Sustainability Books

Hello,

I have a new book that looks really interesting. It is titled Pedal Power: How One Community Became the Bicycle Capital of the World by Allan Drummond. I recognized the artwork and pulled out another book by Allan Drummond that I believe I mentioned a few years ago. It is titled Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World by Allan Drummond. Since I wanted to share Pedal Power with you and remind you of Energy Island, I wondered if Drummond wrote any other books. A quick search on Amazon brought Green City: How One Community Survived a Tornado and Rebuilt for a Sustainable Future. It looked familiar to me and I realized that I had that book in my library, as well.

Allan Drummond wrote and illustrated these three books about communities that had problems and solved them sustainably. In the author’s note of Green City, he tells that while he was writing Green City, his own family lost their home due to a fire. They questioned if they should move or rebuild. They chose to rebuild and to include as much as possible to make their home ‘green’. He says that he found himself living through many of the same challenges that the community that he was writing and illustrating at the time. Everything became real as they built their home for the future.

Pedal Power: How One Community Became the Bicycle Capital of the World by Allan Drummond. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2017.

Pedal Power is about the city of Amsterdam and how they became the bicycle capital of the world. The traffic was so dangerous for cyclists. Many people, including children going to school, were killed while riding their bikes. Some people decided that there needed to be a change and did something about it. Laws were changed, bike lanes were established, and now although cars and trucks are allowed on the streets, bikes rule the road.

Green City: How One Community Survived a Tornado and Rebuilt for a Sustainable Future by Allan Drummond. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2016.

Green City is about a community in Greensburg, Kansas and the tornado that struck in 2007. The small town was nearly destroyed. Citizens of the town decided that they would rebuild and rebuild better this time. They decided to go green. They used reclaimed and recycled materials; the school has a wind turbine to generate electricity and a special heat-pump system which keeps the school warm without having to use fuel for heating. The classrooms are positioned so they get light and warmth from the sun. Rain is collected on the roof and is used to water the landscape. There is a lot more, but you get the idea. They are now really “Greens”burg!

Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World by Allan Drummond. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2011.

Energy Island tells about SamsØ, an island in the middle of Denmark. It is a very windy place. The book describes how people used to use energy without thinking about saving it. The Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy chose SamsØ to be a place where they could be independent of nonrenewable energy. One of the teachers tried to get people excited about the project. He talked to everyone. People liked the idea, but still nothing happened. Finally one businessman decided to put up a small second-hand wind turbine for his family and one farmer decided to put up a huge one. The project had begun, but few people were ready to make such a change until one night when the island went dark from a storm that cut out all the electricity. Well, all, but the two men who put up wind turbines! After that, then everyone began to ask about how they could be more energy efficient. Some put up wind turbines, some put up solar panels, one built a biomass furnace, one makes tractor fuel oil from his canola crop, some use electric cars or bicycles. The island is so energy efficient that some days they actually supply electricity for other parts of Denmark.

I hope you like these books. The information is great for students in all grades. I am currently using Energy Island and Pedal Power for the fifth and sixth grade classes as they study Europe in their Social Studies classes.

Have a great week.

Audrey

New Books

Hello,

I have a couple of great new books for you this week.

First, one of my favorite authors for students in grades 3 – 6 – Andrew Clements. I first read his book “Frindle” about 20 years ago. My son and I went to the public library in Cleburne, Texas and stocked up on reading material. I saw a book on display titled “Frindle” with a hand holding a pen. It looked interesting, so I put it with my pile. On the way home, my son picked up that book and asked about it. I told him to start reading it out loud so we both would know. The library was less than 20 minutes away from home, but by the time we got home, we were both loving this story and laughing. We had a play argument about who would get to read it first, and decided that we would only read it together. While I fixed supper, John read to me, then later on I read to him. It is still a favorite.

Andrew Clements comes out with a new book every couple of years. Most of them are school stories about children that are usually in 5th or 6th grade. This year his book is titled “The Losers Club”. I thought it was going to be a book about bullying. Although there is a little bit of bullying, it is not about bullying, but about reading and the bullying resolves itself.

The Loser’s Club by Andrew Clements. Random House, 2017.

Alec is a reader. He reads so much that he has a reputation with all the teachers at his school. Alex pretends to be doing his work, but instead is hiding a book and ignoring the teacher. He is sent to the principal on a regular basis, but this year, things are different. Alec’s parents and the principal have laid down the law. If he is sent to the office for reading instead of doing his assignments, he will be required to attend a special study skills program in the summer. This means he cannot visit his grandparents at their lake cabin with all the lake activities he enjoys. Also, this year Alec and his younger brother will be attending the after school activities program. Each student must sign up for a club and participate. All Alec wants to do is read, especially since he cannot do this in class anymore. He starts a club of his own that is just for reading. He names it “The Loser’s Club” hoping by that name no one will want to join. This way he can just read alone. Things turn out a bit differently than Alec plans, but they end up working out in a great way.

The Year of the Garden by Andrea Cheng. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing 2017.

Thought this book is new, it is actually a prequel to the other books. This is the story of Anna Wang, a Chinese American girl and her friends and family. Anna gets a copy of The Secret Garden and that inspires her to grow a garden.

School Library Journal says that the Anna Wang series “deals deftly with a range of thorny adoption and ethnic stereotyping issues.” This series is a great start for younger readers that are ready for chapter books. The font is slightly larger than most, illustrations are scattered throughout, and the books are a slightly smaller size. There are four other books about Anna. The Year of the Book, The Year of the Baby, The Year of the Fortune Cookie, and The Year of the Three Sisters. I highly recommend all of them.

