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To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Open Circle Program at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), a provider of evidence-based social and emotional learning for K–5 kids, has released its list of the top 25 children’s books that connect to kids’ social and emotional development . The chosen books cover a range of important skills, such as self-awareness, self-management, empathy, dealing with conflict, and problem-solving.
Popcorn Maker, a tool for enhancing and remixing Web video from Mozilla, gets the screencast treatment by Linda W. Braun, who says the free, browser-based application would help librarians, both school and public, curate the Web.
Beautiful Creatures is a story of star-crossed lovers with a supernatural edge and atmospheric Southern setting. The film adaptation of the first novel in Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s fan-favorite series (2009, Little, Brown) is fittingly scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day, 2013. Tempt teens who just can’t get enough of these Beautiful Creatures to keep reading by booktalking or displaying a selection of page-turning tales forged with mystical wonder and touched by true love. Encompassing copious coming-of-age themes and a variety of writing styles, these titles also make excellent choices for book discussion groups.
STONE, Tanya Lee. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers. 160p. appendix. bibliog. chron. notes. photos. reprods. Candlewick. Jan. 2013. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5117-6; ebook $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6405-3.
Gr 5 Up–A moving, thoughtful history of the United States military’s first black paratrooper unit. During World War II, African American soldiers were mostly relegated to service and security jobs, generally denied the same training and active-combat positions that were available to their white counterparts. [...]
Gerald McDermott, award-winning author and illustrator best known for his original take on folktales, died on December 26. He was 71.
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center has awarded Each Kindness, written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis, its Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book. The 2013 Zolotow committee also named Flabbersmashed About You, Me and Momma and Big John, and Sleep Like a Tiger as Honor Books. The awards will be presented on April 6, 2013.
Looking for a way to bring Martin Luther King Day to life? These resources are the perfect way to shed light on King, as well as the Civil Rights Movement as a whole.
Son. By Lois Lowry. 7 CDs. 8:11 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-449-01448-6. $47.
Gr 6 Up–Those frustrated over the ambiguous ending of Lowry’s The Giver (1993) will be thrilled with the conclusion (2012, both Houghton Mifflin) to the quartet. Listeners are brought full circle, returning to the fate of Gabriel, the little baby saved from “release” by Jonas. The story begins with Claire, who emerges from unconsciousness following a difficult birth to [...]
School Library Journal columnist Jeff Hastings test drives the new Web- and subscription-based ebook collection StarWalk Kids.
CHADDA, Sarwat. The Savage Fortress. 292p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-38516-9; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-46996-8. LC 2011046291
Gr 8 Up–On vacation in India with his aunt, uncle, and younger sister, pudgy Ash Mistry can’t wait to get back home to his video games and London friends. But when his uncle is offered a million pounds to assist mysterious Lord Savage with translations from an archaeological find, Ash becomes embroiled in an overwhelming and deadly real-life battle. He realizes [...]
Minneapolis’ Benilde-St. Margaret’s school library remains a vital educational space where students still research, investigate and—above all—learn, even after high school principal Sue Skinner donated or re-purposed nearly all the books in its print collection in 2011.
Who wouldn’t want to work with the two librarians on our cover? To me, their joyous, open faces welcome engagement. I want in on the action—in this case, the series of projects they pull off to bring more to the kids they each serve.
“Pathways to the Common Core” offers solutions and directions for teachers looking for a way to understand and implement the Common Core State Standards into their lesson plans.
At a recent New York Public Library panel on Ethics and Nonfiction, four popular juvenile nonfiction authors discussed the challenges of writing entertaining and enlightening works for kids while adhering to the facts.
BLACKWOOD, Sage. Jinx. 360p. HarperCollins/Harper. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-212990-1; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-212992-5.
Gr 4-8–“In the Urwald you grow up fast or not at all,” readers learn in the opening of this rich and fecund fantasy. Jinx is that staple of children’s literature: the scorned, ill-used orphan who proves to be so much more gifted and important than he ever imagined possible. He occupies a world that is simultaneously original and familiar, influenced by centuries of folklore, but newly [...]
The limitations of most Comics Creation software are actually strengths when it comes to learning about media and enhancing critical thinking skills…
“School libraries, I believe, will be the coming focal point for ebook licensing,” write Chris Harris. “We have strong relationships with our K–12 publishing partners, but now we must reach out to the trade houses. As the print market weakens, the time is right for schools to present a new business proposal.”
Henry Clay and the Struggle for the Union (Series). 3 DVDs. 20 min. ea. with tchr’s. guides online. Prod. by Witnessing History. Dist. by TMW Media. 2011, 2012 release. ISBN unavail. $69.95 ea. Includes: The Formation of the Union and Its Early Challenges; The Missouri Compromise of 1820 to the Tariff Compromise of 1833; The Compromise of 1850 to the Civil War.
Gr 6 Up–Henry Clay served in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate and worked to preserve the Union against the destructive forces [...]
Author Gary D. Schmidt interviews 2012 National Book Award–winner William Alexander.
The Dustbowl. 2 DVDs. 4 hrs. Prod. by The Dust Bowl Film Project. Dist. by PBS Dist. 2012. ISBN 978-1-608883-718-2. $24.99.
Gr 9 Up–Ken Burns, whose name is synonymous with the highest quality of documentary filmmaking, has turned his camera’s eye to the environmental and economic catastrophe that struck America’s heartland in the 1930s. After detailing the calamity’s prelude involving the easy credit available to farmers and the general lack of respect for the ecology of the land, the production methodically [...]
