Trouble viewing this email? Click here.
To ensure our emails reach your inbox, add ExtraHelping@email.schoollibraryjournal.com to your address book. Click here to learn how.
If you work in a school or public library in the U.S. that encourages kids to understand other cultures through books and reading, then you're eligible to apply for the Bridge to Understanding Award, which comes with a $1,000 prize. It’s sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People, and details and forms are at www.usbby.org.
The Week in Rap
Twenty-somethings Alex Rappaport and Blake Harrison have come up with a great way to get kids interested in current events. Their Week in Rap sums up the latest news using video and clever hip-hop lyrics in a way that’s fun and engaging. It’s a new addition to their Web site, Flocabulary, which uses hip-hop to foster literacy and promote academic success in the classroom. Start off by showing your students their election coverage.
Alex studies music at Tufts and Blake studied English at UPenn. What made you guys start a site that uses hip-hop to foster literacy?
Blake: We met in San Francisco. I was writing a novel and Alex was writing music for films and TV. To pay the bills, we ended up waiting tables at the same restaurant. One day, I mentioned an idea that I’d had back in high school. The idea was that someone should write rap songs that use and define SAT words. I thought it could be a fun way to approach something that most students dread. more » » »
Blogs
Practically Paradise
Diane Chen, Librarian, Hickman Elementary School, Nashville, Tennessee Imagine Nation bookfairs
Imagine bookfairs done differently. Jason Johnson visited my school last spring to share information about Imagine Nation Books School Book Fairs. You might know the company for their corporate book f... more » » »
Nonfiction Matters
Marc Aronson, AUTHOR, EDITOR, PACKAGER, SPEAKER, Expertise -- Teenagers On the Internet
Today's Times Brings an Article That Links, and Comments On, My Last Two Posts www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20internet.html The article describes a study of how teenagers use the social netwo... more » » »
Practically Paradise
Diane Chen, Librarian, Hickman Elementary School, Nashville, Tennessee Value My Time More
You librarians need to start valuing your time more. That's what Eric Fitzgerald from Capstone Press told me. We were discussing book processing and librarians' obsessive need to do it ourselves to ha... more » » »
Karyn Storts-Brinks, Fulton High School, Knoxville, TN: If it’s a series, a trilogy, about vampires, or some combination of these, we can’t keep it on the shelves. There is renewed enthusiasm for Stephenie Meyer’s titles (Little, Brown) in anticipation of the release of the film Twilight, and the newest favorites with “bite” are Rachel Caine’s “Morganville Vampires” books (NAL Jam), Amanda Marrone’s Uninvited (S & S, 2007), and Sebastian Rooke’s “The Vampire Plagues” (Scholastic). more » » »
REMARKABLE READS
Winged and Wild JOHNSON, Kathleen Jeffrie. A Fast and Brutal Wing. Roaring Brook/A Deborah Brodie Bk. 2004. Tr $16.95. ISBN 978-1-59643-013-6.
Gr 8 Up–Three troubled and vulnerable teens go into the woods on Halloween night; they are found covered in blood, and then Nicholas Slanger, a fantasy author new to the town, disappears. more » » »
The award for best children’s illustration in an English-language book went to Stéphane Jorisch for her playful, imaginative, and bizarre illustrations in The Owl and the Pussycat. more » » »
VA School Librarian Leaves $1 Million to Library School
When retired school librarian Jane Iris Crutchfield died in December 2006 of cardiopulmonary failure, few realized the impact she would have on future generations in the field: her estate recently bequeathed $1.12 million to her alma mater, the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“This incredibly generous gift will provide scholarships to our most promising students for years to come,” says José-Marie Griffiths, dean of SILS, explaining that this is the fifth largest gift ever given to his school. “We are grateful for this thoughtful and heartfelt gift that will assist in recruiting the best students into our program, and prepare them for success in ways that were important to Miss Crutchfield.” more » » »
LIBRARIAN'S INTERNET
The Truth About Santa Claus
Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children and is the original Santa Claus. As a holiday treat this year, teach preteens and teens about how Santa came into being and why he looks the way he does, and how children in different countries celebrate St. Nicholas Day. In the “How to Celebrate” section you’ll find “Celebrate at School,” which is chock-full of activities, lesson plans, discussion topics, and stories for all ages. If you work with young kids who believe in Santa Claus, be sure to visit the “For Kids” section, where you’ll find appropriate online and print games, activities, and also a wonderful collection of St. Nicholas stories from around the world. The next time kids hear or read “The Night Before Christmas,”
they'll better appreciate the line, “I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.” --Gail Junion-Metz
County Library located in Southern New Jersey seeks energetic and creative Library Director. Library serves 164,000 residents and provides online library services to 3 public and one county college library and 3 public libraries in an adjacent county. Supervises a staff of 18 full time equivalents.
You are receiving this email because you have requested either a newsletter or a magazine from
Reed Business Information.
Forward to a Friend
If you work in a school or public library in the U.S. that encourages kids to understand other cultures through books and reading, then you're eligible to apply for the Bridge to Understanding Award, which comes with a $1,000 prize. It’s sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People, and details and forms are at 
