Commit to completing four consecutive Take Action Tuesday challenges on advocacy topics/themes;
Collaborate with EAC cohort members over the four-week period, sharing successes and troubleshooting issues via ALA Connect;
Write a post for the ALSC blog about their EAC experiences; and
Contribute a reflection for the April 2016 issue of the Everyday Advocacy Matters e-newsletter.
I’ve been spending the first six months of my full-time librarianship getting my sea legs, learning about my new community, and acclimating to full-time public library work, including storytimes and programs for infants, toddlers, school-age kids, tweens and teens – the whole range! This year, I’ve made it a priority to get involved with the profession; really dig in – and the Everyday Advocacy Challenge offers a great chance to do that. I’ll be journaling here, in addition to anything I write for the ALSC, about the Challenge, so please follow along and chime in with any questions or anecdotes you’d like to share.
The Battle for Room 314: My Year of Hope and Despair in a New York City High School, by Ed Boland (Feb. 2016, Grand Central Publishing), $26, ISBN: 978-1455560615
Recommended for ages 16+
I normally review books for children here at MomReadIt, but I felt like this was an important book to review here for parents, educators, and anyone else trying to wrap their heads around education these days. Education is a hot-button topic everywhere – it’s always been, because it concerns our kids, and our future, but it’s never hotter than it is during an election year, and that’s exactly where we’re heading.
We know the education system needs help. We know that underserved communities in our country are falling through the system’s cracks. The Battle for Room 314 tells the story of one man who tried to make a difference in both arenas. Ed Boland left a high-profile career at a non-profit to teach in a New York City public high school. He was ready to make a difference in the lives of young people, having seen the fantastic results of his non-profile organization, which sends exemplary children from low-income neighborhoods to the best schools, giving them an advantage in life they wouldn’t otherwise have. He’s ready to cut out the middleman and help these kids himself.
What a rude awakening. What Mr. Boland learns in his year of teaching is that politics enters the classroom at all levels. That the problems aren’t only in the classroom, they’re in the homes that these children come from. That teachers are burned out, overworked, and when they try to propose changes that will benefit the students and make things easier on themselves, they get stymied by their own union. He can’t make these kids turn on to learning, not when the issues they’re facing in their individual lives seem almost insurmountable. He met young girls who were prostituting themselves at middle grade age; children homeschooled on the subway by their homeless parents; kids who were running drug rings for their incarcerated family members. Their realities are so far away from anything Boland could comprehend – and myself, reading this book – that it seems like the ultimate Sisyphean task.
This isn’t going to be a fairy tale ending: the title alone is your heads-up to that. It’s not meant to be. It’s an indictment of so-called education reform and a plea for the powers that be to understand that changes need to be made at ALL levels, by multiple organizations. More standardized testing isn’t going to make these children succeed. Common Core isn’t going to help these kids.
I loved this book. Boland has a sense of humor and a sincerity in his belief that makes it hard to read this book at times. I hurt for him, and I hurt for the kids in the classroom just as much as I wanted to scream at them for Boland. I’m a public librarian in an area that serves a lot of underprivileged kids, and I only see a fragment of what Boland witnessed in his classroom every day. There are some days where I just knock my head against a wall and wonder if I’m ever going to get through to “my kids”. Some days, the answer is “maybe”. Some days, I even feel like it’s a “yes”. Boland’s book spurs me on, to keep doing what I’m doing, but I’m in a completely different area, doing a completely different job. I see where I can make change, and go for it. And that’s what Mr. Boland’s book reminded me to keep in mind.
Parents, read this book and understand what our educators are up against. Educators, read this book and know that you’re not alone. People get it, and more people will continue to get it. All we have to do is keep pushing for the right changes to be identified. And it has nothing to do with a new state test.
This is a perfect read-aloud book. It’s a book about sounds, where YOU make the sound. Clang along with a pair of symbols, flap your butterfly wings, or give a huge hand clap! Bright and bold colors and characters invite kids to sizzle, bong, and woof along with them throughout the book.
