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I look forward to summer all year because it is the time when I can really attack that towering TBR (To Be Read) pile that accumulates next to my bed and threatens to topple and squash my cat. I know many of you feel the same, so here are some top notch places to find solid book recommendations for reading at the beach, camp or ANYWHERE.

LREI Lower School Summer Reading Lists
LREI Middle School Summer Reading Lists
Brooklyn Public Library Summer Reading Program
NYC Summer Reading Program 2013
Scholastic Summer Challenge 2013
Summer Reading Recommendations 2013 from The Horn Book
The Fourth Annual New York Times Summer Reading Contest
Page to Screen Summer Reading Blockbusters from School Library Journal

Happy summer reading! I’ll see you in the library.

Jen Hubert Swan, Middle School Librarian

To help celebrate Women’s History Month, check out these great titles from the 2012 Amelia Bloomer Project and New York Public Library’s Women’s History month book blog.

This week ALA (American Library Association) announced their award winners for the 2012 publishing year in youth media. Here’s a partial list of the literary line-up from the ALA press release:

SEATTLE — The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.

A list of all the 2013 award winners follows:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:

“The One and Only Ivan,” written by Katherine Applegate, is the 2013 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Three Newbery Honor Books also were named: “Splendors and Glooms” by Laura Amy Schlitz and published by Candlewick Press; “Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon” by Steve Sheinkin and published by Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press; and “Three Times Lucky” by Sheila Turnage and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

“This Is Not My Hat,” illustrated and written by Jon Klassen, is the 2013 Caldecott Medal winner. The book is published by Candlewick Press.

Five Caldecott Honor Books also were named: “Creepy Carrots!” illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division; “Extra Yarn,” illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett and published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers; “Green,” illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and published by Neal Porter Books, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press; “One Cool Friend,” illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group; “Sleep Like a Tiger,” illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary Logue and published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

“Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America,” written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney is the King Author Book winner. The book is published by Disney/Jump at the Sun Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Two King Author Honor Books were selected: “Each Kindness” by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis and published by Nancy Paulsen Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group; and “No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller” by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and published by Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

“I, Too, Am America,” illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book is written by Langston Hughes and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Three King Illustrator Honor Books were selected: “H. O. R. S. E.,” illustrated and written by Christopher Myers, and published by Egmont USA; “Ellen’s Broom,” illustrated by Daniel Minter, written by Kelly Starling Lyons and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group; and “I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr.” illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Martin Luther King, Jr. and published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

“In Darkness,” written by Nick Lake, is the 2013 Printz Award winner. The book is published by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers.

Four Printz Honor Books also were named: “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division; “Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein, published by Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group; “Dodger” by Terry Pratchett, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers; “The White Bicycle” by Beverley Brenna, published by Red Deer Press.

For the full list of winners, click here.

Here are some pictures from our Middle School author visits in December. What an amazing line-up! Our great thanks to Adam Gidwitz, Melissa Kantor, Patricia McCormick and Muriel Weinstein for sharing their writing lives with us!

Book Week is coming to LREI again, and that means visiting authors in every classroom in the school during the week of December 10-14.  The middle school is no exception, we have some amazing authors visiting us this year, among them National Book Award honorees and New York Times bestsellers!

Here’s the awesome line-up:

• 5th Grade: Muriel Weinstein (PLAY LOUIS PLAY, WHEN LOUIS ARMSTRONG TAUGHT ME TO SCAT) Thursday, December 13 12:45-1:30.
• 6th Grade: Adam Gidwitz (A TALE DARK AND GRIMM, IN A GLASS GRIMMLY) Wednesday, December 12, 2-3 pm
• 7th Grade: Melissa Kantor (THE DARLINGS IN LOVE, THE DARLINGS ARE FOREVER, THE BREAKUP BIBLE, CONFESSIONS OF A NOT IT GIRL) Friday, December 14, 2:15-3
• 8th Grade: Patricia McCormick (NEVER FALL DOWN, SOLD, PURPLE HEART, CUT, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER) Thursday, December 13, 12-12:45

(Amalia & Justine show off their signed copies of NEVER FALL DOWN by Patricia McCormick.)

On November 13th, the LREI Middle School class reps were invited to attend the National Book Award Teen Press Conference at the Central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. At the press conference, students are treated to a reading by each of the five finalists and allowed to ask questions of the authors. After the presentation, every student is given a free book and may have it signed by the author. This year, we were lucky enough to each be given TWO books, and couldn’t wait to get home to start reading them. The five 2012 finalists and their books are:

William Alexander, Goblin Secrets.
Carrie Arcos, Out of Reach.
Patricia McCormick, Never Fall Down.
Eliot Schrefer, Endangered.
Steve Sheinkin, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.

(Waiting to hear the authors speak.)

(Getting a book signed by Eliot Schrefer.)

(Getting a book signed by Steve Sheinkin.)

(Happy reading reps!)

Once again, it is time for our annual LREI Book Week, where parents and librarians work to place a visiting author in every classroom. Here are the times and dates of the author visits in the middle school.

