Tis the Season to Give!

With the holidays comes a need to give to others, whether giving "back" or simply out of the goodness of your heart. Either way, Carrie and I had a great opportunity to do so last week.

Two weeks ago, a parent of a Pre-K kid and a 1st grader came to introduce herself. She works for Uplift, a local charter school initiative to provide quality, college-prepatory education to students around DFW. The Uplift program is expanding greatly and they are just now creating library spaces for some of the high schools. Mrs. B asked if she could bring some folks from Uplift to see what a library should look like, get ideas from our program, databases, etc.

We were more than happy to help. Last week, Mrs. B, plus a librarian who volunteers with Uplift, a Learning Specialist, and High School teacher all came to visit with Carrie and me. We were able to show them our space and how certain areas are designated for specific grades. Later, we had them sit on the story steps and showed them our catalog, eBook collection, and databases. I even showed the Learning Specialist how to cover books with a CoLibri machine!

 It was great to hear their questions and be able to provide some help and support. I could not imagine starting a library from scratch, as fun and daunting as it sounds. the librarian volunteer told us that many of the schools do not even have a certified librarian. They are simply trying to get the space ready for the kids to utilize. How exciting is that new adventure for them? I'm glad we could help them, even if it was only a smidge.

There's been a lot going on in our library. We've had Grandparents and Special Friends Day before Thanksgiving, and the Christmas break and winter holidays have creeped upon us yet again. Thankfully people have been wonderful to give to us and we are able to give back through many ways. We help kids create memories, friends, and learn more about themselves through books we order and recommend. Carrie and I volunteer to help out other teachers whenever it is possible. We helped several libraries outside of our network in order to help even more kids in our community.

Wow!

Every day is a chance to give. In the library setting such as ours, we give through our interactions and attitudes with others. I am working on my own and am aiming for a very positive 2015.

Subbing Day

It's always fun when I get to sub for Carrie. There's usually a lot to be done that keeps me busy and that's precisely how I enjoy it. Today is a bit wacky as we have six classes but its nothing I haven't done before.

So far, this has been the schedule:
3rd grade: iPad rules
4th grade: catching up on Bluebonnet stuff (writing summaries, checking books off the list, etc.)
Primer: Hanukkah lessons

The rest of the day will look like:

2nd grade: quiet reading and finding good fit books
Pre-K: 3 Little Pigs
1st grade: continuing catalog overview

Now that the heater has finally been turned on, I feel as though I might pass out...great. Can't win when you're sick and dealing with kids.

Here's hoping the rest of the day goes well.

'Tis the Season to Be Busy!

Author's Note:
I earnestly meant for the post to be, er, posted quite a while ago. Sickness, group projects, and Thanksgiving threw me off completely. Here it is, only edited for certain time periods.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

This time of year can be crazy. Trying to cram in things before the holidays, like book orders and certain lessons, or just general housekeeping of the library space. In my personal life, its homework on top of homework while my husband is diligently working on the Christmas production for his job. Needless to say, I feel a bit frazzled at times and am ready for a week of rest. It's not to say that I don't enjoy my work, its that I am just plum tired.

Last week a few weeks ago, I started off the busyness with taking a couple of workshops through Region 10. Region 10 offers professional education courses to teachers, librarians, and other people that work in a school environment (like me!). Friday was a session regarding Lego Story Creator sets. We only spent about 45 minutes there discussing how to use the Story Creator set and making different stories in groups. Our presenter Betty Justus (doesn't that sound like a super hero name?) gave us all trinkets and a Lego pigeon to take home!

You jelly?

The next day was a full day workshop for Makerspace Magic. The presenters were from Arlington ISD and were so awesome! I felt that the session was a bit long, especially with an hour and a half for lunch. The first half of the day, we reviewed websites for maker spaces in various types of schools. Obviously not all of them would work at an elementary level, nor would they work in an independent school like we are. It was fascinating to see different set ups, though.

The second half of the morning covered the ins and outs of securing the space, how to get funding (can independent schools get grants?), and what to do that would be appropriate for certain age groups. That was the best part of the entire day, even though we got to play with a bunch of different stations.There's all kinds of creative stuff to be done. I guess my homeschool upbringing was good for something! Having helped my mom pick out my own curriculum, what crafts I wanted to do, and all that stuff, I guess I have been exposed to more crafts than any one person should ever be.

I love it.

So now it is the post Thanksgiving rush, into the Christmas/holiday rush where decorations must be taken care of post haste. Ours in the library are looking pretty pathetic right now. Maybe when this stomach bug passes and I have a free evening, I can take care of it. Poinsettias sound pretty nice and quick to me.

Here's to a stress-reduced December...ha!

