Sunday, November 29, 2015

YA Book Recommendations - Cleaver Magazine

The other day my husband texted me from work for some book recommendations. One of his coworkers wanted to get his fourth grade granddaughter some books for Christmas, and my husband told him that I was a librarian-to-be who LOVES juvenile and young adult fiction. I thought of some of my favorite books from elementary school - and a few I've read recently! - and sent my husband a list of titles, authors, and brief summaries to pass on to his coworker.

I have SO much fun recommending books to others, whether someone asks me personally or if I can promote my favorites online. That's why I'm so excited to share with you all a great list of some amazing YA books from 2015. Check out my two favorites, and many more, at Cleaver Magazine!

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Book Clubs During School Hours for Students with Disabilities

While trying to get an overview of library services offered in my area, I spoke with a high school librarian who brought up an idea that seemed revolutionary to me. The librarian had previously been a special education teacher, so she purposely made her library services welcoming to this population.

Because of her background, the librarian reached out to the current English teachers to form a book club for students with disabilities. She wanted to hold a weekly book club in the library during English class. Holding programs during school hours can be difficult, because there is already so much to do during a school day. But it increases participation, since many students ride the bus or have other after-school obligations, and often can’t stay late.

Read the full post on YALSAblog and share your thoughts!

Monday, November 23, 2015

Thanksgiving Storytime

Last Thursday, I held a Thanksgiving storytime for a class from SRVS. I read Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, illustrated by Lee Harper, followed by One is a Feast for Mouse by Judy Cox, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler.


Turkey Trouble reminded me a lot of Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise, except instead of disguising himself to catch dinner like Owl, Turkey is disguising himself so he won't become dinner!

One is a Feast for Mouse reminded me of the song "The Green Grass Grew All Around" because Mouse makes a huge stack of food morsel upon food morsel, and the stack is repeated each time something new is added. It's extra fun to point at the illustrations and have everyone say the item along with you. Spoiler alert: you will be out of breath by the end!

After reading those two books, we made turkeys using toilet paper rolls and construction paper feathers. To save time, I pre-cut the feathers, so each individual got ten and glued them to the back of their toilet paper roll. Then they used crayons to draw eyes and a beak on their turkeys!



I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Hoot Owl Storytime

A project for my LS5343 Youth Programs class was to design a storytime program. I picked one of my son's favorite books, Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor. Check out my program ideas on Glogster to see the song and craft, too!