Library Sparks magazine October 2014

OCt 2014 w w w. librar yspark s .com • Vol. 12, No. 2

Engaging Activities to Reach Every Reader

Pete the Cat

Help Reluctant Readers See Things in a Whole New Way Meet the Author: James Dean

LET US KNOW! Take the LibrarySparks Reader Survey. Details inside. From Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses

so many books: reaching particular readers • Page 2 Core focus: our feathered friends • Page 16 fiction/nonfiction: character counts

• Page 44

LibrarySparks October 2014 Volume 12, Number 2 ISSN 1544-9092 PUBLISHER • Matt Mulder EDITOR • Lisa Bintrim CONTRIBUTING EDITOR • Pat Miller ART DIRECTOR • Heidi Green DESIGN • Jane Munden Brown SPECIAL THANKS TO Rob Reid, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire; Carol Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI Copyright ©2014 by Demco, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. The purchase of this magazine entitles the individual librarian or teacher to reproduce copies for use in the library or classroom. The reproduction of any part for an entire school system or for commercial use is strictly prohibited. No form of this work may be reproduced or transmitted or recorded without written permission from the publisher. Permission for reprints should be directed to LibrarySparks Magazine, 4810 Forest Run Road, Madison, WI 53704. LibrarySparks Magazine is published nine times a year in January, February, March, April, May/June, August/September, October, November, and December. SUBSCRIPTION RATE $59.95 per year for nine issues WEBSITE www.librarysparks.com CUSTOMER SERVICE 800.933.2089 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. CDT Issues missing or damaged in the mail must be claimed in writing by the end of the month after the date of publication. A replacement copy will be mailed at no charge. Direct requests to Customer Service. POSTMASTER Please send change of address notice to: LibrarySparks Magazine P.O. Box 293091 Kettering, OH 45429 All manuscripts accepted for publication are copyrighted by the publisher and become the property of the publisher. LibrarySparks publishes practical, ready-to-use articles for the elementary and children’s librarian. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Dewey, DDC, and Dewey Decimal Classification are registered trademarks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated. SEND US YOUR IDEAS! Do you have a helpful hint to share? We’d love to hear it! Send your ideas to: LibrarySparks Attn: Submissions 4810 Forest Run Road Madison, WI 53704 E-mail: librarysparks@demco.com Be sure to include your name, school or library name, city, state, home mailing address, home phone, and e-mail address.

OCT 2014

Last month we introduced you to some big changes at LibrarySparks, including our new look and new columns. And we still have more exciting changes in the coming months. Our goal is to support you by providing engaging activities and useful information that you can easily put into practice. We’re continuing to look for new and better ways to meet that goal. At LibrarySparks, we know that you face many demands for your time and resources. We want to make sure that we’re helping you meet those demands. Please take a few minutes to complete a short, online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/LibrarySparks14 to let us know how we can continue to serve and support you. For every survey completed, we will donate $2 to First Book, a nonprofit organization that connects book publishers and community organizations to provide access to new books for children in need. You can also share your ideas with us directly at librarysparks@demco.com. And make sure to follow us on Twitter (@LibrarySparksMg) for even more ideas, activities, and resources. Lisa Bintrim Editor

Let Us Know! Complete a short online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/ LibrarySparks14 and we will donate $2 to the nonprofit organization, First Book.

About the Cover Pete the Cate and His Magic Sunglasses by Kimberly and James Dean. HarperCollins, 2013. Pete the Cat wakes up feeling grumpy— nothing seems to be going his way. But with the help of some rockin’ magic sunglasses from Grumpy Toad, Pete learns that a good mood has been inside him all along. Groove and move with Pete as he helps Squirrel, Turtle, and Alligator discover that the sun is shining and everything’s all right! Cover image from PETE THE CAT AND HIS MAGIC SUNGLASSES. Text and Illustration Copyright © 2013 by Kimberly and James Dean. Used by permission of HarperCollins, 2013. All rights reserved.

Reluctant readers will need extra support to negotiate

The right book can open a child’s mind to the

the changes coming with

possibilities inherent

the Common Core.

in literature.

p.2

p.21

p.4

“That was something, to know I’d really touched somone with a painting.” – James Dean

p.30

How can a librarian woo the children who can’t, don’t, or won’t read?

p.38

49 / STORYTIME

2 / SO MANY BOOKS

24 / KEEP ‘EM READING

Reaching Particular Readers by Megan Schliesman | K–5

Read It All: Exploring Alternative Text by Judith Snyder | 1–5

Starring the ABCs and the 123s by Rob Reid | PK–2

4 / FREEBIES, DOODADS, & HELPFUL HINTS

28 / OCTOBER ACTIVITY CALENDAR

52 / CHARACTER ED

by Patti Sinclair | K–5

by Patti Sinclair | K–5

Slip-Sliding to Success by Judy Bradbury | K–5

56 / LIBRARYSPARKS TALKS TO

6 / TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES

30 / MEET THE AUTHOR

by Aileen Kirkham and Mandy Watson | PK–6

James Dean by Nick Glass of TeachingBooks.net | PK–6

Mike Jung, We Need Diverse Books by Lisa Bintrim

by Diane Findlay | PK–7

35 / LIBRARY LESSONS

Web Resources

16 / CORE FOCUS

Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) by Lynne Farrell Stover | K–3

8 / CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Our Feathered Friends by Toni Buzzeo | K–5

38 / TECHNOLOGY

18 / GAINING STEAM

Wooing Disengaged Readers by Boni Hamilton | K–5

Pulling In Reluctant Readers by Amy Koester | K–6

42 / TECH TIPS

BIBLIOGRAPHY Booklists for this month’s articles

WEBLIOGRAPHY Live links to the websites listed in this month’s issue

by Shonda Briscoe

21 / STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE Reluctant Readers & the Common Core by Beth Anne Burke | 1–5

44 / FICTION/NONFICTION Character Counts by Pat Miller | 2–5

Look for this icon throughout the magazine to find out more about this issue’s online resources at www.librarysparks.com.

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 1

by | Megan Schliesman

SO MANY BOOKS Reaching Particular Readers Grades K-5

My colleague Merri Lindgren at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) has given me a different way of thinking about reluctant readers. When I would talk to Merri about the fact that my own daughter was not the eager reader I had once imagined she might be, I sometimes used the term “reluctant” to describe her reading habits (or non-habits). One day Merri challenged my perception, saying, “She’s not reluctant. She’s just particular about what she chooses to read.” I realized Merri was right. The term “particular” describes a lot of kids whom we commonly label as “reluctant” readers. As many teachers and librarians know, it’s not that some kids won’t read on principle; they just don’t want to read things that don’t interest them. (Of course, it can sometimes feel like the list of things that don’t interest them includes just about everything published in book format.) The same is true for kids who read avidly. They don’t want to spend time reading things that they find boring. But kids who read eagerly and willingly don’t have to be

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sold on the pleasure of reading and are much more willing to pick up a book on the chance that they might like it. Particular readers need to be convinced that there’s something in it for them. I like thinking about kids who are reluctant to read as “particular” readers, because the term is not only more positive, but also underscores the fundamental requirement in encouraging reading: responding to the interests of each particular child. When someone is looking for books for a reluctant, or even struggling, reader, I start by asking about the child’s interests. Not the child’s reading interests, which are often nonexistent, but his or her broader interests: basketball, music, art, soccer, and so on. Finding a just-right book for a reluctant reader can be a process of trial and error. I once suggested the novels of Kevin Henkes—including The Birthday Room, Protecting Marie, and Bird Lake Moon—for a fifth-grade boy described as sensitive and artistic. I needed a place to start, so I assumed that he

might enjoy characters with whom he shared some similarities. Later I heard the books were a hit, but it’s possible that characters and situations completely different from him and his life would have been the ticket. Maybe he’d have liked the over-the-top humor of Stuart Gibbs’s Spy School and Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee, or the gripping survival story in Melanie Crowder’s Parched and Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Maybe eye-catching nonfiction, like that of Steve Jenkins in The Animal Book, would have drawn him in.

SO MANY BOOKS

Maybe he’d ultimately like them all. Sometimes, the right book—the one that captures a child’s attention and holds it—can open her mind to the possibilities inherent in literature, so that she is willing to try another book with less resistance, or even no resistance at all. Sometimes it takes more work on our part. When the Harry Potter books first came out, they were credited with singlehandedly turning non-readers into readers. It probably wasn’t that simple. I’m sure that it was true for some kids, while others may have enjoyed Harry Potter but then returned to being particular readers, challenging the adults in their lives to come up with something else they might find appealing. At the same time, we need to be careful when finding out about the interests and traits of a particular reader that we don’t get locked into assumptions about her or him. I started with an assumption when I suggested the Kevin Henkes books because I thought the boy might relate to the reflective nature of the characters. But if I’d been told the books had fallen flat with the reader, I would have needed to change my tactic. I might have gone back to the qualities I typically rely on when suggesting books for kids who aren’t excited about reading, such as humor, a fast-moving or action-packed storyline, or highly visual books, including nonfiction or picture books with sophisticated illustrations that might appeal to older readers, too. A recent conversation with a terrific school librarian underscored the importance of not taking assumptions too far. She was talking about a child who had been resistant to every book suggestion that she’d made. She realized she needed to take a step back and spend time observing the child to get more information, rather than thinking that she already

understood what might appeal to him. In the end, the book he chose for himself astounded her, because it was unlike any book she had been trying to get him to read. Even though he didn’t finish the book, he had been empowered to start it and make up his own mind. She realized then that she had been making a wrong assumption—a limiting one—about him as a reader. Walking that fine line between providing guidance and making assumptions is critical. We should not automatically assume that boys only want to read about boys, that girls aren’t interested in nonfiction, or that a child who is Black or White or Latina only wants to read about characters that look like her, even though those books must be among those available for her to choose. Libraries are—or should be—places of abundant choice. And children should be given the freedom to choose for themselves what they want to check out, without limitations based on their reading abilities or grade level. It is one of the ways that libraries foster, support, and encourage literacy and a love of reading. But within that framework, particular readers often need help navigating the array of choices available to them. When they walk into a library, instead of seeing a place full of possibility, they see an overwhelming challenge. To make the choices manageable for particular readers, provide a book display that offers various genres and formats without an overwhelming number of choices. Include humor, history, adventure, science, and mystery. Don’t forget nonfiction, graphic novels, and wordless and almost wordless books, like those created by David Wiesner and Barbara Lehman, which offer rich forays into

visual literacy and storymaking. If you have audiobooks or e-books, make sure that readers know how to access those formats. Highlighting a smaller range of titles and genres through displays, booktalks, one-on-one interactions, and opportunities for word-ofmouth exchanges among children themselves can help particular readers navigate the breadth of choices they have. When it’s time to decide, encourage them to choose more than one book, so that if they don’t like the first, they can go on to the second, or the third. Finally, make sure they know that it is okay to stop reading something they don’t like. That’s right: they don’t have to finish a book—not when fostering a love, or at least a like, of reading is the goal. Practice is essential to literacy development, so don’t let them off the hook. Make clear that you expect them to continue to try new things and that you won’t give up on helping them discover books that they will enjoy. It isn’t a threat— it’s a promise.

Megan Schliesman is a librarian at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She can be reached at schliesman@ education.wisc.edu.

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 3

by | Patti Sinclair

Tales of Two Witches

“It Must Be October” Bulletin Board

Keith McGowan’s The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children and The Witch’s Curse are modern takes on two of Grimm’s fairy tales. These books are perfect for Halloween reading or sharing with fourth and fifth graders. Lesson plans and links for both books are available at McGowan’s website: www.keithbooks.com/teachers.html

Cover the board with black paper. Cut a paper golden harvest moon, and place it in the center of the board. Print or write the abridged version of the poem below in large letters on the moon.

It Must Be October The harvest moon hangs round and high It dodges clouds high in the sky The stars wink down their love and mirth The Autumn season is giving birth Oh, it must be October The leaves of red bright gold and brown To Mother Earth come tumbling down The breezy nights the ghostly sights The eerie spooky far off sounds Are signs that it’s October The pumpkins yellow, big and round Are carried by costumed clumsy clowns It’s Halloween—let’s celebrate. ~ Pearl N. Sorrels

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book giveaways

Grades K-5

FREEBIES, DOODADS, & HELPFUL HINTS

FREEBIES, DOODADS, & HELPFUL HINTS

It’s National Arts and Humanities Month Celebrate the arts this month with a colorful display of books about artists and the arts. There are many, many books available—biographies of artists; books on music, dance, theater; and the arts; and guides to creating art. Here are a few links to bibliographies about the arts.

children practice and present Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s Casey at the Bat. You can find Aaron Shepard’s adaptation of this famous poem for Reader’s Theater at www.aaronshep. com/rt/RTE23.html. And for a fun change of pace, show students Abbott and Costello’s comedy routine, “Who’s on First,” available on YouTube (http://tinyurl.com/nzfpkqt). Students may want to read and present the skit; the complete script is available at http://tinyurl.com/y6rbbgn.

Play Ball (Little League) by Matt Christopher. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2013. Take Me Out to the Ballgame by Jack Norworth. (Includes CD with Carly Simon). Imagine/Charlesbridge, 2011.

Halloween Puzzle

No Time for Flashcards, 21 Picture Books About Art: http://tinyurl.com/nskslnd

Books to Share

Challenge students to solve a Halloween riddle. The reproducible riddle is available online at www.libarysparks.com. (Answer: Ghoulash)

Baseball Is… by Louise Borden. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2014.

Bunnicula Challenge

Pinterest, Picture Books About Art/ Paintings: http://tinyurl.com/qhkwc3e

Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest L. Thayer. Chronicle Books, 2000.

CCBC, Fifty Books About the Arts: http://tinyurl.com/ovoc29m

Baseball Fever The World Series this month signals the end of the season for America’s pastime. Create a book display with books for all ages on baseball. Have

Heavy Hitters (Game Changers 3) by Mike Lupica. Scholastic, 2014. The Philly Fake (Ballpark Mysteries #9) by David A. Kelly. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2014.

First published in 1979, Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe is now a classic; the tale of the vampire rabbit is always fun to read this time of year. Students can boost their vocabulary with the Bunnicula Challenge at www.librarysparks.com.

Magical Mayhem

True Confessions

Readers devouring bestselling author Jasper Fforde’s wild and witty new fantasy series for grades 5–7, The Chronicles of Kazam, are eagerly anticipating the publication of the third book in October: The Eye of Zoltar. This newest installment again features the intrepid Jennifer Strange and her efforts to keep the underemployed magicians of Kazam Mystical Arts Management afloat. Ten winners will receive all three books in the series (two paperbacks and one hardcover) for their library or classroom! To enter, send an e-mail to KazamGiveaway@gmail.com with your name, shipping address, and e-mail address. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on October 24, 2014.

Charlie is a middle child. Sandwiched between an overachieving older sister and a too-cute-for-his-own-good younger brother, how can she ever win? After she does a mean thing at school—a really mean thing—Charlie finds herself expelled and stuck with weekly sessions with a shrink all summer. At their final session, as she is about to start a brand new life as a seventh grader, Charlie’s therapist gives her a last assignment: Find the most bullied, friendless, laughed-at, lonely girl in the entire school and be her friend. In public. What ensues is a heartfelt, funny adventure as the two classmates confront truly mean girls, and fresh and sassy Charlie develops into a loyal friend and sister. Readers in grades 5–7 will laugh out loud at Charlie’s experiences in Confessions of a So-called Middle Child and Watch Out, Hollywood! More Confessions of a So-called Middle Child by Maria Lennon. Five winners will receive both books for their library or classroom. To enter, send an e-mail to MiddleChildGiveaway@gmail.com with your name, shipping address, and e-mail address. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on October 17, 2014. Download a free activity kit for both books at www.marialennon.com.

Meet the Franklin School Friends Kelsey, Annika, and Izzy are best friends in Mrs. Molina’s third grade class at Franklin School. Kelsey loves to read and Annika adores math. The girls have all sorts of fun school adventures in Kelsey Green, Reading Queen and Annika Riz, Math Whiz, charming books by Claudia Mills that are ideal for grades 2–4. Enter to win the first two Franklin School Friends books for your classroom or library! Five winners will receive the set. To enter, send an e-mail to FranklinSchoolGiveaway@gmail.com with your name, shipping address, and e-mail address. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on October 17, 2014. Download a free discussion guide with activities for both books at www.claudiamillsauthor.com.

For all book giveaways Winners will be selected in a random drawing and notified via e-mail. One entry per person, please; prizes will only be shipped to US addresses. Your e-mail address will not be saved or sold. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 5

Kindergarten’s First Visit to the Shelves October Promotion: Reading Is Monster-ously Fun

Peggy Doss, librarian at Willow Creek Elementary in Tomball, Texas, discovered a successful way to introduce kindergarteners to the shelves for independent checkout.

Incorporate these activities as a seasonal reading promotion:

She places numbered labels on the shelf sections where the students will find their books. She then explains to the students how to select books from the numbered shelves. She hands out shelf markers (or book buddies) and notes that each shelf marker has a number that matches the section where they will select their books (providing only two shelf markers for each number, to prevent overcrowding in the shelves). She then demonstrates how to find a book, using the number on the shelf marker.

• Set up a display of monster books labeled Monsterously Fun!

Grades PK-6

• Sing a song (to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”): Oh! Reading can be monster-ously fun. Ah! Ha! (Repeat) Mrs. Beamster leads the way, will she laminate you today? Oh! Reading can be monster-ously fun. Ah! Ha! • Read aloud: The Librarian from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler. • Pass out bookmarks with recommended titles. • Encourage children to check out books from the Monsterously Fun display. Have youth volunteers make bookmarks and a bulletin board display of fun, not frightening, monster memorabilia, including monster riddles and jokes, the Loch Ness Monster, and book covers of Where the Wild Things Are and the Mike Thaler series of the Black Lagoon. Get ideas for bookmarks and other activities at http://tinyurl.com/np8t355.