5th Grade: Leslie Margolis, author of Girl’s Best Friend: A Maggie Brooklyn Mystery

Tuesday, December 6 12:00-12:30

6th Grade: C. Alexander London, author of We Are Not Eaten by Yaks

Wednesday, December 7 12:30-1

7th Grade: Matt Blackstone, author of A Scary Scene in a  Scary Movie

Thursday, December 8 12:00-12:30

8th Grade: Jesse Karp, author of Those That Wake

AND

Adele Griffin, author of Tighter

Friday, December 9 2:25-3:00

We are so lucky and excited to have such talented folks sharing their writing with us, and can’t wait for each one! All of these author’s titles will also be on sale at our holiday book fair, as well as being available in the library for check out.

We have been celebrating LREI Ally Week here at LREI. Check out what our teachers and students had to say about being an ally to LGBTQ folks. For more information on Ally Week, visit GLSEN or check out our list of LGBTQ resources.

(Image courtesy of Cornell University Library)
I was pretty excited today because instead of our usual forty five minute class period, we had a luxurious TWO HOURS to work with the students on their social justice projects. I had been charged with helping the Research group learn to utilize our middle school set of five new iPads. My mission was simple: show the students how to access the cloud on the iPad through Pages and Numbers, multitask between applications, and cut and paste websites and citations from the web into the Research folder on their cloud. Easy, right? I had visions of this taking about ten to fifteen minutes, and then spending the rest of the time exploring different databases and finding articles for their topics. Some of you who have been teaching or tending library for awhile are already chuckling right now. And I should have known better, I’ve certainly been around the block when it comes to effectively dispatching technology in the classroom. But we had TWO HOURS! Surely that was more than enough time to show them a few simple functions. And it should have been. But here’s what happened.

First, some of the researchers had to meet with their whole group to plan calls and visits to professional organizations they had contacted this week, so they didn’t join us right away and had to be caught up. Then, no one could remember their password. And I do mean no one–so I looked them up and gave them out to everyone. Then, the airport in the library that had been working beautifully all week suddenly conked out and couldn’t be revived. So we went back to the crowded classroom, a less than ideal space for a training. Once seated and ready to go, some of the log-ins wouldn’t work and had to be tweaked, then some of their group cloud folders were empty, because our tech teacher CJ had to build a new server last week for this project and not all of the information had been transferred over. CJ gently reminded me that I knew how to do this (which I did, but I forgot) so I spent some time copying the Numbers spreadsheet we had created to track citations into a few of the group’s clouds. Some students could sign in, but then got an error message, which CJ had to fix. Finally, I made sure I watched each students sign in, move between applications, and successfully cut and paste a URL into their Research folder. The touch screens are sensitive, and this was a far more frustrating action that you might expect. It took more than a few tries before students really mastered it. And we had ten Researchers and only five iPads. By the time all the students had been walked through the process, I looked at the clock and saw that there were only fifteen minutes left before lunch. WHAT?! What happened to my luxurious block of research time?

I realized I had come to this class with a lot of assumptions that I really shouldn’t be making at this stage of my career–that the Internet connection would work, that the students would intuitively get the process (because they’re all tech wizards, right?), and that the iPads would deploy seamlessly. When CJ and I chatted afterward and I remarked incredulously that it had taken the entire period to show a few simple functions, he responded calmly well, what did I expect? This was the first time we had collected information in this way, the first time many of the students had even used an iPad. It’s going to take time to do these projects right and show the students everything we want them to learn. And probably a good half of what we do this year we’ll end up revising, refining or just plain chucking next year, which is not only okay but preferable. We always want to keep the assignment relevant and fresh. What I need to always keep in mind is that the process is not only a big part of the project, but in many ways the most important part. Sometimes I forget that in the midst of all my Big Plans. Good thing I have awesome eighth graders to remind me. Oh, and those Researchers used that last fifteen minutes to show their teams how to multi-task and cut and paste on the iPad. Mission accomplished!

Ugh! After getting the creeping crud the last few days of winter vacation, I missed the entire first week back to school and the review of what the students had worked on over the vacation. While I was out, eighth grade teachers SMR and RB assigned a deadline for the students to have written their bios for the page (1/3), and a deadline for them to have contacted, made an appointment with, and visited at least one organization that deals with their topic (1/31). Tech teacher CJ worked with the team of webmasters to create the front page of their website, including both content and design, due (1/20). Though each member of the team has a specific role in the creation of the page, the roles all overlap. Students meet in both role teams and topic teams, they are sharing everything they learn with each other. As are the teachers. We are all helping students copy edit, upload documents to the cloud, structure their biographical paragraphs, and create content for their front pages. And what we don’t know, students are showing us. And I love that, because not only is that the collaborative teaching model our school strives for, it really allows me to be an “embedded” librarian in the truest sense of the word. Today, the teachers and I checked in with groups and made sure they were on target to make their deadlines. We got updates from groups that had already set up interviews and tours. The Child Soldiers group will be attending a U.N. panel tomorrow on their topic, while the group dealing with Women and Girls’ Issues are working on editing their video interview with author Patricia McCormick about her book Sold. Also, SMR collected a number of New York Times videos to show the students, not only to demonstrate to them the type of content they could link to their websites, but to inspire them by showing them the kind of great social justice work that is going on all over the world. Take a look! They’re pretty cool.

Educational Equity: Valentino Achek Deng, Building Schools in Sudan

Environment and Community: SOIL Project in Haiti -

Women and Girls Issues: Sexual Slavery:

War and Violence and Peace: Rabbis for Peace

Inspired in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, Middle School Librarian