Dry

amazon.com

Fantasy

Shusterman, N. (2018). Dry. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Dry is a dystopian, fantasy novel that nails down what happens when desperation hits people. In Dry, people are struggling by not having access to clean, usable water. This book has a lot of moving parts and is filled with adventure, misery, and suspense.

Overall, this could be a great independent reading book for teachers to use. It was on my school’s summer reading list and I plan to book talk it to 7th or 8th graders when they visit the library next.

Brain on Fire

amazon.com

Nonfiction

Cahalan, S. (2012). Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. Free Press.

Susannah Cahalan recounts her personal experience of feeling like her brain was on fire in this text. Throughout the course of a month or so, Cahalan experiences hallucinations and what presents at times as psychosis but doctors were unable to figure out the issues/root of the cause. As a result, she felt like medical professionals weren’t listening and struggled to find a specialist who was able to test for the autoimmune disorder she was diagnosed with.

This book can be used in a variety of ways — it could be used as part of a nonfiction unit for ELA or even in for a social studies unit as it pertains to psychology or sociology in high schools; health when learning about different diseases/ailments as well could potentially use this text. In the library, it could be displayed with other true experiences.

Five Feet Apart

imdb.com

Film

Baldoni, J. (2019). Five Feet Apart. Film. CBS Films.

The film Five Feet Apart is one that can be viewed by high school students (and could be used in conjunction with reading the book for book groups or mere discussions). In Five Feet Apart, lead characters Stella and Will are two teens with cystic fibrosis. The premise of the film is that they cannot get within five feet of one another because that level of physical closeness can further jeopardize their health. This story goes through a lot of typical teen curiosities and behaviors that many students viewing this can connect to; there is also an emotional side of the story due to the characters’ health issues and their desire to just behave like a “normal” teenager.

This film could be used in conjunction with a book group on disabilities or illness to support/give context to complex characters.

Noodle Tools

noodletools.com

Educational App

Abilock, D. (1999). Noodle Tools.

Noodle Tools is a multipurpose application that can be located in the Google waffle (at least if your school pays for a subscription). Noodle Tools allows users to copy and paste information from online databases and paste them into index cards. There are spaces to provide all bibliographic information. Further, within the notecard function, teachers/librarians can set up different categories, like paraphrasing/summarizing, identifying markers of thesis support, or anything else of interest. Once the notecards are electronically completed, they can be formatted into an outline, which can be printed out and used to write a research paper.

This app can be used across most grades but could help most with high school students and maybe middle school students as well.

Minecraft

PS4 Games, Playstation

Game

Persson, M. (2011). Minecraft. Mojang Studios.

Minecraft is a building-based game that can be used to enhance problem-solving skills because of its rudimentary programming capabilities. Minecraft is a game that is appropriate for use by middle school students and can be played using the free options online. By playing Minecraft, students can learn elements of computer-animated design through building the game to fit the gamers interests and needs at the time. Because of this level of flexibility, Minecraft can be used as a teaching tool or a reward for students who complete assignments/tasks while others are in need of assistance. Overall, the fluidity of this game allows players to experience in it a variety of creative ways whereby they can create and follow characters or choose to take the game in many other directions.

This can be used as a learning too to introduce programming and algorithms as well as a recreational activity for students.

Pixton

Pixton Comics. (n/d). Pixton Comics.

Pixton is a website that can be used by students and teachers alike to create comics. The interface is fairly intuitive. There is a free version that offers minimal comic building; the paid version has more versatility. That said, Pixton can be used for interactive and engaging assignments given to students in elementary grades through high school.

It can be used to demonstrate timelines in social studies and can be used to illustrate stories read in English class or reading.

For the purpose of this assignment, I used Instagram (IG) because I know a lot of libraries have accounts on IG and also because my resident teens have said that IG is popular amongst them and their peers. I know that 14’s math teacher even uses it to post videos. This was something that I found interesting because in my last district, social media usage was encouraged by central office and school admin; however, in my current district, it is most definitely not encouraged. I asked if there were any expectations around creating and maintaining social media accounts and was strongly discouraged from doing so.

I chose this application because of all the options, this is the one I’m mostly likely to use. I am an old lady who favors Twitter for banter around sports, librarianship, and teaching; I do have an Instagram account but had not used it for work purposes, so it made sense to try and see if this was a potential resource for professional use. After looking at IG through a professional scope, I think I still prefer “teacher Twitter” for my personal use and I am still undecided on whether or not I would use IG for professional purposes.

Overall, I think that Instagram is a user-friendly app. There are a lot of public libraries that I checked out, a number of school libraries, and librarians. I think that using it as a professional resource would make more sense than using it to post actual content related to library activities in the school. I think that teens do like IG. I know that a lot of schools have unofficial groups that post information on what goes on at school; I also am under the impression that teens sometimes use it to watch TikTok videos when parents do not allow them using that app directly — it seems like a workaround in that capacity.

