Hello,
I love series books. I love them because when I find a series, I know I have plenty to read for a while. I love them because when I get a student started on them, I know they will be happy for a while until they are finished. So here are some series books that might be interesting for your library. Maybe you have some of these already. Check to see if you have a complete series. If you don’t, you really might consider completing the series. Try a used book source if you cannot get new copies or if your budget is small. I’ll try to put these in age appropriate groups for you, too.
Junior High students/Parents
1. Serenity books by Kay Rizzo. You will find these at the Adventist Book Center. These are great for your older students and parents. With summer coming up you may also get camp meeting specials soon, so make your list.
2. Gilbert Morris’ books. A number of these were donated to our school. I put them out wondering if anyone would read them. Junior high students discovered them and they have been checked out regularly for two years now. See if you can find used copies somewhere. You also might have a community member that is happy to donate these.
3. Jeanette Oke’s books. (Pronounced ‘oak’) I love the Canadian West series, but her Love Comes Softly series is good, too. She also has individual books, too. See above for source ideas.
4. Heartland series by Lauren Brooke. This is a great series about horses. It may be difficult to keep your younger horse lovers from this series. In the first book, the main character suffers tragedy and it may be too much for a younger child. I try to save these for the older students and steer the younger ones to other horse books.
5. Christy Miller by Robin Jones Gunn. This series published by Focus on the Family is also for older students since the characters are high school students and are dealing with high school problems.
6. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. I LOVE this series! I simply cannot get kids to read this because they say, “I saw the movie.” This drives me nuts! The series goes into Anne’s married life and her family and most kids have not read them or even heard of them. I keep trying, though. These books are good for all levels, but are usually intimidating to younger ones because of the small type.
7. Adventures of the Northwoods by Lois Walfrid Johnson published by Bethany House. This is an older series about family life in the early 1900s.
8. Holly’s Heart by Beverly Lewis. Beverly Lewis is well-known for her Amish series books which are also good choices, but this series is about a preteen girl. Holly deals with boyfriends and other issues with the help of her friends and her faith in God.
9. Girls Only by Beverly Lewis. The girls in this series are involved in Olympic sports and have dreams of participating in the Olympics. They have a Girls Only club and learn important lessons as they struggle with challenges. Another series very similar to this one is called The Winning Edge by Lynn Kirby published by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Middle Graders
10. Cul-de-Sac Kids by Beverly Lewis. This series is about the escapades of friends in a neighborhood and is great for middle readers. The books are thin so they aren’t intimidating to younger readers. Plus, there are a lot of funny situations in the series.
11. Keystone Stables by Marsha Hubler published by Zondervan. Give your horse lovers this series to read and when they are ready for another one give them. . .
12. Ready to Ride by Heather Grovet published by Pacific Press. After they finish this horse series, you can guide them to. . .
13. Starlight Animal Rescue series by Dandi Daley Mackall. Granted, there are more than just horses in this series, but maybe you can convince them to read the others too.
14. Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard is an old series, but still popular at my school. Mandie lives in the early 1900s and deals with issues of the day. There are at least 40 in the series. This is one series that it would be OK to not complete! I would have the first few books, then decide how many more you need. There is also a Young Mandie series with about 8 books in it. Those are also for younger readers.
15. Lily series by Nancy Rue published by Zonderkidz. Lily is a sixth grader and deals with situations and issues by asking herself if God is in this. There are also some self-help books that are paired with the stories. One example is the book “Here’s Lily” in which Lily considers a modeling career, and the companion book “The Beauty Book” which discusses what true beauty is to a Christian.
Well, this is enough for this week. I’ll continue this subject thread next week with more series books. Meanwhile, if you have a favorite series that I have not mentioned yet, I’ll be happy to consider adding it next week.
Hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Donated Books, Old Books. What to do?
Hello,
A couple of years ago I was asked a question: What do I do with books that have been donated to our school? I thought I would address this again since we are coming into spring cleaning time and you may have this issue to deal with.
When someone wants to donate books to our library, I say something like this. “Thank you so much for the books. I’ll be happy to look through them and see what the library can use. If I find some in here that we aren’t able to use, is it OK if I share them around?” Usually the donor is just happy to find a home and does not care what you do with them. I now have permission to do whatever I like with the books.
