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There is nothing worse than coming across a book you are really enjoying only to be pulled out of it because of some outdated and incorrect library reference. I know that authors and illustrators will not always get everything 100% accurate, but I when I read books that show a very dated stereotype, or something that is just so incorrect, I always wonder why. I feel like authors and illustrators should know better! And it's not just older books-it happens in new books too!
I recently read A Big Surprise for Little Card by Charise Mericle Harper and illustrated by Anna Raff.
I absolutely loved this book! It's a creative look at libraries through the eyes of a library card. It's perfect for my outreach visits and storytimes about the library and promoting what value there is in a library card. Anna Raff gets major points for illustrating a very cool and hip librarian as well!
But the librarian tells card to shush and is a bit annoyed when he shows up. And then library card helps his new owner stamp across all his books and stamp dates to return them. There's also mostly talk about how you can check out lots of books at the library-but libraries are so much more than books! We have computers, movies, music, devices, toys, databases, downloadable content, programs, meeting spaces-so much to offer!
Sure, there are small libraries that still may use stamps-but most libraries don't. I feel like for an new book it could provide an updated view on libraries.
And what about books that clearly violate a library policy? Most libraries I know have some sort of policy about unattended children. Libraries have an age limit to where children can be left alone. Yet in two recent picture books, the parents tell the kids "I'll be in the adult area-be back soon. Have fun!" leaving the kids alone.
Sure, it's fiction, it's fun, and I wanted to love The Not So Quiet Library but the librarian in me just couldn't take the Dad leaving the son (who appears to be pretty young!) alone in a multi-level library. It's a public building!!! My librarian self just couldn't get past it. I would be chasing him down explaining our unattended children policy and reminding him he needs to be with his child. Sigh...
I know, I know-let it go. But then it happened again! And this time in a book that's not a silly story but a book intended to teach readers about the library:
OK, maybe you can convince me that the boy in
The Not So Quiet Library is old enough to be on his own but not true for the boy in
Library Day! Especially when his Dad drops him off for storytime and leaves him there by himself! NOT OK! Not to mention how incredibly outdated this one is in its many references and illustrations of the library. This came out this year but it feels like it was written twenty years ago. I'm not the only one who has this problem-
Goodreads is full of librarians who feel the same way.
And I hate when books show illustrations or photographs of a librarian reading a book at storytime, only they are holding the book the wrong way and not showing the pictures! That's not how you do it! That's not storytime! It's so frustrating!
(So this picture is really for no storytime happening, but I like it as an example of this is how you don't read your books in storytime! Show those pictures!!!)
Have any books shown libraries or librarians in a good light-or more realistic light-lately? Kwame Alexander gets the award here for the best representation of a librarian in recent literature.
The school librarian in
Booked is smart and funny, a bit nerdy and a bit cool (like many librarians I know!), is always encouraging the kids to read and try something new and is always searching for a book they will like. He cares about his students, is happy to have them in the library and encourages them to use the library and all its resources.
Do you get frustrated with libraries in librarians in books? Any recent bad (or good) representations of libraries and librarians you've read recently?
Just over a week later and I am still reeling from my amazing Caldecott year. Now comes the fun part of celebrating and sharing our winning titles! I had a wonderful time being part of the 2016 Caldecott Committee. Everyone was so kind, thoughtful, and caring and we really listened to each other as we shared and talked about books-and that made such a huge impact on me and my committee experience.
Our committee really bonded and even though we've only met in person a handful of times, I have had some of the best discussions about books with them and they are people I will always love and respect.
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| Photo credit: Rachel Payne |
Being on the committee is a lot of work. Some people have asked me if it was easier or harder than when I was on Printz, and it's hard to say. In some ways, I felt I was reading more and getting more done with picture books-several pages of picture books also can mean several books whereas several pages of a chapter book can sometimes barely be a dent at all. But Caldecott was a completely different thing-analyzing art and illustration over the text which was very new to me. I cherish the experience and conversations I had with my fellow committee members-it's really made me look at picture books in a new way and I feel like I'm a better librarian because of it. I also truly believe that being on a committee helps you trust the process even more!
The things that made such an impact on me in our committee discussions are also things that I think can help make an impact on any book discussion. Listen openly and listen to everyone, read, read, and read some more and take lots of notes, and learn to let go. I wish more book discussions could follow these practices-I think we would go far if we did! Even outside of book discussions, these are things that I plan to really focus on and practice at work-listening to everyone and learning to let go. I think doing so can make me a better manager and help me to serve our patrons even more. Who knew committee work had such broad implications on our lives? :)
I am so proud of our group and the work we did. If you haven't already, head on over to
The Horn Book, where our amazing chair Rachel shares about our winners. I am so excited to share our books with the world and with the kids in my library. I'm already planning storytimes and outreach using these books and I hope you do too! If you do, I would love to hear about it!
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Photo Credit: Elise Katz
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After lots of reading and discussing, we eagerly got up early Monday morning to make our calls. Our phone calls were so incredible! Our illustrators cried, we cried, we cheered-it was joyous. I will never forget that moment when we told Sophie Blackall she was the 2016 Medal Winner and I broke down in tears as we cheered (and she cried on the other end of the phone-a surefire way to make sure the committee cries along with you!) I can't wait to be with my Caldecrew again in June at Annual-this time with our illustrators along with us to celebrate our hard work!
To future award committees-you can do it! It will be a journey of a lifetime and savor every moment! To my Caldecrew-you are all amazing! Thank you for a wonderful experience that I will never forget! Thank you for letting me make 14 wonderful new best friends who I can't wait to see again and share books with! And to our five fantastically talented illustrators-thank you for creating beautiful art to share with the world. You make being a librarian the best job in the world!
Enjoy this year's winners-I know you will!
A month ago I wrote a post about how often I see parents looking at their phones instead of engaging with their kids at the library, especially in programs. The feedback I received from this post called me judgy, said there was no way I could know the whole story, and that most likely these kids were being engaged at home. It's true you can never know the whole story, but I still believe it's all about balance.
I was inspired to write my original post because it's something I see happen a lot at the library, but it's also something very personal to me. Being glued to technology is something I see happen every day in my family.
"family time"
This photo is of a recent family get together. My son is just off to the right of this picture, playing with toys and hoping to catch the attention of his family. Instead, they're plugged in to their phones (and the ironic thing is my father-in-law captured this family moment on his phone!) It frustrates me on a regular basis when I'm with family and instead of engaging with each other, especially with my toddler, they are hooked to their phones. Alerts go off, an article must be read, a text must be sent-it happens all the time. My husband and I are trying very hard to put our phones up and leave them out of reach and ignore them until after my son goes to bed. Are we perfect? Not at all. But we're trying to make engagement a priority.
Just look at this graph from Pew Internet Research about when people think it's OK to use their cellphones-it's a growing trend everywhere! (The entire
article on mobile use is a fascinating read-be sure to check it out!)
When we model that behavior of being plugged into technology, no matter where we are-home or the library, it shows our kids that technology is more important. Do we have to unplug completely forever? No. It's all about balance. So let me tell you another story.
I was at the library last week and I was roving the department, straightening books, cleaning up, and checking on patrons. We have a play area with early literacy toys and a really cool Eric Carle carpet and it's just off of the picture books, so it's perfect for families to hang out and engage. There was a young mom there with her nine-month-old son. She had actually brought a toy for him to play with (I'm not sure if she didn't know we had toys at the library, which is entirely possible, or if she just wanted to also bring something from home.) She had checked out an iPad from the library and was using it to type something up. As I was cleaning and straightening, I observed this mom. Even though she was plugged in to technology and would type on the iPad, she would pause every few minutes, look over at her son, talk to him, play with the toy with him and engage before she went back to her work. Later she and her son browsed through books together and she talked to him about what there was at the library and what books they were getting and she was fully focused on her child. She was using technology but she was also balancing it to engage with her son. That balance is so lost. Instead we end up making excuses as to why we need to be plugged in all the time.
