but she knows that she needs to save her friendship with Sadie.
So Anna comes up with a plan. A plan to save her friendship. But what if Sadie doesn’t want their friendship to be saved?
This is a realistic story that’s sometimes funny and sometimes serious. If you like Judy Moody or Clementine, I think you would like the Anna Banana books. And if you like this book, there are two more Anna Banana books that we have at the library!
I'll booktalk this to: 3rd graders
Why it's awesome: This is a sweet early chapter book with a lot of depth to the story. The plot will resonate with elementary students who are navigating tricky friendships themselves. Also, a wiener dog named Banana? Awesome.
Big Top Burning by Laura Woollett (Chicago Review Press, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Big Top Burning here!
I'll booktalk it to: 5th grade and up.
Why it's awesome: It's a thrilling adventure story and a true historical mystery. I suggest this one to kids who have grown up a bit from the I Survived series and enjoy a fast-paced survival story.
Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2012).
Booktalk:
I LOVE to watch gymnastics at the Summer Olympics and that’s one of the things I’m most excited for this summer.
Joey Jordan has known what she wants to do with her life since she was a little kid. She wants to follow in her big sister’s footsteps and become the gymnastics National Champion. But then she’s NOT going to do what her sister did, which was QUIT right when she was on top. Joey has her eyes on the prize - a National Championship and then Olympic gold.
But Joey will have to deal with some distractions this summer. Her best friend who was always by her side in gymnastics class has gotten really moody and Joey is worried she’s going to quit the team. How can she face Regionals without Alex by her side? And an old friend has moved back to town this summer and Tanner has gotten SUPER CUTE. How is Joey supposed to concentrate on practice when she keeps picturing Tanner’s smile?
Does Joey have what it takes to take the gold at Regionals at the end of the summer and move on to the National competition?
If you love to do or watch gymnastics, this might be the perfect book to hold you over until the Olympic games start this summer.
I'll booktalk it to: 5th-7th grades.
Why it's awesome: This is a new-to-me backlist title, but with the Summer Olympics coming up this summer, it's a great choice to booktalk this year. There are plenty of gymnastics details to please kids who do or watch gymnastics and there's also a gentle romance and friendship story that will have wide appeal.
The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins by Sandra Markle (Lerner, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Great Monkey Rescue here!
I'll booktalk it to: 3rd -5th grades.
Why it's awesome: Hello, look at the cute monkey on the front. Animal books are very popular and this book is a great combination of animal info and real-life science as scientists try to figure out how to save these cute monkeys from extinction. The photos of monkeys sell themselves!
Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth by Judd Winick (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2015).
Booktalk:
DJ’s life is pretty boring. He lives in Berke County where nothing ever changes, including him. His brothers and sisters are all super talented and involved in tons of activities, but DJ mostly hangs out by himself after his best friend Gina moved away.
But then one day, DJ sees a fiery streak in the sky and something crashing to earth. [Show page 16-17] When he investigates, he meets Hilo. [Show pages 18-19] Hilo comes from somewhere else, but his memory was damaged in the crash, so he’s not exactly sure where he comes from or what he’s meant to do.
Life with Hilo is kind of crazy. One of my favorite funny things in this book is that when DJ meets Hilo, Hilo surprises him and DJ screams “AAAHHH!” and then Hilo thinks that’s the way that you greet new people on this planet. So when Hilo meets someone new, instead of saying hello, he says “AAHH!!”
Between letting a raccoon loose in the school office and drinking the salad dressing when he comes over for dinner, DJ has to keep a close eye on Hilo.
And little by little, Hilo starts remembering things and figuring out why he’s come to this planet.[Show page 142] Something named Razorwark is on the way and will spell doom for the entire planet, unless Hilo can figure out how to defeat him.
If you like funny adventure stories and comic books, this is a great choice for you.
Read my booktalk for Big Top Burning here!
I'll booktalk it to: 5th grade and up.
Why it's awesome: It's a thrilling adventure story and a true historical mystery. I suggest this one to kids who have grown up a bit from the I Survived series and enjoy a fast-paced survival story.
Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2012).
Booktalk:
I LOVE to watch gymnastics at the Summer Olympics and that’s one of the things I’m most excited for this summer.
Joey Jordan has known what she wants to do with her life since she was a little kid. She wants to follow in her big sister’s footsteps and become the gymnastics National Champion. But then she’s NOT going to do what her sister did, which was QUIT right when she was on top. Joey has her eyes on the prize - a National Championship and then Olympic gold.
But Joey will have to deal with some distractions this summer. Her best friend who was always by her side in gymnastics class has gotten really moody and Joey is worried she’s going to quit the team. How can she face Regionals without Alex by her side? And an old friend has moved back to town this summer and Tanner has gotten SUPER CUTE. How is Joey supposed to concentrate on practice when she keeps picturing Tanner’s smile?
Does Joey have what it takes to take the gold at Regionals at the end of the summer and move on to the National competition?
If you love to do or watch gymnastics, this might be the perfect book to hold you over until the Olympic games start this summer.
I'll booktalk it to: 5th-7th grades.
Why it's awesome: This is a new-to-me backlist title, but with the Summer Olympics coming up this summer, it's a great choice to booktalk this year. There are plenty of gymnastics details to please kids who do or watch gymnastics and there's also a gentle romance and friendship story that will have wide appeal.
The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins by Sandra Markle (Lerner, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Great Monkey Rescue here!
I'll booktalk it to: 3rd -5th grades.
Why it's awesome: Hello, look at the cute monkey on the front. Animal books are very popular and this book is a great combination of animal info and real-life science as scientists try to figure out how to save these cute monkeys from extinction. The photos of monkeys sell themselves!
Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth by Judd Winick (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2015).
Booktalk:
DJ’s life is pretty boring. He lives in Berke County where nothing ever changes, including him. His brothers and sisters are all super talented and involved in tons of activities, but DJ mostly hangs out by himself after his best friend Gina moved away.
But then one day, DJ sees a fiery streak in the sky and something crashing to earth. [Show page 16-17] When he investigates, he meets Hilo. [Show pages 18-19] Hilo comes from somewhere else, but his memory was damaged in the crash, so he’s not exactly sure where he comes from or what he’s meant to do.
Life with Hilo is kind of crazy. One of my favorite funny things in this book is that when DJ meets Hilo, Hilo surprises him and DJ screams “AAAHHH!” and then Hilo thinks that’s the way that you greet new people on this planet. So when Hilo meets someone new, instead of saying hello, he says “AAHH!!”
Between letting a raccoon loose in the school office and drinking the salad dressing when he comes over for dinner, DJ has to keep a close eye on Hilo.
And little by little, Hilo starts remembering things and figuring out why he’s come to this planet.[Show page 142] Something named Razorwark is on the way and will spell doom for the entire planet, unless Hilo can figure out how to defeat him.
If you like funny adventure stories and comic books, this is a great choice for you.
I'll booktalk it to: 3rd-6th grade.
Why it's awesome: It's laugh-out-loud funny and a superhero adventure story and the next Hilo book is coming out in May.
