Eastern Shore Children's Librarians

The Art of Reading a Storybook

2009-08-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

This video is an introduction to reading aloud to a group of children. It may be useful if you are training volunteers or new staff members to conduct storytime programs.

Mo Willems and National Book Festival

2009-07-29T05:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted here!

I want to let you know about two opportunities.

Mo Willems is inviting schools and libraries to "spend an afternoon in his studio" via a live online simulcast on October 6 at 2:00 p.m. Participation is limited to 200 venues, so sign up now, or spread the word to your local schools.
The 9th Annual National Book Festival will take place on September 26. There will be an impressive list of children's author presenters, including Holly Black, Kate DiCamillo, Kadir Nelson, Mo Willems, Jon Scieszka, and many more.

2009 Youth Media Awards

2009-01-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

ALA has posted the winners of the youth media awards, including the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and King.

Here is the list of notable books, and here are all of the other notables.

Here is a video I took of the Newbery Medalist being announced. It's very difficult to hear, but I couldn't find a better video online.

2008-11-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

The New York Times has selected this year's best picture books. That seems strange, since the year is not over yet. Anyhow, you can view a slide show here.

2008-10-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

UK Librarians Oppose Age Recommendations on Books.

There are so many reasons that age-banding is a bad idea. Kids who are reading above or below grade level, kids who are going back to an old favorite, differing standards in families... I hope this never happens here. Accelerated Reader levels are bad enough.

KidLit Project Runway

2008-08-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

I'm late in posting a very funny video from the ALA children's lit banquets:

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RIP Tasha Tudor

2008-06-20T08:04:00.001-07:00

Illustrator Tasha Tudor passed away on Wednesday at the age of 92.

Student From Frederick, MD, Wins Letters About Literature Contest

2008-06-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Her school library received $10,000 as part of the prize!

What Kids Are Reading

2008-05-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Book-Reading Habits of Students in American Schools.

This study was conducted by the Accelerated Reader people, so you should take it with a grain of salt, but there is some interesting information. Daniel Handler's comments are a highlight.

Report on Safer Children in a Digital World

2008-04-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

On 6th September 2007, the Prime Minister asked Dr. Tanya Byron to conduct an independent review looking at the risks to children from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games. Her Review is about the needs of children and young people. It is about preserving their right to take the risks that form an inherent part of their development by enabling them to play video games and surf the net in a safe and informed way.

By listening to children and young people and putting them at the heart of this Review - and by replacing emotion with evidence - she hopes she has provided some very necessary focus to what is a very necessary debate.

Green Earth Book Award / SU Children's Literature Festival

2008-04-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to attend the Salisbury University Children's Literature Festival yesterday. Several authors spoke, the first of which was David Wiesner.

Nice blurry picture, eh?

Mr. Wiesner gave a fascinating talk about his influences (Edward Gorey, comic books, and some really cool 1930's wordless woodcut novels), his artistic development, and how his books evolved.

Then it was Phillip Hoose's turn:

Mr. Hoose talked about Hey, Little Ant, as well as the process of researching The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.

Finally, there was a panel about environmental writing. The authors talked about integrating environmental awareness into their books.

From left: Adrian Fogelin, Jean Davies Okimoto, the facilitator, O. R. Melling, and Cambria Gordon.

In the evening, I attended the Green Earth Book Award ceremony and reception. You can read about all of the award winners here.

In attendance were SU president Dr. Janet Dudley-Eschbach, dean of libraries Dr. Alice Bahr, and representatives from the Maryland State Department of Education. It was wonderful to see so many distinguished people turn out to support a children's lit award.

2008-02-29T06:02:00.000-08:00

An animated, digital version of Horton Hears a Who is available to download for free through the end of March.

Internet predators

2008-02-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some interesting statistics about Internet predators and their victims, via School Library Journal.

There are some interesting revelations, such as the fact that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook rarely figure into these types of crimes.

Hot cross books.

2008-02-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

School Library Journal asks librarians which books kids are reading for pleasure right now. Basically, if you don't have a lot of copies of all of the Twilight books, you should! Jack Gantos is also featured.

And the winner is...

2008-01-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

Did you hear? A Baltimore school librarian won the Newbery Medal! The book looks really good, too, and it's nice to see poetry/dramatic monologues getting some recognition.

Here is a list of all of the award winners announced this week.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

2007-12-18T10:47:00.001-08:00

In case you didn't hear, Sotheby's was auctioning off a copy of J.K. Rowlings hand-written and illustrated book of fairy tales. Amazon.com bought it for 1.95 million pounds, and the proceeds will go to Rowling's charity, The Children's Voice.

There are extensive plot summaries and images from the book on Amazon's Beedle the Bard website.

Where the Wild Things Came From

2007-12-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting slide show of picture book art from the nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, from Slate magazine:

How children's books evolved from morals to madcap fun.

