For Teachers

November New Releases

By on November 1, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Parents, For Teachers, News  

As you search for a way to unwind from the excitement of Trick-or-Treating last night, pull up a piece of carpet or plop in a comfy chair with a new book. These new releases are a great way to take the edge off that sugar high you are surely having today.  🙂

 


The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Book 8 by Jeff Kinney

Greg Heffley’s on a losing streak. His best friend, Rowley Jefferson, has ditched him, and finding new friends in middle school is proving to be a tough task. To change his fortunes, Greg decides to take a leap of faith and turn his decisions over to chance. Will a roll of the dice turn things around, or is Greg’s life destined to be just another hard-luck story?


The Ranger’s Apprentice:  The Royal Ranger by John Flanagan

Will Treaty has come a long way from the small boy with dreams of knighthood. Life had other plans for him, and as an apprentice Ranger under Halt, he grew into a legend—the finest Ranger the kingdom has ever known. Yet Will is facing a tragic battle that has left him grim and alone. To add to his problems, the time has come to take on an apprentice of his own, and it’s the last person he ever would have expected. Fighting his personal demons, Will has to win the trust and respect of his difficult new companion—a task that at times seems almost impossible.


The Sandman and the War of Dreams  by William Joyce

In their fourth chapter book adventure, the Guardians recruit Sanderson ManSnoozy, the sleepy legend also known as the Sandman, to their cause.

When the Man in the Moon brought together the Guardians, he warned them that they would face some terrible evils as they strove to protect the children of earth. But nothing could have prepared them for this: Pitch has disappeared and taken Katherine with him. And now the Guardians are not only down one member, but a young girl is missing.
Fortunately, MiM knows just the man to join the team. Sanderson ManSnoozy

 

 


Survivors: Stranded by Jeff Probst

Eleven days down, and no end in sight. How long could YOU survive?

It’s been days since Buzz, Vanessa, Carter and Jane were stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific. Four kids left to fend for themselves. No adults. No supplies. They’ve managed to make fire and they’ve even found food. But they’ve just lost their only shelter, and quite possibly their one chance at being rescued. Now they’ll have to venture even deeper into the jungles of Nowhere Island just to stay alive. But the island holds secrets of a dark past. With danger lurking at every turn, they must rely on each other like never before it they are going to survive.

 

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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)

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Ways authors can use the library to promote their books

By on September 16, 2013   /   For Teachers  

Did you know that you may be able to add information and videos about your books to library catalogs? Many libraries have social catalogs, putting the power of list-making, tagging and ratings in the hands of readers, much like Goodreads and other platforms. And it gets even better: Let’s say you have a library card with Austin Public. You could upload a video about your book to your local catalog, and that same video would show up in the catalog of New York Public Library and hundreds (!) of other libraries.

At Seattle Public Library (where I work), we are one of more than 120 libraries (including Austin and NYPL, which I randomly chose to impress you) that use Bibliocommons, a shared social catalog. To give you an idea of how it works, I uploaded a book trailer from Mixed-Up Files blogger author Sue Cowen’s You Will Call Me Drog to my library’s catalog, which you can see here (choose the “video” tab). And now you can also see it here in Austin Public Library’s catalog and NYPL’s catalog and Johnson County Library in Kansas, and so on. (And thank you, Sue, for letting me use Drog as an example!)

Does your local library have similar capabilities? If so, here’s how you can enrich the catalog while also presenting more information about your book (or any book):

  1. Go to the book in the library catalog.
  2. Log in to your library account.
  3. Choose “add more” and then “Video.” You’ll fill in a box for headline, another for description, and then the code for a YouTube or SchoolTube video. Be sure to choose “embed” to get the code rather than just using the URL of the video.
  4. The video is now part of the library record for that particular book.

Videos can be anything related to your book, such as an interview, a tour of the locations featured in your book, a young reader doing a booktalk or maybe even trailers done by your readers. Here’s Better Nate Than Ever author Tim Federle talking about his debut novel and here’s a children’s librarian doing a quick 30-second booktalk on Liberty Porter, First Daughter.

You can also add tags and similar titles. When tagging, look to see what descriptive tags are already being used, such as “funny middle grade.” Consider making a thematic list, too. Who could resist books on a list called Awesomely Funny Books or Creepy, Scary Stories for kids? If your book tackles tough topics, a list of similarly themed books could be a great resource for teachers, parents and librarians.

And, of course, since we’re all lovers of middle grade books, you’ll undoubtedly want to make lists, add tags, rate books and upload videos for the books you love reading. It’s a great way to share information on books in a noncommercial setting. We’re reaching readers — with no strings attached.

 

 

 

 

 

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