Short and Spooky This is the season when students often like to be scared by spooky stories, music, or videos. Patrick Carmen’s 3:15 stories can provide all of those in one sitting. The 3:15 stands for the three ways a short, scary story can be experienced by listening to its introduction, reading the storyline, and watching the ending—all in just 15 minutes or less. Go to the 3:15 website at www.315stories.com to learn more about the various formats for accessing these stories.

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Staff Collaboration: BOOO-tiful Relationships The best way to open the door to collaboration with staff members is to build a relationship of trust. Doing something as simple as offering a reminder about services can be one of the building blocks in this process. Here’s a suggestion for a seasonal reminder: • Make lollipop ghosts with tissues, rubber bands, and a black fine-line marker. Drape tissue over the lollipop, secure it with a rubber band, and add facial features with the marker. • Tie a note to it: “Dear Staff, Just poppin’ in to wish you a booo-tiful month of good reading from the library. Let me know if I need to scare up a good book for class read-alouds or units of study. Your Media Magician.”

TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES

Fall Cleaning for Your Electronics Dirty Keyboards Come Clean: Dip a cotton swab in nail polish remover and gently dab away the grime. Charging Ports De-Gunked: If you have problems with getting a smooth fit with a charger and its port, use a toothpick to remove the debris that builds up from daily use.

A Genius Way to Get—and Keep—Volunteers For a quick and easy way to get volunteers for your library, use the free website Sign Up Genius (www. signupgenius.com). After completing your Sign Up Genius’ page, send the link to your school’s parent– teacher association president. He or she can then forward the link to all of the organization’s members. Sign Up Genius can be used for such volunteer needs in the library as book fairs, shelving needs, inventory time, processing materials—or whatever other genius ideas you may come up with! Volunteer Appreciation • Stock a cooler with individual-sized bottled sodas. Tie a note to them: “We’re soda lighted to have you here.” • Fill clear plastic containers or bags with candy corn and add a note: “It may sound corny, but you’re the best of the crop.”

Planning a New Library: Picture It! Team up with the director of new facilities and your principal to make the most of designing a new library. Take a camera and visit area schools to do a photo shoot of features you would like incorporated into the library’s design. My district allowed me to liaison with the architect to share the pictures. In turn, the architect designed a far more user-friendly, custommade circulation desk, along with other ideas I gathered. He was most appreciative of the input.

Got Funding? The following is just a partial list of resources to help you identify funds for your programs: • Demco Free Library and Education Grant Search. www.demco.com/goto?GRANTS. This free search engine lists hundreds of government and private funding sources. • Library Grants. http://librarygrants.blogspot.com. This blog is maintained by Stephanie Gerding and Pam MacKellar, authors of Winning Grants: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians. The site can be cumbersome to navigate because it is not easily searchable, but the listings are thorough and kept up to date. • The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation. www.loislenskicovey. org/6.html. This grant is specifically for purchasing books for children preschool age through grade 8. Alicia Vandenbroek, a school librarian in Arlington, Texas, has a wealth of advice and resources for grant writing available on LiveBinder (http://tinyurl.com/qxtzlos).

Just for You Tuck a small, handheld electronic such as a smart phone in a can koozie to protect the screen. Clip the stylus inside the koozie, too, to save time searching for it. If you do shatter the screen on your phone or tablet, a DIY repair kit, like the ones available at www.icracked. com, can save you the cost of a replacement. Need a confidence builder for using the kit? Search YouTube for a how-to video.

Aileen Kirkham, BEd & MLS, is the author of Library Lessons for Little Ones (UpstartBooks) and a regular contributor to LibrarySparks. After thirty years as a school librarian and classroom teacher, she’s now a full-time professional storyteller, freelance writer, and volunteer librarian at a foster home campus in the Houston area. Visit Aileen at www.aileenkirkham.com. Mandy Watson, MLS, is an elementary school librarian in Texas who integrates fun into library lessons, centers, and storytelling. She was awarded Outstanding New Librarian of the Year her first year by the Texas Library Association’s New Members Roundtable. Visit her blog at http://imallbooked.blogspot.com. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 7

by | Diane Findlay

Grades PK-7

Reluctant Readers CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

e all know some; every classroom has them: reluctant readers. They may find reading difficult due to dyslexia or other learning challenges. They may lack passionate readers as role models or have gotten the idea that reading isn’t cool. They may be overscheduled. They may simply not have found the right books to capture their interest. Whatever the reason, reluctant readers need help from caring teachers and librarians to develop the skills for, discover the value in, and experience the joy of books and reading.

W

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Many strategies can help hook reluctant readers on books: read aloud; surround students with eye-catching displays and alluring books; have them listen to audiobooks while they read; target their individual interests; let them control their reading choices; use hi-lo books, graphic novels, and other highly visual or controlled reading-level titles; keep them reading with series; give credit for reading comics, joke books, and magazines; try large print or e-books; take advantage of movie tie-ins; or have students recommend books to you and to each other. One fifth grade teacher I know sometimes gives students who resist reading—especially boys—Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Formerly reluctant readers often devour the whole challenging series! Donalyn Miller, in The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, seeks to lead students “away from me and toward their autonomy as literate people,” helping them “lose and find themselves in books.” I found her book fascinating and have borrowed some ideas from it. Activities based on the book are indicated with an asterisk.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

This month’s resources include formats and titles recommended for reluctant readers, and titles about these children. Some, like The Lightning Thief and Two-Minute Drill, are both. I’ve included a wide range of subjects, genres, and formats. Perhaps you’ll find just the right titles to turn your

• Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm. 2–5. • Bat Series by Sharon Jennings. 4–6. • Blazers. Capstone Press. 2–6. • Gareth Stevens Biographies (Hi-Lo/Right On). 3–6. • Graphic Science. 3+. • Orca Currents. 4–7.

bibliophobes into bibliophiles!

• Red Rocket Readers. Varied levels.

Many publishers offer series

• Sports Starters. 2–5.

designed to boost skills or appeal to reluctant readers. Here are a few:

• We Are Heroes by Jon Mikkelsen. 4–7. • You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman. 1–4. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 9

Reluctant Reader Resources Recommended read-aloud stories are marked (RA). 1. Aliens Are Coming! The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast by Meghan McCarthy. 2–6. Dark, clever illustrations poke fun at a nation of listeners who, despite assurances that they were hearing a dramatic performance, were taken in and panicked by the radio news format of Orson Welles’s adaptation of The War of the Worlds, which aired as a Halloween prank. An entertaining, intriguing picture book. (RA) 2. Amelia’s Notebook by Marissa Moss. 2–5. Amelia moves with her family, away from her best friend and everything she knows. In this series opener, she describes the ups and downs of a new home, new school, making new friends. Engagingly presented as a handwritten and illustrated journal.

3. Back to Front and Upside Down! by Claire Alexander. P–1. Stan struggles with a class project to make birthday cards for the principal. His letters come out all wrong! Everyone will laugh at him, and his tummy feels “all stirred up with a big wooden spoon.” When a friend urges him to tell the teacher about his problem, he gets the help he needs. (RA) 4. Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold by James Rumford. 4–7. Rumford’s lush, 10 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

runic backgrounds and dynamic illustrations help convey the rich setting and heroic action of this ancient tale of monsters, dragons, kings, and the bravest knight of all. This adaptation retains the flavor and eloquence of the original, while remaining admirably accessible. (RA)

to combat alien invaders. Young Ender’s genius in computer games makes him the hope of his instructors and the object of jealousy among his peers. This global bestseller is challenging, infuriating, morally complex, and totally compelling. Audiobook and DVD available.

5. Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close. 4–7. This book consists of thirteen self-portraits, cut in thirds horizontally so readers can mix and match, with fascinating results. The content, hands-on exploration, and discussion of Close’s learning disabilities make this appealing for artistically inclined reluctant readers.

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. 4+. This series has probably converted more reluctant readers than any books in history. As it begins, Harry learns that he’s a wizard with a powerful legacy. A whole new life awaits him at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, full of excitement, danger, fascinating friends, and fearsome foes. Audiobook and DVD available.

6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. 3–6. Despite (or because of) the fact that middle-schooler Greg Hefley provides a role model for how not to behave, this series of his hand-written and illustrated journals is wildly popular with kids. Audiobook and DVD available. 7. Dyslexia by Elaine Landau. 5+. In language accessible to children, Landau provides a substantial overview of dyslexia, exploring symptoms, diagnosis, and coping strategies. 8. Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff. 3–6. When eleven-year-old Sam finds a newspaper clipping that suggests he went missing as a toddler, his world tilts. He loves living with Jake, Onji, and Anima in their cozy enclave of small businesses. What if he doesn’t belong there? He must learn the truth, but is frustrated because he can’t read. Will he and his new friend Caroline unravel the mystery of his past? Will the answers threaten his happiness and security? Audiobook available. 9. Ender’s Game (Ender Wiggins Quartet) by Orson Scott Card. 5+. In a futuristic society, officials choose promising children to train as soldiers

11. Hooray for Reading Day! (Jessica Worries) by Margery Cuyler. K–3. Jessica worries about reading aloud in class on Reading Day, until she gets the idea to practice on her dog, Wiggles! Her strategy pays off on Reading Day and beyond, as she continues to build skills with Wiggles as her audience. (RA) 12. How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports by Gary Paulsen. 4–7. In this hyperbolic memoir, Paulson shares an era before TV and hyperorganized sports, when he and his buddies invented their own “extreme sports,” simply because they felt invincible. From ditch skiing behind a car to “what might have been the first bungee jump,” their antics will make you laugh until you cry. Audiobook available. 13. I Am the Book, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. K–5. Thirteen twopage spreads feature poems by familiar poets, like Jane Yolen and Naomi Shihab Nye, with oversized paintings by Yayo, celebrating the joys of books and reading. Contagious enthusiasm! (RA)

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

14. I Don’t Like to Read! by Nancy Carlson. P–1. Henry’s difficulty learning to read dampens his enthusiasm for first grade. But cooperation between school and home provides the help he needs to gain skill and confidence. Audible Audio available. (RA) 15. I Hate Books! by Kate Walker. 2–4. Hamish’s talent for concocting entertaining stories helps him mask his inability to read. His third-grade teacher discovers his problem and sends him to the Book Room for help, but the reading specialist only makes Hamish feel stupid. Eventually, two disastrous outings and creative help from his family get him on track to learn. Funny and relatable. 16. Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi. P–3. Pirate Captain Barnacle Black Ear hates that his son, Henry, would rather read than fulfill his pirate duties aboard the Salty Carrot. The crew ridicules Henry, but when a raging storm lands them on a deserted island, Henry’s headful of knowledge saves the day. Audiobook available. (RA) 17. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. 3–6. Caldecott Award winner. Selznick’s story of 1930s Paris centers on the mysterious origins of a marvelous automaton, which may hold a message that will save young orphan Hugo from his hardscrabble life. Gripping character drama blends with rich setting details in a tribute to the inventiveness and resilience of the human spirit. The heavily illustrated story, relying on pictures as much as words, appeals to visual learners. Audiobook and DVD (Hugo) available. 18. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan. 5+. The first book in the popular series introduces Percy, a struggling kid with dyslexia, to a world he didn’t know existed, but to which he belongs. He learns that the

gods of Greek mythology are real and that his mysterious, absent father is actually Poseidon. He lands in the middle of a deadly battle among the gods. Is Percy the subject of an old prophecy, destined to save the human world? This series hooks many reluctant readers. Audiobook and DVD available.

21. My Life as a Book (My Life as a…) by Janet Tashjian. 4–7. Impulsive twelve-year-old Derek, expert doodler but reluctant learner, is dismayed that he must spend summer at Learning Camp, instead of freely following his active imagination. But the summer turns interesting when he explores a mystery from his childhood, and a perceptive camp staffer gives him a new way to approach his required, but dreaded, summer reading. 22. The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay. 3+. This visually appealing book offers browsable access to rich information on many aspects of technology, in two-page spreads. An award-winning classic; great for individual exploration; great for hands-on learners. Interactive CD version available. 23. Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop. 1–4. Full-page color photographs, appealing design, and a thrilling foldout spread of a jumping spider in action combine to motivate readers to take in the informative text.

19. Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler and Kevin O’Malley. K–3. When Principal Wiggins challenges the school to read 1,000 books during a national reading campaign, Miss Malarkey vows to find the perfect title for each student. But one student, the unnamed narrator, is particularly hard to please. Will Miss Malarkey win him over? O’Malley’s funny, expressive illustrations complement the sweet story. (RA) 20. My Friend Has Dyslexia (Friends with Disabilities) by Amanda Doering Tourville. K–3. A young boy describes his dyslexic friend, Anna. He presents a whole person, detailing both her reading challenges and her talents and accomplishments, in and out of school. Digital illustrations by Kristin Sorra reinforce the friendly tone. Spanish version available.

24. One White Dolphin by Gill Lewis. 4–7. In this dramatic, sensitive ecological novel, Kara’s family is down on its luck. Her mother’s missing, her fisherman father is out of work, and the bills are piling up. They’re at odds with a local developer, who plans to dredge the reef to boost fishing, at the expense of the delicate ecosystem. When Kara discovers a rare white dolphin, tangled in a fishing net and badly injured, she teams up with an unlikely new friend to try to save both the dolphin and the reef. 25. Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson. P–3. The authors offer fun recipes, with both written and pictorial directions. The recipes are simple enough for classroom use. Kid reviews, cooking hints, and safety tips round out the book. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 11

26. Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. 1–4. Beloved children’s author Polacco shares her story of struggling with a reading disability and of the teacher who helped her learn to read, believe in herself, and ultimately build a career around books. Audible Audio and Spanish versions available. (RA) 27. Two-Minute Drill (Comeback Kids) by Mike Lupica. 4–7. New student Scott, smart but clumsy, secretly loves football. But he bungles everything except kicking. He’s thrilled when Chris, sixth-grade quarterback and all-around good guy, befriends him. Chris convinces Scott to go out for the team, even if he has to ride the bench. Soon, Scott learns that Chris has his own secret—he can’t read. With both a championship game and a critical reading test looming, the boys agree to coach each other. Can Scott’s killer drop kick and Chris’s extra reading practice make them both winners? Lots of sports action. Audible Audio available. 28. The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. 4–7. Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Tenyear-old Kenny’s family erupts with love, laughter, and the tensions of troubled times. Concern for Kenny’s

unruly brother Byron sends the family to Alabama, where they hope no-nonsense Grandma will straighten him out. There, they experience the horror of a bombing of a black church. Byron helps Kenny cope with his anguish, in a heartwarming triumph of family love over evil and despair. Audiobook and DVD available. 29. Why Is Snot Green? And Other Extremely Important Questions (and Answers) by Glenn Murphy. 3–7. If a curious, uninhibited nine-year-old hung out with a relative who happens to be a brilliant, but slightly wacky, scientist, this is the conversation they might have. Exploring astronomy, earth science, biology, physics, and more in simple Q&A format, with ample attention to the gross and disgusting, it’s an irresistible blend of science and humor. 30. The Wild Book by Margarita Engle. 4–7. When Fefa’s doctor says she has “word blindness” and will never learn to read or write, her mother refuses to admit defeat. Her gift of a blank journal, with encouragement to provide her own words, “like seedlings that will grow to a garden,” is just the permission Fefa needs to experiment. Gradually, her “wild book” helps her learn and solve a mystery that saves her family in crisis. Written in first person verse, this one’s a gem.

Reluctant Readers on the Web • Davis Dyslexia Association International introduces “Famous People with the Gift of Dyslexia” (www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm). • Education World shares “25 Ideas to Motivate Young Readers” (http://tinyurl.com/pqzde3). • KidsHealth has an article on “Dyslexia” for kids to read or listen to (http://tinyurl.com/5cxwwq).

12 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Preview of online article resource

• The Professor Garfield site (www.professorgarfield.org) offers online, visually based exercises, videos, games, and quizzes addressing language skills and topics related to language arts, science, and math, with impressive endorsements. • Reading Rockets (www.reading rockets.org) is a comprehensive site dedicated to helping teachers teach reading effectively and encourage struggling or reluctant readers, and to helping students build skills and celebrate victories.

Reluctant Reader Activities Discussion What’s to Love about Reading? Get opinions out there, using the discussion prompts at www.librarysparks.com. Choosing Books. Have students discuss how they pick books to read. Any answer is okay—even avid adult readers sometimes choose a book because it has a catchy cover or looks quick and easy! Ask about favorite authors, series, genres, or subjects. Share tips on finding more of their

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

ingredients followed by step-by-step instructions. Have students create recipes, blending and processing favorite “ingredients” to produce their ideal books.

Geography Armchair Travelers. Give students maps of the United States or the world, with states or countries clearly outlined and labeled. Whenever they read a book that is set in or tells a story about a particular state or country, they color in that location. Encourage students to color as many locations as possible. favorites or “read-alikes.” After discussion, share the Rights of the Reader poster (http://tinyurl.com/k5pevch).

Language Arts *Classroom Reading Time. Make time for independent reading in class, every day. When possible, let students choose their own books. Keep reading time quiet and orderly, with post-reading time for enthusiastic sharing. I Am the Book. Introduce the book. Have students choose poems from it to practice and read aloud. Then have students write poems about their own experiences with books— positive or negative—to collect in a classroom sequel. *Reader Journals. Provide notebooks for students to use to process reading in their own ways. They might include new vocabulary words, defined in pictures, as Derek does in My Life As a Book. They might record reading requirements, noting subjects or genres; track reading achievements; or keep lists of recommended titles. Use part of the journals for a dialog between you and students, in which they comment honestly about their reading, and you respond with

interest, encouragement, personal experiences, and recommendations. Read and Listen. In this form of shared reading, students read along while listening to a teacher, strong student reader, or recorded reader. Silent readers build sight word knowledge, awareness of language patterns, reading speed, and so on, while hearing fluent, expressive reading modeled.

Visual Arts Self-Portraits. Introduce Chuck Close: Face Book. Take photos of each student and print out. Provide a variety of art supplies. Students will make at least three same-sized selfportraits, experimenting with different media and styles. Bind the portraits on the left and cut them in thirds, like the book, for students to mix and match to interesting effect.