A couple of days after that, I had a busy morning filled with lots of toddlers and their parents. And the entire morning made me smile because all morning long, I observed the parents talking to their kids, playing with toys, reading books, and talking to the other parents and making new friends. I overheard a dad singing with his daughter about putting the toys away and a mom showing her toddler and preschooler how to do the simple origami dog we had out as a passive activity. Watching the kids light up as they talked and played with the adults around them was awesome.
Yes, we need to use computers to get school work done. Yes, we need the library to be a place for our family to come and hang out. Yes we need to use the library computers to check email, take of something for work, or just play and have fun. We never know the whole story and we never know what someone is going through. But it only takes a moment to pause, look up, and engage. Sing a song with your kids at storytime. Laugh at a book together. Watch their puppet shows. It's all about balance. I hope we can all get there together.
One of the most interesting parts of being a librarian is that I get to spend a lot of time observing the public. Every day is spent interacting with lots of different families and throughout the summer, I've noticed a trend that makes me very upset. It's been happening for awhile, but I've noticed it with more and more frequency.
Parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, babysitters-whoever!) do not look up from their phones and engage with their kids.
The library is a wonderful place to come and engage and play with your children, but so many adults use the library as a break or a babysitter. They come in, let the kids loose in the department and instead of creating a family trip, they spend their time engaged in their phone or computer. Over and over and I see these kids looking for someone to read a book to them, to play with them, to watch their puppet show. They wander around the children's department seeking out other kids to play with-sometimes with success, sometimes not. Kids come up to the desk and ask if we can be an audience for their puppet show and of course I try to say yes. Not just because I want to encourage these kids, but as a librarian, my job is to model early literacy skills and talking with kids about their puppet show is a great early literacy skill. But I can't always say yes-I have lots of patrons to help, programs to set up, questions to answer-contrary what people may think librarians do, we don't get to watch puppet shows and read books with kids all day.
The absolute worst and the thing that bothers me the most is when I see this happen in storytime or at our large Summer Reading Program Performers. (We bring in performers like singers, magicians, comedians, jugglers, etc once a week during the Summer.) Instead of engaging with kids during storytime (especially during preschoool storytime-that's when it's the worst!) adults let the kids sit up front while they sit in the back and use storytime as a thirty minute break to socialize, check Facebook, text. I see the kids excitedly signing or dancing to a new song or correctly guessing the animal in the book we're reading and look back to see their adult's proud faces, only to have the adults not looking at them.
During our big weekly Summer performers, I try not to put a lot of chairs out to encourage the adults to sit with their kids. But that doesn't stop grownups from finding a chair, unstacking a stack from the back and sitting in the back and using the performer as a babysitter. We recently hosted a Big Hero 6 Robot Build-Along and I was so excited to see that about half of the room took the opportunity to sit with their kids and create a robot out of boxes together. The other half sat off to the side and had social time with their phones and with friends instead of using it as a family program. I even overheard one parent say to her friend as she was walking in to the program "well, we'll see how it goes and if we can leave" to which I politely reminded her of the library's unattended children policy.
Engage with your kids and they will model your reading behavior!
We're wasting prime opportunities with our kids when we become distracted and engaged by something else. These programs and time spent at the library is hopefully growing a lifelong love of reading and the library and helping your child engage in early literacy skills which will help them become better readers and writers. My staff and I focus on early literacy skills in all of our storytimes, we work hard to create engaging programs for families, and the reason we have toys in our department is to encourage families and share ideas about how to incorporate the Roads to Reading (our early literacy program) at home. We want to share with families how they can Talk and Read, Sing and Rhyme, Play With Letters, Tell Stories, and Love Books anywhere and everywhere! But librarians can only do so much. Our hope is that we will help create readers, but that won't happen unless kids have that behavior modeled for them. And when adults are only engaged in screens instead of taking the time to engage with their kids, this opportunity is lost.
I try to mention this at the beginning of programs-how engaging with your kids means they will get so much more out of the program-but that only goes so far. I can only say so much and try so hard to get the message across.
I know it's tough. I know it's exhausting. I know you want a break. But the library is such a wonderful chance to connect and engage with kids. They are becoming involved in the community and learning about things that interest them. They are realizing the library has lots of wonderful things to offer. They walk into the library and are given their choice of all the materials there and they realize the world is open to them. This is a powerful thing.
So please, look up! Engage with your kids. Talk to them. Explore with them. Play with them. Create with them. Experience the library together. I promise your visit will be much more rewarding!
Raising a reader
I'd love to know ways you encourage parents to engage with their kids at your library. Any good tips and suggestions?
Happy Summer everyone! We are two weeks into our Summer Reading Program at my library (our program runs for 12 weeks!) and our programming starts today. I was inspired by my awesome friend Angie who tweeted this last week:
Summer is the MOST stressful time for a public librarian. BUT the secret they don't tell you is...it's also the most FUN.
(Miss P and me on the first day of Summer Reading!)
When people think of Summer, they still think of lazy days, lots of reading, vacations, and relaxing. When you become a public librarian your Summers become full of reading, programming, busy days, possibly working even more than you are scheduled to, and making it your mission (even more than usual) to get kids to read. This is can be tons of fun but it can also be stressful, exhausting, and incredibly rough.
I try to explain what it's like to my friends and family and even our regular patrons who wonder just why we're so busy. But it's hard to tell people what it's like unless they experience it from the front lines. To try and give you an idea, I looked up some stats to help tell the story.
- In January 2014 my library branch saw an average of 1,240 patrons walk through our doors each day.
- In June 2014 that number increased to an average of 1,552 patrons each day.
- Last year, my branch alone had 4,763 kids and teens participate in the Summer Reading Program (and remember, that's also kids and teens who are coming into our branch to check out books, pick up prizes, and attend programs-plus all the kids and parents who come & don't turn anything in for Summer Reading!)
- This Summer my staff is taking on 13 weekly programs in addition to lots of special and extra programming that is going on. This includes 7 weekly storytimes, 2 STEAM programs, 1 Tween program, 1 Fandom Jr program for preschoolers, and 2 outside performers (jugglers, musicians, etc that we bring in for special programs)
So we are exhausted by the end of an entire summer of this! It's so tiring and we end up answering a lot of the same questions which can sometimes make you feel like a librarian robot:
"how do you participate in the Summer Reading Program?"
"where is (enter popular series title)"
"when is storytime?"
"can you recommend any good books?"
"my child is learning to read, where are books for them?"
"why are there no (enter popular series title) on the shelf?"
There is hardly time to breathe because the lines are long, the questions are endless, you are constantly putting things on hold because nothing is ever on the shelf. We try but the shelves get wiped of anything anyone wants in the first week and there are hold lists all Summer long! If someone does find a popular book, I tell them it's their lucky day! Plus you have non-stop programming and you better have gotten it all planned before Summer Reading started because there is absolutely no time to get off desk to plan anything (remember that long line of patrons with questions/needing to turn in prizes/put books on hold?) And if you're the manager, good luck trying to make any meetings during the Summer and you'll most likely end up working on the schedule from home because it's the only time you have to work on anything!
Yet, as crazy as it is, as Angie mentioned, it's also our favorite time of year. It can also be incredibly rewarding. We get to share lots of success stories from families about their kids reading and learning about the fun and joys of reading. We get to see kids learn to read and read their first books on their own. We get to share in a families joy over discovering a great new family audiobook on their recent road trip. We get to show kids, teens and parents that they Library has amazing things to offer and has something for everyone. And we get to experience amazing stories like these (all of which I experienced in the last two weeks):
Just a couple of weeks ago I had a young boy come in looking for some books but the ones he wanted were checked out. He said he had to do Summer Reading because his mom was forcing him to. I told him that no one should be forced to read and asked him some questions about what he was interested in. After listening to his likes and dislikes, I found him a couple books I thought he might enjoy, pulled them off the shelf, gave him a short book talk (aka commercial for the book), and told him that if they didn't look good, it was OK-it didn't hurt my feelings and we'd try again. He took both books, read the first chapter of each, then excitedly came back to the desk to tell me he loved both of them and couldn't wait to read them!
We have a family that moved to France temporarily and this is their first Summer away. They decided they loved the Summer Reading Program so much they printed off their gameboards in France and are looking forward to turning them in when they visit home this Summer to get their free books!
