October Book Reviews for Young Children

We have hundreds of new books, both in print and ebook format, this month in the library!  A few of my favorite fiction and nonfiction titles that just arrived, include the ever-popular author/illustrator Eric Carle! 

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

An Amazon Best Books of the Month for October, the book recounts an early influence in Carle’s life.  A child paints the world as he sees it; in this case, a blue horse.  Discover your own inner artist as you enjoy yet another wonderful book by Eric Carle.

City Lullaby by Marilyn  Singer; illustrated by Carll Cneut

The many loud noises in a busy city can’t seem to awaken a sleeping baby, until the soft chirp of a sparrow.  Booklist notes that the author writes with “infectious, rhyming poetry.”

Grandma’s Records by Eric Velasquez

Eric spends the summer in Spanish Harlem with his grandmother, where she shares her old records and love of salsa music.  If you enjoyed his other book, Grandma’s Gift, be sure to check out this title, too. 

My Life in the Wild series by Animal Planet.  Cheetah and Penguin by Meredith Costain.

Examines the life cycle, behavior, habitat of popular animals but told in a narrative way.  



Incredible Journeys: Amazing Animal Migrations (Animal Planet) by Dwight Holing

Describes the migrations of different animals around the world, with fold-out charts of their travels and gorgeous pictures.  Included are the African wildebeest, the plains zebra, the American monarch butterfly, and Pacific bluefin tunas. 

Mom Knows Best!

Did you know that our library's collection management system, Follett Destiny Quest, allows parents to make important decisions on their child's book selection?  Perhaps you have a great young reader but he or she tends to select books a bit too "scary" or too mature in content?  Or, your child repeatedly selects books he can't read, and you are frustrated when he returns from the library.  Just let our librarian know, and a message can be displayed that only the librarian sees when your child goes to check out books. You can always reach the librarian via phone or email.   This way, we can be sure to remain sensitive to the needs and selection criteria for your family.  Because, a mom always knows what is best for her child! 

ALA Position Statement on the Value of Independent Reading in the School Library Program

There are so many things that can influence, good or bad, a child's reading development.  Having access to quality materials is one.  A library needs to stay up-to-date in its selection of quality, new, and award-winning materials at varying reading and interest levels.  At our library, we like to teach our young readers to narrow searches down by "interest level" instead of by "reading level."  It is exciting when a young child can read at or above grade-level!  However, not all fiction written for a particular grade/reading level is appropriate for the young reader.  Thus, we are excited to show them how to narrow their search results using Follett's Destiny Quest. 
Other important parts of the reading equation include the modeling of good reading habits at home, spending time with your child reading together, and the opportunity to spend independent time reading books that interest them, and are not necessarily required of them!  We foster independent reading opportunities in our library by an open-door/class pass policy.  Teachers can send a child in anytime during the school day to read and select materials.  We also offer Kindles in our collection for in-house, independent reading opportunities, loaded with age-appropriate titles.  After school, young students can come in with a parent to read and check out more books!
The following statement by the American Library Association is based on the Goals 2000 that make literacy important nationally.  Your library at Maclay School supports these goals, and seeks through our collection development and library programs to ensure your child gets the best opportunity for them to become life-long readers!

(A portion of the ALA statement)
To become life-long readers, students must have . . .

• access to current, quality, high interest, and extensive collections of books and other print materials in their school libraries, classrooms, and public libraries;
• contact with adults who read regularly and widely and who serve as positive reading role models;
• certified school librarians and classroom teachers who demonstrate their enthusiasm for reading by reading aloud and booktalking;
• time during the school day dedicated to reading for pleasure, information, and exploration;
• opportunities specifically designed to engage young people in reading;
• schools that create an environment where independent reading is valued, promoted, and encouraged; and
• opportunities that involve care givers, parents and other family members in reading.

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/positionstatements/valueindependent.cfm

Adult Titles: New for the Fall

Game Day:  Meet the People Who Make it Happen  by Kevin Sylvester

A behind-the-scenes look at the unsung heroes behind the star athletes in the world of sports. 

