For Librarians

A Salute to Veterans!

By on November 11, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, Nonfiction  

Happy Veterans Day!!  To all those individuals who serve or have served our country proudly as members of the U.S. armed forces, and the families who sacrifice a lot to support their service, we thank you!

flag

 

Did you know that Veterans Day was created to celebrate the end of World War I?

While WWI wasn’t officially over until the Peace Treaty was signed in Versailles on June 28, 1919, fighting ceased on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, or November 11, 1918. In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11th to be Armistice Day.  In 1936 Congress declared November 11th an official national holiday. At the time it was meant to honor the veterans of WWI.

Unfortunately, as we all know, another  world war was yet to come.  But thankfully, WWII ended on VJ day, August 14, 1945.  People across the United States celebrated the newfound peace.

 

bit1

 

And in 1954, President Eisenhower officially declared November 11th to be a national holiday recognizing the veterans of all wars, as well as those currently serving in the U. S. Armed forces.  Being a veteran, I find this day special and am proud to have served as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

So why the history lesson?  I think it’s important to remember the significance of this day and it’s not just because everyone gets time off work or school.  As a way to  celebrate a veteran, why not check out some of these great books that celebrate those who serve our country faithfully:

 

 

  Veterans Day by Elaine Landau

This nonfiction title explains why and how Americans celebrate Veterans Day. Part of the “Celebrating Holidays” series, the book traces the history of Veterans Day back to the conception of Armistice Day. It explains how and why the holiday expanded from a time to honor World War I vets to a day to honor all American veterans. The book includes information about the symbols associated with the holiday, including flags, poppies, and monuments. It shows how Americans celebrate the day on a national, local, and individual level. The book is divided into five short chapters, which can be read independently of each other. Sidebars, photographs, and captions provide additional information.

 

 

 

 

 

America’s White Table by Margot Theis Raven

The White Table is set in many mess halls as a symbol for and remembrance to service members fallen, missing, or held captive in the line of duty. Solitary and solemn, it is the table where no one will ever sit.

As a special gift to her Uncle John, Katie and her sisters are asked to help set the white table for dinner. As their mother explains the significance of each item placed on the table Katie comes to understand and appreciate the depth of sacrifice that her uncle, and each member of the Armed Forces and their families, may be called to give

 

 

Cherry Ames, Veteran Nurse by Helen Wells

With a heart of pure gold and a true yearning to make a difference in the world, eighteen-year-old Cherry Ames leaves her hometown and enters nursing school, embarking on a lifetime of adventures. Follow Cherry through the entire 20-volume series as she grows from a student nurse to a fully qualified RN, all the while making friends, pushing the limits of authority, leading her nursing colleagues, and sleuthing and solving mysteries. Smart, courageous, mischievous, quick-witted, and above all, devoted to nursing, Cherry Ames meets adventure head-on wherever she goes.

 

 

 

D-Day Day by Day by Anthony Hall

The hardcover reference titles in the Day by Day series examine the evolution of conflicts and wars in a chronological timeline, from the first skirmish to the last battle—and everything in between. These books are a historical companion to each major war in the nineteenth and twentieth century. The fate of soldiers, battalions, armies, can change in the blink of an eye—with this comprehensive book readers can follow the conflicting sides in their strategy, weaponry, and policies.

 

Don’t Know Much About American History by Kenneth C. Davis

As best-selling author Kenneth C. Davis knows, history can be fun, fascinating, and memorable. When his don’t know much about® history was published in 1990, it was a sensation. The book delivered a fresh take on history with its wit and unusual detail. Davis now does for young people what his earlier book did for adults. In his trademark question-and-answer style — peppered with surprising facts, historic reproductions, and Matt Faulkner’s lively illustrations — Davis introduces our ancestors who settled the East and expanded the West, as well as those who had been living here all along. His sure touch brings the drama and excitement of the American story vividly to life.

 

 

 


Arlington: The Story of Our Nation’s Cemetery by Chris Demarest

AMERICA’S RESTING PLACE. The story of the national cemetery–from the Revolutionary War to the present. Arlington recounts the complicated history of one of the nation’s most famous and most-visited national monuments and its fascinating daily life. Carefully researched and documented, Chris Demarest’s watercolor paintings capture the spirit and pathos of the last resting place of more than 300,000 Americans who have served their country.

 

 

Courage Has No Color  by Tanya Lee Stone

World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Tanya Lee Stone examines the little-known history of the Triple Nickles, America’s first black paratroopers, who fought in an attack on the American West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of First Sergeant Walter Morris, “proved that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability.”


 

Enjoy your day off and if you happen to see a veteran, give them a handshake, a hearty “thank you” or even a hug for their service.

 

 

***

Jennifer Swanson is a middle school science instructor and an author of over 14 nonfiction books for kids. She is a  graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and is proud to have served her country for over nine years.

 

Back to Top

The Children’s Hour: Poetry Study with Middle Grade Readers

By on October 7, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Longfellow_children's_hourIt started this summer, when we visited Boston. We had just been to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s house in Cambridge. We were relaxing on the Harvard University lawn, and, inspired by the uber-intellectual environment, I asked my then eight year old to read me one of Longfellow’s poems from the slim volume we had just bought. I half- way thought she would refuse. But she good-humoredly began to read The Children’s Hour, delighting in Longfellow’s description of his own daughters:

From my study I see in the lamplight,
      Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
      And Edith with golden hair.


A whisper, and then a silence:
      Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
      To take me by surprise.