Hoodoo by Ronald Smith (Clarion Books, 2015).
Booktalk:
Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a hoodoo family, one of the many families in the Southern woods that practice folk magick. Called Hoodoo because of the heart-shaped birthmark that appears on his cheek, he has always been curious about the conjuring that goes on in his family, but he’s never been able to conjure himself. His grandmother tells him that he must really believe to be able to do it, but so far nothing’s working.
Then a mysterious Stranger appears in the woods and starts showing up in Hoodoo’s dreams. And strange things start happening in the woods. Someone starts digging up graves and cutting off the hands of the corpses. And a crow appears to Hoodoo and talks to him, telling him that he must rid the woods of this Stranger or else bring certain doom down upon his family.
So Hoodoo has to figure out who this Stranger is, why he’s there, why Hoodoo is the only one who can defeat him and HOW he’s going to do that (because remember, Hoodoo’s magic isn’t working yet). If you like a super creepy, atmospheric story, this is the book for you.
I'll booktalk it to: 5th & 6th grades.
Why it's awesome: This book is super creepy and we have a ton of scary story fans.
The Lunch Witch by Deb Lucke (Papercutz, 2015).
Booktalk:
I heard she doesn’t say ‘Do you want fries with that?’ She says ‘Do you want flies with that?’ I heard she pulls the legs off spiders and uses them for blueberries. Don’t eat the meatloaf: it’s made from pencil shavings from all the school’s pencil sharpeners.
Believe everything you hear. The new lunch lady at Salem Elementary is a witch. Grunhilda the Black Heart, to be exact, and she’s dying to serve you curdled milk and the most disgusting concoctions you can imagine.
You see, it turns out that there just aren’t a lot of career opportunities for a witch anymore. No one wants to buy her potions, she can’t stand working at the fake haunted house, and there are no listings in the classifieds for “hags” or “crones”.
So it’s to the school cafeteria Grunhilda goes. And she LOVES her new job.
So when one of the students finds out she’s a witch and threatens to tell unless Grunhilda makes her a potion to become smart, Grunhilda has to play along… even if it means doing something nice for someone and really ticking off her ancestors. Things are about to get out of control at Salem Elementary.
If you like a book that’s darkly funny and has a little bit of a gross out factor, this is the book for you.
I'll booktalk it to: 4th-6th grade.
Why it's awesome: This graphic novel is gross and funny and unlike anything I've ever read before. Kids who are looking for something a little odd will really love it.
So, that's what I've been booktalking this winter. Check out what else is on the Booktalking Roster:
And what awesome books have YOU been booktalking lately??
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Added to the Booktalking Roster #1
The great thing about booktalking each school year is that we can repeat a lot of the books for different schools and for the new groups of kids we'll see as they're rising up through the grades. But it's always great to add new titles and keep things fresh (and expose teachers to new books they might not know about yet!).
As I'm reading, I'm always taking note of books that I'd like to add to my booktalking roster. These are books I'm super excited to share with kids and know I will enjoy booktalking. If we can, I like to order multiple copies of these titles so that we ensure we have enough copies when we share them with, say, hundreds of middle schoolers or if we have three third grade teachers who all want the books checked out to their classroom.
Here are some 2015 books I'm adding to my booktalking roster for the 2015-2016 school year:
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip Hoose (Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Boys Who Challenged Hitler here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 7 and up.
Why it's awesome: This is an edge-of-your-seat true adventure story about kids who resisted the Nazi regime in Denmark. World War II stories are perennially popular and this is one that our kids may not be familiar with.
Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Enchanted Air here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: I'm on a quest to booktalk memoirs to one of our middle schools because the kids last year said they didn't like memoirs. I think they just need to know about the great memoirs that are out there! This is a beautifully written book, reminiscent of last year's Brown Girl Dreaming, which was a booktalking hit with last year's students.
Harriet the Invincible (Hamster Princess #1) by Ursula Vernon (Dial Books, 2015).
Booktalk coming soon!
I'll booktalk it to grades: 3-6.
Why it's awesome: This highly illustrated story will appeal to young comics fans, it's super funny, and it features a kick-butt princess heroine.
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (Algonquin Young Readers, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Jumbies here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: Our kids can't get enough scary stories and this one fits the bill nicely. It's a great readalike for The Doll Bones by Holly Black, which has already been a hit with our upper elementary students.
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm (Scholastic, 2015).
Booktalk coming soon!
I'll booktalk it to grades 4-6.
Why it's awesome: Jenni Holm has a built-in fan base, comic books are always a hit, and I think this newest book will be an especially big hit with Raina Telgemeier's many fans.
Terrible Typhoid Mary by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Terrible Typhoid Mary here.
I'll booktalk it to grades 5-8.
Why it's awesome: This is gripping nonfiction that reads like fiction and will keep readers on the edge of their seat. I'm always looking for nonfiction to booktalk and this is a great choice for middle schoolers.
Tiger Boy by Mitali Perkins (Charlesbridge, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Tiger Boy here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: This book is a great choice for young animal lovers, and it's a shorter chapter book that will still appeal to our younger middle school students. I feel like I always bring these BIG THICK books, so it'll be nice to have a slimmer book in my repertoire for the upper elementary set.
The Way Home Looks Now by Wendy Wan-Long Shang (Scholastic, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Way Home Looks Now here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: This is a story with plenty of sports action that will please our many baseball fans. It's also a touching family story and parts of it are based on events from the author's childhood.
I'd like to make this a regular feature and share books I'm excited to booktalk, so look for more posts like this soon!
How about you? Any books you're super excited to booktalk or share with kids this school year??
ETA: More posts in this series:
Added to the Booktalking Roster #2 (January 2016)
As I'm reading, I'm always taking note of books that I'd like to add to my booktalking roster. These are books I'm super excited to share with kids and know I will enjoy booktalking. If we can, I like to order multiple copies of these titles so that we ensure we have enough copies when we share them with, say, hundreds of middle schoolers or if we have three third grade teachers who all want the books checked out to their classroom.
Here are some 2015 books I'm adding to my booktalking roster for the 2015-2016 school year:
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip Hoose (Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Boys Who Challenged Hitler here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 7 and up.
Why it's awesome: This is an edge-of-your-seat true adventure story about kids who resisted the Nazi regime in Denmark. World War II stories are perennially popular and this is one that our kids may not be familiar with.
Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Enchanted Air here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: I'm on a quest to booktalk memoirs to one of our middle schools because the kids last year said they didn't like memoirs. I think they just need to know about the great memoirs that are out there! This is a beautifully written book, reminiscent of last year's Brown Girl Dreaming, which was a booktalking hit with last year's students.
Harriet the Invincible (Hamster Princess #1) by Ursula Vernon (Dial Books, 2015).
Booktalk coming soon!
I'll booktalk it to grades: 3-6.
Why it's awesome: This highly illustrated story will appeal to young comics fans, it's super funny, and it features a kick-butt princess heroine.