*Book Commercials. Struggling or reluctant readers may dread formal book reports. Encourage them to share thoughts and opinions about books they’ve read in brief, spontaneous, oral “book commercials.” Animal Audience. In Hooray for Reading Day!, Jessica overcomes anxiety about reading aloud by practicing on her dog. Set up a quiet reading corner where emerging readers can practice reading to an audience of stuffed animals. Recipe for a Good Book. Let students tell you what they like in books—in the form of recipes! Start by reading Irene Latham’s poem, “Recipe for a Good Book” (http:// tinyurl.com/n274w5p). Look through Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes to illustrate the recipe format, with

Visual Arts/Language Arts Artist Q&A. Looking at Chuck Close: Face Book, share some of the questions and answers from the Q&A with the author. Invite a local artist to visit and answer student questions, or have students choose favorite living Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 13

artists and write letters with questions about their life and work. If you find websites for the artists and send letters online, you’re more likely to get responses.

Health/Life Skills/Language Arts Journaling. Introduce Amelia’s Notebook and/or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Talk about how Amelia and Greg use illustrated journals to express their feelings and think about their experiences. Invite students to keep their own journals, using a mix of words and pictures. Recipes. Introduce some children’s cookbooks, like Pretend Soup. Prepare simple recipes together. Then have students write original recipes for healthy foods. Younger students might tape record their recipe ideas. Taste some of their creations!

Foreign Language Stories in Spanish. Use Spanish versions of My Friend Has Dyslexia or Thank You, Mr. Falker to entice

reluctant Spanish language speakers or learners, or to teach them about dyslexia.

Technology Technical Reading Helpers. Learn about assistive technologies for struggling readers, like Kurzweil 3000/ firefly software (www.kurzweiledu.com) and textHELP apps (www.texthelp. com). Demonstrate them in class, if possible. Kurzweil offers free trials. Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome. Also known as Irlen’s Syndrome, SSS is a perceptual disorder related to the brain’s ability to process certain light wavelengths. While the syndrome’s existence is widely acknowledged, treatments are somewhat controversial. Anecdotally, many students benefit significantly from evaluation and use of colored overlays placed over text while reading. For more information, visit the Irlen Institute’s website, at http://irlen.com/ about-irlen-institute.

Preview of online article resource

Math Independent Reading Surveys. Have individuals or small groups choose aspects of independent reading to examine through surveys. They’ll design questionnaires, have classmates complete them, analyze results, and share their findings via charts, graphs, or other visual representations. You’ll find sample topics and questionnaire at www.librarysparks.com.

Math/Language Arts Dyscalculia. Related to dyslexia are a number of learning disabilities involving math skills, collectively labeled dyscalculia. Have upper elementary students research these disabilities online. They’ll write summaries of what they learn, citing their sources. The National Center for Learning Disabilities (http://tinyurl.com/ d3xbuxe) and the Learning Disabilities Association of America (http://tinyurl. com/kcl7agc) have introductions to the topic.

History *Themed Book Groups. Choose several grade-appropriate titles, from a variety of perspectives, that share a theme with your history curriculum. For example, for the American Revolution, you might choose My 14 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Brother Sam is Dead, Tolliver’s Secret, War Comes to Willy Freeman, The Arrow Over the Door, and so forth. Let students preview the books and submit their top three choices. Form book groups based on their choices and other considerations. Groups will meet daily; set page or chapter goals to complete the books in the allotted time; read together and at home, as needed; and discuss the books, using class-wide focus questions, like “How were the characters involved in the Revolution?” and “How did the Revolution affect their lives?” Their reading and group work will inform and enliven class discussion and writing exercises about the topic.

Drama Dramatic Reading. Choose titles from the You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You series, and have pairs of students rehearse and present selections from them as dramatic readings. Puppet Plays. Some reluctant readers enjoy being part of a puppet troupe, presenting from behind a theater screen, without the pressure of solo recitation.

Music Sing for Comprehension. Some struggling readers comprehend and remember concepts better if they can sing them. Help students learn mnemonic jingles or create musical versions of content or concepts they need to remember.

Science Experiment! Engage reluctant readers with hands-on experiments. When possible, demonstrate experiments first. Project step-by-step instructions for students to copy and take to their lab stations. Talk them through the steps. After the last step, have students write brief observations before discussing. Be prepared to suggest related books for interested students.

Spiders. Use Nic Bishop Spiders to introduce a lesson on spiders. Have students look for spiders around school and home, and bring in sketches and information about species they find. Recommend related titles, like The Tarantula Scientist (Scientists in the Field) by Sy Montgomery, which also features Nic Bishop’s photographs. Learning with Max. Use titles in the Graphic Science series, with supercool teacher Max Axiom, to anchor lessons on magnetism, states of matter, ecosystems, genetics, and more.

Physical Education/ Language Arts Rules and Regulations. Work with a PE teacher to introduce rule books for various sports, like those in the Sports Starters series. Have students choose favorite sports or games, study their regulations, and present brief talks introducing their rules, as if the audience had no prior knowledge.

take the form of booktalks; skills demonstrations; charts; timelines; art projects; songs, dances, or poems; science experiments; inventions; board games; and so on. The only rule is that the students must introduce the book first. Study Buddies. Team reluctant readers with understanding, helpful classmates to read informational texts and work through assignments together.

Diane Findlay has worked with children’s and young adult literature for more than twenty years and was director of the Waukee (Iowa) Public Library for six years. She is the author of the Exploring Children’s Literature series and Digging into Dewey from UpstartBooks, and has written for LibrarySparks since its beginning in 2003. Contact Diane at wordsmith418@q.com.

Cross-Curricular Freestyle Reading Response. Make time for students to present “freestyle responses” to fiction or nonfiction books they’ve read. Responses may Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 15

by | Toni Buzzeo

CORE FOCUS

Our Feathered Friends

Grades K-5

This monthly column presents three award-winning children’s books, one for each of three grade bands (K–1, 2–3, 4–5), along with activities to use in the library that target specific Common Core standards in reading, writing, and speaking. Lexile level and text complexity are taken into consideration in selecting the titles, and all questions are written in language appropriate to the developmental level of the child in each grade band.

Reading Read aloud the text, including sidebars, of A Place for Birds; then engage students in a discussion. Ask, What kinds of things have humans done in the past that have endangered birds? For each bird included in the book, ask, What have humans done that is dangerous for this bird? Then discuss what actions humans have taken or can take to save the birds. Pay special attention to any birds that live in your geographic area.

Grades K–1

Standards: RI.K.3 and RI.1.3

A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Higgins Bond. 2009 Green Earth Book Award, Honor Book 2009 NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book Lexile: 970 adult-directed Note: The main text for this book is written at a level perfect for kindergartners and first graders. Sidebar text is slightly more complicated (thus, the book’s Lexile is labeled adult-directed). For the book to work best for your young listeners, plan to read the main text through one time, before a second reading in which you explore each of the sidebars in tandem with the main text. 16 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Writing After completing the reading activity, invite students to join you in one of the following writing activities: • Write a group letter to parents, asking for their help in saving one of the birds from A Place for Birds that lives near to you. • As a group, compose a letter for the local newspaper, explaining the problems faced by birds and enlisting community support in helping to keep them safe. • Ask students individually to write (or dictate) a few sentences or a brief paragraph explaining how birds are threatened and what

can be done to protect them. Invite them to draw a picture to accompany their writing. Standards: W.K.2 and W.1.2 Speaking and Listening After reading and discussing A Place for Birds, invite students to choose their favorite birds from those in the book. Search for the birds on the Audubon website (http://birds. audubon.org/birds) (Note: The crested honeycreeper does not appear on the site). Ask students to listen to the song of their bird and try to imitate it. Challenge them to draw a picture of the bird singing, using both the book and the website as visual references. Standards: SL.K.5 and SL.1.5

Grades 2–3 The Eagles Are Back by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Wendell Minor 2014 NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book Lexile: Not available

CORE FOCUS

• “Creature Feature: Bald Eagles” at National Geographic Kids (http:// tinyurl.com/2wn4ttq) • “Bald Eagle” at San Diego Zoo Kids (http://tinyurl.com/o7scv3p)

Reading Several words and phrases in The Eagles Are Back may be unfamiliar to second and third graders, making the sharing of this book an excellent opportunity for vocabulary building. Determine whether you would like to undertake a word study before or after reading the book with your students. Use context clues and a primary-level dictionary to define the words listed in the box below (given in the order they appear in the book).

After students have completed their research, invite them to choose from a variety of options for producing a written report, including slide shows or online productions (see Tech Tips in this issue for ideas). Standards: W.2.7 and W.3.7

• The Bald Eagle by Elaine Landau • Young student encyclopedias, such as the World Book Discovery Encyclopedia

remote aerie majestic Founding Fathers Puritans copepods nation citizens scarce pesticide incubate Congress

humble eerily many-faceted campaign banned regal alight airborne avidly thermal extinction legend

• What changes were introduced after Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain? How did those changes affect the parrots? • What creatures did settlers bring to the island? What were the effects on the parrots? • What changes were made to the landscape of the island after Puerto Ricans gained US citizenship? How did those changes affect the parrots? Standards: RI.4.3 and RI.5.3 In 1967, the Puerto Rican parrot was classified as an endangered species, with only twenty-four birds remaining in Puerto Rico. In 1968, the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Program (PRPRP) was formed. According to Parrots Over Puerto Rico, PRPRP was “dedicated to studying and saving the birds.”

Standards: RI.2.4 and R1.3.4 Writing After reading and discussing The Eagles Are Back, invite students to do further research on the topic of bald eagles. Group second graders for shared research, and challenge third graders to each conduct individual research. Supply them with a variety of sources written at their reading and comprehension level, including

• What impact did the Tainos have on the parrot population?

Grades 4–5 Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore 2013 Sibert Medal 2013 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Award Lexile: 990 Reading Authors Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore have created a fascinating blend of the history of an island and the parrots that inhabit it. After reading Parrots Over Puerto Rico aloud, invite students to consider the parallel history of the commonwealth and the bird. Ask students to rely on specific information in the text as they answer the following questions: • What was the status of the Puerto Rican parrot before humans came to Puerto Rico?

Reread the second half of the book aloud, instructing students to listen carefully to the efforts that PRPRP has made over the years to save the Puerto Rican parrot. Then challenge them to explain how the authors use reasons and evidence to support their claim that the survival and growth of the parrot population is largely due to PRPRP’s efforts. Standards: RI.4.8 and RI.5.8

Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS, is both an author and a career school librarian. Her credits include the 2013 Caldecott Honor book One Cool Friend, among twenty picture books, which also include But I Read It on the Internet! (Upstart, 2013) and My Bibi Always Remembers (Hyperion, 2014). She has also authored many professional books and articles. Visit www.tonibuzzeo.com or e-mail tonibuzzeo@tonibuzzeo.com. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 17

by | Amy Koester

GAINING STEAM Grades K-6

Pulling In Reluctant Readers One school of thought regarding reluctant readers is that they have not yet found the right books for them; once they find the right books, with the right elements of interest, they can’t help but be pulled in to reading. Numerous forces act on us every day in just this way: they pull us in, both literally and figuratively. From water and quicksand on Earth, to black holes and gravity all over the universe, plenty of forces can pull readers in.

Science Spot Create a Science Spot (a display case, table, or countertop) on the topic of Newton’s laws of motion. Make signs for each of Newton’s three laws, using a book like What Are Newton’s Laws of Motion? by Denyse O’Leary for suggested wording. Add objects to help foster understanding of what these laws mean. For Newton’s first law, include a skateboard or miniature 18 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

bike, with a question that asks, “If this skateboard hits a curb and stops moving, does the skateboarder stop moving too?” Use similar objects and questions for the second (a ball and a brick; which is easier to accelerate with a kick?) and third (a photo of a rocket; why does flame burning downward push the rocket upward?) laws.

Short Activities Short activities allow children to engage with a STEAM topic through a combination of different hands-on opportunities. They are excellent for school libraries, in which lessons may be brief, and they allow public libraries to combine several small activities into self-directed stations at a single program on the theme.

Quicksand! (Grades 2–6) Share key facts and images related to quicksand, including the dangers it poses, using a book like Quicksand by Kris Hirschmann. Divide children into teams, each with the task of creating a prototype of an apparatus to help explorers quickly cross a pit of quicksand. Provide straws, toothpicks, chenille sticks, twist ties, paper, scissors, and tape for supplies. Leave ten minutes at the end of the activity for the teams to share their creations with everyone.

GAINING STEAM

Black Holes (Grades 3–6) Discuss how black holes work and why light cannot escape from them, using a book like Exploring Black Holes by Laura Hamilton Waxman. Key terms to discuss include vacuum and event horizon. Demonstrate how a black hole pulls matter apart by creating a vacuum around a candle. Set a large flat-bottomed container on a table. Pour water into the container so that it is about 1–2 cm high. Place a votive candle in the center of the bowl; if the water rises over the candle, set the candle on a round of clay to give it more height. Carefully light the candle, and then place a clear glass cup over the lit candle. Watch as the candle uses up all of the oxygen under the cup, creating a vacuum. What happens to the water within the cup? Is it at the same height as the water outside of the cup?

Tsunamis and Waves (Grades 3–6) Visit Wonderopolis and read together the article titled “What Is a Tsunami?” (http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/ what-is-a-tsunami). Watch the first few minutes of the “Tsunami Basics” video, and then share pictures of tsunami waves from a resource like Leon Gray’s The Science of Tsunamis. Key terms to discuss include wave and energy. Use a Slinky toy to demonstrate how waves are created. With students holding the Slinky at both ends, stretch it across a table. Demonstrate longitudinal waves by applying force to the front of the Slinky, creating motion along the Slinky’s body. Demonstrate transverse waves by moving one end of the Slinky up and down along the table. Discuss how these waves are different. Share a chapter from I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis or Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce to encourage further exploration of tsunamis.

Make Quicksand (Grades K–6)

Voices from the Titanic (Grades 3–6) When the Titanic sank on her maiden voyage, she pulled many passengers into the Atlantic Ocean with her. Share excerpts from Deborah Hopkinson’s Titanic: Voices from the Disaster to give an idea of the different types of people who were on board the Titanic when it sank. Provide both books and electronic resources for students to find out more about a person who was on the Titanic. Make a wall of quotes from or details about these people, making note of whether they survived.

Classroom/Program Activities Activities designed for use in classrooms or programs are generally longer and more in-depth than the short activities. They are great options for school librarians who partner with an individual classroom on a theme unit; either the librarian or the classroom teacher can lead the activities. They are also excellent stand-alone program options for public libraries.

Read the Wonderopolis article titled “Why Do You Sink in Quicksand?” (http://tinyurl.com/ku7baex). Watch the “Keeping Science Real” video at the top of the article. After learning basic information about quicksand, separate children into groups at tables. Each group of children should have a container in which to mix their quicksand. Each group should pour 3 cups of cornstarch and 2 cups of water into their container. Use spoons or fingers to gently mix the “quicksand.” When the quicksand is mixed, encourage children to explore how it acts as both a liquid and a solid. Be prepared for a bit of messy hand washing after this activity.

How the “Unsinkable” Titanic Sank (Grades 1–6) Share information about the sinking of the Titanic, using a book like Titanic by Sean Callery. Make particular note of the Titanic’s use of compartments to prevent sinking in the event of a hull breach (pages 76–77 in the Callery book). Demonstrate how the compartments were intended to work, and how they ultimately failed, using tubs of water and ice cube trays (metal trays work best, but plastic will do). Place an ice cube tray in a tub filled with water. The tray should float atop the water. Use an eyedropper, turkey baster, or cup to gently fill one cube section with water. Observe what happens to the tray “boat” when this compartment is filled. One by one, fill adjacent cube sections with water, observing what happens to the “boat” each time another compartment fills. At what point can the “boat” no longer stay afloat? Booktalk Lauren Tarshis’s I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 to inspire further exploration of the Titanic. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 19

GAINING STEAM

accounts of disasters to give young readers a sense of the danger, fear, and resilience that accompanied this devastating event. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis. 3–6. Through the adventurous and brave voice of ten-year-old George, Tarshis allows readers to feel as though they are experiencing the Titanic’s disastrous maiden voyage first hand.

Black Hole Cartoon Flip Books (Grades 4–6) Explore how black holes affect objects that fall into them, using A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano. Share an image of objects appearing to be stretched as they fall into a black hole (pages 36 and 48 in the DeCristofano book). Have children create cartoon flip books depicting black holes. Give each child a pad of sticky notes and a pencil. Explain how flip books work, with each subsequent drawing appearing slightly changed from the one preceding it. Encourage children to pretend the bottom of the page is a black hole and to draw different objects falling into it; in each subsequent image, the falling object appears more and more stretched until it is fully pulled into the black hole and no longer visible. Leave time to share flip books at the end of the activity.

Reading Connections Reading connections include fiction and nonfiction titles that can be shared, either as read-alouds or as booktalks, in the discussions of the theme.

Fiction I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis. 3–6. Ben is visiting Japan, his father’s homeland, in 2011 when a tsunami occurs. Tarshis uses her talent for creating first-person 20 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

ship’s sinking, and what happened to survivors and the ship itself. There is plenty of detail in this book to entice reluctant readers, and children both familiar with and new to the Titanic will find it fascinating.

