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From: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults
& Children" <pubyac@prairienet.org>
To: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults & Children"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 00:01:07 CDT
Subject: PUBYAC digest 112
PUBYAC Digest 112
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Re: YA lit question
by "Grace Slaughter" <gslaughter@bham.lib.al.us>
2) RE: local book award
by Pam Gravenor <pam.gravenor@ncc.govt.nz>
3) Re: Scavenger hunt
by ssteed@parracity.nsw.gov.au
4) Re: Sustained Silent Reading
by "Jeanne Schmitzer" <jeannes@usit.net>
5) Re: filtering?
by Ian McKinney <ianmck@tcpl.lib.in.us>
6) stumper
by Kate Carter <katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us>
7) Stumper solved---Teen reads Odyssey
by "Deirdre Miller" <dlmm34@hotmail.com>
8) penpal stumper solved!
by "Ruhama J. Kordatzky" <rkordatz@burlington.lib.wi.us>
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From: "Grace Slaughter" <gslaughter@bham.lib.al.us>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Re: YA lit question
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 09:50:18 CDT
What is your criteria for "Classic"? or Are you actually looking for
complementary books for your "Required Reading" list? Do you have a
short
list? Long? or a basic core list with a lot of genre variety? What are the
titles that you would like help on first?
Does your teacher want titles with a certain # of pages? a certain reading
level range?
What themes are you most interested in? Some reference tools like *What do
Children read next* and *What do Young Adults read next* have a subject index
that would identify some books.
...just your basic reference interview...There is so much information out
there, I, at least, need help in pinpointing the kind and amount of
information you really need.
grace
Naughyde@aol.com wrote:
> From: "Aline Riddle" <ariddlehspva@hotmail.com>
> I am working with on of my English teachers on a project for next
> school year. We would like to provide some options for his students by
> preparing a list of classic literature and young adult titles with similar
> themes.
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From: Pam Gravenor <pam.gravenor@ncc.govt.nz>
To: "'pubyac@prairienet.org'" <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: RE: local book award
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 09:54:30 CDT
Hi Beverly
We ran our first Kids Only Book Awards this summer. The idea was to
promote summer reading, without creating a lot of extra work or expense.
And also, it was a chance for kids to vote for a shortlist - they only get
to vote on an adult-selected list here once a year. I think it succeeded
quite well. As the shortlist was out of our control, we were promoting the
good with the bad, and the well known with the less well known, but I think
that worked as well, attracting all sorts of kids.
We had 2 rounds of voting, the first for a shortlist, the second for
winners. Age groups for fiction were up to 10, and 11 to 13. We didn't
bother splitting the non-fiction into ages. We allowed about 1 month for
first votes, and 6-8 weeks for the second vote.
We suggested kids vote for a specific title in a series, but that didn't
work, so our shortlist for fiction ended up as series and authors, rather
than specific titles (which made it easy to supply the books, of course).
There was so much overlap between age groups too, that we had one fiction
shortlist of 6 series/authors, and we counted votes by age so we could
determine 2 winners. Of course, as Harry Potter won both sections, that
didn't matter in the end.
We put out bookmarks promoting the awards and the shortlisted books, and had
displays of author info. and the books too.
The most common question from the kids was 'what do I win?'. (the answer was
'It's for fun') We didn't advertise a lucky prize but we did do one in the
end.
After winners were established, we put out another edition of the bookmarks,
with the winners. We are still using those as general promotion. (The one
with Harry Potter read-alikes goes very well)
I also wrote to the winning publishers - and, wonderfully, I got a
hand-written reply from J K. Rowling in response!!! Very exciting and
unexpected. And, that got me the lead story in the newspaper, which was nice
publicity.
I recommend it - it worked well for us. I think we will do it again next
year.
Pam Gravenor
Children's and Young Person's Librarian
Nelson Public Library
Private Bag 41
NELSON
New Zealand
pam.gravenor@ncc.govt.nz
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From: ssteed@parracity.nsw.gov.au
To: PUBYAC@prairienet.org
Subject: Re: Scavenger hunt
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 09:55:38 CDT
Anne,
I have recently used 2 versions of a scavenger hunt with school groups visiting
the library.
Version 1 is a handout with specific call numbers of books in the reference
section. Students need to find the book that matches the call number, then
answer the matching question (quick reference type questions are used). This
introduces the students to the different types of resources available -
biographical dictionaries, almanacs, yearbooks and so on - and gives them
practice using the indexes, contents etc.
Version 2 is an alphabetical scavenger hunt and is more suitable for younger
children. The letters of the alphabet are listed and students are asked to
explore the library and note down as many things as they can for each letter -
issues desk, newspapers, children's section, internet etc. A combined third and
fourth grade group I used this with did a great job, and came up with multiple
items for almost every letter! A slightly different angle on this could also be
to get the children to find an author whose name matches each letter of the
alphabet.
Version 1 took a bit of time to create, but both are very useful and fun.