Clap, Clap! is an interactive book that works great for toddlers or young, school-age kids. Get them up, get them moving, and talk about all the great sounds they can make! Just like it says on the back of the book: “Help tell a story of noise and sound—no batteries required, just your hands on each side of the cover.”
I love the books coming out of Nobrow – the designs are so bright, eye-catching, and just make you feel good. Younger kids will love these books; I can’t wait to get them all over my library. Add this to your storytime shelf!
Madalena Matoso is part of the Planeta Tangerina illustration and graphic design collective. You can see more about Clap there, and watch a little video!
Olga da Polga, by Michael Bond/Illustrated by Catherine Rayner (Oct. 2015, Kane Miller Publishing), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-61067-433-1
Recommended for ages 6-10
The creator of Paddington Bear, Michael Bond, introduced Olga da Polga, an adventurous guinea pig with a bit of sass, in 1971. I don’t remember this book when I was growing up, so I’m not sure whether these were originally published only in the UK, but there are both picture and chapter books full of Olga’s Adventures! Kane Miller Publishing recently brought Olga back to readers with this beautifully illustrated edition. Greenaway Medal winner Catherine Rayner adds beautiful watercolor artwork to this collection of stories that new readers and their parents will love and want on their shelves.
Olga da Polga is a guinea pig who wants to go on adventures. She wants out of the pet store! She gets her wish when she’s adopted by the Sawdust family – that’s what she calls humans – who builds her a her own hamster run in their garden. She goes on adventures in the family’s backyard and meets the local wildlife, including Noel the housecat, Fangio the hedgehog, and Graham, the tortoise. Stories encompass all the seasons, also lending themselves to great seasonal storytimes.
Olga da Polga is one of those books that I feel like I missed out on, and that I need to get on the shelves here at my library to make sure today’s kids meet Olga and her friends! Give this to kids who love their animal fiction – Paddington fans, naturally; Olivia fans, and Corduroy fans can move up to Olga da Polga and enjoy another group of stories about a plucky little guinea pig and her adventures. Kids reading the EB White trilogy (Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan) will love Olga, too. The short chapters/stories provide for great read-aloud opportunities.
You can get your own copy of Olga da Polga at the Usborne books website. Amazon offers the book through independent sellers.
Last year, I posted about the Serendipity Agency’s 5th Annual YA Discovery Contest. Well, writers, get ready: the 6th Annual Contest is in full swing, and they want your submissions! Details from Serendipity follow:
THE 6TH ANNUAL
YA DISCOVERY CONTEST
HAS BEGUN!
NO QUERY? NO PITCH? NO PROBLEM!
Get in front of top YA Editors and Agents with only the first 250 words of your YA novel!
Serendipity Literary Agency in conjunction with Sourcebooks Inc. is hosting their sixth annual Young Adult Novel Discovery Competition.
Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win exposure to editors and a reading of your manuscript by one of New York’s TOP literary agents Regina Brooks. Regina Brooks is the CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency and the author of the award winning book Writing Great Books For Young Adults now available in a second edition.
Great PrizesThe Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to submit an entire manuscript to YA literary agent Regina Brooks AND receive a collection of gourmet teas from Possibiliteas.co!
The Top Five Entrants (including the Grand Prize winner) will receive a 15 minute, one-on-one pitch session with Regina Brooks, one of New York’s premier literary agents for young adult books. They will also receive commentary on their submissions from editors at Scholastic, Random House/Penguin, Little Brown, Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Simon and Schuster, and Abrams Books.
First 50 Entrants will receive a copy of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.
Here’s How It Works: The rules of the contest are simple, and entering is easy. Submit entries of ONLY the first 250 words of your manuscript and the title via the contest website at serendipitylit.com/contest. One entry per person; anyone age 14+ can apply. There is a $15 entry fee. Open to the U.S. and Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01 am (ET) November 1st, 2015 until 11:59 pm December, 2nd, 2015 (ET).
YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by editors at Scholastic, Random House/Penguin, Little, Brown, Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Simon and Schuster, and Abram Books. Judges will whittle the top 20 down to five, and each of the five winners will be provided commentary on their submissions.
—NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo—
In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org) – an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days – this contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words.
A Blind Guide to Stinkville, by Beth Vrabel (October 2015, Sky Pony Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781634501576
Recommended for ages 8-12
Twelve year-old Alice’s family has moved her from Seattle, across the country, to Stinkville – that is, Sinkville, South Carolina. It’s a paper mill town, her dad’s the new paper mill manager, and he seems to be the only one settling into their new life. Her mother is depressed, her brother is angry, and Alice sticks out like a sore thumb. Alice is an albino who needs to slather on the sunblock and wear hats so her sensitive skin doesn’t burn, and she’s legally blind – but she’ll be the first to tell you that she’s not that blind. She can see, but things have to be really close for her to see them.
Alice’s parents start talking about sending her to a school for the blind when school starts in the Fall, and Alice is furious – she’s always been in public school! She’s determined to start doing things for herself, whether it’s finding her way to the library or doing the laundry at home. She even enters the Sinkville essay contest and decides to tell the stories of some of the locals she’s met; and that’s when she learns that Stinkville may not stink so much after all.
This is a little book that tackles some pretty big issues: the Civil Rights movement, depression, special needs, for starters. Told in the first person from Alice’s perspective, A Blind Guide to Stinkville tells the story of a family and a town with humor and sensitivity. Alice is a normal tween: she wants to fit in, but she’s got something that makes her stand out. She wants to be independent, and her family drives her nuts. Most of all, she’s a new kid in a new town and she missed her friends – her best friend, who is moving forward with her life. It’s a lot for any kid to handle, and Alice’s sense of humor is her best defense – that, and her determination to advocate for herself.
Importantly, for me at least, it also provides a glimpse into parental depression and the effect it has on the rest of the family, and how the fight to “get better” is not that easy. Alice’s mom has good days, then a bad day will hit. It happens, and Alice’s brother James doesn’t always understand. It’s a realistic portrayal of the helplessness felt by parent and child, and there are no answers, just getting through as best as possible while sticking together as a family unit.
Readers will appreciate this book for its good story and likable characters. Parents and educators will appreciate how it promotes deeper understanding of different special needs – and how a kid is a kid is a kid at heart, really – and the subplot telling the story of the Civil Rights movement in the South. Great for discussion groups.
Beth Vrabel is the author of the 2015 Cybils-nominated book, Pack of Dorks, also from Sky Pony. The sequel, Camp Dork, will be coming in May 2016. Her author website offers a study guide for Pack of Dorks, an FAQ, and links to her blog and published writing.
Hands-On Science and Math – Fun, Fascinating Activities for Young Children, by Beth R. Davis (July 2015, Gryphon House), $14.95, ISBN: 9780876596500
Recommended for educators and parents of preschoolers-age 8
I’m always on the lookout for books that have fun, easy activities for my younger patrons. Being a librarian in an urban, lower community made up largely of working class and working poor families, I’ve got a lot of parents concerned about their kids’ progress in math and science. One thing I’ve been working on putting together is a series of science workshops for my younger patrons. I’m a bit clueless in this area, so I’ve been getting some help from my colleague at our Children’s Library and Discovery Center in Jamaica (seriously, go to this library and prepare to be amazed); I also keep an eye out for blogs, websites, and books that offer some ideas. Hands-On Science and Math is one of those books.
