What's Happening at the BSS Library?

Ivan or Beekle? My Teacher is a Monster or Journey? Drum Girl Dream Girl or The Night Gardener? Malala/Iqbal or Blizzard? Last Stop on Market Street or Trombone Shorty? Invisible Boy or Rosie Revere, Engineer? Snappsy the Alligator or Wolfie the Bunny? Gaston or Pink is for Blobfish? Voting is live for the March Madness book competition! I polled all my classes on which book they chose for each matchup, and voted on their behalf.  But anyone can vote! Visit this link to vote for your favorites in the Sweet 16 Picture Book bracket:  http://marchbookmadness.weebly.com/picture-book-bracket.html Visit this link to vote for your favorites in the Sweet 16 Middle Grade Novel bracket:  http://marchbookmadness.weebly.com/mg-novel-bracket.html Voting on the next round begins each Wednesday, so we will see which books move on! For more information about this fun tournament, visit  http://marchbookmadness.weebly.com .

Yes, college basketball is an exciting time in the month of March.  But it is also a fun time to be a children's librarian or someone who enjoys to read! The Nerdy Book Club is a group of authors, teachers, librarians, and other people who love children's books, and this group has chosen the recent books that they feel are the "cream of the crop."  From the 16 books in both the picture book and middle grade novel division, two books will battle against each other. Readers can vote for their favorites to help the book move along to the next round. We have been reading the picture books during library period so we can make an educated vote, and I've been encouraging the older students to read the novels. Can't wait to see how our students will vote, and if it matches up with how others around the country vote too. Let March Madness begin! Visit this website to see a list of the books and watch some book trailers:  http://marchbookmadness.weebly.com ...

 I wanted to make sure that students understood why we have Monday off from school (NOT just a day to sleep in!), so we've been reading books about him this week.  I love this new addition to our collection called I am Martin Luther King, Jr. by Brad Meltzer, which is from the Ordinary People Change the World series.  Cartoon photos and engaging text talk about Martin from his childhood to his great moments organizing peaceful protests and marches.  The book  stresses how important it was to Martin that protests be nonviolent, and how his parents told him that "it's better to have more love in your life than more hate." March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World was written by Martin's sister, Christine King Farris.  This book focused on The March on Washington where about a quarter of a million people gathered from all over the country to Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963, because they wanted a change.  It was here that Dr. ...

The Scaredy Squirrel picture book series by Melanie Watt is hugely popular. What’s not to like about a squirrel who is afraid of just about everything–most of all germs, tarantulas and killer bees!  So when Scaredy Squirrel has a disastrous day and falls out of his tree (after being all worked up about seeing a killer bee), he makes a brilliant discovery.  Instead of falling down into a bush of poison ivy (another fear!), he realizes he is a flying squirrel and he simply glides to the next tree.  How exciting! After reading Scaredy Squirrel I read a nonfiction book about flying squirrels.  We learned all kinds of facts about flying squirrels, and saw some cool features like a glossary, diagram and a map.  We compared the photos in each book–the picture book had cartoonish drawings and the nonfiction book had photographs.  Also, we learned that  flying squirrels were nocturnal (even though Scaredy Squirrel would go to bed every night at 8:0...

Even as the students get older, there are still many picture books that can entertain and inform them.  Black and White is a very sophisticated book, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1991.  The book is divided into what seems like four separate stories, but as we read the students begin to realize that these four stories are connected.  They are able to see how one story fills in the gaps of one of the other stories.  There was a lot of speculation about what was actually going on in this book, and maybe there was no one right answer, but the students did their best predicting what would happen and making connections. Listen to a reading of this book on You Tube here .

It really is the most wonderful time of the year, not only because of the fun parties and spirit of Christmas but because of what I get to read to my classes.  There are so many great Christmas children's books out there!  Here are some of my favorites...

Since fifth grade has been studying the Civil War, I chose to read to them this well-researched book about the true story of Sarah Edmonds, who enlisted in the army by disguising as a man.  Sarah said she was a man named Frank Thompson when they were recruiting men for the Union army.  A few years prior, Sarah dressed like a man in order to get out of a marriage arranged by her parents.  She dressed like a man, crossed the border from Canada to the United States, and began a new life as Frank.  She loved the camaraderie she had with the other soldiers, and she excelled in her position.  She trained to be a nurse, and her hard work and bravery led to her being chosen to spy on the Confederates. It was such an interesting story, and in the author's note we learned that when Sarah became very sick and needed medical attention, she changed back into women's clothing and found a doctor away from the camp.  Once she recovered and tried to come back to join he...