I'm at a branch where we see a drop in program attendance once kids reach school age. They come to the Library but it's often to study or get homework materials and we don't see them as much during the school year. But once Summer comes they all come back and I get to see some of my favorite kids again. It's like a giant homecoming and I love it!
Summer is also the time we do the most Reader's Advisory (the suggesting of books) and it's a blast. It's the thing my staff tells me over and over that they love about Summer because we get to share books we're excited about, hear what our kids are excited about, and in general have a feel good time about reading.
So my fellow youth services librarians-let's cheer each other on. We know it's hard, we know it's exhausting, but we also know it's rewarding and fun. We're helping people find the joy of the library, we're helping them find the joy of reading, and we're helping them find the joy of having a place of their own.
Rebecca at Hafuboti has a great idea for #libraryyes Let's send some positive thoughts and love to each other this Summer. Let's remember to stay happy and positive and remember why we love our jobs. And let's remember to breathe, not stress, not worry, and enjoy the moment-let's have fun!
So next time you visit your Public Library or see your librarian, give them a hug, a smile, and maybe even some chocolate. And give them a high five and tell them you know how exhausting it is but remind them it's for a good cause. And they are fighting the good fight of Summer Reading.
For more about what Summer Reading is like, check out Angie's Letter to a Young Librarian about Summer Reading Programs.
Summer is here at if you work in the Public Library, than Summer equals Summer Reading and Summer Reading Programs.
Summer Reading encourages kids to read during their school break, read for fun and enjoyment, and keep up their reading so they avoid the
Summer Slide. I think we do a great job promoting that kids should read during the Summer at my library and we have great involvement and feedback about our Summer Reading Program. Parents comment that kids were motivated to read, they had fun, and that they used the activities on the game board to create fun activities for their family over Summer. This is all great and I love it, but there is a very hard part to Summer Reading that happens each and every year. No matter how much I try, I always hear the following comments:
"Read real books."
"You can only read books on your level."
"Listening doesn't count in our house."
When I hear these or other similar statements, I have to try really hard to make sure I don't make this face:
Photo Credit: Flickr, Mindaugas Danys
Because that screaming child pretty much sums up how I feel anytime I hear someone discrediting any reading-of any genre, format, or suggested age and level.
Reading is supposed to be enjoyable and Summer Reading finally gives kids a chance to have a break from everyone telling them what to read all school year long. I still remember one of my teens telling me how high school pretty much ruined her reading life because she was sick and tired of being told to read at a higher Lexile level and being forced to read classics instead of the YA books she wanted to read. Do we really want to turn out kids into reading haters? They don't get enough choice in school, so let them have choice during Summer. If we want our kids to become readers, we know the best way to get them to read is to let them read what they want. The best way to increase their reading skills and reading levels (which let's be honest, I hate reading levels and think they are a lot of nonsense, but that's a post for another day!) is to let them read.
Scholastic's 5th Annual Reading Report shows that
"Ninety-one percent of children ages 6–17 say “my favorite books are the ones that I have picked out myself.” (And really, go read the whole thing-it's fantastic!)
When I give my Summer Reading Spiel to parents and kids, I stress that ANYTHING they read counts. Any format, any genre, reading aloud, reading silently, reading together, reading alone, looking at books for pre-readers, audiobooks, ebooks-ANYTHING! I make a big deal at my school presentations to the kids that I'm not going to tell them what to read, their teachers aren't going to tell them what to read, and that their parents aren't going to tell them what to read. And this year I told them that if they do, that they need to come talk to me, because I will tell them that Summer Reading is all about choice! (I haven't had anyone show up yelling at me yet, but I'm still waiting for that angry parent who is upset because I promised their kid free choice for Summer Reading!)
Parents seem to get the importance of Summer Reading. Yet they are shocked to discover they can read aloud, listen to audiobooks, or read comic books!
I try to point out that listening is a great way to read for auditory learners, it can help kids who are struggling readers with a longer text, it can help readers who need to follow along with text and read aloud, they are fantastic models for storytelling, and audio can be a way to share a book together as a family. I also love how audiobooks work great for kids who can't sit still and need to move around while reading-audiobooks can provide the best of both worlds-movement and reading.
I talk about how graphic novels aren't easier just because they have picture, but instead of creating a picture alone in your mind along with the text, readers have to evaluate text and pictures while reading! Graphic novels can also be a way for readers who need more of a visual element to read classics because there are illustrations to help explain the context.
We have a PowerPoint that advertises our programs, new books, and other Library info. I'm hoping to take some stats from these various reports and cycle through them on our slideshow to encourage parents to take note that reading in various formats is of course reading! I may not win every battle, but I'm going to try my hardest. And I will continue to stress to every child and parent that comes in my library that ANYTHING they read counts for Summer Reading. If you want your child to read, let them read what they want-any genre, any format, and a book of their choice-because that is what is going to get them to read.
I have the best staff in the world. I know all you other youth services managers think your staff is the greatest, but I'm here to tell you that while you might have an awesome staff, my youth services staff is truly amazing. I am constantly inspired by all they do and I feel so lucky to get to work with them every day.
Two of my amazing staff members have blogs that you really need to check out!
Pamela is one of my staff members who has a passion for tween services. She and one of my other staff, Miss. A, team up regularly to provide very fun and creative tween programs. We've always tried to provide programs for this age group, but with Pamela and Miss A as our tween power team, they are making it happen! She recently published an article with VOYA on last year's summer tween programs. She also works on our tween book groups and is pursuing her MLS and is already a fantastic librarian. The Moose is her favorite animal, which means anytime we get a new Moose picture book, it goes straight to Pamela!
I knew Valerie from the library world before she started working at my library and every time I got to talk to her, I thought she was so cool. So I was thrilled and delighted when she wanted to join our team! She is our teen librarian and she is bringing lots of energy and creativity into our teen department and I love watching her interact with the teens. She has great passive programs and is one of the most geekily awesome people I know. Valerie also loves Star Wars, Cosplay, and Sherlock which makes her even more cool.
Check out their blogs and they write about library programs, book reviews, and adventures in the library. They are both fantastic resources! I am lucky to have them!
I love being part of the Youth Media Awards. There is nothing like being in that room during the announcements and eagerly awaiting the titles of each award to appear. I was thrilled, shocked, and surprised with this year's choices which always makes for a fun experience.
One thing I saw on social media and heard in the crowd murmurings after the announcement over and over again was how pleased people were that this year the books had appeal. It always went along the line "finally, a book that's popular/I can teach/give to kids/put in my library/say I enjoyed." But that's not the point of the awards. Yes, it's nice when a chosen title is cherished and loved by many (it's never all-every book has a critic). But that's not the point of the awards.
The Youth Media Awards such as the Caldecott, Newbery, and Printz are given for excellence in literature to a child (or young adult for Printz) audience. These books are for excellence in text and art, for literary quality and merit. The criteria states
"Committee members must consider excellence of presentation for a child audience." Nowhere in the criteria of these awards does it say the books must be bestsellers, be popular, be teachable in a classroom, or have wide appeal for the majority of readers.
Why do we demand such appeal factors and popularity from our children's and young adult book awards? We don't hear such outcry and push back over adult literary awards such as the Pulitzer or the National Book Award. Do we expect only books for children and teens to be appealing and are we more accepting of "boring and not appealing" books winning adult literary awards? Or do we just have a hard time defining literary merit when it comes to books for youth and instead want to focus on the readability and popularity of a selected title?
One thing I thought about often when I served on the 2013 Printz Committee was how to define literary merit. It's something the committees think about and discuss a lot throughout the year-it's at the forefront of every reading and every conversation. One way I thought about it was how often I am told that children's and teen books have no literary merit, are fluff, or are not well written. For everyone who sees the value in books for youth there is always someone who does not. I thought about finding the book that proved this value-that showed that books for youth have just as much literary weight as any other award winning book. Sometimes those books of high literary quality aren't the bestselling, popular, most beloved books, and that's okay.
What we seem to forget during the Youth Media Awards is that there are books for every reader. Just because we deem something unappealing doesn't mean there isn't an audience for it.
