A neat info graphic from my colleague at NYPL…give it a click to blow it up and find loads of great new titles for kids and teens.

Just in time for Halloween, the 5th grade was visited by author Michael Dahl on October 26th to talk about his new series Hocus Pocus Hotel. Michael gave us all a fun-filled presentation where he explained to us some of his inspirations (Agatha Christie) and explored some classic unexplainable mysteries (The Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot) along with some more contemporary ones (Justin Beiber). The 5th grade was thoroughly charmed, and I already know that Hocus Pocus Hotel is never going to get a chance to rest on the library shelves between check-outs. We hope Michael will come and visit us again next time he is in town!

 

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It’s September, and that means new friends, new challenges and new (gulp!) teachers as middle school students head back to school. Here’s a list of school-related stories for students getting ready to face the new year.

All of these titles are available in the Sixth Avenue library and are arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name. (CIP) stands for the Library of Congress’ “Cataloging in Publication,” which is where we have borrowed these annotations.

The Red Blazer Girls : the mistaken masterpiece by Michael D. Beil.

Red Blazer Girls Sophie, Margaret, Becca, and Leigh Ann are hired by Father Julian who wants them to authenticate a painting, while Sophie faces off with her arch-rival and takes care of movie-star Nate Etan’s dog.(CIP)

Blubber by Judy Blume.

Jill goes along with the rest of the fifth-grade class in tormenting a classmate and then finds out what it is like when she, too, becomes a target. (CIP)

Falcon Quinn and the black mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan.

Thirteen-year-old Falcon Quinn and his friends, Max and Megan get on the bus expecting to be taken to school, but they soon find themselves at a place called Shadow Island, a training ground for monsters.(CIP)

Evolution, me, and other freaks of nature by Robin Brande.

Following her conscience leads high school freshman Mena to clash with her parents and former friends from their conservative Christian church, but might result in better things when she stands up for a teacher who refuses to include “Intelligent Design” in lessons on evolution.(CIP)

Ask me no questions by Marina Budhos.

Fourteen-year-old Nadira, her sister, and their parents leave Bangladesh for New York City, but the expiration of their visas and the events of September 11, 2001, bring frustration, sorrow, and terror for the whole family. (CIP)

All-American girl by Meg Cabot.

Sophomore Samantha Madison stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed teen ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son. (CIP)

Cheating lessons : a novel by Nan Willard Cappo.

When her team is announced as finalists in the state Classics Bowl contest, Bernadette suspects that cheating may have been involved. (CIP)

If a tree falls at lunch period by Gennifer Choldenko.

Kirsten and Walk, seventh-graders at an elite private school, describe how race, wealth, weight, and other issues shape their relationships as they and other misfits stand up to a mean but influential classmate.(CIP)

Sing a song of tuna fish : hard-to-swallow stories from fifth grade by Esmé Raji Codell.

Provides fictionalized anecdotes of the author’s childhood as a ten-year old living in Chicago. (CIP)

The chocolate war : a novel by Robert Cormier.

A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school’s annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies. (CIP)

Stotan! by Chris Crutcher.

A high school coach invites members of his swimming team to a memorable week of rigorous training that tests their moral fiber as well as their physical stamina. (CIP)

Bloomability by Sharon Creech.

Thirteen-year-old Dinnie finds her world expanding after her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school. (CIP)

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger

When the unconventional English teacher who helped her conquer many of her feelings of insecurity is fired, a junior high student uses her new found courage to campaign for the teacher’s reinstatement. (CIP)

Liar, liar by Barthe DeClements.

Sixth-grader Gretchen and her friends begin to have problems when a new girl starts telling some very believable, but untrue, stories. (CIP)

Francie by Karen English.

When the sixteen-year-old boy whom she tutors in reading is accused of attempting to murder a white man, Francie gets herself in serious trouble for her efforts at friendship. (CIP)

Carlos is gonna get it by Kevin Emerson.

Recounts the events that occur at the end of seventh grade, when a group of friends plan to trick Carlos, an annoying “problem” student who says he is visited by aliens, while they are on a field trip in the mountains of New Hampshire. (CIP)

This is what I did by Ann Dee Ellis.