In terms of perception, mine really did not change of Instagram. I will note that when I talked to 16 about it, she mentioned that she does a lot of messaging through IG with friends/classmates. In this capacity, I think there is a greater use for teens because they can use it as an extension of communication tool and can maintain some privacy around texts that do not show up in the phone itself. Further, it allows them to send/share pages and information with peers which serves as an additional way to touch base/interact. From these perspectives, the app seems like a great use for teens but I am not convinced it’s one I would choose to publicize my school’s library.

Last semester, we completed book discussions in groups and I really enjoyed the experience. I had to keep reminding myself that I will enjoy this experience as well but it was a lot harder this time around. Mostly, this is because it’s December and it’s busy (the day of my book discussion, I had a meeting after work, my work holiday party, and my parents were getting into town for a visit). Personal life outside of graduate school aside, there were some positive parts of the book discussion. First and foremost, the book! I LOVED this book and after reading it again, loved it more. It was a hit and I have a wait-list for the book in my library. Hoorah! Another positive element centers on the group itself; I had a classmate from last semester in my same book group — this was nice because it almost makes you feel like you’re learning about classmates as people rather than a mere name on a screen. As for the discussion… I really enjoyed being able to discuss the ins and out of The Poet X and hear classmates feedback about their feelings on Xiomara, her family, and her first boyfriend/crush. I also appreciated the Google-ing of THOT. Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity to participate in another book group/discussion.

How do they keep up with YA books? How do they develop their collection? What kinds of reading or other programs do they do? How do the promote reading to teens? What have been some challenges and successes had they had developing programming for teens? What do they think are important knowledge and skills librarians should have to work with teens? What advice do they have for you when working with teens? 

I had the good pleasure of interviewing a local high school librarian. The interview started with a tour of the library, which is genrefied by fiction and organized with Dewey for nonfiction. The organization of the library encourages students to make their way throughout and allows for easy browsing. I was told that roughly 150 students are in the library daily for study, additional students visit for lunch, and others are in periodically throughout the day. One thing I learned, which was surprising to me, is that this particular librarian does book talks with students. Now, as a middle school librarian, I do a lot of book talks because I have grade-level visits to the library where students are expected to check out a book. That said, I assumed that because high school schedules are so different and classes do not typically visit the library, that students do not get to attend book talks. I was wrong.

Between the collection and the book talks, students are encouraged to read. Further, there are books on display within each genre section, on top of each nonfiction bookshelf, and then throughout the library on display tables. Books are purchased a number of different ways: School Library Journal, Booklist, student recommendations, teacher recommendations, and discussions with the public library’s YA librarian.

In terms of non-book related library projects, the librarian told me that the bulk of her teaching work centers on research. She provided me with IIM resources and lent me two books to read with research writing tips. While she developed her own curriculum for research based on elements of other curricula, she noted that getting teacher buy-in has not always been easy.

Overall, my biggest takeaway from this interview is maintaining consistency across the elementary, middle, and high school programs with the IIM research methodology. I also really liked seeing the collection. I have a lot of books to add to my TBR list thanks to the visit to this school library.

Monday’s Not Coming

amazon.com

Contemporary Realistic Fiction (+audiobook)

Jackson, T. (2018). Monday’s Not Coming. Katherine Tegen Books.

Monday’s Not Coming was a gut-wrenching book that charts Claudia (the protagonist) as she searches for her best friend, Monday, who’s not been attending school. Claudia is an 8th grader living in Southeast, DC. As she searches for her best friend, she enlists the help of a friend from church, school teachers and administrators, the school social worker, and the police; she risks her safety and her own livelihood by asking Monday’s family for information about Monday’s whereabouts. The character development in this story was phenomenal and the setting of SE, DC was accurate (particularly, some of the Anacostia-specific references like Go Go Music and the use of the word, “bama”). One setback in this book is the way it’s organized — with chapters titled Before the Before to show the flashbacks Claudia is having, there can be some confusion, which should be mentioned to any student looking to read this book. Overall, this book can be suggested as an independent reading assignments to any mature student in grades 8+. One thing to note is that when this book started to make its appearance on banned book lists, the author noted that restricting access to this book also restricts knowledge of the reality of missing girls with brown or black skin — such a powerful statement and rings true because in addition to having such a strong emphasis on that throughout the text were the barriers faced when searching for a young Black girl.

The Poet X

amazon.com

Verse

Acevedo, E. (2018). The Poet X. Quill Tree Books.

