One more sleep ’til the munchkins return at Shanghai American School…then the picture will be complete
Hooray for working in a fantastic elementary library with the best team ever…
Hooray to having an abundance of wonderful new fresh exciting books to share
Hooray for moody Summer CLEAR skies in Shanghai to welcome us home
In avoiding preparation for Saturday’s Presentation in Taipei, I have gone back down the rabbit-hole of discussion after discussion, post after post and tweet after tweet regarding Sophie Blackall and Emily Jenkin’s A Fine Dessert.
I have A Fine Dessert on display as a contender for the 2016 Caldecott Medal; in good company with posts like these from Mr. Schu (Scholastic Ambassador for School Libraries), and here on the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015.
I’ve enjoyed commentary from other reputable sources such as NPR and as always read through the comments after; with a mixture of those commenters agreeing with NPR’s heading of the book having either “award buzz” or “whitewashing slavery”. Reading posts here on Debbie Reese’s blog, led me down another interesting path that I recommend you all check out. Debbie posted a letter from Emily on October 29th;
This is Emily Jenkins. I like the Reading While White blog and have been reading it since inception. As the author of A Fine Dessert, I have read this discussion and the others with care and attention. I have come to understand that my book, while intended to be inclusive and truthful and hopeful, is racially insensitive. I own that and am very sorry. For lack of a better way to make reparations, I donated the fee I earned for writing the book to We Need Diverse Books.
After following the conversations and drama this book has stirred, and after reading this great post over at Library Girl’s blog just this morning, I know that more needs to be done with this beautiful book than just put it on display. Library Girl references Sandra Hughes-Hassel who “advocates for using book displays as an opportunity to affect social justice.” If I only displayed the book, I’d remain at Level 1; Addiditive Approach, whereas there are two more levels I should be seeing; Level 2; The Transformative Approach, or better still, Level 3; The Social Action Approach where I would be “taking action to educate others about why these texts are necessary.”
I’d already read A Fine Dessert to students in Grades 2,3 and 4…I will now read it through a more thoughtful lens; admiring it for not only it’s beauty, but also for the discussion it will promote, and the learning it will encourage.
Some people love Spring, some Summer. Others love days like Valentines Day or Halloween. I know some people who are mad about horse racing season, TV award show time or sales after Thanksgiving.
For me, the absolute, hands-down most exciting time of the school year is the 8 weeks leading up to the ALA award season. For the uninitiated, that is the American Library Association and their awards are given on February 2nd 2015 next time around.
As an Elementary Librarian, my two favorite awards are for the Newbery, and the Caldecott Medal and there is plenty of excitement being generated about them already at sites like these.
Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott is my go-to place for reading about who is on the ‘maybe’ list…
I just did a lot of book-buying on our library kindles here, after seeing this great list from Goodreads.
After viewing this lovely slideshow declaring winners of the New York Times Best Illustrated Books, I was very interested in Travis Jonker’s informative post breaking down the ratio of how books fare on New York Times Lists vs Caldecott. Below are some of Travis’ observations. You can see why I like following him so much, he is always very informative.
I was thrilled to see The Promise written by Nicola Davies @nicolakidsbooks and illustrated by Laura Carlin on the NYT list, but don’t think it is eligible for Caldecott…happy to hear differently from anyone out there.
Increasingly, colleagues and friends have turned to technology to promote what is going on in their classroom. I follow a variety of them on Twitter and Facebook, but my favourite way to keep track of their activities is through Instagram.
I follow several of my daughters’ classroom activities through this app, including my older daughter’s fencing group, and my younger daughter’s art class; Instagram provides a simple way to check in and see what the girls are up to, often triggering conversation for later…”I saw you doing the rock-climbing with your friends today Mimi, that looked like fun.”
As a librarian, I LOVE Instagram and get so many ideas from there. It’s all about the tagging. #library #librarybooks #librarydisplays #librarian #libraryideas #kidlit #picturebooks… you get the idea.
I add to Instagram as the Barefoot Librarian to promote the new books I get in the library, share ideas for display, and share student feedback on certain books. I like to post pictures of life in our library, the wonderful furnishings, the activities we have like Books to Eat and the Cardboard Challenge, and day to day activities. Why don’t you consider starting your own Instagram account today?
