Resources Available to Help Parents and Guardians Get Kids Back to School with Less Stress
As teachers prepare their curricula and classrooms for the first day of school, the NCBLA would like to share some authoritative resources to help parents and guardians everywhere ease the transition from summer to school as smoothly as possible.
Themed Book Lists for Exquisite Corpse Adventure Episodes Created by Butler Children's Lit Center Experts
COMING SOON to a bookstore and library near you, The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is a progressive story game in which one person begins a story, stops at a cliff-hanging moment, and the next person picks it up and continues until everyone in the group has the opportunity to contribute. Created as a national reading outreach project by the NCBLA and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, The Exquisite Corpse Adventureis beingpublished in paperback, hardcover, and audio formats by Candlewick Press August 23.
Extensive Education Resources Available!
Extending the educational impact of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is the NCBLA's Education Resource Center, which contains a treasure trove of resources and articles, as well as activities, discussion questions, and art appreciation ideas, AND a “read more about it” annotated book list for each and every episode!
Many of the activities for home and classroom for each episode were created by the talented faculty and students at the Butler Children’s Literature Center at Dominican University. These activities and resources can be used not only for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, but for other literary works as well. We invite you to take a look and use these free resources in any way you can.
Sample List of Recommended Reads: Episode 3
Each episode's book list is thematically linked to a character, plot element, or setting, inviting young people to discover even more great books to read! Each list includes three books recommended to read aloud and three books recommended for independent reading.
Following is the annotated book list for Episode 3 created by Thom Barthelmess, Curator at the Butler Children’s Literature Center:
Pigs! Annotated List of Suggested Read Alouds and Independent Reads
Read Alouds:
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig. 32p. Gr. K-3
Isabel and her grandfather the sea captain share a magical gift for finding things. Isabel is shy and when her best friend the Pig of the Pig goes missing she must awaken her courage to find her precious friend. Isabel soon learns that you must believe in a gift in order to make it your own. Linda Wingerter’s stunning illustrations take you to the coast with Isabel and her family.
Prelutsky, Jack. It’s Raining Pigs & Noodles: Poems. 159p. Gr. K-6
Weird animals and unusual kids abound in this collection for rascals. Jack Prelutsky offers fresh verse along with gleeful line drawings from illustrator James Stevenson. Prepare yourself for unusual rhymes and jut a little touch of the gross. This collection also offers great possibilities for performance pieces.
Rylant, Cynthia. Poppleton. 48p. Gr. 1-2
What would do if you had a friend who wanted to feed you oatmeal, toasted cheese and spaghetti all day long? Even a pig knows when enough is enough. Poppleton learns that it is okay to tell a friend that you want to be alone. There is a new pig in town and his name is Poppleton.
Independent Reads:
Brooks, Walter R. Freddy the Detective. 263p. Gr. 3 -5
There is a crime wave at Bean's Farm and Jinx the cat’s name must be cleared. Freddy the pig, inspired by a Sherlock Holmes book he found in the barn, decides to become a master detective with the help of his sidekick Mrs. Wiggins the cow. Introduce yourself to Freddy, one of the first literary pigs.
Hearne, Betsy Gould. Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs. 133p. Gr. 3-6
Eleven year old Louise Tolliver just made a wish on the first star of the night. Now her wish has come true but it is not what she expected. Her brother has disappeared and it looks as if he’s turned into a pig. Louise has to decide how to get him back using the only tricks she has, wishes, kisses and spells.
Zindel, Paul. The Pigman. 166p. Gr. 6-9 Funny old Mr. Pignati has found some new friends. Lorraine and John are two bored teenagers who stumble upon the Pigman during a prank. Through his kindness the teens begin to enjoy a little bit of happiness. When their new friend puts his trust in them though, they betray him. Now the only way for John and Lorraine to find peace is to write down The Pigman’s story.
The contributors to The Exquisite Corpse Adventure are some of the most gifted artists and storytellers in our nation. This amazing team of writers and illustrators has made an extraordinary gift, donating their time and talent to a year-long project with the Library of Congress and to the publication of this book.
