All posts by Angie

CMLE, Communication

CMLE’s Top Posts of the Year!

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It’s always fun for us to take a look back on our most read posts and pages from the past academic year. We like to learn what our community is reading about!

  1. Our most read page was our Book Bites Quickie Podcast! We have so much fun recording this, and we’re SO glad you like to listen! Life needs more book recommendations and this quick podcast is easy to fit into your day 🙂
  2. And going right along with number one is our second place winner – our Reading With Libraries page! Each week we invite a guest to tell us about their favorite book genre. We get to learn, share unique and delicious drink recipes, and gather strategies for Reader’s Advisory! Oh, and gush over books, too.
  3. People like to learn about our podcasts! Linking Our Libraries is in third place. This podcast is focused on improving your leadership abilities and working on specific library skills. We hear from local professionals and cover a fantastic variety of topics!
  4. Episode 209: Young Adult Literature has been a popular post. We had Kate and Dezra from the St. Cloud Public Library as Guest Hosts and it was a very energetic conversation!
  5. Officially our most listened-to podcast episode, Episode 210 Magical Realism is such a cool genre to explore! Our Guest Host Kelly from the St. John’s/St. Ben’s library shared some wonderful book titles with us.
  6. Need some ideas for apps to incorporate into your education work? Our series on the AASL Recommended Apps has detailed suggestions for you, and PBS Kid’s Games was a popular one this year.
  7. We LOVE awarding scholarships! Our page CMLE Scholarships was visited many times (and you should go check it out if you need a scholarship for some professional development!)
  8. Reader’s Advisory is such an important part of working in the library community! This article, part of our Training Tips series, won the number eight spot on our list.
  9. Another Training Tip: Student Library Assistant Training Guide: Shelving Basics made the Top Post cutoff!
  10. It is so rewarding to see advocacy efforts having an impact! Our page Did You Receive A Library Postcard? for the legislators and library stakeholders that we contacted via postcard was definitely sharing the value of libraries this year!

Books

Music Book Mash-Up: June


In this series, we are going to share a fun variety of books about music! Even if you don’t play an instrument you can still absolutely be a music lover. So check back each month for a different collection of books all relating in some way to music! We’ll share fiction and nonfiction titles and try to cover many different genres and time frames. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments! Happy reading (and listening, and playing!) 

Hooray for summer! We’ve got some music reads (mostly set in summer) to keep you entertained and to distract you from the mosquitos.

Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Tim Bowers
“When a jazz-loving rooster sets his sights on winning a barnyard talent show, he realizes he can’t do it as a solo act. He’s up against the talents of Mules Davis’s cool duo and Ella Finchgerald’s singing group.
Colorful artwork from artist Tim Bowers ensures this story doesn’t miss a beat. A glossary of musical terms and intruments rounds out this perfect introduction to jazz for young readers.”

All Summer Long by Hope Larson
“A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel about summer and friendships, written and illustrated by the Eisner Award–winning and New York Times–bestselling Hope Larson.
Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he’s off to soccer camp for a month, and he’s been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it’s up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it’s a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin’s older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he’s acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story.”

Summer of ’69 by Todd Strasser
“Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock and the remarkable summer that led up to it. Featuring Sir Lucas of the Round Table(t). Astonishingly autobiographical. Remarkably personal. Profoundly irresponsible.
Drawing from his teenage years, Todd Strasser’s novel revisits a tumultuous era and takes readers on a psychedelically tinged trip of a lifetime.”

Beautiful Music by Michael Zadoorian
“Set in early 1970s Detroit, a racially divided city still reeling from its violent riot of 1967, Beautiful Music is the story of one young man’s transformation through music. Danny Yzemski is a husky, pop radio–loving loner balancing a dysfunctional home life with the sudden harsh realities of freshman year at a high school marked by racial turbulence.”

Time Won’t Me by Bill Scheft
“In Bill Scheft’s hilarious second novel, a finalist for the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor, five former members of a rock band, fast approaching age fifty, try to overcome their petty feuds and failed (and failing) marriages to recapture the fading yet distinct tone of their music and friendships.
In 1967, while students at Chase Academy, the prep-school garage band known as the Truants recorded a vanity album, Out of Site. Thirty years later, they discover that a record collector has paid $10,000 for a rare copy of the disk, and an avid fan-turned-promoter convinces them to reunite and cash in. But miles from the horizon of youth, weighted down by shortsighted choices and mortgaged ambitions, they find that’s not so simple.”

Books

We Heart MN: Zoos!

We have some great zoos in Minnesota. Of course the most famous are the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory and the Minnesota Zoo but closer to CMLE-land we have the Hemker Zoo in Freeport and the Pine Grove Zoo in Little Falls! If you are looking forward to a zoo visit this summer, we’ve got some books to get you started.

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart
“Brimming with charm and whimsy, this exquisite novel set in the Tower of London has the transportive qualities and delightful magic of the contemporary classics Chocolat and AmĂ©lie.
Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It’s no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London.
When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interest­ing. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives.”

The Rhino with Glue-On Shoes: And Other Surprising True Stories of Zoo Vets and their Patients by Lucy H. Spelman
“A moray eel diagnosed with anorexia…A herd of bison whose only hope is a crusading female doctor from Paris…A vet desperately trying to save an orphaned whale by unraveling the mystery of her mother’s death…This fascinating book offers a rare glimpse into the world of exotic animals and the doctors who care for them.”

