CYA: Children & Young Adults

ALSC Online Education

Registration is now open for ALSC’s winter Online Education courses!  All five courses begin on Feb. 1 and last four to six weeks, depending on the course.  Course space is limited, so please register early to reserve your spot.  Don’t miss this great opportunity to liven up your library this winter!

Connecting with Tween Readers
Examine the developmental needs and abilities of children ages 10-12, and learn why children of this age group are particularly vulnerable to illiteracy.  Participants will discuss unique activities and programs (including the utilization of currently popular technologies) libraries can offer to keep children on the path to becoming lifelong readers. A primary focus of the course will be studying the literature available for tweens.  The instructor is Edward T. Sullivan.

View more information about Connecting with Tween Readers on the ALSC Web site.

Information Literacy – From Preschool to High School
Learn how to conduct information literacy instruction for children of all ages.  Participants will be encouraged to examine their local schools’ and state’s requirements pertaining to library skills, and to develop methods of using the library to complement those requirements.  The course will include examples of successful programs, and participants will also discuss ways that information literacy instruction can be a useful “outreach” tool.  The instructor is Maryann Mori, director of the Waukee (Iowa) Public Library.

View more information about Information Literacy – From Preschool to High School on the ALSC Web site.

The Newbery Medal: Past, Present and Future
Discuss the different aspects of the Newbery award, as well as the history of the medal and how it has changed over time.  Participants are given an opportunity to read, discuss and consider past and present Newbery winners with their colleagues from across the nation.  The instructor is Kathleen T. Horning, director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

View more information about The Newbery Medal: Past, Present and Future on the ALSC Web site.

Reading Instruction and Children’s Books***
This course focuses on the different methodologies for reading instruction and how to determine and interpret grade-level assigned books to effectively assist patrons.  Participants will then evaluate children’s materials for grade-level of reading and develop strategies for clearly communicating this system to parents and teachers.  The instructor is Katherine Todd, adjunct instructor at Manhattanville (N.Y.) College.

View more information about Reading Instruction and Children’s Books on the ALSC Web site.

***This course fills up extremely quickly; there will be a wait list once the course is full.

Series Programming for Elementary School Age
All kids love series books!  That’s why this course will teach participants how to add series clubs to the library in order to get children reading and using the library more. Using trivia, games, music and reading, children will come back for more each week. Series such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Magic Tree House, Spiderwick, Fancy Nancy, Froggy, Curious George and American Girl will be discussed.  The instructor is Lisa M. Shaia, children’s librarian at Oliver Wolcott Public Library.

View more information about Series Programming for Elementary School Age on the ALSC Web site.

Courses are taught asynchronously using Moodle, an online learning community.  A certificate of completion will be sent to participants upon successful completion of the course.  Detailed descriptions and registration information is available on the ALSC Web site at www.ala.org/alsced.  Fees are $95 for personal ALSC members; $145 for personal ALA members; and $165 for non-members.

Questions?  Please contact ALSC Deputy Director Kirby Simmering at ksimmering AT ala DOT org or (312) 280-2164.

Texas Library Associaton Maverick

The Texas Library Association has inaugurated their first Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List.

“Together with YALSA’s annual Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, the Maverick list should serve as a valuable resource for all librarians seeking graphic novels that are both age-appropriate and high quality.”

The list is for grades from 6 – 8, 6 – 12,  9 – 12 and adult titles for young adults. Fiction, non-fiction and manga titles are included. Titles on the list must be published within 2 years prior to the list. The Maverick Reading List is meant to explore the variety of books currently available and encourage reading for pleasure. The books on the list can be published outside of the US but must be widely available.

President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities: Coming Up Taller Awards

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities

The Coming Up Taller Awards reward outstanding after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs for underserved children and youth.

Maximum award: $10,000.

Eligibility: programs initiated by museums, libraries, performing arts organizations, universities, colleges, arts centers, community service organizations, schools, businesses, and eligible government entities.

Deadline: January 29, 2010.
http://www.pcah.gov/cut.htm

Ever been stumped trying to find a read-alike book for a patron? Have you heard about Ebsco’s Novelist and wondered how it could help you?

Ebsco NoveList

Linda Gens, director of the Guthrie Public Library is inviting interested librarians to a free Novelist training session. The training will be presented by an Ebsco representative Friday, December 18^th, 2009. Libraries that subscribe to Ebsco’s Novelist have reader’s advisory, book talks, recommended reads to name a few, resources at their fingertips.

Attendees are required to bring their own laptops. The training session will be from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Ebsco Novelist Training Session
Friday, December 18, 2009
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Guthrie Public Library
201 North Division
Guthrie, OK 73044
405.282.0050

Contact Linda Gens, 405.282.0050 or lgens AT cityofguthrie.com.

Rural Library Initiative

Title: Children’s Services Fundamentals

Format: Online

Dates: January 5, 2010 – February 1, 2010

To register for this workshop: Use the online registration form at

http://infopeople.org/rural/workshop/440

Fee:  $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others.