Bullied because of an incident in his past, eighth-grader Logan is unhappy at his new school and has difficulty relating to others until he meets a quirky girl and a counselor who believe in him. (CIP)

The skin I’m in by Sharon G. Flake.

Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like. (CIP)

I’ll see you in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, Middle School Librarian

For the past year, I served as chair of the 2012 Young Adult Library Services Association Excellence in Nonfiction Award Committee. I feel like I learned so much about both how to critically evaluate nonficton and manage a committee of people from different libraries, geographic locations and walks of life. It was truly a pleasure and a great deal of fun. In November of 2011, we announced our finalists and in January of 2012, we announced our winner. All of the books are listed below, and are available in the 6th Avenue library for your reading pleasure. Please stop by and check them out, they are all great reads!

WINNER: The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin

FINALIST: Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science by Marc Aronson & Marina Budhos

FINALIST: Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal

FINALIST: Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy

FINALIST: Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein by Susan Goldman Rubin

The 5th and 6th grade were given a special treat during Middle School Meeting on October 26th when the author/illustrator team of the graphic memoir MARZI , along with their American editor Karen Berger from DC Comics, came for a visit. MARZI is based on the author Marzena Sowa’s childhood growing up in Communist Poland during the the 1970’s and 80’s. The book’s illustrator, Sylvain Savoia, is also Marzena’s partner and was the one to encourage her to translate her childhood memories into this exceptional graphic memoir. Think Persepolis, except set in Poland and for a much younger audience. Our middle schoolers were charmed by Marzena and Sylvain, who regaled them with funny stories from the memoir and drew original art for them during the presentation. After reading that Marzi had to make her own gum from window putty, one student couldn’t resist bringing Marzena a pack of chewing gum! We feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to see this wonderful couple in action, as their home is in France and they were only in New York for a short visit. We have two copies of MARZI in the school library available for check-out, so please come by and take a look!

Marzena and Sylvain meeting an ardent young fan, who finished the whole book in one night.

Vertigo Executive Editor Karen Berger, artist Sylvain Savoia, author Marzena Sowa and me! (Middle School Librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan)

April is here and that means spring and poetry are in the air. Our annual Poem in Your Pocket Day is Tuesday, April 20. If you need a poem (and who doesn’t need a great poem these days?), our libraries are bursting with wonderful poetry titles, ranging from a first edition of T.S. Eliot‘s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats to Maya Angelou‘s striking and modern picture book, Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All. And of course, perennial favorite Shel Silverstein.

In addition, there are several great poetry websites that you and your child can explore together.

Poetry Foundation: Children’s Poetry
Poets.org
Scholastic National Poetry Month Resources
The Children’s Poetry Archive
Printable Poetry for Kids
PBS Kids: Fern’s Poetry Club

And check out this great idea for writing found poetry!

Let me take this opportunity to share one of my very favorite poems with you, Pied Beauty by Gerald Manley Hopkins. I love this poem because not only is it great fun to read aloud, it also celebrates the amazing, crazy diversity of nature.

Pied Beauty by Gerald Manley Hopkins

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

What is YOUR favorite poem? Feel free to leave the name of your favorite poem or poet in the comments, or share a link to a favorite poetry site.

I’ll see you in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, Middle School Librarian

At the recent American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Boston (January 15-19) the winners of the numerous 2010 ALA childrens’ and young adult book awards were announced. Here are some of the front runners, but you can find the full list here.

The winner of the 2010 John Newbery Medal for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature is When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

The winner of the 2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children is The Lion & the Mouse illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney.

The winner of the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults is Going Bovine written by Libba Bray.

The winner of the 2010 Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults is Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.

The winner of the 2010 Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award winner is My People illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr. The book was written by Langston Hughes.

The winner of the 2010 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award winner is The Rock and the River written by Kekla Magoon.

The winner of the 2010 Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience is Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros illustrated by Rafael López and written by Pat Mora.

The winner of the 2010 Pura Belpré (Author) Award is Return to Sender written by Julia Alvarez.