ALSC Offers Grants to Future Children's and YA Librarians

2007-11-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

If you are planning to get your MLS and become a children's or YA librarian, you can apply for one of these grants.

A Legislative Victory for Children's Librarians

2007-11-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

Congress passes bill calling for collaboration between Head Start and libraries.

This is a great opportunity for libraries in general, and for children's librarians in particular. It's the most public recognition I've seen of the role that public libraries play in early literacy. Take this information straight to your local daycares, and form ye some partnerships! :)

Patron demand watch: Scanimation

2007-10-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

So there's this new technology called "scanimation" that will be making its picture book debut this holiday season. It involves a static image that appears to move when the reader rocks it back and forth, and it will appear in the book Gallop!, by Rufus Butler Seder. I imagine this book will be heavily marketed at book fairs and such, so you may be receiving requests. Whether you will want to buy it is another question, but it doesn't look any worse than other gimmick books.

More on this topic from School Library Journal.

Teens Will Get to Chat with Top YA Authors in October

2007-09-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

Want to get more teenage girls excited about reading?

Tell them they can chat with Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Ann Brashares, and 28 other hot young adult authors throughout the entire month of October.

(From School Library Journal)

Should Demco start selling discreet brown wrappers?

2007-09-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

From the (London) Times Online:

How judging a book by its ‘girlie’ cover is putting boys off reading.

I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I never saw this downside to the vibrant new book covers that have been appearing over the past few years. I knew there were a lot of girls who would automatically grab a book with a Barbie-pink cover, but I didn't think about all the boys who were alienated by those covers. Then again, I think Saffy's Angel would be a hard book to sell to a boy regardless.

Interesting censorship story.

2007-09-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

A high school student in Alabama has checked out the book Sandpiper, by Ellen Wittlinger, and refuses to return it, claiming that it is too explicit for a school audience.

Read more at School Library Journal.

The interesting this is that I had never heard of this book before this kerfuffle, but now I have, and so have thousands of other people. These things tend to backfire.

Some ammunition for your emergent literacy elevator speech.

2007-08-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

Study finds that Baby Einstein videos are actually bad for babies.

What is good for babies (i.e., increases their vocabulary), shockingly enough, is being read to, spoken to, and interacted with. (And then, hopefully, they grow up knowing better than to end their sentences with prepositions.)

Great storytime resource.

2007-08-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

In my online wanderings, I came across this

pronunciation guide to authors' names.

It features short recordings of authors pronouncing their own names. You will never have to fumble during a booktalk or storytime again! Unless, of course, your chosen author is not listed. In that case, you will simply have to call them up and ask them.

The Golden Compass.

2007-07-31T12:12:00.001-07:00

An extended trailer is available for the movie of The Golden Compass.

You can view it here.

This movie looks amazing. The preview gave me shivers. Be sure to order a couple of extra copies of these wonderful books, because I have a feeling they are going to gain a whole new audience when the movie comes out.

Is Junie B. Talking Trash?

2007-07-26T07:10:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting New York Times article about parental reaction to the Junie B. Jones books. I grabbed the link from Roger Sutton, whose Read Roger blog is one of the highlights of the children's blogosphere.

Personally, I think Junie B. is hilarious, but I am a proponent of the subversive in children's lit. If you're looking for an alternative, though, try the Andy Shane books, whose protagonist is a nice, quiet foil for the overbearing June B.

Don't read to babies. Come to think of it, don't even talk to them!

2007-07-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

This article has some sobering implications for our profession and its association with emergent literacy:

Leave those kids alone: The idea that adults should be playing with their kids is a modern invention -- and not necessarily a good one.

Galaxy of Stories

2007-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

The London Times produces Galaxy of Stories, where you can download children's stories told by famous actors and comedians.

Watch out for spoilers!

2007-07-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you care about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and you hate spoilers (I am guilty on both counts), you might want to avoid the internet for the next week or so. It sounds like spoilers of dubious veracity are going up everywhere. Beware Livejournal. Beware!

On a happier note, if you haven't checked out The Whomping Willows yet, you definitely should. They will be appearing in Worcester and Wicomico counties on July 30 and 31.

Children's albums and humor.

2007-07-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

1. School Library Journal did a story on twelve kids' (music) albums you can't live without. I can vouch for the Elizabeth Mitchell one and the They Might Be Giants one - my 17-month-old loves both of them.

Read about the other ones here.

2. A funny list from McSweeney's Internet Tendency, a satiric online magazine:

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF
BABYBUG, A MAGAZINE FOR READERS AGE 6 MONTHS TO 2 YEARS.

ALA Annual Recap

2007-06-27T10:55:00.001-07:00

ALA Annual 2007 COnference, Washington DC
Originally uploaded by Keegie_in_DC

I spent the past few days at the ALA convention in DC, and I have a few interesting things to share with you.

