With the exception of the National School Library Program of the Year Award, the deadline for AASL awards and grants is February 1, 2014. The National School Library Program of the Year Award deadline is January 1, 2014.

Applications now open include the Innovative Reading Grant ($2,500), sponsored by Capstone, which is designed to fund literacy projects for grades K-9, and the Intellectual Freedom Award, which grants $2,000 to the winner and $1,000 to the school library of the winner’s choice, sponsored by ProQuest, and given for upholding the principles of intellectual freedom as set forth by AASL and the American Library Association (ALA).

With the exception of the National School Library Program of the Year Award, the deadline for AASL awards and grants is February 1, 2014. The National School Library Program of the Year Award deadline is January 1, 2014. All applications will close at 4:30 p.m. CST on the day of the deadline.

This winter, I wrote about working with administrators (and becoming one) in “The Same Difference” (SLJ, Feb. 2013, p. 20–23). After a full year in my new role, I continue to reflect on the ways teacher librarians can better connect and work with building and district leaders. This theme will be part of the SLJ Leadership Summit in Austin, September 28–29. Call it convergence or detente, librarians and administrators will be engaged in some exciting conversations in the coming year. In preparation, here are two useful ways to think and work like an admin.

The pivot: an administrator’s view

I miss the relative simplicity of the library. While a library includes many moving parts, it is not always necessary to know how or why things work so long as they do work. Teacher librarians are often better connected to various school and district systems than classroom teachers, but their understanding may still be limited. They are likely to know which textbooks are used by different departments or grade levels and how to order them, and may have some responsibility for their management. But at the district level, a complex machinery of processes, policies, and departments must work together in order to ensure students and teachers get materials. Seeing things from that perspective can help improve library service and the library’s place in an institution.

The points

More moving parts. As an administrator, I have learned that almost nothing is simple, even in a well-aligned district such as ours. There are always more moving parts than meet the eye. Understanding those parts and what it takes to keep them moving has become essential to my work. Teacher librarians stand to benefit by developing similar institutional knowledge. By learning the complexity of their organizations, they can become better informed, connected, and placed to advocate for their programs. This learning can come from developing authentic relationships with administrators. And because principals often see things differently from administrators, teacher librarians should seek to develop relationships at both building and district levels, ideally with the curriculum and IT departments that often intersect with library programs.

It’s important not to start the relationship with an “ask.” Offer to sit on a committee or offer support of a building or district initiative. Build a trusting professional friendship over time. Eventually, you will better understand the complexity of your district, and your new administrative friends may gain a better knowledge of your library and program.

Leading as a team. Administrators rarely make decisions alone. Despite their job titles, few administrators act unilaterally, and the best rely on others to provide advice and guidance in forming policies and solutions. By contrast, as a teacher librarian, I made many—if not most—decisions with little input from others. Since few outsiders understand what happens in school libraries, many teacher librarians have more autonomy than principals. This opacity and insularity can be a problem. Connecting with other stakeholders adds valuable input, information, and ideas. Almost everything I did this year involved a team to help envision, plan, and implement projects and programs. Likewise, teacher librarians can benefit by forming teams with other stakeholders. While it will probably complicate and slow decision making, it will also expose their library programs to wider audiences.

Teacher librarians should also build professional learning communities with others in their districts and beyond. At the building level, consider forming a steering committee to better understand the needs of parents, teachers, and students. This can provide insight and inform decisions while building bridges with stakeholders.

Teacher librarians have much in common with administrators. Find ways to build relationships with them. Listen and learn how decisions are made. In doing so, you can better understand the complex machinery of educational organizations and what makes administrators tick.

Mark Ray (Mark.Ray@vansd.org), a former teacher librarian, is the director of instructional technology and library services for Vancouver (WA) Public Schools.

I developed a series of statistics-based math problems that I post each month at school and online. Unlike other schools where teachers feature a math problem of the week, my library has full ownership of this program—and the students clamor for it.

Now each month when I post our library statistics—such as how many books were checked out, how many books were overdue, which of the various genres were checked out, and so on—students also have a related Math Stats Challenge to look forward to, with questions tailored to each grade level. The word problems specifically reflect the kind of math each grade is learning at the time they are learning it, using the same language, types of numbers, and word problem formats they are studying.

For example, a Kindergarten math problem—probably one of the most fun for me to create because they often have pictorial representations—might look like this: Over the break, Mrs. Lambert read 10 books. She only liked 6 of them. How many books did Mrs. Lambert not like? Kindergarten students can draw a picture or use a manipulative to help them solve the problem.

A third-grade word problem might look like this: Mrs. Lambert is organizing some new books for a display. She has 12 shelves on her bookcase. She wants to have 9 picture books and 11 fiction books on each shelf. How many fiction books will she need altogether?

My first step in creating the program involved going to our fifth-grade math teacher for advice. She suggested I consult our district’s curriculum documents for each grade level in crafting my questions, which I used to model. I also double-check that my problems are consistent with what students are learning by running them by teachers in each grade level at our school. The teachers solve the problems and share with me different strategies students can use to tackle them.