Does your work in the library include service to children and their families? Are you new to your responsibilities for children’s services or returning after a long absence? Do you want to do a better job in providing homework assistance, readers’ advisory, library tours, or family programs?

Expert children’s librarian and author Penny Peck will help you to acquire knowledge and skills to make you more comfortable and confident about providing fundamental children’s services. As a result of the course you will be able to:

• Conduct a reference interview to match grade-appropriate resources with children’s information needs
• Determine children’s reading interests, including those of reluctant readers, and find books to meet those interests
• Plan and host entertaining programs that attract families to the library
• Conduct a book discussion group for school-age children
• Promote books and reading through booktalking, library tours, and displays

Whether you are new or not-so-new to children’s services, you’ll come away with resources, best practices, and useful tips and techniques that can be applied immediately in your library.

Because the topics of children’s storytime and collection development are covered in other Infopeople courses, they will not be covered in this course.

Course Description: This four-week online course begins with the basic services of reference, homework help, and readers’ advisory, then builds on those skills with library tours, booktalks, and basic youth programming. You will develop a booklist, record a booktalk, plan for a library tour, and do other assignments to practice the skills learned. The instructor will provide a variety of online resources and handouts as a toolkit to use whenever you are serving children and families in the library. You will also participate in discussion forums and online meetings as part of the online learning process.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

• Week 1: Children’s Reference and Homework Help

What is reference? How a child’s developmental level affects reference

Reference interview questions and techniques, including body language

Homework: finding what children need, which may not be what they ask for initially

Math questions and homework

Useful online resources for information and homework

• Week 2: Readers Advisory for Children

What is readers’ advisory? Overview of recreational reading for children

Recreational reading by grade level and by genre of fiction

Readers’ advisory interview questions and techniques

Finding read-alikes and books for reluctant readers

Online resources to assist with readers’ advisory

• Week 3: Programming for School-Age Children

Overview of library programming for youth (excluding storytime)

Entertainment programs from planning stage to delivery

Book discussion groups for older children and “tweens”

Summer reading programs

Do-it-yourself programs and films

Online resources for planning library programs

• Week 4: Tours and Book Promotion

Conducting exciting tours for classes visiting the library

Booktalking as a way to promote recreational reading

Other forms of book promotion including booklists and online book promotion

Simple library displays.

Online resources for tours, library instruction, booktalks, and book promotion.

Instructor: Penny Peck. Penny Peck has been a children’s librarian for 25 years. Her experience includes performing thousands of children’s storytimes, leading hundreds of book club discussions for students in grades 4-12, conducting hundreds of school tours and assemblies, reviewing children’s books and media, and conducting the Performers’ Showcase for auditioning library entertainment. She is editor of  BayNews, the newsletter for the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California.  Since 2002 she has been a part-time instructor at San Jose State University, specializing in classes on youth and teen services and programming.

Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 3 hours per week. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, it is recommended that you complete each week’s assignments within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: Any library staff who provide service to children, including reference librarians or other staff who substitute at the children’s desk; new children’s librarians or other library staff who are relatively new to serving children. This course is particularly valuable for support staff whose work includes children’s services responsibilities.

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at

http://www.infopeople.org/training/learning_details.html

If you would like to subscribe via RSS and be notified whenever new Infopeople training events are available, you can use these links:

**For new on-ground or online workshops: http://infopeople.org/workshop/rss

**For new podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InfopeoplePodcasts

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information about Infopeople Training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople Workshops page at http://infopeople.org/workshop

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at assist@infopeople.org or by phone at 650-578-9685.

What? You expected turkey? So 17th century. New Moon opened last Friday. Some rushed to go see the movie this past weekend, some are waiting for a less packed theater. While others will wait for DVD. (I would argue that waiting to see Jacob sans shirt on a TV screen instead of a wide screen movie theater is just not right.)

No matter how you feel about the books or the movies, you’re going to see it. You know you are.

That’s not the true question though. The true question is: Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?

New Moon Jacob

By the second book I was deeply and madly in love with Jacob. Read Bartleville’s Public Library Blog post to see why. Team Edward fans can read a slightly dated EW post on the feud.

Still unsure? Take the quiz. Who needs nuance?

Program idea: New Moon Debate – have kids debate open mic style (spoken word, poetry, etc) on the side they choose. Teens can make buttons or bookmarks. Have a contest on the best bookmark. The winner get to have enough made to make available to patrons at the checkout desk.

PubYac and YALSA-BK had tons of great ideas. The celebration of the movies isn’t over. Eclipse will be released June 30, 2010.

See you at the theater.

We  already know how great our Oklahoma teens are, but…

LOOK WHAT OUR TEENS DID!