Christine

Bluebonnet Season

Technically speaking, the entire year is Bluebonnet season in the library for some reason. If you're not familiar with the Bluebonnet Award, check out this explanation of the awesome reading program that doesn't have much to do with the actual flower.

The students will not vote for the Bluebonnet award until January or perhaps February, if the weather is as bad as it was last year. Before voting can take place at our school, the kids must have completed the following tasks:

1. read a minimum of 5 books
2. checked off the books on our tracking sheets
3. written summaries for the books they read--NOT reviews

Carrie will be teaching them about summaries soon, which we are both excited for. When a kid loves a book, you think it would be easy for them to be able to summarize it or at least pick out the most exciting parts to tell about. Most of the time, though, its just a bunch of words like "like", "good", "funny", "cool", etc. We're hoping they learn how to veer from this and be able to summarize appropriately.

It might be a tad early but I'm going to start reading the 2015-2016 Bluebonnet selections.  Like, this year's are cool and all, but...I'm wanting read some new stuff. I always make a promise to myself that I'm going to read at least 5 books like the kids are required to but that has totally not happened. I cannot seem to get a moment to make my own dinner let alone read another book on top of my textbooks.

Help. Me.

Since I dropped a class this quarter, I should be a little bit more relaxed in some regards and maybe will be awake enough to comprehend a book that does not have film theory language strewn through it. That being said, I'm starting with two of the 15-16 Bluebonnets that are right up my alley--

THE GRAPHIC NOVELS!

I'm starting with two Bluebonnets that also happen to be graphic novels, The Adventures of Salem Hyde #1 and The Great American Dust Bowl. Salem Hyde looks absolutely adorable, and from what I gather its about a little witch ala Sabrina who is up to mischief. The second is way more serious and potentially too advanced for some of our kids, but The Great American Dust Bowl is an important port of the Southwest's history. Or is Oklahoma part of the plains? Whatev!

I'll be posting my reviews to my little gn blog, so I'll post the link when I'm finished with those. 

Happy reading :)

Christine

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales

The list of books nominated for the Bluebonnet award is always a crapshoot. This isn't to say there aren't wonderful books, but sometimes the books seem random or inappropriate for younger readers. This year, we are having issues with a lot of the books being more appropriate for teenagers rather than 3rd or 4th graders.

One of the best choices this year I've found is Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy. This graphic novel series is written by Nathan Hale (not that one) with Nathan Hale (yes, the historical one) as the narrator of historical events. The first book actually covers much of the American revolution, while subsequent titles have followed the Donner party (Donner Dinner Party) and World War I (Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood).

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading Donner Dinner Party. Let me tell you, it is one of the funniest, most clever books I have read in a while. The first book, One Dead Spy, has certainly been attractive to those kids who love graphic novels. But the kids who just don't "get" graphic novels? The ones who are just wanting something...different? This series is absolutely perfect. I've seen all different types of kids, all different styles of readers and learners read that book and absolutely love it.

I was browsing Nathan Hale's website to check on the release date of the newest book. I keep looking through older posts and found something awesome from March 31, 2014:

Credit: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, hazardoustales.blogspot.com

How awesome is that? A children's non-fiction BOOK, let alone GRAPHIC NOVEL, was #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List! I think its absolutely great. It proves that history can be fascinating, depending on the medium used to tell the story. I cannot wait for the rest of his books to come out!

If you haven't checked them out, head on over to Nathan Hale's blog to see all the cool things he's doing. 

 

29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy by Lemony Snicket

Though his true identity has been revealed, I still refuse to believe in anyone other than Lemony Snicket in regards to telling the wackiest mysteries. In his newest short novel 29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy, Snicket delves into the world of the urban legend.

It seems every generation of kids will develop their own mythology, whether loosely based on the previous or an entirely new creation. Though some of the "myths" really aren't myths so much as facts about the kids trying to figure out something about this suspicious pharmacy, its a nice and light introduction to the slightly spooky, slightly funny mystery title.

In Dallas, there is a store similar to this pharmacy in its mystery and quirkiness. I had heard rumors about it from friends, and several years ago a good friend of mine decided we needed to explore the unknown:

Voodoo Chile.

It's a red house in a popular area of Dallas that is some sort of consignment shop. They keep odd hours. Rumors of the shop-owner and his appearance were rampant. Some part of me wishes I had never stepped inside the Voodoo Chile, simply because of the intrigue it held before. Yet, even though I went into that crazy store, the intrigue still remains.

29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy could be a fun way to talk to your child about spooky or interesting buildings in your neighborhood and create stories about them. This is also a good way to teach about jumping to conclusions or making assumptions (a.k.a. gossiping) about not only people but businesses and things.