To kick off the program, I asked our administration for one of the unloved bulletin boards in the cafeteria. I printed my world problems on a poster maker so that they’d be big enough for kids to see while eating lunch, and my library aide put up the posters for our inaugural display.

I also take photos of the problems and post them on my school library website, both on the main page and under the “programs” category, so that students can access the questions anywhere. Students can enter the challenge each month via forms that are available in the library, from teachers, and on our library site. I designed the forms to reflect the format of the worksheets students use in the classroom. Students can submit their entries directly to the library, where I have a designated shelf for them.

Some teachers have also created Library Math Stats Challenge stations in their classrooms where the kids can solve the problems; the teachers then return the problems to me at the end of the month. I don’t allow students to submit their entries online, however, since I need to see their work written out.

On the last day of each month, I pull all the entries, grade them, and record the student names into a Google Spreadsheet. Kids who solve the challenges receive a coupon worth an extra checkout in the library. My aide preps the coupons for students and puts them in their teachers’ boxes.

At the end of the year, I recognize students whose entries from five or more months were correct as “Math Stats Champions.” My “Ultimate Math Stats Champions” have solved every month’s problems correctly. I give out recognition of achievement certificates and, thanks to a generous donation from our local Jack in the Box restaurant, certificates for a free combo meal and shake.

A year in, my monthly Math Stats Challenge is a beloved aspect of our school. Not only does it make math part of the library, it fosters math skills among the dozens of students who dig in each month to solve the problems. Why? They’re fun.

There’s no pressure or requirement to do the problems, and maybe that’s part of the appeal. I love that I’m helping to boost math skills while also bringing kids into my library orbit. The program is a great way to connect the library with the math that’s happening in the classrooms. It cost next to nothing to create. Who knew that library stats and math could be so much fun?

Don Brown’s America Under Attack, published on the 10-year anniversary of September 11.

The link below is a PDF of SLJ‘s original news coverage about the fateful day that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked by terrorists, pulled from our archives. On that day, 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.

SLJ and LJ did not go completely unscathed. Many staff members watched from our offices on 17th Street in downtown NYC as the the Twin Towers fell. Touch and Go editor and school librarian Daryl Grabarek’s school is located two blocks from the World Trade Center. In the days following September 11, the children of SLJ staff living in the city continued to be affected as their schools—some in close proximity to Ground Zero—dealt with the aftermath of the attacks.

This year offered another impressive display of collaborative projects, demonstrated by the substantial increase in applications, as media specialists and educators looked for new ways to incorporate library resources into classroom learning and teach critical thinking skills,” says Marlene Woo-Lun, publisher of Library Media Connection. “We are excited to honor the efforts of all of the winners and participants this year.”

The TEAMS Award was created to recognize the critical collaboration between teachers and media specialists in promoting learning and increasing student achievement.

Nominations were evaluated based on:
• Demonstrated collaboration between media specialists and teachers during the school year
• Effective techniques that positively impact student learning and achievement
• Support received from school leadership
• Ability for others to replicate this best practice

“Twenty-first century skills such as information literacy and critical thinking are crucial to the success of today’s students both in the classroom and beyond,” says Nader Qaimari, senior vice president, sales and marketing for Gale. “The collaborative projects we’re honoring with this year’s TEAMS Award, clearly demonstrate and instill these important skills in students around North America.”

Each winning school receives $2,500 in cash, Gale products, a one-year subscription to Library Media Connection, and the Educator’s Professional Bookshelffrom Linworth Publishing/Libraries Unlimited. The winners will also be honored at a reception at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in Hartford, CT, in November.

The winning projects
At Draper Elementary School, media specialist Bronte Tatum teamed up with fourth-grade teacher Kirsten Reid to develop a research project on endangered animals that provided opportunities to collaborate with the art, physical education, and music departments. The students created a digital book, “We Are Endangered. Can You Help Us?”

At Constable Neil Bruce Middle School, teacher librarian Dayna Hart and seventh-grade social studies teacher Jenn Craig worked together on a project that asked students to create their own civilizations as they simultaneously learned about ancient civilizations in history.

At Branford High School, library media specialist Jessica Mularski and history teacher Jennifer Kordek collaborated on a project that asked students to create an interactive etextbook on the First World War. The textbook will be put on the iBooks market for other students and educators to enjoy.

Honorable mentions
In addition to the winners noted above, Gale and Library Media Connection also recognized several schools, awarding them Honorable Mentions, for their submissions:

• Sunnyland Elementary School in Bellingham, WA
• Myron J. Francis Elementary School in East Providence, RI
• Centennial Junior High School in Casper, WY
• Driscoll Middle School in San Antonio, TX
• Elkton High School in Elkton, MD
• Liverpool High School Annex in Liverpool, NY

A swarm of teen zombies invades Beloit (WI) Public Library for Library Card Sign-Up Month.

