February 2016 reads

February might be a short month, but I still managed to get a lot of reading accomplished!  I finished 32 books - mostly teen and adult.  

I started listening to books for my committee in February, but haven't completed any yet. I can't share the titles I read for the committee, so those will not be reflected in my monthly total. 

As always, titles in bold have been rated five stars on my Goodreads account.

Screwdrivered by Alice Clayton

Lumberjanes, Vol. 2: Friendship to the Max by Noelle Stevenson

Rusty Nailed by Alice Clayton

Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson

Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson

Princeless Book 1: Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley      

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton      

Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian

Nuts by Alice Clayton   

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Playing With Fire by Katie MacAlister

Bug in a Vacuum by Mélanie Watt

I Really Like Slop! by Mo Willems

Happy Birthday, Cupcake! by Terry Border

Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy-Tale Voices with a Twist by Jane Yolen  

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin

Holy Smokes by Katie MacAlister          

I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín         

The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle

The Old Brown Suitcase: A Teenager's Story of War and Peace by Lillian Boraks-Nemetz 

Oedipus the King by Sophocles

The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

How Mirka Caught a Fish by Barry Deutsch        

X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

Lady Alexandra's Excellent Adventure: A Summersby Tale by Sophie Barnes

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein        

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Going Green Preschool Storytime Plan

 April 22 is Earth Day.  In celebration of it, we had a Going Green themed for preschool storytime.  While I did find many books on the green lifestyle, I wasn't finding many fingerplays and songs that I felt the children would enjoy.  So I shared the books on my handout and as a display in the room, and instead did a frog themed program.  

You can get my Going Green storytime plan by clicking here. 

 

When I was looking for a craft, I came across several using paper plates.  Doing those would require lots of coloring or painting, or having green plates.  I didn't want to do that, since I can have a fairly large group of preschoolers.  Instead I decided to make my own template in MS Publisher and copy it onto various shades of green paper.  You can get my template by clicking here.

Please note, to view the files, you will need a version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (get it free here). 

Here is my sample, along with all of the curled tongues, dotted eyes, and copied templates.  

 

Why I blog storytime plans

There is a reason I blog my plans for preschool storytime.  Actually, there is more than one reason, but recently I was reminded just how helpful it is.

As a supervisor, I feel unapologetic about checking my work email while not a work.  I usually check it before getting ready for the day, mostly to delete junk email, but also so I have an idea of what I am going into that morning. One recent Thursday I was glad I have this habit!

Thursdays are usually my late day, so a bit after 10 a.m. I started getting ready to be at work by 11:30.  It was then that I pulled up my work email on my iPhone and saw that one of my staff reported off sick that morning.  It just happens that her location had preschool storytime scheduled for 11:30, which meant someone needed to cover the program.  Knowing that another employee had toddler programs and wasn’t available, and that there was limited staff at our Main library due to vacations, I knew that left two people who could cover: me and L.  L, however, was at a branch twice the distance as me.  I had a couple of errands I planned to run before work, but those took a backseat. 

 

I hurriedly got ready for the day, all the while considering what I could do for storytime.  I had one planned for the next day, but all the supplies were at my office – nearly 30 minutes from home.  Instead I decided to do a general “Storyteller’s Choice” and skip a craft this week.

 As I drove to work I called the branch and asked a circulation staff member to pull two books I was certain sat on their shelves.  By the time I arrived – around 11:10 – I had pulled up a blog post for a recent storytime and saved the image of the handout to my iPhone.  I then airdropped it to my iPad so I had easy access to the songs and fingerplays.  This saved me a lot of time, as I didn’t need to turn on a computer, log in, go to the shared drive, and then print out the handout.   Instead I was able to set up the storytime area and pull a third title to read.

We sang.  We danced.  We shared stories.  The dozen or so children who attended enjoyed a full thirty minute program, and were more than happy to play afterwards in lieu of a doing a craft.  And I’ve never been so grateful that I have this blog.