But really...what DOES the Swinster Pharmacy sell?

CBLDF: Join Today!

I'm not usually the best at actually signing up to support things. Sure, I'll vote for this person for governor or on American Idol or whatnot, but I don't really go around with bells on heralding them as the best thing since sliced bread. This is changing as I get older and see the good that can be done by assigning your name to something you believe in. Well, I still don't know where I sit on the political spectrum or if Clay or Reuben should have won, but let me say this: I am all for the comic book and the authors, illustrators, and publishers to have the freedom to create the book of their choosing.

Super heroes are all the rage right now, with Marvel announcing movies being made for basically the next 15 years or longer. With comics and graphic novels becoming a more respected art and literature form, they are and will be coming under fierce scrutiny for who knows how long. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is there to support authors and illustrators in their efforts to create fantastic art.

Founded in 1986, the CBLDF helps comic book creators with legal aid, especially involving free speech laws, education and support for libraries, lectures and panels, and a weekly newsletter. Right now, you can help them out through their website, www.cbldf.org, or by purchasing a Humble Bundle here. Comic books and graphic novels are important for emerging and proficient readers alike. It's important that the community is supported by more than just the artists and writers themselves.

If you support them for the minimum of $10 today, you get a TON of Star Wars graphic novels for your eReader! From the Humble Bundle website:

A New Hope for your e-readers. The Humble Star Wars Comics Bundle features 89 issues across 12 stellar titles of Force-pushing, lightsaber-swinging Star Wars comics. Name your price for Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago… Volume 1, Star Wars: Empire Volume 1 Betrayal, Star Wars: Jedi Volume 1 - The Dark Side, Star Wars: Crimson Empire Volume 1, Star Wars: Darth Maul - Death Sentence, and Star Wars: Blood Ties - Jango and Boba Fett. Pay more than the average price to also get Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command, Star Wars: The Old Republic Volume 1 - Blood of the Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 1 Commencement, Star Wars: Legacy Volume 1 - Broken, and Star Wars: Dark Times Volume 1 - The Path to Nowhere. If you pay $15 or more, you'll receive all of the above plus Star Wars Volume 1: In the Shadow of Yavin. The Force is strong with this bundle!

Such an awesome deal for an awesome cause. If that's not something in your ability right now, you can always go back to their website at www.cbldf.org later.

Happy reading!
Christine

Quote of the Day!

One of our students was receiving tutoring in the library. I was checking in some books and putting them on our "to-be-shelved" carts, when he asked if he could check out Flora and Ulysses, one of the Bluebonnet nominated books.

I said sure, and proceeded to ask him how many Bluebonnets he's read total.

"Two, P.I.C.K.L.E. and The Day the Crayons Quit."

"Oh, I have wanted to read P.I.C.K.L.E.! How was it?" I asked. I always try to see how the kids are digging the materials because, let's be honest, we cannot read everything front to back.

"It...was..AMAZING," was his reply.

That's the quote of the day: "It...was...AMAZING."

He went on to say that a classmate begged him to finish that book because he wanted it "sooooooooooo bad".

Some days these kids melt my heart and are so adorable.

Lego walls are awesome!

I'll admit that I still love Lego. The obsession really rekindled itself when I started dating my husband. As two broke kids barely scraping by, we would often waste time by walking around malls, downtown, and specifically Toys R Us. We both have fond memories of the chain toy empire. Countless times, we would spend hours walking around, reminiscing about Christmases and birthdays past, getting to see each other through our truly child-like personalities.

Fast forward to today, where I'm obsessed with The Lego Movie, bought my husband a mini version of Han Solo's aircraft for his birthday, and we STILL go to Toys R Us. The conversations have shifted from "If I was little, I'd love this" to "when our kids are big enough for dolls, they are NOT getting Monster High dolls. Ew."

At our school, we are trying to create a makerspace inside our Lower School Learning Commons, or as I'll refer to it from now on as LSLC. If you're unfamiliar with the term "makerspace", I'd recommend doing a quick Google search or checking out the article Manufacturing Makerspaces from American Libraries Magazine. The article delves into the ideas of makerspaces, how they can function, and all kinds of cool gadgets and gizmos for your sweet, sweet makerspace setup.

Our space here is a little limited and we are trying to make sure the things we start to include in the LSLC are moveable. This way, we can adjust the space to cater to the students' needs, as well as needs for faculty and staff.

Our head librarian sent me a link to an AWESOME blog written by Diana Rendina. She seems like a super creative lady, so props to her for being able to think of and complete something this awesome in her library. In this particular blog entry, she glues a bunch of Lego boards to her wall to create a makerspace.
 
I LOVE THIS IDEA.

Benny agrees with me.