I hope you enjoy these books. I’ll have more for you next week.

Audrey

Books about Latin America

Hello,
This year our 5th and 6th graders are learning about countries in the world. I decided to find picture books in our library that support this particular study. I have a few books on Latin America to share with you today.

One book is called Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter. This is a true story from Columbia about Luis Soriano who lives in a remote town in northern Columbia. He decided to share his personal library with others who didn’t have books to read. He built carriers and packed up books, then took his two burros into the isolated villages and acted as a ‘bookmobile’. A week or so later, he returns and exchanges books. His lending library has grown from 70 books into nearly 5,000 books.
The artwork is Columbian folkart with many colorful pictures. It is actually quite simple, but the students who are studying this part of the world enjoyed it.

A follow-up book is Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown. This also has many colorful pictures and isn’t difficult. Again, this is the story of Luis Soriano, but from the perspective of a young girl who is looking forward to the next visit of the biblioburro so she can have another book to read.


Eight Days: A Story of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat is about an eight-year-old boy who was rescued after being trapped for eight days after the Port-au-Prince earthquake on January 12, 2010. The story is written from the young boy’s perspective as he is trapped. He uses his imagination to help him escape from his immediate surroundings. The pictures are large and colorful and cheerful.


Hope for Haiti by Jesse Joshua Watson is another book about the devastation of the same Port-au-Prince earthquake in 2010. In this story, people have lost their homes and are being sheltered in the soccer stadium. They are building small shelters for their families with whatever they can find. Some children make a ‘ball’ out of rags and begin to play. Others join in and an older gentleman comes by and stops to watch. A bit later he comes back and gives the children a real soccer ball to take the place of the ball of rags. It turns out that the man was a famous soccer player years before. The story is quite moving. Pictures are realistic drawings with lots of color and action.


I’ve saved my favorite book for last. Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood is the story of the now famous Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay. Children who live in Cateura, Paraguay, one of the poorest slums in South America, live beside a mountain of garbage consisting of tons of trash. Most of the adults and older children make a small amount of money by picking through the garbage and finding items to sell or recycle. This is the story of a musician, Favio Chavez, who worried about the children and decided to offer music lessons to them. A problem arose when the children could not or would not take the instruments home to practice because they were too valuable and would be stolen. Favio Chavez decided to make instruments out of recycled materials and his orchestra began. Now the Recycled Orchestra plays to sold-out venues all over the world.

After you read this book, have one or more of the websites ready and also a YouTube video ready to show.


I hope you have a great week. I’ll share more next week on another section of the world.

Audrey

Welcome Back!

Greetings!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer break. We are now back to school and hoping that soon our students catch on to the classroom procedures. One of our aides mentioned to me in the hall today that the first few weeks is really just teaching procedures! I nodded that it was true. My favorite time begins in October when things are all settled, everyone knows what they SHOULD be doing and the year is running fairly smoothly.

I do want you to know that I really appreciate when I meet you in person and can talk with you face to face. Just a couple of weeks ago I was in an in-service and the person behind me that I had paired up with looked at my name tag and asked if I was the librarian. (I saw her question in my mind like this,”Are you THE LIBRARIAN?”) I was proud to acknowledge that I was THE LIBRARIAN. She commented that she enjoys my emails each week. Some people have told me that they print them out and keep them in a binder. I’m glad that you are doing what works for you, but I also hope that you know that there is a place that they are all kept. I post them on my blog. I actually set up the blog expressly for that purpose; to have a place to keep all the posts. I would love you to check it out. Go to sdalibrarian.blogspot.com and you will find every post that I have sent since January of 2009. I have some duplicates there. Either the subject came up again or it had been a long time since I had talked about it, so I did another post.

I would like for you to please send me any questions that you may have concerning the library or books. If you have a question about where to catalog something, I am happy to help. One thing that may save you some time is to access our Rogers Adventist School online catalog. Go to library.rschool.org and you will be able to access my library and the catalog. Click on ‘Researcher’. Type in the name of a book or a subject and press ‘Enter’ or ‘Search’. You will see the title of the books in blue with the author’s name below. The middle column has the Dewey number followed by a cutter number. (Most of your school will probably have three letters for the author, but our library started a different way so we continue that.)

If you were looking for the number for ‘Frogs’, you will see that I have ‘rainforest frogs’ in 574.54 and other frogs in 597.8. The 574 is rainforest, and the 597 is where amphibians are. That may be enough to answer any cataloging question for you. If it isn’t, please contact me and I will help.

I hope you have a great week and relaxing and fun Labor Day.

Audrey

“Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.” (Chinese Proverb)

Update on Kenneth Thomasma's books

Hello,

A friend pointed me to this blog regarding Kenneth Thomasma and his books about American Indian children.

https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2007/05/kenneth-thomasmas-books-casting-call-is.html

There is a long review of his books which point out a number of inconsistencies, problems with the stories, inaccuracies, and issues with a white man writing about Native Americans. The author of the review points out that only an American Indian can understand the mindset of an American Indian.

I would guess that this is true. Somehow I thought that Kenneth Thomasma WAS a Native American writing about his culture. In the responses to the review, some have said that Mr. Thomasma visited their schools and inspired them to write. He spoke enthusiastically about writing and creativity. Students were aware that the stories were fictional and were looking for a fun adventure story to read. Another commented that he had read the books as a child 20 years ago and is not too surprised that they have some questionable cultural content today.

