September 18, 2013

Subscribe to SLJ

Top of the Tops: NYT Bestsellers

The New York Times Bestseller lists – to my eyes, they never cease to make for an interesting read. Let’s take a look at the titles at the top of the picture book and middle grade lists this week, shall we? Click the links below to see the rest of the top 10s. Picture Books [...]

D.I.LI(BRARY): Build Your Own Magical Book Request Machine

D.I.LI(BRARY): Build Your Own Magical Book Request Machine

Receiving student book requests is kind of like when someone tells you what they want for Christmas. You don’t quite get the fleeting pleasure of feeling like a creative gift-giving wizard, but you get the deep satisfaction of knowing they’ll love it. That’s the part that counts most. It’s common for books we purchase based on [...]

Whaddaya Say We Buy Five of the Most Expensive Picture Books?

Cover Curiosity: Playing the Field

Got an extra 100K laying around? Good! Here’s how you should spend it. (Click the links to see the full AbeBooks listing for each title) Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak The Story of Ferdinand by [...]

Morning Notes: Lonely Doll Edition

Morning Notes: Lonely Doll Edition

“Someone broke into Famke Janssen’s home and left a weird doll book”… and more.

10 to Note: Fall Preview 2013

SCHOLASTIC SPIRIT ANIMALS

Here’s how I approach these previews. I look at all the K-6 books coming out in the next three months, then pick 10 titles that jump out to me the most. Could be because I’ve read them and loved them, could be because they’re getting a lot of advance praise, could be because I can [...]

The Great Novel Giveaway

It’s a free book kind of Monday. Up for grabs we have a trio of some of the more talked about books of 2013. Fill out the form below to enter, but be snappy about it! You must enter by 11:59 p.m. EST tonight (that’s August 12) to be eligible. Best of luck. And the [...]

Toon Review: The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

MLKDay.5

The Year of Billy Miller By Kevin Henkes Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) ISBN: 9780062268150 $16.99 Grades 2-4 In Stores September 17, 2013 Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library *Best New Book* (click on comics to enlarge) Digital review copy from Edelweiss. Also reviewed by For Those About to Mock, A Fuse #8 Production, Waking Brain [...]

Come Work With Me

Energetic go-getters of the world: lend me your ears! My school district (Wayland (Mich.) Union Schools) is hiring for two school librarian positions. Becoming my BFF is also included. In an era with far too many cuts, it’s great to see some adds. Interested? Check out the posting, or pass it along. Applications will be [...]

100 Must-Reads for Kids 9-14 from NPR

More Bomb

NPR just released their list of 100 Must-Reads for kids 9-14. By a stroke of luck, I found myself on the committee to curate the list with with some serious children’s literature heavy hitters – Rita Williams-Garcia, Margi Preus, Linda Sue Park, Gussie Lewis, and Soman Chainani. As for how the list came together, our [...]

Link Du Jour: Dear Parents

Link Du Jour: Dear Parents

The great Joyce Valenza over at NeverEnding Search has already shared this, but if anything deserves to go school librarian viral, it’s Doug Johnson’s take on the library back-to-school letter.

One Star Review Guess Who? (#10)

One Star Review Guess Who? (#10)

Can you guess the classic children’s book by its scathing one-star review on GoodReads or Amazon? This started out cute, but after the sixty-first figure of speech I couldn’t take it anymore. It’s as if a fourth grade teacher went on an acid trip and started spouting nonsense. I’m sure if I’d read this book [...]

Notes on July 2013

In July… …we said “huh?” in the best possible way. The Wildest Children’s Books of 2013 have a way of making you do that. …I fake rode a horse. The American Library Association Annual Conference got the Instagram recap treatment in three parts: Part I Part II Part III …I went away to Nerdcamp. I [...]

Morning Notes: Move On Like Nothing Happened Edition

Morning Notes: Move On Like Nothing Happened Edition

SHARPEN YOUR SCHUS Have I talked about Sharp-Schu Book Club here yet? (The 100 Scope Notes Research Department says “nope”) If you’ve never checked out this monthly Twitter gathering hosted by teacher Colby Sharp and school librarian John Schumacher, here’s your chance. It’s part book talk, part chat, part author/illustrator Q&A session, and is meeting TWO-NITE. [...]

Books on Film: In the Studio with Emily Gravett

Everyone, hold up your coffees. I’d like to propose a toast. Here’s to good ideas! Now go ahead and drink all the rest of your coffee in one gulp (Warning: 100 Scope Notes is not responsible for any resulting scalding). This year all the finalists for the Kate Greenaway and Carnegie medals (the prestigious English [...]

Summer Sellers

Summer Sellers

I realized it’s been a while since I’ve checked in on the latest New York Times bestsellers. I snuck a peek, and I must say: encouraged. I’ll post the top 5 and you can click to see the whole thing. First up, picture books (click the list to see the entire top 10): A nice mix [...]

Link Du Jour: Citation Needed

Link Du Jour: Citation Needed

No hard-hitting article to ponder today – just a t-shirt. This one’s for all the librarians living in the era of Wikipedia. I think I need to add this to my student research teaching wardrobe. Click here to view it.

(Thanks to LISNews for …

Morning Notes: 93% Edition

‘THE VEGETABLES OF MOTHERHOOD’ I’d say the first thing you should read today (in case you haven’t already) is I’m Tired of Reading Out Loud to My Son, O.K.? from the Motherlode blog at the New York Times. Gal has had it up to here with Richard Scary. Trust me, I can relate. But I [...]

SummerTeen Scope Notes

Flashback January 2010

Why has the ol’ blog been quiet the last couple days? Because I’ve been getting all prepped up for some moderating duties at tomorrow’s SLJ SummerTeen event. I’ll be manning the wheel of the Humor Me! panel with authors Don Calame (Swim the Fly), Louise Rozett (Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend), and Paul Rudnick (Gorgeous). That, [...]

One Star Review Guess Who? (#9)

One Star Review Guess Who? (#9)

Can you guess the classic children’s book by its scathing one-star review on GoodReads or Amazon? Why on earth would I want my child to rub her fingers on another man’s sandpaper beard? Click here for the answer. One Star Review Guess Who (#1) One Star Review Guess Who (#2) One Star Review Guess Who [...]

Morning Notes: An Exercise in Book Banning Edition

Morning Notes: An Exercise in Book Banning Edition

MARC SIMONT (1915-2013) Sad news to start things off. Legendary children’s book creator Marc Simont has passed away. School Library Journal reflects on the Caldecott winner’s life and work. WHY I BANNED A BOOK Real headline alert! Mansfield University library banned a book by a local author (and Mansfield employee) Dennis Miller as an experiment [...]