Here are some options for disposing of books:
1. Put the ones that you think might sell on a sale table at your school. Charge $0.25 or less for them. You’d be surprised how many parents will come in and buy these books. Also it is a little bit of income for the library.
2. Donate them to a local daycare or children’s hospital.
3. Take them to a used bookstore and exchange them for books that you CAN use. I do this with my personal books and have a credit at a used bookstore in town.
4. Toss them into a dumpster. Call this the “black bag” method if it helps you feel better.
People have a real problem tossing books in the dumpster. I’m not sure why. If a toy or machine gets old, worn out, or broken and cannot be repaired, those get thrown out. Old, worn-out clothing is discarded. What is the difference with books? If a book is missing pages, toss it. If you cannot repair it and it is not worth sending to a professional for repair, toss it. If it is too old and the information is outdated, toss it. No information is better than wrong information. Repeat that phrase over and over until you are comfortable with it. No information is better than wrong information. You may decide to keep some books for historical purposes, but those will be few.
If a book is unattractive, but the information or story is good, then fix the cover. Make a book jacket for it. One way is to measure the height of the book and the width of the two covers and spine plus at least two inches on each side. Then cut a large piece of paper to fit the book. Now you can decorate it. Make sure to put the title in the spine area plus the spine label. You might find a great picture of the original cover online that you can copy and paste on the book jacket. The main thing is to make the book look attractive.
One idea that I have used is to have a shelf of these good but unattractive books and then I ask students to help me decide if the books are worth the space on our shelves. I asked a class or two to choose a book, read it and let me know if it is a good story and if they think other students might like to read it. If they think it is a good story, they can make a dust jacket for the book. They put a line on the back of the dust jacket that tells who designed the cover and what grade they are in. This would be a great book report idea plus get covers made for some of your books.
I hope you can use some of these ideas. I also give you permission to throw away books that you cannot use! Have a good week,
Audrey
A couple of years ago I was asked a question: What do I do with books that have been donated to our school? I thought I would address this again since we are coming into spring cleaning time and you may have this issue to deal with.
When someone wants to donate books to our library, I say something like this. “Thank you so much for the books. I’ll be happy to look through them and see what the library can use. If I find some in here that we aren’t able to use, is it OK if I share them around?” Usually the donor is just happy to find a home and does not care what you do with them. I now have permission to do whatever I like with the books.
Here are some options for disposing of books:
1. Put the ones that you think might sell on a sale table at your school. Charge $0.25 or less for them. You’d be surprised how many parents will come in and buy these books. Also it is a little bit of income for the library.
2. Donate them to a local daycare or children’s hospital.
3. Take them to a used bookstore and exchange them for books that you CAN use. I do this with my personal books and have a credit at a used bookstore in town.
4. Toss them into a dumpster. Call this the “black bag” method if it helps you feel better.
People have a real problem tossing books in the dumpster. I’m not sure why. If a toy or machine gets old, worn out, or broken and cannot be repaired, those get thrown out. Old, worn-out clothing is discarded. What is the difference with books? If a book is missing pages, toss it. If you cannot repair it and it is not worth sending to a professional for repair, toss it. If it is too old and the information is outdated, toss it. No information is better than wrong information. Repeat that phrase over and over until you are comfortable with it. No information is better than wrong information. You may decide to keep some books for historical purposes, but those will be few.
If a book is unattractive, but the information or story is good, then fix the cover. Make a book jacket for it. One way is to measure the height of the book and the width of the two covers and spine plus at least two inches on each side. Then cut a large piece of paper to fit the book. Now you can decorate it. Make sure to put the title in the spine area plus the spine label. You might find a great picture of the original cover online that you can copy and paste on the book jacket. The main thing is to make the book look attractive.
One idea that I have used is to have a shelf of these good but unattractive books and then I ask students to help me decide if the books are worth the space on our shelves. I asked a class or two to choose a book, read it and let me know if it is a good story and if they think other students might like to read it. If they think it is a good story, they can make a dust jacket for the book. They put a line on the back of the dust jacket that tells who designed the cover and what grade they are in. This would be a great book report idea plus get covers made for some of your books.
