YA Literature
I Can’t Believe How Many Books I’ve Read!
Posted April 26, 2019 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
Reflecting on the end of the semester, I keep thinking ‘I can’t believe how many books I have read!’ I created my goodreads.com account in December or November, after hearing about a local high school librarian who used it to track books she read. I thought it would be good to set a goal in January, around the time of the new year. This was before I enrolled in LIS 481: Library Collections and Materials for Children. I thought to myself ‘I’ll create a goal of 50 books. It’ll be super hard to read 50 books by the end of 2019.’ Well, our final reading journal assignment in LIS 481 was due a few days ago. I checked my Goodreads account, and I have read 31 books so far. Wowza, that’s a lot! Want to know the secret? In Library Collections and Materials for Children (a required course for anyone in the School Library Teacher Concentration or Children’s Literature Dual Degree) we are required to read 27 books throughout the semester. Children’s literature qualifies as…
The Particularities of Writing for People
Posted April 9, 2015 by Hayley Botnen
As I mentioned last week, April seems to be the month of literally everything being due. My biggest struggle–like every semester–is trying to learn to write for particular professors. I have my own writing style. I use it when I blog. I use it when I do my NaNoWriMo months. I use it in emails and Facebooks posts. I write the same way pretty much everywhere. But when I have to write for class, I try to spruce it up. Most people realize that you speak in different “registers” depending on who you’re speaking with: friends, family, professors, clergy, strangers. This also tends to happen with writing. When I write for school, I try to focus on certain facets of writing which I pretty much ignore otherwise. These facets are generally concepts I’ve been taught in school: don’t use “I” in academic papers, don’t end sentences with prepositions, make sure you have a thesis, avoid passive voice, and other “standard English” rules. However, one thing I always seem to forget is the subjectiveness of writing…
Don’t Censor Me
Posted September 28, 2014 by Alison Mitchell
I’ve become a little obsessed with the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics and Freedom to Read statement. The idea that anyone can access any kind of information at a public library is so egalitarian and so truly democratic, and really appeals to me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and was a little taken aback the other day by an exchange at my local branch library. Some relevant information: the librarian working that day was not one of the regular librarians, all of whom know my family very well, so this was someone with no information about me or my kids. my older daughter reads and comprehends well above her grade level (3rd grade), and looks younger than her actual age (8). she selects her own books, and independently chooses to stop reading if the text or subject matter is too much for her. Back to the story. One of the books we were checking out was Wonder by R.J. Palacio (which turned out to be fabulous — I highly recommend it). I…
Summer Reading
Posted June 19, 2014 by Gemma Doyle
It’s June, which means Summer Reading time at public libraries across the country. Last summer I was temporarily working as a young adult librarian, juggling my first ever summer reading program, and I can tell you that Summer Reading is both the most exhausting and rewarding part of being a youth librarian. It is seriously two months of stress and terror (did I bring enough snacks for this program? Did I bring enough prizes? What about the kids who didn’t sign up but want to come anyway – did I bring extra supplies?) but it’s what the bulk of the programming budget is spent on, too, so it’s an interesting time with lots of fun things happening. As the YA librarian I had my hands full enough, so I didn’t help out much with the children’s Summer Reading program, which is about 300% busier. (If anyone is thinking about becoming a children’s librarian at a public library, I would advise them to spend a summer helping out with Summer Reading first, so they know what…