Nonfiction A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano. 4–6. This substantial information text gives ample in-depth descriptions of how black holes work, how they were discovered, and how they affect the universe. The author uses accessible language to explain complicated concepts like how black holes affect time. Exploring Black Holes by Laura Hamilton Waxman. 1–4. This imageheavy book, with a limited amount of text on each page, provides a manageable introduction to black holes and how they work. Excellent for exploring black holes through images and information content. Quicksand by Kris Hirschmann. 3–6. This title provides young readers all the basic information about quicksand, from how and where it forms, to what dangers it poses, to its popularity as a perilous obstacle in movies. The Science of Tsunamis by Leon Gray. 3–6. In addition to providing basic information about the science of tsunamis, this slim, photo-heavy volume shares plenty of interesting fact bubbles and coverage of significant historical tsunamis and their aftermath. Titanic by Sean Callery. 2–6. This information text contains myriad high-quality photographs and illustrations to accompany all aspects of the Titanic: why and how it was built, what the voyage was like, the

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. 3–6. This meticulously researched historical account of the Titanic follows the timeline of the fated sea voyage, allowing suspense and tension to build throughout. This book is made even more compelling by its inclusion of first-person perspectives. Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce. 2–6. A nonfiction companion to the Magic Tree House series title High Tide in Hawaii, this book provides a thorough introduction to tsunamis in language that will be easily comprehensible to young readers.

Amy Koester is a children’s librarian with the St. Charles City-County Library District in Missouri. She has presented at conferences nationwide on the topic of STEAM programs and services for children, and she regularly blogs about program plans and ideas for the ALSC Blog and as the Show Me Librarian. Visit her website at http://showmelibrarian. blogspot.com.

STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE

by | Beth Anne Burke

Strengthen Your Core Reluctant Readers & the Common Core When you mention reluctant readers and Common Core State Standards in the same sentence, a lot of us start to get a little anxious. We have looked at the standards; we have heard about how rigorous they are. How in the world are our students who barely pick up a book going to fare when measured against these new yardsticks?

From Reluctant Reader to Budding Bookworm The first step is getting reluctant readers to read anything. This can mean graphic novels, articles about skateboarding, poetry—or anything else. Success breeds success. The more students read, the more they see themselves as readers. The more they see themselves as readers, the more they read. They become more willing to try out new genres and more complicated subjects. The key to reaching reluctant learners of any kind is to find topics of interest. For example, I am currently working

in a fourth-grade class that has a number of reluctant writers. I worked with one student for days, trying to find a topic that he would write about for an opinion essay. Football? Nope. Snow? Didn’t write a word. We went through topic after topic, and he barely had a word on the page. Exasperated, I asked what Aiden liked to do when he got home from school. He replied that he liked to watch Adventure Time, a television show. We talked through some things he could write about that were related to the show, and then he went off. The next day, he had several paragraphs written. I know that Aiden eventually will have to write on other topics, including ones that he doesn’t find particularly interesting. But by sparking his interest and getting him to feel successful as a writer, I helped him take an important step on his journey. Cartoons would not be my favorite topic for students to write about, but we have to consider the reason for an assignment: Is it to learn about a topic or to develop their

writing skills? The topic may not have been conventional, but the end result was that Aiden demonstrated that he can write his opinion and support it with reasons and evidence (including text-based evidence from an article we found about the show).

Grades 1-5

The same idea can be applied to reading. Students will read about something that interests them— which means that we have to make available a wide selection of reading of materials. Once we have ignited students’ interest and shown them that they are good readers (and writers), we can draw them into reading other, more academic texts.

Common Core Changes & Reluctant Readers For students who read reluctantly, interest is the key! Eventually, we want reluctant readers to transfer their skills to content-rich texts, such as science texts and primary source documents. This is tricky for reluctant readers. We Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 21

want them to be engaged at a high level, but we have to work to engage them. Reluctant readers will need extra support to negotiate the changes coming with the Common Core. • Balancing informational and literary texts. With Common Core, students will need to read a lot, and they are expected to read a balance of fiction and nonfiction materials. To turn reluctant readers into budding bookworms, offer a wide variety of materials at varying readability levels. Many reluctant readers, particularly boys, would prefer informational texts. Try historical fiction to capitalize on their interests. (CCSS RI.7, RL.7, RI.9, RL.9; AASL 4.1.2) • Climbing the staircase of complexity. Under the CCSS, students should be reading materials on a variety of levels, from comfortable to complex. For reluctant readers, complex texts can be particularly intimidating, so you cannot expect them to dive right in. Try selecting several texts on a topic at varying levels, and offer reluctant readers a choice. An easier text will help them build confidence and background knowledge that they can connect to new learning in the complex text. Once they have read and understood the easier text, challenge them to read something

that is a bit more complicated. As students dig into the more complex texts (moving up the staircase of text complexity), they can use what they already read for support. You can also scaffold instruction by offering more support (modeling or guidance) when students read more complex texts. (CCSS RI.10, RL.10; AASL 4.1.2) • Basing answers on the text. When students answer questions about the topic of the text, they should use information from the text. To help the reluctant reader, encourage students to orally rehearse ideas about texts by talking to other students before committing ideas to writing. Research has shown that students who discuss their ideas first have much stronger, organized writing. (CCSS RI.1, RL.1; AASL 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 4.1.3) • Analyzing and synthesizing information from multiple sources. The CCSS expect that students use multiple sources, rather than relying on one single text to back up their claims. For the reluctant reader, this may be akin to torture. Have them use one text and another, more appealing source, such as a movie, website, or graphic novel. (CCSS RI.7, RL.7, RI.9, RL.9; AASL 1.1.6)

Root of Reluctance Why is the reader unwilling to read? This is the key question. Is the student simply unwilling to read, or is he not skilled at reading? Is she able to read, but would rather do something

22 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

else? Or is the reluctance rooted in something deeper, like a lack of confidence or basic skills? Knowing what is at the root of the reluctance can help pinpoint what to do next. (AASL 4.1.1, 4.1.2)

Unwilling & Able For students who are capable readers but select not to do so, choice is the key. Here are some ideas to motivate even the most reluctant readers. • Fill your shelves with highinterest, low-reading-level choices. Reluctant readers like to have a choice of reading materials. Often they will select nonfiction on topics of interest, and they may prefer texts with lots of illustrations and text features (Beers, 1996). • The Lazy Readers’ Book Club (www.lazyreaders.com). What better way to hook reluctant readers than giving them a quick-to-read book (less than 250 pages) that is still packed with meaningful ideas? This website by Danny Brassell includes lists of books for all ages that “don’t take years to finish.” • Guys Read (www.guysread.com). John Scieska (author of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, the Trucktown series, and much more) is passionate about reaching guys of all ages and getting them to read. The website offers tips as well as a seemingly endless list of books in all kinds of manly topics. From dragons to robots, from mysterious to scary, you will find something for every boy here. • Reading Incentive Programs. Pizza Hut BOOK IT!® is the gold standard for reading incentive programs; it has been around since 1985, and millions of students have participated. There are many other programs available with the simple goal of encouraging students to read more.

STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE

What’s the difference between phonemic awareness and phonics? Print! Phonemic awareness is an awareness of spoken sounds. It is not associated with written language. Once you start connecting the sounds to printed letters and words, you are talking about phonics. Struggling Readers: Fixing the Foundation It is a misconception that the CCSS do not address basic reading skills. Although such skills as phonological awareness and fluency are not explicitly forefronted in the CCSS, they are still important for supporting comprehension and writing. Concepts of print, knowledge of sounds, phonemes (rhyming, sound manipulation), phonics rules for decoding, sight words, and accuracy and fluency in reading are all foundational skills expected to be taught beginning in kindergarten. Attention to these skills diminishes as grade level increases and comprehension takes center stage. As I mentioned earlier, assessments for the CCSS will require students to read a lot. They will have to build their foundational skills so that they are able to decode and read fluently and automatically, which allows readers to pay attention to the meaning of text, rather than just figuring out the words. When students struggle, we often think that comprehension is the big problem; after all, that is why we read—to understand. Although reading difficulty often manifests as a comprehension issue, poor comprehension can often be traced back to a problem in foundational skills.

Library Lens • Offer a wide range of reading materials. Make sure your collection has easy and challenging texts on a variety of topics. (AASL 4.1.2) • Know your students. Have a general idea of what students are capable of in their reading so you can guide struggling readers to books that have a lower reading level. (AASL 1.4.4, 4.1.1, 4.1.2) • Try Reader’s Theater. Reader’s Theater is a wonderful way to build basic reading skills, especially fluency. Basically a play without the action, Reader’s Theater transforms books, poems and other texts into scripts with a variety of parts. You can match the parts to the students’ reading levels—offering more challenging sections to the stronger readers. Scripts can be any genre or topic, allowing you to integrate Reader’s Theater into any theme. (AASL 4.1.8) Check out the Reader’s Theater resources available at these sites: - Toni Buzzeo’s Teaching Materials: http://tonibuzzeo.com/ EDUCATORS.html

References AASL Learning Standards & Common Core State Standards Crosswalk: www. ala.org/aasl/standards-guidelines/ crosswalk Common Core State Standards: www. corestandards.org “No Time, No Interest, No Way! The 3 Voices of Aliteracy, Part 2” by Kylene Beers. School Library Journal (March 1996): 110–113. The Lexile Framework for Reading: Resources for Reluctant Readers: www.lexile.com/using-lexile/lexile-athome/how-to-help-a-reluctant-reader

- Aaron Shepard’s Reader’s Theater: www.aaronshep.com/rt - Reader’s Theater Scripts and Plays: www.teachingheart.net/ readerstheater.htm • Don’t skimp on easy readers. Phonetically regular texts and texts with little print that is supported by illustrations are great for struggling readers. Make sure your collection has an ample supply of these for students who need practice. (AASL 4.1.1)

Beth Anne Burke lives outside Annapolis, Maryland, with her two sons, her husband, and her dog. She recently renewed her National Board Certification in Literacy and is celebrating her twenty-fifth year as an educator. Currently a reading teacher, Beth is an expert presenter in Common Core State Standards and other topics in literacy. She is very active in the local affiliate of the International Reading Association. Contact Beth at baburke@ aacrc.net or follow her blog at http:// baburke.edublogs.org/.

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 23

by | Judith Snyder

KEEP ’EM READING

Read It All: Exploring Alternative Text

Grades 1-5

Discovering materials that will engage a reluctant reader’s interest in reading can challenge every librarian. Students arrive with diverse background knowledge, life experiences, and interests. Meeting students’ needs requires the librarian to create a welcoming environment with a wide array of materials. Common strategies to engage reluctant readers include schoolwide reading programs with competitive incentives, access to highinterest subjects, (e.g., comics, jokes, sports, fantastic facts, and mysterious, otherworldly topics), and nonfiction materials at all reading levels. What we don’t often consider are alternative books and materials that can reach our divergent student populations. Both parents and teachers are frequently concerned about students reading text that is “at their level.” Although this is important for instruction, the goal for free reading is enjoyment. Adults should allow for students to follow their interests, regardless of the material’s reading level. Students can practice with easier text and feel the satisfaction

24 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

of accomplishment, or they can use and develop strategies to grasp the context of more difficult but highly motivating material. Balancing reading choices requires practice and flexibility. All of the following strategies can be modified for most grade levels by adjusting the book/print selections to students’ reading levels. Consider sharing these activities with parents who may want help encouraging their child to read.

Powerful Partnerships Surround children with multiple opportunities for reading. Encourage parents to call attention to a broad range of reading that occurs daily— like cookbooks, magazines, coffee table books, newspapers and online journals, words that flow across the bottom of the television screen, food labels, instructional manuals, and signs in the neighborhood. This modeling shows the variety of purposes for reading and can be an

important strategy for motivating students to read. Look for ways to help parents develop a home library with donated or traded books. Placing reading material around the home and establishing a reading time each day also helps children develop positive reading habits. Develop a partnership with your public library by advertising ongoing services, special events (author visits, book clubs, etc.), and collection materials that will interest your students. Enlist the help of student reporters to communicate with your school community through newsletters, video webcasts, or website posts. Building awareness of new books and alternative texts will widen reading horizons in children’s lives. Recruit students to set up a Visual Communication Center in your library that mirrors text that students might read at home or in the community— stocking it with T-shirts, cereal boxes, maps, copies of sheet music, poetry, art prints, and travel pamphlets. Let students post comments about

KEEP ’EM READING

events or upcoming activities, write paragraphs about kind deeds they have observed, or take part in other creative interactions. Older students might appreciate a book trading station where they can exchange personal copies of paperback books.

Enthusiasm for listening improves when the adult’s voice projects excitement for the material. Picture books can be read in one sitting, but chapter books and nonfiction materials need a stopping point. Ending at an exciting or highly interesting point ignites students’ curiosity and desire to return.

Audiobooks Audiobooks are similar to readalouds, and what they lack in the personal touch, they compensate for by promoting story visualization and independent reading. Audiobooks can enable students who read below grade level to participate with the class in book discussions, thus boosting their confidence in comprehension abilities.

Reading Aloud Students who struggle with reading may enjoy having an adult read aloud to them. Talking about the story or interacting with the pictures helps the student to focus on the story rather than the individual words. Balancing read aloud time with guided and independent reading fortifies confidence. Give the Tips for Reading Aloud to Children handout (www.librarysparks. com) to parents and community members who read to your students.

Budgets may not allow for your collection to have many audiobooks, so inform parents about downloadable audio content at the public library that can complement classroom novel studies or be used for quality entertainment.

Books with Diversity Often our libraries don’t contain enough books that show cultural diversity. Diverse collections are important for all children, but especially for children from minority populations. Multicultural books give

minority students a chance to see people like themselves, while others learn to appreciate cultural differences and develop empathy. Parents new to this country or who have limited English language can be enlisted to share alternative print materials. Invite them to read any type of print material in their native tongue (e.g., book, candy wrapper, letter, diary, postcard, magazine). Parents will feel welcomed and included, and students will gain insight into language and its rhythm. Examine your collection for diversity by sampling portions of books at a time. Choose one shelf of fiction, biography, and picture books. Request data print outs showing copyright date and circulation statistics. Then physically look at each book on the shelf to identify diversity of content and/or pictures. Also check the diversity of authors. Develop your collection by using multicultural award lists available on the American Library Association website (http:// tinyurl.com/mrusymw). For a more complete analysis of your collection, see my previous LibrarySparks article “Statistics for the Library Advocate” (http://tinyurl. com/nxq8pks). A collection analysis is a powerful tool to use in justifying budget needs as well as providing information for future collection development.

Magazines and Newspapers Magazines can be overlooked as an important source for reading material. Magazines are visually inviting to reluctant readers, and the variety of content in magazines provides exposure to many different subjects and interests. Sometimes tight budgets limit magazine subscriptions. If you need time to Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 25

build your inventory, try going to your local public librarian and ask for the old copies they plan to discard. You can also ask students for gently used magazines or request donations for new subscriptions. Find the magazines your students like, and slowly build your own collection.

confirm understanding of plot. Look for graphic versions of classic novels as well as the Lunch Lady, Babymouse, and Adventures of Tintin series.

If your magazines haven’t received a lot of circulation, it might be because students are unaware of the interesting content. Expose students to magazine content by using articles and stories for readalouds, and provide time for students to browse through magazines while in the library. Gather magazines that focus on a variety of content areas and reading levels. Divide the class into table groupings, and give each student in the group a different magazine (e.g., science, sports, multicultural, fiction, activity/craft). Allow enough time for students to browse through the magazine and identify one interesting item. It might be a fact, a picture, or the beginning of a story. Students share findings orally within groups and then pass the magazine clockwise. Repeat the exercise until each child has had an opportunity to explore several magazines. Older students can repeat this exercise using newspapers. Divide a newspaper into sections and distribute them within each group. Give minimal instruction about identifying the subject of each section and the date written, and how to browse through titles, pictures, and captions to find an article of interest.

Untraditional Books For highly visual students, graphic novels engage their interest and keep them focused on the story. Students begin to develop knowledge of story structures and use the brief text to 26 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

picture books can be equally good for helping younger students to develop understanding of story structure. Books written in free verse, using short phrases on each line, help both developing and reluctant readers who have difficulties reading long passages. Picture books by Byrd Baylor and the novels Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse and Love That Dog by Sharon Creech provide good examples of this emerging genre.

Interactive books, in which readers make decisions and proceed through the book accordingly, may appeal to some readers. Capstone and Chronicle have a series of books in which students choose what to do in events like Hurricane Katrina, the war in Afghanistan, or landing on Mars. Picture novels can help reluctant readers step more comfortably into reading longer texts. The Bad Kitty, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Geronimo Stilton series, as well as The Invention of Hugo Cabret, are but a few. Wordless

Book Series Once students experience that electrifying connection with a book, they’ll want more. Series make it easy for readers to choose new books and stay with a character or genre they like. Use booktalks, reading aloud, and book trailers to introduce a variety of series. Or introduce the first book in a series by finding an old copy that you don’t mind tearing apart into chapters. Read the first chapter aloud to introduce the characters and the setting. Divide the class into groups containing both expert and novice readers, and give one chapter to each group. Students read the chapter together and write a group summary. Each group can draw a picture to

KEEP ’EM READING

illustrate the chapter summary. Compile into a class book and read aloud. Display the other books in the series.

Integrate, Coordinate, Differentiate

Encourage students to branch out to similar books by searching the website What Should I Read Next? (http://whatshouldireadnext.com; find other what-to-read websites in “Tips from the Trenches” in the August/ September 2014 LibrarySparks.)

Work with a classroom teacher to support and extend a novel study. Many classic novels have abridged versions and audiobooks, and have been made into movies (e.g., The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, A Wrinkle in Time, The Wizard of Oz). Collect the different versions to meet the reading levels of your students. The classroom teacher can meet with small groups of students to conduct reading skill lessons needed for each group, while the librarian can lead large group discussions about the characters and the plot. Incorporate nonfiction by developing a mini research project that pertains to a subject found in the book (e.g., gardening, horses, inventing, history, time travel). The end of the unit can culminate with viewing the movie or pertinent scenes. Students can be asked to compare, contrast, and evaluate the different media formats.

Primary Sources Search for primary source materials to supplement curriculum or genre studies. Diaries, journals, and letters from famous people provide readers with insight into historical periods (see www.archives.gov/historical-docs). Because these materials are different from standard classroom reading material, they may pique a reluctant reader’s interest. And if given effective reading strategies for reading the primary source materials, students feel empowered by the choices available.

