Guest bloggers! The “folks” from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast are taking over Diane Chen’s Practically Paradise while she's off on ALA duty. Welcome!
Children's author Lucy Nolan will be feted in Dallas on April 17 as winner of the Texas Library Association's 2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award for her book Down Girl and Sit: On the Road (Marshall Cavendish, 2004). Some 151,000 kids across Texas, in grades three to six, chose the winning title, which offers goofy tales about car trips to the beach, to the vet, and to a campsite—all told from a dog's point of view.
Why would a third-grade chapter book appeal to sixth graders? "It was a very funny book; it wasn't just read by third graders," responds Bluebonnet coordinator Beth Thames, a retired school librarian from Houston. To find out how Columbia, SC-based Nolan knows so much about what dogs think, SLJ asked her. read more...
ADVERTISEMENT
What Are They Reading for Fun?
This column features some poetry titles, with more to come next time. Let us know what’s moving in your bailiwick.
Cynthia R. Millman, The Town School, New York City:
Every assembly starts with a poem that is selected and read by a student, and staff members highlight poetry during April. Younger kids enjoy The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, selected by Jack Prelutsky (1983); A Light in the Attic and anything else by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins); Carol Diggory Shields’s Lunch Money and Other Poems about School (Dutton, 1995); and Dogs Rule by Daniel Kirk (Hyperion, 2003). Older kids are drawn to Jazz A B Z by Wynton Marsalis (Candlewick, 2005); Billy Collins’s The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (Random, 2005); and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (Modern Library). Many series circulate well on a regular basis, including Jenny Nimmo’s “Children
of the Red King” books (Scholastic) and Harry Potter—of course. read more...
Green is definitely in. Indiana’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Suellen Reed, recently kicked off the Indiana Department of Education’s yearlong “Learn Green, Live Green” initiative.
Learn Green, Live Green is designed to help educators, students, parents, and community members discover practical, cost-effective ways to model environmentally responsible behavior both inside and outside of the classroom. The program, which unveiled the state’s first hybrid-electric school bus in January, also fits with Indiana’s academic standards, local school curricula, and student learning goals at each grade level. Participation is voluntary. read more...
Yahoo!’s photo-sharing site Flickr has added something new: homemade videos. Aimed at amateurs who want to share short video clips with family and friends, the video technology will compete head-to-head with Google’s Youtube, a widely popular video site.
Only Flickr’s "pro account" members, those who pay an annual $24.95 fee, will be able to transfer video clips of up to 90 seconds, far less than the 10-minute maximum on YouTube. read more...
Kick off an introduction to Earth Day (April 22, 2008) with the following titles and a visit to the official Web site, which includes K–12 lesson plans. Adults may learn a thing or two about recycling, also!
GREEN,Jen. Why Should I Recycle?. illus. by Mike Gordon. Barron’s. 2005. pap. $5.95. ISBN 978-0-7641-3155-4. K-Gr–2 Thanks to her teacher and neighbor, Mr. Jones, a little girl’s family jumps on the recycling bandwagon. read more...
Arbor Day is April 25th. To plan some tree-related activities, check out this wonderful site for upper elementary and middle school kids—it will make your library’s celebration simple to plan and fun for kids to attend. For starters, check out the great online games in the “Fun and Games” section. “Leaf Miner” and “Treevial Pursuit” can be played by one or two kids in either beginner or advanced mode. In “Trees Make a Difference,” kids can explore the animated “Life of a Tree” module, which explains how trees grow and how to tell how old they are by counting their rings. In “Kids Make a Difference,” check out the “The Benefits of Trees” link. Click on the schoolhouse for lots of
PDF printables, including a cool Arbor Day play that kids can put on (available in both English and Spanish) as well as interesting activities like the “Mystery Tree Challenge.” If you’d like to teach kids about the history of Arbor Day and locate some beautiful e-cards, then be sure to also visit www.arborday.org/arborday. — Gail Junion-Metz
Coordinates and supervises selection, processing, maintenance, and evaluation of the Federal Depository collection, according to Guidelines for Federal Depository Libraries; Serves as a resource specialist for traditional and electronic Federal, state and municipal publications; Maintains the Government Documents webpage by creating links to government resources; Successfully integrates Government Documents into college curricula and initiatives; Informs community residents about free access to government information and publications; Coordinates the Collection Development liaison program to identify, develop and promote print, electronic and multimedia resources; Works with academic department liaisons to identify significant campus information needs; Provides library instruction,
resource selection, and reference service. read more...
To see all positions available through the SLJ Career Center, click here...
Children's author Lucy Nolan will be feted in Dallas on April 17 as winner of the Texas Library Association's 2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award for her book Down Girl and Sit: On the Road (Marshall Cavendish, 2004). Some 151,000 kids across Texas, in grades three to six, chose the winning title, which offers goofy tales about car trips to the beach, to the vet, and to a campsite—all told from a dog's point of view.
