Dance for the Indie Bookstore TODAY

The wall outside Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI

Northshire Bookstore*

Thanks, Lindsay Lackey and friends.  I didn't get my first cry in yet today.  Were these just tears of joy? sadness? frustration because I just want to hug you all? I don't know but I want to watch it over and over again. Thank you for this video. It is SO good, SO inspiring, SO uplifting and full of SO SO SO much fun love. xoxo

I want EVERY SINGLE INDIE BOOKSTORE TO MAKE IT. I am trying to do my part (buying books for  myself and kids every week) and hope everyone who can, is.  And, oh, every single one of these book creators. I love you and thank you for your dance. I want to dance WITH YOU when we can all be together again! Plus, It was great to see so many familiar faces and friends! Love your sock dance, Sarah 😉

So, it's a sunny Saturday. I need to get outside.  I need to clock in my 10,000. But I also I know I couldn't support #IndieBookStoreDay #IndependentBookStoreDay in just 240 characters. A brief blog post was in order.  

I could just say, "Please support your local bookstore today," but that doesn't seem like enough.  Maybe it is, but I have never been one for few words. 

Need help finding a store? Don't forget bookshop.org and libro.fm.

Last Sunday's New York Times Book Review published an editorial that gave me my first cry of that day.  It's hard to think of everyone behind the making of one book and beyond. The other day, I reached out to someone who's business coordinates author and illustrator school visits and he told me he had to let all his staff go. My heart sank.

I searched for the link on the NYT website and could not find it.  Hope you can read it this way. You might notice my notes from the week.

I read this tweet last night.  Follow the whole thread. Maybe throw in a t-shirt with your book order.

I want to buy indie bookstore t-shirts. Can anyone point me to indies that have 'em?

— Mike Jung (THE BOYS IN THE BACK ROW, 10/6/20) (@Mike_Jung) April 24, 2020

Speaking of t-shirts, I'm excited that Jarrett Lerner will be posting new t-shirt designs later this week!

I’ve gotten lots of requests recently to reopen sales of some of my T-shirt designs.

First of all, THANK YOU!

Also: I plan to launch new fundraisers for these designs next week, and will also be sharing a brand-new design on Friday of next week.

More soon! 💛💛💛 pic.twitter.com/bTNiCWRniR

— Jarrett Lerner (@Jarrett_Lerner) April 25, 2020

Jerry Craft Spring 2019*

There you go. Could I have said it all in 240 characters? Maybe, but that's just not me.  I'm a wordy gal and I like stores with lots of words in them.  I have always dreamed of going on a Indie Bookshop Tour. Let's add that to my #BookIt travel agency (Don't know what I'm referring to? Check out this post.)

To begin, can I get the list of all the stores mentioned in the video, Lindsay?  I'll start planning my route tomorrow with the Bookhouse in Albany. 💕

Today in my Literati t-shirt!

*Shout out to Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, NY where the photos were shot and the Manchester store who have been so accommodating to my current needs. Thank you.

#NYLibrarySpotlightDay

"Woke up. Got out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head...

...I read the news today, oh boy..."

-Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band

Happy #NYLibrarySpotlight Day.

Woke up. Got out of bed. Did NOT drag anything across my head. Yoga. Coffee...and...and the news? Well, oh boy is right.

Today was a good day for this New York school librarian.

I got up early in a panic thinking I had to get an email out to a teacher by 6:50.  Oops. Am I on Texas time?  It was SEVEN 50. Bonus hour to get things done.

Before 9, three first graders were in front of me eager to learn how to access SORA. Once they got their logins and a reminder to use their public library card, too, the world of books was exponentially opened up to them. Good feeling.

Answer and send emails.  

Read a picture book about the coronavirus.  There are a lot out there but what makes this one special is that it can be translated into 25 languages. Forward to my faculty and staff and the HS Spanish teachers.  One Spanish teacher immediately replies, "I love it."  Win. 

(CES Parents reading this: I have a whole folder of books like this on my resource page.)

It's almost time for the daily 10:30 read aloud. This week Grace Lin is reading her Newbery honor book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, via Facebook Live. I know my students would probably not watch on their own so I offer it up as a meet with me. Look at them, especially the one in the bottom left with his arms up. They. Are. Listening. It is always a challenge getting these things going, though. Every day. Today was unusually difficult so I finally pulled it up on my laptop and projected it on my school computer.  Crisis diverted. (CES Parents: So far the read alouds have been middle grade but next week they will be all picture books.  Meet code: 56reads.)

I try and take a brief break to watch Governor Cuomo's press conference.  Today was no exception. My son baked a loaf of sandwich bread last night and I ate the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich I ever had. I'm not kidding.