I attended an early literacy panel called Babies & Books Beyond the Library: Developing an Early Literacy Campaign. The panel highlighted Brooklyn's early literacy campaign, Brooklyn Reads to Babies. That website describes their campaign, which has been very successful.

The other speaker was Susan Straub, founder of the Read to Me program. She has some useful materials on her website to share with parents and caregivers, including a dvd that I plan to purchase for the professional collection.

I also attended a really neat panel on the process of creating audiobooks. The speakers included Bruce Coville, Judy Blume, John Green, and Jack Gantos. A podcast of the program is available right here, on the PLA blog.

And just for fun, here's a funny mockumentary that someone made about the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle: March of the Librarians.

Anyone else who was in DC last weekend, please feel free to comment here with ideas, impressions, anecdotes, etc..

What comes after Harry Potter?

2007-06-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

The first editor to spot the potential of Harry Potter claims that a fantasy about a boy archeologist will be the next big thing in children's lit.

Read more in The Guardian.

Delaware Book Festival

2007-06-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday, November 3, 2007

The 2nd Annual Delaware Book Festival

10AM - 4PM
Rain or Shine
All Events Free
The First Heritage Park At Dover

Librarian of Congress To Name National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

2007-06-13T12:21:00.001-07:00

Click on this link to read all about it.

Nancy Drew Get A Clue

2007-06-12T07:32:00.001-07:00

Hello, children's librarians! I'm just posting some information about the new Nancy Drew movie. There are lots of possibilities for library program tie-ins. It's too bad it didn't come out last summer, though - that would have dovetailed perfectly with the summer theme.

>Hi PUBLIBers!
>
>For those of you living under a rock?
>Warner Bros (WB) announced last summer a new movie
>titled *Nancy Drew Mystery in the Hollywood Hills*
>would open August 15, 2007.
>
>Starting last summer and 6 conversations later with the WB...
>drum roll..... Warner Bros announces in November 2006
>that *Nancy Drew Get a Clue* will in theaters June 15th.
>
>Now the fun begins....
>
>1.)
>Later this spring Warner Bros mentions to me that they
>had Emma Roberts in New York sit down for the taping of an
>assortment of video greetings for different events and media.
>While she was there they had her do one for the "Get a Clue"
>SRP and holding a ND Book. Warner Bros was quite tickled
>with themselves
>
>And you could have knocked me over with a feather when
>Warner Bros had it hand delivered on a CD/QUICKTIME
>that very same day to my office.  Libraryland is WINDOWS
>so I have revamped the video file in a couple of formats.
>Chose what works for you or chose not to.  You may use it
>for whatever you want with the video files noted in #2.
>
>This could be a fun surprise on the big screen for
>those of you having a party or as *a trailer* for your
>library movie nights or show on a TV monitor :->
>
>_______________________________
>2.)
>DIYers may help themselves to a file here....
>http://www.summerreading.cla-net.org/nancydrew.html
>
>_______________________________
>3.)
>OR....Local libraries may find it easier to simply
>link to the summer reading Online greeting at
>http://www.summerreading.cla-net.org/drewvideo.html
>
>AND / OR / INSTEAD OF / CONTINUE ON...
>
>To a page then links to a Online generic one-video
>fits-all 4-minute mini-puppet show about the wonders
>of the "Get a Clue @ your library" done by the wonderful
>SWAZZLE Production guys here in Hollywoodland...
>http://www.summerreading.cla-net.org/srpkickoff/index.html
>You may link to this if you wish from your library's web site.
>
>_______________________________
>4.)
>Nancy Drew Press Essentials Kit with ready to use
>items to spiff up your articles and reviews!
>http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/nancydrewpresskit.html
>
>_______________________________
>5.)
>Online video: Inside Nancy Drew's Detective Kit.
>This is a really fun item that could be shown at a
>ND party http://www.alloy.com/5/32/3614/1
>
>_______________________________
>6.)
>Two NEW Activity Books for ND Parties.
>Nancy Drew fans are transformed into super sleuths as
>they break codes, solve mystery puzzles, follow notes
>to case their neighborhood, and spy on unusual suspects
>in this new series of Nancy Drew Activity Books. 64-pages
>
>"Nancy Drew: Still Sleuthing!"
>http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=4&pid=526830
>"Nancy Drew: Hollywood Head Scratchers"
>http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=4&pid=526890
>
>_______________________________
>7.)
>Make your own Nancy Drew T-Shirt with a printable iron-on
>to wear Friday June 15th...
>http://www.summerreading.cla-net.org/nancydrew.html
>
>_______________________________
>
>Have fun!
>
>Stephanie Stokes, Coordinator
>California Summer Reading Program
>Phone: 818-980-7476
>e-mail: stephanie@casummerreading.org
>URL: www.summerreading.cla-net.org