September 18, 2013

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ALA Urges FCC to Accelerate E-Rate Goals

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The American Library Association on Monday asked the Federal Communications Commission to accelerate the goals of E-rate, the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries. ALA’s statement specifically calls for faster deployment of high-capacity broadband and new strategic investments in infrastructure, as well as program changes to save costs and streamline the process so that more schools and libraries can participate in the program.

NCAC: School Visits Nixed for Medina, Rowell

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Planned school visits by YA authors Meg Medina and Rainbow Rowell set to coincide with Banned Books Week (September 22 to 28) have been cancelled due to local challenges over the content of their acclaimed books, the National Coalition Against Censorship reports.

Pick of the Day: Sukey’s Circle (DVD)

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Sukey Molloy delivers 15 mini shows that encourage young children to play, sing, and move in Sukey’s Circle! Vol. 3, a DVD not to be missed.

Teens Review John Mayer’s ‘Paradise’, ‘Madden 25′, and More

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I’m not sure what was more of a surprise to me—that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around for 30 years, or that the John Madden videogame football franchise goes back twenty five years! John Mayer has some ground to make up; his first album debuted in 2001, an Internet only album titled ​Room for Squares​. Hopefully he’ll have the longevity of the turtles and one particular earthbound former football coach.

Holy Bagumba! An exclusive webcast with beloved children’s book authors Kate DiCamillo and Jon Scieszka

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Monday, October 21, 2013, 12:00-1:00 PM ET Join Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature emeritus Jon Scieszka as they discuss Kate’s latest book FLORA & ULYSSES: THE ILLUMINATED ADVENTURES and the importance of humor in children’s literature. Kate DiCamillo is the author of many beloved books for young readers, including The Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn-Dixie. In her new genre-bending novel Flora & Ulysses, Kate delivers a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters. It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences.

Sign up now! Set up an assembly for this Livestream Event, so all of your students, parents, and teachers can share the belly laughs with these two hilarious authors. Register Now!

Not for the Timid | What We’re Reading

We’re reading across the spectrum this week at Library Journal/School Library Journal, with nonfiction and fiction both represented. A cross theme of strong women, from actress Anjelica Huston to warrior maiden Alanna to Anne Frank’s sister, is in play, with some humor and fantastic fantasy thrown in. There’s also real-life drama, as beleaguered hospital staffers [...]

10 Kid Lit Nominees Chosen for 2013 National Book Award

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The National Book Foundation has announced the 2013 Young People’s Literature Longlist for the National Book Award, the first time in history that a longlist of nominees will be presented for all four categories of awards: young people’s literature, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The finalists will be revealed on October 16, with the winners revealed at the awards ceremony on November 20.

Pick of the Day: Daisy Gets Lost

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Nearly wordless like its predecessor, this evocative story depicts another misadventure in the park by a lovable pup..

UK Study Links Kids’ Pleasure Reading to Strong School Performance

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The University of London’s Institute of Education (IOE) has released a study showing that children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers. The study, which is one of the first to examine the effect of reading for pleasure on children’s cognitive development over time, finds that children who read for pleasure made more progress in learning math, vocabulary, and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read.

Los Angeles School Employees Charged in Textbook Theft Ring

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Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged 12 school employees, including two librarians, with stealing at least thousands of textbooks from their school districts—four of the nation’s poorest—for a book buyer, who allegedly paid them $200,000 in bribes, the Los Angeles Times has reported.

Horror in YA Lit is a Staple, Not a Trend

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Though R. L. Stine and Christopher Pike may be our quickest associations with teen screams, horror encompasses a wide array of books. Teen librarian and blogger Kelly Jensen highlights the latest titles in teen fiction that are bound to give readers nightmares.

Queens (NY) Librarian Reads to Alligator to Reward Summer Reading

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New York City children’s librarian Susan Scatena of Queens Library at Whitestone this week has fulfilled the promise she made to her young patrons at the start of the summer by reading a story aloud to a live alligator. The unusual storytime fulfilled Scatena’s half of the pact she made with the children that at least 300 of them would register in her summer reading program and read at least 4,000 books. In fact, they exceeded their goal; 344 children registered and read 4,595 books.

Romance & Mayhem: Young Adult/Teen Book Buzz

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Tuesday, October 1, 2013, 3:00-4:00 PM ET Doesn’t it seem that wherever romance goes, mayhem follows? And we all know that life as a teenager is full of both of these!

Join SLJTeen’s Dodie Ownes as she moderates a free one-hour webcast featuring titles presentations from Soho Teen, Tor Teen, and Harlequin Teen,who will offer sneak previews of their new titles for Fall 2013 and 2014. You won’t believe some of the cover art—shocking, sexy, and sensational—that will have your young adult readers picking the book display clean. Register Now!

Pick of the Day: Out of This Place (Audio)

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Three friends who want to leave high school and move on describe their anguish in Emma Cameron’s novel, Out of This Place, written in verse. Three narrators tell the story from alternating points of view. Read this starred review

An Administrator’s View: Giving Teacher Librarians an Edge | Pivot Points

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Former teacher librarian and current district administrator Mark Ray continues to reflect on the ways teacher librarians can better connect and work with building and district leaders.

Pick of the Day: Timeless Thomas | DVD

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Timeless Thomas: How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives focuses on Edison’s legacy. Learn about his many inventions in Spoken Arts Media’s DVD version of the book by Gene Barretta.

Check Out the Math: One Elementary School’s Library-Based Math Program

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Nancy Jo Lambert, librarian at the Ruth Borchardt Elementary School in Plano, TX, created a unique program that connects her school library’s statistics with her students’ classroom math in a fun way. Find out how she did it—and why her students now clamor for this monthly program.

SLJ’s News Coverage of 9/11

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Pulled from SLJ archives, here is a PDF of our original news coverage about the fateful day that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked by terrorists. Librarians in the New York City and Washington, DC areas rose to the challenge of serving their students and patrons amidst the chaos and confusion of the tragic event. Andrea Glick’s “Responding to Terror: School Librarians in NYC and DC Cope with Frightened Students,” appeared in SLJ’s October 2001 print issue and online the previous month.

Pictures of the Week: A Future Librarian Enjoys SLJ’s ‘Early Birds’ Cover Story

A reader's daughter (and hopefully future librarian) reads through SLJ's Early Literacy-focused July issue, which featured the iconic Sesame Street character, Big Bird, on the cover.

An SLJ reader’s daughter peruses our Early Learning-focused July issue, which featured the iconic Sesame Street character, Big Bird, on the cover.

ALSC Offers Morris Seminar on Book Evaluation

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The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is seeking applications for its third biennial “Bill Morris Seminar: Book Evaluation Training,” to be held on Friday, January 24, 2014, prior to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. This invitational seminar supports and honors William C. Morris’s dedication to connecting librarians and children with excellent children’s books.