A belated book birthday party is better than no party at all, right? So for my 6th grade Dewey Duty lunch we celebrated Lauren Wolk's Echo Mountain. I just received the e-galley on Monday but lucky for me, I couldn't sleep that night so I got a bunch of it read before the release yesterday.  So far, amazing. Gripping. Can you really go wrong with Lauren Wolk?  I pulled out a cupcake, we read the first two chapters together and everyone was hooked.  Juliann was randomly picked to receive a copy compliments of me via Northshire Bookstore. She was SO excited! To this date, this is the 10th book I have given away. Money well spent that normally would have gone to coffee, gas, doughnuts,  theatre, Montreal, concerts...

Back to bookstores, Grace Lin gave us three tips today. Buy books and audiot books from: bookshop.org and libro.fm (to support indie bookstores) and check out her podcast, https://www.kidsaskauthors.com/. The podcast sounds awesome! Kids come up with questions for book creators and they answer. Great questions to remember for author/illustrator Skypes and school visits.

Faculty meeting. More emails. Plan. Walk. 

Facetime with a friend. Wait. She's key to this entire day. I would not have had it without her. 

In 2006 Val and I met at a party. She was a 3rd grade teacher, NOT a librarian. We just met. I was on maternity leave and ready for something new. She told me to become a school librarian. Seriously. I heeded her, a stranger's, advice. I did not know her AT ALL. Six months later I quit my job and enrolled full time.  The theme for National Library Week is "Find Your Place at the Library." Thanks, Val, for changing my life by helping me find my place and giving me today. 🧡📚😍

#NYLibrarySpotlightDay #NYLibraryWeek #NationalLibraryWeek #LibrariesTransform #SchoolLibraryMonth

A Date with Kate

ALA, Washington DC, June 2019

Ann Patchett wrote this essay in yesterday's NYT.


An adult with no kids, she had never read Kate DiCamillo.  Then she picked up The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and "it changed [her] life." After that, she read all of them. "It was incredibly calming," she writes which is why she recommends reading them now. "...read these books together as a family...Don't miss out."

Kate is an incredible storyteller.  I wish I had a fraction of her creativity. She can make you laugh and cry and crave to do whatever-the-opposite-of-social-distancing-is with her characters.

I'm going to mention a few of my favorites but there are so many. So...don't stall.  Be like Ann. Open up your Sora or Libby app, go to your favorite Indie bookstore and starting requesting.

Bink and Gollie meet Mercy Watson

Oh do I love Bink and Gollie by Kate, Allison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile .  The banter back and forth between these two and the little adventures they have together make for books you will want to read (or watch) over and over again.  Read them with a side of pancakes and some funky socks on your feet. This is the book trailer with Kate and Alison as the voices. One is a Geisel winner but they all deserve a place on your emerging reader's shelf.

Mercy Watson is another fun early chapter book series by Kate and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.  The pig also has her own website.  Here's an excerpt from the audiobook:

Book Recording | Mercy Watson to the Rescue on TeachingBooks

YOU are in luck! Every Bink and Gollie and I believe every Mercy Watson story is on Tumblebooks! We have a CES subscription and so does the public library.  It's easiest to just go here to login:  TUMBLEBOOKS  If that link doesn't work, please email me.  These characters should provide you with hours of meaningful entertainment on this truly stay-inside-day. 🌧

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

I identify each Maple Hill High School graduating class by the Newbery winner the year they were in fifth grade.  The class of 2021 is Flora and Ulysses. "Did you read the one about the squirrel?" my mom texted me the night it won. "Yes. Yes, we did."  We had a book group and even Skyped with the illustrator, K.G. Campbell. No, I didn't attempt Kate. We liked Keith! Someone asked him what he would do if he won the Newbery and I still remember him chuckling and saying, "Well, Kate would get the award but it would be pretty cool." I also remember him telling us (and this was WAY before I ever watched Modern Family) that he modeled Flora after Alex Dunphy (Ariel Winter).  You can definitely see the resemblance!

So this is random--(Mrs. Warland, a reliable reader of this blog, says sometimes I go on tangents.  Warning, this is one of them.)--A 5 minute video on the whole 2014 Newbery project with my then fifth graders; now MHHS juniors.  Can you spy the Floras?  The Skype picture of KG "Keith" Campbell? The cheers for Flora? Wow.  For anyone who knows these kids, a stroll down memory lane for sure. Watching it makes me miss those kids and my own students so much.

The Three Rancheros

I can't write about Kate without mentioning Raymie, Louisiana and Beverly.  I love this trilogy and I thought it just kept getting better with each book.  Read them all and let me know what you think.  I know Mrs. Dingman liked Lousiana better than Beverly. Personally, I liked Beverly better but they are all so good. 