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (Algonquin Young Readers, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Jumbies here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: Our kids can't get enough scary stories and this one fits the bill nicely. It's a great readalike for The Doll Bones by Holly Black, which has already been a hit with our upper elementary students.
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm (Scholastic, 2015).
Booktalk coming soon!
I'll booktalk it to grades 4-6.
Why it's awesome: Jenni Holm has a built-in fan base, comic books are always a hit, and I think this newest book will be an especially big hit with Raina Telgemeier's many fans.
Terrible Typhoid Mary by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Terrible Typhoid Mary here.
I'll booktalk it to grades 5-8.
Why it's awesome: This is gripping nonfiction that reads like fiction and will keep readers on the edge of their seat. I'm always looking for nonfiction to booktalk and this is a great choice for middle schoolers.
Tiger Boy by Mitali Perkins (Charlesbridge, 2015).
Read my booktalk for Tiger Boy here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: This book is a great choice for young animal lovers, and it's a shorter chapter book that will still appeal to our younger middle school students. I feel like I always bring these BIG THICK books, so it'll be nice to have a slimmer book in my repertoire for the upper elementary set.
The Way Home Looks Now by Wendy Wan-Long Shang (Scholastic, 2015).
Read my booktalk for The Way Home Looks Now here.
I'll booktalk it to grades: 4-6.
Why it's awesome: This is a story with plenty of sports action that will please our many baseball fans. It's also a touching family story and parts of it are based on events from the author's childhood.
I'd like to make this a regular feature and share books I'm excited to booktalk, so look for more posts like this soon!
How about you? Any books you're super excited to booktalk or share with kids this school year??
ETA: More posts in this series:
Added to the Booktalking Roster #2 (January 2016)
Monday, July 20, 2015
Back into the Booktalking Swing of Things
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Booktalking Redux
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| Photo by Book Aid International |
It's been a magical year of booktalking at our local schools! I posted last fall about getting in to our local schools for booktalks, and now that we're wrapping up our first booktalking year, I wanted to post about how things have gone this year.
We ended up with 18 grades at 9 schools that we saw monthly (or regularly - one group had us come every six weeks when their language arts unit changed). This includes the 5th & 6th grades at our middle schools and our teen librarians visited the 7th & 8th grades there, as well. We saw different combinations of grades for a total of 12 monthly visits each month. Some of these visits were as short as 15-20 minutes and some of them lasted as long as 3.5 hours, depending on the numbers of classes and groups we saw.
For example, we visited one 4th grade class at one of our private schools for just one presentation, about 15 minutes at the end of their school day, each month. At one of our middle schools, we visited twice a month and saw 6-8 groups for 15 minutes apiece at each visit in order to get all the 5th/6th grade classes in.
Typically, we see each class (or group of classes) for 15-20 minutes, during which time we can share 5-6 books. We always try to keep a balance between genres and formats and we always include diverse books. This year, we saw kids ranging from 1st to 6th grade. Some of the teachers asked to check out the books we were bringing in school collections, some did not.
We were lucky this year that we had the collection budget to order multiple copies of the books we were bringing if teachers wanted to check out the books for their classes. Unfortunately, next year it looks like we may not have the money to do that, but we're brainstorming ways that we can still make it work. The good news is that we can reuse some of the books that we brought this year (but we have to be a little careful about that - if the 2nd grade team used a book that we also used for 3rd grade, that wouldn't be one we would repeat this year). That's going to be the biggest challenge for the 5th/6th grade groups we saw since we won't be able to repeat any of those books.
I scheduled certain staff members to visit certain schools and we all pretty much saw the same groups each month. This allows the kids to get to know their librarians and the librarians to get to know their kids. The way it's worked out is that I have a set of early elementary booktalkers and a set of older elementary/middle school booktalkers. We'll see how this pans out for next year when we may possibly have an increase in the number of programs we're asked to do.
All in all, it's been an extremely fun and valuable year. Many of our teachers have already asked if we will be doing the booktalking visits again next year, and I'm excited to see who will have us back and if we'll have any "new recruits".
As we are wrapping up with each group, I am sending out a wrap-up email explaining about scheduling for next year, including a book list of all the books we brought to them throughout the year and a link to a survey for teachers. I love to send out the book lists, which can be a great resource for kids as they're trying to find good books to read over the summer. We're slowly getting responses to the survey and we've been getting very positive feedback. It looks like the books we brought this past year were on-target for the age groups we were seeing and have been getting kids excited about reading and introducing teachers to new books.
Results:
1. We see kids in all the time, asking for books we have brought to their classrooms. The books are checking out.
2. Kids have gotten more excited about reading and teachers are being exposed to new books they didn't know about before. We heard from one middle school teacher who has used one of the books we introduced to develop a problem-solving lesson that her kids were super into. Huzzah!
3. Kids have a chance to connect with librarians and ask questions about the library. We have the opportunity to tell them how to get a library card, give an extra push for Summer Reading Club, or tell them about fun programs that are coming up.
Things We Have Learned:
1. May is too busy for Summer Reading Club school visits and a bunch of booktalking visits. Next year, we will do booktalks September through April (like the rest of our programming!) and maybe we can offer an extra visit in May to talk about and answer questions about the Summer Reading Club.
2. We're taking August off for scheduling. That was the most stressful part of last year for me - trying to take vacation in August when I was in the middle of scheduling a ton of booktalking visits. This year, I have let teachers know that we'll be in touch in August to schedule visits for the school year. I am going to take that month to get everything scheduled and then we'll be ready to go in September.
3. It's GREAT to be able to send teams of two to do the booktalks. Not only does it cut down on the number of books you have to prepare each month, but it makes it easier to get a nice balance of genres, formats, etc. This past year, I only sent one person to some of the smaller groups. Next year, I'll probably still send one person to these groups, but I am going to rotate so that it's not one person seeing the same group every month. We'll rotate between three or four of us, which will help make the workload more manageable and also result in more balanced presentations over the course of the year.
4. Send reminder emails!!! I have gotten into the habit of sending out a short reminder note a week before our visit. This allows us some time to put together School Collections if anyone has any special requests, time to reschedule if we need to make changes due to field trips, etc., and it's helped keep everyone on track. I copy the staff who will be doing the visit so that everyone's on the same page.
Now that I feel like we have a better handle on how booktalking programs can work for us and our teachers, I am really excited to schedule folks for booktalks next year!
Monday, March 23, 2015
Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian
One thing I love about my job is that every day is different! Last Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day!), here's what my day at work was like:
8:45am - Arrive at work, put stuff away, check email, touch base with staff member who is coordinating our upcoming volunteer luncheon.
9:00am - Print off staff schedules for the next couple of weeks, highlight upcoming programs and make notes about reminder emails I need to send.
9:15am - Set up program room for Mother Goose on the Loose - go over my books and songs, get out the bells, scarves, felt pieces, etc.
9:30am - Send reminder emails for this week’s booktalking programs and the programs coming up after spring break.
9:45am - Head out to Children’s Desk to wait for my babies to arrive. Everyone’s wearing green today!