Beloit (WI) Public Library is celebrating September’s Library Card Sign-Up Month with a campaign that showcases staff members and patrons. Head of Adult Services Tina Kakuske helmed the project; Jeni Schomber, Matthew Ruddle, and Nicole Ballok helped brainstorm themes and design. The eight downloadable posters and bookmarks highlight the community’s needs and interests. Teen zombies and a Star Wars-baby make memorable appearances.

Even the youngest of patrons join in on the Library Card Sign-up fun. Photos by Tina Kakuske. Design by Martha Gammons.

Back to reading

Bouncing Back to School: Great Books for Easing First Day Jitters
By Joy Fleishhacker
From what to wear to following rules to making friends, these engaging picture books address common beginning-of-the-year concerns with solid storytelling, genuine empathy, and upbeat resolutions. The list includes titles both new and tried-and-true that will reassure youngsters that their apprehensions are shared by others.

Books to Enhance Class Trips and Learning Adventures | Focus On

By Joy Fleishhacker

A mix of fact-filled offerings and fictional adventures, these titles give kids a break from the routine and encourage interactive learning experiences.

Joyce Valenza’s tech picks

Fall decorating: a round-up of smart (and free) posters

Meaningful, inspiring, attractive visuals to fill our display cases, grace our bulletin boards, and embed on our websites—and where to find them.

Your back-to-school letter

Valenza shares Doug Johnson’s suggestions for writing the back-to-school letter

Orientation inspiration

With help from the #tlchat community, Valenza crowd-sourced suggestions for making library orientations inventive, different, and fun.

For more, visit our Back-to-School resources page.

Capstone distribution center employee with book shipment

The tornadoes decimated the city’s schools and completely destroyed its libraries. When Sharon Hagge, Capstone’s Distribution Center Coordinator, learned of the destruction in Moore, she knew her department would want to pitch in to help. They have been busy organizing the shipment, but the schools were only recently prepared to receive the large donation. “We know there’s a lot more work to be done, but we hope that Moore’s first school year after the storms is a happy and safe one,” Hagge said.

Each year Capstone donates more than $1 million in books worldwide, and will continue to help rebuild Moore’s libraries in particular with its “Buy a Book, Give a Book” promotion through its trade publishing program, Capstone Young Readers. The publisher donates one book to the Moore schools for every book purchased through its website. Consumers can simply use the Promo Code “MooreRelief” when placing an order online.

CHOLDENKO, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Homework. Dial. 2013. ISBN 9780803734722. JLG Level: C : Advanced Readers (Grades 6–9).

Moose Flanagan’s dad has been promoted to associate warden at Alcatraz, but inmates and colleagues have their own ideas about how to handle the new boss. A prisoner earns five points for spitting on a warden and 5,000 points for killing him. To make it worse, Guard Darby Trixle is angry about being overlooked for the promotion. Piper, whose father is the head warden, tells Moose to watch his dad’s back. However, his hands are already full keeping an eye on his autistic older sister, Natalie. When their apartment catches on fire, Natalie is blamed. It’s up to Moose and his friends to solve the mystery of the blaze, but the investigation puts them close to prisoners who want Warden Flanagan dead. When a butcher knife goes missing from the kitchen, not even Capone can control what follows. Choldenko’s conclusion to the trilogy will make readers laugh and hold their breath.

FFORDE, Jasper. The Song of the Quarkbeast. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2013. ISBN 9780547738482. JLG Level: FM : Fantasy/Science Fiction Middle (Grades 5–8).

As acting manager of Kazam, foundling Jennifer Strange must accept (and win) King Snodd IV’s challenge―a contest of wizards. Losing would endanger Zambini Towers and its inhabitants and compromise the use of magic throughout the kingdom. Enchanting a new bridge is no small task, and their best sorceress has just turned herself into stone. The power-hungry king (who would control all magic if his Court Mystician wins) puts competing wizards in prison, leaving Jennifer with few resources. As time runs out, the remaining few must work together to save the kingdom from evil plans far beyond the obvious. Full of surprises and intrigue, Fforde’s sequel to The Last Dragonslayer (Houghton Harcourt, 2012) keeps readers on the edge of their seats in the race to conquer evil.

HADDIX, Margaret Peterson. Risked. S & S. Sept. 2013. ISBN 9781416989844. JLG Level: C+ : Advanced Readers (Grades 6–9).

Once again, Jonah, Chip, and Katherine travel to the past―though this time against their will. A rogue missing child joins forces with their money-scheming enemies and takes them to Russia in 1918―the day before the royal family is assassinated. Two of the children were missing for years; however, recent discoveries prove that Alexis and Anastasia were killed with their siblings. If that is the case, can Jonah and his friends save them from being killed again? How will saving the entire family affect history? In the sixth book of the Missing series, Haddix explores one of the most fascinating mysteries of our past.

WHITE, Ruth. The Treasure of Way Down Deep. Farrar/Margaret Ferguson. 2013. ISBN 9780374380670. JLG Level: B+ : Upper Elementary & Junior High (Grades 5–7).