What stood out to me about this blog article was when she said:

I would love to see every school build a LEGO wall – they’re so much fun.  My students love it, and it’s a great opportunity for them to exercise creativity, spatial thinking, fine motor skills, math, etc.  Plus, it’s just fun and stress relieving.

Toys have a purpose. They teach children to be creative and use their imagination, enhance their fine motor skills, use math or engineering, help them learn how to work together and compromise. Wow! It's incredible, these tricky adults sneaking educational stuff into toys. How clever.

I think it's wonderful that a toy as simple as Lego can help children develop in so many different ways. Playing is an essential and important part of childhood, and for the past several years, I've seen many parents over schedule their kids to the point where they don't want to play simply because they are so gosh-darned tired.

This would be a great step for our LSLC to go as far as a makerspace, with a few caveats. My reasons being are:

1. It's affordable. 3-D printers, while all the rage and super cool, are not practical yet. If we go with our alternative plan of taking this table with various Lego plates similar to these, we could probably create a Lego table for about $20. That doesn't include the glue/caulk, but that would not be that big of an investment.

2. It's great for all ages! Who doesn't like playing with colorful bricks and letting your imagination go wild? (Hint: I still really do, thankyouverymuch). Duplo bricks fit perfectly on plates that are made for standard bricks. Families could come and enjoy it after school, too.

3. Our idea for Lego tables would help keep our space multi-purpose. As much as I love the idea for a Lego wall, our space gets used frequently by tons of different groups. It would be great to be able to store our Lego supplies in our work room so that no little yellow dudes get left behind or thrown into an air vent, never to be seen again.

Hopefully you will be seeing pictures of a fabulously crafted freestanding Lego station, where kids are creating cities, monsters, spaceships, or even recreating scenes from Ninjago. This would definitely be one more step in a positive direction for not only the physical space of our library and the LSLC but also our library program.

Not Everything's Archie

Most librarians probably would not find their first "official" book order super exciting, but this library assistant sure does! I placed my first order for our "little gn" section of graphic novels for lower and middle schoolers. It was way more difficult than I anticipated. The first year I was here, I helped the lower school librarian a lot with her book orders. This time? It's all me!

I couldn't be more excited!

This is a genre I'm super passionate about. I started reading comics and the like when I could barely read. My brother would share his Life with Betty and Betty's Diary comics with me.

 

This one is a national treasure, I'm sure.

Though probably advanced as far as writing and subject matter, I was hooked. "Archies" are still my favorite comics, as trite and tired as some may be. Yes, Dan DeCarlo, we can tell that you whited-out some 70's band and hand wrote "*NSYNC" as a band Veronica needed her groovy autograph book for. You are fooling no one.

 Even then, my love of books and comics grew. I hate to admit how big of a consumer I was as a child, but it was the late 80s and early 90s and that is what we were raised to be. My parents, however, pushed me to make as much as consume, so more often than not I would act out or write stories based on the things I already loved.

Anime was becoming increasingly popular in my middle school years, probably due to the mass amounts of people that now had cable. It wasn't a taboo like it had been, where people were going to conventions to buy subtitled or fan dubbed VHS tapes of Ghost in the Shell or Fushigi Yugi. No, there were famous voice actors, professional subs supplied by local company FUNimation, and more fans than ever. I started watching Toonami after TRL every day after school (dating myself much?), and was absolutely in love with this wacky, beautiful Japanese world. My favorite show was Gundam Wing and I bought manga and feature length films at my very first A-Kon that changed my life forever.

How could you not fall in love with these sci-fi soldiers? One of them is even a test tube baby!

I became obsessed--literally. I spent times when friends were sleeping at slumber parties reading through the entire Mars manga series, reading all the countless Mobile Suite Gundam offshoots, as well as discovering new favorites in Nausicaa and Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances). My heart was full.

Super heroes had always been a love of mine as well, but anime took the front seat for a long while. Once I graduated high school, however, the world of the graphic novel, including super heroes, had changed immensely. 

I have been in love ever since.

Continuations of favorite movies or TV shows, beautiful allegories for family relationships, whatever it may be, I loved it. This beautiful medium can transport the reader to their world of choice with friends of choice. You get to peek on characters you might never meet in this life or galaxy.

There comes those goose bumps again, dangit.

With my history of loving graphic novels, I am so thrilled and honored to be ordering literature that can and will shape a child's view in some way. It's crazy to think that every thing I potentially do impacts a student in some way or another. It's incredibly humbling. 

This order, I specifically searched for a lot of pro-girl graphic novels. Even in today's state, it's incredibly difficult to find age-appropriate books that have a strong female protagonist that is not a princess or anything silly like that. I found some great titles in that vein, as well as some that are perfectly gender neutral. I've told some of my manga loving girls that I've got some fun things coming their way and they get so excited! Some are so adorably excited I cannot wait to share these books with them.