I Know Here by Laurel Croza (2010)
Certainly one of my favorites as a writing teacher, this is a beautiful companion book to Patricia Mc Lachlan’s What you know First or Rylant’s When I was Young in the Mountains when studying memoir with older students or as a delightful read-a-loud for any age group. It’s also perfect for dealing with transitions; something our international students are no strangers to. Now I just need to buy From There to Here, which came out in 2014 http://laurelcroza.com/
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Barton (2013)
Complete with questions for discussion, a recommended reading list for adults and a recommended reading list for kids, this is one of several new books that will be used by counselors and classroom teachers this year. Cleverly illustrated by Patrice Barton who uses the lack of color to depict the isolation of the main character, this story shares the heartbreaking journey of a student we all know, the invisible boy. http://www.randomhouse.ca/books/212027/the-invisible-boy-by-trudy-ludwig-illustrated-by-patrice-barton
Wow… What a FUN job I have before me!
With over 130 votes coming in from our Elementary Students this week, I have my work cut out for me adding up who voted for what. I actually don’t need to do any of this… I really just need to wait until tomorrow night to see who the ALA chooses for the Newbery and Caldecott Medal books, then see which of our students chose the same, and go from there. BUT, it is so interesting seeing who the kids voted for, remembering the lesson that their teacher or I read them that book, the discussions we had, and realizing that the book resonated with them.
I started a tally on a small piece of paper for the Caldecott’s, and soon realized I needed a bigger piece of paper to write down all of the different titles. It really is a great year for picture books, and I am thrilled that so many of our students have been exposed to the LATEST and GREATEST the industry has to offer.
Caldecott Book Tally as voted by the K,1,2,3rd grade students; the number in brackets AFTER the book title, is how many votes it earned from the 4th and 5th graders.
1 vote went to Bunnies on Ice, If you want to see a whale, the Matchbox Diary, A Splash of Red, I’m the Scariest Thing in the Jungle, and Water in the Park (love this one). Of course, the cool thing is, ANY of these books could be the actual Caldecott Medal or Honor Winner.
2 votes went to On a Beam of Light, The Snatchabook(4), Nelson Mandela, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Odd Duck.
3 votes went to Papa’s Mechanical Fish, The Day the Crayons Quit(6), Steam Train Dream Train and also to Journey(3), so of course I think one of those voters must be onto something, with Aaron Becker’s Journey being such a favorite this year around the blogosphere.
4 votes went to Mr Wuffles (1)
6 votes went to Night Light (1), the children really loved guessing what will be on the next page and Mr Tiger Goes Wild, (4) another popular favorite this year.
9 votes went to Tap the Magic Tree, Building our House, Unicorn Thinks he’s Pretty Great (3), Secret Pizza Party (2), Bluebird (6) and Flora the Flamingo proving that you don’t need words to produce a brilliant story kids love.
Doug Unplugged (3) has been really popular with the second and third graders and scored high with them when it came time to vote with 15 votes.
However, it was the teaming of Lemony Snickett and Jon Klassen with The Dark (12) that scored the highest with the K-3rd graders who gave it 21 votes, proving it to be the most popular of the picture books they’ve been introduced to these past three weeks. I certainly hope it gets an honor at least, the silence and air of suspense as I read it, time and time again, was palpable.
So, points of interest between the Caldecott books the lower ES voted for compared to the upper ES…
*Patricia Polacco’s Bully didn’t get a nod from the younger ones, but 3 upper ES voted for it.
*Locomotive got 1 vote from the older kids
*All of the books listed above that only got one vote from the younger kids, were overlooked by the older ones.
*Dark was the clear favourite overall, with 33 votes…
Right…. now on to the Newbery AND Caldecott Votes from the 4th and 5th graders… It will be interesting to see how they chose their picture books compared to the younger students. To win the ‘grand prize’ kiss from me, they need to get the Newbery AND Caldecott winner correct…. tough call.
In a way, I can’t wait ’til this time next week, when I can start sharing with the students who won the 2014 Newbery and Caldecott Medals, but another part of me really enjoys the energy and enthusiasm the countdown produces.
Right now, the classes are buzzing, arguing, debating and defending their choices with vigour… once the decision is made, I suppose there will be a new kind of buzz; again, more arguments as to why they think the decision made was right or wrong… But as for now, they OWN their choices, and they are shouting them loud and proud.