Life in Way Down Deep has always been a community affair―everyone attends all events (no formal invitations needed) and secrets are rare. When an evil wind blows into town in the fall of 1954, hardship hits local businesses and mine workers in the West Virginia town are laid off. Who would have thought that the death of a pet goat and a sleepwalking old lady would help reveal the one secret that everyone wants to know―the location of the treasure of Way Down Deep. It’s up to Ruby to save the town, while proving the town’s founder myth to be true. White’s sequel to Way Down Deep (Farrar, 2011) brings the return of the charming residents of the small country town, and a character one can’t help but love.

For audio/video versions of these booktalks, please visit JLG’s Shelf Life Blog.

Junior Library Guild is a collection development service that helps school and public libraries acquire the best new children’s and young adult books. Season after season, year after year, Junior Library Guild book selections go on to win awards, collect starred or favorable reviews, and earn industry honors. Visit us at www.JuniorLibraryGuild.com.

Credit WBFO News photos by Eileen Buckley

UB’s Center for Literacy and Reading Instruction (CLaRI) is a non-profit center that has served hundreds of children and families in Western New York for 50 years. There is no charge for the reading program. While the children benefit from the reading and writing instruction, this program also provides the grad students with intensive hands-on teaching time before they head off to the classroom for their practicum.

Do these kinds of programs exist for library school students focusing on early literacy and children’s services? If so, SLJTeen would love to hear about them. If not, what are you waiting for?

The union—the United Federation of Teachers (UFT)—and the New York Library Association (NYLA) both say they strongly oppose the DOE’s  variance request, which, if the state approved it, would allow NYC schools “to provide equivalent library services to students at secondary schools in alternative ways,” according to a copy of the request obtained by School Library Journal.

“’Equivalent library services’ is really slippery. It’s the most dangerous action a district could take,” says librarian Sara Kelly Johns, NYLA’s president-elect. ”It is not equitable,” she tells SLJ. “We can’t set aside the requirements for school librarians. Not as policy.”

Tom Dunn, director of communications for NYSED, confirms that the state received the DOE’s request, but says the state would not comment until it had prepared its response to the city.

Rumors in recent weeks that the DOE’s request might be forthcoming have spurred NYC library advocates to rally around this issue, according to Alison Gendar, a media rep for UFT. Gendar shared with SLJ a weekly bulletin to city principals, dated mid-June, in which Richard Hasenyager, the city DOE’s director of library services, asked principals to provide information that would help the city department put together its waiver/variance request to the state.

The DOE’s request to NYSED. (Image links to PDF of full document.)

Hasenyager declined to speak to SLJ  for this article, but Gendar notes that the UFT, upon seeing the principals’ bulletin, was initially “surprised that the DOE would seek to institutionalize” its chronic librarian understaffing rather than attempt to strategize solutions to the situation.

The UFT has been waiting for months for a response from State Commissioner Dr. John King on the second of its petitions, which it filed late last year in hopes that the state would be able to enforce the city’s compliance with Commissioner’s Regulation 91.2. The rule stipulates that all NYC secondary schools must employ at least a part-time certified school library media specialist, and schools with more than 700 students must employ a full-time media specialist. According to the UFT, city officials admit that more than half of the city’s secondary schools are in violation of this mandate.

One of the biggest challenges in enforcing Regulation 91.2, Gendar says, is that the Commissioner typically issues his decision after the end of the school year, making it moot. This time around, however, “we are considering our legal options to make the Commissioner rule in time for it to be meaningful,” Gendar says. “We have to wait for the state to come back with some kind of decision and then…that will clear the roadway for going to the (state) Supreme Court with this.”

In the meantime, NYLA is joining forces with other advocacy groups—including Urban Librarians Unite (ULU), the Alliance for a Quality Education (AQE), and Make the Road New York—in endorsing a planned local rally for parents and community members tomorrow, August 21, at 10 a.m. The event, organized by New Yorkers for Great Public Schools, will be a parental “Read In” on the steps of NYC’s Department of Education headquarters. In addition, NYLA has prepared its own opposition statement [PDF] addressed directly to Commissioner King, while Christian Zabriskie, ULU founder—and 2012 Library Journal  Mover & Shaker—has created a MoveOn.org petition for the cause, also addressed to Dr. King. And AQE has created its own petition to drum up more opposition among local advocates.

On the national level, the American Association of School Librarians, the American Library Association’s school library division, is standing by to offer support, according to its president, Gail Dickinson. Dickinson adds that she wonders how NYC teachers will meet the new Common Core State Standards without librarians. “[It] will be extremely difficult,” she tells SLJ. “Because of technology, we can take students to higher levels of digitally literacy than we ever could before, and they can search out so much more information, but along with that, the need for them to be able to filter that information—make judgments about that information—to create new knowledge is astounding.”

She adds, “Without school librarians, I worry about the digital divide between those students who arrive at college having had a school librarian who [taught] them the skills that they need, and those college freshman who have not had access to those skills. I suspect we’ll see them floundering.”

