Category: schools

• author, author!

  The past couple of conferences I went to, there was some chatter about author visits at libraries—namely, how do you get anyone to care about and come to your author event? (I’m assuming here you’ve found the money already. Top notch authors are almost always going to be quite expensive, so start budgeting now and…

  Miss Julie

  December 3, 2013

  authors, awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, cake, events, folk & fairy tales, kidlit, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries-everywhere, marketing, outreach, personal experience, programming, school libraries, schools, teens, ya lit

  author visit, middle school

• Book Talkin’

  (You need to sing the title of this post to the tune of “Jive Talkin’”) As the school year draws rapidly to a close (seriously, where did it go?) I’ve been reflecting on my first year as a school outreach librarian. I can’t tell you how invigorating it has been to use different skills and…

  Miss Julie

  April 19, 2013

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, kidlit, kids, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, nonfiction, OPINIONS!, personal experience, professional development, programming, reader's advisory, reading, schools, teens, ya lit

  books, librarians, libraries, professional development, rarians, teens

• let’s stop worrying and love the common core

  You’ll live to be read another day, sweet Catcher in the Rye. Beautiful illustration by naomi yamada. Dear sweet baby Jane. So if you want a rage stroke, read the articles I’ve listed below. If you want to just read an accurate description of how the fiction/nonfiction actually breaks down in the Common Core, just…

  Miss Julie

  December 12, 2012

  authors, awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, different ways to read, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, literacy, personal experience, professional development, schools

  books, community, librarian, libraries, literature, sweet baby jane

• Eat or Be Eaten: A Disturbing Storytime for the Older Child

  I’m reading aloud to a group of fifth graders soon, and I knew I wanted to start off with one of my sure fire hits, Gobble Gobble Slip Slop by Meilo So. I’ve read this book with all ages and the repetition, gross out factor, and beautiful illustrations win everyone over. The fat, greedy cat…

  Miss Julie

  September 27, 2012

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, folk & fairy tales, kidlit, kids, outreach, picture books, programming, reading, schools, storytime, weirdnesss for the sake of weirdness

  books, dietary choices, eating, fantasy creatures, librarian, libraries, literature, outreach

• The Cockroach Approach: Outreach

  Part One of a four part series. Read the introduction here. Children’s librarians have cornered the market on outreach. We go out to schools, preschools, daycares and present book talks, storytimes and other programs that promote our services, materials and meet a developmental need for our users. Some librarians go even further and perform at…

  Miss Julie

  June 8, 2012

  awesomeness, babies, be the best you can be, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries…of the FUTURE, libraries…of the PAST!, library workers, marketing, OPINIONS!, outreach, participation, personal experience, professional development, schools

  advocacy, books, community, librarian, libraries, literacy, literature, oak park public library, outreach, outreach librarian

• post script

  As much as I railed the other day about the institution of summer reading, today is the first day of the program at MPOW and I am loving talking to all of the kids and getting them excited about coming to our programs and reading. I think my real problem isn’t with summer reading. I…

  Miss Julie

  June 9, 2011

  OPINIONS!, personal experience, reading, reading programs, schools, summer reading

• Summer Reading, pain in my…*

  Summer Reading. We spend all year working on it. We can’t escape it. I hate it. I hate summer reading. But…but…it helps kids retain their reading skills over summer vacation! You know why we even have a summer vacation? So kids could spend the summer months helping out on the farm. Wait…your kids don’t live…

  Miss Julie

  June 8, 2011

  babies, be the best you can be, different ways to read, early childhood, early literacy, largely unsubstantiated, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries…of the FUTURE, libraries…of the PAST!, library school vs. real libraries, literacy, OPINIONS!, participation, personal experience, politics, programming, reading, reading programs, schools, summer reading

• today in stupid.

  Nah, kids don’t need to look up words. Especially in SCHOOL of all places. Their vocabularies are perfectly cromulent as they are. So shine on, you crazy school in LA, and keep those dictionaries away from kids. They should be using a more hands-on approach to learning about oral sex, anyway. UGH. And for the…

  Miss Julie

  January 28, 2010

  be the best you can be, censorship, ethics, kids, OPINIONS!, schools