Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Books I Would Make Sure My Library Had

Hello,
At first I thought I would call this post “If Your Library Doesn’t Have These Books, Drop Everything and Go Get Them Right Now”, but then reason took over and I realized that it is kind of bossy for me to say it like that. So here is the title of this post. “Books I Would Make Sure My Library Had.” Or for an even shorter version,” Books Audrey Loves”. The shorter version is not quite true because space and time prevent me from listing all the books I love.

Anyway, these books are not new. In fact, many of them are quite old and some are considered classics. I will also say that it is true that I believe every school library should have these books.

Enough said. Now to the list.

Brink, Carol Ryrie – Caddie Woodlawn, Magical Melons, Two Are Better Than One, Winter Cottage, and more

Cleary, Beverly –Ramona and Beezus, Henry Huggins, Muggie Maggie, basically anything she wrote

Campbell, Sam – classic books for any SDA school library

Burnett, Frances Hodgson – The Secret Garden – Read this aloud to any age.

The Dear America series by various authors (Also, there are a few Dear Canada books, as well.)

Fitzgerald, John - The Great Brain series (I haven’t read these, but other teachers have told me they really enjoy them.)

Farley, Walter – The Black Stallion series

Henry, Marguerite – Misty of Chincoteague, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, and more

Konigsburg, E. L – From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The View From Saturday and more

McCloskey, Robert – Famous for “Make Way for Ducklings”, but has also written chapter books such as Homer Price and Centerburg Tales

MacLaughlin, Patricia – Sarah, Plain and Tall; The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt; Cassie Binegar, Rhymes With Vinegar; and more

Mowat, Farley – Owls in the Family (Great read aloud for any age) and The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be

McSwigan, Marie – Snow Treasure (Another great read aloud for all ages)

Montgomery, L. M. – Anne of Green Gables series (I have loved this series since I was twelve years old. If anyone tells you they saw the movie, ask them to read the first three chapters, then if they don’t like it, you will find something else for them. You probably will not have to do anything more. Unfortunately, I have not had good luck reading this aloud. You might have better luck than I.)

Speare, Elizabeth George – The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Not to worry, it isn’t about a witch, but a historical fiction story about a woman accused of being a witch.) Also, Sign of the Beaver, Calico Captive, and The Bronze Bow. She only wrote four books, but all are worthy.)

Wilder, Laura Ingalls – The Little House series. Good read alouds.

You likely have many of these already in your collection. If you find that the students aren’t reading these, try reading portions of the book and see how they fly off the shelves.

I hope you have a wonderful week,
Audrey

Christian Fantasy

Hello to you all,
I got an email from one of you regarding the subject of Christian fantasy. The writer wanted to know my thoughts on the subject particularly for junior high and above. I hope that I will be able to help, but this is a subject that
Personally, I am not a huge fan of fantasy or science fiction. There are some fantasy books that I have read and enjoyed, but for the most part, that is just not a genre that I know well or am interested in reading more about. It is my opinion that we need to be very careful exactly what we put in our SDA school libraries in these two categories.
Some people make a distinction between Christian fantasy and fantasy while others make no distinction at all. My American Heritage dictionary defines fantasy (referring to books) as “4a: Fiction characterized by highly fanciful or supernatural elements.” We can all agree that we don’t want supernatural elements in our libraries. We likely can all agree that we wouldn’t put J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books in our libraries, too. But what about C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books? Max Lucado’s books? Or John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress? Are these books OK or not?
I believe that C. S. Lewis’ books, Max Lucado stories, and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress are allegorical. By allegorical I mean they are symbolic rather than fantastical. An allegory helps explain ideas or principles through characters and events. Some would disagree with me that Lewis’ work is worthwhile for an Adventist Christian and that is fine. This is something that you will need to thoughtfully consider and then make your choice as to whether or not you put this genre in your library.
Here are a few items that may help you when making a decision.
1. Have you read the book in its entirety thereby knowing exactly what is in the book? If you aren’t sure about a book, you really should read it first to make an informed decision.
2. Does the book have magic or occult happenings in it? Does this look or sound attractive in the story? I am not talking about sleight of hand magic tricks, but supernatural magic.
3. Does the book promote Christian values and virtues?
4. Is the book useful in the curriculum in some way?
With all the fantasy in the past decade that has come out such as Harry Potter, the Twilight vampire books and movies, and other Harry Potter wannabes, it can be hard to find something that will interest children who are watching and reading the fantasy genre. Some people will say that anything that will get kids reading is good no matter what it is. I can sympathize with that to an extent but I do think that we can find other, better reading material for our children. This can be hard work, I know.
I hope this has helped you in some way. I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this subject. If you know of any titles that we librarians and teachers can suggest to kids who love fantasy, please send them to me. I know we all would appreciate any suggestions. For the record, I do have the Narnia books, Max Lucado’s books, and Pilgrim’s Progress in my library.
I hope you have a good week.
Audrey

