Hi,
This week I am going to share some historical fiction that I really like.
Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson – This is the story of the plague of yellow fever that overtook the city of Philidelphia during the summer of 1793. Mattie Cook spends her days trying to avoid any chores but when the fever breaks out, she finds an inner strength while dealing with the dreaded disease. This book is for ages 10 and up. (Laurie Halse Anderson also writes the Vet Volunteer books for slightly younger students.)
Avi is an author that writes well in any genre and I do mean that. His historical fiction is superb. The Secret School is about a one-room school whose teacher must leave immediately to care for her mother who is ill. There is just over six weeks of school left and the children are told they are to tell their families that school is over for the term. This means that Ida will not be able to graduate and go on to high school. The students all agree to continue to attend school and not tell their families. Another Avi book is Iron Thunder, the story of the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Avi has dozens more and all are good. He does write other genres, so make sure it is a genre that you are happy to put in your library.
Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop. Take twenty French children living in relative safety during the French occupation and then take ten Jewish children who need to be hidden from the Nazis and you have a great story. I have read this aloud to many students and they all love it.
Will Hobbs writes wonderful adventure books. Jason’s Gold and Down the Yukon are just two of them. These particular titles are about the gold rush to Nome, Alaska in the late 1800s. If I need to get a student a good book to read, I recommend Will Hobbs’ books.
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Tree-Ear, a homeless orphan becomes involved with a master potter during the twelfth century in Korea. When a pot is accidentally broken, Tree-Ear must repay for his carelessness by working for the potter. And later, when one pot can bring great financial gain, Tree-Ear is able to help his master.
Dear America books are written in diary format and are very popular with nearly all of our students. Each book is the imaginary diary of someone during a time in history such as the Civil War, Vietnam, Depression, and many other time periods. At the end of the books is a section on the history of the time period and gives more information. The books are popular with grades 5 and up. Each Dear America book is the diary of a girl, Royal Diaries are about royal girls, My Name is America is the journal of a boy, and My America is a short version for younger ages.
I hope these titles are popular with your students. If you have some books that your students enjoy, let me know and I’ll pass those titles along.
Have a good week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Audrey's Favorites, Part 1
Hi,
I had such a good time picking out those titles last week and I thought I would do it again. This week I am sharing books that are favorites of mine and I hope will be favorites of yours. My only problem here is that I have so many favorites that this could get very long! I will just have to do installments of favorites.
Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran. Everytime I read this book, children love it and check it out again and again. If you remember a time when children played outdoors and made their own little houses, this book is for you. Barbara Cooney, the illustrator, went to the actual Roxaboxen so she could draw the pictures true to life.
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. This is the story of a woman who pledged from childhood to seek adventure and also make the world a more beautiful place.
The Secret Remedy Book: A Story of Comfort and Love by Karin Cates and Wendy Anderson Halperin. A young girl visits her aunt for a week and becomes homesick for her parents. Aunt brings out her secret remedy book to help her niece overcome her homesickness. The remedies are wonderful and the illustrations are soft and soothing.
Rocks in his Head by Carol Otis Hurst. Carol Otis Hurst tells the story of her father who was a passionate collector of rocks. People said he had rocks in his pockets and rocks in his head. He would reply, “Maybe I have.” Then he would put his hand in his pocket and say, “Take a look at this one.” This is a great story for rock hounds and might inspire others to learn more about those hard things under their feet.
Mary Smith by Andrea U’Ren. Back in the time before alarm clocks how did people wake up and get to their jobs on time? Mary Smith was one of the people who would go from house to house blowing a dried pea through a pea shooter at the windows of the homes and waking up the people. This is a unique story of a unique job few have heard about.
The Cats of Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse and Wendy Watson. Karen Hesse is famous for her stories of WW2 and other historical fiction. This is the story of a young girl who has escaped the Getto and lives with her older sister. They smuggle food to the Jews still living there. One day they learn of the Gestapo plan to find the food and confiscate it by using dogs to locate the food. The resistance group thwarts the Gestapo by collecting the stray cats and then letting them loose in the train station. What a great retelling of a true story of Jewish resistance!
So here are a few to get you started. These are all in print at this time.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
I had such a good time picking out those titles last week and I thought I would do it again. This week I am sharing books that are favorites of mine and I hope will be favorites of yours. My only problem here is that I have so many favorites that this could get very long! I will just have to do installments of favorites.
Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran. Everytime I read this book, children love it and check it out again and again. If you remember a time when children played outdoors and made their own little houses, this book is for you. Barbara Cooney, the illustrator, went to the actual Roxaboxen so she could draw the pictures true to life.
