Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Preparing your library for summer

Hello,
School is winding down for us here in the Pacific Northwest. I am busily working to get all our books returned to the library here and I know most of you are doing the same. Once you have those books returned, here are some ideas to help get your library ready for next year.

1. Take a quick look over your library and pull out books that need repair or need to be discarded. If you don’t have time to discard or repair these books right now, then find a space on your library shelves and pile them there. Label the piles so you will remember why you put them there in the first place or so the next person who comes along will know why they are there. When you or someone has time to repair the books, they will be ready and easily accessible.
2. After your library is ready for next school year, one librarian friend of mine suggests wrapping the shelves with butcher paper. She worked in a few schools where the library was open and children and church members felt free to borrow books over the summer vacation. If your school library is also a church library then you will not want to do this, but if you have books that disappear over the summer, you can always use the excuse “The paper will keep the dust off the books over the summer.”
3. Check with your school board to see if you might have some money to use to purchase books that you happen to see over the summer. It is frustrating to later wish you had gotten that special book. I know reimbursement works fine, but if you don’t have extra money, it would be handy to have some petty cash for those expenses.

Next week I thought it would be fun to have a list of books that YOU might want to read over the summer. I am open to suggestions from you as to titles that you think other teachers would enjoy reading, too.

Happy reading!
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Picture books for Older Students

Most of the time middle grade students shy away from picture books thinking they are for babies. This is simply not the case. Librarians call the section with picture books “Everybody Books” because they are for everyone. There are some books that are difficult to place since they have wonderful information or stories but they happen to be shorter and have illustrations. We usually end up putting them in the “E” section and guide the older student there when they need a book on that particular subject. Our students are now getting used to finding good information in the “Everybody Books” section. Here is a nice selection of books that you might also find interesting for your middle graders or even older students.

Jerry Palotta’s ABC books are stuffed to the gills with information. Read one to your class and challenge them to make their own ABC book.

Patricia Polacco writes wonderful stories; many of them about her childhood and other historical time period. Try reading “Thank You, Mr. Falcker” without crying. I cannot. “Mr. Lincoln’s Way” is about a school principal of an integrated school. Betty Doll, An Orange for Frankie, Butterflies, the list goes on and on. You may want to steer clear of Welcome Comfort. It is a Christmas story about a boy who is teased and who ends up becoming Santa Clause. There may be others that you might not want, but most of her books are on our shelves.

Allen Say writes mostly for young children and I particularly enjoy his stories about his childhood. There are two that I do not read to the younger children. The Sign Painter and Home of the Brave. The subject matter is a bit too mature for kindergarteners.

Myron Uhlberg grew up as a hearing child with deaf parents. He tells the story of his father and other deaf workers in a printing press. His father noticed a fire and was able to warn the others to leave in the book The Printer. He also wrote again about his father in Dad, Jackie and Me.

Crow Boy is an old book by Taro Yashima. It is much longer than traditional picture books, therefore is suited more for older students and the subject is also for older students. The story is about a Japanese boy who is an outcast at school.

Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War by Yukio Tsuchiya. I will not read this to any class younger than fifth grade. The story is about a zoo in Japan during the war. The government was concerned about the possibility of animals escaping during a bombing and therefore ordered that the animals in the zoo be killed. The trained elephants were the last to be killed. Their hide was too tough for bullets, they were too smart to eat the poisoned food, and finally were starved to death. They were doing their tricks to try to earn food and the keepers were devastated with the whole situation. When I read this to a class, I couldn’t keep from crying. It gives another picture to what war does to a country and innocent.

Louise Borden has written two books that I love. Across the Blue Pacific about World War 2 and The Greatest Skating Race which is also a World War 2 story from the Netherlands.

Karen Hesse is known for her World War 2 stories. She has taken a wonderful story of young people who are able to outwit the Nazis and put it in a picture book. The Cats in Krasinski Square is enjoyed by everyone I have ever read it to.