The members of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure “motley crew” are:M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Calef Brown, Susan Cooper, Kate Di Camillo, Timothy Basil Ering, Jack Gantos, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Lemony Snicket, Steven Kellogg, Gregory Maguire, Megan McDonald, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome, Jon Scieszka, and Chris Van Dusen.
You can read more about this very exciting project on the NCBLA's website.
Illustration at top right by Calef Brown (c) 2010.
Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Education Secretary Arne Duncan Write About O’Connor’s Innovative Online Program
that Addresses Civic Illiteracy
A recent article in The Daily Beast titled "How to Reboot Civics Education" by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Education Secretary Arne Duncan explains why civics education is as critical as science, math, and other core classes. Here is an excerpt:
"The education historian Lawrence Cremin once observed that educators often follow the principle of “when in doubt, leave it out.” But we believe it is a great mistake to push civics to the sideline in schools. From the dramatic uprisings for democracy in the Mideast to the tragic shootings in Tucson at a Congress on Your Corner event, Americans have been reminded once again that freedom matters—and that informed citizens are the lifeblood of democracy. Civics education is not only about knowing your rights but also knowing your responsibilities. We the People must continue to safeguard the principles of democracy to perfect the union.
Unfortunately, a staggering number of Americans today know dismayingly little about the basic history and traditions of our democracy. Earlier this spring, the government released the results of the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment in civics. It shows that while fourth graders have modestly improved their civics knowledge and skills, 12th graders—the students now poised to become voters—have even less civics knowledge and skills than their peers did in 2006."
To address this need for more civics instruction, Justice O'Connor has founded a web-based education project called iCivics.org designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy. The site includes a series of informative articles on topics such as Citizenship and the Separation of Powers. Fun-to-play interactive games and activities are also included. In the game "Argument Wars," young people can try out their powers of persuasion by arguing a real Supreme Court case. And the "People's Pie" game enables young people to try balancing the budget of the federal government!
Parents, Guardians, and Grandparents:
Try Sharing iCivics with Your Kids at Home!
Sharing the iCivics.org site with your kids can be a perfect after-dinner or lazy Saturday afternoon family activity. Allow your kids to select a topic that interests them, then read the article together. Take a few minutes to discuss it; ask them questions. Relate the information to what is happening NOW. Then play the related game and see if YOU can balance the federal budget or plan a campaign to improve your community!
ALA Offers Checklist on How You Can Help Save Library Funding
Former First Lady Laura Bush has said about libraries, "Libraries offer, for free, the wisdom of the ages - and sages - and, simply put, there's something for everyone inside."
Yet with a global economic crisis at hand, public and school library budgets are being drastically cut at all levels--preventing the wisdom, information, entertainment, and inspiration of the ages from being accessible to all.
Now that the debt ceiling crisis is behind us, we urge library supporters across the nation to focus on how we can save funding for public and school libraries. Deep financial cuts will be made as a result of the debt agreement and we must advocate for library funding with our elected officials and demonstrate why library finding is NOT the place to make these cuts.
Step 1
Contact your Congressional representatives' district offices to see if they have any town hall meetings coming up. You can quickly find contact information for your Representative and Senators here.
Step 2 Think of examples and stories of how your local library provides essential services to your community. Emphasize how these services are free to users and of a minimal cost to taxpayers. Show your elected officials how cutting library funding hurts the community, especially in this tough economy. The ALA Washington Office has resources you can use. For the latest issue briefs, click here. To visit the ALA Advocacy page, click here.
Step 3 Attend a town hall meeting to share stories and information with your elected official. As a bonus, you will not only be informing your official but also other citizens in the audience who may not know about all the resources a 21st century library can provide.
Step 4
Invite your elected official to visit a public or school library to show them firsthand the services libraries offer. Click here for the "Get Legislators in Your Library" webinar. And click here for a list of steps to take in setting up a Congressional visit of your library.
Lastly, be sure to check out the NCBLA's Become an Activist page for additional ways you can support literacy and influence policy and legislation on a local, state, and national level.
Read Charles M. Blow Op/Ed Piece in The New York Times:
The Decade of Lost Children
"A majority of children in all racial groups and 79 percent or more of black and Hispanic children in public schools cannot read or do math at grade level in the fourth, eighth or 12th grades."
