Along with a change of seasons, September also brings many other changes: a new school or new school year, new routines, new teachers, and new classmates, just to name a few. Although often exciting and enjoyable, for some children the new school year can also be stressful and anxiety provoking if their names are challenging for their teachers and classmates to pronounce. Some questions that children in these situations might be grappling with are: Will my new teacher be able to say and spell my name? Will the other kids be able to remember my name? Can or should I change my name to make it easier for everyone else? An article in the following NEA Today Newsletter, Why Pronouncing Students’ Names Correctly is So Important, discusses the emotional toll experienced by children when year after year they must contend with teachers and classmates who repeatedly misname them. For further…
Category: Uncategorized
Remember That Day When…
It was awesome. Twenty-four kids who met 45 minutes earlier, were all cheering for each other as they took turns throwing underwear into a cardboard toilet. Their shouts of victory when the lid closed on the toilet with each slam dunk shot is legendary. The joy the library brought to these kids that day and to this librarian was immense. Working in a library has those moments. There are spots of joy and success that stick with us as we venture through the years. The Captain Underpants program with the milk-crate toilet was held over sixteen years ago and it has stuck with me. I also often recall the outreach event at which I watched a colleague bravely sing camp songs to a packed room of kids and parents. She held everyone’s attention. It was amazing! We ran out of flyers at our library’s information table that night. These memories…
Books about Banning Books
Children’s publishing often reflects what’s happening in the world children live in. The COVID-19 pandemic. Gun violence. And now book banning.
To Theme or Not to Theme…
It’s the age old question, isn’t it? To use storytime themes or not. To me, themes make sense. Instead of feeling constricting, themes give me a safety net and let me soar freely above them. After, cough, many years of doing outreach storytime, though, I was in need of a new approach!
Get Ready for International Dot Day!
Every time September rolls around, I remember one of my most successful programs—a celebration of International Dot Day, held annually on September 15(ish).
ALSC Webinars You Don’t Want to Miss!
Working at the reference desk has become very unpredictable. Stories of unusual, stressful, or unprecedented events are much more frequent. Over this past year, challenges to materials in the collection have grown exponentially. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom reported a 38% increase in the number of titles challenged in 2022 from the previous year. Often the children’s collection is the target of these demands for censorship. Addressing the challenges can be difficult and stressful. It is even harder in a library without collection development policies and procedures. More than ever before, libraries need to have collection development policies, have procedures in place, and have staff trained to address challenges. The ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee and the ALSC Managing Children’s Services Committee have prepared a two-part webinar to support librarians to effectively and less stressfully address book challenges.
Support for Intellectual Freedom Challenges
2022 was a record-breaking year for attempts to censor library books. Thanks to organized efforts, many complaints focused on books for youth. While parents have the right to monitor what their own children read, these banning efforts infringe upon the rights of other families. How can we as children’s librarian professionals combat this trend?
Dog Days of Summer
You decide: Perhaps I was doing a display for my library on this theme and realized it could also make a fun blog post. Or perhaps I’m selfishly hoping you all will post photos of your dogs in the comments. Whichever you choose….here are a few new (and one not-so-new) dog books to add to your summer reading.