I hope you can use some of these ideas. I also give you permission to throw away books that you cannot use! Have a good week,
Audrey
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Reader Responses
Hello,
I recently received two responses to two different posts and thought I would share them with you.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about different ways to add books to your library without spending much money. One response came from Rosemary. She wrote that her local Barnes and Noble bookstore does an in-house book fair for her school. She has had three Barnes and Noble book fairs over the past three years and has been very pleased with this arrangement. The profits come to her on a B & N gift card which she uses to help increase her school library budget. Contact your local Barnes and Noble for more information.
Last week I wrote about using student helpers in the library. My student helpers belong to the Library Club. Donna responded to say that she has used student helpers in her library for 18 years. Her name for them is ‘Library Rats’ which is a play on the ‘Lab Rat’ term. The name has turned into a badge of honor over the years. Donna takes notice of students who will be useful in the library or might also get a boost of self-esteem from the job. She gives personal invitations to these students (even as young as 2nd grade) and begins training them. They come at their recess time once or twice a week and each student has assigned duties. When their job is done for the day, they receive a small piece of candy. Twice a year – Christmas time and end of the school year – she gives out small gift cards to the local Border’s store. Donna has many students requesting to be a ‘Rat’, but she explains that she can’t hire everyone. Also, once Donna trains her ‘Rats’, she keeps them as long as she can.
One thing I DIDN’T tell you is that this year, I am having some issues with my student helpers. About a third of them quit coming regularly and therefore are no longer members of Library Club. About a third of them come in, but don’t really do what I have asked them to do. I like the idea of training them and KEEPING them until they graduate or until they choose to leave. I also like the idea of assigning jobs. I will have to rethink my plan next year.
I hope these ideas from two of my readers are helpful to you. Take what you like, or tweak the ideas and plan until they work for you.
Hope you have a great week!
Audrey
I recently received two responses to two different posts and thought I would share them with you.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about different ways to add books to your library without spending much money. One response came from Rosemary. She wrote that her local Barnes and Noble bookstore does an in-house book fair for her school. She has had three Barnes and Noble book fairs over the past three years and has been very pleased with this arrangement. The profits come to her on a B & N gift card which she uses to help increase her school library budget. Contact your local Barnes and Noble for more information.
Last week I wrote about using student helpers in the library. My student helpers belong to the Library Club. Donna responded to say that she has used student helpers in her library for 18 years. Her name for them is ‘Library Rats’ which is a play on the ‘Lab Rat’ term. The name has turned into a badge of honor over the years. Donna takes notice of students who will be useful in the library or might also get a boost of self-esteem from the job. She gives personal invitations to these students (even as young as 2nd grade) and begins training them. They come at their recess time once or twice a week and each student has assigned duties. When their job is done for the day, they receive a small piece of candy. Twice a year – Christmas time and end of the school year – she gives out small gift cards to the local Border’s store. Donna has many students requesting to be a ‘Rat’, but she explains that she can’t hire everyone. Also, once Donna trains her ‘Rats’, she keeps them as long as she can.
One thing I DIDN’T tell you is that this year, I am having some issues with my student helpers. About a third of them quit coming regularly and therefore are no longer members of Library Club. About a third of them come in, but don’t really do what I have asked them to do. I like the idea of training them and KEEPING them until they graduate or until they choose to leave. I also like the idea of assigning jobs. I will have to rethink my plan next year.
I hope these ideas from two of my readers are helpful to you. Take what you like, or tweak the ideas and plan until they work for you.
Hope you have a great week!
Audrey
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Student Library Helpers
Greetings!
I hope you had a great time on spring vacation.
This week I want to give you some ideas on keeping the library books in order. In order for others to locate the books, they need to be in the correct place on the shelves. When books aren’t shelved correctly, it can be quite difficult to find them later. Teach students to use some kind of shelf marker to mark the place a book belongs while they are browsing. We have red plastic markers that we teach all students to use and when browsing is finished, the red markers go in a container ready for the next group to use.