NYLA’s Sara Kelly Johns agrees. In NYC, she notes, “there’s not equitable access to librarians who can provide high quality research working collaboratively with teachers to meet the resource and instructional needs of students. [There’s] not an equitable approach to developing college and career ready students in every school. Students know how to search but not to research. It’s just not fair. NYC students deserve and need a certified librarian in every school. NYC has work to do.”

The importance of advocacy is evident to us during a crisis. When our libraries are threatened or our staff faces cuts, then we leap into motion. But we should be mindful of advocacy every day. With social media tools, we can plan and effectively communicate our messages creatively and consistently throughout the year.

Before school begins this fall, take time to craft a strategy for how you will talk about your library projects through social media. Especially if you are a solo librarian, making a calendar can help keep you on track.

Getting started

In the past, I’ve tended to be rather organic in my approach to social media. This year, I will be more organized. I’m crafting my yearlong social media advocacy plan now by adding a set of dated activities for marketing and communicating what the library does for the school. I know I will get the message out to the administration, my community, and students if I have scheduled myself to do it.

First, find a calendar tool for your plan. Google Calendar is my choice, because you can set it up to send you a daily or weekly agenda as well as hourly calendar alerts. Events can be set daily, weekly, or monthly. Next, decide what social media tools to use and to whom your messages will be directed. Ask yourself: How do I want to impact students? Parents? Administrators? In what way can I best communicate with each group, and what do I want to say?

Students may prefer Twitter, while parents may connect with Facebook. Some principals prefer looking at data; others, like a former principal of mine, like video.

You also need to figure out quantity of outreach. What times of year, and how often, should you contact each group? Should you ping students weekly or daily? Do monthly messages work well for parents? For administrators, are quarterly communications best? Perhaps you are a frequent tweeter, and don’t need to schedule this. One librarian I know implements effective “Twitter Tuesdays.”

Target your social networking efforts to the time of year: . There are many opportunities both to plan activities inside the library and to talk about them outside the library. Sync your social media calendar to these events.

Assessing your efforts

At the end of each month, assess whether you have met your goals. If not, don’t criticize yourself. Evaluate whether your goals are too ambitious, or what you can do to better meet them. The idea is to be more purposeful in our advocacy and to use social media to help us get the word out. Sharing what we do and inviting the larger community into our work is always valuable, not only for advocacy, but also for fostering a sense of community.

Carolyn Foote is a “technolibrarian” at Westlake High School in Austin, TX. She blogs at Not So Distant Future.

“There are very few people who make such an impact on an industry or profession the way Trev has in her tenure as the editor of the SLJ Book Review,” says publisher Ian Singer. “In her 31 years overseeing this process, she has helped to define great children’s literature. It is because of Trev’s expertise that an SLJ ‘Star’ remains one of the most coveted endorsements in book publishing. While her contribution is immeasurable, we looked back over her time at SLJ and estimate that Trev has presided over more than 120,000 reviews. I have the privilege of being the first to thank her on behalf of SLJ and all of the teachers, librarians, publishers—and most importantly, the children she has influenced, over what by all accounts is an amazing career.”

In her role, Jones has set high standards for SLJ’s reviews, she says, stressing reliability, fairness, and respect for subscribers, reviewers, and the creators of the materials reviewed. “My greatest concern has always been to maintain quality in collection building, highlighting the best books for todays’ children and teens,” says Jones.

Jones increased the number of reviews from 2000 in 1982 to almost 6000 per year, covering the broad and ever-changing landscapes of children’s and young adult publishing. She instituted Series Made Simple, a supplement covering nonfiction series titles; introduced the monthly “Focus On” print feature, highlighting fiction and nonfiction by subject; the “Adult Books 4 Teens” column and blog; and more.

In 1988, with then SLJ Editor-in-Chief Lillian Gerhardt and in partnership with the American Library Association division now known as YALSA, she launched the Margaret A. Edwards award, which SLJ continues to sponsor. Jones has served on the 1979 Newbery/Caldecott Committee and chaired the 1986 Newbery Committee. In addition, she has chaired the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Legislation Committee, the ALSC Membership Committee, the Distinguished Service Award committee, and served three years on the ALSC Board of Directors.

“It has been an interesting and inspiring 30-plus years, filled with thousands of books,” says Jones. “Over the years, I am most proud of brilliant hiring, including David Gale, Luann Toth, Daryl Grabarek, Joy Fleishhacker, Marlene Charnizon, and the rest of our super staff. I couldn’t be more delighted with my successor, who brings knowledge, great ideas, and a terrific book sense to SLJ. I know that it is in good hands.”

Parrott to head SLJ Reviews
Kiera Parrott (right) has been head of children’s services at Darien Library since 2011, managing a team of children’s librarians at what is widely regarded as one of the most innovative public libraries in the country. Prior to heading the department, Parrott served as Darien’s children’s librarian/collection development coordinator, helping to reorganize the picture books into the First Five Years Collection and creating “Dewey Lite,” a DDC-alternative classification system for children’s nonfiction. She began her public library career at the New York Public Library where she worked at the Jefferson Market branch and became known for organizing celebrations based on children’s books. She received her MLIS from Queens College and is an active member of ALSC, recently serving as a member of the 2013 Caldecott Committee.

