May 23, 2013

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NYC Kids Rally for Libraries; City Council Members Urge Full Funding

Crowd on the Steps of City Hall

More than a dozen New York City Council members, the presidents of New York’s three library systems, and several hundred librarians, library staff, supporters, advocates, and children from nearby schools rallied on the steps of city hall to protest $106 million in proposed funding cuts. Council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Vincent J. Gentile also pledged to introduce legislation that would create a baseline of stable funding for the city’s public library services.

Agatha Awards Announced; ABDO Revamps ‘Star Trek’, ‘Jurassic Park’ Library Editions | News Bites

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Penny Warner’s The Code Busters 2: The Haunted Lighthouse won the 2012 Agatha Award. Capstone is adding 60 more Presidential titles to the K–3 PebbleGo Biographies module in August 2013. ABDO’s will publish library editions of IDW’s “Jurassic Park” and “Star Trek” graphic novels this fall.

Humor That is Seriously Funny | Focus On

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Writing about humor is a good way to suck all the fun out of it, so please—feel free to skip straight to the booklist.

Pick of the Day: Pieces

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This sequel to Lynch’s Iceman (1994) is a sophisticated look at a teen’s maturation through a series of dynamic life changes.

AEP, AAP to Merge; AAP to Create Pre-K Division

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The Association of Educational Publishers and the Association of American Publishers have agreed to merge. The two professional groups will combine their programming, professional development, and public policy advocacy operations serving the preK–12 educational publishing industry. Once the merger is complete, AAP will create a new pre-K division.

Author/Illustrator Bernard Waber, Lyle the Crocodile Creator, Dies at 91

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Author/illustrator Bernard Waber, creator of the iconic character Lyle the crocodile and more than two dozen picture books for children, died on May 16 after a long illness. He was 88.

The Best PowerPoint Alternatives for Creating Great Presentations

The Best PowerPoint Alternatives for Creating Great Presentations

We’ve all endured “death by PowerPoint.” It’s a painful experience for the audience and probably not all that fun for the presenter either. To help students deliver effective presentations—free of those deadly bullet points—SLJ columnist Richard Byrne cites his go-to applications.

Pick of the Day: Zebra Forest

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A novel about two siblings and their presumed-dear father that captures the nuances of family dynamics in spare prose

BEA One Stop Shopping: What to See and Do That’s YA & JUV

BEA One Stop Shopping: What to See and Do That’s YA & JUV

Howdy, folks! I can’t take full credit for today’s post since it was my ineffable co-worker Alison Hendon who took the time to cull together all the stuff at this month’s upcoming Book Expo that is children and YA book related.  If you have any interest at all in attending but you’re not quite sure [...]

Preview: Lego Ninjago, vol. 7: Stone Cold

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The saga of Lego Ninjago continues—no, really!—as our little interlocking-block warriors face off against the evil Stone Warriors in Lego Ninjago, vol. 7: Stone Cold, out this Wednesday in finer bookstores everywhere. Here’s a preview to get …

Moonbird, Delaware Shore Bird that Inspired Phillip Hoose Book, Still Flies

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A rare shore bird, who Phillip Hoose profiled in his award-winning book Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with Great Survivor B95 (Farrar, 2012), was spotted flying over Delaware Bay this week, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports in its blog today.

SLJ’s Kid-Lit Guide to Manhattan | BEA 2013

Patience, or is it Fortitude? The two icons of the New York Public Library.
Photo by www.flickr.com/photos/zeldman

Looking for some places to hang out at during downtime at Book Expo America (BEA)? We’ve compiled some of our favorite spots in Gotham—literary and otherwise—all within a few miles of the Javits Convention Center. We’ve thrown in some recommendations for good eats along the way. So lace up some sneakers or make like a New Yorker and hail a cab.

Networking and the incoming class of 2017

Networking and the incoming class of 2017

The deposit checks are in the mail but the college buzz is buzzier than ever. Having survived the arduous college admissions process, our seniors are now taking full advantage of their opportunities to negotiate the social landcape of their newly selected school well before they land on campus in late August.   They are so much [...]

Jane Austen, Edtech, and the Promise of ‘Theatrics’

Jane Austen, Edtech, and the Promise of ‘Theatrics’

“A narrative experience like ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’ is compelling in part because of the great bones of Austen’s story and characters, for sure. But equally compelling is the story form, the opportunity for consumers to engage deeply with those characters…”

Abby M. O’Neill Gives $11 Million to Teachers College for Scholarships

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Teachers College, Columbia University, has received an $11 million commitment from longtime Trustee Abby M. O’Neill to establish a scholarship fund, beginning with an outright $1 million gift. The fund will be used to establish the Abby M. O’Neill Fellowship Program for outstanding individuals with a strong commitment to teaching.

It Takes Two: Up Close with Librarians Margaux DelGuidice and Rose Luna

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“[Our] library in Freeport is the heart of that community,” says 2013 Mover & Shaker Margaux DelGuidice, who shares duties with fellow honoree Rose Luna at the Freeport Memorial Library in Long Island, NY. These two powerhouses also hold full-time teacher librarian positions at two area high schools, and have devoted countless hours to professional advocacy. In our interview, they share their inspirations and passions, their best practices for constructive collaboration, and their goals for the future of libraries.

Librarians Speak Out: #lovemylibraryjob

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You posted. You tweeted. You “tumbled.” And we are grateful for it! For more than a week, our readers and staffers alike have been enjoying the feedback to our #lovemylibraryjob crowdsourcing project on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, which we launched in honor of our 2013 Job Satisfaction Survey. Here are some of our favorite comments.

Traditional Tunes Find Modern Formats | Touch and Go

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This week’s column takes a look at productions that incorporate music: an iPad app featuring a new setting for a classic counting tune, and iBooks that take children around the world as they drift off to asleep.

The Chocolate War: Read A Long Part 4

The Chocolate War: Read A Long Part 4

Now, the next part of my readalong of The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Previously: Chapters One to Ten. Chapters Eleven to Twenty. Chapters Twenty One to Thirty. Chapter Thirty One Jerry recognizes the bullies and is confronted by Janza. And, wait, really? “You live in the closet.” This is the big insult? “He wanted [...]

Fusenews:

Fusenews:

First off, I have to suspect that after this week my blogging stats will be fairly healthy.  First I wondered whither the 2013 middle grade black boys and then Sophie Blackall let me become the repository for some truly fantastic stories.  Doubling back to that question about diversity in 2013 middle grades, author Varian Johnson [...]