I started a Library Club about six years ago. Students who want to be in Library Club need to be careful workers and willing to do whatever I need them to do in the library. The Library Club is a service club. Library Club members volunteer in the library at least one lunch recess a week. Usually a number of students come more than once a week which is fine, also. When they arrive, they sign in and report for work. I have jobs ready for them. They do small but important jobs such as cleaning the computers in the lab, dusting in the library, watering plants, and they learn to shelve books. When I teach them to shelve books, I do a lot of one-on-one teaching so they feel confident. They shelve a book and put a bright strip of paper beside the book with their name on it so I know who is shelving correctly and who might need a bit more instruction.
Library Club members aren’t paid, but there are perks in the job. Once a week we have Library Lunch. The club members are allowed to come in to the library during lunch and we visit, make plans for a project, or watch part of a video. At Christmas time they get to choose a book from a shelf in my storage room. I get donated books, or double copies, or books I pull from the book fairs at low prices and keep them ready for gifts or prizes. At the end of the school year I have a party at my home for the Club members. I give each a small lapel pin with Library Club engraved on it. You may have other perks or rewards that work better for you.
If you decide to have student helpers in your library, decide how you want to use student helpers. What things need to be done that students can do? Make a list of jobs that need to be done regularly. Shelving books, dusting shelves or computers, pulling books for displays, and there may be other jobs that a helper can do. What grade level will work best for you? If you have a very small school, you may decide to have two or three 7th or 8th graders. You may even have younger students that you know will be good help. I use students from 5th and 6th grades since their schedules work best for me.
Enjoy the extra help. Have a great week,
Audrey
I hope you had a great time on spring vacation.
This week I want to give you some ideas on keeping the library books in order. In order for others to locate the books, they need to be in the correct place on the shelves. When books aren’t shelved correctly, it can be quite difficult to find them later. Teach students to use some kind of shelf marker to mark the place a book belongs while they are browsing. We have red plastic markers that we teach all students to use and when browsing is finished, the red markers go in a container ready for the next group to use.
I started a Library Club about six years ago. Students who want to be in Library Club need to be careful workers and willing to do whatever I need them to do in the library. The Library Club is a service club. Library Club members volunteer in the library at least one lunch recess a week. Usually a number of students come more than once a week which is fine, also. When they arrive, they sign in and report for work. I have jobs ready for them. They do small but important jobs such as cleaning the computers in the lab, dusting in the library, watering plants, and they learn to shelve books. When I teach them to shelve books, I do a lot of one-on-one teaching so they feel confident. They shelve a book and put a bright strip of paper beside the book with their name on it so I know who is shelving correctly and who might need a bit more instruction.
Library Club members aren’t paid, but there are perks in the job. Once a week we have Library Lunch. The club members are allowed to come in to the library during lunch and we visit, make plans for a project, or watch part of a video. At Christmas time they get to choose a book from a shelf in my storage room. I get donated books, or double copies, or books I pull from the book fairs at low prices and keep them ready for gifts or prizes. At the end of the school year I have a party at my home for the Club members. I give each a small lapel pin with Library Club engraved on it. You may have other perks or rewards that work better for you.
If you decide to have student helpers in your library, decide how you want to use student helpers. What things need to be done that students can do? Make a list of jobs that need to be done regularly. Shelving books, dusting shelves or computers, pulling books for displays, and there may be other jobs that a helper can do. What grade level will work best for you? If you have a very small school, you may decide to have two or three 7th or 8th graders. You may even have younger students that you know will be good help. I use students from 5th and 6th grades since their schedules work best for me.
Enjoy the extra help. Have a great week,
Audrey
Monday, March 14, 2011
How to Get Books for Free! (Almost)
Greetings!
If you are like most schools, you can always use more books even when the budget has run out. Here are a few ways to add books to your library.
1. Start a Birthday Book Club. Invite students, teachers, or parents to add a book to the library in honor of their birthday. Put a bookplate inside the front cover stating who donated the book. Families can choose a book of their choice or one from your wish list. Don’t have a wish list? Go to
2. Amazon.com and make a wish list. This way all the books donated are books that will be useful to your library and you won’t get books that are not appropriate. Whenever you see a book that you would like for the library put it on your Amazon wish list. Also consider putting DVDs or videos or other media you want for the school on the list, too. Making the list is free and doesn’t require you to purchase from Amazon. I have a wish list for Rogers Adventist School and actually get a few books from it each year. I also copy the list into a Word document, cut and paste until my list is what I want and take it to a local bookstore so I am also supporting the local economy.