The Poet X is a profound book of poems that note the protagonist, Xiomara, and her experiences as a teen with an over-developed boy and an under-developed relationship with her Dominican parents, specifically her mother. Xiomara faces internal conflict over trying to be true to herself all while trying to be the daughter and twin her family wants her to be; not surprisingly, she falls short on both accounts because she is trying too hard to be who she’s not and not enough to be who she is. The Poet X is a book that examines vulnerabilities within oneself and within family dynamics; it looks like relationships and how the simple belief in oneself can truly guide life’s experiences. The Poet X can easily be recommended to any student in 8th grade (and also any English teacher or librarian or really anyone else who can read because it is such a spectacularly woven story that is full of raw experiences and emotion). This would be a great book to use during a poetry unit or during a lesson on Hispanic Heritage Month, as Poet X was a 2019 Pura Belpre award winning text.

Boxers

amazon.com

Historical Fiction

Yang, G. L. (2013). Boxers. First Second.

Boxers is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. This graphic novel has coming of age elements all while making note of the boxer revolution that took place in China. Four Girl (protagonist), who wasn’t given a name based on the pattern of fours that followed her: Fourth in the birth order, born on 4/4, is considered bad luck by her family because of the stronghold the number four has on her life. In Chinese culture, the number four is representative of the word ‘death’ and thus her family relationships are different from those of other family members. As a result, she sets out to find her fate and decides to take hold of Christianity. Through her life experiences, she figures out her place in the world all while living through a historical time in Chinese history. This book makes note of Chinese culture and historical elements that have contributed to the culture as whole all through following Four Girl’s journey into finding herself. Boxers can be accessible for students in 8th grade and up; understanding the historical context of the book would be helpful. Using Boxers as a companion text to history is another way this book could be used.

Bifocal

amazon.com

Books that feature diverse characters

Walters, E., Ellis, D. (2007). Eleven. Alto Nido Press.

Bifocal is a book that contains two parallel stories of high schoolers, Jay and Haroon. Jay is a star football player and has white skin; whereas, Haroon is on the school trivia team and has brown skin. The chapters in this book alternate between the experiences each of these boys face when a classmate, Akeem, is accused of being part of a terror cell in their Canadian city. At first, Haroon is also accused of terrorism based solely on the color of his skin and as the story goes, police continue to harass and threaten Haroon despite setting him free for having nothing to do with the terror plot. There are other happenings like harassment and the internal conflict Jay faces on doing the right or wrong thing but overall, the impact of skin color resonates as the reader learns of how two races can experience the same events in such different ways. Overall, this book could be read by mature 7th graders, but would likely be more appreciated and understood by high school students. This could be used as a classroom read and would be great as an assigned book specifically for the purpose of perspective taking.

Speak

amazon.com

Graphic Novel

Anderson, L.H. (2018). Speak. Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.

The graphic novel version of Speak is just that, graphic. The story is heavy and dark and so are the images; so much so that they could be described as haunting. In Speak, the protagonist, Melinda, recounts her freshman year experience — how she is dealing with school, her parents, and peer relationships after being blamed for calling police to a summer party. One thing that none of these people know, aside from Melinda, is that she was sexually assaulted at that party and is having a great deal of difficulty figuring out what the right course of action is. As she works to figure out how to share her truth, she cuts, she ditches class, and she fights with peers, parents, and teachers. There is a clear heaviness illustrated in this text, which lacks color and uses primarily heavy lines and dark shading. The graphic novel version of this book could be read by a mature 8th grader but might be more appropriate for high school students, though the traditional text could be better suited for the middle grades students due to the lack of graphics. While some teachers do teach this book, independent reading would be a totally adequate assignment for a text such this.

Title: Guinness World Records 2021

Genre: Informational Text

Citation: Guinness World Records (2020). Guinness World Records 2021. Guinness World Records.

Summary: The Guinness World Records 2021 has a lot of records held for all kinds of different things like fastest runner, largest potato, and the most expensive foods. This book is accessible to children ages 6+ because of the vast pictures within the text. (Many children ages 6-7 may not be able to read the entirety of the content but will be able to use the pictures for understanding.) This would be a great book to use for programming purposes in a town library by publishing a newsletter or posters for children who read the most books of a genre or attended the most story hours.  

Title: Who Would Win? Green Ants vs. Army Ants

Genre: eBook

Citation: Pallotta, J. (2019). Who Would Win? Green Ants vs. Army Ants. Scholastic Incorporated.

Who Would Win? Green Ants vs. Army Ants is a book available as an eBook. In this eBook, the reader is delighted by informational graphics of ants and walked through the critical thinking process of comparing and contrasting various types of ants. The graphics in the book are plentiful and there are also games at the end of the book, though the reader is unable to fill them out on the computer. The book shares a lot of information, though, and can engage the reader with the balance of pictures and words. This book could be used as an independent reader for children ages 8+.