The Notorious Benedict Arnold:  A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery  by Steve Sheinkin

A fresh look at a famous American villian, the author recounts the tactical brillance, heroism, and adventurous nature of Benedict Arnold. 

A Nation Within a Nation:  Organizing African-American Communities Before the Civil War  by John Ernest

Examines the strong community organization, religion, and culture of antebellum slave life.  The author argues that the strength of this culture helped to define the 18th century African American living in both the North and South no less than slavery.

MS/US: New YA Novels

Purple Heart  by Patricia McCormick

A contemporary suspense novel set in wartime Iraq.  Private Matt Duffy awakens in a military hospital and must piece together the puzzle of events in his mind with the conflicting stories his friends are telling him.  Tackles the issues of war and heroism.

Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan

Book 7 in The Ranger's Apprentice series.  A mission to save their friend Erak leads to new challenges, allies, and foes.

Lower School: New Novels

Wonderstruck: a novel in words & pictures  by Brian Selznick

Following up on the success of his Caldecott book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Selznick uses the same picture-telling format to tell the tale of 2 stories set 50 years apart as young Ben seeks the father he never knew.

Torn  by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Book 4 in The Missing series, time-traveler siblings find themselves in the thick of a mutiny on Henry Hudson's ship in 1611.



Lower School: New E Books for the Fall :)

ZooZical  by Judy Sierra; illustrated by Marc Brown  
A hippo and kangaroo decide to beat the boredom of winter by staging an elaborate musical.

Kindergarten rocks!  by Katie Davis

Dexter Dugan thinks he is ready for kindergarten, but what if...?  A comforting look at first-day jitters for new students.

9 Things That Happen When You Read (a re-post)

I was so touched by this reading, that I had to re-post.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the Web 2.0 world that we forget all we gain from reading a book!This is a re-post from Book Browse: http://www.bookbrowse.com/blogs/editor/index.cfm/2011/9/25/9-Things-That-Happen-When-You-Read

1. We observe the general scene and follow the narrative. Whether action-filled or more literary, we read all novels the same way: seeking out the meaning and main idea.
2. We transform words into images in our mind, completing the novel as our imaginations picture what the words are telling us.
3. Part of our mind wonders how much is real experience and how much is imagination. "A third dimension of reality slowly begins to emerge within us: the dimension of the complex world of the novel."
4. We wonder if the novel depicts reality as we know it. Is this scene realistic, could this actually happen?
5. We enjoy the precision of analogies, the power of narrative, the way sentences build upon one another, the music of the prose.
6. We make moral judgments about the characters' behavior, and about the novelist for his own moral judgments by way of the characters' actions and their consequences.
7. We feel successful when we understand the text, and we come to feel as though it was written just for us.
8. Our memory works hard to keep track of all the details, and in a well-constructed novel, everything connects to everything.
9. We search for the secret center of the novel, convinced that there is one. We hunt for it like a hunter searches for meaningful signs in the forest.

From Orhan Pamuk's The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist (2009), which originated as a series of six public lectures at Harvard; abbreviated and paraphrased by Susan K. Perry, Ph.D. in Creating in Flow.

Library Server Upgrade Scheduled for September

We are upgrading our server this month to Follett's hosted service.  The implications for problem-solving technology issues are obvious: we will be able to solve issues quicker with a hosted database that allows us to work with Follett's wonderful technology team.  Current problem-solving is dependent on the speed of an already over-worked technology department.  As with most schools, our technology department is understaffed.  Any library issues, which are crucial to us, have to fall in line with all of the other needs across the campus.  

The professionalism of Follett is what motivated me to make this move.  I have dealt with Follett for over 15 years at various libraries, and have always been impressed with their support, solutions, and timeliness.  I lost the only library staff member I could rely on for data input and corrections, so those duties have fallen on me. I don't need to tell other librarians what my work load is now that school is back in session, including adminstrative duties, collection management, staff management, teaching and facilitation, and technology leadership on campus.   Knowing that I can count on Follett will make my life much easier.