Developing Your Collection As you consider the purchase of new materials for your collection, it is important to include materials that support curriculum and materials that will sustain and encourage the love of reading for a diverse population. By combining a welcoming library environment with a welcoming collection, students will want to “read it all.”

Judith Snyder is a seasoned teacher/ librarian in Colorado, as well as a professional storyteller and freelance writer. Judith is the author of the Jump-start Your Library series, three books featuring hands-on library lessons from UpstartBooks (2008), and a picture book, What Do You See? (2009), from Odyssey Books.

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 27

SUNDAY

October’s Party

MONDAY

TUESDAY

October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came— The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand. Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band. ~ George Cooper

Holiday Month/Week/Day/Word Celebration

5

6

National Fire Prevention Week (October 5–11) commemorates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which killed more than 250 people and left 100,000 homeless.

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Jeanette Winter’s birthday. Share her picture book Henri’s Scissors, about artist Henri Matisse and the amazing paper cutouts he made.

Visit Dragonfly TV at http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv, a science education series for 9- to 12-year-olds.

Birthday Celebration

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OCTOBER 2014

Teen Read Week (October 12–18) This year’s theme is “Turn Dreams into Reality @ your library.”

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Download a teacher’s guide for Poems to Learn by Heart by Caroline Kennedy at http://tinyurl. com/qh9xplq.

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Kick off the World Series with stories about baseball and baseball players.

26 Fill a clear jar with candy corn and have students guess how many pieces are in it. Give a small prize to the child in each grade who comes closest.

Plan a “cat” storytime and then make cat cards at www.enchantedlearning.com/ crafts/halloween/cat.

27 Check out the graphic novel version of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

14 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 50 years ago. Read or watch his acceptance speech at http://tinyurl. com/3z8cu3p.

21 Celebrate Ursula K. Le Guin’s birthday by reading her beginning chapter book, Catwings. Visit http://tinyurl.com/ nolh3dn for discussion questions and activities.

28 The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on this day in 1886. Read Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser.

Children’s Magazine Month | Computer Learning Month 28 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

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OCTOBER 2014

1

WEDNESDAY

Brian P. Cleary’s birthday. Check out his delightful Words Are CATegorical series of books on the parts of speech.

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 Full Moon

The full moon in October is known as the Full Hunter’s Moon. R.L. Stine’s birthday.

15 National Grouch Day Share Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and then see the movie, which is due out this month.

22 Try Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana, a “My First I Can Read” title, by bestselling author and illustrator James Dean.

29 Share Day of the Dead/ El Dia de los Muertos by Bob Barner, a bilingual story about the tradition celebrated on November 1 and 2 by many Hispanic families.

2

THURSDAY

Computer Learning Month Visit PBS Kids “Get Your Web License” at http://pbskids.org/ old_license, an online game that teaches Internet safety.

9 Arts and Humanities Month Read about African American artist Henry Tanner in Faith Ringgold’s picture book Henry Ossawa Tanner: His Boyhood Dream Comes True.

16 Dictionary Day Word of the day: Deciduous: falling off or shed seasonally or at a certain stage of development

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“Halloween is so much fun … because it’s all about dressing up. And that happens to be something I excel at.” Fancy Nancy Halloween … or Bust by Jane O’Connor

30 How do you make a skeleton laugh? Tickle her funny bone!

3

FRIDAY

4

SATURDAY

Yom Kippur begins at sunset. “A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.” Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

10 Columbus Day For a Reader’s Theater about Columbus, visit http://tinyurl.com/ nowcepq.

17 It’s a classic! Read aloud Esther Hautzig’s memoir, The Endless Steppe, the story of a Polish family exiled to Siberia in the 1940s.

24 United Nations Day Provide information on Trickor-Treat for UNICEF (http:// youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/ participate).

Make a bouquet of fall leaves that are turning color; use it as a centerpiece for a display of books about autumn.

11 It’s Go on a Field Trip Month. Take a panoramic virtual tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History at www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas.

18 Share Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell, and talk about activities we can do in the fall.

25 Make a Difference Day For more information visit http:// makeadifferenceday.com.

31 Happy Halloween! Dress up as a witch and read scary stories.

National Go on a Field Trip Month | National Arts and Humanities Month Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 29

Nick Glass of TeachingBooks.net interviewed James Dean in Savannah, Georgia, on February 28, 2014

Grades PK-6

James Dean You are a talented artist and the creator of Pete the Cat, the famous subject of a beloved, bestselling, and multi-award-winning children’s book series. What first got you interested in art? JD: I owe a lot of what I do now to my father, who was a self-taught artist. One of my earliest memories is the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which happened when I was five years old. After the assassination, my father made a charcoal drawing of President Kennedy, and he sent it to the Kennedy Library. He got a letter back from Jacqueline Kennedy. I don’t know if it actually had a real signature, but nonetheless, when you’re a little kid and your father gets a letter from Jacqueline Kennedy, that’s a pretty big deal. I think that affected me from an early age. I don’t remember my father ever actually teaching me or talking to me about drawing, but he was still setting an example. He did a lot of paintings, and I would draw comic book characters.

30 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

What was your childhood like, growing up in Alabama? JD: I lived around Huntsville from first through seventh grade. Then my father left my family. He didn’t support us, so it was up to my mother to provide for three children. We moved to a little town called Fort Payne, where my mother’s family is from, up in the mountains of north Alabama, close to Tennessee. It’s a very beautiful place. My mother worked hard in the textile mills, trying to make enough money for us to get by, so it was kind of a hard time. But it was also a good time. There were a lot of really great things about being there. I especially loved running around in the mountains, and I was always drawing. I loved being in a little town, and I enjoyed high school. Did you know as a young person that you would pursue a creative career? JD: I actually had an idea that I wanted to be a musician. Before he left, my father had this dream that I was going to be a concert pianist. We were not very well off, but he managed to buy a piano for me and pay for lessons. I kept at it through high school, and I was in some little bands. But in the end, even though it was nice to think about being a musician, it didn’t feel like a good choice. I had watched my dad, who was a really good artist and a very talented draftsman, and he never made any money doing that. As the oldest child, I felt like I had to be responsible and make responsible choices. I always worked hard in school, so I had good grades, and I was good at math. I was around a lot of engineers when we lived in Huntsville, because the Redstone Arsenal is out there, and I always thought engineers were cool. In the mid-seventies, the economy wasn’t very good, but I knew they were looking for more engineers. So I decided to study electrical engineering at Auburn University.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Photo credit: AP Photo/Stephen Morton

As soon as I started my classes, I realized a lot of the other students were picking up the material faster than I was. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do that would ensure me a job when I graduated. So I stuck it out, and I got through engineering school and went to work for Georgia Power Company when I got out. Please talk about your transition from electrical engineering to art. JD: When I was in college, any time I saw the art students drawing buildings or trees in the park, I’d get very envious. The whole time I was in school, I wanted to do something like that, but I was afraid I couldn’t make a living doing it. Finally, in my last semester, I had some free hours, and I took a basic drawing class. After a few weeks, my instructor started coming around, telling me that I was doing a good job, and, by the end, he was trying to talk me into staying longer and studying art. That made a big impression on me. When I graduated, I started working as an electrical engineer, but I also had a drawing of the Auburn University mascot that I wanted to try to sell in local bookstores. When I went to have prints made, the printer talked me out of the idea. He said it wouldn’t reproduce well and it was going to be expensive. After that I got discouraged, and I quit drawing for ten years. I figured maybe I’d study art when I was sixtyfive and retired. But over the next few years, I started realizing I wasn’t really satisfied. Engineering was fine, but it didn’t feel like what I was supposed to be doing. I started drawing again in my spare time, and I became obsessed with it. I joined an artists’ co-op in Athens, Georgia, where I lived, and one Saturday a month, I’d work in the gallery, where they let me hang my art.

One day I drew a picture of a local blues club and made prints, and within two weeks, I’d sold three or four of them. I thought, wow, okay. Then I started drawing pictures of some other local hangouts and restaurants, and before long, it was like everybody in town knew about my artwork. That was when I started toying with the idea of doing art full time. And, in 1997, when I was thirtynine years old, I quit my job to spend a year seeing what I could do with it. Have you always been drawn to painting cats? JD: When I first started painting, I was mostly doing landscapes and pictures of old barns and houses in watercolor and in pen and ink. But one day a friend of mine, the manager of a local frame shop, asked me to contribute a picture for a fundraiser at the animal shelter. The next time I saw her, I realized I’d forgotten about her request, so I went right over to the art store and bought a paintbrush and three colors of paint. I had a picture of a cat with me that I’d cut out of a magazine, and I took the picture and the supplies over to a restaurant. Over the next half hour, while I was eating lunch, I painted a picture of a cat on a piece of paper. The shelter put it in the auction, and it sold for $300. That was the first cat I ever painted.

What inspired the character of Pete the Cat? JD: For many years I had a cat named Slim. One of my friends was always trying to get me to paint Slim, and I always told her that I didn’t want to be a cat artist. I’d seen a lot of cat art that I thought was really cheesy. I wanted to be an artist and I wanted to make a living, but I wanted to at least be painting something that I was honestly happy about painting. Then one day, Slim passed away. I didn’t think I could ever replace her, but I went to the shelter and happened to find this tiny black cat in a cage. I thought black cats were bad luck, but this little cat was sticking its paw out and it wanted to play, even though it was in bad shape. I ended up taking him home, and that was Pete the Cat. Pete would sit on my lap or nearby while I painted my landscapes, and one day I noticed he had a particularly thoughtful look on his face. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 31

I went to get my camera to take a picture of him. When I came back, of course, Pete was gone, but I still wanted to capture that look. I normally worked from photographs, so this forced me to sit down and try to remember what I saw, to work out of my imagination and memory. As I sat, I drew a little picture of Pete. I drew him with a long tail, and made him blue, and left total white space behind him. That was my first picture of Pete the Cat. I showed it to my friend at the frame shop, and when she saw it, she just went crazy. Then I took it to an art festival, and a lady who saw it on Saturday came back on Sunday to buy it. She said she had to come back to get it because she couldn’t get it off her mind. And that was something, to know I’d really touched someone with a painting. You originally painted Pete the Cat with an adult audience in mind. What prompted you to consider Pete as a potential character for a children’s book? JD: Within a year or so after making that first picture of Pete, I decided I was going to stop making landscapes and sell Pete the Cat paintings at festivals, instead. At the very first show I did in 1999, I was approached by a guy who looked at my Pete the Cat

paintings and said, this should be a children’s book. That planted the seed in my head. You connected with Eric Litwin, the eventual author of many Pete the Cat books, in a wonderful and unusual way. Would you share that story? JD: As I started selling Pete the Cat paintings at shows, more and more people started approaching me about wanting to do a children’s book. That included a guy named Eric Litwin. Eric knew about my artwork from festivals and galleries, but I didn’t know him. Eric entertained children for a living. He was out visiting schools, writing stories and songs for kids, and he’d written one particular story about a little girl called I Love My White Shoes. One day when he was telling the story, he plugged Pete the Cat into the role of the little girl. The response he got from kids was totally different. Not long after, I happened to be driving into Atlanta, which I seldom did. I was in my old 1965 Chevy with a big painting of Pete the Cat on the door. As I stopped at a traffic light, I noticed this guy standing on the corner. And he says to me, I just recorded a song for you that I want you to hear.

I looked at him and I thought, this guy must be losing his mind. But as the light changed, I told him to send it to me, and I drove off. That guy was Eric Litwin. When I got home, I had the music and story for I Love My White Shoes in my e-mail. I was immediately crazy about it. Eric later told me that he was recording at his friend’s studio in downtown Atlanta that day. He normally never took walks, but he just happened to decide to take a walk the day we met. You and Eric Litwin initially selfpublished Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. How did that first book grow into a series with a publishing house? JD: It was a little crazy when we started. We didn’t have an editor. It took us two years to put the book together. But once we self-published, we sold about 7,000 copies in under a year. After the book came out, a bookstore owner from south Alabama happened to be in Atlanta, and she saw Pete the Cat on a poster I had done for a road race. She took a picture of it and started showing the picture around her town. She said she wanted someone to draw a picture like that for a poster she needed. Someone who saw the photo told her, oh, that’s Pete the Cat—maybe you can get in touch with James Dean. She called me up and asked me to come down to see her. I told my wife that I thought I should go, even

32 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Photo credit: aplacecalledkindergarten.blogspot.com

MEET THE AUTHOR

though I didn’t think we’d make any money from the project. When I went, I brought a copy of I Love My White Shoes and showed it to the bookstore owner. She flipped out over it and asked if I’d mind if she sent the book to one of her publishing reps in New York. I told her to go ahead. And on December 17, 2008, on my fifty-first birthday, the phone rang, and it was my future publisher saying they wanted to publish Pete the Cat. And that’s the crazy story of how we got the book to New York City.

time thinking about it, and then I’ll come back, and I’ll add to the idea. We’ll just keep bouncing ideas off of each other for weeks and months until it works. It’s a very long process, but we’ve done really well. Kim gives me a lot of leeway, because Pete the Cat is my character. So she gives me a lot of ideas, a lot of options, and usually among those options there’s something I’ll like a lot. Sometimes I’ll throw something out that she likes. The bottom line is that I also want her to be very happy with the end result. Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses has such a beautiful, bright palette. How did the concept for this book evolve? JD: I am so happy about Magic Sunglasses. Every time I look at it, I just love it. The backstory on Magic Sunglasses begins at an annual arts festival in Atlanta called Inman Park. There’s a parade every year, and one year there was a guy in the parade dressed up like the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz, and he was also wearing these really cool bluemirror sunglasses.

Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses was written by your wife, Kimberly Dean. What is that collaborative process like? JD: When Kim and I first got married in 2004, we talked about making a book together. But when we actually sat down to do it, we got into a fuss because I’m very difficult to work with. I have an idea of what I want things to be—everybody does— but when you get more than one person involved, you have to be more patient. Kim and I had to figure out how to work together. Now, the way we do it is Kim will approach me with an idea: Pete is going to do this—what do you think about it? Generally, I won’t say anything right away. I’ll spend some

After the parade, he came by my tent, and I got to talking to him. I said, man, where did you get those sunglasses? They are fantastic. He told me a friend had given them to him as a gift, so he didn’t really know where they came from. A year later, he headed back to the festival and came right over to me and handed me the sunglasses. We were all floored, because here it was, a full year later, and he remembered. It was such a nice thing that he did. I took the sunglasses home and started wearing them. I told my wife that they were really cool, because they made everything brighter. They made the grass greener and the sky bluer. And Kim wrote Magic Sunglasses from that concept.

You’ve been painting Pete the Cat for many years now. Has your artistic approach changed over time? JD: In 1999, when I did the first picture of Pete the Cat, he was just black pen-and-ink lines and a blue body. He didn’t have whiskers, and his eyes didn’t have a color. They were just white. It wasn’t a fun painting; it was kind of melancholy, as if he were thinking about something. So he started off very different than he is today. He’s done in a similar way, but things like the shape of his eyes have changed a lot. I still use pen-and-ink lines, and I use acrylic paint that I build up pretty thickly to make him more opaque.

What was it like for you to illustrate so many different animals for Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm? JD: For a while, I thought maybe my books were just going to be a world of cats, because for many years now, cats are all I’ve drawn. I love cats, so they’re a pretty safe subject for me. I wasn’t really even sure that I could create any other characters. But when it came time to illustrate Old MacDonald Had a Farm, I had to draw all sorts of different animals, and that actually helped me consider more possibilities. I found I liked the frogs in there, and the turtle, and the chicken. By the time I finished illustrating that Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 33

MEET THE AUTHOR

book, I was happy with those animals, and I found myself wondering if some of them could be bigger characters. So now I’m kind of on a different path, because I’m creating all these friends for Pete the Cat. What challenges do you face when you are illustrating? JD: For me, it’s knowing when to quit. You have to know when you’re done. Sometimes that happens really quickly; some of my best paintings, I probably painted in an hour or two. Sometimes the more I work on something, the more it means I’m struggling, and I do paint over things all the time. But then there are moments, especially with the children’s books, when all the colors in the painting will suddenly pop. When that happens, I know I’m done. Until then, I’ll repeat the process of working, stepping back and looking at it from across the room, then working some more, until it’s finished. When you meet with educators, what do you like to tell them? JD: I am so thankful for what teachers do. When I talk to teachers, I often speak about the educators who influenced me. I remind them that what they do is incredible and that the things they say to children can have a huge influence on a child’s confidence. I think that, as a child, getting the right word here or the wrong word there from an adult can completely change your direction. One thing I realize now about my own father is that, while he didn’t encourage me to pursue art, he always made me feel like I was intelligent and capable. He would quiz me on things. He gave me problems to solve. I always had the sense that he thought I was intelligent, and that was huge for me. I think feedback like that from teachers and parents can make such a big impression on children.

34 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

What do you talk about with kids? JD: The first thing I usually do when I talk to kids is speak to them in cat language while singing songs like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” I’ll do a little bit for you: meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. Believe it or not, that’s really one of the best ways for me to first connect with kids. Then, I like to talk to them about how important it is to never quit if they want something, especially when it comes to the arts. I tell them my story, about how I quit for ten years—and yet I came back to art. I want them to keep going and believe that it’s possible to succeed. I ask them to try not to let anything or anyone discourage them. What is a typical day like for you? JD: My wife, who is also a sculptor, is the type of artist who can only work in spurts. She’ll work for a month or two at a time, and then she’ll kind of run out of steam and need to build it back up. I’m the type of person who gets up every morning, gets a cup of coffee, and goes into the studio. For the most part, I can paint every day. I’m always working. Do you have time to spend on creative pursuits outside Pete the Cat? JD: I’m taking guitar lessons. My wife’s dad has a collection of fourteen guitars, so I’ve spent a lot of time with him. I still love music. I’m also doing landscapes a little bit. I keep thinking that maybe someday I’ll have a little more spare time, and now that we live in Savannah, I’m surrounded by these

incredibly beautiful trees with Spanish moss in the branches. I keep wanting to do some watercolors of those trees. Maybe I’ll get to that.