                       

And the winners are - 2015 YMA

image from: Youth Media Awards

On February 2 the Youth Media Awards were announced.  I noticed two things about this years winners and honors.  There was a lot more diversity (likely due to the We Need Diverse Books campaign) and several graphic novels. I was happy to see how many I had already read.  I've marked them on the list below. I've also marked which titles which are on multiple awards  lists (including National Book Award).

Coretta Scott King Awards

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award

2015 Winner 

• Brown Girl Dreaming written by Jacqueline Woodson (Read. National Book Award, Newbery, Sibert)

2015 Honors:

• The Crossover Kwame Alexander (Newbery)
• How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson illustrated by Hadley Hooper
• How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award

2015 Winner

• Firebird illustrated by Christopher Myers. The book was written by Misty Copeland

2015 Honors:

• Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Sibert)
• Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown and illustrated by Frank Morrison

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award

2015 Winner

• When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds 

John Newbery Medal

2015 Winner

• The Crossover Kwame Alexander (Coretta Scott King)

2015 Honors:

• El Deafo written and illustrated by Cece Bell (Read)
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Read. Coretta Scott King, National Book Award, Sibert)

Michael L. Printz Award

2015 Winner

• I’ll Give You the Sun written by Jandy Nelson (Stonewall)

2015 Honors:

• And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard,
• The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley (Morris)
• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
• This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (Read. Caldecott)

Mildred L. Batchelder Award

2015 Winner

• Mikis and the Donkey written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson

2015 Honors:

• Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust written by Loic Dauvillier, illustrated by Marc Lizano, color by Greg Salsedo, translated by Alexis Siegel (Read)
• Nine Open Arms written by Benny Lindelauf, illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova, translated by John Nieuwenhuizen.

Odyssey Award

2015 Winner

• H. O. R. S. E. A Game of Basketball and Imagination written by Christopher Myers and narrated by Dion Graham and Christopher Myers.

2015 Honors:

• Five, Six, Seven, Nate! written and narrated by Tim Federle
• The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place written by Julie Berry and narrated by Jayne Entwistle
• A Snicker of Magic written by Natalie Lloyd and narrated by Cassandra Morris.

Pura Belpré Awards

Pura Belpré Illustrator Awards

2015 Winner

• Viva Frida written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Caldecott)

2015 Honors:

• Little Roja Riding Hood written by Susan Middleton Elya  and illustrated by Susan Guevara (Read)
• Green Is a Chile Pepper written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra
• Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh (Sibert)

Pura Belpré Author Award

2015 Winner

• I Lived on Butterfly Hill written by Marjorie Agosín and illustrated by Lee White

2015 Honor:

• Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes written by Juan Felipe Herrera and illustrated by Raúl Colón

Randolph Caldecott Medal

2015 Winner

• The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend written and illustrated by Dan Santat (Read)

2015 Honors:

• Nana in the City written and illustrated by Lauren Castillo
• The Noisy Paint Box: The  Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary GrandPré
• Sam and Dave Dig a Hole written by Mac Barnett and  illustrated by Jon Klassen (Read)
• Viva Frida written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Belpré)
• The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Sibert)
• This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (Read. Printz)

Schneider Family Book Award

2015 Winners

• A Boy and a Jaguar written by Alan Rabinowitz and illustrated by Catia Chien (ages 0-10) (Read)
• Rain Reign written by Ann M. Martin (ages 11-13).
• Girls Like Us written by Gail Giles (ages 13-18)

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal

2015 Winner

• The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Newbery) 

2015 Honors:

• Brown Girl Dreaming written by Jacqueline Woodson (Read. National Book Award, Coretta Scott King, Newbery)
• The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia written by Candace Fleming (YALSA Non-fiction)
• Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Coretta Scott King)
• Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands written and illustrated by Katherine Roy
• Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh (Belpré)

Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award

2015 Winner

• This Day in June written by Gayle E. Pitman, Ph.D., illustrated by Kristyna Litten

2015 Honors:

• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out written by Susan Kuklin (Read)
• I’ll Give You the Sun written by Jandy Nelson(Printz)
• Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress written by Christine Baldacchino and illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant (Read)

