The SurRural Librarian

I recently asked the VSLA listserv for recommendations of author visits. Here are the names people sent, I’m pretty excited to see if we can get a great speaker to come work with our students.

Jim Arnosky
Gary Bowen
Simon Brooks
Matt Christopher’s son, Dale.
Mordicai Gerstein
Steven Gurney
Kathleen McKinley Harris
Beth Kanell
Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
Peter Lourie
Debbie Miller (from Alaska, visit VT annually)
Susan Milord
Won-Ldy Paye
Tracey Campbell Pearson
Jan Reynolds
Leda Schubert
Phoebe Stone
Steve Swinburne
J & P Voelkel
Doug Wilhelm
Storytellers Tim Jennings and Leanne Ponder

I was also clued into this helpful Directory of Performers & Speakers from the VT Dept. of Libraries

Which in turn reminded me of the importance of the institutional knowledge of the school librarians in my state. So many of them are going to be retiring in the next 5-10 years, and I’m terrified by the thought that I am in the next generation of “leaders” and I still have so much to learn!

I’ve been pondering the focus on professional development for school librarians lately through the planning for conferences I’ve been peripherally involved with. I present on techie issues, and I really enjoy it. But what I really need for my own p.d. is much less techie and more human-related. I’m afraid if we continue to focus so much on wikis, blogs, yadda yadda - we’re going to need a whole lotta help dealing with issues like censorship, collaboration, working with parents and early readers - all the human to human work we do.  Librarians with 25 years of experience will be leaving the profession soon, and I want to connect with them before they do!

Since school started, I’ve been reading like crazy. Here are a few titles that are must buys for the year.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is fabulous. Isabel is a rare character, a slave from the North. Her story brings so much life to the time period, so much depth to the sketch of history students at this age receive - how many of your students do you think realize there were so many slaves in NYC, or even that the city was occupied by the British during the war? Because of the popularity of Speak, I already have readers lining up for this book, which may not have been the case with another author. I’m sure this book will land in the hands of students who don’t usually read historical fiction, and I hope they surprise themselves by how much they enjoy it. With the promise of a sequel to come, this might be just the gateway book I’m looking for! (I posted this review on The Picnic Basket.)

Toy Dance Party by Emily Jenkins
I haven’t even finished this sequel to my favorite book in the whole wide world, but I love it already. LOL funny. Truly, I’m buying a case for the birthdays!
Chester by Melanie Watt
Ha ha ha ha. This book is already a big hit with my primary students. I drive a carpool of them, and listened to one read it to the others on the way home the other day, they just love it. With Scaredy Squirrel & Chester, Melanie Watt is a power house for these kids, best thing to happen to picture books since Mo Willems.

Owly by Andy Runton
The Owly books are a blockbuster. I have kids in every grade lining up for them. I keep all my graphic novels in baskets now because they circulate so often. Owly doesn’t even have its own basket - they are never in the library long enough. Completely wordless & way cute, these are the best thing to happen for early & reluctant readers in a while. I can’t believe how much the kids love these.

Other huge hits that my library couldn’t do without right now are Bone, Ivy & Bean and Amelia Rules.

Boy, school started and it’s been a whirlwind of a year, I’ve got some serious blogging to catch up on. While I do, here’s a nicely inspiring bit of writing on how users can transform into creators, something I talk about with my students all the time in computer tech class.

Likewise, when we approach the world from the perspective of a player or cheater instead of a programmer, we tend to succumb to the values of the game rather than questioning if we are really choosing those values as our own.

Guest post from Douglas Rushkoff at BoingBoing: Play, Cheat, Program