Speaking of the books, I made a little collage of some of them! Some are re-orders or extra copies (one can never have too many Amulet books!) so I've omitted some of my order. Here's the visual of a glimpse of what we're getting:

 

Look at all those potential friends and memories to be made! I can't wait to read Li'l Gotham and Monster Turkey/Monster Christmas. 

Happy Reading!

Christine

Fiction Sorting and Alphabetizing

We are back to square one in Libraryland as we are every year when it comes to teaching the basics. A good refresher never hurt anybody! Carrie came up with the idea to have a game where kids sort books according to alphabetical order, but also to our cataloging system. I then took a really fun presentation from SmartExchange and changed it to fit our needs...and also my pickyness about colors.

Here's what our stations looked like the first time we had the students play the game:

It worked well! The tables were a bit tricky because the students then had to maneuver bookends. We decided to put them on carts instead, that way we could wheel the game wherever we needed to suite the schedule for the Lower School Learning Commons. This worked out perfectly because it gave students an easier way to prop up the books while sorting them and also divided our three fiction sections with three shelves.

I was fortunate enough to help teach this lesson this past Friday. We were crazy booked in the library, so I proctored the game in Carrie's office. The kids still had fun, refreshed their memory, and I got to teach. Those are three pretty great things to end a crazy week on!

They did get a bit loud, but I only assume it was because they were so excited! I encouraged them to really work together as we had seen some previous groups take advantage of working in a group. I was pleasantly surprised by their helping each other without much disagreement about what goes where.

In case you are interested, here is where I found the SmartBoard lesson that I updated. It had already been adapted by somebody else, but I tweaked it even further. I prefer to use cleaner fonts like Verdana or Calibri for my lessons as they are less distracting and easier for most kids to read. It also helps me create the slide to look more like a non-fiction text, with different types of text using different fonts or colors.

If you are interested in checking out the slide that I did, leave a comment and I can e-mail it to you! :)

Graphic novels-woo hoo!

I am so excited to be ordering graphic novels for the library. I've probably mentioned it in every post that I've written lately, but hey, I'm easily excitable. SO excitable, in fact, that I have created a Tumblr just for my graphic novel reviews and to help me keep track of them.

This will keep me on pace here with writing about what's going on in the library, as well as other new books. I can promise that I will be trying harder to update more frequently. That's a mini goal of mine, I guess. Keeping on top of my stuff.

The URL for my tumblr is: http://littlegn.tumblr.com

It's a New Year!

Welcome back to school to all faculty, staff, and students.

The summer flew by quickly, but I am ready to get back into a routine. This new school year, the Lower School library is focusing on further developing and fine-tuning our collection, collaborating more with teachers, and I am trying to decide on an after school club.

Our theme this year in Lower School is bowling! Who doesn't love a fun bowling game? We thought it would be great to use all the bowling terms and, for lack of a better term, puns when creating our reading incentive program. Students will read ten books for a strike, and after they fill out our awesome tracking sheet, are eligible to have their sheet hung on the wall along with their picture!

There is another bulletin board on the same wall but its at least three times as big. This is where we have our student recommendations. They write it on a bowling ball, which we then staple to the lane. We had to cut down on how fancy we were trying to make the lane look. There will be so many recommendations on the board that it won't matter.

One of the new challenges this year will be late start day. We will have a different grade for two-ish hours on a late start day. Carrie and I are researching storytellers, but we also have some cute activities found on Pinterest that we are excited to try.

We are also the lucky recipients of a classroom set of iPads! This is so exciting, as Carrie and I have both been going to training the past couple years about iPads and how to utilize them in the classroom. Since we never had the opportunity before, we're looking forward to introducing our kids to this technology and hopefully using it in some cool ways.

This year will be challenging, but we are ready to bring our library game to the next level. Hopefully this year will be full of collaboration, revolutionary ideas, and more school participation in the library program.

May 15, 2014

I just realized that today--this day--is May 15, 2014.

It's a Thursday.

There are just a few short weeks until summer vacation starts. Parts of me are excited and happy, knowing that I'll finally be able to start on projects and cleaning and whatnot, but there is still MUCH to be done here at work.

All library books were due this Wednesday. Many of our students in lower school went above and beyond and have returned most things already! We're proud of them, and are thankful for the couple volunteers that came and helped us knock out some of our carts of books. We could not do it without them.

I have so many lists of things that I need to finish. Inventory, covering books, straightening up and covering up shelves, packing up decorations and toys, as well as my desk, and probably a million other little tasks.

