A few months ago, Marie D’Onofrio, one of the school librarians I work with, told me she was going to buy some fiction ebooks. D’Onofrio, who works at Livonia (NY) High School, purchased four ebooks from Lerner’s Carolrhoda imprint. She wasn’t familiar with the titles, but took a chance anyway.

The students loved the books. That wasn’t surprising, since Carolrhoda has been producing award-winning books for more than 30 years. Still, for D’Onofrio, as for so many other school librarians, exploring fiction ebooks was a voyage into the unknown.

Why? Because the status of digital fiction in school libraries is still relatively undefined, compared with nonfiction, whose traction in schools is pretty established by now. Public libraries’ evolution toward incorporating fiction ebooks has received a lot of attention, but schools are still catching up.

Right now, K–12 offerings in fiction ebooks are largely restricted to titles from the big trade publishers offered on services such as OverDrive or packages of pre-selected titles like TumbleBooks. Our knowledge of authors and ebook titles from other fiction publishers is still foggy.

This summer, the haze will lift with the introduction of a new program called “Here Be Fiction” (HereBeFiction.org). The endeavor is a collaboration between my system, the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, Mackin, and School Library Journal.

This is how it works. School librarians who use Here Be Fiction will be able to identify quality ebooks available from a wide variety of publishers such as Lerner, Charlesbridge, August House, and more. Users can browse ebook previews and reviews posted at HereBeFiction.org, enabling them to discover fiction from established sources. The site also offers school library-friendly licensing terms, with titles readily available for licensing by school libraries for both individual and multi-user access.

During the project’s first active phase, from July 15 to September 15, selected school librarians around the country will have free access during their summer vacations to read and review ebook fiction from participating publishers, using the secure Mackin VIA platform. Looking ahead, Here Be Fiction will again allow teachers to sample books for free during future school vacation times—and active reading phases—in the winter and spring.

Throughout the year, the website will be available to everyone, with open access to lists of titles, short previews, and reviews, all of which will help librarians and teachers find and select new content. Here Be Fiction will also feature author biographies, publisher overviews, and editorial content focusing on ways to use ebooks in classrooms and school libraries.

Active site visitors will find it easy to highlight and share books they discover via Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. They will also be able to create wish lists of featured books that can then be downloaded or sent directly to Mackin for a price quote.

The need for a program like Here Be Fiction has become more urgent this past year, as school librarians have faced increasing pressure to deliver ebook fiction for both student-selected reading and teacher-directed class use.

To meet school librarians’ unique needs, participating publishers must agree to three requirements:

1) They must provide either multi-user or individual access plans, with a discount for licensing multiple simultaneous readers. This way, ebooks can be used for class novels, book clubs, reading groups, and other group purposes.

2) Publishers must make ebooks available for offline access through a secure platform like Mackin VIA or a download with appropriate security. This enables the participation of students and schools with limited WiFi access.

3) They must, when possible, enable the use of text-to-speech functionality through the reading platform to support struggling readers or those with special needs.

The site launches this summer in limited beta format. Access will be made available to additional school librarian reviewers as quickly as possible.

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Be among the first to see and hear firsthand what Lerner has coming for readers this fall!

Visit with Lerner Publishing Group’s editors as they unveil the new fantastic new books they’ll be publishing in Fall 2013.

Get the inside scoop and sneak peek  at Lerner’s new series, nonfiction titles, middle grade and YA fiction, graphic novels, and picture books for grades K-12 coming this January. Plus, learn about new digital offerings, as well as supports for Common Core State Standards, and free teaching guides, reader’s discussion guides, classroom activities, and websites that make lesson planning easy.

Presenters:

Patricia Stockland- Editor-in-Chief and Director, Lerner Publications
Andrew Karre- Editorial Director, Carolrhoda and Darby Creek
Carol Hinz- Editorial Director, Millbrook Press
Domenica DiPiazza- Editorial Director, Twenty-First Century Books
Terri Soutor-Vice-President Marketing & Digital Products, Lerner Publishing Group

Moderator:
Dodie Ownes- Editor, SLJ Teen

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Illustration by Mark Tuchman

School Library Journal’s fifth annual Battle of the Kids’ Books (BOB), our online elimination contest between 16 of 2012’s best children’s and teens’ fiction and nonfiction books, has crowned a winner: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s No Crystal Stair (Lerner/Carolrhoda). The final match was decided on April 1 by last year’s victor and the 2013 Big Kahuna, Frank Cottrell Boyce.

In her biographical documentary novel about Lewis Michaux, Nelson “recounts her great-uncle’s enterprising and unflinching efforts to enrich and empower fellow African Americans” with the establishment of the African National Memorial Bookstore in Harlem. It has already garnered several accolades, including the Coretta Scott King Book Honor, the Horn Book-Boston Globe Award, and SLJ Best Book.