Not everyone will love every book and that's okay. That's our right as readers. But we have to remember to respect each readers right and remember that the Youth Media Awards are given not because of popularity or supposed appeal, but for literary quality. And it's not our job to agree with all their choices or love each choice made, but to respect and appreciate the hard work each committee member put into this past year of reading and appreciate the search of literary merit in children's and young adult books, regardless of how appealing each title may appear.
Me at the 2013 Youth Media Awards Announcement
I'm about to start another major award committee year. I can't wait to get started and I'm eager to meet my fellow committee members, share and talk books with them! Being on a committee is a lot of work and it's a huge undertaking! Here's what it's like being on a book award committee:
-June-July (about a year and a half before your actual term starts if you are to be elected): Find out that you have been asked to be on the ballot for a committee term in the upcoming ALA elections! Squeal loudly to your husband about this. Do not tell anyone else as this is top secret news.
-July-Mid-October-wait anxiously for more news.
-Mid-October-Finally hear more details about the election and learn that it is now on the ALA site so you can announce your news and tell friends you'd love if they voted for you!
-End October-November-Submit ballot information to ALA so you can have a cool bio on the election page. Fret of what to say and ask best library friends for lots of advice and editing help. They're awesome and cheer you on.
-December-March-Another long waiting game.
-End of March-ALA election! Cross fingers and hope people pick you.
-April-More waiting.
-Early May-Election results are in! Friends say congrats on Facebook and you do a happy dance when you get the official phone call. Your library director screams in excitement and immediately tweets your news and your manager gives you a big hug and shares your excitement. Husband is excited but dreading the shifting of the bookshelves yet again and the amount of books coming. Small baby smiles and has no idea how many books will be read to him next year.
-May-July-Hear from committee chair and look up the others who were elected and friend them on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Start making connections with your fellow committee members. If you are appointed, this is about the time you would find out and the entire committee is formed.
-July-December-Read committee manual and start getting books from the suggested reading list to help you prepare. Read books on children's literature and evaluating children's literature. For Caldecott, there are also a lot of books on evaluating art and using art in picture books.
-December-Organize bookshelves and rearrange books and shelves to make room for committee books. Come up with a shelf system for "to read", "read", and "read again" books.
-January-Start making a list of books you want to take a look at. Look through publisher catalogs, look at Goodreads, anticipated book lists on blogs. Read review journals and check out reviews. While books will be sent to the committee for consideration, you can still put things on hold at the library and browse bookstore shelves for more ideas. Attend ALA Midwinter and have first in person meeting with fellow committee members and go over committee work and get to know each other. Squeal a lot in excitement!
-February-June-Read, read, read! More list making, review reading, and seeking out books. Lots of notetaking!
-June-Attend ALA Annual and attend committee meetings. Practice discussing titles that have been read so far, but no official nominations are in yet. This is more of a prep meeting for your big meeting in January and also to catch up with each other since your reading has been done in a vacuum up to this point.
-July-December-Read, read, and read some more! More notetaking, review reading and list making. More reorganizing of shelves and piling of books everywhere. Lots of saying no to hanging out with friends because you have to read. Typically nominations/suggestions are due from committee members in rounds with Caldecott and Newbery, but with Printz nominations/suggestions were open year round. Throughout this time you'll be getting emails from your chair with the nominations/suggestions from other committee members so you can prioritize your reading and know what you need to take an in depth look at for your January meeting. You should have a final list of all titles to be discussed by end of December-early January depending when the Midwinter meeting is.
-January-Mad rush to the finish line! Read, read, read, and notetaking like crazy! You need to be ready to defend the titles you feel strongly about and point out what makes them award worthy. What are the pros and cons? What works in this book that makes it stand out? What doesn't work in this book? Attend ALA Midwinter and spend three days sequestered in a room with your fellow committee members discussing and discussing and discussing and voting and voting and voting on the titles on the table. Sometimes it might be an easy discussion about a title and sometimes not. Sometimes you have to vote several times to get a winner and sometimes not. But at the end of it all you'll feel exhausted and exhilarated! On the Monday morning of the conference you'll wake up early and call your winners which is incredibly exciting (and honestly might make you cry!) Then you'll sit in the awards announcement and hope that everyone else is excited about your choices as you are. Then sit back and relax and celebrate your hard work!
-February-May-Relax! Take a reading break. Don't read anything in the genre or age group that you were reading in or don't read at all! That's OK!
-June-Attend ALA Annual and celebrate with your winning authors and publishers and committee members. Attend the awards banquet or reception and cheer for your authors and feel a major sense of accomplishment in all your hard work. Celebrate with family and thank them for their support in your year of epic reading!
It's a ton of work but also so very worth it! It's also made me a better librarian when it comes to evaluating materials for children and teens and reviewing books.
Have you served on a committee? Anything else to add? What was your year like?
Storytime Underground has encouraged everyone to share their professional goals for 2015 and resolve to rock the year! Here are my professional goals for 2015 and how I hope to rock this year:
1. Create monthly stats and stories reports for my manager, administration, my staff and myself. Stats are gold in the library world. And stats and stories are a powerful way to communicate what we see every day in the library. I know the impact youth services in the library has on our community. I hear the feedback from our patrons. But how often do I share that with staff, managers, and administration? My goal is to create short reports highlighting something the youth services department did each month to share.
2. Time management professionally and personally. I'm entering into a committee year, which means tons of reading in my personal time. I also blog and review for review journals in addition to my job and my family and social life. I want to really focus on making sure I have good time management skills to balance everything I do and work on finding a balance between what I do for work and what I do for me.
3. Keep up! I am notorious for having stacks of review journals on my desk and a backlog in my feedreader. This goes along with time management I guess, but I want to take time to read the review journals, keep up with the blogs I read, and keep up with the various organizations I'm involved in. This also ties into my fourth goal:
4. Being OK with taking off desk time. I've gotten better at this in the last few months, but as a manager it's hard to take off desk time. I have so many things I need to do, the desk needs to be covered, I have patrons to help, I have to set up or plan a program, make the schedule, schedule outreach and special events, attend meetings, talk to staff, and so much more! I have a hard time consistently taking time off desk to work on these things and it's something I need to get better at doing.
5. Cover the YA desk once a week. This has been my goal since I became youth services manager three years ago and I finally have staff in place where I can make this happen. We have a separate YA and Children's department location, even though we're all together in one service and department umbrella. I want to continue to make sure we blend together as youth services and part of that for me is making sure I stay in touch with the YA department and the teens and spend time there once a week covering the desk. It also means we have more YA desk coverage and the department staffed more often.
What are you goals for rocking 2015?
It's the end of the year! My favorite part of year end festivities is all the best of lists. And of course, as a librarian and a reader, I have to make my own!
I couldn't pick just a top ten, so I decided to include different categories and include a long list of what my top picks area.
This are my personal favorites, books I've enjoyed for various reasons throughout the year, and what I felt were my personal top books of 2014. Also, it's hard to put them in a list order of what is number one, so I just did them alphabetically-I am a librarian after all!
I'd love to hear more suggestions if you have favorites too. My TBR pile is never too long! Ha!
Top 2014 Picture Books:
Chapter Books (Beginning Reader, Middle Grade & Young Adult)
- 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith-OK, yeah Smith's other book, Grasshopper Jungle, is on many year end best of lists, but for me 100 Sideways Miles was perfection. Great characters, lots of heart (in an honest and real way and not sappy), and great exploration of relationships. I also like examples of fantastic writing in parent/child relationships and this book has that.
- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander-Another fantastic example of a novel in verse, I especially love the use of various forms of poetry to express everything-from the characters feelings to a game of basketball.
- El Deafo by CeCe Bell-This book had me laughing so much. It was like talking to a childhood best friend at a sleepover. So honest and funny and a great graphic novel.
- Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid- This book just came at the right time and pulled me out of a slump. I loved the interconnecting stories and the characters and it had the right combination of humor, heart, and just a bit of sap and romance.
- The Young Elites by Marie Lu-Drama, secret organizations, powers, and politics. This was a fast paced adventure and I got lost in the story.
I love to sing and dance so it's no surprise that Bibliobop is one of my favorite library programs! Play music and sing and dance with kids for about 45 minutes? Sign me up!