10:00am - Mother Goose on the Loose. Today I read Higher, Higher by Leslie Patricelli and my favorite new song is Mama's Little Baby Loves Dancing, which I learned from the wonderful gals at Jbrary!
10:30am - Wind down storytime and bring out the toys for some play time.
10:40am - Time to clean up!
10:45am - Everyone’s out of the program room, I grab my stuff and put everything away. We have Toddler Time at 11am, so I have to get my stuff cleared out to make way.
11:00am - Get stuff together for this afternoon’s Afterschool storytime and booktalks. Put together my bags with books and crafts and practice my booktalks a few times.
11:20am - Put together a cart to order on Amazon - we need new foam blocks and I promised my staff a new pencil sharpener for the office.
11:40am - Work on some book carts and put in the PO requests for all my orders.
12:00pm - Time for lunch! During my lunch break, I start the fabulous debut novel The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart. (More on that at a later date.)
1:00pm - Back from lunch, place book orders.
1:05pm - Chat about our upcoming homeschool program with a potential volunteer. She is not able to help on that day, so I take some time to rethink my activity plans for that day.
1:30pm - Pull some books to fill up our Women’s History Month display.
1:40pm - Leave library and head to schools for a couple of outreach visits.
2:00pm - Booktalk to a class of fourth graders at one of our elementary schools.
I booktalk the following books:
The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs: A Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle
A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson by Michelle Y. Greene
Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor
The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus by Jen Bryant
2:30pm - Head to second school for Afterschool storytime.
3:00pm - Afterschool storytime for K-4th.
I read the following books:
Beware of the Frog by William Bee
Egg Drop by Mini Grey
This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
And I hand out small blank books made of printer paper stapled together and the kids make their own books. This craft has been a big hit with our afterschool kids. It's a big hit with me, too, since it is SO cheap and easy and it allows the kids to be creative. Win!
4:00pm - Arrive back at library, put stuff away, record stats for program and bring in a School Collection box to be checked in.
4:15pm - Open up box of Junior Library Guild books and evaluate for call numbers before I take them over to Technical Services.
4:30pm - Check mail and put a bunch of catalogs in the recycling bin. RSVP to the annual baby fair, which will be held at the local hospital in June.
4:50pm - Take the last few minutes of the day to clean off my desk - a tip I learned from Marge Loch-Waters’s youth services management class!
5:15pm - Time to go home!
8:45am - Arrive at work, put stuff away, check email, touch base with staff member who is coordinating our upcoming volunteer luncheon.
9:00am - Print off staff schedules for the next couple of weeks, highlight upcoming programs and make notes about reminder emails I need to send.
9:15am - Set up program room for Mother Goose on the Loose - go over my books and songs, get out the bells, scarves, felt pieces, etc.
9:30am - Send reminder emails for this week’s booktalking programs and the programs coming up after spring break.
9:45am - Head out to Children’s Desk to wait for my babies to arrive. Everyone’s wearing green today!
10:00am - Mother Goose on the Loose. Today I read Higher, Higher by Leslie Patricelli and my favorite new song is Mama's Little Baby Loves Dancing, which I learned from the wonderful gals at Jbrary!
10:30am - Wind down storytime and bring out the toys for some play time.
10:40am - Time to clean up!
10:45am - Everyone’s out of the program room, I grab my stuff and put everything away. We have Toddler Time at 11am, so I have to get my stuff cleared out to make way.
11:00am - Get stuff together for this afternoon’s Afterschool storytime and booktalks. Put together my bags with books and crafts and practice my booktalks a few times.
11:20am - Put together a cart to order on Amazon - we need new foam blocks and I promised my staff a new pencil sharpener for the office.
11:40am - Work on some book carts and put in the PO requests for all my orders.
12:00pm - Time for lunch! During my lunch break, I start the fabulous debut novel The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart. (More on that at a later date.)
1:00pm - Back from lunch, place book orders.
1:05pm - Chat about our upcoming homeschool program with a potential volunteer. She is not able to help on that day, so I take some time to rethink my activity plans for that day.
1:30pm - Pull some books to fill up our Women’s History Month display.
1:40pm - Leave library and head to schools for a couple of outreach visits.
2:00pm - Booktalk to a class of fourth graders at one of our elementary schools.
I booktalk the following books:
A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson by Michelle Y. Greene
Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor
The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus by Jen Bryant
2:30pm - Head to second school for Afterschool storytime.
3:00pm - Afterschool storytime for K-4th.
I read the following books:
Beware of the Frog by William Bee
Egg Drop by Mini Grey
This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
And I hand out small blank books made of printer paper stapled together and the kids make their own books. This craft has been a big hit with our afterschool kids. It's a big hit with me, too, since it is SO cheap and easy and it allows the kids to be creative. Win!
4:00pm - Arrive back at library, put stuff away, record stats for program and bring in a School Collection box to be checked in.
4:15pm - Open up box of Junior Library Guild books and evaluate for call numbers before I take them over to Technical Services.
4:30pm - Check mail and put a bunch of catalogs in the recycling bin. RSVP to the annual baby fair, which will be held at the local hospital in June.
4:50pm - Take the last few minutes of the day to clean off my desk - a tip I learned from Marge Loch-Waters’s youth services management class!
5:15pm - Time to go home!
Monday, November 17, 2014
The Booktalking Librarian
I've posted before about how our booktalking programs have exploded this year. We're now in the schools more than ever before and I'm LOVING it! Booktalking is truly one of my favorite things to do and I'm so glad to have the chance to do it more!
I have not been posting about my specific booktalking programs, in part because I've been super busy, but also because most of the books I'm sharing are Newbery-eligible and due to confidentiality guidelines, I don't feel right posting about them. But last week, I realized that almost all the titles I had brought to one school were not eligible, so I wanted to share with you how my booktalking program typically goes!
This particular visit was to 3 fourth grade classes at one of our local elementary schools. They combined all three classes in one room, so I only needed to do the presentation once. Some schools prefer to have us visit each classroom individually, which we are happy to do. Usually if we're doing multiple presentations, I try to send two people together so one person doesn't have to talk for 45+ minutes straight.
For this group, the teachers had asked me to bring nonfiction books, especially books that showed problem solving and cause & effect. This tied in with the unit they are doing in their class. Here's what I brought and a little about how I booktalk each one:
When Is a Planet Not a Planet?: The Story of Pluto by Elaine Scott (Clarion Books, 2007).
This is a book about Pluto, but it's also a book about how scientists find out information about space and the fact that scientists can be WRONG. In fact, scientists have been wrong lots of times, all throughout history! When I booktalk this book, I emphasize to kids that when I was their age, when their teacher was their age, Pluto was a planet! We were taught that there were nine planets in the solar system. We had never even heard of a dwarf planet! This gets lot of nods from teachers. At the end, I let them know that scientists are always finding out new information. Who knows what they'll discover next? And I bet there are some future scientists in this room, so who knows what one of YOU might discover next?
The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand New Colors by Chris Barton (Charlesbridge, 2009).