I also understand that Swift Arrow – a well beloved book by Josephine Cunnington Edwards – has also been criticized for her portrayal of Native Americans.

Please read the review to help you know whether or not you want to include these books in your libraries.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Book Art ideas

Hello,

If you are weeding out your library, you might wonder what to do with the books you have weeded. I have given ideas in previous posts and you can check my blog for those ideas, but I have one more to add to the list today – Book Art.

I enjoy browsing around on Pinterest and have found some wonderful picture of exceptional art that people have created from old books. Many of them are quite intricate and not child friendly, but there are some ideas that children can do. What about using pages from a book for origami? You probably have folded old Reader’s Digest magazines into Christmas trees, but you can do that with a book, too. This site has a lot of great ideas. https://www.pinterest.com/explore/book-art/?lp=true

If you type in Book Art in an internet search, you will see images of ideas. I don’t know if I will do anything about it, but you might be exceptionally creative or have students who would just love to work with old books to create something wonderful.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Books by Kenneth Thomasma

Hello!

I don’t know why I haven’t discovered Kenneth Thomasma’s books before now, but for some reason I have missed them. Over the last few years, I have heard of this author from a parent or two, but I have just not been inclined to read even one of them. I have had a few children ask if we had any other books like Naya Nuki and were disappointed that we did not. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, a colleague came in and was just gushing over these books and ended saying that this particular title was the best children’s book she had ever read. Well, that brought me to attention. The BEST children’s book she’d ever read? She also said that she was ordering some for herself from the author, so I asked her to include the library in her order and get a set for us.

The books arrived last week and I began processing them. As I opened the cover of the first book, I realized that the books were autographed by Kenneth Thomasma. That was a lovely bonus. While working with the books, Naya Nuki was visible and a number of children commented through the afternoon as they walked by my desk how much they really liked that book. They were all from different grade levels and EVERY ONE OF THEM REALLY LIKED THE BOOK!

OK. I know when I am outnumbered. I will be reading the book.

If you aren’t already familiar with the story of Naya Nuki, it is about two young Shoshoni girls who were captured by a rival Indian tribe and forced to march 1000 miles from their home in Montana to North Dakota. Naya Nuki and her best friend, Sacajawea (Yes, THAT Sacajawea!) Sacajawea and Naya Nuki were separated and didn’t see very much of each other. Naya Nuki eventually escaped and traveled back to her home. Alone. For 1000 miles. What an amazing story!

Kenneth Thomasma has written other books as well. They are all about Native Americans and are historically accurate from what I’ve been told.

Thomasma’s titles are
1. Naya Nuki: Shoshoni Girl Who Ran
2. Om-kas-toe: Blackfeet Twin Captures an Elkdog
3. Soun Tetoken: Nez Perce Boy Tames a Stallion
4. Kunu: Winnebago Boy Escapes
5. Pathki Nana: Kootenai Girl Solves a Mystery
6. Moho Wat: Sheepeater Boy Attempts a Rescue
7. Amee-nah: Zuni boy runs the Race of His Life
8. Doe Sia: Bannock Girl and the handcart Pioneers
9. Takini: Lakota Boy Alerts Sitting Bull
10. The Truth About Sacajawea – an accurate paraphrase of the Lewis and Clark journal accounts of the remarkable Shoshoni teenager who spent twenty-one months with the Corps of Discovery. The United States Mint used this book when it developed the new Sacajawea Golden Dollar coin.

If you already have some or all of these books, it might be time to dust them off and read them. If you don’t, it might be a good time to add them to your library.

Well, off to read my book.

Audrey

Locating a Used Book

Hello,
Every now and then we find we must discard a much loved and much used book. We want another copy, but how can we find one? Very likely most of you know where and how to look for used books but I thought it might be helpful to have other sources available in case you need them.

My first go-to for used books is my local used bookstore. You just never know what you will find there. However, the owner is so busy, he is unable to keep an eye out for the copy I would like to have. If I can’t find it there, I either must keep coming back regularly or go elsewhere. It may be that you have a used bookstore and that person will watch for incoming titles that you want. If so, consider yourself very lucky.

I also go to Amazon.com. For just about every book listed there are used options. Sometimes the used options are much more expensive than the original. I just looked for a particular book that is out of print and saw that the used copy in ‘Good’ condition was $0.01 (plus the $4.99 shipping and handling charge), but a new copy was $59.00. The original price for the thin paperback book couldn’t have been more than $12.00.

If I am unsuccessful at Amazon (and it does happen), I next go to www.abebooks.com. Here I can search according to author, title, keyword, or ISBN. If I go to the advanced search options, I can also search by publisher, binding, choose a first edition, a signed copy, choose if I want a dust jacket or not, and choose by price. I have found some really great deals at this site.
Other online used book stores include www.Alabris.com, www.Powells.com, www.thriftbooks.com, www.bookfinder.com, and www.betterworldbooks.com.

Check multiple sources. You may not find what you want, but then again. . . you might find a sweet deal.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey

Reading Without Walls

Hello,

I received an email a few weeks ago advertising a kit for a program called “Reading Without Walls”. Since it was free, I decided to just order it and see what it was all about. I just got my kit and when I opened it up, I found some nice little give-a-ways that go with the program.

The kit and the program are sponsored by the CBC – The Children’s Book Council. This program is actually a challenge for students to expand their reading horizons by reading outside their comfort zone. The students are encouraged to read a book about a character who doesn’t look or live like they do OR to read a book about a topic they don’t know much about OR to read a book in a format that they don’t normally read for fun.

