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True or false?
A great school library needs the support of a great administrator. If you answered true, and have an administrator who "gets" your instructional role and is an advocate for your media center, then nominate him or her for the SLJ/Greenwood Publishing Group Administrator of the Year Award. Go here and tell us how your superintendent, principal, or vice principal helped create a great library program. First-place winner gets $5,000 and is featured on our cover; runner-ups receive $3,000 and $2,000.
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| Interview |
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Learning to Be a Media Specialist—from Iraq |
Bruce DeWitt (left), gives new meaning to the term, "distance learning." He’s working in Iraq while studying to be a media specialist. Dewitt has spent the last three semesters enrolled in a distance-learning program at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) in Duluth, MN. "One time he was online with me and said he had to go because they'd just been hit by four rockets," Marie Kelsey, program director of the college's Educational Media and Technology program, explains. SLJ spoke with DeWitt about balancing his studies and work—and whether he still wants to become a school librarian.What are you doing in Iraq?
I work for the evil empire Halliburton through their subsidiary KBR. I'm a camp manager. I run a marine base in Western Iraq. I manage the direct activities of 150 personnel and am responsible for the life support and safety of over 600 expat personnel and 1,500 third-country nationals. We provide all of what's called the life support on the base. That involves all the power, water, and prepared food for 8,000 soldiers and marines.…We just served our two millionth meal to a lucky marine… last week.
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| TechTrends |
Sifting Through Stardust
"We are all star stuff," declared the late astronomer Carl Sagan. If you're among those still wondering what exactly star stuff is, you may now have the opportunity to help discern this mystery in a unique science experiment.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are inviting Internet users around the world to help search for the few dozen submicroscopic grains of interstellar detritus brought back by Stardust, the NASA spacecraft that returned to earth January 15.
After a seven-year jaunt of almost three billion miles through the solar system, Stardust—which was sent aloft on a mission to rendezvous with the comet Wild 2 and collect small rocks and dust particles from its tail—successfully landed in the Utah dessert with its cargo of samples.
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BOOKS
Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement by Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr.
From SLJ February 2006 (Starred Review)
Gr 8 Up–Published on the 85th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and in collaboration with the National Women's History Project, this lavishly illustrated volume focuses on the years from 1848 to 1920. The chronological chapters move, at first, by decades, and then, when discussing the most intense activity prior to winning the vote, by year....
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VIDEO/DVD
Sophie's Masterpiece: A Spider's Tale
K-Gr 3–This quiet film is an iconographic version of Eileen Spinelli's book (S & S, 2001). Sophie is "no ordinary house spider"; she is part human/part arachnid and 100 percent artist. The tow-haired heroine spins wondrous webs wherever she goes. At the start of the story, she arrives at Beekman's boarding house with her worldly belongings, ready to begin her adult life....
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AUDIO
Inkspell
Gr 5-8–Fourteen-year-old Meggie is back at home after the intrigue and adventure she encountered in Inkheart (Chicken House, 2003), the first volume in this projected trilogy. In this second episode, the calm of her life is shattered when Farid, protégé of the fire-eater, Dustfinger, begs her to use her magical ability and read him into Dustfinger's story. Meggie longs to see the enchanted world she has only encountered through the pages of a book and travels with Farid into the story. Events quickly spin out of control....
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STARRED REVIEWS
Grades 5 & Up Fiction for February
- Monkey Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial by Ronald Kidd
- Undine by Penni Russon
- The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer
- The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Read these reviews and more in our review database. (Reviews are available to subscribers.)
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| News And Views |
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Bush Proposes Library Increases for FY2007 |
| Library supporters are applauding the recent funding increases for libraries proposed by President Bush in his FY 2007 budget. The president is requesting $220.9 million for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the only federal program created exclusively for libraries. That's a $10.25 million increase from last year.
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YALSA to Launch Awards for Audiobooks, Young Adult Librarians, and First-Time YA Authors |
| The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) plans to unveil an audiobook award at the American Library Association's (ALA) annual conference in New Orleans in June, says Beth Yoke, YALSA's executive director.
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Get Ready for Young People's Poetry Week, April 10–16 |
| Librarians get ready—April 10–16 is Young People's Poetry Week, and those who work with children and young adults are urged to celebrate this official part of National Poetry Month.
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| Remarkable Reads |
| If You Loved Narnia… |
As with C. S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia," first published in 1950, there is fantasy with a strong element of Christianity woven through these titles. But most young readers simply see the conflicts as the classic struggle of good versus evil. Courage and friendship are an important part of these titles, too, along with a few of those awe-inspiring creatures that keep young fantasy readers captivated.
ALEXANDER, Lloyd. The Book of Three. Random. 1978. pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-440-40702-8.
Gr 4-8–In this first volume in the "Prydain Chronicles," readers meet Taran, a boy impatient for manhood. As assistant pig-keeper of the oracular pig Hen Wen, his life is very tame. Taran's dreams of glory and adventure soon turn to bitter reality, though, when the Horned King marches to conquer Prydain, and Taran literally stumbles into a quest that continues through four more books, two of which won Newbery honors. read more... |
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| Librarian's Internet |
| Presidents Day |
| www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/february/presidents.html |
| For ideas for grades K–8, look no further. The site's "Activites" section provides online games, puzzles, quizzes, and more. One of my favorites is the "Who Is That?" game, which has four difficulty levels. There are also loads of printables, including coloring pages for young kids and word finds for older kids, as well as information on the presidents. Be sure to check out the three different PDF quizzes (complete with printable answer keys). In the "Internet Resources" section, a must-see link is "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden" from the folks at the Smithsonian.—Gail Junion-Metz |
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| Curriculum Connections |
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Eyes on the Movement | 
While this year marks the loss of two beloved civil rights leaders, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, it also offers a bounty of inspiring picture books on the movement.
Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander's This is the Dream (HarperCollins, 2006) is a concise, yet eloquent history of the civil rights movement, complemented by James Ransome's powerful painting-and-collage illustrations. In the opening pages, readers see how the Jim Crow laws touched everyday life from drinking at public fountains to riding buses, from eating at restaurants to attending libraries and schools.
The middle section of the book heralds the brave: courageous children integrating schools; tired citizens choosing to walk rather than ride; and peaceful protesters. Children will be in awe of the steadfast diners—three black and one white—sitting calmly covered in egg, ketchup, and sugar surrounded by shouting onlookers with ugly faces to match their deeds. read more... |
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Collection Development Specialist |
Ingram Book Company
Nashville, TN
Consult with library customers to provide relevant collections' lists and products. Formulate/edit customized selection lists for opening day collections and other projects. Select titles for standing order programs and specialized subject lists. Develop lists based on hands-on review of materials, published reviews, and sales/demand data, modifying each list to meet individual customer needs. Continually review product and stays abreast of professional news in the library and publishing worlds. Experience in a K-12 school setting is preferred. read more...
To see all positions available through the SLJ Career Center,
click here...
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