This picture book biography features two brothers who invented new colors. I tell the kids that one of my favorite kind of books is a book that tells me about something I never even thought to wonder about - just like this book! I read the first two spreads and talk a little bit about what Day-Glo colors are - usually several kids are wearing Day-Glo colors, so I can point that out. And I show them one of my favorite things about this book - the illustrations start out black & white in the beginning and as Bob & Joe begin experimenting, more and more color is added in until they have their breakthrough and I show them the spread that's entirely in Day-Glo colors.
Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean (Scholastic, 2012).
Stay is the story of ten dogs, yes, but it starts with a human. I tell the kids Luciano's story, how he was hurt at his job performing in the circus and he was determined to be able to perform in some way. He had the idea to train dogs to be in a circus act, but Luciano didn't want just any dogs; he wanted the dogs that nobody else wanted. Then I share the story of Penny with them (you could choose any of the dogs to share). This is an easy sell to dog-lovers (many kids are dog lovers!)
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson (Scholastic, 2012).
The Titanic is always a familiar subject to kids. It fascinates them! Some may have seen the movie, some may have read other books about The Titanic, but this book is different from any book I've ever read about The Titanic. Deborah Hopkinson uses real survivors' accounts to bring this story to life. Reading this book is like sailing on the ship alongside them. There are plenty of facts and anecdotes to share to entice kids to read this book, but I read a part from the beginning where Jenny, the ship's cat, decides to take her kittens off the ship, "one by one down the gangplank" before it sets sail from Southampton. It always gives me chills!
I Survived Five Epic Disasters by Lauren Tarshis (Scholastic, 2014). * The stories in this book had been previously published and are collected here for the first time. *
Here's another easy sell, particularly if you have fans of the I Survived series in your midst (chances are you do). While the I Survived books are fictional, here we get five true stories from actual survivors of disasters. When I booktalked this one, I mentioned the Children's Blizzard, the Boston Molasses Flood, and the Henryville tornado (which happened just a few miles from here in 2012!). This is a great pick for kids who love action and adventure stories or who are interested in learning about real disasters.
When my staff and I go booktalk, we always bring bookmarks with all the book covers, titles, and authors so that the kids can remember what book they heard about that sounded good. A lot of times, kids will bring these bookmarks in to the library. We keep extras at our desk, so if they didn't bring theirs with them, they can easily say "I have a bookmark like that!" and we'll know they're from a booktalking class.
We keep a record of what everyone's booktalking in our Evernote account, organized by school and grade, so it's really easy to look up what books a kid might have heard about at their school. If we're doing a longer program with more than 5-6 books, we'll make a book list handout for the kids. And we always give these to the teachers, too! I think our teachers enjoy and benefit from the booktalks just as much (sometimes more!) than the kids.
I have not been posting about my specific booktalking programs, in part because I've been super busy, but also because most of the books I'm sharing are Newbery-eligible and due to confidentiality guidelines, I don't feel right posting about them. But last week, I realized that almost all the titles I had brought to one school were not eligible, so I wanted to share with you how my booktalking program typically goes!
This particular visit was to 3 fourth grade classes at one of our local elementary schools. They combined all three classes in one room, so I only needed to do the presentation once. Some schools prefer to have us visit each classroom individually, which we are happy to do. Usually if we're doing multiple presentations, I try to send two people together so one person doesn't have to talk for 45+ minutes straight.
For this group, the teachers had asked me to bring nonfiction books, especially books that showed problem solving and cause & effect. This tied in with the unit they are doing in their class. Here's what I brought and a little about how I booktalk each one:
When Is a Planet Not a Planet?: The Story of Pluto by Elaine Scott (Clarion Books, 2007).
This is a book about Pluto, but it's also a book about how scientists find out information about space and the fact that scientists can be WRONG. In fact, scientists have been wrong lots of times, all throughout history! When I booktalk this book, I emphasize to kids that when I was their age, when their teacher was their age, Pluto was a planet! We were taught that there were nine planets in the solar system. We had never even heard of a dwarf planet! This gets lot of nods from teachers. At the end, I let them know that scientists are always finding out new information. Who knows what they'll discover next? And I bet there are some future scientists in this room, so who knows what one of YOU might discover next?
The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand New Colors by Chris Barton (Charlesbridge, 2009).
This picture book biography features two brothers who invented new colors. I tell the kids that one of my favorite kind of books is a book that tells me about something I never even thought to wonder about - just like this book! I read the first two spreads and talk a little bit about what Day-Glo colors are - usually several kids are wearing Day-Glo colors, so I can point that out. And I show them one of my favorite things about this book - the illustrations start out black & white in the beginning and as Bob & Joe begin experimenting, more and more color is added in until they have their breakthrough and I show them the spread that's entirely in Day-Glo colors.
Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean (Scholastic, 2012).
Stay is the story of ten dogs, yes, but it starts with a human. I tell the kids Luciano's story, how he was hurt at his job performing in the circus and he was determined to be able to perform in some way. He had the idea to train dogs to be in a circus act, but Luciano didn't want just any dogs; he wanted the dogs that nobody else wanted. Then I share the story of Penny with them (you could choose any of the dogs to share). This is an easy sell to dog-lovers (many kids are dog lovers!)
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson (Scholastic, 2012).
The Titanic is always a familiar subject to kids. It fascinates them! Some may have seen the movie, some may have read other books about The Titanic, but this book is different from any book I've ever read about The Titanic. Deborah Hopkinson uses real survivors' accounts to bring this story to life. Reading this book is like sailing on the ship alongside them. There are plenty of facts and anecdotes to share to entice kids to read this book, but I read a part from the beginning where Jenny, the ship's cat, decides to take her kittens off the ship, "one by one down the gangplank" before it sets sail from Southampton. It always gives me chills!
I Survived Five Epic Disasters by Lauren Tarshis (Scholastic, 2014). * The stories in this book had been previously published and are collected here for the first time. *
Here's another easy sell, particularly if you have fans of the I Survived series in your midst (chances are you do). While the I Survived books are fictional, here we get five true stories from actual survivors of disasters. When I booktalked this one, I mentioned the Children's Blizzard, the Boston Molasses Flood, and the Henryville tornado (which happened just a few miles from here in 2012!). This is a great pick for kids who love action and adventure stories or who are interested in learning about real disasters.
When my staff and I go booktalk, we always bring bookmarks with all the book covers, titles, and authors so that the kids can remember what book they heard about that sounded good. A lot of times, kids will bring these bookmarks in to the library. We keep extras at our desk, so if they didn't bring theirs with them, they can easily say "I have a bookmark like that!" and we'll know they're from a booktalking class.
We keep a record of what everyone's booktalking in our Evernote account, organized by school and grade, so it's really easy to look up what books a kid might have heard about at their school. If we're doing a longer program with more than 5-6 books, we'll make a book list handout for the kids. And we always give these to the teachers, too! I think our teachers enjoy and benefit from the booktalks just as much (sometimes more!) than the kids.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
The Magic Words: Getting Into the Schools for Booktalks
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| Image Credit: cleverclaire1983 |
And this year, I've hit upon the magic words to make it happen.