3. Donations are accepted. I accept all books donated to the library. I mention to the person who has brought the books that we are happy to look over them. If we find some that we decide not to put in the library, would it be OK with them if we put them in a classroom or on our sell shelf? They are usually just glad to get rid of them and it has not been a problem. Then I can cull, shelve, or donate as I wish.
4. Hosting a Scholastic Book Fair is a great way to add books to your library. The books are priced low and parents can buy books and stock up for Christmas, birthdays, presents, or summer reading. The school or library gets a good portion of the profits, too. This is a project that a parent committee can do. If you don’t want to host a book fair, then you can. .
5. Visit a Scholastic warehouse and stock up on their sales. You will likely have to sort through a lot of stuff that you don’t want, but you will also find some wonderful treasures. Think about buying classroom sets, or even just multiple copies of books that you think will be popular.
6. Visit used bookstores and keep your eyes open for good buys there, too. Many will keep a tab for you and if you take your own books (or donated ones that you don’t want to use at your school) you can build up some credit and have it ready when you see something you want.
I hope you find one or more of these ways useful to you. Let me know of other ways you have acquired books for your library or school.
Have a great week and a wonderful time during spring vacation.
Audrey
If you are like most schools, you can always use more books even when the budget has run out. Here are a few ways to add books to your library.
1. Start a Birthday Book Club. Invite students, teachers, or parents to add a book to the library in honor of their birthday. Put a bookplate inside the front cover stating who donated the book. Families can choose a book of their choice or one from your wish list. Don’t have a wish list? Go to
2. Amazon.com and make a wish list. This way all the books donated are books that will be useful to your library and you won’t get books that are not appropriate. Whenever you see a book that you would like for the library put it on your Amazon wish list. Also consider putting DVDs or videos or other media you want for the school on the list, too. Making the list is free and doesn’t require you to purchase from Amazon. I have a wish list for Rogers Adventist School and actually get a few books from it each year. I also copy the list into a Word document, cut and paste until my list is what I want and take it to a local bookstore so I am also supporting the local economy.
3. Donations are accepted. I accept all books donated to the library. I mention to the person who has brought the books that we are happy to look over them. If we find some that we decide not to put in the library, would it be OK with them if we put them in a classroom or on our sell shelf? They are usually just glad to get rid of them and it has not been a problem. Then I can cull, shelve, or donate as I wish.
4. Hosting a Scholastic Book Fair is a great way to add books to your library. The books are priced low and parents can buy books and stock up for Christmas, birthdays, presents, or summer reading. The school or library gets a good portion of the profits, too. This is a project that a parent committee can do. If you don’t want to host a book fair, then you can. .
5. Visit a Scholastic warehouse and stock up on their sales. You will likely have to sort through a lot of stuff that you don’t want, but you will also find some wonderful treasures. Think about buying classroom sets, or even just multiple copies of books that you think will be popular.
6. Visit used bookstores and keep your eyes open for good buys there, too. Many will keep a tab for you and if you take your own books (or donated ones that you don’t want to use at your school) you can build up some credit and have it ready when you see something you want.
I hope you find one or more of these ways useful to you. Let me know of other ways you have acquired books for your library or school.
Have a great week and a wonderful time during spring vacation.
Audrey
Monday, March 7, 2011
Make the Library an Inviting Place
Hello,
When you step into your library space, what do you see? Is this a place that draws students? Is it a place that looks inviting to your kids? What kind of space do you have? No matter where your library is, whether a corner of the classroom or a wall or a separate room, you can make it an inviting place to be. Do you have a theme in your classroom for the year? Decorate the library area with that theme, too. Pull out books on the theme and display them attractively.