Children's book author and long time literacy/library advocate Lin Oliver is the executive director of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, a national nonprofit professional organization dedicated to serving the people who write, illustrate, or share a vital interest in children's literature. With permission, we share with you Lin Oliver's excellent SCBWI Bulletin essay on the importance having educated, experienced state certified librarians in public schools. We hope it will inspire you to find out what is happening in your state, and to take action, supporting one of our nation's greatest treasures—our free school and public libraries- and the incredible librarians whose work enriches all of our lives, especially our children’s.
In these times of world-wide recession, everyone—from families to state and federal governments—has to tighten belts and cut spending. In our field, a heart-breaking casualty of this enforced budget slashing is the demise of public and school libraries. Across America, and in fact around much of the developed world, library budgets are being slashed resulting in shortened hours, forced closings, and personnel layoffs. Authors, teachers, and community activists are speaking out in support of library funding. Notably, in Oxfordshire, England, where the local community is facing the closure of 20 of its 43 libraries and staff is being replaced with volunteers and automated kiosks, noted children’s author Philip Pullman earlier this year made a plea to save libraries and librarians, citing their crucial value in a democratic society.
“I love the public library service for what it did for me as a child and as a student and as an adult,” he said in an impassioned speech. “l love it because its presence in a town or a city reminds us that there are things above profit, things that profit knows nothing about, things that have the power to baffle the greedy ghost of market fundamentalism, things that stand for civic decency and public respect for imagination and knowledge and the value of simple delight.”
Fine words. Who among us wouldn’t agree? Yet the budget slashing continues, and in what the SCBWI leadership and Board of Advisors view as a case of misguided priorities, libraries continue to be compromised by the hundreds. The public and school library system is failing, and with it, its librarians.
Take for example, the case of the approximately eighty-five middle- and upper-school librarians in Los Angeles Unified School District. As part of the district budget cutting, they all received pink slips within the past several months. In order to get them off the payroll, the district is arguing that librarians don’t teach and therefore don’t qualify for the seniority protections given to teachers. One by one, these librarians were called into a basement room and interrogated. “Do you take attendance?” they were asked by school district attorneys, with armed guards standing by. The point of the questioning was to discredit them as teachers, as if taking attendance is proof that one is fit for the classroom.
The SCBWI leadership believes that all librarians are indeed teachers, including and especially those in school libraries. For many children, the school library is their first, and often only, exposure to what a library has to offer. Certainly, the school library of the 21st century will look different. It will offer children not only books but computers, downloads, Internet access, and many other platforms yet to come. But its basic function of leading children to reading remains the same, no matter what the format. School librarians are teachers and the library is their classroom. They minister to the individual needs of students, and although they may not
teach specific subjects or take attendance on a daily basis, they teach the most important skill of all—learning how to learn. They teach their students how to gather information, to synthesize from multiple sources, and hopefully to form their own conclusions based on what they have read. They lead each new generation to the thoughts and words of previous generations, enabling them to stand on the shoulders of the great thinkers who have come before. In addition, and no small matter this…school librarians notice what kids are reading, and hand them the next book they might enjoy, point them to the right Internet site, encourage them to take the next step on the path to knowledge, education, and the immense joy that comes from reading.
One commonly proposed solution to reducing library budgets is to replace librarians with volunteers and inventory managing software. In this scenario, a kiosk would replace a librarian. How tragic this would be. The human hand of a trained librarian, a person who has cultivated the specialty of helping another person seek knowledge, would be lost. The humiliating interrogation of librarians in Los Angeles is an attempt to remove school librarians from the payroll. Surely, we can find ways to reduce spending other than to eliminate the keepers of the key to knowledge. A library without a librarian is a building. A library with a motivated, trained, interested librarian is a source of light and inspiration.
It has been said that closing libraries in a time of recession is like closing hospitals in a time of plague. Join SCBWI in support of funding for public and school libraries, and especially now in support of school librarians whose jobs are in jeopardy.
As of today, 77 high school librarians in question have had their pink slips rescinded, but the fate of the middle-school librarians is still in limbo. It is unclear at this moment whether or not the librarians will be returned to the library or will serve as classroom teachers.