If you aren’t tired of World War 2 stories yet, I have one more for you. Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon. This is the story you may have heard of the German side singing Christmas carols and the American side joining in with them. My copy has a CD with the author reading the story and music along with it. It is wonderful to put the CD in a player and sit and turn the pages.

At Ellis Island: History in Many Voices by Louise Peacock tells a story and also includes a secondary section with historical information and photos and drawings. It is a like a scrapbook.

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad by James Rumford. Take Arabic calligraphy, a young boy who loves to draw the calligraphy and put them together for a unique look at the culture of Iraq.

Across the Alley by Richard Michelson is the story of a white boy who has to take violin lessons but longs to lay baseball and a black boy who plays baseball and has no money for music lessons. They live across an alley and throw a ball back and forth between their windows. The story ends happily as each boy gets his wish.

Fannie in the Kitchen by Deborah Hopkinson is the story of Fannie Farmer and how she wrote her cookbook. That line I just wrote sounds like it is a boring book, but it really is a delightful story.

If you have some books that you would like to share, send them along to me and I will post them in the next week or two. We can work together to make our libraries grow.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Hello,
This week we are going into the virtual kitchen and take a look at cookbooks for children. I must admit that I love cookbooks and especially children’s cookbooks. We have cookbooks of all kinds, but are adding more and more vegan or vegetarian cookbooks. I can’t resist a new one and my assistant is giving me a hard time about it. (All in fun.) Here is a list of cookbooks that you might like to add to your library.

These books you may be able to get from your Adventist Book Center.

• The Optimal Diet: The Official CHIP Cookbook by Darlene Blaney and Hans Diehl

• Cooking with Catie by Catie Sanner

• Cooking Entrees with the Micheff Sisters and Cooking with the Micheff Sisters

• Sabbath Dinner Cookbook 1 and 2 and the International Sabbath Dinner Cookbook

• Vital Vittles by Heather Leno (a CHIP bookbook)

• Fix-It-Fast Vegetarian Cookbook by Heather Houck Reseck, R. D.

• Apple a Day – don’t forget the old standbys. These aren’t beautiful, but parents will remember these and may come to check them out, too.

Vegetarian cookbooks for kids are more and more popular with the secular population. It is easier and easier to find good cookbooks in local bookstores.

• Cooking With Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon by Jules Bass

• The Jumbo Vegetarian Cookbook by Judi Gillies and Jennifer Glossop

• Simply in Season by Mark Beach and Julie Kauffman

• Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson

• Salad People by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson

• Snack Food by Sharon Dalgleish (part of a set titled ‘Healthy Choices’)

• The Teen’s Vegetarian Cookbook by Judy Krizmanic (This one is not colorful, but has some good recipes and ideas. It is 10 years old, and may be difficult to locate. It may not be worth it to you.)

Very popular but not vegetarian:

• The Sleepover Cookbook by Hallie Warshaw

• The Children’s Step-By-Step Cookbook by Angela Wilkes (contains photographic lessons)

• Simple 1 – 2 – 3 Cooking for Kids


Children’s cookbooks put out by Food Network stars such as Rachel Ray and Paula Deen are quite popular. Even if the books aren’t vegetarian, we can get some good ideas to use with our meat substitutes, or ideas to make some great healthy snacks.

My next few books are about food, but not really cookbooks.

• Raising Healthy Eaters: 100 Tips for Parents by Henry Legere, M.D.

• It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! By James Solheim True food facts from around the world and throughout history. Can’t you just see the kids grabbing for this one!

• Eat Your Words by Charlotte Foltz Jones A fascinating look at the language of food

• Super-Sized Kids by Walt Larimore, M.D., Sherri Flynt, MPH, RD, LD; Steve Halliday How to rescue your child from the obesity threat. This would be great for parents in your school, too. This one is also found at the ABC stores.


Don’t forget to check out my blog in case you missed a week. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com

Hope your week is great and you find a wonderful new recipe. Let me know if you also see a great new cookbook for kids. I’ll try to sneak it past my assistant.

Audrey