What I'm reading constantly carries over into my life. I had a dentist appointment shortly after I read Raymie and was able to convince my dental hygienist to take a photo with me.  She didn't know what was going on but I appreciated it and you will, too, when you read the book.

Check out my resource page for way more activities to pair with Raymie.  Here's a fun crossword to whet your appetite. Thanks to Candlewick, there's a lot more where that came from. 

Hollywood

Don't forget that Kate wrote Because of Winn Dixie and The Tale of Desperaux, Newbery honor and medal winning books that were made into movies.  Read the book.  Pop the popcorn. Watch the movie. Compare. Repeat.

One last thing...

This fall, Kate was in Saratoga, just after Beverly was released.  A bunch of us went, thanks to Northshire Bookstore.  Not only did we get a still picture BUT a leaping one! It wasn't my first time leaping with Kate and I hope it isn't my last...Until then, I wish you the best staying inside as you tackle Kate DiCamillo's canyon. xo

BORN TO FLY

We don't wait very long to celebrate here at Castleton Elementary School.
14 days into the new school year and we had our first author visit on his book birthday.
Welcome back to CES, Steve Sheinkin!



Since the first day of school, we have been preparing for Steve's visit.  Between our "Born to Fly" Selfie Scavenger Hunt with Grades 4-6 to sharing and reading books from the Time Twisters series to "building" paper airplanes to writing and illustrating a Steve Sheinkin A-Z book to daily announcements, we were ready to take off when he arrived!





The visit flew by (yes, all puns intended). Steve signed books, entered the gym on our red carpet, shared stories and then enjoyed some pie and ice cream with my 6th grade Dewey Duty kids. And even though the visit is behind us now that doesn't mean we are going to stop reading Born to Fly. I'll see you at 2, Mr. Morse's class.

The rock star enters our Old Gym

We heard that Steve loves pie and cherry vanilla ice cream so that's what we had at our party.  Then the kids (thank you, Mrs. Warland for the awesome idea) wrote down ideas for names of pie that ties in airplanes, flying or pilots. Some of our favorites:

Pilot's Pie

Airpple Pie

Women's Air Derby Pumpkin Pie

Flypple Pie

Amelia's Apple Pie

Propeller Pie

 Airplane Pielots

 

Thanks Mrs. Fowler (7th Grade English) and Mrs. Squier (JR/SR HS Librarian) for stopping by!

You can't leave Castleton before you leap

PS: Want to know more about Steve's life? Check out this book we made in third grade:

 

We got close to Raina!

It was standing room only on Friday night when hundreds of kids in the 9-10 year old set piled into a church in Saratoga to see and hear Raina Telgemeier speak.  What a great presentation!

A pre-Raina selfie

Even when she was little she wrote in comics and not prose.  I love how she described exactly what a comic is:

"Pictures in sequence that tell a story."

Right.  She makes it sound so simple.  I watched my son, who at one time was a budding graphic novelist, listen to her so intently.  Yes, Jarrett. Raina. Jenni and Matt.  These are all his idols.  At least they used to be but I'm sure there is always a special place in his heart for them.  I know there is in mine.

We learned many interesting tidbits from Raina, as she patiently answered questions from a long line of fans.

When asked what she wanted to do when she grew up, she shared that in her first grade journal it said, "farmer, trapeze artist and then artist."  We're all glad the artist came true!

She highly recommends everyone read Calvin and Hobbes.  I'll have to remember that.  I think I even have a couple of books in my library that I can start recommending.

I loved this question:  Do you ever want to give up?  And Raina's answer:  "800 times a day I want to give up.  Well, maybe 759.  Then I go out and refresh my spirit...It's difficult but I still love it." Thank you, Raina, for reminding these young people (and me) about how important it is to persevere but that even when you have a job you love and it gets overwhelming and challenging and you just want to give up sometimes, that's perfectly normal.  I should take her advice and refresh more than I do....

What's your favorite book for kids?  "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.  That's my favorite book of all time."  As for books for adults, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingslover.

Sadly, we didn't get a chance to leap together.  I can imagine it might have produced a bit of an uprising from the long line of fans. Can't you just see the headline now? "Crazy Librarian Stops Everything to Leap."  I know. I know.  But what I did realize is that I would have paid a good amount of money to go to an adult event with Raina.  Maybe that is something worth looking into as a fundraiser.  Just a thought.

Our friend, CC, getting her book signed.

Agh! I wish this wasn't blurry but it is cool that they are both looking at me!

Thank you Northshire Bookstore for hosting Raina, making the event accessible for us on a Friday evening and well worth our trip up to Saratoga!  We look forward to supporting you, one of our favorite independent bookstores, again soon!

xo

And afterwards we got ice cream and made sure not to get any on our books!