As for me, I am reading through those books like crazy… but none have jumped out at me the same way Applegate’s Ivan did this time last year. I am however, loving MANY of the picture books I’m reading (so much faster!) and can’t wait to see who takes that. Some of my favourites are:
The Dark by Lemony Snickett
I’m a sucker for Klassen’s illustrations, and I think the story is really well done, so suspenseful.
Journey by Aaron Becker
Wordless books are aplenty this year with Flora the Flamingo, Mr. Wuffles (practically wordless) and the heart-wrenching Bluebird by Bob Staake, however it is Journey that gets my vote; what an amazing creation. The early pages took me back to one of last year’s favorites, Hello Hello by Matthew Cordell.
Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino
Again,I’m reminded of Hello Hello; “Dan Yaccarino’s funny story of robot rebellion is a great reminder that sometimes the best way to learn about the world is to go out and be in it.”
Now, check out Ms Lau’s students reading the Caldecott’s this morning, and see what they voted for this morning…
Ethan H: Blue Bird
Maddie: Blue Bird
Lizzie: Nelson Mandela
Daniel: Blue Bird
Han Rei: Blue Bird
William: Blue Bird
Jerry: Journey
Charlotte: Blue Bird
Oliver: Night Light
Malu: Blue Bird
Yolanda: Blue Bird
Here is a great list from the Horn Book blog with many of the books listed that we are lucky enough to have been reading this week.
My favourite time of the year is coming up in the Library… The ALA library awards will be announced on January 27th 2014.
Many people wonder how books are judged… if you want to learn more about that, the ALA site tells you all about the judging criteria for awards like the Newbery and the Caldecott Medal.
I’m fortunate at SAS to have a wonderful team around me who support our purchasing of the latest and greatest books. This school year, I’ve also acquired many ‘mules’ who are able to bring me back new books for January to accompany the many we have digitally on kindle and ibooks. The books I’ve been buying come from the lists below… so if YOU want to keep your eye on the prize… have a look through the following links to see how many books you have read.
I’ll be spending January’s library time discussing with students the best of the best, and what makes them so.
Check out these great sites today so that you know what’s being discussed, what’s hot, and what may win the 2014 awards. Remember, so far, these sites just share books they think might be included in the Newbery and Caldecott discussions… as for now, nobody knows for sure which books will make it all the way through, but these lists give great indications about books that have created a lot of buzz this year.
I’ll start you off with a nice small list from the School Library Journal which includes a couple of my favourites; If You Want to See a Whale and The Thing about Luck.
How many of the books above have you read? Come and check one out today… 69 new books JUST arrived!
I’m proud to say that ALL of the books on this next long list will be in our library as of January 8th… which is quite an achievement considering we live in China and many of them are newly released (thanks mules!)
If you’re a non-fiction lover, you’ll enjoy this post which ponders that not many non-fiction books have grabbed our attention this year, however, imagine the irony if a book about Randolph Caldecott won a Newbery prize…
Another list I’ve done my very best to purchase all of is this one from the ALA looking at the 2013 Notable Book Nominees. I know that 5th grade teacher Mrs Rekate LOVED Escape from Mr Lemoncello’s Library and will wonder why that isn’t noted (it came out five days later), but quite a few of the other books she’s read recently made it onto the list… so check it out if you haven’t done so yet.
We’ll have all of the actual books listed here by your first school day in 2014, and we already have them on kindle, so check out this short list and make sure you read as many as you can by January 27th… I’m sure at least one of these will make it all the way!
Goodreads has a wonderful selection of books listed here, with full information on each. Sign up for goodreads, and you can start keeping a great ‘real-life’ journal of what you’ve read, what you want to read and what you’re reading.
Wayyyyyy back in January, the amazing Jonathan Hunt from School Library Journal made some predictions about books he thought would stand out this year. Having served on the Newbery Committee in the past, his advice is always to be taken.
Finally, my list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t check out what Horn Book had to say. I love seeing how many of the blogs I follow list the same books; when the same trusted reviewers point me towards a certain book time after time… I just know I have to read it, and better still, share it with YOU!
Finally, I can close some of the tabs I’ve had open for weeks…. which drives Mr Power crazy!
Happy New Year 2014 and get ready for the Year of the Horse beginning on January 31st.
the barefoot librarian 