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
“It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for forty years. They have found a species of animal no one believed even existed. It will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time.”

Our Zoo by June Mottershead
“Chester Zoo is counted among the top 10 zoos in the world and, with over 11,000 animals and 400 species, it is the most visited wildlife attraction in Britain. Unlike other zoos that owe their existence to philanthropists, explorers or big game hunters, Chester Zoo was the brainchild of one working-class man with a dream he had nurtured since he was a boy: to build a zoo without bars.”

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
“Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons.
Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow.
Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own.”

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett
“Two gypsy boys are fleeing through a war-ravaged country-side during the night carrying a secret bundle. The boys stumble across a town that has been reduced to smoking rubble, and a zoo that is still intact. When the boys take shelter in the zoo, they discover a menagerie of talking animals. Both the boys and the animals tell their tales and their desire for freedom.”

School Media Specialist, Tech

Mark Your Calendars: Two ITEM Events Happening This Summer

CMLE members, there are two chances for you to get together with fellow tech educators this summer!

ITEM 20/20 Vision Workshop
July 17th 9am – 3pm

This workshop will involve following up from the meeting in January where attendees identified areas on which ITEM should focus in the future, such as advocacy, communications, events/professional development, and membership benefits. Join us to work on the next steps.

This workshop is open to members only (but new members are welcome!). There is no charge, and lunch will be on your own.

Board meeting will follow (3-5pm)

2019 ITEM Summer Leadership: YALSA Workshop
July 18th 8:30am – 3:30pm

Student Voice & Choice Hot Dish: Recipes for Better Relationships, Better Learning & Computational Thinking Made Easy

What Is Connected Learning (CL)?
Learn the core concepts of Connected Learning (relationships, interests and real-world application) and how this can look in libraries by looking at a practice model and thinking about adapting the concepts to your own setting.

Workshop Outcomes

Participants will:

  • Understand the philosophy of Connected Learning as it relates to Educational and Career opportunities
  • Explore the Six Principles of Connected Learning
  • Think about how to operationalize Connected Learning theory into practice
  • Learn about how a library has incorporated Connected Learning into a production-centered site

Connecting CL & Computational Thinking (CT)
Even for beginners, CT doesn’t need to be scary. Ditch the fear by getting hands-on experience and a chance to discuss what computational thinking is and how it can be integrated into children’s and teen activities. Then discuss ways to combine that with Connected Learning for killer programs.

Workshop Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

  • Articulate how CL environments support youth learning of CT
  • Understand how to get started designing CL-connected CT activities

Current members: $35
Non-members: $50
Workshop + reduced-price membership: $85 ($10 savings)

Lunch (a variety of sandwiches) is included, and attendees earn 6 CEUs.

Registration deadline is July 7. Space is limited, so don’t delay.


Books

Book Bouquet: Oceans


Each week we assemble a collection – a bouquet, if you will – of books you can read for yourself, or use to build into a display in your library. 

Depending on where you are, Lake Superior can look as vast as the ocean! But if you’re interested in the real thing, we have some suggested reading for all ages all about the oceans of the world:

The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
“This classic work remains as fresh today as when it first appeared. Carson’s writing teems with stunning, memorable images–the newly formed Earth cooling beneath an endlessly overcast sky; the centuries of nonstop rain that created the oceans; giant squids battling sperm whales hundreds of fathoms below the surface; and incredibly powerful tides moving 100 billion tons of water daily in the Bay of Fundy. Quite simply, she captures the mystery and allure of the ocean with a compelling blend of imagination and expertise.”

Whale In A Fishbowl by Troy Howell, Richard Jones (Illustrator)
“Wednesday is a whale who lives in a fishbowl smack dab in the middle of a city–it’s the only home she’s ever known. Cars whizz around her and people hurry past; even the sun and moon circle above. But if she leaps high enough out of her bowl, Wednesday can see it: a calm bit of blue off in the distance. When a girl in a paisley dress tells Wednesday “You belong in the sea,” the whale starts to wonder, what is the sea? Readers will cheer–and get all choked up– when, one day, Wednesday leaps higher than ever before and sets in motion a breathtaking chain of events that will carry her to her rightful home. Touching, and ultimately uplifting, here is a story about a lonely creature longing to be free–and longing to find someone just like her.  “

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
At 9 years old, Eugenie Clark developed an unexpected passion for sharks after a visit to the Battery Park Aquarium in New York City. At the time, sharks were seen as mindless killing machines, but Eugenie knew better and set out to prove it. Despite many obstacles in her path, Eugenie was able to study the creatures she loved so much. From her many discoveries to the shark-related myths she dispelled, Eugenie’s wide scientific contributions led to the well-earned nickname “Shark Lady.”

Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina
“Part odyssey, part pilgrimage, this epic personal narrative follows the author’s exploration of coasts, islands, reefs, and the sea’s abyssal depths. Scientist and fisherman Carl Safina takes readers on a global journey of discovery, probing for truth about the world’s changing seas, deftly weaving adventure, science, and political analysis.”

A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire by Sugata Bose
“On December 26, 2004, giant tsunami waves destroyed communities around the Indian Ocean. This book takes us to the shores, in a reinterpretation of how culture developed and history was made at the height of the British Raj. It reconstructs how a region’s culture, economy, politics and imagination are woven together in time and place.”