My kit contains a booklet with other ideas, worksheets, a certificate, and some little give-a-ways such as buttons, bookmarks, and stickers. The website has some of those items available to print out.

This looks to me like a fun program. It is independent and participants only need to read one book. This program also challenges parents and teachers along with students to read something out of their comfort zone.

I was thinking of what I might do with this program. I read that the program runs in April, but since April is more than half over, I’m thinking about choosing another time period such as May or possibly doing this over summer vacation. I’ll advertise this in our school newsletter, promote it during library classes, and encourage our teachers to all participate along with the students. We have some homeschoolers who visit our library and I’ll encourage them to join with us in this. It’s so new to me, that I will need to mull this over and make some decisions.

If you need more information, the website is very helpful. http://www.cbcbooks.org/reading-without-walls/

Have a great week.

Audrey

Reading Cards, part 2

Hello,
Last week I told you about my Reading Cards and how I use them in library classes. This week I have a quick update on how the party went. I ended up with 52 children in the library for our celebration. Fortunately, the children are small enough that we were able to fit everyone in the space.

I show a short movie and I always choose one that is from a book. I want to entertain, but also focus on literature since they have been reading all along. I showed an episode of a series about Ramona Quimby that was aired in the early 1980s. (A previous librarian recorded these on VHS tapes for the library.)

I keep an eye out for short movies made from children’s literature. There are many full length movies, but those are more difficult to use at school simply because of time. One teacher I know used to play “The Secret Garden” in 15 – 20 minute segments daily for her children after they had finished listening to the story, but that doesn’t work for my particular situation.

One other thing I do for the children who complete their reading cards is to have a small snack for them. I bought popcorn and put it in small bags for each child one year and another year I bought goldfish crackers for them. Each year there was a mess on the carpet and I had to vacuum it up before the next class came in. So, this year I had treat bags for each student. Each treat bag had a small bag of goldfish crackers, plus some other small items that would be fun for the kids such as puzzles, pencils, and small toys from the Dollar Store or Oriental Trading. As they left the library, each student took one treat bag.

Last year I had a banner made that said “Library Celebration Today” and we hung that up on the wall outside the library so everyone who passed by would know that something special was happening inside that day.

I tweak this Reading Card program every year and would certainly like to hear any ideas you might have.

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

Reading Cards

Hello,
This week is a special week for a particular group in the library. I realized that I might not have told you about this particular program I do with 3rd and 4th graders. I call it “Reading Cards”.
When I was young, I was a voracious reader. I read nearly everything I could get my hands on – except nonfiction. I had decided that it was automatically boring and just never ventured to that area of the library. Of course, I know better, but I saw many students doing the same thing that I had done and wanted them to know that there are lots of really interesting books in the nonfiction section too.

I looked through my personal teacher library and found some ideas that I then adapted to fit what I needed. I made a reading card. The card has also evolved over the years and is two-sided. One side has ten sections; one for each of the Dewey hundreds. As students read a book from the Dewey hundred, they report in some way (more about this below) and the title of the book is written down, and they continue on until that side is completed. The other side has 14 sections with different kinds of books to read. Some of the sections include “A Book with a picture of a horse on the cover”, “An old, battered book”, “A Short Chapter Book”, “A New book published since 2012”, “An Award Winner”, “A Free Choice book”, and more.

This card is tailored to my particular library. I have some that wouldn’t be understood by others such as “A Green Dot Book”. The picture books are organized into a basic Dewey arrangement and the science and nature books have green dots on the spines. This year I had them read a green dot book to a younger child AND the child could not be in their class. Our third and fourth graders all have times they read with a Kindergarten class or a 1st and 2nd grade class, so it isn’t that difficult to do. Many also have younger siblings they can read to, as well.

Lots of students love to ‘read’ Guinness World Records. However, I have made it clear that the books they choose must be read all the way through. The world record books are just too much for them to read everything. Other books such as “Where’s Waldo?” or “I Spy” aren’t books to read, either, so I have a section for a “Just Looking Book”. Any book they want to check out and just look through without the stress of reading the whole book would fit this category. Other kinds of books in the category would be thick science books, books above their reading level, Lego books, maps, charts, graphs, etc. You get the idea.

This year I also added a Bible Story ‘story’. They read one story from the blue The Bible Story set and give the title of the story they read and the volume it came from. Each story is about three pages long and is not intimidating. Other ideas for sections I have used in the past include a joke book, a magazine, a book with a picture of a cat on it (I change the animal each year), a book of the Bible, a chapter book with fewer than 100 pages.

As each side of the reading card is completed, I let the students choose a small stuffed animal from my stash. (Check out Oriental Trading for these.) In April, I have a celebration party for those who have completed both sides of their reading card. These lucky students get to come to the library for a party. I show a short (30 minute) movie and have given them a small snack such as popcorn or goldfish crackers to eat during the movie. The students who did not complete their card stay in their classroom.

I know it seems like a lot of books to read, but we start at the beginning of school and end in April. This is seven months plus a little. I also help students locate shorter books in the
Dewey section since the idea is to read something from every section, so I don’t worry about reading levels. They get plenty of books on their level in other ways.