Previously I've used a bunch of CDs and changed them out with each song but finally I have a speaker and an iPad to use for this program, so I felt pretty high tech with my most recent Bibliobop! (Ha! It doesn't take much!) Although I originally advertised Bibliobop for ages 2-6, it's really open to all ages and in the Fall I'm changing the description to say infants-age 6. I usually end up with babies and toddler anyway and really, why not include them? They can dance too!
The set up for Bibliobop is pretty simple. I have a display of music themed books and I have all my items I need up front. I put out a few chairs for the adults in the back (but I encourage them to dance too!) and I clear the floor. I always read a book to start and take a book break in the middle of dancing (mostly because Miss Sarah likes having a break in the middle!) I plan out my music and this time around I added everything into a playlist on iTunes and let it play which was awesome. I plan out ahead of time which songs I want to use for scarves, instruments, parachute, or any other special items but other than that we just dance. Some songs are action songs with movements telling us what to do and others are free dance songs-we just dance along to the music. I've started adding in more new music which the kids love (I used Let It Go with the parachute once and they freaked out!)
Here's the most recent playlist/book list I used:
Opening Book: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin-always a popular pick and I chose this one to start since our opening songs had a rap style and the song in this book is similar.
Now it's time for the rules of Bibliobop!
#1-Everyone dance in the middle of the room on the dancefloor, not by the doors, tables, or chairs. Also, be sure to watch out for your friends as they dance!
#2-The big people in the room dance too-Miss Sarah isn't the only one dancing today! (I especially loved when I was 9 months pregnant and going in for an induction two days later and still did Bibliobop-my adults had no excuse not to dance along!) (Now, sometimes the adults will stop dancing about halfway through, and while it's usually OK, there have been a few times where it's become a distraction because they end up chatting and then the kids stop dancing or run around-and then into each other. To fix this, I give the adults a few songs of a break and then when we're close to the end, I stop the music and say, "Oh no! We forgot one of the rules of Bibliobop! We forgot rule #2-big people dance too! We only have two more songs left and we need to make them good ones. Everyone turn around and look at your big person and ask 'will you please come dance with me?'" The kids love it and it works like magic to get the adults dancing again.)
#3-The most important rule-HAVE FUN!
And now we dance!
A Tooty Ta by Ray Remesch-I don't know where I've been, but I only recently learned about this song! It's hilarious to watch the kids and I think it's going to become a storytime regular!
Following Directions with Exercise by Mark D Pencil-A terrible name, but the kids love it. Our outreach department uses this with school age kids and they go crazy over it.
If You're Happy and You Know It-Carol Hammett-It's a classic! I use this version because it's slow enough for my little ones.
Happy by Pharrell-The kids get so excited when this comes on because they recognize it. But beware-it will be stuck in your head for days!
Bee by Bari Koral Family Rock Band-This was my scarf song. I had the kids pretend their scarves were bees. During the slow sections we laid down and rested and then we heard a buzzing. During the fast part we danced and waved our scarves. I had one little girl comment that this was her favorite song of the day.
Marching Medley by Ralph's World-A great movement song!
Little Blue Car by Jennifer Gasoi-I liked the rhythm of this one for instruments so this was our instrument song
Time for a book break!
This one has a nice bluesy feel to the rhyming text and I had the kids recite "B-A-B-Y" along with me.
Now we dance again!
Dance Freeze Melt by Mr Eric and Mr Michael-The Learning Groove CDs are awesome and this a creative take on the freeze dance that is so much fun.
Mover Music Jump Up by Imagination Movers-another movement song that's great for an activity song
The Fox by Ylvis-My kids still love this one and it's fun to around to this crazy song-plus it just screams storytime, doesn't it?
Mockingbird by Zee Avi-A nice quiet and soft song perfect for the parachute.
Bop Til You Drop by Greg and Steve-Another fun take on the freeze dance this time including fall down.
Give A Hug by Bari Koral Family Rock Band-A nice ending song to give hugs and wave to friends.
Take A Little Nap by Ralph's World-I think this one is so funny I love ending with it!
Phew! By that time it's time to leave and I have successfully completed my cardio workout for the day!
Any song suggestions to use for future dance parties?
If you work with kids, you know what a phenomenon Frozen has become. So when I realized that I would be without a summer reading performer during the last week of our Summer Reading Program, I knew I had to plan something. Every Thursday at 1:00, we have a big performance (usually a hired performer but sometimes in house programs as well) and I knew that once our patrons got into the habit of coming to the library every Thursday during the summer, I couldn't skip the last week of July.
I decided to go with a
Frozen Sing-A-Long since the movie was thankfully covered in our movie licensing at the library. I didn't really have many ideas of what to do exactly except sing to the songs in the movie while it played. But luckily my amazing friend
Angie also hosted a sing-a-long and gave me a lot of great ideas.
Since the program was planned after our programming booklet was published, we only advertised this event via fliers, word of mouth, and on the library website. I knew we'd have a good crowd but I wasn't sure how many to expect since it didn't utilize all our usual promotional methods. So I was shocked when I ended up with 150 kids and around 50 adults. Pretty good for a program planned and not heavily promoted! It didn't hurt that everyone who picked up a flier said "oh my kid will love this!" and then told their friends.
I set up the room with a lot of floor space and some chairs out for the adults, which were quickly taken up. Part of the problem was that I didn't get to the room fast enough and a crowd of anxious people had already let themselves into room before I was ready and finished setting up! So the crowd management ended up not being as smooth as I would have liked. I ended up having to run around to catch everyone who came in (and ended up coming in both sets of doors since I couldn't close or lock one because I was trying to play catch up with people already there) to get them to fill out the prize drawing entry slips. My original plan was to have everyone enter through one door and fill the slip out on the way in, ensuring an entry for everyone and an easy head count method for me. Next time I know to close the set of doors I don't want them enter through and make sure staff are stationed by the doors to direct everyone inside. That's typically how the Thursday programs work anyway, but my overly anxious group sent this particular program into a bit of chaos.
My staff and I had made snowflake wands (diecut snowflakes on popsicle sticks) for the kids to wave around to each song-Angie's brilliant idea. We made 100 and one of my staff had to run back to the desk and make a bunch more to ensure every child had one. Between the crowd, the snowflake wands, and getting everyone entered into the drawing, the program actually started about fifteen minutes late.
Once I felt I had everyone mostly settled and asked if everyone had filled out an entry form for the prizes, I explained what we would be doing for the singing. I decided not to show the subtitles because I felt it would be too distracting and I didn't need them-the kids knew the songs. They were quoting along with the movie from the moment it started. I directed the kids during each song to sing along, but they didn't need my help. They knew all the words and motions and loved belting out the songs with other fans. I also made sure to applaud at the end of each song and tell our Frozen chorus how awesome they were-it was amazing to hear a room full of kids singing Let It Go at the top of their lungs!
The group did get restless since I had a lot of younger kids and younger siblings attend, and after Let It Go, there aren't as many songs as frequently. Because of this, I decided to hold an intermission. I asked the kids if they knew what an intermission was and explained it was a short break. I used this time to do our prize drawings (I bought Frozen pens from the Target dollar spot) and told the kids to not worry if they didn't get a prize-they would still get something at the end. Then we went back to watching the movie. This worked pretty well and was a nice way to break up the movie.
At the end of the movie, I passed out the goodies for everyone. I wanted everyone to go home with something, but I didn't want to spend time on a craft because I knew it would take forever and we'd never get to the movie. So with the help of staff, I passed out a paper doll packet using dolls from
Paper Dolls by Cory. (Again, Angie's brilliant idea!) The kids liked having a craft to take home and it worked well because they could have fun and have a party at home without me having to facilitate a lot of cutting and folding.
Of course, no program is perfect and there were a few cons with this one. For one thing, the room was very crowded and with the adults pulling out every chair possible and bringing in huge strollers, the entryway often bottlenecked and it ended up very hard to maneuver around the room. Despite my best efforts to get the adults to be involved and sing with the kids and sit with them, many adults used this a babysitting time and sat in the back on their phones or reading a book and a few chatting with friends. I'm not sure what to do next time to encourage more involvement, but this is a recurring thing with our large summer reading performances.