Monday, September 13, 2010

Books for Middle School Readers part 2

Books for Advanced Middle Graders

Alcott, Louisa M Little Women, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Little Men, Jo’s Boys
Anderson, Laurie H Fever 1793, Vet Volunteer series
Avi Nothing But the Truth, Iron Thunder, North by Night, Night Journeys, The Secret School, Hard Gold
Borden, Louise The Greatest Skating Race
Borden, Louise Across the Blue Pacific
Boyne, John The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Brink, Carol Ryrie Caddie Woodlawn, Magical Melons, Two are Better Than One, Winter Cottage
Carson, Ben Gifted Hands
Clements, Andrew Stick with his ‘school stories’. Frindle, The Janitor’s Boy, A Week in the Woods, The Last Holiday Concert, No Talking, Extra Credit, plus a couple more
Durrant, Lynda My Last Skirt
Farley, Walter The Black Stallion series
Ford, Herbert Flee the Captor
Freedman, Russell Children of the Great Depression, Cowboys of the Wild West,
Fritz, Jean Traitor: Story of Benedict Arnold
Gies, Miep Anne Frank Remembered
Giff, Patricia R Nory Ryan’s Song, Maggie’s Door
Henry, Marguerite Misty of Chincoteague, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, other horse stories
Hobbs, Will Far North, Jason’s Gold, Jackie’s Wild Seattle, Crossing the Wire
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables series
Park, Linda Sue A Single Shard, Project Mulberry
Peck, Richard The River Between Us, A Long Way From Chicago, A Year Down Yonder
Rawls, Wilson Summer of the Monkeys, Where the Red Fern Grows
Rinaldi, Ann Mine Eyes Have Seen, Numbering the Bones
Robinson, Glen If Tomorrow Comes
Ryan, Pam Munoz Esperanza Rising, Becoming Naomi Leon
Schlitz, Laura Amy Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Sewell, Anna Black Beauty
Speare, Elizabeth G. Sign of the Beaver, Witch of Blackbird Pond, Calico Captive
Spinelli, Jerry Milkweed, Loser, Eggs, Maniac Magee
Weeks, Sarah So B. It
Whelan, Gloria Listening for Lions, The Turning, Angel on the Square
Wilder, Laura Ingalls The Little House books
Winthrop, Elizabeth Counting on Grace
Yep, Laurence The Cook’s Family, Dragonwings, The Star Fisher

Books for Middle School Readers

Post for Sep 13 2010
Greetings!
Have you ever had a student who was reading voraciously in the lower grades and wanted to start reading books that were technically on their reading level, but the subject matter was more mature? What do we do with these kids? We must keep them reading, but we do need to find reading material that will challenge them yet be age appropriate. I decided to see what I could do about this.
I happened to read an article about a public school librarian who had the same issue and decided to duplicate her project. She worked with a group of high school students to compile a list of books that were higher level reading, yet age appropriate for middle graders. I looked at her list and realized that only a few of those titles would be appropriate for Adventist schools, so I decided that someone should compile a list of books that would be
1. Challenging for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders,
2. Age appropriate, and
3. Appropriate for a Seventh-day Adventist school.
I wrote to the author of the original article and asked permission to use her forms along with permission to tweak them a little. She graciously gave permission and I began.
Last year in the Fall of 2009 I worked on this project with a few junior high students in my Honors Reading class. I had compiled a list of books in our library here at Rogers that I thought might be good for this list. I then explained to the students what we were going to do. We were going to read, read, read. For each book they read, they were to complete two different evaluation forms. At the end of the semester, I compiled a list of the books that the students liked and thought would be good for the list. I also had a couple of students tell me about other books that they found that would be good for the list and requested permission to evaluate them.
This project accomplished two things. One, I have a list of books that we feel are challenging, age appropriate and SDA appropriate. Two, those students learned how to read a book for evaluation purposes.
I will admit that I added a number of my favorites that the students just did not have time to read. There are a lot of older books that we read as children that kids today don’t read. Louisa May Alcott, Carol Ryrie Brink, Marguerite Henry, Walter Farley, and more. If you have trouble getting kids to read these, try reading part of a story to hook them in. For one example, the book Anne of Green Gables – I want to scream when I suggest this series and a student says, “I saw the movie.” I reply, “The movie is not the book.” Then I usually suggest they read the first three chapters and if they don’t like the book, please let me know so I will be able to help them find something better. Usually by the third chapter they are hooked, but if not, it is OK.