One idea for a decorating theme might be the ocean. Make a list of items that fit the theme and see if you can incorporate them into your space. Items for ocean might include sand, water, beach umbrella, surfboard, dunes, waves, beach balls, picnic basket, beach chairs, pail and shovel, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, sand castles, swimming, fishing, blanket or towels, shells and coral. Obviously all these items would not fit in the average classroom, but you could have a paper mural of a beach on the wall and use beach towels on the floor. Put some shells or coral around and have books on shells beside them. Your seating could be a couple of low beach chairs. Put a pail and shovel nearby and maybe an umbrella.
If you use a camping theme, make a list of items that fit the theme. Tent, campfire, backpack, marshmallows, hot dogs, picnic basket, picnic table, camp chairs, woods hiking, hiking boots, trees, orienteering, sleeping bag, flashlight, s’mores, canoeing, fishing, etc. Then decide what – if any – of these items would work in your classroom. Again, a wall mural would be great and not take up too much room. Put up the beginnings of a mural and let students add items to it as they create them. This will give them input and ownership and they will be more likely to use the space they helped to create.
For those that are lucky enough to have a separate library, you can do the same thing with the library. Think of a theme and decorate around the theme. It may be that you don’t have much room for decorating or don’t want to decorate both a classroom AND a library! You don’t have to do much. We set up displays to supplement a unit that a teacher is using or to complement the time of year or holiday or other interests. We put out a display in February to highlight Black History Month. A number of teachers require book reports on African Americans during February and we can direct students to that display. Think of other short term themes you can display. Put out books on space for a couple of weeks, books on disasters, books on Lewis and Clark or exploration, sports heroes, ancient cities, pets, languages, etc. You get the idea. Include in these displays books on all levels and genres as much as possible. That is another way of decorating in the library.
When you think of decorating, also think of cleaning. Dusty, dirty books are not fun to handle nor are they attractive to others.
I hope you got some good ideas this week. Do what you can to make your space inviting for students.
Have a good week,
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
When you step into your library space, what do you see? Is this a place that draws students? Is it a place that looks inviting to your kids? What kind of space do you have? No matter where your library is, whether a corner of the classroom or a wall or a separate room, you can make it an inviting place to be. Do you have a theme in your classroom for the year? Decorate the library area with that theme, too. Pull out books on the theme and display them attractively.
One idea for a decorating theme might be the ocean. Make a list of items that fit the theme and see if you can incorporate them into your space. Items for ocean might include sand, water, beach umbrella, surfboard, dunes, waves, beach balls, picnic basket, beach chairs, pail and shovel, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, sand castles, swimming, fishing, blanket or towels, shells and coral. Obviously all these items would not fit in the average classroom, but you could have a paper mural of a beach on the wall and use beach towels on the floor. Put some shells or coral around and have books on shells beside them. Your seating could be a couple of low beach chairs. Put a pail and shovel nearby and maybe an umbrella.
If you use a camping theme, make a list of items that fit the theme. Tent, campfire, backpack, marshmallows, hot dogs, picnic basket, picnic table, camp chairs, woods hiking, hiking boots, trees, orienteering, sleeping bag, flashlight, s’mores, canoeing, fishing, etc. Then decide what – if any – of these items would work in your classroom. Again, a wall mural would be great and not take up too much room. Put up the beginnings of a mural and let students add items to it as they create them. This will give them input and ownership and they will be more likely to use the space they helped to create.
For those that are lucky enough to have a separate library, you can do the same thing with the library. Think of a theme and decorate around the theme. It may be that you don’t have much room for decorating or don’t want to decorate both a classroom AND a library! You don’t have to do much. We set up displays to supplement a unit that a teacher is using or to complement the time of year or holiday or other interests. We put out a display in February to highlight Black History Month. A number of teachers require book reports on African Americans during February and we can direct students to that display. Think of other short term themes you can display. Put out books on space for a couple of weeks, books on disasters, books on Lewis and Clark or exploration, sports heroes, ancient cities, pets, languages, etc. You get the idea. Include in these displays books on all levels and genres as much as possible. That is another way of decorating in the library.
When you think of decorating, also think of cleaning. Dusty, dirty books are not fun to handle nor are they attractive to others.
I hope you got some good ideas this week. Do what you can to make your space inviting for students.
