It's Wednesday! What's happening in the Sommer Library?

It's not often that we have iPads and laptops co-mingling in our learning area

but this week, there are devices all over the place!  Third and fifth grades are practicing basic coding techniques by playing with the Lightbot Hour app on the iPads, while fourth graders are on laptops adding EasyBib to their student Google accounts for citation and getting a quick reminder about plagiarism. (Don't worry, the fourth graders will get to code in a couple of weeks, too!)

In the Book Nook, we are all about UNICORNS!  Kindergarteners are learning about the mischievous Sparkle

while first and second graders are being persuaded NOT to own a unicorn--

Our library is decorated for the holidays!  We have all sorts of holiday-related and winter sports books on display.

Of course, there is always someone sitting around the library and READING!

Next Monday, the fourth and fifth graders get to visit with author P.J. Hoover!  Pictures to come next week!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

In our house, the Christmas season begins when we see Santa arrive at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade--so let's break out the holiday books!  Santa brings a Christmas book  every year; our shelves are overflowing with over two decades' worth of gifts:

I've picked three books from our collection to get me into the Christmas spirit:

Maurice Sendak's illustrated version of Nutcracker, David Baldacci's The Christmas Train, and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Holiday Mystery will be my break from the hustle and bustle of the season.

It's Monday; what holiday books are you reading this Christmas?

It's Wednesday! What's happening in the Sommer Library?

Books and reading and learning, that's what's happening in our library!  Here are the stats from last month:

Did you know that we see thirteen to sixteen classes a day in our library?  We love our volunteers who shelve the hundreds of books that get returned each day!

Don Tate visited with third and fifth graders on Monday!  

Mr. Tate is a local author-illustrator; many of his books grace our shelves at Sommer.  His newest book, Strong as Sandow, chronicles the life of the founder of bodybuilding.  Mr. Tate was a bodybuilder himself!  The students enjoyed seeing pictures from his past, listening to his story of becoming an illustrator and a writer, and got to witness his drawing firsthand.

Kindergarteners were squealing over some creepy-crawly visitors in the library on Monday afternoon!  Yes, the spider on Mr. Dave's stomach is real, as were the scorpions and other multi-legged creatures he shared to wrap up their PBL unit on spiders.

This week, our stories in the Book Nook are Is That Wise, Pig? by Jan Thomas  for kindergarten.  We are finishing up Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie with second grade.  Third through fifth graders are taking a quick survey about their reading lives, so that their teachers and librarian can provide assistance where it's most needed.

We are grateful for author visits, PTA support, wonderful teachers, and great books this week-before-Thanksgiving Break!  Wishing all of our learning community a restful break next week!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I am reading Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie to second graders:

Chosen by our district's Armadillo Readers' Choice committee, it's a great book to check in on basic rules (no stealing!), library expectations, and the characteristics of a good reader.  Ralfy makes lists of books he's read, books he wants to read, and books he recommends for others--and that's what good readers do!

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My husband and I frequent a restaurant on the edge of our neighborhood.  This past week, a gentleman came in with a book, gave an order to the waiter, and sat at the bar reading while waiting.  My curiosity got the best of me; I went over to the man, introduced myself as a librarian, and asked what he was reading.  It was a crime novel by Elmore Leonard; he said he liked reading them because the criminals were not exactly smart, which made the stories funny. We chatted about books, and then I rejoined my husband for dinner.  

A bit later, the gentleman came to our table, asked if I had a pen, went back to his spot at the bar, and then returned with a cocktail-napkin-list of recommendations:

This gentleman certainly knows his favorite genre, and was more than willing to recommend books.  I'm saving this list for my winter break reading!

One of my favorite genres is sci-fi, and I finally finished Gillian Anderson's trilogy, The EarthEnd Saga (after finding it in a tote bag hidden under a pile of clothes in my bedroom! I should clean more often...).

I also finished Caitlin Doughty's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory.   I will say that this book about death was a lot less depressing than I expected it to be, but I have to let her messages sink in a bit before I tackle her next book. 

It's Monday!  Do you know what you are reading next?  What books are you recommending to friends?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Last month, a school district in Mississippi decided to pull To Kill a Mockingbird from its shelves, citing issues with what is now considered derogatory language.  What the district doesn't get is that it is the very discussion of those times and those words that helps to ensure we don't go down that path again.  As the saying by George Santayana goes, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

How do you react when a book makes you feel uncomfortable?

Do you abandon it immediately, and reach for something soothing, less volatile?  Or do you keep reading, pausing a bit more to check in with your thoughts and feelings?

Lest you think librarians are immune to this phenomenon:  this very thing happened to me while reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for my YA Lit class in my master's program.  It's a brilliantly written book, but the underlying messages on reality television and the predatory practices of government made my stomach clench.  I powered through it, and found my awareness of both of those topics broadened, my own opinions and values strengthened.  

I understand the avoidance tactic, too.  After finishing The Hunger Games, I could not bring myself to read the rest of the trilogy; I wasn't ready to continue the emotional wringing while juggling the demands of work, family, and grad school. I'm still glad I read the book.

I bring this understanding to my practice of librarianship.  I reiterate that not every book is for every reader, but at the same time encourage parents and teachers to use those tough topic stories to spur discussion in the safe spaces of classrooms and homes.  Because of our tenets of intellectual freedom, we are fortunate to have access to books that make us uncomfortable; it is these very books that widen and deepen our thinking, becoming more self-aware for the reading.

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The grown-up book that inspired my post today is my current read:  Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty.

Doughty is a YouTube vlogging, real-life mortician who recounts her early years in the cremation business in graphic detail in her first book (she is kind enough to warn readers beforehand!).  This book and her second, From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, befittingly arrived on my doorstep on Halloween. Death is a hard topic for our modern culture; Doughty revisits the rituals and ceremonies of the past in an effort to honor this inevitable event for us all.

Last month, my most beloved children's book that deals with loss arrived in our fall book order:  Old Pig by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Ron Brooks.

My children were toddlers when my mother, then my husband's father, passed away.  This book on our home shelf was a gentle reminder of lives well lived, and how we could carry on after loss, better people for the lessons learned from our loved ones.

It's Monday!  What tough topic books have you encountered, and what lessons did you learn from them?

It's Wednesday! What's happening in the Sommer Library?

We had a LOT of characters in our library yesterday...book characters!

Photo courtesy of Ivania Lee

Photo courtesy of Laura Bryant

Our Sommer Stallions enjoyed dressing as their favorite book characters for Halloween.  Our technology support wizard, Mrs. Jackson, made a beautiful Charlotte from Charlotte's Web!  Ms. Margocs was a very, Very Hungry Caterpillar.  And just look at the characters in Mrs. Bryant's class!

We are reading several different books in The Book Nook this week.  Kindergarten is exploring unanswered questions in I Will Not Eat You by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Scott Magoon:

First graders have been "feline" fine, viewing a cat through multiple perspectives in They All Saw a Cat, a Caldecott Honor Book (and on our Armadillo list!) by Brendan Wenzel:

Second graders are discussing the "big idea" that author Carmen Agra Deedy is trying to impart in The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet, another Armadillo Readers' Choice book:

Our third, fourth, and fifth graders are touring the nonfiction section of our library, learning how the story of growing up can help us remember where books are located.  Fifth grade has been combing our nonfiction shelves for literary nonfiction to read in class!

If you are a veteran related to one of our Sommer Stallions, be sure to attend our Veterans Day Assembly next Friday morning, November 10!  Details can be found on our school website.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and WatchD.O.G.s who have been shelving our books this week!