Loaded with experiments and ideas for kids from preschool to roughly third grade (you can skew older or younger, with easy tweaks on these experiments), Hands-On Science and Math gets kids thinking and using their five senses to explore the world around them. Each experiment comes with an explanation of the scientific concepts behind the experiment, STEM lessons to be gained from the experiments, and ways to link to the math and literacy in each one. I’ve already created a few sessions for the kids in my library, including using a Matchbox car, cardboard, a pile of books, and a measuring stick to learn about simple machines; examining the world around them using a magnifying glass, and the almighty baking soda volcano (I’ll be doing that one solo, but I’ll give them instructions they can try at home). I’ll be trying these out over the winter break!
Parents and educators can recreate these experiments on a small budget: most of the ingredients and objects can be found at dollar stores or are already in your home. There’s an appendix on graphing topics, a popular math and literacy link here, including questions with concrete answers you can use to graph results. Further resources are available for anyone who wants to read more about STEM activities and young children.
Author Beth R. Davis, EdS, NBCT, holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education; a master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages, or TESOL; and an education specialist degree in computer education. She is the director of Kids 4 Kids Academy preschool in Miami, Florida. I’m thrilled that she’s got experience in working with speakers of other languages; this talent comes through in her experimentation, and allows me to create these programs with my multicultural families. She offers more science activities for kids on her website, where you can also sign up to join her mailing list.
Jonas Anderson is a teenager who’s had a recent run of hard luck. His parents are dead, recently killed in a plane crash, and his older brother, Alan, is in a coma after a car crash. Jonas is no ordinary teen, though – he’s also Poet Anderson, a Lucid Dreamer – someone who can walk around in dreams and interact with other dreamers – who’s on the run from REM, an evil being who lives in the Dreamscape. Poets like Jonas are special dreamers; they can guide lost dreamers who accidentally find themselves in the Dreamscape. And REM wants to use Jonas to gain entry into the Waking World, where he can spread his terror net even wider, controlling everyone’s dreams and trapping them in a world of nightmares.
Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares is the first book in a new YA/New Adult series by musician Tom DeLonge, who you may remember from Blink 182, and New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young. Conceived of by DeLonge as a multimedia experience, there’s also a soundtrack, a comic book series, and an prequel animated film, Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker, which won Best Animation at the Toronto International Short Film Festival last year. And the animation is truly gorgeous, just take a look:
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares is kind of like The Matrix, but with dreams. We live in two separate realms, but a handful of people can move between the Dreamscape and the Waking World, fighting evil and protecting the rest of us regular dreamers here in the Waking World. Jonas, despite having a brutal run of it recently, deals with his grief, knuckles down to stay in school and hold down a job while learning more about his talents. Jarabec, a Dream Walker who becomes Jonas’ mentor in the Dreamscape, helps keep him safe while educating him and training him for battles to come. Jonas is a likable character who you want to root for; you want this poor kid to catch a break for once.
The characters surrounding Jonas are also vivid, coming off the page and taking up space in your imagination. Jarabec is a gritty, curmudgeonly mentor that you respect and ultimately love. The Dream Walkers – the foot soldiers in this battle – will both irritate and impress, like the antiheroes they kind of are. Night Terrors will make you think about all the crazy times you thought of the monsters in your closet or under your bed and wonder whether you were maybe just a little right after all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this first book, and was very happy with the way DeLonge and Young left a thread for the next book hanging there, dangling, waiting for readers to take the bait.
The first book is available right now, and for more information about the graphic novels, music, and full animated video, check out Tom DeLonge’s website, To the Stars Media. To join the book club community, find out about the director’s cut of the book with rich media content, visit the Eden Hotel Book Club.
Want your own copy of Poet Anderson? There’s a giveaway! Good luck!
Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares, by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young
Hardcover, 368 pages, $17.99
ISBN: 978-1-943272-00-06
Publication Date: November 1, 2015
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
In the midst of political and ideological conflict, things are rarely as black and white as they appear to be. This is especially true now, in our post 9/11-society – a society that Jeannie Waudby’s One of Us taps into for her story.