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. This is the story of a woman who pledged from childhood to seek adventure and also make the world a more beautiful place.
The Secret Remedy Book: A Story of Comfort and Love by Karin Cates and Wendy Anderson Halperin. A young girl visits her aunt for a week and becomes homesick for her parents. Aunt brings out her secret remedy book to help her niece overcome her homesickness. The remedies are wonderful and the illustrations are soft and soothing.
Rocks in his Head by Carol Otis Hurst. Carol Otis Hurst tells the story of her father who was a passionate collector of rocks. People said he had rocks in his pockets and rocks in his head. He would reply, “Maybe I have.” Then he would put his hand in his pocket and say, “Take a look at this one.” This is a great story for rock hounds and might inspire others to learn more about those hard things under their feet.
Mary Smith by Andrea U’Ren. Back in the time before alarm clocks how did people wake up and get to their jobs on time? Mary Smith was one of the people who would go from house to house blowing a dried pea through a pea shooter at the windows of the homes and waking up the people. This is a unique story of a unique job few have heard about.
The Cats of Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse and Wendy Watson. Karen Hesse is famous for her stories of WW2 and other historical fiction. This is the story of a young girl who has escaped the Getto and lives with her older sister. They smuggle food to the Jews still living there. One day they learn of the Gestapo plan to find the food and confiscate it by using dogs to locate the food. The resistance group thwarts the Gestapo by collecting the stray cats and then letting them loose in the train station. What a great retelling of a true story of Jewish resistance!
So here are a few to get you started. These are all in print at this time.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Helping Others in Need
Hi,
This week I want to share some books that are about helping and sharing with others around the world. Since the earthquake in Haiti last week, I am sure you have been discussing this with your students. Here are some stories you may enjoy.
Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina – This is the story of a dog and a cat who were left behind during the evacuation in Katrina. The two animals stayed together and helped each other and finally were cared for by a rescue team. At that time it was learned that the cat was actually blind and had been helped by the dog.
Wangari’s Trees of Peace – Wangari lived in Kenya as a small child and loved her country. She left to complete her education and when she returned found the trees being cut down for industry, but no one was replanting. She started a replanting program under great opposition from others, but was not discouraged. She enlisted the local women and paid them to plant trees.
Beatrice’s Goat – Beatrice and her family receive a goat from an organization (like ADRA) and are able to improve their lifestyle. Because of the goat, they are able to afford a uniform for Beatrice so she can attend school. This is a good one to read then discuss the different options that ADRA offers so families in similar situations can help themselves.
Boxes for Katje – During the war a package comes for Katje from America. The whole village is excited about this and Katje shares some of the items in the package with the neighbors. Katje sends a thank you letter to her new friend and boxes continue to come to help not just Katje and her family, but the whole village.
If the World Were a Village – This is not a story, but a way to help people understand the make-up of the world. One example is that if the world were a village of 100 people, 61 are from Asia, 13 are from Africa, 12 are from Europe, 8 are from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, 5 are from Canada and the United States, and 1 is from Oceania. This is a fascinating book.
Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa – What difference can one small child make in the world? An enormous difference. When in first grade, Ryan learned of the scarcity of water in Africa and how desperately wells were needed. He decided to buy a well. His parents told him that he needed to earn the money for it himself and he began. It took a year or two, but finally he had enough. Or so he thought. He really only had enough to purchase the pump, so he went back to his fundraising and spoke at business, clubs, and schools and collected $25,000 and more to dig the well. One boy in the African school named Jimmy became pen pals with Ryan and later when Ryan had the opportunity to visit, he and Jimmy became fast friends. It is very inspiring to read about what a young person can do when they are motivated.
I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do.
Have a great weekend.
Audrey
This week I want to share some books that are about helping and sharing with others around the world. Since the earthquake in Haiti last week, I am sure you have been discussing this with your students. Here are some stories you may enjoy.
Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina – This is the story of a dog and a cat who were left behind during the evacuation in Katrina. The two animals stayed together and helped each other and finally were cared for by a rescue team. At that time it was learned that the cat was actually blind and had been helped by the dog.
Wangari’s Trees of Peace – Wangari lived in Kenya as a small child and loved her country. She left to complete her education and when she returned found the trees being cut down for industry, but no one was replanting. She started a replanting program under great opposition from others, but was not discouraged. She enlisted the local women and paid them to plant trees.
Beatrice’s Goat – Beatrice and her family receive a goat from an organization (like ADRA) and are able to improve their lifestyle. Because of the goat, they are able to afford a uniform for Beatrice so she can attend school. This is a good one to read then discuss the different options that ADRA offers so families in similar situations can help themselves.