Oh, definitely Lysol-ing the couches and everything touchable! That is like one of the top ones.

Happy May 15, AKA we are almost there!

Trying to keep up the pace :)
-ch

Spring Fever

It's not just the kids that are catching it. Looming around every corner, the tease of something called "summer vacation" lingers. There are giggles, excitement, even sneezes. All of this amounts to one thing:

Spring. Fever.

Spring fever usually hits a little earlier than this, but due to our crazy weather, I feel has been delayed. Because of this delay, there has been more spring fever harboring in these children (and adults) for longer than ever before, causing quite a ruckus.

Summer is merely four weeks away.

To quote George Takei:

 

FOUR WEEKS.

I'm not going to be lounging about eating bon-bons this summer, oh, no. I have tons of projects up my sleeve, and hopefully I will still like doing any of my hobbies this summer. I'm also looking into getting a part time job because I will be going back to college to finish my undergraduate degree.

This makes me happy and hopefully will help further my status in life.I will finally have tackled that elephant that has been in my life for so long!

Sorry about the gifs. I'm gif happy lately, simply because they are adorable and my new favorite TV show has a ton of them (Parks and Recreation).

We've done SO much this year. Thinking back about it all, I've compiled a list of the great stuff we've been able to accomplish in our library.

We have:

• Learned how to use a SmartBoard, as well as our new lower school learning commons area
• Weeded tons of books
• Added tons of books, such as popular series with Bound to Stay Bound, country books, junior readers, and holiday
• Held faculty meetings in the LSLC
• Used LSLC as a flexible space, holding 2 or more classes at once (that was fun!)
• Helped 4th grade with a stats/math project in the fall
• Provided materials for other 4th grade projects, such as biographies and the American revolution
• Provided 1st grade with biography materials
• Provided 2nd grade with materials for their Texas unit, including a Weebly and tons of Texas books
• Gone to TLA in San Antonio
• Worked on our own library benchmarks/objectives and standards
• Held Bluebonnet voting for 3rd and 4th grade...
• ...which also included an awesome party for the winning classes!

I personally have:

• Gained more responsibilities, such as dealing with periodicals and mail, placing orders through various vendors, and setting up inventory
• Taught several lessons to various groups, mostly 2nd grade and Primer
• Read books that I never thought I'd enjoy!
• Helped students of all ages and grades find material for pleasure and research purposes
• Learned how to cover books with our CoLibri machine
• Processed God knows how many books
• Covered God knows how many books
• Read a ton of review magazines

 Now, it's all about finishing up on inventory, reading shelves, any final weeding, and processing the last of our orders. This year has flown by for me, probably because I got married smack in the middle of it. Oh, then got a concussion. But, you know, I'm trying my best to keep up even when I do feel a little slow still.

I'm grateful for an interesting, and ever changing school year. It's been a blast so far, and with one month to go, I can't wait to see what we get done.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

That's right, friends, it's the best time of the year in a Librarian's life! Aside from summer vacation, that is.

It's time for...

TLA CONFERENCE!

Last year, I attended my first TLA conference, which was held in Ft. Worth. This year, I get to feel fancy and fly to San Antonio for exciting workshops, speakers, author talks, and buying comic books. Er, they're for...my husband? Not me. Certainly not. Ahem.

As I was saying, TLA is the most fun time of year. It's a chance to learn about your job and experience it through the eyes of many different library employees. There's also a chance to hear authors speak, which is super inspiring to me as a writer. I had more ideas come out of the author talks than I could shake a stick at.

Plus, Henry Winkler will be there.

Duh, that's obviously the best part.

I'm so excited! Cannot wait. Carrie is there now for pre-conference, and tomorrow the conference will officially start. I will be there Thursday and Friday. Thursday was the day that has the most stuff I'm interested in, so I honestly have no idea how I am going to cram in everything. I have a list of the things I want to see most, plus alternates. Oy. I'm exhausted just thinking about running about a huge convention hall!

Maybe this year I will actually be able to buy a Pigeon doll.

Spring Weeding

If you're not familiar with libraries, you're probably thinking...weeding? In a library? Uh, there aren't plants in there, are there?

Nope! Just lots of books, that were once loved and have become forgotten, torn and twisted, or just plain gross.

It's always a sad thing, weeding books. Though necessary, it feels as if you are sending away a close friend. Maybe even one that held your hand through childhood. As library staff, it's nerve-wracking to consider you may be doing the same thing to someone else's childhood friend.

I tried to do what I could before Spring Break, but this week has been a lot of catching up on tiny tasks. The last bits of mail, weeding more and more books, and starting inventory. I realized weeding before inventory=good, weeding after inventory=really bad use of time!