I was assigned an Implementation Specialist who immediately set up a conference call to walk me through the process.  The total migration will close our data system down for 2 work days, with training on the 2nd day.  Again, the professional and timely manner in which this job is being handled, even though it isn't a large job like a school district library system, is top notch.  Looking forward to a quick migration from start to finish!

Early Issues with Flex Scheduling

While I remain positive that our move to flex scheduling will promote greater usage and real learning, there are issues our staff will need to address.  After the first 3 weeks, we sat down and came up with the following concerns:
1.  Classes coming "with the teacher" for group check out were more unruly than students coming in on passes without teacher supervision throughout the day.
2.  One library staff member was not making a clear job transition to the circulation desk, further blurring the line as to who was in charge of the class.
3.  Some teachers were simply sitting down and chatting, and ignoring their class behavior all together.

First, we must address our own responsibilities.  While a changing role in the library is difficult, moving from "library teaching assistant" to "library clerk" should run smoother, as we are all cross-trained in circulation duties.  Additionally, we contacted the school administrator to clearly define how a class should behave in the library.  For some reason, this was not a problem that we could forsee.  But, without clear supervision, children who always behaved beautifully in the library were running amock.  As with all library staffing in the current budget crunch, we are stretched thin.  But we can make this work by being proactive and addressing issues as they come up.  If we are to be a success at flex scheduling, we have to be more flexible, and give our patrons more support and "gentle guidance" as we make the change.

Flex library scheduling off to a great start

After the first week, I am already seeing advantages to our patrons after instituting a new flex schedule system for K-5 students.  The primary advantage is that we are seeing students more instead of less!  We have already brought all 18 classes through for an introductory/check out/privileges skill lesson.  This week, a teacher scheduled the library for actual social studies research instead of waiting for a library class.  That is real learning!  Another teacher has already brought her 2nd grade class for checkout time, and having her here with the students made a big difference in book/reading level selections.  Of course, the research in flex versus fixed scheduling describes the limitless opportunities for student/patrons that we are seeing unfold.  This program would not be possible without the support and "we'll try anything" attitude of our faculty! 

Refreshed and Refocused for the School Year!

I have just spent an exciting week of preplanning at our school.  There were major changes to the library program this year, most notably changing our K-5 classes from a fixed to flexible scheduling program.  I don't need to convince other librarians why this is a plus for our students (no more learning in isolation, more student higher learning skills) but convincing teachers was a worry for me.  Unfortunately, with cuts in library staffing and budgeting nationwide, the command to change came down from above.  I will speak more this year about our changes as they unfold, and the obstacles we did not anticipate.
My staff is renewed and excited, and after meetings all week with faculty, we are ready to open the doors and bring our students back!  This is always my favorite time of the year, when anything is possible!  Good luck to all the librarians re-opening their doors this month!

Summer Tweets

I finally set up a Twitter account this week!  My plan is to research how this can be used next year for my library.  One idea that comes to mind is to tweet new titles or events to students, parents, faculty, and alumni.  We'll see...
The first Tweets I elected to follow were more personal than professional, such as the USEF, USDF (I show horses), Auburn University Athletics (love Auburn sports), and of course, the Casey Anthony trial!  I am following one educational twitter account, Teachers 2.0.  I downloaded the free mobile app but it is not as user-friendly as the actual web page.  More to come on this new adventure!

Tweet Time

Last week I went to dinner with my oldest son, a junior at Florida State University.  He casually mentioned that he was now following an array of credible tweets in topics of interest to him.  I was proud and yet amazed how he could be so casual with a social networking tool that I was so methodical about?  A generational gap, to be sure!  My long, mapped out, Web 2.0 journey is part of his everyday life.  But, wasn't that the point of my professional journey;  that I need to utilize new ways to reach students and patrons who easily use these tools as just another part of their life?