Boxes for Katje – During the war a package comes for Katje from America. The whole village is excited about this and Katje shares some of the items in the package with the neighbors. Katje sends a thank you letter to her new friend and boxes continue to come to help not just Katje and her family, but the whole village.
If the World Were a Village – This is not a story, but a way to help people understand the make-up of the world. One example is that if the world were a village of 100 people, 61 are from Asia, 13 are from Africa, 12 are from Europe, 8 are from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, 5 are from Canada and the United States, and 1 is from Oceania. This is a fascinating book.
Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa – What difference can one small child make in the world? An enormous difference. When in first grade, Ryan learned of the scarcity of water in Africa and how desperately wells were needed. He decided to buy a well. His parents told him that he needed to earn the money for it himself and he began. It took a year or two, but finally he had enough. Or so he thought. He really only had enough to purchase the pump, so he went back to his fundraising and spoke at business, clubs, and schools and collected $25,000 and more to dig the well. One boy in the African school named Jimmy became pen pals with Ryan and later when Ryan had the opportunity to visit, he and Jimmy became fast friends. It is very inspiring to read about what a young person can do when they are motivated.
I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do.
Have a great weekend.
Audrey
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Weeding 200s and Promoting Books
Hello,
This week we will tackle weeding the 200’s. This section is Religion and Mythology. Much of our books in this area such as Bibles, devotional materials, and missionary stories are timeless and there may be very little weeding done here. Look for books that may be outdated, or that are in dire need of repair. Consider replacing books with newer editions or brighter covers.
Check your section and see if there are books that aren’t circulating. If they aren’t, try to learn the reason why. If they look ‘old’, maybe you need to help move this along. Here are some ideas to promote books in your library.
1. New Book Jackets. Ask students to read them and create a new book jacket for the book. This could be a book report assignment.
2. Junior Librarian – Ask particular students to help you decide whether or not to keep the books. Their job is to read the book and let you know what the book is about and their opinion of the book. If you keep this to a certain few, word will get out and others may ask to help, too. I usually approach a student in a confidential manner and ask if they are interested in helping me with something.
3. Read one part of the book and get interest going. If students ask why you aren’t reading the whole book, tell them that you are reading a blurb similar to the information found on a book jacket or the back of a book. They will have to read the whole book themselves.
4. Create a space to focus on older books that haven’t circulated much and put up a sign that reads “Lonely Books, These books need a friend to read them.”
You will be able to come up with other ideas to promote books. Send any great ideas to me and I will share them with the group.
Have a great week – what’s left of it!
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
This week we will tackle weeding the 200’s. This section is Religion and Mythology. Much of our books in this area such as Bibles, devotional materials, and missionary stories are timeless and there may be very little weeding done here. Look for books that may be outdated, or that are in dire need of repair. Consider replacing books with newer editions or brighter covers.
Check your section and see if there are books that aren’t circulating. If they aren’t, try to learn the reason why. If they look ‘old’, maybe you need to help move this along. Here are some ideas to promote books in your library.
1. New Book Jackets. Ask students to read them and create a new book jacket for the book. This could be a book report assignment.
2. Junior Librarian – Ask particular students to help you decide whether or not to keep the books. Their job is to read the book and let you know what the book is about and their opinion of the book. If you keep this to a certain few, word will get out and others may ask to help, too. I usually approach a student in a confidential manner and ask if they are interested in helping me with something.
3. Read one part of the book and get interest going. If students ask why you aren’t reading the whole book, tell them that you are reading a blurb similar to the information found on a book jacket or the back of a book. They will have to read the whole book themselves.
4. Create a space to focus on older books that haven’t circulated much and put up a sign that reads “Lonely Books, These books need a friend to read them.”
You will be able to come up with other ideas to promote books. Send any great ideas to me and I will share them with the group.
Have a great week – what’s left of it!
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Ellen White online magazine for kids
Happy New Year!
This first post of the New Year will be short. I have a website that you will want to put in your favorites or bookmark or whatever your computer calls it. It is a service that the White Estate offers for children. I was not aware of this and logged on to investigate. It is a great online magazine for children called “Ellen White: Visionary for Kids”. This is a good way to help kids learn about Ellen White and her contribution to the Adventist Church. It would be good to use in the classroom, at home, or even at Sabbath School.
Log on and take a look around. I have a feeling you will enjoy it.
http://www.whiteestate.org/vez/
This website was suggested by one of our teachers here at Rogers. He got it through the weekly e-newsletter from the pastor of Village Church, John Bradshaw.
