The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
OneVote 2012 is a student mock election held before the national presidential election. Launched by Channel One News, the program gives young people the opportunity to learn about the electoral process and the issues via interactive content as well as the chance to cast their vote for the next president of the United States from October 22–26. Prior to the election, Channel One News will offer news and other special segments to help teens make an informed decisions.
XBOOKS is a nonfiction language arts program from Scholastic for middle school students that offers informational texts in both print and digital formats that cover science and social studies topics. XBOOKS is an interactive program that features print and online components to build student proficiency in reading, writing, and thinking critically about informational texts. The program, developed and written by master teachers Dr. Jeffrey Wilhelm and Laura Robb, aligns with Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
Libraries in the United States and across the world are coming together to celebrate the American Library Association’s (ALA) 5th Annual International Games Day @ Your Library on Saturday, November 3. Beginning this year, National Gaming Day has been renamed International Games Day to reflect the interest of libraries outside of the U.S. It’s up to individual libraries how they celebrate this special day, but there’s lots of freebies for your library if you fill out a registration form.
From September 30 to October 6 libraries, schools, and bookstores will celebrate Banned Books Week, an annual event that focuses on First Amendment rights. “During Banned Books Week, we hope to remind Americans that the ability to read, speak, think and express ourselves freely is a right, not a privilege,” said Maureen Sullivan, American Library Association President. “As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, it’s important to recognize that book banning does exist in this day and age. It’s up to all of us, community residents, librarians, teachers and journalists, to continue to stand up and speak out for the right to read.”
AudioGO is inviting librarians to visit their offices in North Kingston, RI, on Friday, September 28 to celebrate their annual Librarian’s Day. Present at the festivities will be library advocate and supporter U.S. Senator Jack Reed and authors James R. Benn and Janet Taylor Lisle. Participants will tour the audiobook company’s recording studio, listen to narrators in action, and try their own hand at narrating. RSVP deadline is September 21 and everyone who fills out the form will be entered to win a selection of audiobooks worth $500.
The following is a response to Elizabeth Bird’s feature article “Role Call: Want to work with kids in a public library? Here’s the inside scoop,” .
While there may be children’s librarian jobs out there, and indeed librarian jobs in general, they are few and far between. Plus many of them may be part-time, or downgraded to “assistant” in order to save on salaries. Public service has gone the way of private corporations, wherein job openings require someone to already be doing the exact same job somewhere else, …
On August 31, Candlewick launched a yearlong video celebration of picture books in honor of their 20th anniversary. Every day for 365 days, as part of the We Believe in Picture Books campaign, Candlewick will offer a video shot by authors, illustrators, staff, and friends, sharing what picture books mean to them, recommending a favorite story, and more. Librarians and teachers are welcome to post these videos on their own websites to share with students. You can also submit your own video to the publisher in which you informally talk about your favorite picture book, what the format means to you, or why it matters.
The 50th birthday celebration of Norman Bridwell’s iconic Clifford the Big Red Dog will kick off on September 24th at 10 am with a party at Scholastic’s New York City headquarters. And everybody can join in on the “Biggest Birthday Party Ever!” The live event will be streamed to classes across the country. Teachers can register now so their students can watch the festivities and Bridwell’s 30-minute webcast. There’s also a free kit that includes lesson plans, art project ideas, and coloring pages. In addition, Norman Bridwell’s Clifford Collection, six stories originally published between 1963 and 1977, will be released on the same day.
The New Visions Award has been announced by Tu Books, the fantasy, science fiction, and mystery imprint of Lee & Low Books. It will be given for “a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color.” The winner will get $1000 and a publication contract; an honor award winner will get $500. Children of color should be able to identify with and relate to the novel. Authors submitting a novel must include a synopsis of the story and the first three chapters (don’t send the entire manuscript) by October 30.