I LOVE booktalking. It was something I got to do on a regular basis at my previous library in Illinois; we had several regular programs set up with some of the schools up there. When I moved to my current library, I was eager to set up booktalking programs, but the marketing I was trying just didn't seem to work. No one seemed to be interested. What was up with that?!
Two things I learned helped us get started:
1. Teachers are super busy. My State Library Youth Services Coordinator, the awesome Suzanne Walker, suggested advertising "booktalking in as little as 15 minutes". That's what helped us get into the first school. One fourth grade teacher said, "I can spare 15 minutes of my language arts time for booktalks."
2. The word "booktalk" is jargon. Not everyone knows what it means. I kept shouting at everybody about doing booktalks, and it turns out they had no idea what I was talking about. Once I started adding a brief explanation (booktalks are brief previews of books, like movie theater trailers, designed to get kids interested and excited to pick up the books), interest shot WAY UP.
Knowing these things helped me get us into our first school. Last year, we visited the fourth grade classes at one of our local schools once a month. We spent 15 minutes in each classroom and found that we could comfortably booktalk 5 books in that amount of time.
It turns out that getting into one school and figuring out the nuts and bolts of how this type of program could work was the best thing to do.
This year, I approached principals about talking at a faculty meeting to tell teachers about the services we offer for teachers. I was able to give them some concrete examples of how booktalking programs can work. I made sure to take down email addresses of anyone interested in having us set up booktalks. I know teachers have a ton of things on their plate, so I took responsibility for getting the ball rolling.
And things snowballed from there!
Last year, we saw one grade at one school each month. This year, I have fifteen grades at six different schools on our schedule (so far!).
Guess what? Teachers talk! If you bring them something they like, they will tell other teachers! Some of these new groups are folks I have approached at faculty meetings, but we had several who came to us because they had heard about what we were doing.
And we're ready to handle them. I've been laying the groundwork for this by establishing our Reading Wildly staff readers' advisory program. Each month, my staff members have been sharing booktalks with each other, so they already have an arsenal to choose from. To start with, I'm scheduling booktalks in pairs. As everyone gets more booktalking experience, we may be able to break up the teams and schedule individuals instead of pairs.
(Although... being able to send staff in pairs is really nice. Not only does it cut down on the amount of prep each person has to do, it gives kids and teachers two different styles of booktalkers. It's also easier to get a balance of different types of books when two people who potentially gravitate towards different genres present together.)
I also shared with my staff some booktalking best practices. Read the book you're going to booktalk. The best booktalks are books you truly enjoy and are excited to share with kids. Even if a book's not your personal favorite, if you can get excited thinking about the kind of kid who would like this book, it's a good choice. And bringing balanced selections - including nonfiction, graphic novels, and diverse titles - is a must. We're seeing so many different kids and we want to make sure that every kid is seeing something they like at some point.
I encourage my staff to leave a minute or two at the end of their visit to get feedback from the kids and find out what books THEY recommend so we can get an idea of their tastes and better tailor our booktalks.
As I'm scheduling groups, I'm trying to say YES as much as possible. It's most important to me to start fostering a better relationship with our schools and teachers. We'll figure out details as we go along. I recommend booktalks for grades 2 and up, but if teachers of younger grades want us to come and do something, we'll brainstorm some program ideas. It sounded overwhelming to booktalk to the entire 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades at one middle school, but we're making it work.
And what I've found is that as we divide up groups between staff members and as we all start planning, things are coming together. So far, scheduling has been the hardest part (and that's maybe because we just switched to a new software and I'm terrified something's going to fall through the cracks).
And thus begins our journey into the schools. May it be long and positive for all parties!
Thursday, September 5, 2013
15 Minutes for Booktalks @ the @ALSCBlog
Yesterday, I was over at the ALSC Blog talking about how we've brought monthly booktalks to the fourth graders at one of our elementary schools, taking just 15 minutes a month of their literacy time! Click through to see how it works for us!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
I love booktalking. That is all.
Last week, we had another visit from one of the daycares that is bringing kids to the library this summer. It's been a bit of a learning curve for both their group and for us, trying to figure out how to make the visits go smoothly, but I think we're finally figuring it out. I'm glad they scheduled several visits over the summer because each one is getting better (and because the kids are checking out and reading some really cool books!).
The group consists of anywhere from 20-40 kids ranging in age from Kindergartners to 7th graders, so when they arrive we split them into two groups. We do a storytime program for the younger group (we suggested K-3rd grade) and then booktalks for the older group (4th-7th grade, or however they want to split it up).
I've been booktalking for the older group and I posted about what I had booktalked for them before. This time around, I was quite excited to be booktalking for the group again. I had a better idea of who my audience would be so I could select books catered to their needs. I was also excited to incorporate book trailers to change things up a bit (and to give my voice a break, honestly).
Here's what I booktalked this time around:
Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale. I knew they'd snatch this one up since Rapunzel's Revenge had been a hit on their first visit.
Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to NOT Reading by Tom Greenwald. This is a great funny book for non-readers and readers alike. Hand it to your Wimpy Kid fans.
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems by Douglas Florian. I booktalk this one by reading the Pluto poem. 'Nuff said.
Greetings From Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor. I showed the book trailer for this one! One of my favorites:
Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka. There are so many great passages to read, but my favorite is the one where they pee on the space heater (the end of Chapter 3, I believe).
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jenni Holm. The cool graphic format sells itself!
Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer. My kids love fairy tales, so it's hard to say whether the subject matter or the poetic structure was a bigger draw.
Mythlopedia: She's All That and Mythlopedia: What a Beast. This is a popular series in our Children's Room.
No Talking by Andrew Clements. I end this booktalk by asking the kids who they think would win the no-talking contest, the boys or the girls?
Shark Life by Peter Benchley. This is one of my very favorite boy books. Written by the author of Jaws, it's nonstop adventure shark diving with Peter Benchley. The kids are like "You had me at 'sharks'".
Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret. I showed them pictures of an iron lung to introduce this one. (PS: This is one of my go-to autobiographies when that assignment rolls around... It reads like fiction, which is a big draw for kids who aren't excited for biographies.)
Technically It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems by John Grandits. I show them what I mean by concrete poems and then read the title poem on the front cover. Hi-larious!
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke. I started the whole shebang by showing the book trailer for this book. Book trailers can be AWESOME for graphic novels because the art is such a big appeal factor.
Booktalking for this group has been really fun this summer and it's reminded me how much I love it. I did much more booktalking at my last library where we had some solid partnerships with the schools. I haven't yet connected with the right people to make booktalking happen at my current local schools, but remembering how much I love it makes me want to try harder this fall to make some connections and get in there
I love figuring out the "hook" of a book, that place in the plot where I can leave them hanging and wanting more... enough to check out the book and read it themselves to find out what happens. I'm excited by the idea of incorporating book trailers and multimedia to shake things up a little bit. When booktalking regularly, I'm inspired to keep up with the newest books hitting the shelves so that I always have some fresh material to pull forth. I'm also inspired to revisit some old favorites so that their plots and appeal elements are fresh in my head.