If you have a great website you use a lot, please share it with me and I will pass it along in one of my weekly emails.
Have a great week.
Audrey
This first post of the New Year will be short. I have a website that you will want to put in your favorites or bookmark or whatever your computer calls it. It is a service that the White Estate offers for children. I was not aware of this and logged on to investigate. It is a great online magazine for children called “Ellen White: Visionary for Kids”. This is a good way to help kids learn about Ellen White and her contribution to the Adventist Church. It would be good to use in the classroom, at home, or even at Sabbath School.
Log on and take a look around. I have a feeling you will enjoy it.
http://www.whiteestate.org/vez/
This website was suggested by one of our teachers here at Rogers. He got it through the weekly e-newsletter from the pastor of Village Church, John Bradshaw.
If you have a great website you use a lot, please share it with me and I will pass it along in one of my weekly emails.
Have a great week.
Audrey
Monday, December 14, 2009
Another Library Automation Option
Hello,
This week I am sending along some more information about another library automation program that has been recommended by a retired librarian, Robert Cooper. The letter that follows is the letter he sent to all the unions. One plus is that he has included most of the SDA publications in the database.
If you are interested in the EZcat program, you might go online and request a demonstration. They will send you a tutorial and you can see if this is a program you will like. Mr. Cooper has grants you may apply for which will bring the cost to your school down to about $750 for a $3,000 program. That is a pretty good deal.
For more information please contact Mr. Cooper. He can answer any questions about this program that you may have.
Have a happy holiday and be safe.
Audrey
Mr. Robert Cooper’s letter
I am a retired librarian from Southwestern. While volunteering at our local elementary school I discovered an excellent Library automation program for our school libraries. As a result I now host an EZcat database of 48,000+ entries including most SDA publications. The ip address of the database is reproservsda@76.255.50.1 at port 210 that is importable from the Bookwhere part of the Librarian's Edge program that I understand has been pushed by the NAD education dept. Please notify all your schools of this possibility to assist them in their endeavor to maintain good libraries.
If some of your schools are looking for an excellent library automation program I can highly recommend Book System's Concourse with EZcat. I liked the program so much that I contacted the company and they have agreed to permit our schools to purchase it for $995 if my name is mentioned as recommender rather than the customary price of $3,000. In addition to this an aunt of mine gave me $10,000 to use for $250 grants per school of which I have about $8,250 remaining that I will offer our schools until it is depleted. It's EZcat and Bookwhere can both access my database. This Concourse program is a complete program that does everything needed to run an efficient and user-friendly online catalog as well as reports capabilities making available a breakdown of Dewey classes, yearly inventories, overdue notices, letters to parents, etc.
With the economy the way it is today you may want to encourage your schools to take advantage of the $995 price tag and the grant available while it lasts as so few of our schools and academies can afford to hire professional librarians. Your union and conferences my wish to do what the Southwestern Union and Texas Conference have done which is to each offer schools purchasing the program an additional $100 grant cutting the price for the schools almost in half.
Schools interest in purchasing the program should contact me for more information for the correct procedure in obtaining the $995 price.
Yours for better libraries,
Robert Cooper
(address has been deleted)
This week I am sending along some more information about another library automation program that has been recommended by a retired librarian, Robert Cooper. The letter that follows is the letter he sent to all the unions. One plus is that he has included most of the SDA publications in the database.
If you are interested in the EZcat program, you might go online and request a demonstration. They will send you a tutorial and you can see if this is a program you will like. Mr. Cooper has grants you may apply for which will bring the cost to your school down to about $750 for a $3,000 program. That is a pretty good deal.
For more information please contact Mr. Cooper. He can answer any questions about this program that you may have.
Have a happy holiday and be safe.
Audrey
Mr. Robert Cooper’s letter
I am a retired librarian from Southwestern. While volunteering at our local elementary school I discovered an excellent Library automation program for our school libraries. As a result I now host an EZcat database of 48,000+ entries including most SDA publications. The ip address of the database is reproservsda@76.255.50.1 at port 210 that is importable from the Bookwhere part of the Librarian's Edge program that I understand has been pushed by the NAD education dept. Please notify all your schools of this possibility to assist them in their endeavor to maintain good libraries.
If some of your schools are looking for an excellent library automation program I can highly recommend Book System's Concourse with EZcat. I liked the program so much that I contacted the company and they have agreed to permit our schools to purchase it for $995 if my name is mentioned as recommender rather than the customary price of $3,000. In addition to this an aunt of mine gave me $10,000 to use for $250 grants per school of which I have about $8,250 remaining that I will offer our schools until it is depleted. It's EZcat and Bookwhere can both access my database. This Concourse program is a complete program that does everything needed to run an efficient and user-friendly online catalog as well as reports capabilities making available a breakdown of Dewey classes, yearly inventories, overdue notices, letters to parents, etc.
