Ms. Nancy's Library & Technology Blog

“Shoulders”

~ Naomi Shihab Nye ~

How about Kidsreads.com?

Kirkus Reviews?

Random Kids?

I know. Planet Esme!

Here is my favorite library spot, though.

Happy Spring Break!

Best,

Ms. Nancy

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

— E.B. White

Looking for something to read over spring break? How about a little E.B. White (“Charlotte’s Web,” “Stuart Little,” “The Trumpet of the Swan”)? Or you could head over to the Multnomah County Library for the Every Family Reads program, which runs now through the end of April. This year’s book is “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” which is one of the funniest picture books ever. (And I have seen some funny ones, I’m telling you.) While supplies last, visitors can pick up a free book.

The book’s author, Mr. Jon Scieszka, currently serves as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. On April 20th he will visit Portland. Check out the library’s website for details on time, location and ticket prices. Other events will also be held, so check with your local branch for details.

Happy reading!

Good story on libraries by the Oregonian’s Kimberly Melton in today’s online version of the newspaper.

Also check out the new Oregon Authors website, produced by the Oregon Library Association and the Oregon Center for the Book.

“Let us remember…that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both.”

— Christian Wiman

Are you interested in more from the author of “Coraline”? Neil Gaiman recently won the 2009 John Newbery Medal for his most recent book, “The Graveyard Book” (illustrated by Dave McKean and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books). The winner of the 2009 Caldecott Award is “The House in the Night,” illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie Swanson (Houghton Mifflin Company).

If you have a chance, put these books on reserve at the Multnomah County Library.

I have not been able to write on the library blog lately — life has been a little busy. As most of you know, my grandmother (who turns 89 this July) broke her hip and sustained some other injuries in a fall recently. She has really appreciated the cards and letters people have been sending! If you would like me to pass along a note or message, just leave a note in comments and I will tell her. The kind words really make her day. I also have a P.O. Box where you can send cards, if you’d like — just drop me a note and I will e-mail you the address.

I will be off work on family leave through the end of the school year, I am sorry to tell you. I am missing all of my students and classes very much, but I know you are in good hands.

Leave comments if you’d like, or drop an e-mail.

I will talk with you soon, and keep reading!

Best,

Ms. Nancy

I had the privilege and honor of announcing the winners of the winter writing contest on Friday. They are too shy and do not want their entries reprinted here — or their names mentioned. I mentioned the possibility of podcasting them reading their entries — or even interviewing their family members and posting those as videos.

No dice. (I’ll keep working on ’em.)

We had one winner from the K-2 classes, one from 3-5 and one from 6-8. Each received a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card and a teddy bear.

I will respect the students’ wishes and will send out a big “yay” and CONGRATS! to our first place winner from the primary grades. He is one awesome second-grader, who wrote about his family’s trip to Crater Lake (complete with a story and illustrations). He is one of Ms. Starr’s students. From the 3rd-5th grade group, the first-place winner is one of our amazing and gifted fifth-graders, from Mrs. Brazzle’s class. She wrote about her love of Oregon and wrote a good essay about facts, figures and anecdotes you may not have known about our fair state.

For the upper grade students, the first-place winner is one of our sixth-graders, who is in Ms. Altig’s class. He wrote a personal family history about how his mom traveled from Southeast Asia and what it has been like for her and their family, living in Oregon.

Good job to all 41 students who entered the contest. We have a number of runners-up, and they have received (or will receive) brand-new books for their prizes.

Thank you to Mr. Steve Buel, a North Portland neighbor who donated a large selection of brand-new books for our runners-up.

And thank you to everyone for taking the time and being so thoughtful in your entries. Your hard work showed. We have some gifted writers at our school — I’m looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

Keep reading.

Keep writing.

And have a superfine week.

Best,

Ms. Nancy

On the Other Side of the Door

-Jeff Moss

I always think of this poem when I walk through our library’s doors. This weekend I am reading Harry Potter 6, “Everything on a Waffle,” and some books about girls and daughters that I received for review (“The Wonder of Girls,” “Growing a Girl,” “Odd Girl Out” and “The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today’s Pressures”).

Have a great weekend.

Ms. Nancy

“The right book for the right child.”
— motto of children’s librarians, from “My Own Two Feet,” by Beverly Cleary

I recently finished three great books by and about Oregon writer Beverly Cleary — her memoirs, A Girl From Yamhill and My Own Two Feet, and a biography about her from the Story Tellers series.

I still own the first book I ever read by Mrs. Cleary — “Ellen Tebbits.” My other favorites by her are “Henry Huggins,” “Socks” and “Dear Mr. Henshaw,” but “Ellen Tebbits,” with its tattered yellow cover, remains my top favorite.

I loved her memoirs — they are poignant and sometimes painful to read. They will inspire you. She was a reluctant reader who didn’t really enjoy reading until the third grade. She had an extremely critical mother who wasn’t always as supportive as she could have been. Mrs. Cleary grew up during the Great Depression, struggled financially and academically to get through college — but in 1938 did graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley. A year later she earned a degree in Librarianship in 1939 from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Yes, Mrs. Cleary was a librarian. She worked first as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, and later on an army base in Oakland, Calif. The children enjoyed her story time readings of “Five Chinese Brothers,” by Claire Hutchet Bishop; Dr. Seuss’s “Horton Hatches the Egg”; and “The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was In It,” by Carl Sandburg. Whew! That’s a title, eh?

Mrs. Cleary has written more than thirty books. She began writing with her young readers from Yakima in mind. “Where are the books about kids like us?”

Where indeed? she asked herself. She wrote a sentence: “Henry Huggins was in the third grade.”

Mrs. Cleary turns 93 on April 12th of this year. She lives in Carmel, California.

Happy early birthday, Mrs. Cleary. Thanks for the good books.

Best,

Mrs. Rawley

I’ve never done an official book talk before and I’m not going to start right this second. However. I did love the book “Coraline,” by Neil Gaiman, and apparently our students do, too. It is always checked out.

Those are the types of books I just leave on the book cart when they are returned. They do not stay in the library long before someone spies them and off they go. The books “Babymouse,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” 1 & 2 (book 3 arrives in our library soon), the “Twilight” books, “Spiderman,” “Batman” and “Does My Head Look Big in This?” all fall into this category. (That last link is to Scholastic, and it’s a good one. All kinds of book reviews, plus info for teachers and parents, and activities for students. Check it out.)

I am not always fond of the movie versions of books, with the exception of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the Harry Potter series, and… that’s about it. But the movie version of “Coraline” (which will be in theaters on February 6th) looks pretty neat. And it was locally made. My neighbor worked on it. How cool is that?

(No, he did not pay me to say that.)

Here is the preview, if you would like to check it out.

“Coraline” is probably going to be a little too scary for the younger children, so you might want to keep that in mind.

All for now,

Best,

Ms. Nancy