Even with the downsides and crazy huge crowd, the feedback was great. So many patrons told me how much they enjoyed it, thought it was a great idea, and asked how often we do events like that. I don't know if another sing-a-long for any other movie would be as popular, but it was pretty simple to put together and it was a lot of fun. And there's nothing like hearing a room of kids singing their hearts out! I had so many of our library staff and patrons standing the hallway and peeking in to watch the kids sing Let It Go which was fantastic promotion for the youth services department!
Would I repeat it? Yes, but maybe with some more tweaks in how to handle the breaks between songs and a bit more crowd control. It was a pretty fun event and fairly easy to plan and implement. But do I want to listen to Let It Go anytime soon? Not really, I listened to it a lot to prepare for this event!
Batman loves the library
Part of being a librarian means the ability to be flexible and spontaneous. When I got to work on Wednesday (which was Batman Day) I was told that we had been getting calls about a Batman Day at the Library celebration we were hosting on Saturday. Turns out we were advertised on the DC Comics Blog as a location hosting a Batman celebration on Saturday. (I think this occurred when I requested some promotional Batman items, but I'm not exactly sure) All I know is that we were given three days to plan an unexpected program. Luckily, I work with an amazing team (and a wonderfully nerdy team!) of people so we threw together an amazing program.
Planning a program in just a few days took a lot of brainstorming and Batman research. But I'm amazingly lucky to work with a great group of people who all jumped on board and helped out. Everyone took on a task, worked together, and created a pretty incredible program that was a lot of fun. We tried to keep the activities simple and fun and stuck to a lot of basics like trivia, games, and crafts.
Here's what we did:
-Screenings of Batman The Animated Series. According to my husband, who is a big Batman fan, this series is the best of the animated series and might be the best incarnation of Batman on screen, so we knew it would be a hit as part of our party.
-Bat Trivia. I found several quizzes on Sporcle.com that I adapted for our Batman trivia. I made sure to have some that were easy (name the characters) to hard (who said it-Batman or Shakespeare?)
-Scavenger Hunt-my amazing staff pulled together to create some amazing scavenger hunts around the library (and these sneakily taught our kids all about the library!) One scavenger hunt included riddles from the Riddler that needed to be solved. The riddles were clues to the locations of the question marks around the library. The other scavenger hunt was a hunt down the villains around the library. We printed off pictures of the characters and hung them around the library for the kids to find.
-Bat Villain shooting gallery. My awesome staff put this together as well and created a shooting gallery using nerf guns, styrofoam blocks, and pictures of various bat villains. This was recycled from our Star Wars program and worked well with Batman too. It was a huge hit and the kids loved it. It was also fun for the younger kids who couldn't do the scavenger hunt or trivia.
-Batarang Toss-Using the diecut machine, we cut out dies and my staff created black and yellow boxes for the kids to toss bats into. Another good activity for the younger kids.
-Build Gotham City-I couldn't have done this without my staff who again, pulled together to cover wooden blocks in black paper to create Gotham City building blocks. This was another option for the younger kids.
-A Batman Fan Discussion-my husband led this discussion for teens and adults about all things Batman-the best actor to portray Batman, best Bat Villain, best movie/TV Show, thoughts on the upcoming movie and Gotham TV Show, and various Batman theories.
-Lots of freebies and goodies! Thanks to our local comic book store and Random House, we were able to give away lots of great posters, Batman masks, buttons, tattoos, and comics.
Why yes, I actually get paid to dress up and pose with Batman! My job is awesome!
And of course, the highlight of the program was having Batman at the library! I am very lucky that I was able to meet our local Batman. We have the most amazing guy in town that dresses up as Batman and makes appearances and I was able to book him for the morning to come take photos with the kids. It was a huge hit and the kids were in awe of him. The best was seeing the kids dressed up and being amazed that their favorite superhero was right in front of them! And I got to promote the library to Batman which was pretty awesome!
We decorated the room with diecut bats and I cut out a skyline of Gotham City from a tri-fold science board that I had painted black with yellow windows. One of my amazing co-workers created a Bat Signal using a projector and Powerpoint that we projected onto the ceiling. I also used print outs of a Bat Signal on the floor to lead patrons down the concourse and around the corner to where the event was and where Batman was located for photos. Seeing a video of a previous Batman appearance, I made sure to have a barricade up to keep a line for photos going smoothly.
We promoted the program through our media channels, distributed fliers to local comic book stores, promoted in on library Facebook pages (and got coverage on Batman's page too!) as well as being advertised on our area visitor's bereau blog and on DC Comics blogs. For putting together a three day program, all of my staff and awesome co-workers came together wonderfully and helped spread the word. We ended up having over 100 people at the event, which was pretty impressive for doing something on such short notice!
Overall the program was incredibly well attended and well received. We had plenty of activities, but if we did it again, I would like to book a larger room, since we were in our smaller Story Hour Room. This way everything could be more spread out. All the activities ran themselves really well so staff didn't have to do much but mingle, restock supplies and hand out prizes.
It was a great success and I can't wait to host another Batman Day at the Library!
Our Fizz Boom Read Bulletin Board
Sigh....oh Summer Reading Program. I love you and yet you tire me out year after year. This year I made a goal to go easy on myself and try to read picture books this summer. And while I've read some picture books, I still have sadly not been reading much at all! My grand total for books read (or listened to) in June was four, which is incredibly low for me. The Summer Reading Program is super busy/taking care of Baby GreenBean/working a lot is making me tired and cutting into my reading (and blogging) time! But there are some good things about SRP this year.
This year we revamped the format of our Summer Reading Program and it's actually made things easier on the staff side which has been great. In past years the program was 3 levels, 12 hours of reading and 12 activities. This year we changed it to 2 levels, 10 hours of reading and eight activities. The activities are things like, read a book on the five senses or put an ice cube outside, one in the house, and one in the freezer and see which one melts first or build a reading fort. Level 1 awards the kids a coupon card with all sorts of freebie and discounted deals (we've done this prize for several years now and it's a huge draw). Level 2 gets them a Fine Waiver and a free book. That's it-no more stickers or bookmarks trying to make up a middle level that wasn't that exciting. In the past, Level 2 was a pretty wimpy level and this year, combining the fine waiver and the book make a much more interesting and fun prize.
We also changed the teen program so that instead of weekly random prize drawings, every teen gets a book. Both the teen and kids prizes are the same-same levels, same amount of reading. The only difference is the teen program is online and there's no activities the teens have to do along with the reading.
We were worried (it seems librarians are always worried about changes!) about how these changes would go. But so far, it's been great. The teens are very happy to get a book and it's great that every teen gets a bigger prize. (Before it was just the teens that won a random drawing who won a book or bigger prize).
The teens get a chance to keep adding hours for a grand prize drawing of gift cards. And the kids get a chance to complete "Eager Readers" which they can complete more reading and activities and earn entries into grand prize drawings. This is a great way to keep the kids reading and making summer reading program last all summer, even for those who finish quickly.
Add in our Tiny Tots program that has 16 activities for babies under 18 months to complete and earn two board books and an entry into a Tiny Tots gift basket and we've got successful summer reading programs for all ages.
Streamlining our SRP this year has made it so much better on the staff side. It's so much easier to explain since every program follows the same basic format and prize structure. And our patrons haven't had any complaints about having a change in the amount of hours or taking out the random prize drawings for the teens. I haven't heard anyone say anything about missing a sticker or bookmark-maybe because we have bookmarks out at the desk for them to take if they want one.
I think the key to a non-stressful summer reading program is to make sure it's simple. Simple to explain, simple to follow, and simple to complete. We have options to continue for those who read quickly but it's not so much reading to prevent those who pick up the program midway through to finish the entire game board. We're still super busy, as we are every summer, but I feel like the structure of our program makes so much more sense this year and we're all very happy about that!
So this past weekend, I was proud to finally give my library's fist digital storytime. We've been working towards digital storytimes for awhile so I was thrilled to have the chance to debut them as part of our Summer Reading Program this year.