Each teacher has a binder I made for them with a card for each student in their classroom. I also have a large binder with a card for each student in it. As each student completes a side, I make a big deal of it and they choose their prize with the other students there. This usually encourages the other students to keep working on their reading card. The teachers bring their binders to library and I copy down the information into my book. I tell the children that MY book is the one that counts. The reason is that sometimes a volunteer parent will put a title in a section that it doesn’t fit. One example is when the parent wrote a science type of a title such as “Dwarf Planets” (500s) in the section for Bible stories (200s). I try to find another place for the science title and quietly tell the student that they still need a book from the 200s.

Once I had a student fill out his Dewey side with just any book he read. We explained that only the teacher or classroom aide was supposed to write in the titles, and that he needed to read certain books for each section. I started him on a new card and we wrote in titles that he had read putting them in their correct places.

Students report in a variety of ways. There is a written report form they can fill out, but most of them tell their teachers or a volunteer aide in the classroom enough about the book so we know they have actually read it. Sometimes I can listen to them tell about a book, but most of the time I am helping others locate books. Occasionally, a teacher has a class set of books that all the students have read, so we write that book down for each student.

If I were doing this in a small school, I would use the same basic card and have the students read the same categories of books but on their own reading level. I would also have the party after everyone had completed their cards.

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about my reading card program.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Book Swap Station

Hello!
I have an idea for you for books that you’ve weeded from your library. I set up a Book Swap Station that sits outside the library door so that anyone can stop by and swap a book to take home and read. Mine looks like this:

We obtained this small bookcase and decided it would be perfect for our swap station. I encourage students to take a book if they need one and bring another one later to substitute. (I really don’t worry about whether or not they bring one back or not.) You can see that some of the books have black markings on the lower spine. This is where we mark out our spine label for our discarded books. Others have been either donated by families or teachers wanting to de-clutter their classrooms. We just put them inside here and one of my Library Club members will straighten it as needed.
My sign is difficult to read in the first picture, so I took a close-up for you.

My Swap Deposit Box or Book Swap Drop Box sits just inside the library door. I decided that if I had one available, it would help in case students decided to trade out any titles that might possibly be inappropriate. I just took a nice larger box with a good lid and covered it with the blue bulletin board paper. It looks nice and just about any book will fit inside it.

On occasion, I set out a table in the hallway right outside the library door with a pile of books on it and a sign that says “FREE”. The books disappear like candy.

Rarely, but at times we weed a book that a particular teacher just loves and still uses. We discard it from our computer and just gift that teacher with the book.

All of these are ways that weeded books can still be useful. I am working on weeding in my library. It is hard to do, but I know that my library will be better off by weeding out books that are no longer valuable to our curriculum or worth the shelf space.

I hope you had a great vacation and are ready for the last push until June.

Audrey

NAD Teacher's Convention 2018

Hello,

We recently had an in-service for our conference and during the announcements, it was mentioned that the next SDA Teacher’s Convention is coming up in August 2018. That’s about a year and a half from now, but I started thinking.

At the last convention in Nashville, I gave presentations. In 2012 I spoke about organizing your small school library and also moderated a session for a Library Shop Talk. I noticed at the 2006 convention that there were Shop Talks for just about every possible subject or grade level that could be EXCEPT for Library. I decided that there would be one even if I had to moderate it. The reason I spoke about Organizing Your Small School Library because Patti Revolinski had enlisted me to help organize a small school library in the summers and by 2012 we had worked on four libraries and learned a lot. I knew that I could not get to every single small school and thought if I showed what we had done other schools could do what we had done.

I am considering giving a presentation in 2018 and would like to solicit your input. What kind of information would you like to see offered at the convention? Library organization, lists of books similar to what I send out periodically, a place to ask questions and see what others do with their small school libraries? You may have other ideas, too.

If you have any thoughts, please send me an email with your suggestions.

Have a great week and also a wonderful spring vacation next week!

Audrey

New Books on Emotions

Hello,

I just bought a set of books on feelings and emotions. This particular set is geared for the K-2 grade level.

Each book in this set describe an emotion. The first page describes the particular feeling and may give a synonym for the feeling. For example, the book Afraid begins “We feel uneasy when we are afraid. It is an emotion.” The books each then go on and give examples of when one might feel or experience that emotion. Examples include “Abby hugs her teddy bear. She is afraid of the dark.” “Kim watches a movie. It is scary. She feels afraid.”

At the end of the book there are strategies to use when we are feeling the emotion. For the book Afraid, they suggest these things to do: draw what you’re afraid of and rip it up, learn about what scares you, face your fear with friends or family, think of your favorite happy moment. For the book Love, they suggest some things to do to make others feel loved.
The books are illustrated with photographs of children of many cultures are represented in each book.

This set came in a preview box and I originally hadn’t planned to purchase them, but our Kindergarten teachers came by to look at them and loved them. In fact, they were in the middle of a unit on feelings at that same time, so we let them take the books to use immediately. I know this set is meant for young children, but I also thought that an older student who is having similar issues might read it to a younger student and learn from it.

In this set, there are six books. The titles are Afraid, Angry, Happy, Love, Sad, and Surprised. They are published by Abdo Kids, $18.95 each, written by Julie Murray. For more information go to abdopublishing.com.

Have a great week!

Audrey

Hobbies

Hello!

I thought we’d talk about hobbies today. It is likely you have a hobby or two that you spend time doing. Our students are beginning to be interested in hobbies, too. Any information about hobbies will draw them to the library and spark an interest in reading. This subject in the library makes wonderful displays. Set up a hobby area and have students display their hobbies and pull books about it from the library. Your Student of the Week could be the one who displays his or her hobby.