Top School:    # Pages:
Putnam City High School, Teacher Beth Duffy    68,180    $250 worth of books for school library

Top Library:
Bartlesville Public Library, Librarian Laura Pryce    53,094    $250 worth of books for public library

Top 10 Overall Students:
Lindsey Kilmer, Grade 12, Putnam City High School    22,874    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Erica Adams, Grade 7, Bartlesville Public Library    21,038    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Amy Broadway, Grade 10, McAlester Public Library    11,905    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Hailey Gill, Grade 10, Stillwater Public Library    10,053    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Sarah Lemser, Grade 9, Westmoore High School    10,041    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Sarah Follett, Grade 11, Lawton Public Library    9,948    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Jamiya Havis, Grade 7, Hefner Middle School    9,921    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Marukh Ali, Grade 10, Putnam City High School    9,747    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Emely Jacob, Grade 7, McAlester Public Library    8,440    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game
Rachel Isaac, Grade 9, Putnam City High School    8,150    2 tickets to OKC Thunder game

Top 3 Readers:
Lindsey Kilmer, Grade 12, Putnam City High School    22,874    Autographed OKC Thunder team picture
Erica Adams, Grade 7, Bartlesville Public Library    21,038    Autographed OKC Thunder team picture
Amy Broadway, Grade 10, McAlester Public Library    11,905    Autographed OKC Thunder team picture

Top School Reader:
Lindsey Kilmer, Putnam City High School    22,874    iPod Nano

Top Library Reader:
Erica Adams, Bartlesville Public Library    21,038    iPod Nano

Total By Participating Schools 220,650
Total By Participating Libraries 283,726

Grand Total Pages for Read Beyond Reality    504,376

You can read the NIE post.

Congratulations to the winners!

Thank you all for participating and making the program so great.

December 1, 2009 is the deadline for the following award/grant applications.
Applications for awards and grants are now available on the ALSC Web site at www.ala.org/alsc If you have any questions please contact Linda Ernst, Grant Administration Committee, Chair <lindaern[at]kcls[dot]org>

Association for Library Services to Children

•    Bookapalooza! Each year the ALSC office receives almost 3,000 newly
published books, videos, audio books and recordings from children’s trade publishers for award and notables consideration.  At the end of the year, after the awards have been given out, ALSC selects three libraries to receive a Bookapalooza collection of these materials (estimated to be worth $10,000 each) to be used in a way that creatively enhances their library service to children and families.

•    ALSC/BWI Summer Reading Grant provides $3,000 in financial assistance to a public library for developing an outstanding summer reading program for children.

•    The Penguin Young Readers Group Award provides a $600 stipend, provided by Penguin Young Reader’s Group, for winners to attend their first ALA Annual Conference.  Applicants must have less than 10 years of experience as a children’s librarian and work directly with children.

•    The Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Award was established with funding from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, in honor of Maureen Hayes, to bring together children and nationally recognized authors/illustrators.  This award provides $4,000 to fund an author/illustrator visit to a school or public library.

Laura Bush Foundation

The Laura Bush Foundation makes grants of up to $6,000 each to update, extend, and diversify the book collections of school libraries. All LBF grants are made to individual schools rather than to school districts, county systems, private organizations, foundations, or other entities. LBF gives selection preference to schools in which 90 percent or more of the students receive free or reduced lunches and are likely to have the fewest books at home.
Foundation funds are available only for library books and magazine/serial copies and subscriptions. The Laura Bush Foundation is unable to honor requests for staffing, shelving, furniture, equipment, software, videos, classroom book sets or any kind of book guides, tests, or exams. Only one application per school is allowed per year.
Libraries at public and private schools are eligible to apply.

The deadline to apply is Dec. 31, 2009.

The application can be found at:
http://www.laurabushfoundation.org/web2/index.html

Order of the Odd-Fish by James Kennedy

I’ve mentioned this fabulous book that I read before in a post. The book is Order of the Odd-Fish by James Kennedy. It is fabulous because it is a book made for the tweens and teens that love books that are just left of center.

The story focuses on Jo Larouche who when born was found with a note saying she was an “dangerous baby”. Of course, for thirteen years, absolutely nothing happens until the night of one of her Aunt’s famous costume parties.

The story kicks into high gear and stays there, traveling from Jo, to the newly self-appointed evil Ken Kiang, to Eldritch City, to roaches as butlers indignant that their party lifestyle is not being portrayed as outrageous enough in the local paper to the history of the All-Devouring Mother and the truly diabolical Belgium Prankster.

This book requires the reader to be able to keep up as  it moves at a steady clip. A fantasy that is set in a city, instead of the quiet countryside, there is no walking for miles and miles here. Once you start reading you will see why kids are eating this book up and going back for seconds, thirds and fourths.

But they are not passively digesting this work, they are regurgitating* the  images in their heads and scenes from the book into life. Kennedy has started an online gallery just for them to showcase what they’ve done.

*Cake of Regrugitating Fish

The fan art gallery can be whatever media the reader decides from costumes, masks, cakes, pictures, music, etc. Send submissions to kennedyjames [at] gmail [dot] com. He’ll help you figure out how to get your submissions to the gallery. The deadline is March 1, 2010. Read Kennedy’s post for more information.

Order of the Odd-Fish Fan Art Show