Most of these authors are great, but we always need to be careful. You never know when a beloved author starts writing books that might not fit with Adventist values. Here are some words of wisdom about a few of these authors.
1. Avi – he is a prolific writer and writes in many genres. His historical fiction is top notch, but I stay away from the fantasy books.
2. Andrew Clements – We love his books and they fly off the shelves here, BUT he has a few titles that I avoid. “Things Not Seen” is one of them. Just be careful.
3. I didn’t put Gary Paulsen on the list, but he has some great stories. “Hatchet” is a classic example. Just watch out for some of his. One of my favorites of his books is his account of his Itidarod race titled “Winterdance”. There is a lot of language, so I never could put this particular book in one of our libraries.
If you have ideas of books that would fit this list, I am very willing to update my list. Send ideas along to me as you come across them. I’ll include the list in a separate email that I post immediately after this one. You know I wouldn’t keep you waiting a week for it!
Have a great week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

New Books

Greetings to you all!
I heard from a number of you that you are interested in some good books to get for your libraries. I have a few brand new titles on my cart just waiting for me to process them, so I pulled off some to share. Most of these are picture books. I hope we can get the idea out of our students’ heads that picture books are only for little kids. This is not true and anyone who actually reads a book to a child will know that the vocabulary is much too high for them to read themselves. When you assign book reports this year or have some research project, consider requiring one of the books be a picture book. Many libraries call them “Everybody Books” rather than “Easy Books”.

Here are a few “Everybody Books” for you.

Wonder Horse by Emily Arnold McCully. The story is based on the life of a real horse who learned to spell, make change from a cash register and more. The subtitle is The True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse. Don’t forget to read the author’s note at the back to the students.

Emma’s Poem by Linda Glaser. Emma Lazarus wrote the poem ‘The New Colossus’ which is engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. This is the story of her writing the famous poem for the statue. There is a little about the statue itself, but mostly concerns the poem.

How to Clean a Hippopotamus by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. It has come to the point for me that if Steve Jenkins writes a book, I want it. Check out his other books, too, but this one is so interesting. This deals with unusual partnerships between animals.

POP! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy. The title says it all. This will be really POPular with your students.

Here Comes the Garbage Barge! By Jonah Winter. Did you know that before recycling became an enforced practice, Long Island’s landfills were too full to take any more garbage. They put some of the overflow on a barge and sent it to dumping ground in the South. Unfortunately for Long Island, no one would take the trash. This brought national attention to the problem of too much trash. One really interesting item to note is that the art in the book is made from recycled trash.

The Village Garage by G. Brian Karas. A simple story about a garage in a small town and the work they do in each season. They rake and suck up leaves, sweep the streets, patch the roads, paint new road stripes, scrape the snowy roads, and then start all over again.

Titanicat by Marty Crisp. One reporter learned that there had been a cat on the Titanic that had given birth to a litter of kittens. A ship’s cat is a lucky omen. The reporter learned of an Irishman who claimed he had been crewing on the Titanic and had been assigned to care for the cat. When the cat got off the ship in Southampton, the young man became superstitious and also left the ship. The author gives her research sources for this book so you can check them out. The paintings are glorious and the story is wonderful.

Insect Detective by Steve Voake. This is a great introduction to insects and some information about where they live and how to find them.

The Buffalo are Back by Jean Craighead George. Jean gives some history about the buffalo and how they nearly disappeared from the Great Plains. Today there are buffalo that are protected. This is the story of how they were saved.

I hope you found something that you might like. Have a good week. If you are new to this email list, check out my blog where I post each email each week. You can find older posts and see what kinds of information I have given in the past. Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com


Audrey