There are lots of ideas for display. Involve students, or parents, or church members, or even community members who have interesting hobbies. If your library doesn’t have books about a particular hobby, it is quite possible that some of these adults might suggest books for you or even donate them.

Find out what interests your students have. If your library doesn’t have a book to support someone’s hobby or interests, buy a book and promise they will be the first one to check it out. He will feel valued and important and will be much more likely to make a connection with the library and reading.

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

Student Workers in the Library

Greetings!

I have a group of students that come and help out in the library on a regular basis. This year marks the eleventh year I have had a Library Club here at Rogers. I did some research and learned what other schools do and then tweaked it to fit here. Because of time and scheduling, my Library Club members come to help for the 20 minute lunch recess period. That is what works out best at my school. This limits the club members to 5th and 6th graders and I seldom have any boys.

When I first started, I spoke to all the fifth and sixth graders and talked about helping in the library and had quite a few interested students. They all came to an informational meeting to learn more about what the job might look like and then some decided they would rather play at recess. Over the years I soon realized that I must limit the group. I have learned that ten students is just about all that we need or can handle here.

Students who are interested contact me and I have each student who is interested in being a part of Library Club fill out an application. The application must also be signed by a teacher and students must keep up their schoolwork in order to be a member. I have had a few students drop out because they just had too much on their plate.

I expect my Club members to come work in the library twice a week, but they may come more often if they choose. I expect them to work carefully and train them in each job that needs to be done. Students receive training in shelving books, putting the shelves in correct order, organizing, cleaning, and even helping with book fairs.

This is a service club, but we have a few perks for members. They can come to the library for lunch on certain days, occasional teats, free books and posters from the book fairs we hold, and a special ”Thank You” party in the spring.

Normally I don’t have junior high students in the club due to scheduling differences and also the social aspect of junior high. However, our junior high students need to complete a service requirement, and if they have been a member of Library Club, I am happy to have them work off their requirement in the library. I have even been asked for a job reference from a former Library Club member and was happy I could give a good reference for her.

Most of you have very small libraries, but you also don’t have librarians. It may be that you have volunteer parents to help with the library and that is wonderful, but if you don’t, I hope you consider using students. Any age will do as long as they are careful workers and know what to do for you. This is something that is not just busywork, but a real need. Students can help and be proud of their work.

Have a great week.
Audrey

New Nonfiction

Hello!

I have some more new books for you this week. I understand that I sent a few people to the library or the bookstore last week. I always hope that you find something you like each week.

This week I have all nonfiction titles for you.

Health Careers in Sports by Michael Burgan. Careers off the Field series. Published by MasonCrest, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4222-3268-2. $24.99 Llibrary Binding.

So many of our students want to be professional ball players, football, baseball, basketball, and so forth. It’s great to have ambition, but the fact remains that a very small percentage actually achieve that particular goal. Here is a way to be involved in sports and also have a very interesting career. This book describes the path to take to get a job in sports medicine. It also describes a number of jobs such as sports psychologist, sports surgeon or doctor, physical therapist, and athletic trainer. Students who are interested in sports may also be interested in this book.

Other titles in this series are Sports Marketing, Sports Media Relations, and Sportswriting and Sports Photography.

What You Need to Know About Concussions by Kristine Carlson Asselin. Fact Finders book. Published by Capstone Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4914-4834-2. $27.00 Library Binding, $8.00 paperback.

Concussions are an injury that happens when the brain is injured. It can be quite serious if not cared for properly. This book describes situations, stories, and experiences of people who have had concussions and also treatment for it. Photographs and illustrations help young people understand how serious this can be and why they need to follow the doctor’s instructions for healing from a concussion.

Other titles in this set are What You Need to Know About Cancer, What You Need to Know About Diabetes, and What You Need to Know About Meningitis.

What If I Need Stitches? By Therese Shea. Benched: Dealing With Sports Injuries series. Published by Gareth Stevens, 2017. ISBN 978-1-4824-4890-0. $17.00 Library Binding, $8.15 paperback.

No, not all of the books I am presenting today have to do with injuries, but they just happen to be new titles and some also deal with injuries. This series includes titles dealing with sports injuries, but anyone might need stitches. This book describes when one might need stitches and discusses different kinds of stitches. Photographs illustrate throughout.

Other titles in this series include What if I Break a Bone?, What If I Break a Tooth?, What If I Feel Faint?, What If I Get a Concussion?, and What If I Get a Sprain?

Another set of books has the title STEM in the Real World and has six books in the set. I have three of the set. Physics in the Real World, Robotics in the Real World, and Bioengineering in the Real World. In the Physics book, one chapter talks about how physicists can make things appear invisible through lenses and how this invisibility technology could be useful. Chapter two discusses the history of physics, chapter three talks about career paths, and chapter four looks at the future of the subject. Each book follows the same pattern – something cool to know, something about the history, something about the careers, and something about the future of the particular subject.

Other titles in this set include Astronomy in the Real World, Mathematics in the Real World, and Computer Science in the Real World. This is part of their Core Library which supports Common Core State Standards for grades 3 – 6. Set $196.74.

Physics in the Real World by Meg Marquardt. STEM in the Real World series. Published by ABDO Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-1-68078-042-0. $32.79 Library Binding.
Robotics in the Real World by Robin Koontz. STEM in the Real World series. Published by ABDO Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-1-68078-043-7. $32.79 Library Binding.
Bioengineering in the Real World by Meg Marquardt. STEM in the Real World series. Published by ABDO Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-1-68078-039-0. $32.79 Library Binding.