The next few weeks I'll move into one of the final phases of my Web 2.0 journey;  tweeting.  First, I need to locate solid information on how tweeting, or microblogging library information, is beneficial to education as a whole and libraries in particular.  Next, I want to explore a specialized education tweet called Edmodo, which is another free tool for educators.  One of the most surprising parts of my journey so far is realizing that most every Web 2.0 tool I find exciting is FREE to educators!
So, its time to tweet!

Google Wonder Wheel

My favorite new tool is Google Wonder Wheel.  Wonder Wheel is a visual search feature.  For example, search "research in libraries."  On your results page, select Wonder Wheel on the left side and view your search results in a graphic organizer which includes suggested keyword search phrases.  Wonder Wheel is both visual and  narrows/refines your search for you!  Try it out!

Review of the various social bookmarking sites

I reviewed Delicious, Digg, Stumbleupon, Diigo, and CiteULike.  My favorite was Diigo because of its team-based features such as group sticky notes and forums, and a group tag dictionary.  I also was impressed with their awesome education groups you could join. 
Possible uses of social bookmarking in libraries is obvious:  bibliographies, quick and easy subject heading links, reader's advisory/information, etc.  For education, the major use that I see is creating protable reading lists and study-guide bibliographies.  It like the fact that a social bookmarking tool emphasizes browsing over searching, so it would be easier for patrons (students and teachers) to use.

Let's Play Tag!

Today is May 2nd, and its time to move on!  My next venture into Web 2.0 will be to experiment with tagging.  As a librarian, I see this as another branch of the cataloging-tree that we librarians are already so familiar with.  Is this merely another form of subject headings?  Another form of bibliography creation for our patrons?  And, most importantly, can tagging in any way enhance faculty collaboration and student learning?  To begin my journey, I armed myself with a professional reading article by Mary Ann Bell, in Multimedia & Internet Schools, Sept/Oct 2009; "Playing Tag Is Good For You!"
Lets play tag!!

Wiki-Wonderful!!

Discouraged by my recent post, I decided to search again for a library wiki worth contributing to.  I discovered Library Success:  A Best Practices Wiki, and jumped in!
I joined (whew!), studied up on wiki markup (the old follow-the-instructions-manual mentality), and contributed my first article today entitled Moving from Fixed to Flex Scheduling. 
Here is a to my article:  Moving from Fixed to Flex Scheduling

Week 4 and Wiki-confusion

My first attempt at exploring wikis beyond Wikipedia led me to a google search "libraries and wikis."  The results were so-so.  Although I found a few library wikis, and some that focused on school library issues, most had limited discussion.   I expanded my search to "schools and wikis" which located wikis that centered on the discussion of using social media to change online help desks for students.  I found a few school libraries that utilized the wiki format for book trailers and reference help desks.  I am determined to contribute to at least one education-based wiki during my journey, so I will have to use week 5 to stay wiki-focused.  I can see that if I am to eventually use wikis for my library, it will most likely need to be a collaborative page with teachers. Possibly setting up pages based on research assignments, where students can join, ask questions, and contribute their knowledge of the research process to their peers?   And, is that really as inventive as I can get?   Perhaps my problem is that I am so eager to contribute to a wiki as part of my 2.0 quest that I haven't taken the time to focus on what I can contribute.  In other words, is my quest wagging the dog's tail?  Now is the time to remind myself why I whittled the list of 23 to 10...

Faculty Kindle Use a Hit!

Last week was spring break at our school, and the first faculty member bravely took a Kindle home to enjoy over the break.  She was a little nervous about the  responsibilities including proper care and use, but when she saw how user-friendly  ebook hardware is, she enjoyed her reading. Her remarks are worth posting:

"The Kindle was great!  Only problem: not enough spring break to read everything I wanted to!  I really liked Unbroken: A World War II Story, but did not have enough time to finish it!  Lost of great possibilities with this!  Thanks!"  Kathy A.

What could those possibilities include?  So far, student use of Kindles is restricted to in-library usage.  Only faculty members can take a Kindle home.  I am already thinking about locating textbook and required reading titles for our students in the upper school.  As an English teacher, I am sure Kathy A. will come up with some wonderful suggestions! 

