It’s award season! On Monday, Jan. 23rd, ALA announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults. Some of the awards announced include: Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards. Check out our previous article about Minnesota author Kelly Barnhill’s win of the Newbery award!
See below for a few examples of awards and winners!
Continue reading ALA 2017 Youth Media Award Winners
This week it was announced that Minnesota author Kelly Barnhill won the Newbery Medal for her book The Girl Who Drank The Moon.
This article from the St. Cloud Times describes the plot of the book, in which a village fears a witch that lives in the nearby woods and to keep her happy (so they think) they bring a newborn baby to her forest each year. But the witch is actually good, and brings the babies to be with families on the other side of the woods.
In the article, Barnhill shares how the book can easily translate to real life situations for her young readers: “This notion of rumor spreading and of getting the wrong idea about a person,” she said, “that’s like real stuff for these kids, that’s what their life is like right now.” Barnhill is a teacher in Minneapolis for a nonprofit arts organization, and really enjoys interacting with the kids that read her books, and hearing how they interpret the story.
Fox Animation has acquired the rights to The Girl Who Drank the Moon and Barnhill looks forward to the interpretation into film.
Libraries, and library people, are -as we all know – fascinating! All kinds of great things happen in libraries, and every day is a potential adventure for us.
This has not gone unnoticed.
There are many comics out there that are set in libraries, and when you read through them it can be so fun to say “Yes! That happened to me!” or “Eeek! That sounds so scary!”
Do you have other favorites? Add them in the comments below! We would love to hear about more!
One of the most famous library comics is the now-retired Unshelved. It’s all about the adventures of Dewey – a librarian who may not be the best example of great service. Other characters include his well-meaning (but not terribly effective) manager, the enthusiastic children’s librarian, a senior Reference librarian, and a few other library staffers.
You can follow the creators’ schedule, as they travel to all kinds of library conferences; and you can buy all kinds of neat things in their online store – including my favorite shirt:
Does your library have teens as volunteers?
Are you struggling to find tasks for them?
Are you thinking about teens, and making some work plans?
You are not alone!
These are ideas you might consider for giving your teen volunteers (or other volunteers!) some tasks in your library. These are all currently being used by libraries around the country, so should be helpful in your library.
Do you have other suggestions? Share them in the comments! We could all use ideas for making a volunteer experience valuable for the teens and for the library!
Continue reading Teen Volunteers in the library? Keep them busy!
This program was just too cute not to share with CMLE members! As you know, I am a huge fan of library outreach work; and that includes reaching into all areas of the communities we serve. Partnerships make that outreach even stronger. And this program is not only adorable, but a great example of partnerships outside the library!
Dr. James Thomas was invited by the Amon Cartner Museum (Ft. Worth, Texas) to do his program on language play for infants in their gallery. It was such a hit last year, they scheduled four events this year!
“Infancy is the time to begin with an awareness of language and books. During this program you will learn songs, how to share books, sign language, and ways to exercise with your little one to encourage language development. Each caregiver will receive a free CD of all songs and activities shared.” (more information on the program is after the break)
Do you have an idea for reaching out to a segment of your population? Would making some connections, and building up partnerships, help your library provide better service – or something really fun? Great!!
Let’s discuss your plans, and see what we can do to help out! CMLE Headquarters is here to support you and the work you do for your patrons; so let’s do some great things! Continue reading Library Outreach Example: Itty Bitty Art