Star Wars: National Star Wars Reads Day is October 6. The event is an initiative of Lucasfilm and its publishing partners, Abrams, Chronicle Books, Dark Horse, Del Rey, DK, Scholastic, Titan Magazines, and Workman. ABDO Publishing is offering a free Star Wars event guide containing teacher’s guides, promotional posters, interviews with celebrities connected to the franchise, a list of nearly 300 Star Wars universe terms, a video of the event that was held in the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, and an order form for the 68 ABDO/Spotlight Star Wars library editions.
It Came from a Book!, a Teen Read Week art contest, is being launched by The Library as Incubator Project in partnership with Teen Librarian’s Toolbox, The Real Fauxtographer, and EgmontUSA. Teens are encouraged to read any book and create an original piece of art in any medium—painting, drawing, photo, sculpture, manga, etc.—inspired by the story. Then, they must take a digital photo of the artwork and submit the photo (or file if it is digital) to trwartcontest2012@gmail.com by September 30.
I believe that Lauren Barack, the author of “Proposed ‘Digital Literacy Corps’ Will Not Usurp School Librarians’ Role, Explains FCC,” a story that appeared on SLJ’s Digital Shift (June 12, 2012), used a poor choice of words when she said that “representatives of the American Library Association (ALA) reached out to some bloggers to help clarify the role the ALA has had with the FCC over the proposal to help quell concerns.”
What really happened was a [...]
App-ening
Best apps: The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Best Apps for Curriculum Task Force is accepting nominations for the best curriculum-based apps. From the ones nominated, the task force will compile a list of the top 25. “Apps and tablet technology add a tremendous value to educators and students, but today there are thousands of apps available with the list growing daily,” said Melissa Jacobs-Israel, task force chair. “Which apps are paramount? AASL’s newly created Best Apps for Curriculum [...]
Be in It to Win It
Sweepstakes and digital download: Barnes & Noble announced that Alloy Entertainment, the producer of Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries, is making two digital titles for teens available on the Nook. The End of the World As We Know It by Iva-Marie Palmer is about a group of misfit teens facing an alien invasion. Elena Perez’s The Art of Disappearing is about a girl who learns that she might be psychic. The titles can be [...]
Awards
Show a little love: Nominations are open for the 2012 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. Library users can nominate a favorite public, school, college, community college, or university librarian based on the accomplishments in improving the lives of people in their community. Nominees must be employed librarians with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty [...]
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Advocate
Call your legislator: The American Library Association (ALA) has just made it much easier for you to respond to email alerts relating to legislative activity affecting libraries. It takes just a few minutes. Text “library” to 877877 and you’ll get a message asking for your address. Enter your address, and you’re signed up. When there’s a legislative alert from ALA about library and information issues, the organization will send you a text that contains “talking points” and a [...]
Granted
Library grants: Applications are being accepted through July 15 for grants to develop public programming around the free traveling panel exhibition, “Civil War 150.” The $1000 grants, offered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, in partnership with The Library of America, will be awarded to 50 sites to host the exhibition and plan accompanying public programming. The winners will also be given written materials, such as discussion guides, and access to a multimedia website that contains digital resources. [...]
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Great Websites for Kids Committee has announced their picks for Spring 2012. The 11 websites, intended for children from birth to age 14, have been selected based on their outstanding concept and execution.
And the Winner Is…
Register to win: The Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation, in conjunction with the American Library Association, has launched the Will Eisner Graphic Novel Prize for Libraries. Eisner was an acclaimed American comics writer, artist, and entrepreneur. The prize will be awarded annually to three libraries at the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference beginning with this year’s event in Anaheim, California (June 21-26). If you’re going to be at the ALA conference, visit the Reading with [...]
And the Winner Is…..
Healthy eating: Kid chefs ages 8 to 12 can submit a delicious but nutritious recipe for a lunch to win a trip to Washington, DC, where they can attend a Kids’ State Dinner at the White House in August. Let’s Move, Michelle Obama’s initiative to fight childhood obesity, is teaming up with Epicurious, the Department of Education, and the USDA to find healthy and tasty lunch recipes. To enter, children should check out the MyPlate nutritional guidelines [...]