The winners of the 2010 Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience are:

Django written and illustrated by Bonnie Christensen wins the award for best young children ages 0 to 10.

Anything but Typical written by Nora Raleigh Baskin is the winner for middle grades (ages 11-13).

The teen (ages 13-18) award winner is Marcelo in the Real World written by Francisco X. Stork.

The winner of the 2010 William C. Morris Award that honors a book written by a first-time author for young adults is Flash Burnout written by L.K. Madigan.

The winner of the first ever 2010 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award is Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith written by Deborah Heiligman.

Finally, the Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences (this was the committee I served on!) are:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Rosoff.
Everything Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr.
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel.
The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir by Diana Welch and Liz Welch with Amanda Welch and Dan Welch.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
My Abandonment by Peter Rock.
Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel by Gail Carriger.
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson.

Many of these titles are available through your LREI library. Please come see me or any of the librarians for more information on any of these great books!

I’ll see you in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, Middle School Librarian.

September 26-October 3 is National Banned Books Week, co-sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores.

Since school has started, students have been coming up to the librarians with questions about our Banned Books Week bulletin board, questions like, “Does this mean I can’t read this book?” “I love that book! Why was it banned?” and “If it’s a banned book, are we allowed to have it in our library?”

The librarians have used these questions as starting points for conversations about why we celebrate Banned Books Week and the freedom to read. The American Library Association has some great online resources that are worth exploring with your child or on your own. Also, this video produced by the Office of Intellectual Freedom uses to humor to explain the concept of Banned Books Week.

Want to read a banned book to celebrate your freedom to read? Try some of these. And don’t be surprised if you find one of your favorites on the list!

I’ll see you in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, Middle School Librarian

This past Wednesday several of our middle and high school students met with Young Adult author Lauren Myracle to discuss her latest novel, Peace Love & Baby Ducks. Often hailed as the new Judy Blume, Lauren is the author of several books for tweens and teens, including Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen starring Winnie Perry, the TTYL series, and most recently, the YA horror novel Bliss. She is also the co-author of Let it Snow and How to Be Bad. Like the Laurie Halse Anderson author visit blogged below, Lauren’s visit was part of a joint venture between Penguin Young Readers and LREI to bring students and authors together to talk about books and have their discussions filmed for use on both Penguin’s and LREI’s website. PLBD is at it’s heart a story of two high school sisters trying to navigate the treacherous waters of high school, but it also presents issues of social class and race in a realistic and nuanced way that teens will relate to. This was evidenced by the lively, frank discussion Lauren had with our students, who ended their time together sitting on the floor, laughing and posing with our stuffed library shelf shark. Before Lauren left for the airport to fly home to Colorado, she took the time to personalize each student’s signed book and pose for a ton of photos. We hope to host more Penguin author events in the future, and will post the videos of the book discussions on the LREI website as soon as they are edited. Until then,

I’ll see you in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, MS librarian

Three of the four LREI librarians were lucky enough to attend the American Library Association’s Mid-Winter Conference in Denver, CO from Jan. 23-26. This is an exciting conference to attend because it is the conference where all the big children’s and teen book awards are announced, including the 2008 Newbery (best book for kids aged 8-14), Caldecott (best picture book) and Printz (best book for teens, 7th-12th grade). As you can see, I was pretty thrilled to be there and hear some of my favorite titles announced:

The following link will take you straight to the award lists with the titles and authors of the winning books. Most of these books will be available (if they’re not already) in the LREI library.

ALA’s official press release of literary award winners in childrens’ and young adult books

I also worked on an ALA committee this past year called The ALEX Awards, which honors 10 adult books published in the past year that would have potential appeal to teen readers. When we finished our deliberations, we took this snazzy picture of our winners, which were also announced at the Mid-Winter conference:

All of the LREI librarians are currently serving on ALA committees, so if you have any questions about our school’s participation in ALA, or are just looking for a good book recommendation for yourself or your child, please come and see us. We love to talk about our committee work and of course, BOOKS!

I’ll see you in the library,

Jennifer Hubert Swan, MS librarian