The Vaccination Debate by Rebecca Rissman. Published by ABCO Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62403-905-8. $35.64 Library Binding. 112 pages.

If you have any questions about whether or not to get a vaccine, you will find both sides represented here. The pros and cons of vaccines are presented with lots of photographs to illustrate. I haven’t read the whole book, but I would not be surprised if the author leaned a bit toward the pro side of vaccines especially since the consultant is with the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute, and the Oregon Health & Science University.

This book is part of a set called ‘Special Reports’. It is geared toward the upper grades as far as content and reading are concerned.

I hope you find something really interesting in this post.

Have a great week!

Audrey

New Books

Hello,

I have some fun new books for you to consider adding to your library.

Whoosh! By Chris Barton, Illustrated by Don Tate. ISBN 9781580892971 $16.95 US
I heard about this first title and knew that I had to get it. It is the story of how the super soaker water gun came about. Lonnie Johnson was an engineer that worked for NASA to help figure out how to ensure a constant supply of power to the Orbiter and probe Galileo that was going to go to Jupiter. While testing his idea for a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, he blasted a stream of water across his bathroom. “What a great water gun this would make,” was his first thought. And the Super Soaker was born.

White House Kids by Joe Rhatigan. ISBN 9781936140800, $14.95 US
The subtitle of this book is “The Perks, Pleasures, Problems, and Pratfalls of the Presidents’ Children”. This book covers all children who have lived in the White House through Barack Obama’s girls. There are lots of illustrations and photographs illustrating the history of the White House and the residents since then. At just under 100 pages, it is a great addition to your library.

The Secret Life of a Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht. ISBN 9780760336762 $17.00 US
This is an informational book about snowflakes. It is an up-close look at the art and science of snowflakes which is also its subtitle. There are photographs and illustrations on every page and the text is simple enough for younger readers (third and fourth graders) while also interesting enough for older readers. This is difficult to do. The author is a physicist at Caltech where he studies how crystals grow. He has two other books. One is titled “The Art of the Snowflake”, and the other one is titled “Ken Libbrecht’s Field Guide to Snowflakes”. I am having a hard time imagining who would need a field guide to snowflakes, but one is available apparently. He has a website you can check out, too. www.snowcrystals.com (I just had to check on Amazon.com to see if the field guide is there. It is.

A Hat for Mrs. Goldman by Michelle Edwards, Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. ISBN 9780533497106 $17.99 US
Mrs. Goldman knits hats for everyone in the neighborhood. Sophie notices that Mrs. Goldman doesn’t have a hat and learns that Mrs. Goldman has given her hat away to someone who needed it. Sophie worries about Mrs. Goldman’s head being cold and decided to knot a hat for her. Sophie only likes to make the pom poms for the hats, but valiantly works to knit the hat. When she completes the hat, she sees that she has dropped stitches and has holes in the hat. Sophie solves her problem by making lots of pom poms and putting them all over the hat.

Will’s Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk by Jane Sutcliffe, illustrated by John Shelley. ISBN 9781580893682 $17.95 US
I had no idea how many common phrases and words we use that came from Shakespeare’s works until I read this book. The book also gives us some history of the time period. One side of the page has a paragraph or two about the history and Will’s Words are given on the other side with the information of the play it comes from.

Olinguito, de la A a la Z! written and illustrated by Lulu Delacre. ISBN 9780892393275 $18.95
This bilingual book written both in Spanish and English is an alphabet book focusing on a fairly newly discovered animal in the cloud forest of Ecuador and Columbia, the olinguito. In the information at the back of the book, you can discover more information about the olinguito and also explore the pages of the book. Each picture has real pressed leaves and flowers, a zoologist, and there are nine different kinds of birds in the book. More games and activities can be found at the author’s website. This is a good way to let students know that author information can have a lot more than just the story in the book.

A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. ISBN 9780763666491 $15.99
Ruben wishes he could have a bike like his friend Sergio, but his family just doesn’t have enough money to buy one. One day Ruben is buying something for his mother in the grocery story and notices that a lady has dropped a dollar bill. He quickly scoops it up and pockets it. After all, it’s only a dollar, so he doesn’t try to go after her. Later, when he is home in his room, he pulls it out and discovers that it is a one hundred dollar bill, not a dollar bill. He now has enough to buy a bike. His conscience bothers him all night and the next day. He is sent to the store again and is surprised to see the same lady! This time he chases her and returns the money. “You have blessed me, Ruben,” she exclaims. His heart is lighter and he runs home and tells his family his story. They are very proud that he did the right thing.

American Girl Ultimate Visual Guide by Carrie Anton, Laurie Calkhoven, and Erin Falligant. ISBN 9781465444967 $24.99
If you have students who love the American Girl dolls whether they own one or not, this book will be used and well loved. This book gives the history of the beginning of the American Girl dolls and the company and shows the complete line of dolls and their accessories. This book is new to our library and already I wish I had more copies!

I hope you enjoy these book suggestions.
Have a great week!
Audrey

Steps to a Better Collection, part 2

Hello,

I know that weeding is difficult – I have a hard time with it, too. Do what you tell your students to do. Break it up into smaller sections and do a section at a time. Start with one section – maybe do only the 100s and 200s this year. Find better books to improve just those two sections. Next year, weed and buy books for just the 300s and 400s. Keep going and in five years your whole library will be done and you will be ready to start again on the 100s and 200s again.