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

2015 Winner

• You Are (Not) Small written by Anna Kang and illustrated by Christopher Weyant (Read)

2015 Honors:

• Mr. Putter & Tabby Turn the Page written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Arthur Howard
• Waiting Is Not Easy! written and illustrated by Mo Willems (Read)

William C. Morris Award

2015 Winner

• Gabi, a Girl in Pieces written written by Isabel Quintero (Read)

2015 Honors:

• The Carnival at Bray written by Jessie Ann Foley (Printz)
• The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim written by E.K. Johnston
• The Scar Boys written by Len Vlahos (Read)
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender written by Leslye (Read)

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

2015 Winner

• Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek written by Maya Van Wagenen (Read)

2015 Honors:

• Laughing at My Nightmare written by Shane Burcaw (Read)
• The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia written by Candace Fleming
  (Sibert)
• Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and Won! written by Emily Arnold McCully (Read)
• The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights written by Steve Sheinkin (Read. National Book Award)

Insta-SRP

I have my last program of the summer today (a T-shirt Lab).  Yay!  In honor of Summer Reading programming being officially over for me, here is a peek at summer at my library locations - as originally shared on Instagram. 

Prize Robots (for children)

 

Science table

SRP Registration has begun!

Bulletin Board display (designed by Brindi)

TFIOS/Nerdfighter Gathering

TFIOS/Nerdfighter Gathering

TFIOS/Nerdfighter Gathering

TFIOS/Nerdfighter Gathering

Light Saber Training

Minecraft Mania (for Tweens)

Guess Who - the Doctor Who version

Photo Booth at the branches' SRP Finale (for children)

T-Shirt Lab (for teens)

December 2013 reads

December was a busy month, with Christmas and all that comes with the holidays.  I did manage to finish 41 books!  January was off to a busy start as well.  At least I am sharing this before the month has ended!

• Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II by Sandler, Martin W.
• Chick 'n' Pug Meet the Dude by Sattler, Jennifer Gordon
• Mr. Wuffles! by Wiesner, David
• Sophie's Squash by Miller, Pat Zietlow
• A Year with Marmalade by Reynolds, Alison
• Empty Fridge by Dorémus, Gaetan
• Little Red Hot by Kimmel, Eric A.
• The Beginner's Guide to Running Away from Home by Huget, Jennifer Larue
• Bear in Underwear: Goodnight Underwear by Ziefert, Harriet
• Peck, Peck, Peck by Cousins, Lucy
• Balloon Trees by Smith, Danna
• Baby Bear Counts One by Wolff, Ashley
• Good Night, Mouse! by Henry, Jed
• This Is Our House by Yum, Hyewon
• Zoe's Room (No Sisters Allowed) by Murguia, Bethanie Deeney
• Red Riding Hood and the Sweet Little Wolf by Mortimer, Rachael
• Sticky, Sticky, Stuck! by Gutch, Michael
• The Monstore by Lazar, Tara
• Elephant's Story by Pearson, Tracey Campbell
• Nighty Night, Little Green Monster by Emberley, Ed
• Ocean Counting by Lawler, Janet
• What Am I? Where Am I? by Lewin, Ted
• Ollie & Moon: Aloha! by Kredensor, Diane
• Monsters University Step into Reading Book by Company, Walt Disney
• I'm a Frog! by Willems, Mo
• Over The Wall by Wartman, Peter
• I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas by Harper, Molly
• The Everafter by Huntley, Amy
• The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires by Harper, Molly
• Musk Ox Counts by Cabatingan, Erin
• Penguin's Hidden Talent by Latimer, Alex
• In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber by Meyer, L.A.
• Winter's Tale: An Original Pop-up Journey by Sabuda, Robert
• Deck the Walls: A Wacky Christmas Carol by Dealey, Erin
• The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jeffers, Susan
• The Twelve Days of Christmas by Cabrera, Jane
• A Very Fuddles Christmas by Vischer, Frans
• Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement by Bowers, Rick
• Crankenstein by Berger, Samantha
• Bugs in My Hair! by Shannon, David
• Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber by Meyer, L.A.