“Watching from the sidelines was exciting, enlightening, and nerve-racking. My fingernails couldn’t have taken much more, so I’m glad the battle is over and thrilled, obviously, with the outcome,” Nelson tells SLJ, noting that she anxiously kept track of the exciting results as each match brought her title closer to the finish line. “Hooray! What an honor to have been amidst the 15 other wonderful contenders. All of the judges—Paul Griffin, James Patterson, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, and Frank Cottrell Boyce—in their commentaries, gave me thoughtful new ways of seeing Lewis, his journey, and his contribution.”

And it’s not just the authors who closely tracked the results; publishers got in on the action, too, including Nelson’s editor Andrew Karre, editorial director of Carolrhoda Books. Karre says he believes Lewis Michaux would’ve been tickled by the BOB tournament results. “The idea of books struggling to beat all odds would’ve made so much sense to him,” he tells SLJ. “We’re really proud to have helped bring this book to fruition.”

Penguin Young Readers Battle of the Kids’ Books Trophy

At Penguin Young Readers, a trophy of goodies awaited the person who correctly guessed the most accurate outcomes in this year’s BOB. In a tradition that began four years ago (at the time, among only four editorial assistants), this year, 20 staffers pooled together bags of candy to be part of the publisher’s in-house BOB competition. Then Dutton editorial assistant Andrew Harwell (now an editor at HarperCollins) and Dial assistant editor Heather Alexander created the papier-mâché trophy and helped orchestrate the complicated Harry Potter-like point system.

As one of this year’s organizers, assistant editor Claire Evans, explains, “Each person prints off the bracket from the SLJ website and fills it out (including their Undead Poll pick). Each day the score keeper will update the scores and send them along to our commentator who will send out a mass email summarizing the verdict, the scores, and anything else that piques his interest. First round picks are worth two points, second round picks are worth four points, and third round picks are worth eight points. If you guess the ‘Back from the Dead’ book correctly, you get 12 points (like Harry Potter’s snitch), and getting the overall winner right is worth 16 points.”

Schools and libraries across the country also participated in the “March Madness”-style competition. In Texas, district library director Donna Cook incorporated BOB into Pollok’s Central High School programming. “It was a lot of work, but I’ve been astonished this week with all the chatter around the school about those books. I ended with 137 kids making at least one prediction and most making five or more,” she tells SLJ. “In the first weeks I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever do this again.’ Now I’m thinking ‘I have to do this again.’”

Most of the Penguin participants had slotted John Green’s In the Fault of Our Stars (Dutton, 2012) for the win because of its acclaim, but no one expected No Crystal Stair to go all the way. Alexander, chiming in from Paris, checked her work email to hear the final results, and was happy to find that she has the honor of walking away with the coveted sugary Penguin prize.

“I voted for Code Name Verity as my Undead Pick,” she says, a choice that gave her the most amount of points. “I felt so bad about knocking it off my brackets so early. So now that I have the trophy for a year, I can embellish it and make some much needed repairs to it.”

Below is a roundup of all of the resources and links for this year’s Battle of the Kids’ Books. We hope that next year can join in on the fun! Congrats to all of the contenders!

How did your school or library celebrate Battle of the Kids’ Books? Feel free to share in the comments section.

SLJ Coverage:

SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Final Results
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Round Two Results
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Round One Results
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Starts Today

Downloadable Graphics

For many, seeing which fun illustration SLJ art director Mark Tuchman would create next was almost as important as finding out which book made it to the next round. From a complete bracket listing of the contenders to the colorful winner’s circle image of a bespectacled Lewis Michaux-shaped tome, fans can still download full scale, high resolution graphics designed for BOB.

Peanut Gallery

Reactions and comments from the internet, via social networking sites, blog posts, and news stories are highlighted in several Peanut Gallery blog posts, making it an interactive activity.

Pinterest

The image that always accompanied Roger Sutton’s commentary on BOB judges

For the first time ever, BOB results and fan-made art and displays were featured on SLJ’s Pinterest account this year.

Commentary

SLJ blogger Liz Burns kept track of her BOB predictions on her A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy blog, sharing her opinions on the judge’s assessments.

The Horn Book’s Roger Sutton put the judges in the hot seat, pitting their analyses against each other. His most important criteria? Which author-judge was the most critical of the books, discussing both faults and strengths of each competitor?

Other No Crystal Stair and Vaunda Micheaux Nelson resources:

No Crystal Stair Editor Reacts to BOB Win

Picture: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie at the Horn Book Colloquium

No Crystal Stair Wins Coretta Scott King Book Honor Award

2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winners Unveiled

Teaching Books.Net: This Meet-the-Author Book Reading with Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

SPONSORED BY: Lerner Publishing Group and School Library Journal
EVENT TIME: Thursday, December 6, 2012, 3:00-4:00 PM ET/12:00 – 1:00 PM PST

Archive is now available!