What are some of your favorite titles and how do you present them to kids?
The group consists of anywhere from 20-40 kids ranging in age from Kindergartners to 7th graders, so when they arrive we split them into two groups. We do a storytime program for the younger group (we suggested K-3rd grade) and then booktalks for the older group (4th-7th grade, or however they want to split it up).
I've been booktalking for the older group and I posted about what I had booktalked for them before. This time around, I was quite excited to be booktalking for the group again. I had a better idea of who my audience would be so I could select books catered to their needs. I was also excited to incorporate book trailers to change things up a bit (and to give my voice a break, honestly).
Here's what I booktalked this time around:
Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale. I knew they'd snatch this one up since Rapunzel's Revenge had been a hit on their first visit.Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to NOT Reading by Tom Greenwald. This is a great funny book for non-readers and readers alike. Hand it to your Wimpy Kid fans.
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems by Douglas Florian. I booktalk this one by reading the Pluto poem. 'Nuff said.
Greetings From Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor. I showed the book trailer for this one! One of my favorites:
Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka. There are so many great passages to read, but my favorite is the one where they pee on the space heater (the end of Chapter 3, I believe).
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jenni Holm. The cool graphic format sells itself!
Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer. My kids love fairy tales, so it's hard to say whether the subject matter or the poetic structure was a bigger draw.
Mythlopedia: She's All That and Mythlopedia: What a Beast. This is a popular series in our Children's Room.
No Talking by Andrew Clements. I end this booktalk by asking the kids who they think would win the no-talking contest, the boys or the girls?
Shark Life by Peter Benchley. This is one of my very favorite boy books. Written by the author of Jaws, it's nonstop adventure shark diving with Peter Benchley. The kids are like "You had me at 'sharks'".
Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret. I showed them pictures of an iron lung to introduce this one. (PS: This is one of my go-to autobiographies when that assignment rolls around... It reads like fiction, which is a big draw for kids who aren't excited for biographies.)
Technically It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems by John Grandits. I show them what I mean by concrete poems and then read the title poem on the front cover. Hi-larious!
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke. I started the whole shebang by showing the book trailer for this book. Book trailers can be AWESOME for graphic novels because the art is such a big appeal factor.
Booktalking for this group has been really fun this summer and it's reminded me how much I love it. I did much more booktalking at my last library where we had some solid partnerships with the schools. I haven't yet connected with the right people to make booktalking happen at my current local schools, but remembering how much I love it makes me want to try harder this fall to make some connections and get in there
I love figuring out the "hook" of a book, that place in the plot where I can leave them hanging and wanting more... enough to check out the book and read it themselves to find out what happens. I'm excited by the idea of incorporating book trailers and multimedia to shake things up a little bit. When booktalking regularly, I'm inspired to keep up with the newest books hitting the shelves so that I always have some fresh material to pull forth. I'm also inspired to revisit some old favorites so that their plots and appeal elements are fresh in my head.
What are some of your favorite titles and how do you present them to kids?
Monday, June 25, 2012
Summer Marches On
And so summer marches on... I got busy last week and I meant to post this, but it didn't happen. I just wanted to check in with how our summer's going.
We officially surpassed last year's total for Summer Reading Club signups last week. We have 2231 kids signed up in the Children's and Read-to-Me (under-2) clubs and we have 447 teens. Last year at the end of the summer, we "only" had 2119 kids in the Children's and Read-to-Me (not sure what the teen total was last year). And we have a good 5 weeks to go!
Hidden by Helen Frost
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
We'll take a little break from programming for the week of July 4. That's partially because the holiday makes scheduling our programs hard and we figure many families may be going out of town, and it's partially because we all need a little bit of a break in the middle of summer.
Hey, I loved Marge's post about some of the things she's done in her department to make Summer Reading LESS stressful for herself and her staff. We've done many of these same things in my department this year and last year. Having signups for the SRC going on for a couple of weeks before we start programming has made an amazing difference and this year we don't have a lot of programming scheduled during the last week of SRC either so we can accommodate all the kids coming in to collect prizes and enter the drawings for the last time.
And that's how my summer's marching on... How's yours going?
We officially surpassed last year's total for Summer Reading Club signups last week. We have 2231 kids signed up in the Children's and Read-to-Me (under-2) clubs and we have 447 teens. Last year at the end of the summer, we "only" had 2119 kids in the Children's and Read-to-Me (not sure what the teen total was last year). And we have a good 5 weeks to go!
True, things slow down for us in July when many of our families take vacations. And we've had great daycare participation this year. Every year, we have some daycares wanting to get their kids involved in Summer Reading Club, but it seems like we have had ALL THE DAYCARES this year. Later in July, I'm going to try to touch base with as many of those daycares as I can to see if we can encourage them to finish the club with their kids. As much as I love having so many children participating, I'd really love to see at least 50% finish (last year, 45% of the kids finished). I know that there are probably many families who do read enough to complete the requirements, but things come up and they forget to come back to the library or they lose their materials or any number of things...
Last week, we had a great visit from one of our daycamp groups. They brought about 30 kids and we did a storytime for the younger kids and booktalks for the older kids. I was in charge of booktalks for the older kids and they were truly a great group. I booktalked the following titles:
How Big Is It? by Ben Hillman **This was the runaway hit of the program and I was glad I saved it for last!**
How to Grow Up and Rule the World (Vordak the Incomprehensible) by Scott Seegert
Kampung Boy by Lat
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
Savvy by Ingrid Law
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson
They checked out almost everything I booktalked, although the daycamp leader was a little unsure about a couple of the titles I talked (notably A Tale Dark and Grimm, which she felt was not appropriate for their church facility). Nobody was upset. I had printed out lists for all the kids with all the titles so the girl who had wanted to check that title out could ask her parents to bring her back in later if she wants to check it out. Also, lesson learned for me: I'll be sure to evaluate my choices more closely for the next booktalking session I'm doing for them in a couple of weeks!
They checked out almost everything I booktalked, although the daycamp leader was a little unsure about a couple of the titles I talked (notably A Tale Dark and Grimm, which she felt was not appropriate for their church facility). Nobody was upset. I had printed out lists for all the kids with all the titles so the girl who had wanted to check that title out could ask her parents to bring her back in later if she wants to check it out. Also, lesson learned for me: I'll be sure to evaluate my choices more closely for the next booktalking session I'm doing for them in a couple of weeks!
We'll take a little break from programming for the week of July 4. That's partially because the holiday makes scheduling our programs hard and we figure many families may be going out of town, and it's partially because we all need a little bit of a break in the middle of summer.
Hey, I loved Marge's post about some of the things she's done in her department to make Summer Reading LESS stressful for herself and her staff. We've done many of these same things in my department this year and last year. Having signups for the SRC going on for a couple of weeks before we start programming has made an amazing difference and this year we don't have a lot of programming scheduled during the last week of SRC either so we can accommodate all the kids coming in to collect prizes and enter the drawings for the last time.