With the economy the way it is today you may want to encourage your schools to take advantage of the $995 price tag and the grant available while it lasts as so few of our schools and academies can afford to hire professional librarians. Your union and conferences my wish to do what the Southwestern Union and Texas Conference have done which is to each offer schools purchasing the program an additional $100 grant cutting the price for the schools almost in half.
Schools interest in purchasing the program should contact me for more information for the correct procedure in obtaining the $995 price.
Yours for better libraries,
Robert Cooper
(address has been deleted)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Weeding the 100's
Hello,
This month we are going to weed in the 100’s which include Philosophy and Psychology. This is a very small section in my elementary school library. I am using the CREW guidelines for weeding your collection. The formulas for the different Dewey classes are ‘rules of thumb’. This means that you may have a book that might lend itself to be discarded, but it is still being used in your library. Go ahead and keep the book if you want. There are no library police coming to take it away. These are guidelines only. CREW uses an acronym ‘MUSTIE’ that can help decide whether or not to discard a book.
M – Misleading or factually incorrect
U – Ugly or worn and beyond mending or rebinding
S – Superseded by a new edition or a much better book on the subject
T – Trivial – no discernible literary or scientific merit. (Usually was of interest at some point in the past.)
I – Irrelevant to the needs and interests of your community
E – Elsewhere. The material or information may be obtained quickly and easily elsewhere.
101 – Philosophy
Weed based on interest and use.
133 – Paranormal Phenomena
Often these books are high interest and have high usage. Since this section contains books on witchcraft, fortune telling, dream interpretation, and astrology, we will likely not have much of anything in our libraries in this section. I happen to have a couple of books on the Loch Ness monster that we put in this section.
150 – Psychology
You may have some self-help books in this section. Consider weeding them if the copyright date is older than five years. Keep up with television gurus and weed their books when no longer popular or on TV.
160 – Ethics and Morality
Weed books that have a copyright older than ten years or if no longer of interest to your community. Watch for any outdated philosophies on ethics and moral values such as genetic engineering, euthanasia, and sexuality.
This information can be found in CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries. http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew . The Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Let me know if you have any wonderful tricks to get students to return books in a timely manner. I’ll compile your ideas and send them out in an email. I’ll use your name along with each idea I receive unless you prefer to remain anonymous.
Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas you would like to see addressed in my weekly emails. What things are helpful to you? Would you rather have more titles of books or more library management ideas?
Have a great week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
This month we are going to weed in the 100’s which include Philosophy and Psychology. This is a very small section in my elementary school library. I am using the CREW guidelines for weeding your collection. The formulas for the different Dewey classes are ‘rules of thumb’. This means that you may have a book that might lend itself to be discarded, but it is still being used in your library. Go ahead and keep the book if you want. There are no library police coming to take it away. These are guidelines only. CREW uses an acronym ‘MUSTIE’ that can help decide whether or not to discard a book.
M – Misleading or factually incorrect
U – Ugly or worn and beyond mending or rebinding
S – Superseded by a new edition or a much better book on the subject
T – Trivial – no discernible literary or scientific merit. (Usually was of interest at some point in the past.)
I – Irrelevant to the needs and interests of your community
E – Elsewhere. The material or information may be obtained quickly and easily elsewhere.
101 – Philosophy
Weed based on interest and use.
133 – Paranormal Phenomena
Often these books are high interest and have high usage. Since this section contains books on witchcraft, fortune telling, dream interpretation, and astrology, we will likely not have much of anything in our libraries in this section. I happen to have a couple of books on the Loch Ness monster that we put in this section.
150 – Psychology
You may have some self-help books in this section. Consider weeding them if the copyright date is older than five years. Keep up with television gurus and weed their books when no longer popular or on TV.
160 – Ethics and Morality
Weed books that have a copyright older than ten years or if no longer of interest to your community. Watch for any outdated philosophies on ethics and moral values such as genetic engineering, euthanasia, and sexuality.
This information can be found in CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries. http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew . The Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Let me know if you have any wonderful tricks to get students to return books in a timely manner. I’ll compile your ideas and send them out in an email. I’ll use your name along with each idea I receive unless you prefer to remain anonymous.
Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas you would like to see addressed in my weekly emails. What things are helpful to you? Would you rather have more titles of books or more library management ideas?
Have a great week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com
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