Be among the first to see and hear firsthand what Lerner has coming for readers this spring!

Visit with Lerner Publishing Group’s editors as they unveil the new fantastic new books they’ll be publishing in Spring 2013.

Get the inside scoop and sneak peek  at Lerner’s nonfiction, middle grade and YA fiction, graphic novels, and picture books for grades K-12 coming this January. Plus, learn about new digital offerings, as well as supports for Common Core State Standards, and free teaching guides, reader’s discussion guides, classroom activities, and websites that make lesson planning easy.

Panelists 

Terri Lynn Soutor – Vice President, Marketing & Digital Products
Carol Hinz – Editorial Director, Millbrook Press
Andrew Karre – Editorial Director, Carolrhoda Books and Darby Creek
Patricia Stockland – Editorial Director, Lerner Publications
Domenica Di Piazza – Editorial Director, Twenty-First Century Books
Carol Burrell – Editorial Director, Graphic Universe

Moderator

Dodie Ownes – Editor, SLJTeen

Can’t make it on December 6? No problem! Register now and you will get an email reminder from School Library Journal post-live event when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Follow us on Twitter! @SLJEvent  #sljlerner

By registering for this webcast, you are agreeing that School Library Journal may share your registration information with sponsors currently shown and future sponsors of this event. Click here to review the entire School Library Journal Privacy Policy.

The archive is no longer available.

Visit with Lerner Publishing Group’s editors as they unveil the new fantastic new books they’ll be publishing in Fall 2012. Get the inside scoop on upcoming nonfiction, middle grade and YA fiction, graphic novels, and picture books for grades K-12. Plus, learn about new digital offerings, as well as free discussion guides, downloads, and websites that make lesson planning easy.

Panelists

Terri Lynn Soutor, Vice President, Marketing & Digital Products

Carol Hinz, Editorial Director, Millbrook Press

Andrew Karre, Editorial Director, Carolrhoda Books and Darby Creek

Patricia Stockland, Editorial Director, Lerner Publications

Domenica Di Piazza, Editorial Director, Twenty-First Century Books

Carol Burrell, Editorial Director, Graphic Universe

Moderator

Dodie Ownes, editor, SLJTeen

Can’t make it on May 8? No problem! Register now and you will get an email reminder from School Library Journal post-live event when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Follow us on Twitter! @SLJEvent #sljlerner

Archive expires Aug. 8

The program, currently being beta tested in 20 schools, is expected to launch this fall and give school librarians access to more than 3,000 fiction and nonfiction titles from publishers such as Random House Children’s Books, Charlesbridge Publishing, and the Lerner Publishing Group, and include such titles as Mousetraps (Carolrhoda, 2008) to I Want to Do It Myself! (Anderson Press, 2011)

Membership to the Minneapolis-based service is free and schools only pay $1 per ebook when a student or teacher checks it out. The BrainHive account administrator—typically the librarian or principal—can delete any title from the collection at any time and add titles to create a custom collection that’s accessible only to individual students or groups. And there’s no need to worry about multiple users-each ebooks can be checked out simultaneously.

Strictly for school, rather than public libraries, new members start with credit for 10 free checkouts. The ebooks can be read on any web or mobile Internet browser on PC and Mac desktops and laptops. While you can’t read the books on a Kindle or Nook, a free ereader app is expected for the iPad at launch.

Through BrainHive, students can take notes on ebooks, as well as bookmark, search, and store each title within their own personal “Book Bag.” They’ll also be able to read the titles at school and from home-and all titles can be integrated with library catalogs using MARC records, placing them in the same catalog alongside existing print and ebook collection.

Schools have the option to buy the most popular titles on a multiuser basis, making any ebook purchased through Brain Hive a permanent part of a school library collection with no additional rental fees.

Teachers can create book clubs, recommend age appropriate reading lists and resources that complement assigned reading, and incorporate interactive white board lessons. Brian Hive ebooks also are aligned to the Common Core State Standards, STEM, and state standards for science and social studies.

Another bonus? Brain Hive collects data on usage trends to help librarians understand what books are being read, how often, and for how long, and it automatically emails the information to the account administrator. A report wizard also makes it easy to generate reports for any time period, with the information exported in excel or PDF format.

With library budgets on the decline, school librarians are trying different models when launching ebook libraries in their schools. BrainHive can supplement any set-up or give school librarians who haven’t started building their ebook collection a way to dip their toe in the digital ereader and ebook water.

“Schools desperately need creative thinking from the private sector, inventive business models, and affordable access to the best educational content for our students,” says Adam Lerner, President and Publisher of Lerner Publishing Group in a release. “As a 52-year publisher for the school library market, we are thrilled to offer our eBooks on BrainHive.”