Every year, I teach a survey of children’s literature class to MLIS students. After I have covered the history of children’s publishing, and children’s literacy development, I spend a whole class on books for babies. It’s one of my favourite classes because I get to bring an enormous stack of baby books to class and teach my students all about them. Reading to babies I start out by reminding them that human babies are born totally helpless and frankly – they don’t care what anyone reads to them. That being said, babies do want and need to be held and touched and interacted with. Books designed for babies do seem to offer parents and caregivers a nice way of doing just that: holding, touching, and interacting with their babies from their earliest days onwards. When babies are born, their vision is not fully developed so high contrast books with very clear and spare black…
Category: Diversity
Easy Puppetry From the Shadows
So, coming up this Friday I’m going to be in Ocala for the 2023 TBLC KidsLit MiniCon. For the first time, I’m doing a workshop all about shadow puppetry. Of course, it’s made easy! Moreover, I’m bringing my own brand of shadow puppetry, one that combines many styles and forms of this ancient art. Taking your show on the electronic highway Shadow puppetry enjoys a history that stretches back to time immemorial. Today, we have theability to create, share and present wonderful shadow puppets and entire shows utilizing 3-D printingmethods in person and online. Shadow puppet creation used to take hours of painstaking work withscissors and exacto knives and result in workable but fragile products. The average professional handpuppet today costs upward of $30, while a 3-D printed shadow puppet costs pennies. Here are two (2) I’ve printed: Since most shadow puppet screens/theaters are big rectangles, just zoom in on…
LGBT Books in Storytime
Include all families in your storytimes by making sure that you’re including LGBT books in storytime. According to Family Equality, between 2 million to 3.7 million American children under age 18 have an LGBTQ+ parent. An estimated 29% of LGBTQ+ adults are raising a child and many more than that have nieces, nephews, or other children in their lives. Chances are, you have a family coming to your storytimes that would appreciate seeing themselves or their family member represented! But what do you read?
All Together Now 2023 SRP
But It’s Still Winter… Believe it or not, this is my 20th year working – as a paid employee – in Central Florida libraries. If you include volunteering…well…that’d be most of my life. From all I’ve ever experienced, you can never be fully or overly prepared for a season of summer reading programming. As a matter of fact, I am known for ALWAYS having a backup plan for each program, right down to duplicates of mission critical equipment. Sounds like a military operation, doesn’t it? So, yes, it’s January and we are talkin’ All Together Now, our 2023 Summer Reading Program! Nitty Gritty, Nuts and Bolts I always love a tool kit, a place I can have everything in one spot, like a Swiss Army knife. I’m based in Florida, but this seems to have universal appeal: CSLP 2023 Program Resources 2023 Summer Program (and beyond) Resources: Overview of popular…
Evaluating Native American Books
It’s November. Depending on your community, this may be a time when teachers and patrons were clamoring for books about Native American nations. I blogged earlier this month about Thanksgiving books, and now the holiday is over and Native American Heritage Month is drawing to a close. As books come back onto your shelves, it’s the perfect time for evaluating Native American books in your collection. Here are some areas to take a look at.
Simple Ways to Be More Inclusive of Autistic Families
Making your programs more inclusive of autistic families (and families with other sensory needs or disabilities) doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money. There are small, simple changes that you can make in an hour or less today that will help autistic families feel welcome and supported at your library programs (not just storytime). Here are four ways to get started.
Thanksgiving Books Without the Myth
Thanksgiving books are probably the most sought-after holiday books in my library. As a white librarian who strives to do less harm, Thanksgiving books give me pause. Children are still being taught the Thanksgiving myth, while some people consider Thanksgiving a day of mourning. We serve all of them as members of our community. How can we fulfill the demand for books while avoiding harmful stereotypes and misinformation?
Supporting AAC-Users in the Library
October is AAC Awareness Month! AAC stands for “augmentative and alternative communication,” and it’s often used to refer to a tool that can help someone communicate without speech, like a picture board or a tablet with a communication application. It can be as simple as a white board, or as high tech as a computer that can detect the user’s eye movements and translate them to speech. Someone who is non-speaking, or has difficulty speaking, can use their AAC to communicate with others. Let’s learn a little bit about AAC devices and how you can support AAC-users in the library.