I'm also working on the Greenhill Goes Global displays for the library. It should be coming along soon, but there is seriously not enough hours, nor arms on my body, to seem to get everything done when I want it.

The Winner Is...

 

Ten Rules You Must Absolutely Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus

by John Grandits

If you are in Texas, and are in grades 3-6, most likely you were able to participate in this thing called the Texas Bluebonnet Award! In case you haven't heard, it's kind of a big deal. It's like an Oscar, or rather an Independent Spirit award for books.

20 books are nominated each year, and to be eligible to vote, kids have to read a minimum of 5 books. We were a bit frustrated this year at the lack of enthusiasm some students showed towards the importance of the Bluebonnet award. Regardless, our two winning classes had a TON of readers, and they were all super excited.

This book, however adorable it may seem, has caused a stir of controversy as of late. The simple summary of this book is that it's about a young boy about to go on the school bus for the first time. He's scared, as I would be, too, so his older brother gives him a list of things he must do to survive simply getting to school. 

Ten Rules is absolutely adorable. It captures what children fear the most, such as eye contact, scary school bus drivers, and having to sit next to girls. I can see why many kids may have voted for it. I can also see why it's creating such a stir.

Some teachers and librarians feel that because it is a picture book it should not have won. Heavens, their children are in 5th or 6th grade, they couldn't possibly read a picture book. They shouldn't enjoy a picture book.

Wrong.

You see, the Bluebonnet committee picks books they think actual kids will like. Not lofty, pretentious titles that no kid in their right mind would touch. Granted, I think some of the books nominated this year, as well as on the master list for next, are a bit challenging. That's not to say it won't resonate with a certain child.

There are ALL types of kids in this great state of ours. There are different types of families and situations, economic levels and stability, and interest. Maybe children voted for this book because being terrified of a new experience is commonplace; it is something they can not only relate to, but experience more often than some adults.

Though our students for what we thought would be the shoo-in and is actually the runner-up (Wonder by R.J. Palacio), I feel it is thought they don't ride the school bus, so the winning book is somewhat foreign to them. Their circumstances are different than those of kids at public school--and that is ok.

Hullabaloo has been made over the fact that 6th graders are subject to read "childish" literature. Well, if anyone has taken a look at most of these picture books, they would see there is hearty dialogue in most, and a vast vocabulary to enrich the story. It's not "baby" at all. Picture books can be good for all sorts of readers, beginning and not.

Perhaps there needs to be a discussion with those that are displeased that they should read more to their students, join the Bluebonnet committee, or something I'm not thinking of. We should be happy that these children voted for a book that obviously struck a chord with them, instead of belittling what a fabulous story this is. It's great that some of these children even voted at all.

Congratulations, John Grandits!

Books don't cover themselves.

Today I actually have time to write, which is nice. It has been so swamped lately; either Carrie or I have been sick, we've had an early release because of ice, then late start, then meetings, and miscommunications. It's okay, because it's Wednesday, the third day of a four-day-week, and we are doing pretty darn good considering the looming vacation ahead.

With our newest book order, we've been using something called a CoLibri machine. It's pretty much the easiest way to cover a book without ruining the book with acidic tape or the potential of the cover ripping or coming loose. Our CoLibri machine is a newer model, I believe, because it has an automatic covering pedal and button. The hardest part is literally getting the plastic book pocket on, not so much the sealing it.

It's pretty much a food vacuum packer, but for books.

I adore this thing. Granted, I do love covering books with the good ol' acrylic covers, the book tape; the noise, on the other hand, drove me bananas. I don't like interrupting or even seeming like I am a burden in any sense of the word. That's what the noise from traditional book covering made me feel like. NO MORE.

In other news, we've finally finished all the Grandparents and Special Friends Day stuff. Phew! We are grateful that we received such an abundance, but it was definitely a bit overwhelming. Carrie and I are both glad this is giving us the opportunity to beef up certain parts of our collection, replacing some of the gnarly (in the bad sense) copies that have been taking up precious shelf space.

Last week was a bit tough for me. Tuesday was the culmination of pure crazy. Carrie was sick, which left me in charge. I love being able to teach and spend more time with the kids. However, when there's only one of us, it is totally crazier than normal. There were our regular classes (only 4 that day, I think) plus our littlest friends in the CDC, plus two entire 4th grade classes coming to get biographies, plus volunteers, which I was so glad could help out, plus all the other library stuff I have to do (sort/input/process mail and periodicals, checking out, other projects that have been assigned to me, covering books, etc.).

IT WAS STRESSFUL.

But I've heard what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am glad that I've grown a lot, not only in this job, but as a person. I'm not afraid of speaking up for myself or an idea any longer, but look forward to the opportunity to do so. I am making this blog a priority more, now that my brain is kind of functioning normally again.