How I Set It Up:
To set up the storytime, I used an HDMI cable to attach the iPad to a large screen TV. This was very easy to do and a great way to project the apps to the group. It also gave me an easy way control the apps without having to worry about running the apps upside down or moving the iPad around the room so everyone could see. It did make me a bit more limited in my mobility, since I was tethered to the TV, but overall I felt that it worked out well.
I decided to go with an animal theme for my first digital storytime. I wanted to use a lot of apps that were very interactive since my goal with our digital storytime is to promote the interactive nature of apps and the benefits of interacting with your child and screen time instead of using the screen and child alone.
What I Used:
-Moo Ba La La La-Sandra Boynton-$3.99-I opened with this one and used the read myself option but used the animal sound effects and animations along with the story. The kids liked the animations and the story was a familiar, so it was a good opener and a nice way to ease into using a digital component.
-Five Green and Speckled Frogs-Software Smoothie-$2.99-I created a felt board story of this song (inspired by Cen Campbell of Little eLit!) and stored each felt board page in my photo stream. The kids were in awe of the felt board on the big screen and we counted each of the frogs at the start of each verse. They loved that the frog "jumped" into the water. I think this was my favorite app to use and I can't wait to create more felt boards on it. I'm terrible at crafts and making cute felt boards, so I think this is a nice alternative for non-crafty people like me.
-Animal Sounds From the Farm-Curious Circus-$.99-The kids love this app. I've used it in other storytimes as well as Digitots and it's always a huge hit. I asked the kids what the animal sound would be and then pressed the name of the animal and then the animal itself for the sound. The animation is simple and the animal sounds are wonderful. I have several parents ask me about this one and want to download it for themselves each time I use it.
-Feed the Animals-Paper Boat Apps-$1.99-Since I had a small group, I was able to have each kid come up and choose what food they thought an animal would eat. They were great about taking turns and loved having the chance to play with the iPad themselves and watching it project onto the big screen. This one does go to a "you earned a new sticker" page after several animals, but I just skipped past it easily. It also does have some ads pop up after awhile, but they're easy to close out of.
-Bunny Fun: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes-Rosemary Wells-Auryn-(available in Stories Alive, price unavailable) I first played the song and had the kids sing and dance along. Then I had them gather up by me and told them we could record our own version of the song. Using the microphone and record option on the app, I recorded the kids and I singing the song. I then recorded the kids themselves without my lead. The parents clapped and the kids loved that they were part of a performance.
-Toca Band-Toca Boca-$2.99-I ended with Toca Band and again giving each child a chance to play with the app. Each child chose something or someone to place in the band and we listened to the song we created.
How It Went:
I was a bit nervous as to how the kids and the parents would respond to a digital storytime. Would the kids be engaged? Would the parents find it boring? I was very pleased with the response from both the kids and the adults. The kids loved watching the apps and familiar songs and stories appear on the big screen. They loved getting a chance to feed the animals and play with the Toca Band and interact with the iPad. And the parents really enjoyed that the kids got involved and they got to sample some new apps. Overall it was a great first digital storytime and I can't wait to do more!
Have you done any digital storytimes? What apps are your favorites?
Ok, first off, I knew blogging with a baby would be hard. But my goodness, it's tough! Especially when he stops napping well and the moment he goes to bed I want to go to bed too because I've exhausted myself at work. But luckily I've got my handy iPad to blog from whole I'm holding Baby GreenBean, so please excuse any typos!
We're almost a week into Summer Reading Program at my library. This is my eighth Summer Reading Program and it never fails that after a few days, I start to feel like a broken record saying the same things over and over again. I can give the Summer Reading spiel in my sleep-and have actually dreamt about it!
Yet no matter how many times I go through another Summer Reading Program, there are always things that surprise me that people don't know. Here's my wish list of what I wish people knew about Summer Reading.
-Listening to a book counts as reading. Yep, it might seem like a given to people who are avid readers or who work with kids, but every year I get the inevitable "but my child can't read yet" statement from parents. They're surprised that listening to a book, bring read to, or even audiobooks count as reading. Ice even said that maybe we should call it the Summer Reading and Listening Program,
-All ages can participate-including babies and toddlers. Along with the my kid can't read yet camp are the parents who will only pick up a reading game board for their older kids and ignore baby. They don't think the younger ones can participate-but of course they can! I always encourage them to include everyone and mention that even when reading to the older kids, if baby is in the room, that counts-baby is listening! (See above!) The last two years my library has started a program just for babies which I love and it helps encourage those with younger kids to participate.
-Forget reading levels and read what you want! Every year I have parents or kids who are stuck on redding books at a certain level. And it's so frustrating! Not every book is catalogued in every leveling system, our library isn't organized by level, and so many times the kid is reading at a high level but a young age which makes it hard to find something of interest. Forget the reading levels-please!!! The best way to enhance and grow your child's reading skills and love of reading is to let them read what they want. Let them read for pleasure-that doesn't happen enough, or at all, during the school year, so let them have fun. I promise they will continue to grow as a reader and they will learn to love reading because they got to choose their own books.
-I'm glad you love the prizes, but that's not what it's all about. I'm glad people love our program and we are super lucky that every child gets a book, a fine waiver card, and a big coupon card with lots of great area deals (many for free). But just because you finished the game board doesn't mean you have to stop reading. And the prizes are great, but please be honest and don't cheat. It's not about getting prizes but getting to choose what you want to read and have fun reading. That's the main focus and what it's all about.
-Just because a book is popular doesn't mean it's the best book for your child. Oh Summer Reading. What is it about this time of year that makes parents and grandparents only want the "popular books"? Seriously, if I had a new book every time someone asked where the popular books were, I'd have a very nice library! But here's the thing about Summer-the library gets so much more busy than during the school year. More books get checked out-including the popular ones. It doesn't matter if during the school year we have an entire shelf full of Magic Tree House, during the Summer they are all gone. And there's nothing more frustrating that an interaction with a patron who only wants what's "popular" and refuses to take anything else or try something new. My staff and I work hard all year long to create booklists and readalike lists and our job is to help you find something to read-and I do believe we're pretty awesome at it too! So trust us to help you instead of only relying in best sellers and popular books-there's so much more in the library and we can help you find it. And if you really want that popular book, we'd be happy to put you on hold for it.
Ok librarians, anything else you want to add? Or what about those who aren't librarians, what should librarians know about Summer Reading?
(My goal this summer-to be as relaxed as Baby GreenBean when reading picture books!)
In the public library world, Summer Reading is the busiest time. My library has been gearing up for this year's Summer Reading Program since October. The questions have started coming in from families about when the program starts (May 24th!) and my staff and I have started our visits to our schools to promote the Summer Reading Program and tell kids what's coming at the library. Summer Reading is a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work! We have programs every week and we see more patrons on a daily basis than we do during the school year (and there's no quieter nap time lull!). This year we are expanding our storytimes to have eight storytimes a week, plus outreach storytimes, plus a weekly tween program, plus a weekly young school age program, plus our weekly Summer Reading performers, plus our weekend programming! PHEW! It made me tired just writing all our programs on the calendar!
So this Summer I'm proposing a challenge to myself and I'm inviting others to join with me. Instead of stressing about reading and blogging, I'm going to try and have a no stress summer. I have a big stack of picture books I want to review on the blog and another big stack that I want to read, plus all new picture books we'll get at the library this summer. So I'm going to read and blog about picture books as much as I can this summer in June and July. I'll still read middle grade and YA and blog about them when I can, but I'm telling myself it's okay to take a break from those books if I need to and read picture books all summer!
Let's relax this summer, tell ourselves it's okay to read light, and have some fun!
First off, thanks to
Sarah at YA Librarian Tales for pointing me to the
We Need Diverse Books Tumblr.
The timing of this couldn't have come at a better time as this is a topic I've been thinking about a lot. For the past several years, I've presented on YA Lit at our state library conference and I will be doing so again this year. I start preparing for this presentation early on in the year, as it requires a lot of reading and keeping up with YA so I can book talk the titles I want to share.
A few weeks ago, my friend
Angie at Fat Girl Reading was talking about a presentation she was giving and how she tried hard to include diverse titles in her presentations. It got my thinking about how I really wanted to make sure I included diverse books in my YA presentation too and I wanted to get a head start in reading them.