“…how can you face a danger you can’t see? A person who looks like any other person, but who secretly wants to kill you and everyone like you?”
After a terrorist attack during uprising called The Strife orphaned her at the age of two, K has been alone. She was raised by her grandmother until she, too, died when K was 10, and now, at 15, is a ward of the state, living in a halfway house and flunking out of school. She survives a bomb blast – another terrorist attack, like the one that killed her parents – and is saved by Oskar, whom she thinks is a cop. She learns that The Brotherhood, an insurgent group that lives and moves among her society, is behind the blast. Oskar recruits K as an informant. Her mission is to infiltrate The Brotherhood and report back to Oskar and his people. It should be that easy.
It’s never that easy. As K lives among a group of Brotherhood students, she begins to question everything she’s been brought up to believe and discovers that every side has its own secrets. What is she willing to do to keep her new friends safe?
One of Us isn’t afraid to show readers that things aren’t always what they seem. The good guys aren’t always good, the bad guys aren’t always bad, and people will use other people as pawns in a game to get what they want, no matter who gets hurt in the process. In a day and age where we tend to make snap judgements about groups of people based on ideology, religion, or appearance, One of Us is essential reading that reminds us – demands, in fact – that we think before we act.
The characters are solidly constructed and likable, the situations they’re put in tense and real. It’s a gripping read from start to finish, and the plot twists left me with clenched fists and jaw until I finished the book. This one’s going on the shelves at my library, and I’m giving my copy to my teenage son tonight. Don’t miss this book – it’s an opportunity to open up some incredible conversations with the teens and young adults in your life.
Don’t miss your chance to win your own copy of One of Us! Enter a Rafflecopter giveaway from Running Press now!
Book Info: One of Us, by Jeannie Waudby (Oct. 2015, Running Press Teens), $16.95, ISBN: 978-0-7624-5799-1
Mutt’s Promise, by Julie Salamon/Illus. by Jill Weber (March 2016, Dial Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9780525427780
Recommended for ages 8-12
A tired dog wanders the woods and saves a cat from a weasel attack. She’s taken in by the cat’s human, an older man living on his own, and he christens the dog, “Mutt”. The son of the migrant family working for the man bonds with the dog, who gives birth to a little of four puppies. He names them, cares for them, but when the family has to move on and tells their employer that they won’t be back, he gives the puppies away, saying they’re too much to take care for. Two puppies are adopted by one loving family, but the other two – a female named Luna and a boy named Chief – end up living a nightmare in a horrific puppy mill. Will they be able to keep their spirits and their bodies healthy enough to survive and escape?
Mutt’s Promise is an unexpected book. It starts in a most idyllic setting, only to move pretty quickly into some heavy social issues. While the idea of migrant worker families is lightly touched on, it’s there, showing that this is not something that died out with The Grapes of Wrath. The heavier topic here is animal cruelty, most notably the kind of cruelty that takes place in puppy mills. Luna, a spunky little female pup, also deals with crushing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder from her time in the puppy mill. All of these topics are handled in an age-appropriate manner, framed within the animals’ story and using vocabulary that doesn’t try to sugar-coat what happens in these places, but makes the situation comprehensible to younger readers.
The writing and illustrations made me think of the animal fiction I read as a child; books like Margery Sharp’s The Rescuers series, and one of my all-time favorites, Rosemary Weir’s Pyewacket. Kids who love animal fiction will enjoy this book, and it provides a gentle introduction to hot-button social issues today. For kids who have experienced trauma in their own lives, reading a book like this may help facilitate a discussion; guidance counselors and therapists should give this a read and have available to talk over with parents and children.
Author has written nine books for both adults and children, including Cat in the City (also illustrated by Jill Weber). Jill Weber is a children’s book illustrator and designer, and has worked on two other books by Julie Salamon.
Enjoy a glimpse at some of the art from the pages of Mutt’s Promise.
Mom Read It 