This week I want to also remind you to vary your reading levels as you weed and buy. How many books on Native Americans do you have? What reading levels are they at? At our school, the only classes who use this particular subject in their curriculum are in the primary grades, so I know that I need to have books on the lower levels for them as well as upper levels for the older students who are interested in this subject. This information can help me in the weeding process and also the buying process.

I know that some of you feel at a loss as to what kind of books are good? Where do I get them? How do I know what to buy? Find a professional who knows books and follow them. I can help you with books that I get for our school. I often share these titles with you. I also publish these weekly emails on my blog, so if you missed one or want to see them again, just go to sdalibrarian.blogspot.com and you will see all the posts I have made since January 2009. Other spots to find people would include Pinterest. Follow Deborah Ford, and you will find others that you like, too.

One of the most important things to do is to read the books you buy. You need to know what you are putting in the library and when a student needs a particular subject, you will likely remember and be able to help them. (The students will also think that you have read every book in the library!)

Audrey

PS – If you need ideas or titles for a subject, let me know and I may be able to help. I’ll also post an email about it since if one person has a question, others may have the same question.

Steps to a Better Collection - Weeding

Hello,

I hope you had a good vacation and are fueled up to start the second half of the school year.

This week I want to tell you more about what I learned at the BER seminar I attended in October with Deborah Ford. Deborah is associated with Junior Library Guild and has access to all the newest books. She also is a great proponent of ‘growing’ a great library collection.

By ‘growing’ I mean that your library is changing on a regular basis. You keep the books that are useful in your curriculum and discard or weed the ones that no longer have a place there. Many librarians call this ‘shelf worthy’. Does that particular book deserve a space on your library shelves? Do you need three or more copies of this book? The answer may be yes and the book deserves a spot on the shelf.

The age of the book is not always a reason to discard a book. I was helping one school to organize their library a few summers ago and as I was cataloging, I came across a copy of Kate Greenaway’s ABC book titled “A Apple Pie”. The original rhyme was first mentioned in a religious work in 1671. Variations appeared in the early 19th century and the most popular illustrated edition was Kate Greenaway’s edition in 1886. The rhyme introduces the apple pie and then proceeds to use verbs that tell what happens to the pie. The story begins “A was an apple pit. B bit it, C cut it, D dealt it, E eat it, and so on. The story can be found online if you are interested in it. In any case, I looked for the publication date and only saw the 1886 date. I did not see any reprint dates and I looked all over it. Then I began to get excited and called out that I had found a treasure that I thought was a first edition. I told that school not to discard this since it may be valuable. So you can see that the age of a book might not be a bad thing.

However, this kind of book sighting is fairly rare and the age of a book might be a very good reason to discard a book. Think science books, current events, computer or technology books – all these will have a limited shelf life if they are to be useful.

Discard books that are in bad shape or are ugly or missing pages. Discard books that have very fine print, few or no illustrations, illustrations that are out of date, or too technical for your library.

Discard multiple copies of books that aren’t useful. Keep one copy or possibly two if you have children who like to read the same book, but get rid of the others. Discard or remove to your church library any of Ellen White’s books that aren’t useful for your school curriculum. I advise that small schools have one set of the Conflict of the Ages series, one set of the Testimonies, a copy of Education and any others that you know will be useful at your school. Take the rest to your local church to put in their library or to a book sale or put in a “Free” box at church.

While you are weeding your library, you are also completing a collection analysis. You are learning where your worst areas are or where you are missing books. This is where you will need to put your book money.

I know what you are thinking – I don’t have time to do this! I don’t know where to start. Here are some suggestions for you.

1. Find a parent (or even an older student or two) to come in and go through the shelves. She or he will need to take each book off the shelf and glance through looking at the book. They will consider the condition of the book and look for the things I mentioned above. Any book that they feel is not appropriate, have them put the books in boxes. Have one box for books that they think is not appropriate in regard to age of the book, copyright date, fine print, etc. Another box would be for books that are in bad shape, covers missing or loose, marking inside the book, or missing pages.

2. Now the hard job is done and you can look through only those books that have been pulled off. Go through the books and make a final decision. You may find that a favorite book of the school is in bad shape, so now you need to either get the book repaired or replace the book. It may be that a newer edition is available or a better book can take its place. Write down the subjects or titles, then discard the books. Now you have a plan of what to get.

Deborah Ford is ruthless when weeding. I am more careful since I know that there are some books that are useful to our Adventist libraries even if students aren’t reading them much. It is fun for their parents to come in and happen across a book that they read as a child and become nostalgic.

At the same school I mentioned above, the teacher had a helper who was ruthlessly weeding the shelves. When I visited, the teacher was noticeably distressed over this. I went to the boxes that had been weeded and started looking through them with her at my side. I actually found many books that were useful to the school even if the students hadn’t checked them out such as books on careers. Those are books that are used, but not always checked out. They might be used at school or in the library. We kept them. I pointed out books that I could mend when I came in the summer and we put those in a box, and I pointed out books that needed too much repair, so we tossed them. As we worked together, the teacher relaxed and began to feel better. We kept quite a few of the ‘discarded’ books after all, which was a relief to the teacher.

If you have any questions about what to keep, first think of your curriculum. Is this something that supports my curriculum? Will I use it in my lessons? Is this something that is shelf worthy? If the answer is no to any or all of these questions, it may be time for that book to leave your school. If you still have questions, I would be happy to help you if I can.

Have a great week.

Audrey