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Many popular fanfiction stories are based on books that can be found in school libraries: The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, and, of course, Harry Potter. For most fanfiction authors, though, that’s where the connection between fanfiction and school ends: they’ve never been asked by a teacher or librarian about their out-of-school writing.
School’s out—and time to enjoy some serious lounging. Summer is also a time to consider your Web presence. If your website could use an upgrade, consider these tools to give it a boost for back-to-school—and save you time this fall.
Do young fanfiction authors seek the kind of feedback that educators would find “useful” in K-12 settings, and are fanfiction communities really the nurturing environments of peer-critique that some make them out to be?
“We can look at cosplay as a medium that assists other media, anime and manga, by targeting a certain audience segment related to fandom.”
Chair of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee Pat Scales tackles censorship questions about The Hunger Games, grammar in “Junie B. Jones” series, and why reporting materials challenges to the ALA OIF is so important.
Add this to your “must read” pile: Disability in Kidlit. I should have blogged about this sooner, but I was preparing for ALA and time got away from me. (Note: that will be my excuse for the next few months, OK?) From the Disability in Kidlit website: “Throughout July 2013, this blog will feature posts [...]
The reason such overt silliness is nonetheless so effective is that we all connect with the fantasy of controlling a creature much, much larger than we could ever hope to be.
SLJ’s art director, Mark Tuchman, shares the story and process behind the creation of our July cover art—which featured the iconic Big Bird character from Sesame Workshop illustrator Louis Henry Mitchell—from conception to final design.
Emily Gover and Caity Selleck, information literacy librarians and content developers for EasyBib and its new platform, ResearchReady, posit that libraries should stay open later hours in order to serve students’ research needs.
Are there lessons to be learned from those perennial state assignments? On a road trip, Marc Aronson reconsiders his position.
Here Richard Byrne covers sound and video applications that enable students to blog—without writing, from SoundCloud and Animoto to a new audio slideshow tool called Narrable.
Here is some feedback in response to Rebecca T. Miller’s editorial, “It’s Time to Step Up” (June 2013, p. 11) about the need for the American Library Association (ALA) to become actively engaged in advocating for school librarians and provide administrators with solid data on their value to our children’s success.
Discovery of ebooks in K-12, particularly worthwhile fiction, has been tough going. A new site, Here Be Fiction, will attempt to remedy that, enabling users to identify quality ebooks accessible to schools on library-friendly licensing terms. Featuring ebook previews and reviews, HereBeFiction.org will enable librarians and others to discover fiction from a wide variety of publishers made available for both individual and multi-user access.
Check out School Library Journal’s reader responses to Keith Curry Lance and Debra E. Kachel’s “Librarian Required” article, tweets from SLJ’s first Public Library Think Tank, and highlights from the #lovemylibraryjob social media campaign.
The author argues that nonfiction remains marginal–so marginal that neither ALSC nor YALSA seems to notice their bias. The question is, why?
The Common Core State Standards place strong emphasis on vocabulary, and librarians are in a prime position to actively support this shift. This month’s “On Common Core” column shares how, including selecting read-alouds with robust language, helping students find engaging (and challenging) nonfiction books that match their interests, carefully choosing titles for reading lists, and initiating independent reading incentives.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation—and these recently published books highlight the remarkable true stories of courageous Americans during this period of history.
With the demise of print textbooks and the rise of digital learning resources, the digital shift is certainly underway. There are many ways that teacher librarians can inform and assist school districts making the transition. They have the skills and knowledge necessary to help administrators create guidelines and systems that will guarantee a successful change.
A teen asks, “Why should we care about history, anyway? It’s over.” Marc Aronson replies.
When it comes to presenting resources to students and teachers, librarians have been as guilty as any regarding information overload. But in this digital age of abundance, our real value is being able to discern quality over quantity.