And that's how my summer's marching on... How's yours going?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Give the Gift of Reading
Last week, I did a presentation for my mom's women's group on great books to buy for kids this holiday season! I did brief booktalks for over 30 books that I love for kids of various ages. A lot of them are new this year, though some of them are favorites published within the last 10 years. I had a great audience of women who love and value reading, so it was a really fun program to do. Want to know my gift-giving choices? Here's my list:
(ETA: If the doc below looks like letters are missing, I have no idea why or what to do about it! Apologies!)
Give the Gift of Reading
(The list is embedded using Scridb. If you're viewing this in a blog reader, you may need to click through to see it. If you're not able to view it and would like a copy, shoot me an email and I'm happy to send it.)
A couple of notes about this list:
- I was asked to concentrate on picture books/easy readers and tweens, particularly boys.
- I included the Carl and Fancy Nancy readers to show my audience that some of kids' beloved picture books are also available as readers.
- I tried to include a fairly wide range of price-points, so you'll find some great stocking stuffers, as well as more expensive gift books.
And, of course, if you need more gift-giving ideas this holiday season, check out my Twelve Days of Giving (2009) and Twelve Days of Giving (2008), as well as MotherReader's Ways to Give a Book.
(ETA: If the doc below looks like letters are missing, I have no idea why or what to do about it! Apologies!)
Give the Gift of Reading
(The list is embedded using Scridb. If you're viewing this in a blog reader, you may need to click through to see it. If you're not able to view it and would like a copy, shoot me an email and I'm happy to send it.)
A couple of notes about this list:
- I was asked to concentrate on picture books/easy readers and tweens, particularly boys.
- I included the Carl and Fancy Nancy readers to show my audience that some of kids' beloved picture books are also available as readers.
- I tried to include a fairly wide range of price-points, so you'll find some great stocking stuffers, as well as more expensive gift books.
And, of course, if you need more gift-giving ideas this holiday season, check out my Twelve Days of Giving (2009) and Twelve Days of Giving (2008), as well as MotherReader's Ways to Give a Book.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
I'm Bloggin' About Women's History Books
Um, it totally slipped my mind that yesterday my guest post on Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month went up!
So go over there and check out my post on great women's history titles to booktalk!
So go over there and check out my post on great women's history titles to booktalk!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
You never stop being a librarian
I'm having my staff over for dinner tonight and of course the evening wouldn't be complete without a little booktalking:
(Notice my oh-so-classy coffee table - a wooden shelf on top of an Office Depot box!)
(Also, that book on the bottom right corner? That's a picture book I wrote and illustrated in the first grade. Hee.)
(Notice my oh-so-classy coffee table - a wooden shelf on top of an Office Depot box!)
(Also, that book on the bottom right corner? That's a picture book I wrote and illustrated in the first grade. Hee.)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Booktalks on Women's History
Happy Nonfiction Monday! L.L. Owens has got the roundup, so head over there to see what nonfiction the Kidlitosphere is reading this week.
I'm going to a school this week to do some booktalks and they requested some materials for Women's History Month. I did similar booktalks last year, but here's what I'm taking this year.
I'll Pass
for Your Comrade by Anita Silvey. During the Civil War, women were not allowed to fight, but many of them donned men's clothes and joined the army anyway. They had lots of reasons - some followed husbands or brothers, some wanted the bounty given to soldiers, and still others were so passionate about the cause that they felt compelled to do their part. In I'll Pass for Your Comrade, we learn how women disguised themselves, how they kept their secrets, and what happened to them if they were found out. The text is highly readable and it's accompanied by tons of great photos that bring these women to life. This is a great one for history buffs.
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone. As NASA dev
eloped the space program and planned to send (male) astronauts to the moon in the 1960s, there were 13 women who took and passed the same physical and psychological tests that the male astronauts took. The "Mercury 13", as these women were called, were not allowed to train as astronauts. Almost Astronauts tells the story of these extraordinary women and their fight for equal treatment. (FYI, the woman to go into space was Sally Ride in 1983.)
You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist: A Protest Movement That's Rougher Than You
Expected by Fiona MacDonald. Think you know about American women's fight for the right to vote? It may have been a lot rougher than you think! Women went to great lengths to make their voices heard. Some set fire to mailboxes or assaulted police officers; many spent time in jail. This cartoon history gives an overview of the struggle for suffrage and many of the women who fought for equal rights.
Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life and The Linco
lns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary, both by Candace Fleming. Okay, there are lots of biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and of Abraham Lincoln, but these books are pretty unique. They're each done in a scrapbook format, collecting lots of little stories and anecdotes like you might in a scrapbook. The thing I really like about this is that you can skip around and read the parts that interest you. Eleanor Roosevelt is obviously a very important woman in history. And I include a book about the Lincolns because Candace Fleming's written a book that puts the woman back into the story.
Looking for more books for Women's History Month? Check out the Amelia Bloomer Project and Wild Rose Reader's list of resources.
I'm going to a school this week to do some booktalks and they requested some materials for Women's History Month. I did similar booktalks last year, but here's what I'm taking this year.
I'll Pass
for Your Comrade by Anita Silvey. During the Civil War, women were not allowed to fight, but many of them donned men's clothes and joined the army anyway. They had lots of reasons - some followed husbands or brothers, some wanted the bounty given to soldiers, and still others were so passionate about the cause that they felt compelled to do their part. In I'll Pass for Your Comrade, we learn how women disguised themselves, how they kept their secrets, and what happened to them if they were found out. The text is highly readable and it's accompanied by tons of great photos that bring these women to life. This is a great one for history buffs.Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone. As NASA dev
eloped the space program and planned to send (male) astronauts to the moon in the 1960s, there were 13 women who took and passed the same physical and psychological tests that the male astronauts took. The "Mercury 13", as these women were called, were not allowed to train as astronauts. Almost Astronauts tells the story of these extraordinary women and their fight for equal treatment. (FYI, the woman to go into space was Sally Ride in 1983.)You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist: A Protest Movement That's Rougher Than You
Expected by Fiona MacDonald. Think you know about American women's fight for the right to vote? It may have been a lot rougher than you think! Women went to great lengths to make their voices heard. Some set fire to mailboxes or assaulted police officers; many spent time in jail. This cartoon history gives an overview of the struggle for suffrage and many of the women who fought for equal rights.Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life and The Linco
lns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary, both by Candace Fleming. Okay, there are lots of biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and of Abraham Lincoln, but these books are pretty unique. They're each done in a scrapbook format, collecting lots of little stories and anecdotes like you might in a scrapbook. The thing I really like about this is that you can skip around and read the parts that interest you. Eleanor Roosevelt is obviously a very important woman in history. And I include a book about the Lincolns because Candace Fleming's written a book that puts the woman back into the story.Looking for more books for Women's History Month? Check out the Amelia Bloomer Project and Wild Rose Reader's list of resources.
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