Sarah Steed
Children's & Youth' Services Librarian
Parramatta City Library
Sydney, Australia
ssteed@parracity.nsw.gov.au
>Folks, I thought I'd saved ideas for a library scavenger hunt but can't
>find them in my usual "hiding" places in my computer. Can anyone
share any
>unique or their own ideas? Thank you all very much. Anne Hall
Visit our Web Site : http://www.ParraCity.nsw.gov.au
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From: "Jeanne Schmitzer" <jeannes@usit.net>
To: <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: Re: Sustained Silent Reading
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 09:56:47 CDT
Sustained silent reading sounds really interesting. I've never heard of it.
Can someone explain to me what it is, and how to get it started?
Jeanne
Putnam County Library
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From: Ian McKinney <ianmck@tcpl.lib.in.us>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Re: filtering?
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 09:57:59 CDT
Chuck,
My library doesn't filter either, but we do proactively select search tools
(and other types of sites) in the Youth Department. Certainly a parent
more familiar with Yahoo or Altavista can still opt to use those tools with
their child, but in a situation similar to the one you have described, my
response would be to demonstrate what safeguards we do have in place--i.e.
that if you click the "Search the Internet" button on the Youth Dept.
homepage (see web address in signature), you get a list of several search
tools that are designed specifically with kids in mind, and here, watch,
when I type "Britney Spears" into Yahooligans, the sites returned
contain
appropriate information.
I agree with you that there don't seem to be any solutions without major
problems, and I go back and forth on which set of problems I'd rather have
. . . but here's my main complaint/hope: Filtering software is so new that
it can't be very good yet! When will we see improvements?!
--Ian
At 04:11 PM 3/23/00 CST, Chuck wrote:
>Had a father in last night who came very close to having a major
>coronary right in front of me; he was in with his 10? year old daughter
>who's a Britney Spears fan and she wanted to find some web sites on her
>hero. A LOT of the sites listed were very questionable in nature
>including a few purporting to offer graphic scenes of Ms. Spears being
>violated in exotic ways. Needless to say he got his daughter away from
>the screen faster than the speed of light, after which he came over to
>engage in dialogue with me about his degree of unhappiness with this
>situation and his disbelief that kids all across the country are
>inadvertantly stumbling across this kind of putrescence. When I saw
>what he was stressed about I was a pretty unhappy camper myself; I
>explained to him that we strongly encourage parents to use the web with
>their kids for reasons just such as this, and that we did not offer
>filters because there was so much that they would miss etc. Because I
>was able to sound genuinely sympathetic to his concerns he committed no
>acts of violence upon my person, but he's never going to feel safe
>sending his daughter in our direction alone again, and I feel as though
>our good name has again been besmirched by the kind of moral eunuchs who
>attempt this kind of profiteering and place their blandishments
>deliberately in view of children on the computers we make available. I
>KNOW - filters would bring with them a whole new host of problems, but
>sometimes I surely do wonder whether they could be any worse than the
>ones we encounter under our current "Let the user beware no matter how
>young they are " system. You may not agree with the solutions proposed
>by folks who want us to do something to make web use safer, but at
>least aknowledge that they often have very legitimate reasons for having
>the kind of high blood pressure that they are wont to display. Strikes
>me as sadly curious that you can't legally use verbal obscenitys in
>public in the presence of children (at least in our state) but that you
>can be vile as can be on the public forum of the web without fear of
>legal consequences.
Ian McKinney Tippecanoe County Public Library
Youth Services Librarian 627 South Street
(765) 429-0121 Lafayette, Indiana 47901-1470
ianmck@tcpl.lib.in.us
http://www.tcpl.lib.in.us/youth/
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From: Kate Carter <katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us>
To: PUBYAC@prairienet.org
Subject: stumper
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 10:15:27 CDT
Is anyone familiar with this story--a never ending tree into which a bird
flies. Three children follow and have adventures on different levels of
the tree. The patron remembers her 3rd grade teacher reading the book, so
the book was written prior to 1990 and it would be j fiction. The patron
would like to find the book because her teacher never finished reading it
and she would like to know what happened! The patron and I would really
appreciate your help. TIA.
Kate Carter, Youth Librarian
Multnomah County Library
801 SW 10th (503)248-5235
Portland, OR 97205 katec@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us
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From: "Deirdre Miller" <dlmm34@hotmail.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Stumper solved---Teen reads Odyssey
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 10:17:15 CDT
Thanks to all who responded so quickly! The teen novel about a girl who
has to read Homer's Odyssey and finds it relates to her own family life,
seems to be _Absolutely Normal Chaos_ by Sharon Creech.
Special thanks to Carla Kozak, Patricia Kelley, and Joanne Ferguson
Cavanaugh for providing the correct title.
Deirdre Miller
YA Librarian, KCLS, WA
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From: "Ruhama J. Kordatzky" <rkordatz@burlington.lib.wi.us>
To: "'pubyac@prairienet.org'" <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: penpal stumper solved!
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 10:18:24 CDT
Thank you to all who helped my stumper--
For those still wondering, the book I asked about was Putting on an Act by
Christi Killien.
:) ruhama
Ruhama Kordatzky
Youth Services Librarian
Burlington Public Library
Burlington, WI
rkordatz@burlington.lib.wi.us
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End of PUBYAC Digest 112
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