“Rooted in materials and public service, Kiera is also at the cutting edge of children’s services and the transition to digital content,” says Rebecca T. Miller, editorial director of SLJ and Library Journal. “Her experience and savvy leadership from the front lines of our libraries will help SLJ better serve our readers where materials and services meet. She describes herself as an advocate for patron-centered libraries in which collections, programs, and services directly reflect and serve the needs of the users. I’ve seen this in her work at Darien and look forward to seeing it applied to our work together at SLJ.”

At Darien, for instance, Parrott initiated and developed an Early Literacy iPad Kits program and recently launched the T.E.A. Room, a mini-makerspace and STEAM-based programming initiative for kids ages 7–12, and for several years has hosted Darien’s KidLibCamp, an annual unconference for youth services librarians. She has worked closely with the school media specialists in Darien, prioritizing this key relationship by collaborating on special projects and staff trainings with local school librarians.

“I cannot imagine a more exciting path—going from Darien Library to SLJ. Over the last five years, I have worked alongside some of the best and brightest minds in the library world where success was achieved by not only a clear vision but also a culture of collaboration and shared goals. I hope to bring that energy and leadership to this new position,” says Parrott.

“SLJ’s reviews occupy a trusted and powerful place at the helm of children’s content evaluation. The work we do now will uphold SLJ as the premier source for reviews while embracing the changing collection development and reader’s advisory needs of children’s and school librarians. I am honored and humbled to be stepping into Trev’s venerable shoes. I look forward to learning from her example and working closely with this stellar team.”

Upon her retirement, Jones will continue to contribute to SLJ reviews as editor-at-large. Parrott (@libraryvoice on Twitter) starts at SLJ October 28.

Wow!  School is starting soon and the lazy-crazy days of summer are drawing to a close! My guess is we all had a season jam-packed with travel, family, learning, reading, recreation, mountain climbing, rebuilding, and (I hope) relaxing.

No matter what you did, as you return to school, you’re bound to hear that traditional phrase, “What did you do on your summer vacation?” Just like you, many of our kids have had some remarkable experiences this summer. Some have taken advantage of leadership opportunities, internships, travel and exploration, team events, books and literature, movies, and concerts. They’ve learned rules, refined lessons, conquered challenges, and oh, did I mention, read a few books?

Our students’ experiences demonstrate their knowledge and diversity, and it’s worth sharing. Get your “tech on” and you’ll learn that students’ ability to share this information using 21st-century skills is incredible.

Here are the top 10 ways to kick off the school year that will allow your students to share the richness of their summer experiences.  These activities just might help teachers and classmates to better know, understand, and appreciate each other.

1) Use Instagram to create a collage of pictures with daily prizes. You might want to suggest themes such as:

○     Sports, books, travels, jobs, concerts, pets, family, friends, etc.

○     Use a free collage app for your phone or tablet like Framatic,  Instaframe, or Instacollage.

○     Post collages on your library web page or blog, display them in the library and online.

2) Start a contest where students vie for the most ‘Pinterest-ing’ summer.

○     Use Pinterest to post movies watched, food eaten, places traveled, books read, concerts attended, lessons learned, sports played, etc.

○     Award cheesy prizes to the best pages like this one.

3) Have a video contest using Vine or Instagram Video (or similar video tool) to create persuasive short videos about why their summer was the “awesome-ist.”

○     Announce rules, select top-notch judges, and advertise prizes.

4) Post a “back-to-school” survey you create using Google Forms. Then compile the answers with hyperlinks and post on your website.

5) Use Socrative to help select a slogan or theme to encompass students’ summer experiences.

○     Set up Socrative’s short answer form so students can submit slogans and/or themes.

○     After several slogans have been submitted, initiate the voting feature and have students vote for the best slogan/theme.

6) Start a Twitter hashtag contest:

○     Solicit tweets to a common hashtag on twitter such as #mascotvacation

○     Have a daily theme for tweets such as best books read, hottest/coldest place traveled, highest elevation, farthest traveled, concerts attended, sports played, etc.

○     Display tweets and give daily cheesy prizes.

7) Have a summer photo contest:

○     Have students submit online and use Thinglink to provide links or videos to explain what it is about the photo or experience that stood out for them.

8) Have an essay contest using a theme such as something new tried, class taken, skill learned or job completed in 150 words or less. You can simply use GoogleDocs, or a site like Stage of Life, which features a free blogging community for teens.

9) Have students anonymously submit their best summer memory and make a game of trying to match the experience to the student.

10) Use Aurasma to showcase things that inspired your students over the summer.

You might be surprised how sharing these experiences can enhance your relationships with your students in the coming year. But what may really surprise you is how this may strengthen their relationships with each other. I think you’ll find that the combination of experiences your staff and students have accumulated over the past few weeks will astound you.

