Tag: librarian
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The Freedom to Be Totally Ignorant
“I’m not afraid anymore so go for it.” — Jane Elliot The Oprah episode above aired in 1992. Jane Elliott first did her blue eyes/brown eyes experiment the day after MLK was assassinated. (Note, that transcript contains offensive racial terms.) (If you’re not familiar, in brief, Jane did a lesson in prejudice with her class […]
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Teens, Trauma, and the Future of Libraries
Imagine if a library closed its doors from 3-5 p.m. every day, which just happens to be when the Senior Center across the street lets out for leisure time, and heading to the library was a popular activity. Now those seniors need to go somewhere else during that time. Imagine if a library decided that […]
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Nice White Librarians
Much like neutrality, niceness* is a quality that I believe causes more harm than good, in almost every situation, but especially in workplaces, and especially libraries. Librarianship is rife with nice white lady librarians. They dominate the profession and thereby the professional culture. And boy, few things are more terrible than a nice white lady […]
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Smile! Rats! Or, a book talk
When I book talk, I sometimes like to structure them as a sort of narrative unto themselves. I thought I’d attempt to write out an example for you. When I book talk Smile, I like to throw in my own personal story about when I was a kid and I needed a retainer because one […]
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Out of STEAM
I have a confession to make: I don’t care about STEM. Or STEAM. Or even STREAM. I just don’t care. .fin. Ha, no, just kidding. Here’s what I love: The Boombox at Skokie Public Library. They had a ton of middle schoolers who needed something to do and exposure to teach, so they decided the library […]
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No, really, let kids choose what they read
In case you need something to tide you over while you wait for your copy of Reading Unbound to arrive, here are some more quotes about why we need to let kids choose what they read. We want to help our students fall in love with books in ways that foster a life-long devotion to […]
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Why Kids Need to Read What They Want
In the most recent edition of Cover to Cover by K.T. Horning, there are no early childhood, middle grade, or ya distinctions in books for children. Encompassing fiction and nonfiction, the breakdown is: Picture books (including board books) Readers/Beginning Readers/Easy Readers Transitional books Chapter books That’s it. We have those formats, and within those formats, every genre is […]
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Wondrous Pitiful
My story being done She gave me for my pains a world of sighs. She swore, in faith, ’twas strange, ’twas passing strange, ‘Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful. – Othello, Act 1, Scene 3 The stories of Othello’s youth moved Desdemona to love; they intrigued her, inspired her, incited her to action and emotion. The […]
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How Much Can A Picture Book Do?
update 01/17/16: Scholastic is no longer distributing this title. The picture book, as a form, has been around for years, and has contributed to literature some of its most stunning masterpieces, in terms of both text and illustration. No one can dare deny the genius of Sendak, Kraus, Keats, Williams, or Raschka. The picture book […]
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This Little Light of Mine
Not too long ago there was a discussion in the Storytime Underground Facebook group about whether or not to read the book This Little Light of Mine in storytime. This post isn’t about that, though; the discussion was civil, people made their cases, people made decisions based on their best judgment and what worked for them. […]
Hi, Miss Julie 