Have a good week,
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Authors
Hello,
The topic of today’s post is authors. Not just authors, but authors that write books in a variety of genres. Many times we will see a particular author and automatically buy the book simply because of who wrote it. The four authors that I will share with you today all have books that are appropriate for an SDA school and books that may not be the best choices for our schools.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Ms. Naylor has written the beloved Shiloh series: Shiloh, Shiloh Season, and Saving Shiloh. I also enjoyed Beetles, Lightly Toasted; To Walk the Sky Path, The Fear Place, and The Great Chicken Debacle. Ms. Naylor has also written a series about witches which do not belong in our libraries. She also wrote and is still writing the Alice series about a girl growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland. I have read all the Alice books so far, BUT Alice gets herself into adult situations, and some of her actions aren’t what we promote, so I haven’t put them in the library. I also like Send No Blessings, but this title is probably more appropriate for a high school library. This is about a girl dealing with many younger siblings (the ‘blessings’) and the pregnancy of her mother.
Gary Paulsen
We all know about Hatchet and the sequels to it: Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, Brian’s Hunt, and The River. Gary Paulsen also wrote a book called Guts, which give some back story to these books. You may be aware that he ran the Iditarod a few times and has written some books about the experience and his dogs. Woodsong; Dogsong; Dogteam; My Life in Dog Years; and Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers. Other popular choices from Gary are Mudshark, Woods Runner, Tracker, Winter Room, Nightjohn, The Cookcamp, and The Haymeadow. He is a very prolific writer. There are some of his books that are questionable in my mind. They include violence in the Mr. Tucket series, and A Soldier’s Heart. Two of my favorite books of his aren’t appropriate because of language or the adult situations. Winterdance is the adult version of his Iditarod experience and would be perfect for our library if it were not for the four letter words used. Harris and Me is based on his experience living one summer with his aunt and uncle and cousins on a farm. I don’t believe there is a language issue, but there are adult situations in the book. It really is hilarious, though. If you have a chance to read either of these two books, you will enjoy them.
Andrew Clements
Andrew Clements is famous for his wonderful school stories: Frindle, The School Story, No Talking, A Week in the Woods, Extra Credit, Lunch Money, The Report Card, The Landry News, The Jacket, Lost and Found, The Janitor’s Boy, The Last Holiday Concert , and Room One: A Mystery or Two. He also has a new mystery series he is writing which is being published by Scholastic called The Keepers of the School. If you stick to the school stories, you probably won’t go wrong and you also may not be able to keep them on the shelves. They are very popular here. (In my research on him, I saw that he will have a new school story coming out the end of July 2011 titled Trouble Maker!) However, I happened to pick up one of his a few years ago off a Scholastic book fair, took it home, loved it, but took it off the fair shelves. Things Not Seen was the title. It looked Biblical to me, but it is about a teen that wakes up and finds that through some mysterious scientific occurrence, he is now invisible. The story deals with how at first he thinks it is pretty cool to be invisible, but then the problems of invisibility come up and how he figures out how to become visible again. The situation is a bit too farfetched, and although it is a good read, I left it off my shelves. Companion books to that are Things Hoped For, and Things That Are. Other books that are good are for the younger set. Brave Norman, Dogku, the Jake Drake series, and Double Trouble in Walla Walla. You will not be surprised to learn that I have multiple copies of the Walla Walla book!
Avi
Avi is wonderful. He writes in a variety of genre such as Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, and Historical Fiction. If you stick to the Historical Fiction and the Realistic Fiction you will be fine. Historical books include the Crispin trilogy, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, The Secret School ( a personal favorite), The Good Dog, Iron Thunder, The Barn, Hard Gold, and Night Journeys. Realistic books include Never Mind, and Nothing But the Truth. Avi has written some fantasy about animals such as the Poppy series about a little mouse; A Beginning, A Muddle, and An End; and The Book Without Words. Other titles I noticed are ghost stories or magical stories such as Something Upstairs, The Seer of Shadows, and Midnight Magic.
My point is that these authors all have written great books some of which would be a good addition to your libraries and others that you may not want. Do not assume that a book is appropriate for your school libraries just because the author is someone you recognize. Evaluate each book individually when making your book choices.