But when I started searching for them, diverse releases in YA for 2014 turned out to be few and far between. There are some being published, but it can be hard to find them among the many copy cat YA titles that keep appearing. And where's the diversity in genre fiction like fantasy, science fiction, romance and humor?
Diversity includes so much. It includes race, sexuality, disability. And these books are so very needed. They need a spot in my library and there are readers for them. Books are a way to explore and learn. When we include more diversity in our library collections, we tell our readers they matter. We tell them that we want to feature books that include characters just like them. And we also tell them that we want them to explore those around them. We want them to learn about other races, sexual orientations, disabilities and that it's a great thing to read outside their own culture box and maybe even their comfort zone.
Diversity in YA is something I've been thinking about a lot and I'm making it a goal to really try and enhance my own reading and include more diversity in what I choose to read. I hope you'll join with me and read widely and make sure to include diversity in your library. If we support diversity in YA, we can show writers, readers and publishers that diversity matters and it's needed-and we want more of it!
In the book world, you can never seem to escape the comments of a book being like this book meets that book. It helps build interest and when done well, it gives you a quick snapshot of what you might expect in the book. It can also backfire and make someone not want to read a book! Sometimes I wonder what exactly those marketing departments are thinking when they're creating some of these blurbs. Here are some recent ones I've come across:
The Killing meets Game of Thrones (minus the fantasy elements)
-Everything is like Game of Thrones! But is it really like Game of Thrones if you have to cut out the fantasy elements? And neither of these alikes are teen related. One of my staff members has seen this one also billed as Law and Order meets Game of Thrones. What??
Reckless first love meets Justified
-First of all, this cover makes me laugh every time I see it. It's just so dramatic! But really this is another question of are teens really watching Justified?
Moneyball for kids!
-I found Moneyball a bit boring, but maybe some kids will be excited about that idea.
-X-Men meets Ocean Eleven
-This one is an odd match up of meets but it works-I'm intrigued!
Then there's the current trend where everything is like the most popular books of recent years:
The Fault in Our Stars meets Sarah Dessen
-Because you know, every cancer book must be like The Fault In Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park
The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park
Have you come across any interesting "meets" recently?
Each day I walk into the library, I get to look forward to something new. While the general routine may be the same each day holds something different. I never know what questions I'm going to be asked and I love that! Here's what my day looked like today:
8:20- arrive at work, go through opening procedures for department
8:35-gather story time books and music
8:40-check in with M about plan for the day, what needs to be done
8:45-set up story time. Since I was doing back to back story times, I decided to do all sings and dancing without any crafts or activities to make the set up easier
9:05-check email, respond to messages that need answers right away, email manager about an upcoming staff meeting
9:15-on desk, youth services coordinator visits department to get feedback about sumner reading program, branch manager stops by to get stickers fir an outreach visit, sign up for upcoming staff training
9:30-P arrives for shift. We talk about the May schedule and I make adjustments to the schedule
10:00-time for toddler story time! The Freeze Dance and playing with the parachute were the kids favorite parts of story time
10:30-10:50-break
10:50-set up story hour room for preschool story time, adjust music I need for my preschool group.
11:00-this us only my third week back from maternity leave, so I'm still seeing lots of my regular patrons for the first time since I've been back. I got to catch up with one if my story time families and talk books and movies which is always fun!
11:15-preschool story time. I ended up reading the same books (Dance With Me, If You're A Monster and You Know It, and From Head to Toe) but I added longer songs. I included Greg and Steve's Listen and Move-one of my favorites! The kids loved it!
11:45-clean up story time and put books in bin for a repeat of my story time plan on Friday
12:05-rove through the teen department, take DVD cases up front to the circulation department, check mail, visit youth services coordinator to talk about purchasing a new diecut for our machine to use for summer reading, catch up with C when she arrives for the afternoon and talk about the schedule and email it out to staff, reply to emails
1:00-1:20-break
1:30-3:00-supervisor training webinar
3:00-visit teen department then head back to children's department after training, catch up with staff about what's been happening, make list of what to talk to branch manager about during meeting tomorrow, answer questions at desk and help patrons, update calendar with meetings and schedule for May, swap story times with M for next week and adjust the schedule (there is always so much to do with the schedule!!!)
4:00-4:20-break
4:20-answer questions at desk, visit teen department, straighten up department, organize desk for tomorrow, make to do list for tomorrow, one last email check
5:00-head home
I love comparing covers and judging books by their covers! We all do it and it's fun to analyze what works and what doesn't. Here are some recent cover changes I've come across:
Hardcover:
I love the color and the eye on the cover just feels like this is going to be something spooky and mysterious.
Paperback:
I still like the color, but I'm not sure about the rest of the cover and I'm not sure why. I do like how this cover gives more of a feel of the 1920s, but I think the spookiness is missing.
Hardcover:
I think this one is pretty, but nothing special. It wouldn't catch my eye.
Paperback:
-I like how this one has a more futuristic feel, which I find appealing. It also feels a bit science fiction like and for some reason makes me think of Star Trek (which has nothing to do with the book and it's nothing like Star Trek) but it would make it pick it up.
Hardover:
-This one is simple which I think makes it stand out.
Paperback:
-Again the simplicity of the cover works for me, although this cover makes me think it's a fairy tale retelling.
Hardcover:
-I think this one is nicely mysterious if a bit plain.
Paperback:
-This one is a miss for me. It now looks like a poorly made self published cover that was thrown together and instead of looking like a mystery it looks like a sad, depressing book.
What do you think of these changes? Any others you've noticed recently?
Greek Mythology related YA stories have always been, but since the rise of Percy Jackson, it feels like we're seeing more and more Mythology make it's way into YA novels. But there's one myth that seems to cropping up more than others: retellings of Persephone and Hades. Maybe because there's an element of star-crossed romance, maybe it lends itself to angsty romantic plots, but whatever it is, Persephone is a popular character right now.
The first Persephone book I really noticed was back in 2009. I remember reading about this one on Betsy Bird's HarperCollins preview and I knew I wanted to read it based on the cover:
But then the Persephone stories kept coming:
Coming out this year is a dystopian take on Persephone:
And Leila at Bookshelves of Doom posted about another Persephone book coming our way from author Bree Despain.So what do you think? Do you like reading about Persephone? Is she the myth worth all this attention or is there another mythological story you'd like to be reading more of?
I love looking at book covers, especially when they change from hardcover to paperback. I think the cover evolution and marketing directions books take is interesting! Here are some recent changes I've seen:
Hardcover
-Simple, yet it gets the story across-I like it
Paperback:
-This one is much more simple, but it works and I really like it. I also think it adds an element of humor the first cover is missing.
Hardcover:
-I don't know what I think of this cover. I like how she's coming through the book and entering the story, which gets the plot across,but it just looks a bit odd at the same time-not sure why.
Paperback:
-I really like the look of this cover, but at the same time it feels a bit historical.
Hardcover:
-It's simple, but I like it. I also like how the girl doesn't look too nerdy.
Paperback:
-This one changes the look of the book to a romance Sarah Dessen-esque cover. I like the cover, just not for this book.
Hardcover:
-I thought I had talked about this one before, I guess not. I love this cover-so cute, I love the text and the Eiffel Tower in the back.
Paperback:
-This is an OK cover, but it feels like the book is trying to become "new adult" and being marketed to adults more than teens. It also looks a bit more serious to me than the original cover.
-I really like this cover-simple and just the right amount of scary. It flies off my library shelves.
Paperback:
-I really like the paperback version too. It's a different take than the hardcover, but I think it still manages to get across the mystery of the book. I do think the cover model looks a bit like Kristen Stewart in that photo and I wonder if that will turn off readers thinking this is a Twilight readalike.
I really like the other two covers in the series:
What covers do you like and dislike?
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I prefer the original cover for The Diviners. I think the new cover looks like historical fiction but maybe teens will like it more.I prefer the original cover for Why We Broke Up too.
I do like the new cover for Crewel. It definitely makes the book look more interesting.
HATE the new cover for The Diviners! Yuck!
LOVE the new cover for Why We Broke Up.
And honestly I don't like either cover for Crewel.