Friday, October 16, 2009

Jane Addams Book Award

Lindsey (our library intern) and I dashed out of the library this afternoon and up First Avenue to get to the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Ceremony at United Nations Plaza, where I purchased this charming stuffed replica of the pioneer social worker and feminist Jane Addams (pictured left). The Jane Addams Children's Book Awards are given annually to the children's books published the preceding year that effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sexes and all races. I'm looking forward to sharing the 2009 winners with students: Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai will resonate with those students who have been concentrating on environmental concerns and The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos, about Pura Belpre, the New York Public Library's first--and influential--Puerto Rican librarian. Each author delivered a moving acceptance speech, humbling his/herself in the service of promoting the subject of in his/her book instead.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Try Something New! Genre Punchcards



Like the "buy 10, get the 11th free" coffee punch cards , we now have "read 7 genres, get a prize" punch cards, in an effort to get some kids to diversify their reading. This "challenge" is taking off. The book categories? Fiction, Nonfiction, Graphic Novel, Picture Book, Poetry, Biography, and Folk/Fairy Tale (for grades 1-2, the first four). The prize? A new, free book (yes, to keep! no, not a library book!) or a scratch-and-sniff bookmark in gummy worm, chocolate bar, or buttered popcorn flavors, courtesy Upstart, my favorite library promotion store. Whiteboard rendering by our talented intern, Max.
Blogger Wordpress Gadgets