Dementia is an issue many kids and young adults will deal with, through family members, neighbors, and friends. Recently, a library listserve from the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) had members who shared suggestions for books they could recommend to their patrons.
Many suggestions were offered. And as this seemed to be a very popular discussion, we wanted to share some of these books with our members who may also need these in your collections! Read on, for a bunch of book suggestions: Continue reading Recommended kid’s books on dementia→
Would you YA, or YA-book fans of all ages, want to read books with a cooking theme? There are some great suggestions from YALSA!
“Everyone has to do it eventually but surprisingly few YA fiction books have any reference to it. I’m talking about cooking and baking, of course. When I started thinking about read-a-likes for Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, I knew I wanted to feature some books with bakers like Lara Jean. That wound up being harder to find than I expected which also made me think that others might be interested in a more exhaustive list of books for teens with bakers, chefs, and foodies. For other books with teen chefs, be sure to check out the 2011 Popular Paperbacks “What’s Cooking?” List!”
Hmmmmm…..Literature Map is so incredibly easy to use, I am skeptical about how good it is. Suggested for folks who have exhausted their favorite author’s books, and want similar works by others. The Literature-Map is part of Gnod, the Global Network of Discovery. It is based on Gnooks, Gnod’s literature recommendation system. The more people like an author and another author, the closer together these two authors will move on the Literature-Map.
All you do is type the name of your favorite author in the search box, click on search and notice your author is in the middle of your screen. Watch other author names swirl around the screen a bit until some come to rest close to your author’s name. Supposedly, these authors offer similar fare. Try it out and let me know in the comments what you think. I would think your “avid reader” students would love this tool.
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/lw8nkjr, licensed under CC BY 2.0
Attention Central MN! This FREE conference is a haven for students who love to read and write. Maria Burnham, Sauk-Rapids Rice High School Media Specialist, is hoping that if a few different schools get together and share a bus, they could share the cost of transportation along with CMLE who has agreed to pay for a portion of the bus fee. Please contact Maria if you’re interested in attending with students and she will work with you to coordinate details. Or, please pass this information along to any others you think would be interested. Maria is willing to do the organizing if you can get the kids! Call Maria at 320.258.1625, email her at maria.burnham@isd47.org, or find her on Twitter @MariaBurnham4.
Maria Burnham with Author Steve Brezenoff
Not sure? Read Maria’s account of Teen Lit Con last year….
Looking Back at TeenLitCon 2015!
Let’s face it. In the K-12 world, everyone loves spring. Our students have grown and changed since the fall, and the warmer weather has us all dreaming of summer days to come. For me, one of the reasons I so look forward to the spring is attending the TeenLitCon at Henry Sibley High School.
Last year was the first year I attended the event. I brought six students with me in a school van, and we made the hour-and-a-half long trek to the southern Metro on a beautiful Saturday morning in May to immerse ourselves in books, writing, and a love of reading.
Upon our arrival, the energy of the place was magnetic! The Henry Sibley gym was full of enthusiastic teenagers waiting to meet their favorite authors. The day started with a Q & A panel with E. Lockhart, Matt de la Pena, Gene Luen Yang,
“Next read” predictions gurus!
and Gayle Forman. The rest of the day was a “build your own schedule” of breakout sessions: book signings, keynote speeches by the four featured authors, writing workshops, button-making, poetry writing, “your next read” predictions, illustration tips, and book talks. I walked away from the day with a bag full of signed books and a renewed energy for teen literature. My favorite of the day? Joining in a dance party with Gayle Forman and about a hundred other students.
I’m looking forward to attending the event this year, once again held at Henry Sibley High School on Saturday, May 7th. Giving up a Saturday isn’t always easy (especially one in May), but this event is worth it! The van ride home last year was completely quiet as my students were engrossed in their new books. Some of my aspiring authors left the day with a few writing tips and opportunities for summer writing camps. Others were so excited to receive an advanced copy of a book by an author they just met. No matter the take-away moment for the student, all enjoyed the event and left with memories that will stay with them forever.
Thank you to the metro public libraries for sponsoring such a wonderful, FREE event to teenagers! Hope you’ll join me in attending TeenLitCon this year!
Meredith Farkas is a faculty librarian at Portland (Oreg) Community College and a lecturer at San Jose State University’s School of Information. She recently did a blog post brimming with ideas about how to make library end users feel a personal connection with their librarian of choice, and mitigate any fears of using the library. Her examples include academic and public libraries specifically. If terms like “personal librarian service” or “book recommendation ninja”, appeal to you, her post is worth a read. She also talks a bit about the how an Oregon library is humanizing readers’ advisory in a big way by using the My Librarian service. Read Meredith’s post now at In Practice: High tech, high touch
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