Last year, I had a 6th grade student return a book to me that had been damaged.  His explanation was that he had spilled iced tea on it.  I took the book from him, placed it on my desk, and sent a letter to his parents requesting payment for the damaged item.  Since I like [...]

Dilys Evans, author of Show & Tell, states in her author’s note that this book is not a “best of” list. Instead, she has selected twelve different artists to showcase the variety of fine art in children’s book illustration. According to the blurb on the book jacket, Evans has advised Caldecott committees in the past. [...]

It seems obvious: if you are a librarian, particularly in a public or school setting, you better love people.  As librarians, we handle, read, review, and spend a good deal of time with books (and DVDs, CDs, websites, video cameras, construction paper, puppets, and a myriad of other inanimate objects).  But our profession is more [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the best books to buy my relatives (and thus procrastinating before actually having to venture out onto the bitterly cold and jam-packed city streets of New York).  I’ve made a list of some of my favorite kids books to give as gifts.  (Looking at books published this [...]

Join thousands as ALA, ALSC and YALSA unveil the best of the best in children’s and young adult literature and media.
 The American Library Association (ALA) will provide a free live Webcast of its national announcement of the top books and media for children and young adults on January 26 at 7:45 a.m. MT.  The award announcements are made [...]

I wish I had gone into my school librarian position knowing how to mend those popular and cheaply-made books!  Sure, I could build wikis, create student podcasts and collaborate to meet curriculum standards… but I didn’t know a thing about how to deal with loose pages, let along broken bindings.  In my current job, my [...]

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Episode 8

Author Spotlight on Jim Gill
For this 15-minute podcast, Teresa Walls, ALSC Blog Manager, interviews Jim Gill, a musician, author and child development specialist with a graduate degree from the Erikson Institute of Chicago. So far, three of his works have been recognized by ALSC committees:

Jim Gill Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times, [...]

My advice for new children’s librarians would be to only wear “machine wash” clothing to work at the public library.  I discovered this the day the kindergartner locked herself into the bathroom stall in the public bathroom during their class visit to the library.  Since her teacher was a man, he wasn’t comfortable going into [...]

This would be a real help if you are doing a Books for Babies program already or thinking of starting one. In partnership with Nordstrom, Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) will be granting 20 grants for $500 each to match $1,000 raised by selected Friends groups, women’s groups, libraries, and other non-profit organizations for purchasing [...]

Back in September and October, we hired 10 brand-new branch Children’s Librarians, and since then we’ve been training them – and training them – and training them!
I spent most of my career as a Children’s Librarian in various community branches, and when one is immersed in one’s job, it’s easy to lose sight of just [...]