Title: Gimkit

Genre: Educational Game

Citation: https://www.gimkit.com/

Gimkit is a considered an online learning game and is often used with middle grades students (grades 4-8). Users of Gimkit can set up questions to answer and then earn “money” for their correct answers. Gimkit can be used by youth to study and to review books or any other content materials. The site has preloaded (by other educators) quizzes and has the option to upload one’s own, so that materials can be catered toward specific content or more general material.

Title: Common Sense Media

Genre: Educational Website

Citation: Reviews for what your kids are into (before they get into it): Common sense media. Common Sense Media: Ratings, reviews, and advice. (n.d). https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Common Sense Media is an educational website that can be used for a range of things through librarianship: It can be used to access media reviews (books and movies), used to create lessons on digital media and Internet safety, and used as a resource for apps, games, and other media forms. Common Sense Media is includes a number of educational resources, not only for teachers and students but for parents and families as well. The website is user-friendly and has sub-headers for different media types, for parents, for educators, and for advocates; there is also a link that informs users of their research. Overall, Common Sense Media offers a user-based experience and allows its users the opportunity to understand media in a more in-depth capacity.

Title: Call of the Wild

Genre: Film

Citation: Sanders, C. (Director). (2020). Call of the Wild. United States. Paramount.

Summary: The Call of the Wild was released as an original movie in the 1970s and was remade in 2020. This movie has vivid graphics that match up with the words in the Jack London classic. Watching films with children that mirror books they have read allows for discussion around critical thinking and offers readers a different vantage point to participate in. Using a film like this in a public library setting could work with library programming by hosting a panel discussion on which was better, the book or the movie; it can also serve as a piece of a whole program on comparing/contrasting books and their corresponding movie versions. This particular book and movie combo would work out nicely for children ages 9-14, but this type of program can be extended for older students by watching the movie O and reading Othello or watching Ten Things I Hate About You and reading Taming of the Shrew.

Children’s literature encompasses so much that it is easy to be overwhelmed by all of its components. Throughout the last seven weeks, I have spent a lot of time reading articles, reading books, researching authors, and learning about educational apps and websites. In order to appropriately use the findings from this course, I think that it makes a lot of sense to think about how I will plan to use these materials going forward.

            First and foremost, a lot of the articles and the Sylvia M. Vardell text Children’s Literature in Action, provide strategies on how best to evaluate both reading and learning materials for children. Last semester, I took a YA Literature course and learned a lot about professional review sources, so having a tool or guideline on how best to evaluate literature through a librarianship scope is another strategy I will implement regularly. In addition to being able to further vet materials, I am looking forward to doing more author spotlights.

            For the purpose of this course, I did an author spotlight on Jason Reynolds: A popular author who I knew very little about. That particular assignment forced me to learn more about an author and I would like to take that approach in the future with other authors and expand what I’ve learned in the form of bulletin boards and book displays for students and teachers to learn more about.

            Areas that I would like to learn more about vary but include learning-based technologies. I read articles this term about the value of eBooks; this was something interesting to me because students at my school will take an eBook as an absolute last resort but do not seem much interested in them otherwise, despite teachers asking me to demonstrate how they are able to change fonts (which can help with dyslexia at times), use the read aloud feature (which offers an opportunity to change both voice and speed), and highlight and/or note-take. I want to figure out a way to make the eBooks mor appealing to students, which is quite the challenge for someone who does not enjoy reading on a screen at all and prefers a paper-book any day of the week.

            Another area of weakness centers on learning apps. I looked at GimKit for this class because I know it’s a learning tool a lot of teachers use and one that our students seemingly enjoy. I did not know much about it otherwise, though. I would like to figure out ways to integrate learning games into the library programming at my school because I think it can be a way to get students excited about class time in the library. It might also be a way to break up digital literacy components of learning and help lead into online safety discussions.

            Another way to discuss online safety is to address computer/technology use for children ages 10+ (the ages of children in my school). Using sites like Common Sense Media can help improve knowledge of understanding across a wide-range of elements like media literacy, online safety, and the site can even be used for book reviews, and for families to investigate whether or not certain sites or apps are appropriate for use by children of any age.

            There is such robust information out there in the world to accompany librarianship and it is really important to know how best to use it without feeling overwhelmed at every turn. I think that’s the biggest takeaway for me is learning how to integrate new knowledge without being overwhelmed and feeling like I need to share everything I know all at once. Because I have been thinking about how to integrate what I have used in this class into a library program, I can chunk the information I’ve learned to meet the needs of my library community.

            Next year, I will hopefully have full use of my library and will be able to run library programs like the reading challenge I created and use bulletin board space to highlight authors, books, and online learning tools. This is something I wholeheartedly look forward to doing. Overall, I think that there was a lot of information learned about throughout this course and I think much of it will benefit children I currently work with and those I will work with in the future. While I am a school librarian this year, it is hard to know which path I will eventually stay on in librarianship but I know I will be prepared for any area I will want to work in moving forward.