“The magical wizard Harry Potter (the “older” end of the generation): These “first wave Millennials” (today’s 20-somethings) came of age in the economic boom of the 1990s/2000s, a time infused with the spirit of “Yes We Can” and the belief that college, working hard, and playing by the rules would guarantee future success. Raised by idealistic Boomer parents, they were told they were special and gifted, with a magic wand capable of changing the world. They were shaped by a context of seemingly limitless possibilities.

The Hunger Game’s trailblazing survivalist Katniss Everdeen (the younger end of the generation, peeking into Gen Z): This second wave of Millennials, today’s tweens and teens, have known a very different youth. They came of age in an economic downturn, seeing college grads struggling with huge student loan debt and living through “a cascade of social media-amplified tragedies like Hurricane Sandy and Sandy Hook. For them, life has always been a 24/7 social media show.”

According to MTV, the younger Millennials have high expectations for themselves, want to have clear goals and plans for the future, and are likely to engage in DIY learning. So what does this mean to teen services librarians? Possible library programming for the “Katniss” group could include SAT prep for tweens, financial planning, and “share an expert” presentations. And because “57% like to take a break from technology to make things with their hands,” consider cooking, woodworking, sewing, or pottery classes to share with teens.

Ig Publishing has announced the launch of a new imprint, Lizzie Skurnick Books, committed to bringing back into print the best in young adult literature. The list will run the gamut from 1930s and 1940s classics to thrillers and novels dealing with social issues from the 1970s and 1980s. The launch is scheduled for September 2013 with Lois Duncan’s 1958 debut novel, Debutante Hill. Among the other titles scheduled for fall publication are To All My Fans with Love, from Sylvie by Ellen Conford, Me and Fat Glenda by Lila Perl, and M.E. Kerr’s I’ll Love You When You’re More Like Me, among others. Among the titles scheduled for spring 2014 publication are Domestic Arrangements by Norma Kleinm, Written in the Stars by Lois Duncan, and Sydney Taylor’s All of a Kind Family.

Lizzie Skurnick is the author of Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading (Morrow, 2009) and a columnist for the New York Times Magazine, among a host of other accomplishments.

Picture Book Award

The shortlist for the PEN/Stephen Kroll Award for Picture Book Writing has been announced by PEN American Center, “the largest branch of the world’s leading literary and human rights organization.” The finalists include: Snakes (Scholastic, 2012) written and illustrated by Nic Bishop; Oh, No! (Random, 2012) written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Andrea Castellani; I Lay My Stitches Down (Eerdmans, 2011) written by Cynthia Grady and illustrated by Michele Wood; Those Rebels, John & Tom (Scholastic, 2012) written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham; and The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (Eerdmans, 2012) written by Michelle Markel and illustrated by Amanda Hall.

The winner, chosen by a panel of three judges selected by PEN’s Children’s Young Adult Book Authors Committee, and Kathleen Kroll, the author’s widow, will be announced later this summer and will be honored at the 2013 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on October 21, 2013 at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.

The award, established in memory of children’s book author Stephen Kroll who passed away in 2011, acknowledges the literary contributions of picture book writers.

Children’s Lit Award

Laurie Halse Anderson is the winner of the 2013 Empire State Award for Excellence in Literature for Young People. Given annually by the Youth Services Section of the New York Library Association, the award acknowledges a body of work by a living author or illustrator residing in the state. Anderson is the author of numerous picture books, such as The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School (2009) and Independent Dames, (2008, both S & S), but she is best known for her young adult novels, such as Speak (Farrar, 1999) and Chains (S & S, 2008). The award will be given to Anderson on September 27, 2013 at a luncheon during NYLA’s annual conference in Niagara Falls, NY.

The award was first given in 1990, and past winners include Maurice Sendak, Jerry Pinkney, Linda Sue Park, and Bruce Coville among others.

Do You Love Your Librarian?

The American Library Association (ALA) has announced that nominations are open for the 2013 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. Library users are asked to nominate librarians in public, school, college, community college, and university libraries “for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community. Nominations are being accepted online through September 6, 2013. Up to 10 librarians will be selected, an each winner will receive a $5,000 award.

Nominees must be librarians with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Reward a Classroom

Parents can help teachers purchase supplies for their classroom. Teachers must be enrolled in Staples Teacher Rewards and parents must sign up for Staples Rewards® to join Reward A Classroom. Log in on the company website, and when parents shop at Staples, they earn 2% back in rewards for everything they purchase as well as 5% back on each Copy & Print purchase. Teachers can earn up to $50 from each parent. Parents can link to the teacher’s Rewards account and when they make purchases, rewards will accrue to the teacher of their choice.

Obituaries

Anna Held Audette, teacher and artist, died on June 9, 2013 after a long illness. She provided the illustrations and photographs for Click, Rumble Roar: Poems about Machines (HarperCollins, 1987)), edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, and her photographs were published in A Song in Stone: City Poems (Crowell, 1983) by Hopkins. Her photography appears in many museum collections

Madeleine Comora, coauthor of the multi-award-winning picture book George Washington’s Teeth (Farrar, 2003) and Rembrandt & Titus: Artist & Son (Fulcrum, 2005) died on July 3, 2013 at the age of 50. Comora was an author and poet whose work has appeared in many anthologies. She held a degree in fine art from the Otis Art Institute and studied with the children’s poet, Myra Cohn Livingston.

The Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris is part of a modern complex of four office towers.

Depaire first arranged for me a visit and tour of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a modern complex consisting of four office towers that is in stark contrast with most of Paris, and there I met with Annick Lorant-Jolly, chief editor of the Revue des livres pour enfants, and Nathalie Beau, who is in charge of France’s international affairs regarding children books.

I learned that the business of children’s books is relatively young in France, with beloved French iconic characters created in America, such as Madeline, still barely known to French children. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1970s that children’s books began to come into their own in the country, with public libraries creating the first children’s sections. Beau herself was responsible for the first children’s library in Strasbourg (the capital of the Alsace region in eastern France, and seat of the European Parliament).

Annick Lorant-Jolly, director of the National Center for Children’s Literature, and Nathalie Beau, who is in charge of France’s international affairs regarding children books.

At the moment, over half of the children and young adult titles in France are translations from other countries, with the United States well represented. Any American librarian would feel comfortable browsing bookstores and libraries and seeing such familiar covers and titles such as Jules Feiffer’s  Aboie Georges! (Bark George! HarperCollins, 1999), John Green’s Nos Etoiles Contraires (Fault in Our Stars; Dutton, 2012), or Siobhan Vivian’s La Liste (The List; Push, 2012).

America has its share of “rock star” authors and illustrators such as Brian Selznick, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Mo Willems but I was surprised to learn that it is not the case in France.“There is something strange between childhood and adulthood,” Annick Lorant-Jolly told me. In France and other Mediterranean cultures, “childhood isn’t cherished in the same way” as in America, she said.

A display of children’s reading materials in one of France’s public library branches.

But that is changing with Le Genevrier, a publisher who is bringing the Caldecott Medal and Honor books to the French public for the first time. In what is called Caldecott Collection, it plans to publish many titles with a few notable changes. Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal (Viking, 1948) will be Blueberries for Lily, while the title of Lynn Ward’s The Biggest Bear (Houghton, 1952) has been changed to The Bear Who Loved the Maple Sugar.

Both Beau and Lorant-Jolly also shared several French authors and illustrators that are popular, some of which are available in English translations. Benjamin Chaud, an illustrator for young children, has with Ramona Badescu the “Pomelo” series, which is available in English from Enchanted Lion Books. Audrey Poussier is another popular illustrator whose titles are published in France by l’ecole des loisirs, who is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a publisher of children’s books.

A collection of French children’s books.

One of the most popular French children’s books of recent time is Chien Bleu (l’ecole des loisirs, 1989) by Nadja. Unfortunately, this magical tale—about a mysterious big, blue dog and the girl who befriends him—is difficult to find in English.

Graphic novels for all ages are abound in France and thanks to Toon Books, the popular Claude Ponti is available to American audiences with Chick and Chickie Play All Day! Many in the US are familiar with the illustrator, Olivier Tallec. He has created art for more than 50 books for children, including Waterloo and Trafalgar (Enchanted Lion Books) and the well-known “Rita and Whatsit” series (Chronicle Books). In 2010, Big Wolf & Little Wolf was chosen as a Batchelder Honor Book. Also known to American audiences is Popville (Roaring Brook, 2010) by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud, a clever pop-up book that shows urban expansion. It was chosen a Best Book by Bank Street College in 2011.

Bookstores, as well as libraries, throughout France are typically abuzz with activity.

One of the most popular children’s book authors for middle grades in France was born in Newark, NJ. Susie Morgenstern has written more than 70 books, and has been award the Mildred Batcheldor Award for literature first published in a language other than English for Sweet Letters from 0 to 10 (Viking 1998) and for Joker (l’ecole des loisirs, 1999).

As in the United States, books for teens tackle serious subjects like self-discovery, deportation, and separation.  Florence Aubry is one such author whose books have touched upon road rage, alcoholism, and unbridled sexuality. I was shown Le garcon talisman (Rouergue, 2012), a novel about an albino boy in Tanzania who is hunted because albino bodies are prized; in the book, it is believed their hair or a piece of their flesh can achieve incredible power.

Notably, school libraries in France are mandated only on the secondary level, yet there is much collaboration with the public libraries on all levels. It was interesting to see that in many towns in France, the public library is house in historic buildings. Many of these buildings are older than the United States! Both bookstores and libraries were buzzing with activity that proved that an old French reading campaign still holds true, “Happiness Through Books.”

For a slideshow of the entire trip, click the photo below:

On July 10, staff from Saint Paul Public Library will visit summer school locations serving 10,000 incoming 9th graders to provide information on obtaining a library card and distribute card vouchers, which will be tracked in order to assess the Wild Cards! program. Staff will also do a mini-orientation on using the library, and provide library resource updates to students in other grades. Some 9th graders will even be given Nook e-readers preloaded with apps that will allow them to access library materials.