This In-depth Written Interview is created by TeachingBooks.net for educational purposes and may be copied and distributed solely for these purposes for no charge as long as the copyright information remains on all copies. For more information about James Dean and his books, go to http:// teachingbooks.net/. Questions regarding this program should be directed to info@teachingbooks.net. Copyright © 2014 TeachingBooks.net LLC. All rights reserved. TeachingBooks.net merges literacy with technology to deepen the reading experience for everyone who enjoys children’s and young adult books. This easy-to-use database includes lesson plans, QR code flyers, video book trailers, and original movies and audio recordings with exceptional authors and illustrators. For more information, contact Nick Glass, Founder & Executive Director, at nick@TeachingBooks.net.

by | Lynne Farrell Stover

LIBRARY LESSONS Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) Grades K-3 Book Synopsis: In Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) by Barbara Botner, Miss Brooks, a very enthusiastic school librarian, has her work cut out for her. First-grader Missy appears to be resistant to all suggestions for a just-right book. Always hopeful, Miss Brooks tempts the reluctant reader with books about fairies, puppies, cowboys, and trains. Not even books filled with the excitement of a special holiday appeal to Missy. Not until a chance statement made by her frustrated mother does Missy discover she has a desire to find a special book about a specific topic. In the end, Miss Brooks is proven right: there is a justright book for everyone.

Grade Level: K–2 Time Allocation: 10–15 minutes Objective: • The student will respond to a specific book by answering questions pertaining to its content. • The student will recognize that a reader’s interest in a book will vary depending on topic, format, and genre. Materials: • A copy of Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t). • Books about dogs, trains, cowboys, and fairies pulled from the

Lesson I A Just-Right Book Introduction: Even with the help of the dedicated book lover Miss Brooks, Missy could not find a book that interested her one little bit. Hopefully, Missy’s story of frustration, and then success, will inspire your students to find the perfect book.

collection and placed on a table for student selection Procedure: 1. Introduce the lesson by telling the students that they will be listening to a story about a girl who could not find a book that interested her. Show them the cover of the book and point out Miss Brooks and Missy. Note: Missy

is the narrator of this story. The only place her name is mentioned is on the inside of the book jacket. 2. Read the book to the students. Then ask the following questions: a. Who is Miss Brooks? [She is the librarian.] b. Do you think Miss Brooks likes holidays? Why? [Yes, she gets excited and dresses up when there is a special holiday.] At this point you may want to point out the location of the holiday books in the 300 section. c. Missy did not like books about fairies, trains, cowboys, or dogs. Do you like these topics? [Answers will vary.] At this point you may want to show the students some of the titles on these topics that you have pulled from the shelves. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 35

2. Explain to the students that this fun lesson is based on rhyming and riddles. Define rhymes as words that sound the same at the end of the word. Use “Brooks” and “books” as an example of words that rhyme. Define a riddle as a puzzling question that needs to be answered. 3. Display the School Workers Rhyme Time Riddles visual. Read the contents to the students. Accept all reasonable answers to the questions. Common answers include Mr. Lad teaches math, Coach McCall is a physical education teacher, and Miss Malone works in the school’s office as a secretary. d. Missy’s mom said that Missy was as stubborn as a wart. What do you think she meant by that? [Once Missy made up her mind, she would not budge.] At this point you may want to show the students some “warty” books about scary things, like Mike Thaler’s Black Lagoon Series. e. Do you think Missy was going to find other “warty” books in the library? [Yes, the last page shows Missy and Miss Brooks looking at books while appalling ogres peek out from the shelves.] f. Do you think you will be able to find a just-right book in the library today? 3. Conclude the lesson by encouraging students to find their just-right book to check out from the library’s collection.

Lesson II Rhyme Time Riddles Introduction: Of course Miss Brooks loves books; she is the school librarian! Many people use their special skills to help make schools an interesting and safe place. Grade Level: K–2 Time Allocation: 10–15 minutes 36 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Objectives: • The student will review the definition for rhyme and rhyming words. • The student will use knowledge of the school community to solve rhyming riddles. Materials: • A copy of Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) • School Workers Rhyme Time Riddles visual and activity sheet (www.libarysparks.com) • Writing tools Procedure: 1. Introduce the lesson by reading the featured book to the students.

4. Distribute the activity sheets and writing tools. Students may work individually or in pairs. When students are finished, check for understanding. Part I Answers: 1. D, 2. F, 3. E, 4. C, 5. A, 6. B. Part II answers will vary. 5. Encourage students to share their choices of favorite school worker with the class.

Lesson III Graphing in the Library Introduction: Miss Brooks loves many kinds of books. She is also a fan of holidays, costumes, and stuffed animals. What if she were to poll her students to see what are their favorite things?

LIBRARY LESSONS

Grade Level: K–3 Time Allocation: 15–25 minutes Objectives: • The student will collect, organize, and display data to make a bar graph. • The student will interpret and analyze the data contained on a bar graph. Materials: • A copy of Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) • Miss Brooks’s Favorite Books and Miss Brooks’s Favorite Holidays visuals (www.librarysparks.com) • Sticky notes (one for each student) • Bar Graph Terms visual (optional; www.librarysparks.com) • Assessment activity sheet: Miss Brooks’ Favorite Book Topics (optional; www.libarysparks.com) Procedure: 1. Introduce the lesson by reading the featured book to the students. As you read the book, emphasize the book titles, holidays, and book topics mentioned in the story.

2. Inform the students that they will be using some of the Miss Brooks’s favorite things to create a bar graph. Note: If this is a lesson introducing bar graphs, review the Bar Graph Terms visual with the students. 3. Display Miss Brooks’s Favorite Books visual. After reviewing the contents of the graph, read the questions at the bottom of the visual to the students and have them respond. 4. Project or display Miss Brooks’s Favorite Holidays visual on a surface that will allow students to vote with their sticky notes.

Lynne Farrell Stover has been an educator for more than forty years, serving as an elementary classroom teacher, a gifted-education specialist, and a middle school librarian. She is currently a teacher consultant at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She is the author of the Magical Library Lessons series and From Snicket to Shakespeare from UpstartBooks.

5. Distribute sticky notes to the students. Instruct them to vote for their favorite holiday by placing a sticky note in the proper place in the displayed bar graph grid. 6. Review the students’ votes as displayed on the bar graph. Ask the students the questions found at the bottom of the visual. The answers will vary from class to class. Find more activities for Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) at www.librarysparks.com.

Illustrations by Michael Emberley, copyright © 2010 by Bird Productions, Inc.; from MISS BROOKS LOVES BOOKS (AND I DON’T) by Barbara Bottner. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

For online article resources, visit www.librarysparks.com

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 37

by | Boni Hamilton

TECHNOLOGY Wooing Disengaged Readers Grades K-5 Elementary librarians strive to pass their passion for reading to the students who stroll through the stacks. But not every student responds. Some children fail to hear reading’s siren call from any of the materials stocked on the library shelves. How can a librarian woo the children who can’t, don’t, or won’t read? Librarians often take responsibility for digital resources as well as print materials. Because many children are lured by technology, librarians might consider how to convert this affinity for technology into reading opportunities and motivations. Librarians can use digital resources to support striving readers, build alliances with disengaged readers by letting them evaluate resources, and motivate all readers.

Students Who Can’t Read Some students may have physical disabilities that interfere with reading. 38 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Others may struggle to master reading skills for unknown reasons. Students who can’t read face both social and educational challenges. Partner with the special education and literacy teachers to identify digital tools and sites to support striving readers.

Physical Disabilities An exception to the copyright law allows copyrighted materials to be made available to people with documented qualifying disabilities, such as visual impairments; the inability to pick up, hold, or maintain visual focus on a book; or severe dyslexia. BARD, an acronym for Braille and Audio Reading Download, is a service provided by the Library of Congress. About 25,000 downloadable titles are currently available, although the collection continues to grow. These digital resources are complementary to the print materials available from the National Library Service network

of cooperating libraries. Details are available at the NLS site (www.loc.gov/nls). Bookshare (www.bookshare.org), an initiative of Benetech (http://benetech.org), a nonprofit organization, has more than 200,000 books, newspapers, and magazines that can be downloaded and read using free assistive technology tools. A chart on the Bookshare website explains how to determine whether students qualify.

Literacy Concerns Students whose reading skills lag behind their peers often deal with social stigma. Not only are they regularly pulled out of class for supplemental reading instruction, but they also are limited to “easy” books for library check-out and in-class reading. Easy books may challenge their reading skills, but the texts rarely stretch students’ thinking. The use of digital texts can connect students to grade-level reading materials and ease

TECHNOLOGY

the students’ sense of isolation when classmates talk about popular books. • E-reader texts. Researchers have found that striving readers respond well to e-readers. Because e-readers enable access to such supports as interactivity, audio files, dictionaries, and note and bookmarking tools (depending on the e-reader brand), striving readers can sometimes work with texts above their independent reading levels. • Digital texts. Not all digital texts load on e-readers. Some schools have purchased reading programs with thousands of interactive books. An article in District Administration discusses digital texts and includes a downloadable chart on digital reading applications (http://tinyurl.com/6m6byyb). • Audio texts. Teachers have long used audiobooks accompanied by texts for listening centers. When students read along with the audio files, they get a double benefit: they can hear how a text should be read (prosody) and practice reading skills. With the increased popularity of mp3 players and iPod devices, listening centers have become portable. For audiobook purchases,

start with winners of the American Library Association’s Odyssey Award for the best audiobooks produced for children and young adults (http://tinyurl.com/ky6gltv). Free audiobooks may be downloaded from public libraries or from online collections, such as Storynory (www.storynory.com), Light Up Your Brain (http://lightupyourbrain.com/ stories), and Ambling Books (http:// amblingbooks.com). Recruit teachers and students to create audio files for your school collection as well.

digital resources that are not getting sufficient use, such as Playaways®, a Tumblebooks subscription, or even research databases, start with those. Students may be able to pinpoint slight changes to policies, location, or publicity that would increase the resource’s appeal. They can also evaluate online reading resources (See Sample Evaluation Form at www.librarysparks.com).

Students Who Don’t or Won’t Read Students improve as readers when they practice reading. But for some students, reading is a chore—it requires effort, concentration, and, worst of all, sitting still. Often these students find reading hard work, so they choose not to read. Other students read well, but fail to find appealing materials in school libraries or resist reading materials they find unengaging. Librarians often don’t know these students well because the reluctant readers hide in the stacks, grab a book at the last moment, and rush through check-out. They may choose the same books or genres repeatedly, especially comics or amazing fact books. Their book choices are likely to have plenty of visuals, and they may simply “picture read” rather than read the words. Asking these students to evaluate digital resources for the library may broaden their perspectives on what libraries—and reading—offer. With the cooperation of classroom teachers, enlist students for short-term evaluation projects to be conducted during Sustained Silent Reading in their classrooms. Students can evaluate devices, such as e-readers and audio books. If the library has

Online Reading For many libraries, subscriptions to online reading programs are a luxury. The following online reading websites are subscription-free, have highquality materials, and target a range of age groups. Online Books • The Screen Actors Guild Foundation sponsors Storyline Online (www.storylineonline.net), a collection of twenty-five videos of professional actors reading wellloved picture books. • Mrs. P’s Magic Library (http://mrsp. com) features TV star Kathy Kinney (Secret Life of the American Teenager) as Mrs. P., reading classic tales aloud. Clicking on the picture of Mrs. P. brings up a YouTube channel with all of Mrs. P.’s library videos. For schools where YouTube is blocked, the “Streaming Stories” link leads to fourteen classic tales hosted on Professor Garfield’s site, which is typically not blocked. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 39

• 170 Online Ebooks for Young Kids (http://tinyurl.com/ok6gruy) is an e-book webmix, created by a kindergarten teacher who collected multimedia e-books and stripped the distracting video recommendations and advertisements. The collections include Storyline Online and National Geographic. • Myths and Legends (http://myths. e2bn.org) has more than seventy stories, most of them European in origin, in multimedia form, as well as several thousand stories submitted by site visitors, including students.

• Teaching Kids News (http:// teachingkidsnews.com) provides news articles written for grades 2–8. • DOGOnews (www.dogonews.com) calls itself the “leading source for current events, news and non-fictional articles for kids and teachers.” Key vocabulary words in articles are linked to dictionary entries. Articles often end with comprehension questions and critical thinking challenges.

Motivation for All Readers Librarians can use the following motivational resources to appeal to all readers.

Booktalks

Online Magazines • National Geographic Young Explorer! (http://tinyurl.com/oc6n8kr) is a monthly online magazine for children in K–1. Audio is available but must be triggered by clicking the audio icon. The “More Issues” tab has an archive of past issues to 2007. • Time for Kids (www.timeforkids.com) magazine targets upper elementary and older students. “Kid Reporters” might be especially interesting for students because the articles are written at a lower reading level by student reporters. • Youngzine (www.youngzine.org), written for upper elementary through high school readers, covers current events around the world. Registration is possible but not required. 40 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Booktalks can entice children to consider a title or author. Several online sites provide written booktalks. Teachers can read the booktalks aloud or print them on shelf tags. Printable shelf tags are available through Scholastic at http://tinyurl. com/nh8wb7q, or get colorful animaltheme tags at Upstart (http://tinyurl. com/ozeagse). • The Mackin BookTalk website (www.mackinbooktalk.com) features books that have won state awards. Site visitors choose the award

program and then an award winner from that program. The booktalk appears as a virtual book, with “About Author,” “Ratings,” and “Read More” tabs. • Nancy Keane’s Booktalks—Quick and Simple (http://nancykeane.com/ booktalks) lists books by author, title, subject, and grade level. In most cases, Keane provides oneparagraph reviews. Some titles also have links to audiobook excerpts intended to pull readers in. • Chatting About Books (http://tinyurl. com/2cxp5s8) is a series of more than sixty podcasts created by Emily Manning for ReadWriteThink .org. The podcasts recommend books for children ages 4–11 and often include interviews with authors. Although the podcasts are organized by date, and not by authors or titles, you can search the site for a particular author or title. You can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.

Reading Rewards Students can be motivated by reward programs as well. Three free incentive programs have similar profiles but different strengths. • Biblionasium (www.biblionasium. com) is a social network for logging reading time, rating books, searching for book

TECHNOLOGY

Some children fail to hear reading’s siren call from any of the materials stocked on the library shelves. How can a librarian woo the children who can’t, don’t, or won’t read?

recommendations, and building virtual bookshelves. Incentives can be set by parents or teachers to reward students when they complete reading challenges. This site seems particularly suited for classroom teachers. • The Kid’s Zone of Book Adventure (www.bookadventure.com/ kids_zone.aspx) includes links to the Book Finder, which creates customized lists of books for children; the Quiz-O-Matic, where students access quizzes on books to earn points toward prizes; the Fun & Games Center, with activities related to books; and the Prize Library, where students can see prizes and awards available. This site stresses incentives, and its quizzes are similar to Accelerated Reader. Lists of book recommendations may be helpful for some readers, although the sheer number of recommendations could overwhelm a young reader. • Reading Rewards (www.readingrewards.com) motivates readers by providing a safe platform where students earn rewards for reading,

finishing a book, and writing reviews of what they’ve read. Students have reading logs and access to book reviews by other students. This site is particularly suitable for library reading programs. Whether children can’t, won’t, or don’t read now doesn’t mean that they will never read. Finding the keys to motivate reluctant readers may take creative thinking about digital resources available through the library. But wooing just one disengaged student to the pleasures of reading is worth the effort.

Boni Hamilton, EdD, has teaching experience at every level from preschool through college. Her book IT’s Elementary! Integrating Technology in the Primary Grades (ISTE, 2007) advocates for collaboration among librarians, classroom teachers, and technologists. Contact her at bonihamilton@gmail.com or visit her wiki at www.easyintegration. wikispaces.com. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 41

TeCH

Google Story Builder https://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/builder

BiblioNasium www.biblionasium.com BiblioNasium provides young readers with their very own virtual bookshelf, where they can keep track of books they’ve read, create wish lists, share personal reviews with their friends, and recommend books to others. Once students begin reading, adding books to their bookshelves, and recording what they’ve read, they can receive badges and online rewards. This free program is safe for even the youngest readers: Parents must give permission for children to enroll in the program. (The site will ask for a parent’s e-mail address and then send enrollment and access information to the parent before the student is allowed to join.) Teachers and librarians can create required reading lists, provide “reading challenges” for classes, and keep track of what each student is reading throughout the year. With over 20,000 titles available with reading levels, teachers and parents can watch as their students progress in reading while having fun interacting with their peers in a safe online environment.