 And for the last number of months, my now nine and eleven year old have indeed taken me by surprise with their enthusiasm for our daily poetry study. On the way to school, I ask them each to read me a poem of their choice from a collection of famous poems we keep in the car. What has surprised me is how much more their enthusiasm is for these poems than Shel Silverstein or the other ‘children’s poetry’ we have in the house. There is something about the ‘big topics’ addressed — love, death, yearning, freedom, God — that fascinates them. So too does the vulnerability of these long-ago adult poets appeal; although they don’t say it, I hear the amazement in their voices when they read the stanzas aloud. (And I imagine their inner dialogue: Adults feel scared or confused like we do? Adults that long ago were so inspired by love and beauty?) For instance, the courage and perseverance of the speaker in William Ernest Henley’s Invictus seems to speak to my son, who comes back to this poem again and again on our morning read-alouds,

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

It makes sense. After all, a primary developmental task of the middle grader is defining of the self in relation to the environment. And what older elementary schooler/middle schooler wouldn’t be inspired by the majestic inner strength of the lines

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

His love for this poem have allowed us to discuss Nelson Mandela, who — or so the movie says — recited this poem to himself during his many years of captivity in South Africa. We discuss how an idea, an image, can give someone strength to endure the apparently unendurable. We discuss the power, and comfort, of words.

For my more whimsical daughter, William Wordsworth’s Daffodils seems to hold particular resonance. So much so that she’s been heard now reciting the lines to herself all around the house:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;

Like Invictus, the ultimate message of the poem is about building – and relying upon – one’s inner resources. A message utterly appropriate to a young person who is relatively powerless in this world so defined by adults:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. 

What I’ve grown to realize is that like Wordsworth’s speaker, who stores the memory of the dancing flowers in his inner eye, these poems have the potential to be sources of inner strength for middle grade readers. There is no need to solely limit our young people to literature or poetry ‘meant’ for them. Rather, short exposure to small jewels of literary power (and most poems are by definition relatively short!) allow them to store these riches in their inner coffers for later spending. The great poets, like modern day rock or pop lyricists, appeal directly to the romantic spirits of young people.

Some of the words may be unfamiliar, some of the usages arcane, but without the cynicism that comes with teenage and adult years, middle grade readers have souls made for poetry. Like Emily Dickinson’s speaker in Chartless, they need no charts to navigate these poetic waters:

I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet now I know how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be. 

So too do middle grade readers know great poetry in their bones. They may not have heard it before, but need no maps, just an enthusiastic parent, and permission to dive in.

And so, along with evening read-alouds, poetry study has become a part of our family culture. Sometimes it’s as simple as two short poems read aloud in the car on the way to school. Sometimes, when we’re pressed for time at night, I will read one or two poems in lieu of a bedtime story (or have the children chose and read a poem). If nothing else, hearing these great works recited in my children’s voices fills me with joy, and reminds me how important poetry is for spirits both young and old.

Are their particular poems you share, or plan to share, with the middle grade readers in your life?

(image of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s daughters courtesy wikipedia)

Back to Top

A Tribute to Libraries

By on October 4, 2013   /   For Librarians, For Parents  

September was Library Card sign-up month — a reminder to parents and children that a library card is the most important school supply of all. So I’m a little late to the game to write a mini tribute to libraries. Kind of like an overdue book. But I’ll write it anyway.

Confession: I love libraries. Always have. My earliest memory of being inside a library is sitting on a carpeted floor, listening to a librarian read from a picture book. Story time. The sound of her voice filling the room with the melody of words. Anticipating what could happen with each turn of the page. In grade school, I remember walking to the car with my mom, clutching a library book to my chest, awaiting the moment when we’d get home and I could run to my room, curl up in my favorite chair and crack open the spine, diving into the story and not coming up for air until dinnertime.

There were countless trips to the neighborhood bookmobile, too, which parked just a few blocks from my house every other Thursday afternoon. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to have a bus bring me books! As a teenager, I rode my bike to and from the library, my metal basket filled with books.

FBA Library 1970s

 

 

Typical 1970s library

 

When I became a parent, I took my three kids to story time at the library, met there with our parent-child book clubs, attended many events, not to mention borrowed hundreds of books over the years. The addition of the self-checkout was reason enough to go! My kids loved checking out books themselves (how cool is that beeping scanner!) and I loved avoiding a long line.

Our library recently underwent a major renovation, and while one thing has remained constant — shelf after shelf of books — much about the library is reinvented to meet the demands of today’s patrons. There’s a coffee shop, a multimedia area, open space, brightly-colored comfortable seating, and a friendly, cozy atmosphere.

vapl 2013

 

 

Vernon Area Public Library, Lincolnshire, Illinois

 

From the very first library, excavated in Syria (dating back to 1200 BCE), to today’s multimedia centers, with programs, meeting space, and technology at our fingertips, libraries have continued to evolve over time. And people use them more than ever. With the recent economic downturn, libraries experienced an increase in traffic and usage.

I once worried that because we live in a world relying more and more on technology, libraries might (gulp) go the way of the typewriter and rotary phone. Thankfully that has not happened. So take a ride over to your local library and get your child a card. Or if he or she already has one, use it! Honestly, it really will be the best school supply ever received. For free.

Michele Weber Hurwitz is the author of Calli Be Gold (Wendy Lamb Books 2011) and The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days (Wendy Lamb Books, coming April 2014). Visit her at micheleweberhurwitz.com.

 

 

Back to Top