I had a concussion in December, and have been feeling foggy, groggy, and constantly tired since then. I've been fighting telling myself that it's bad, that things are going to get worse.  Now, I feel like my mental clarity has greatly improved and I'm also trying to speak more. Speaking is a little hard for me, don't know why. Fighting that thought, too.

In conclusion: three weeks until spring break!

(Sidebar: If this wasn't my professional library blog, I would totally link to a gif of James Franco as Alien from Spring Breakers saying "Spring break, spring break forever". Aren't you lucky this is a work blog?)

The Flying Beaver Brothers graphic novel series

Brothers Ace and Bub, distinguished only by the stripes on Bub's shorts, are two fun-loving beaver brothers that are hardly on the same page. Ace, the talented adventurous beaver brother, is showing off for Bub, as he takes a nap while guarding Ace's surfboard.

To both of their surprises, two evil penguins come and snatch up the surfboard! This sends the brothers on a mission to retrieve it, since the surfboard competition is the next day. Evil penguin meetings held in refrigerators, confusions over penguins and puffins, and even more shenanigans make up this first volume.

Throughout the monochromatic tones of the book, these brothers are goofy and fun. Similar to the Lunch Lady series, this is definitely great for younger crowds. There is enough text to keep them moving along, especially once the brothers discover what the penguins have in store for them.

This is only the first in the series,with four graphic novels so far. I can't wait to see what our kids think of it!

The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney

Billy Calder was dealt an unfortunate hand in life. An orphan, Billy was forced to get a job at age 15 simply because he wanted to prepare himself for getting out of the Home for Unfortunate Boys.

He is late to his first shift with Adam Colne, the night manager of the local Castle Prison. Though Billy had already has his training, he was not aware that he would become a night watchman. Someone had specifically asked for him during the evenings--Long Neck Netty. Colne warns him of the ghost prisoners, the ones who were executed for being witches or criminals, and how they terrorize the regular prisoners...and staff.

Billy is given a harsh warning to never enter the Witch Well. In it resides a monster unfathomable, in which Colne and Colne alone must feed, due to the danger of the witch. This warning is ignored when Colne is out sick, and the gateskeeper is too much of a coward to feed whatever is in there.

Fast paced and quick to read, this 98 page book is somewhat predictable as far as ghost stories go.The illustrations add to the story by showing the spooky atmosphere of this 17th century England world. Some of the illustrations don't fit the description of the characters (our protagonist is described as having curly hair, when is definitely sporting a Bieber hair-do), but they overall add much more meat to this otherwise tiny story.

This book also contains chapters. I really, honestly, could not tell you why. It seems like it should just be one tiny, long book, and that would be okay. The suggested age range for readers of this book is 12-16 years old, but I honestly think it's just for the subject matter alone. There is a gruesome scene that not even I was expecting! It's written at the level of a third or fourth grade student.

All in all, The Ghost Prison is a quick, fun spooky read, with the biggest twist happening at the end. Maybe save it for October, and ease on in to the spooky books for Halloween.

Happy New Year!

2014 came in with a mild clang in my household this year. The biggest change is in my self; I'm more determined, focused, and excited than I've been in a very long time. I thank my new husband for this; he's so encouraging and supportive of my creative and professional efforts, of which I have MANY. His is to branch into a creative field he's never done before (which I'm sure he will do so successfully), and mine is laborious and would take a whole other blog to describe.

I think I'm also going to reevaluate my Folio goals. My new priority: master the art of covering a book with the CoLibri machine. The first time I tried it, with the CoLibri lady present, piece o' cake. By myself? With a donated book? HA. It wound up covered and everything but it looks a little goofy. Just, slightly goofy, but enough that only I could notice.

Another is to make sure I take care of my tasks on time. I like to think I'm fairly decent about this, but I have a stack of book review magazines I need to get moving on, Bluebonnet party plans/decor, then good old Valentine's decorations, plus this, that, and the other thing. And then reading the books. Actually finishing them. I'm terrible at finishing things if I can't get into them, but I'm bound and determined to be better than the kids at this.

As long as we're going through unofficially official goals, my other one is to move more. Everyone has that yearly resolution to lose weight or become more active. I've decided since I spend a lot of my days at work, obviously, I should start using my time in a more efficient way. Getting up at least every 30 minutes, wandering through the shelves, making sure things are generally taken care of.

I'm also trying to reteach myself Adobe Premiere. This is annoying and challenging. Ugh.

Overall, I know 2014 will be an amazing year. I will continue to work with great people, stretch myself professionally, academically, and creatively, and strive to be the happiest Christine I can be.