Google Story Builder allows students to create a video story that appears as if the dialog is being typed in real-time by two or more characters. To begin the video story, students select characters to collaborate on an online document. As each character writes part of the script, the next character appears to make corrections to the writing. Before completing the video story, students may select a musical background to add to the collaboration. Students can draw on their background knowledge of the subject to determine how to best frame the story with music (e.g., suspense, slapstick, love story). Once students have finished making their video, they can share it using a web link. Students could use Google Story Builder for digital book reports (imagine Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid trying to explain something while his brother Rodrick continues to bully him by making changes along the way). Teachers and librarians can teach inference by creating their own video stories of two characters collaborating and then asking the students to infer about the context of the script: What is happening? Are the characters friends? What are they working on together? CCSS W.K-6.3 and W.K-6.6

STORYBIRD https://storybird.com

VOCAROO http://vocaroo.com Vocaroo is a free, web-based service that allows users to create audio recordings without downloading software or creating student accounts—all you need is a computer with a microphone. Students can rerecord as many times as they need, publish their recordings, and embed the recordings into any web-based publishing platform. CCSS SL.K-6.5

Storybird is a free, fun, and collaborative storytelling website that makes it easy to create and tell stories digitally. Students can create stories together by combining imaginative artwork and text that can be printed, watched on screen, or shared in an online library with teachers, family, and friends. Storybird begins with the artwork to provide students with inspiration for their stories. Once students access the Storybird canvas, they select an image and add text to accompany the image. They can add pages by dragging and dropping additional images to create picture books or chapter books. After they are finished writing, students can give their stories a title, select a cover, and publish the story to the website. Storybird has free class accounts that allow students to use Storybird without providing an e-mail address, so students of all ages can easily and safely access the website. CCSS W.K-6.6 and W.K-6.3

42 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

TECH TIPS

Booktrack Classroom http://cdn.booktrack.com/education-studio/index.html# Booktrack Classroom is a free website and app that provides students with the opportunity to enhance their writing and reading with a movie-style soundtrack, complete with ambient sounds, music tracks, and sound effects. Students can use preloaded stories or write their own stories. Following the step-by-step directions offered throughout the recording session, they can search for and select appropriate sounds and music from the program’s library. The website includes free sample lessons that demonstrate how the program can be connected to standards. Many students will become more engaged in learning and spend more time reading as they develop techniques for creating their own enhanced audiobooks. CCSS SL.4, SL.5, W.3, W.3.A, and W.3.B

ZooBurst www.zooburst.com ZooBurst brings the elements of 3-D into the library by introducing students to a world of customized artwork that can be used to create extraordinary virtual pop-up books. Young authors can arrange characters and images within the 3-D canvas to tell their own stories, deliver classroom presentations, or even write book reports in a whole new way. With more than 10,000 images and materials available in the site’s database, students will find new ways to showcase their creativity, as well as their writing skills. ZooBurst contains powerful classroom management features for teachers to allow for easy set-up protection that keeps students safe while they are online. Teachers can assign usernames and passwords to their students and can manage and moderate student work in a protected environment. Premium users have access to a wide range of additional features, such as audio and speech integration, downloadable books, and an unlimited book library. CCSS W.K-6.3 and W.K-6.6

30hands https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/30hands/ id605013231?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 30hands (iOS only) puts the power of storytelling in the hands of students by allowing them to easily create stories using their own photos or images. Students upload photos or images or draw slides in the program, then plan the sequence for their stories by arranging images in a drag-and-drop storyboard. Once the story images are set, students record their own audio for each of the images shown. The finished mini-audiobook can be saved and published as a video to the student’s device or uploaded to the 30hands collaborative learning site. Librarians and teachers can also use the program to record read-along stories for storytimes or independent reading, create enhanced instructional materials to share in the classroom or for a flipped classroom, or make audio-visual flashcards for ELL students. CCSS SL.4, SL.5, W.3, W.3.A, and W.3.B

Bookabi https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bookabi/ id494391239?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Bookabi is an iPad app that allows students to create their own 2D and 3D storybooks. Students choose from Bookabi’s collection of backgrounds and characters, or they can use their own photos to put themselves in the story. They can then add pages, insert text or speech bubbles, and record audio on each page. No special artistic skills are needed—just your imagination! Stories can be saved and shared with friends or used in the classroom during reading center or storytime. CCSS SL.4, SL.5, W.3, W.3.A, and W.3.B

Shonda Brisco, MLIS, is the district librarian for Newkirk Public Schools (OK) and a career librarian at the K–12 and academic levels. She is a contributing author to No Shelf Required: e-Books in the 21st Century Library (ALA, 2010) and Curriculum Materials Centers and Collections: Moving from the Past to the Future (ACRL, 2011). Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 43

by | Pat Miller

FICTION NONFICTION CHARACTER COUNTS Grades 2-5

“She’s such a character!” Perhaps you’ve said those words yourself. Former president Ronald Reagan joked, “You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by the way he eats jelly beans.” One of the best-known lines of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a country where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

What Is Character? MyVocabulary.com has a list of 236 words related to positive character and 132 negative trait words (http://tinyurl.com/lbxskg2). CharacterFirst (www.characterfirst. com/qualities) provides a description of forty-seven character traits from alertness to wisdom. Each year, the president reads a proclamation naming the third week in October as Character Counts Week. The Josephson Institute for Youth Ethics, which has promoted Character Counts Week for twenty 44 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

years, lists the pillars of character as citizenship, fairness, caring, respect, trustworthiness, and responsibility (see http://tinyurl.com/ljacna3). School mission statements are concerned with character building through developing world citizens who are educated in heart and conscience as well as mind. Specifying a single week when “character counts” is a way to call student and parent attention to the ways their school is helping them grow in character as well as knowledge year-round. One way to become aware of the qualities of good character is to read and analyze biographies about vivid characters. Character doesn’t erupt, fully formed, when one becomes an adult. Qualities like concern for others, responsibility, and integrity appear in young children. There are appealing biographies about the childhoods of such well-known people as Louis Armstrong, Wilson Bentley, Tomie dePaola, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Ted Geisel, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Amadeus Mozart, Marco Polo, the Roosevelts,

Mark Twain, George Washington, the Wright Brothers, Sacajawea, John James Audubon, Pele, and others. They reveal the beginnings of determination, tolerance, courage, and more. (For details about these titles, see “Before They Were Famous” at www.librarysparks.com).

In books, as in life, character is revealed in one’s words and actions. Use the Such a Character! graphic organizer (www.librarysparks.com) with students as you share the following

FICTION NONFICTION

recommended books. Have students list key actions and words that define the person’s character traits.

subsided when a light was left on in his room. Yet Gandhi lived by his own words: “We must also be brave and at the same time have wisdom.” His philosophy was made apparent when he led a peaceful but dangerous twenty-four-day public march to the Arabian Sea to protest a British law that forbade Indians from collecting salt so the British could tax it and sell it to the Indians. Unlike the bloody war of the American colonies, which ended similar taxes and British rule, Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement brought independence to India without violence after almost 200 years of British rule.

Role Models Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman. Biographies for young readers often make their subjects seem relatable. They feature the subject in such a way that young readers can draw parallels with their own lives. For example, in Looking at Lincoln, readers learn that the former president loved a cross-eyed dog named Fido, enjoyed Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and craved apples of all kinds. An omniscient narrator adds personal comments that will have readers thinking of Lincoln as more than the guy whose face is on the penny. Following a paragraph that talks about Lincoln’s wife and four sons, the narrator ponders, “I wonder if Mary and Abraham had nicknames for each other. Did she call him Linky? Did he call her Little Plumpy? Maybe.” Gandhi: A March to the Sea by Alice B. McGinty. Character can lead children and adults to do things that matter—even unpopular or risky things. Mohandas Gandhi had such a character. In Gandhi: A March to the Sea, children learn that Gandhi’s childhood fear of the dark only

workers. He was on leave from the Navy in 1944 when he went to see a movie in Delano, California. Because the theater was segregated, by law Chavez had to sit on the left side of the theater. Chavez crossed the aisle and was arrested. In the coming years, Chavez became devoted to his wife, his eight children, and the cause of farm workers who needed a living wage and decent working conditions. Like Gandhi, Chavez led peaceful marches, made speeches to mobilize the marginalized, and went on hunger strikes to force new legislation. Both men put the rights of others ahead of their own physical comfort—and both changed lives for the better.

Principles Over Norms

A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez by David A. Adler and Michael S. Adler. Cesar Chavez was not a born crusader. His family lost their farm during the Depression and became migrant workers who labored hard for little pay. The workers followed the crops, moving as the fields were picked. Chavez attended sixty-five elementary schools before dropping out at the age of fifteen when his father was injured. Chavez’s first act against injustice wasn’t for farm

Mary Walker Wears the Pants: The True Story of the Doctor, Reformer, and Civil War Hero by Cheryl Harness. Like Gandhi and Chavez, Mary Edwards Walker used her feet to accomplish what her character told her was right. In the mid-1800s, women were confined to roles at home, could not vote or run for office, and wore hoop skirts that made breathing and movement a challenge. Walker first outraged the public by walking outside in pants. Though her suit was well made, her posture imposing, and her long hair neatly tucked into a snood, people were aghast. That was only the beginning. Walker became Dr. Mary Edwards Walker in 1855, one of the first female physicians. A few years later, when Walker’s requests to

Character ~ the inward values that determine outward actions.

- From www.characterfirst.com Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 45

serve during the US Civil War were denied, she simply showed up at a field hospital as a volunteer. When combat casualties became overwhelming, Union Major General George Thomas appointed Dr. Walker as Assistant Union Army Surgeon. Walker tailored an officer’s coat and created a matching blue, knee-length skirt over pants. She treated injured soldiers on both sides, causing her to be arrested as a Northern spy. Four months after capture, the South traded Dr. Walker for a captured Confederate surgeon. She went on to risk her life in service to her war-torn country. In 1865, Andrew Johnson awarded her the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service. To this date, she remains the only female so honored.

her single-minded determination to better conditions for those in hospitals and work houses.

set major records in 1896, 1897, and 1898, and between 1898 and1901, she won eighty-three grueling races and made cycling history. Encourage critical thinking by asking students to compare and contrast the personalities of Gandhi, Chavez, Walker, and Anderson. Have students note how these people’s lives were affected and impeded by their times. What would be different if these four were alive today?

My Heart Will Not Sit Down by Mara Rockliff. The title is from a Bulu expression from Cameroon, Africa. The book is based on a true incident about a young Bulu girl who heard from her US teacher that children were going hungry in his hometown during the Depression. Because she herself had known the distress of hunger, “Kedi’s heart stood up and would not sit down.” Share with students how Kedi and her very poor village managed to collect $3.77, which they sent to New York City.

Share other books that feature ordinary people doing extraordinary things because of their character:

Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, a Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History by Sue Stauffacher. Tillie Anderson was just as stubborn and as driven by her own ideals as Mary Walker. Tillie was a seamstress whose life changed when a bicycle rolled by her shop’s windows. Ladies rarely rode bicycles, but when they did, society dictated they ride either in slow, lazy figure 8s or in stately progression around a maypole. “Tillie dreamed of the speedy, scorchy, racy kind of riding.” Hampered by her huge skirts as Walker had been, Tillie went even further: She designed an outfit for herself that resembled today’s wet suit. Unconcerned with the negative backlash (“They all think I’m wicked”), Tillie began racing. She 46 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman by Esmé Raji Codell. Johnny Appleseed did more than plant apple trees. He was a man who sought peace, respected nature, lived simply, and shared what he had. He was an impromptu librarian on the frontier, tearing his personal books into chapters so they could be shared more widely. One of his aphorisms, “You can reach your destination by taking small steps,” is evidenced by his maintaining, by foot and canoe, nurseries over an area of 100,000 square miles. Florence Nightingale by Demi. Americans aren’t the only ones who are moved by altruistic values. Demi recounts the highlights of the famous English nurse’s life, from her immensely wealthy childhood to

Characters of All Kinds Share the following books with your students, and ask them which positive and negative qualities they notice in each person’s life. Choose one of the categories and compare several of the subjects. Do they have qualities in common? Did they face similar obstacles? Are their lives and characters anything like yours?

Sports Stand-outs All Star! Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever by Jane Yolen

FICTION NONFICTION

No Easy Way: The Story of Ted Williams and the Last .400 Season by Fred Bowen Queen of the Track: Alice Coachman, Olympic High-Jump Champion by Heather Lang Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champion by Walter Dean Myers

Science Stars On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne Barnum’s Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World by Tracey Fern Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola Annie Jump Cannon, Astronomer by Carole Gerber

People of Courage and Persistence Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart by Julie Cummins

The Bravest Woman in America by Marissa Moss Noah Webster & His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris Fearless: The Story of Racing Legend Louise Smith by Barb Rosenstock Students can also investigate how the authors chose to tell these stories. Assign these or similar titles from your collection to small groups. When they finish reading together, they can work as a team to complete the Biography Exploration chart at www.librarysparks.com.

Historical Fiction Biographers use much thought and skill to make their subjects and their times come to life. However, these stories often can’t touch the heart in the same way that historical fiction does. Based on historical facts and persons, historical fiction lets the reader step into the shoes and the events of the main characters. Historical fiction is especially effective when the topic is emotional or foreign to the experience of the reader.

Banning and mechanic Thomas Allen, the first African Americans to fly across the country, twenty-one days. Their plane was a refurbished bi-plane that had to land frequently for repairs, gasoline, food, and rest. The pair stopped seventeen times on their way, each time relying on the kindness of strangers for help to continue. Banning thanked helpers by letting them “write their names on the tip of the wing. They’ll fly into the history books right along with us!” Told in first person by the mechanic, on whose flight log and personal recollections the story is based, the story will have children riding along through heat so stifling that the men flew in their underwear in open cockpits. Readers will encounter storms and unfriendly crowds who refused food and help because of prejudice. And they will feel the ticker tape fluttering into the open car that took the men on a celebratory route through Harlem, New York City.

A search in your library collection will yield a number of excellent titles. Here are three examples.

The Hallelujah Flight by Phil Bildner. Today it takes about five hours to fly from Los Angeles to New York City. But in 1932, it took pilot James

Walking Home to Rosie Lee by A. LaFaye. Students may know that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and that, after the Civil War, the freed slaves were able to start their own lives. It may sound like a happily-everafter kind of story. However, former slaves were often left homeless and without a way to feed themselves Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 47

Preview of online article resources

FICTION NONFICTION

and their families. Even worse, many spent years after the war searching for loved ones who had been sold away from them. Walking Home to Rosie Lee tells the story of Gabe, a recently freed boy whose character leads him on a quest. Fellow travelers “have freedom on their minds and they talk it out over the nighttime fires that light up their faces like lanterns—all hope and hurry on. Me, I got my mama, Rosie Lee, on my mind.” Students will feel Gabe’s longing and exhaustion as he walks for months, searching for his mother. False leads and dashed hopes undermine Gabe’s confidence as he follows one person’s vague remembrance after another, across several states. The concern and care of people along the way keeps Gabe and his hopes alive until the day he spies a woman setting a pie out on a kitchen window: “Ran there so fast, left my breath on the hill.” In the end,

he snuggles up tight with his mama and prays for all those other boys searching for their mamas. I Will Come Back for You: A Family in Hiding During World War II by Marisabina Russo. Russo tells the story of character and courage displayed by her mother, two half-siblings, and their father, Jacob. They escaped Nazi Germany to Rome, where they were safe until Mussolini allied with the Germans. When Italian Jews began to be deported to concentration camps in Germany, Russo’s mother and her husband barely escaped. Their two small children were left to be hidden and raised by an Italian family. One day, another farmer came for the children, hiding them in two baskets strapped to a donkey. The children were covered by piglets until they could escape German observation and be carried into the mountains where Russo’s mother was hiding with another Italian family. Both Russo’s mother and Jacob were shot by the Germans; her mother survived and eventually brought the children to the United States and remarried. Russo’s mother and Jacob were awarded medals for courage by the British and Italian governments.

48 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Character is a complicated combination of qualities. Use the lives of interesting men, women, and children to give your students a variety of people to investigate and imitate. Courage is easier to develop if one sees it in action. So are compassion, integrity, and tenacity. Turn to your biography and historical fiction collections to find “guest speakers” who will appeal to all your readers. Let them give examples from their own lives of how character counts.

Pat Miller, MEd, LMS, was a school librarian for twenty-two years. Her newest project for Upstart is Library Brain, a recipe box of of engaging lessons, activities and organizational tips. She is also a children’s author and professional storyteller who makes school visits with her books, including We’re Going on a Book Hunt (UpstartBooks), Substitute Groundhog, and Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution (both Albert Whitman). Visit www. patmillerbooks.com or e-mail Pat at gpatmiller@patmillerbooks.com.

STORYTIME

by | Rob Reid

STORYTIME Starring the ABCs and the 123s This storytime lesson plan was inspired by Mike Boldt’s picture book 123 Versus ABC, in which the numbers and letters battle it out for center stage. In the end, they join forces, and it is in this spirit that I developed this particular program. Every publishing season, there are many new wonderful alphabet and counting books that contain fun storylines. Here are some of the best of the recently published concept books.

Opening Picture Book 123 Versus ABC by Mike Boldt. The number 1 welcomes the reader to enjoy this book about counting at the same time as the letter A is insisting that the book is about the alphabet. One alligator shows up, and both of the main characters claim the critter. The alligator is followed by two bears, three cars, four dinosaurs, five eggs, six frogs … all the way to twenty-six

zebras. At the end of the book, the two hosts agree: “This is a book about Numbers … and Letters!” Storytelling Tips: This is a fun book to read with a partner. The dialogue balloon outline for the number 1 character is colored blue, and the outline for the letter A character is colored orange. This makes for an easy script to follow.

Imagination Exercise Ask the kids in the audience to collectively think of one thing in your school or library (or even their home) that begins with the letter A. Tell them that they can’t chose any of the alphabet characters from the picture book 123 Versus ABC. For example, the kids might come up with one atlas or one Arthur book. Next, ask the kids to think of things that begin with the letter B. Add the number two in front of their B word, but don’t worry

Grades PK-2

about whether there are actually two B things in the room. They may choose two bulletin boards or two books. Continue going through the alphabet, with perhaps three clocks and four doors—all the way through to twentysix zippers.

Picture Book Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder. Little T is worried about visiting the zoo. She knows something there scares her, but she can’t remember what it is. Her family tries to help her remember by acting out an alphabetical list of animals. Father asks if the scary thing starts with an A, and he makes the shape of an alligator mouth. Mother asks if the scary thing begins with the letter B, and she and Sister act out a bull charging a cape. The clever family is stumped on how to act out a yak for the letter Y. “How do we make a yak?” They finally pile heaps of coats Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 49

on their backs to resemble a yak. Little T realizes that she’s not afraid of any of the animals. When her family arrives at the zoo, Little T remembers the scary thing: the lady who takes tickets, with her large smiling face and long, red fingernails.

go,” as you uncurl your hand. Have

And flew flickering in the night.

the children hold up ten fingers and

(Hold all fingers except pointer fingers with thumbs. The pointer fingers are the only ones upright.)

Storytelling Tips: Pause every time Little T’s family acts out a different animal. Let your young audience members guess the animal they are depicting. Some are harder than others.

Fingerplay

They opened their wings

“Ten Little Fireflies” by Rob Reid

And flew flickering in the night.