Week 3 a Success

I enjoyed week 3 of my exploration into Web 2.0.  I am feeling more proficient on Facebook, and enjoy locating and reading the various libary blogs.  Later this week I will post a brief list of my favorites library and education blogs to date.  Last week my eighteen-year-old son taught me 2 valuable Facebook skills; how to delete wall remarks made by friends, and how to delete that friend!  He also cautioned me against deleting a friend whose personal posts appear to be commercial in nature. He reminded me that these post to my news feed, and not my actual wall.  It only took 2 weeks for me to discover that some of these long-lost high school friends are probably making money posting links to products and services.  I suppose the sales-pitch mentality of search engines has found a way into social networking. 
This week, I'm prepared to dive into the wonderful world of wikis!

From 23 to 10

In February I read the article Happy New Year! by Mary Ann Bell in the Jan/Feb issue of Internet @ Schools.  The article suggested that library professionals “reboot” themselves by participating in Web 2.0 tutorials such as 23 Things.  As my school is going through an accreditation self-study process, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect! Any time your library is faced with a reflective self-study, including commendations and recommendations, you are given pause to ponder not only yourself as a professional, but where your library is now and where it is headed.

Always eager to learn something new, I quickly googled 23 Things and came across the original program, along with several library blogs across the country that had also participated.  The idea of the program is to spend 23 weeks learning how to use a new tool, such as blogging, tweeting, social networking, rss feeds, podcasts, etc.  Having what I like to describe as a “unique” learning style, of course I jumped right in, but not in the correct order!  Thus, this blog was born, which I later learned didn’t come until week 2!

Further research brought me to an interesting post by Stephen Abram, The Original 23 Things . . . Irrelevant training?  This was not good.  Was I starting a journey that was already outdated?  Not according to the Mr. Abram. 

So, I have created my “professional reboot project” over the next few months, borrowing from the original 23 Things, Abram’s post, and other’s.

Week 1:  Join a social networking website.  Done!  I joined Facebook and promised my sons I would not, I repeat not, “friend” them!

Week 2:  Set up my own blog and begin to read/share with other professional library blogs. Done!

Week 3:  Take a deep breath and enjoy what I am learning from weeks 1 and 2.  Don’t just read, but participate and share!

Weeks 4 & 5:  Explore wikis and join in at least one discussion.  Is this something a high school research project can participate in by sharing knowledge?  The possible benefits of wikis will need to be explored in detail, so I’ll take my time here. 

Week 6:  Explore Twitter, and attempt to tweet!  This week sounds like fun! 

Week 7:  Learn how to tag.

 

Week 8 & 9:  Explore tools that I absolutely have no earthly idea about.  This would be cover week 6 of 23 things;  Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati, Del.icio.us.

Week 10:  Take a break, pause and reflect. 

Abram, Stephen. “The Original 23 Things . . . Irrelevant training?” Stephen’s Lighthouse. N.p., 19 July 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://stephenslighthouse.com/‌2010/‌07/‌19/‌the-original-23-things-irrelevant-training/>.

Bell, Mary Ann. “Happy New Year!” Internet @ Schools 18.1 (2011): 26-27. Print.

Jumping in to Web 2.0!

I've always considered myself an information professional on the cutting edge, but aside from accessing shared information online, I had yet to wade into the waters of Web 2.0 and actually participate.  So, I set 2 goals for myself this year:
1.  Participate in a "23 Things" program for librarians. 
2.  Set up a library blog for my patrons.

One goal of this blog is to better promote the services we offer at our library.  After hosting a school technology fair last month, I found that families had no idea of all the exciting online resources and information tools at our library.  These exciting resources can benefit not only students and faculty, but our parents, as well.  I am now challenged to get the word out about these resources.  So, I decided to blog the good word!

As to the 23 Things, there will be more about my experiences in Web 2.0 on upcoming blogs.
Until then, welcome to all the students, faculty, and families that support our library, and all you information/library junkies!