Hope you have a great week,
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
The topic of today’s post is authors. Not just authors, but authors that write books in a variety of genres. Many times we will see a particular author and automatically buy the book simply because of who wrote it. The four authors that I will share with you today all have books that are appropriate for an SDA school and books that may not be the best choices for our schools.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Ms. Naylor has written the beloved Shiloh series: Shiloh, Shiloh Season, and Saving Shiloh. I also enjoyed Beetles, Lightly Toasted; To Walk the Sky Path, The Fear Place, and The Great Chicken Debacle. Ms. Naylor has also written a series about witches which do not belong in our libraries. She also wrote and is still writing the Alice series about a girl growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland. I have read all the Alice books so far, BUT Alice gets herself into adult situations, and some of her actions aren’t what we promote, so I haven’t put them in the library. I also like Send No Blessings, but this title is probably more appropriate for a high school library. This is about a girl dealing with many younger siblings (the ‘blessings’) and the pregnancy of her mother.
Gary Paulsen
We all know about Hatchet and the sequels to it: Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, Brian’s Hunt, and The River. Gary Paulsen also wrote a book called Guts, which give some back story to these books. You may be aware that he ran the Iditarod a few times and has written some books about the experience and his dogs. Woodsong; Dogsong; Dogteam; My Life in Dog Years; and Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers. Other popular choices from Gary are Mudshark, Woods Runner, Tracker, Winter Room, Nightjohn, The Cookcamp, and The Haymeadow. He is a very prolific writer. There are some of his books that are questionable in my mind. They include violence in the Mr. Tucket series, and A Soldier’s Heart. Two of my favorite books of his aren’t appropriate because of language or the adult situations. Winterdance is the adult version of his Iditarod experience and would be perfect for our library if it were not for the four letter words used. Harris and Me is based on his experience living one summer with his aunt and uncle and cousins on a farm. I don’t believe there is a language issue, but there are adult situations in the book. It really is hilarious, though. If you have a chance to read either of these two books, you will enjoy them.
Andrew Clements
Andrew Clements is famous for his wonderful school stories: Frindle, The School Story, No Talking, A Week in the Woods, Extra Credit, Lunch Money, The Report Card, The Landry News, The Jacket, Lost and Found, The Janitor’s Boy, The Last Holiday Concert , and Room One: A Mystery or Two. He also has a new mystery series he is writing which is being published by Scholastic called The Keepers of the School. If you stick to the school stories, you probably won’t go wrong and you also may not be able to keep them on the shelves. They are very popular here. (In my research on him, I saw that he will have a new school story coming out the end of July 2011 titled Trouble Maker!) However, I happened to pick up one of his a few years ago off a Scholastic book fair, took it home, loved it, but took it off the fair shelves. Things Not Seen was the title. It looked Biblical to me, but it is about a teen that wakes up and finds that through some mysterious scientific occurrence, he is now invisible. The story deals with how at first he thinks it is pretty cool to be invisible, but then the problems of invisibility come up and how he figures out how to become visible again. The situation is a bit too farfetched, and although it is a good read, I left it off my shelves. Companion books to that are Things Hoped For, and Things That Are. Other books that are good are for the younger set. Brave Norman, Dogku, the Jake Drake series, and Double Trouble in Walla Walla. You will not be surprised to learn that I have multiple copies of the Walla Walla book!
Avi
Avi is wonderful. He writes in a variety of genre such as Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, and Historical Fiction. If you stick to the Historical Fiction and the Realistic Fiction you will be fine. Historical books include the Crispin trilogy, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, The Secret School ( a personal favorite), The Good Dog, Iron Thunder, The Barn, Hard Gold, and Night Journeys. Realistic books include Never Mind, and Nothing But the Truth. Avi has written some fantasy about animals such as the Poppy series about a little mouse; A Beginning, A Muddle, and An End; and The Book Without Words. Other titles I noticed are ghost stories or magical stories such as Something Upstairs, The Seer of Shadows, and Midnight Magic.
My point is that these authors all have written great books some of which would be a good addition to your libraries and others that you may not want. Do not assume that a book is appropriate for your school libraries just because the author is someone you recognize. Evaluate each book individually when making your book choices.
Hope you have a great week,
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
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