I designed this backwards-counting-

(Make two fists.)

by-twos fingerplay by using the words

No little fireflies

“shimmering” and “flickering” from It’s

(Look at hands and shake head.)

a Firefly Night. Have the children hold

Shimmering oh so bright.

all ten fingers in the air. Younger kids

It’s time to go to bed

lower them, one by one, as you read, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six—drift through moonlight. Five, four, three, two, one—blink in the night.”

will have trouble wiggling isolated fingers. That’s OK. They can still participate with their best efforts.

Two little fireflies (Wiggle two fingers.)

Shimmering oh so bright. (Continue wiggle both fingers.)

And sleep all night. (Put palms together and rest head on them as if sleeping.)

Ten little fireflies (Wiggle all ten fingers.)

Shimmering oh so bright. Two opened their wings (Wiggle both thumbs.)

And flew flickering in the night. (Tuck thumbs into palms.)

Picture Book It’s a Firefly Night by Dianne Ochiltree, illustrated by Betsy Snyder. Father announces, “It’s a firefly night!” His little daughter runs outside and zips “through the yard, chasing fireflies—gotcha!—to put in my jar.” She counts the fireflies as they transform her jar into a light bulb. The girl loves catching them, but she knows “they are not mine.” She counts them as she lets them go. As the girl and her father walk back into the house, she asks if tomorrow night will be another firefly night. Storytelling Tips: Read the light verse with a nice, even voice to reflect the nighttime fun. Hold up a closed fist for the lines, “My hand is a cage/for one tiny star.” Quietly recite the lines, “I whisper good-bye/then I let them 50 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Eight little fireflies (Wiggle eight fingers.)

Shimmering oh so bright. Two opened their wings (Wiggle both pinkie fingers.)

And flew flickering in the night. (Hold pinkie fingers with thumbs. The other three fingers are upright.)

Six little fireflies (Wiggle six fingers.)

Shimmering oh so bright. Two opened their wings (Wiggle both ring fingers.)

And flew flickering in the night. (Hold pinkie fingers and ring fingers with thumbs. The other two fingers are upright.)

Four little fireflies (Wiggle four fingers.)

Shimmering oh so bright. Two opened their wings (Wiggle both middle fingers.)

Picture Book Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell. The narrator invites the readers to count the monkeys in this highly participatory book. However, when we turn the page, we don’t see any monkeys, because “1 King Cobra has scared off all the monkeys.” The cobra leaves when two mongooses (the narrator asks, “Or is it mongeese?”) chase the snake away. Three crocodiles scare the mongooses, four grizzly bears take over for the crocodiles, five swarms of bees drive off the bears, six “sweet old beekeepers” shoo away the bees,

STORYTIME

seven wolves send the ladies packing (“Wolves and grandmothers never get along!”), eight lumberjacks take care of the wolves—and then invite a ninth lumberjack. The narrator asks the readers if they have any idea how to get rid of the lumberjacks; then “10 Polka-Dotted Rhinoceroses with Bagpipes and Bad Breath” clear out the lumberjacks. The narrator asks, “Was that your idea? Because it wasn’t mine.” Alas, the book is, and the narrator laments, “Now we’ll never get to count the monkeys.” Storytelling Tips: Just follow the narrator’s playful voice, and pause to let the kids perform the actions suggested by the narrator. These include moving hands in a zigzag pattern to confuse the crocodiles, making loud roars to scare the bears, humming happy tunes to keep the bees happy, thanking the beekeepers, giving the lumberjacks high fives, and more. When you read the last line about not getting to count the monkeys, reveal the back endpapers. The kids will explode when they see dozens of monkeys. Feign surprise.

and mime their actions, such as “O is for owie getters.” They can pretend to have a cut on their finger, shake it, and “cry.” The last page has an addition to the letter Z: “Z is zee end.” Close the book and declare, “And that means it’s the end of storytime!” Get my list of All-Time Favorite Alphabet and Counting Books to Share in Storytime on www.librarysparks.com. Storyteller Tips: Read each line, and then give the children time to perform each action. Some letters require group interaction, such as “A is for arm linkers” and “F is for friend greeters.” Some are too hard for a story program setting, such as “P is for piggyback riders.” In this case, tell them to pretend they have someone on their back and twirl around once, and then quickly move to the next line before they have time to actually try to climb on each other’s backs (I speak from experience). Many times, the kids can use their imaginations

Rob Reid wishes that every kid—and parents, too!—was as excited about reading and libraries as he is. Visit Rob at www.rapnrob.com.

Closing Picture Book/ Movement Activity ABCers by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illustrated by Pierr Morgan. This short picture book should be read while the children are standing. Have them act out the various alphabetical actions, beginning with “A is for arm linkers” and moving through “Z is for Zzzz snoozers.”

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 51

by | Judy Bradbury

“

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries ~ James A. Michener

“

CHARACTER ED Grades K-5

Slip-Sliding to Success If you were given the choice of trudging up sixteen flights of steep steps in 100-degree weather with high humidity, hauling sacks of potatoes and onions, or sliding down a curvy tube into a beckoning pool of sparkly blue water, which would you choose? I’m pretty sure I know what most of us would opt for and clamor to do again—even if we had to climb a few flights of stairs to get to the top of that slide. Reluctant readers are all too familiar with the feeling of trudging uphill under a heavy load every time they crack the cover of a book. Dedicated educators strive to offer exciting rides on the slide, leading to the inviting pool of just-right reads. We ensure that the slide is in view and that the water is cold, but not too cold; deep enough, but not too deep. And, of course, we make sure our students can swim.

52 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Lesson Links: Connecting Character Education to Common Core Standards and Content Area Curriculum • Use illustrations and details in a story to describe characters, setting, and events. • Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud. • Compare and contrast the experiences of characters in stories. • Describe traits, motivations, and feelings of characters, and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. • Determine the meaning of words as they are used in a text. • Recall information from sources to answer a question. • With prompting and support, read poetry of appropriate complexity.

• Read emergent reader texts with purpose and understanding. • Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. • Draw evidence from literary texts to support analysis and reflection. • Write an opinion piece in which the name of the book is introduced, the opinion stated, the reason for the opinion supplied, and a sense of closure is provided. • Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly. • Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

CHARACTER ED

Lesson 1: The Right Book at the Right Time “I would hope that [kids] can find that books are a place to go to see the world and to see each other and to understand things and to get comfort and light.”~ Kate DiCamillo, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

These stories with similar themes offer additional opportunities to reinforce that books can be “funny and fantastic.” It’s a Book by Lane Smith. Roaring Brook, 2010. I Will Not Read This Book by Cece Meng, illustrated by Joy Ang. Clarion, 2011. I Don’t Like to Read! by Nancy Carlson. Viking, 2007. Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book? by Lauren Child. Hyperion, 2002. The Lonely Book by Kate Bernheimer, illustrated by Chris Sheban. Schwartz & Wade, 2012. How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills. Schwartz & Wade, 2010. Sue MacDonald Had a Book by Jim Tobin, illustrated by Dave Coverly. Holt, 2009.

Grade Level: K–2 Time Allocation: 20 minutes Introduction: Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I Don’t) by Barbara Bottner,

• If you have a storybook character costume, dress up for this readaloud in the spirit of Miss Brooks.

illustrated by Michael Emberley, opens

Procedure:

with an introduction to the titular

1. Display the book collection.

librarian and her literacy-inspired

2. Show the cover of Miss Brooks. Read the title. Ask children to identify Miss Brooks. Ask: Who does the “I” in parentheses refer to? Who is telling this story? What do we know about the narrator from the cover and title of the book? What do we know about Miss Brooks? What do you think this story is about? Who do you think has a problem in this story? Why do you think so? What might it be? After students have had a chance to answer, say, Let’s read to find out what the problem is and how it is solved.

escapades by a less-than-enthusiastic participant. It is Book Week, “something truly terrifying,” notes our dour narrator. Though she informs Miss Brooks, “I’ll never love a book the way you do,” the indefatigable librarian and a supportive mom who makes good on an off-hand comment, triumph. The story ends with a book tucked under the arm of a blossoming booklover who is finding plenty of “funny and fantastic and appalling” possibilities in Miss Brooks’s brimming library stacks.

3. Read aloud the story. Pause to enjoy the humorous details in the art.

Materials:

4. Use context to define “vexing.”

• Collect a sampling of your favorite

5. After reading, list the types of books Miss Brooks and her students share throughout the year.

picture books. • Add Miss Brooks’s favorite picture books, which are mentioned on the second page of the story: The Runaway Bunny, The Story of Babar, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Also include Shrek! by William Steig, which figures prominently in the story. In her dedication, author Bottner states that Steig “started it all.”

6. Ask: What was the narrator’s problem and how was it solved? Ask for supporting details. 7. Study the illustration on the last page. Ask: What do you think will happen next? 8. In this story, Miss Brooks and the narrator’s mom each have a problem, too. How do they solve theirs?

Extension Activity Write Away! Assist students in selecting a levelappropriate book of interest to read independently and review. (See book review template on www.librarysparks. com.) Consider asking children to share their books while wearing a costume that “really shows us why you love it,” as Miss Brooks’s class does. Post book reviews, or collate the reviews and make them available for student use.

Lesson 2: From Print to Project “Dwell in possibility.” ~ Emily Dickinson Grade Level: 1–3 Time: 30+ minutes Introduction: Two books subtly reinforce the concept that you don’t have to be a bookworm to value books. One is directly related to books and reading, as the title attests; the other is a modern fable centering on creative thinking, collaboration, and individuality—with a set of written instructions factored into the story line. Both books are imbued with warmth and spirit, and both are delivered squarely from a young child’s perspective. Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 53

7. On the same day or the next time the group meets, read aloud Going Places.

Materials: • Read Me a Story, Stella by MarieLouise Gay. • Going Places by Peter H. Reynolds and Paul A. Reynolds, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Procedure: 1. Show the cover of Read Me a Story, Stella. Ask children to identify the setting. 2. Read the title. Ask: Do you think this is Stella? Who do you think is asking Stella to read a story? Let’s read to find out. 3. Read through the middle of the book. Ask children to identify character traits of Stella and Sam. How are the characters alike? How are they different? What does each character enjoy doing? Do you think Sam likes to read? Explain. 4. Read to the end of the story. 5. Throughout this story about a brother and sister enjoying a summer day, Stella reads voraciously and connects what she is reading to what she and Sam experience. Recall those experiences. List them on chart paper or a whiteboard. Ask: Which of the subjects that Stella reads about interest you? Which of the activities Sam engages in interest you? Explain. 6. Go to http://tinyurl.com/klctz8m for the author’s musings on the writing of this book. Discuss as time allows.

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8. Ask children to identify character traits of Rafael and Maya. List on them on chart paper or a whiteboard. Ask: How are the characters alike? How are they different? What does each character enjoy doing? Do you think Maya likes to read? Explain. Discuss how each character approaches the class project. Ask: Why do you think Rafael and Maya work so well together? 9. Using context, define the following words from the story: enviously, precise, assembled, contraption, replica, hovered. 10. Going Places is based on an original, animated five-minute film Above and Beyond, produced by the educational media company FableVision (of which Paul Reynolds is CEO and co-founder) with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.p21.org). View Above and Beyond (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7KMM387HNQk). Compare and contrast the film and the book. 11. Get additional activities for Going Places from the FableVision website: http://tinyurl.com/mb7jmop.

Steeper Climb, but Not Insurmountable In older readers, reluctance often hardens into resistance. Years of negative experiences and lack of connection with the printed page make the uphill climb toward finding the just-right book increasingly challenging. Listed here are a handful of books that offer compelling plots, discussion-rich themes, believable and unforgettable characters, and unintimidating formats. In these books resistant readers may see themselves or meet a friend worth staying with until the last page.

CHARACTER ED

• Fearless Fernie: Hanging Out With Fernie and Me, poems by Gary Soto, illustrated by Regan Dunnick. • The Lion Who Stole My Arm by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Annabel Wright. • Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson. • Sahara Special by Esmé Raji Codell. • The Way the Door Closes by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by Shane W. Evans. Also, the sequel Keeping the Night Watch, illustrated by E. B. Lewis.

• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You by John Ciardi, illustrated by Edward Gorey. Color-coded poems suitable for first-graders (and beyond) to read aloud face poems designated for adults to read aloud. In Miss Brooks, the children must find a poem to share with their classmates. In Stella, the main character reads a poem to her brother at just the right moment. Make several poetry books available,

• Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes. Books by Jack Gantos, Jeff Kinney, Gary Paulsen, and Jon Scieszka may also engage resistant readers.

Poetry Pause Poetry about books and reading abounds. Pack a powerful ELA punch with a Poetry Pause. In under a minute, you can scaffold learning, increase rigor, and foster a love of language. Choose poems from the following collections to celebrate the printed page. Read or recite as children assemble, line up, or transition between activities. • Book Speak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon. • Good Books, Good Times!, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Harvey Stevenson. • In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. • Wonderful Words: Poems About Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Karen Barbour. See especially “I Am the Book” by Tom Robert Shields.

and assist children in selecting a poem to share—or suggest they create a poem of their own, as the narrator of Miss Brooks does. In Reconsidering Read-Aloud, Mary Lee Hahn asserts that reading aloud “functions first and foremost as a model for students … during every moment of every read-aloud [we are] teaching students something about reading.” In When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do, Kylene Beers advocates connecting students to reading book by book—much as the fictional Miss Brooks does. “If we listen,” reflects Beers, “we’ll hear very specific criteria for what makes a book appealing to a reluctant reader.” If we

model, if we listen, and if we keep trying, we’ll entice reluctant readers to make that climb to the top of the waterslide. And once they get wet— truly immersed in a just-right book— they’ll clamor for more.

Judy Bradbury (www.judybradbury. com) is a literacy specialist, author, and national professional development consultant. She has written children’s books and professional resources for teachers and librarians, including The Read-Aloud Scaffold: Best Books to Enhance Content Area Curriculum (Libraries Unlimited/ABC-CLIO). Contact Judy at judyreads@bluefrog.com.

Oct 2014 • LibrarySparks • 55

LIBRARYSPARKS TALKS TO . . . Mike Jung

Author and librarian Mike Jung has become a leader in the We Need Diverse Books movement, an online campaign to raise awareness of the need for more diversity in children’s and young adult literature. We spoke to him about the campaign and the role of librarians in supporting diversity.

Grades PK-6

How did the We Need Diverse Books movement begin? MJ: The movement began in response to BookCon at this year’s BookExpo America. I don’t want to say that that was the single driving factor, because a lot of people have been doing this for a long time, including Ellen Oh, who is president of We Need Diverse Books™. But that was a flashpoint in a lot of ways for some people. When the guest list was announced for BookCon’s young adult panel, it was entirely white men. In fact, BookCon as a whole had scheduled a lot of white people and a cat. There was public dismay about that. So that was one of things that spurred the beginning of the campaign. What is the goal of We Need Diverse Books? MJ: The overarching goal is to no longer need to have this conversation about diversity in literature. We would actually like to not have to talk about it anymore. The need is so profound and clear. Lee & Low, a publisher that’s been associated with the campaign, published a really enlightening infographic based on data coming from the Children’s Cooperative Book

56 • LibrarySparks • Oct 2014

Center about the lack of diversity over the past eighteen years (see http:// tinyurl.com/leelowcb). Ninety percent of the books that were published for children between 1994 and 2012 did not feature a person of color as a main character or even as an important secondary character. The overarching goal is to see those percentages change so that children’s books are representative of the actual society that we live in. How would you complete this sentence: We need diverse book because . . . ? MJ: We need diverse books because we live in a diverse world. It’s almost reductive to say that, but it’s true. We need diverse books because our readers bring all kinds of life experiences to the table. To really serve their needs, we need to have diverse books that represent all of their experiences. On an individual level, I know that it was a challenge not having books that reflected my specific life experience. And it was just one part of the endless message I got: You are not white, therefore you are an Other. You are an alien in this world. That’s an incredibly destructive thing. Books are one way that we can really make a difference for readers who are looking for their experiences and not finding them. What can librarians do? MJ: I’m of the opinion that it’s on all of us. There are things that all of us

can do. Librarians can invest collection dollars in acquiring a diverse range of books. Really pay attention to some of the specific issues that arise. Look at the covers. Look at the authors. You need to look at the covers, because whitewashing of covers has been an issue as well. It’s another way that representation gets diluted. Give a lot of thought to questions such as how can I find these books? How can I present them in the library in a way that our readers are actually going to find them and read them and see that there are books that represent their experience? Mike Jung is an active blogger, parent, and SCBWI member. Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 2012) is his first novel.

For the complete interview, go to www.librarysparks.com.

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Sneak Peek

Additional Resources on the Web!

N ove mb e r 2014

Visit www.librarysparks.com for more activities and resources: • Freebies, Doodads . . . : Halloween Riddle, Bunnicula Challenge • Curriculum Connections: What’s to Love about Reading discussion prompts, Independent Reading Survey sample topics and questionnaire • Keep 'Em Reading: Tips for Reading Aloud to Children handout • Library Lessons: School Workers Rhyme Time Riddles visual and activity sheet, Bar Graph Terms visual, Miss Brooks’s Favorites visuals and assessment activity sheet, extension activities • Technology: Evaluating Digital Resources sample evaluation form • Fiction/Nonfiction: Such a Character! graphic organizer, Biography Exploration chart • Storytime: Rob Reid’s All-Time Favorite Alphabet and Counting Books to Share in Storytime • Character Ed: Off the Shelves book review template

PLUS: • A complete bibliography

Hear, hear! No need for shushing: Encourage children to speak up and speak out in your library. Whether by exploring great speeches from the past, sharing stories of overcoming a fear of public speaking, or helping children find their own voices, librarians can introduce the power of the spoken word. In next month’s issue, discover the myriad ways that debates connect to the Common Core State Standards, learn how to use technology tools to teach public speaking, and connect speaking and listening skills across the curriculum. Dozens of book recommendations, activity ideas, and ready-to-use resources will have you shouting in the stacks!

• A webliography with live links to the websites listed in the issue

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