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From: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and Children"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
To: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and Children" <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 11:01 PM
Subject: PUBYAC digest 704
PUBYAC Digest 704
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) LOTR responses
by "Baraboo Children's Dept." <barch@scls.lib.wi.us>
2) Book Discussion Group Help--Compilation
by "Christi Miller" <cmiller@acpl.lib.in.us>
3) RE: Horrakapotchkin!
by Pam Gravenor <pam.gravenor@ncc.govt.nz>
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From: "Baraboo Children's Dept." <barch@scls.lib.wi.us>
To: PUBYAC@prairienet.org
Subject: LOTR responses
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Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 19:24:47 CST
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We received several requests to share any Lord of the Ring responses. We
received a few ideas which are posted here. There is still a lot of
interest if others have specific plans. We may be looking at one event
that includes LOTR and other SF/fantasy, but not any extensive programming
on the theme. Will let you know what happens as teens work on their plans.
Responses:
Most of the LotR games are set up so that you earn points to achieve or to
reach the various resting places the Fellowship reaches in the first book.
You could divide your summer program into those sections and have some
reading goal to be reached. Logical divisions are Buckland, Tom Bombadil's
House, Bree, Rivendell and Lothlorien.
Special challenges or events could be offered that would correspond to each
- 'shortcuts to finding a good book' on the way to Buckland, 'reading where
ever you find yourself, even if under an evil willow tree' on the way to
Tom's, a musical event set during the week of the Bree division....
This is an idea that we never got off the ground for Teen Read Week
because I had it too late. Have a Hobbit Tavern Filk Sing. Filk songs (for
those who weren't SF convention goers in their misguided youth) are take
off songs often based on SF or Fantasy books or characters sung to a folk
or other popular song tune. Think of them as another type of song like
those storytime ditties sung to teinkle twinkle little star or brother
John.
Basically what you would need to do is find someone who plays
guitar,
the sheet music to the original tunes and lyrics that I would suggest
printing out. There are a number of sites on the web just stick "filk
songs" into a search engine. Part of my reasoning for handing out lyrics
is that because many of these can have questionalbe lyrics depending on
your age group. Serve Root beer and regular cider in place of their
"hard"
cousins and some munchies. There are quite a few songs with a Tolkien
basis.
We did a couple of programs for last year's Teen Read
Week (Make Reading a Hobbit-ALA) that were based on
The Lord of the Rings.
We did a LOTR/Hobbit scavenger hunt- we made up clues
in rhyme with 2 sections. The first section was a
clue that was an object, book or whatever (Ex. "I am
always in the sky, but you can't always see me.
Sometimes by day, but mostly at night. What am I? A.
The moon.) The teen has to answer the first section
to answer the second section (Ex. What is the call
number for the above answer [Moon]? Go to the area
where books on it are located) Once the teen has
answered the second section- this will direct him/her
to where the next clue is located.
The teens were placed on teams. The team with the
most correct answers, and the shortest amount of time
(to answer the questions) wins.
We also had a LOTR/Hobbit art conest. The teens could
turn in an art piece, using any medium (except
perishable. The subject had to be related to the LOTR
or the Hobbit, it could be a character, a scene from
one of the books, whatever.
These programs were quite sucessful for us. Maybe you
could use this for a summer program.
I think the Lord of the Rings could be a very
successful summer reading theme. We used this theme
for our fall programming last year to tie in with the
teen read week theme of 'make reading a hobbit' and to
take advantage of the free publicity of the movie
coming out [wasn't that movie excellent?!]. I designed
a scavenger hunt and an art contest which was then
implemented throughout our system. We did the
scavenger hunt at two different branches and accepted
art entries from all locations. We then did an art
show and awards ceremony at our brand new branch
(opened Sept. 1). It really worked out quite well.
For the scavenger hunt the teens had to first solve a
riddle whose answer lead them to the next location in
the library where they found the next riddle. We used
a few made up riddles that we found on a riddle site
(can't remember which just do a google search for
riddles), but we also used the most of the riddles
that Bilbo and Gollum exchange in 'The Hobbit' as well
as the riddle Harry must solve in the maze in 'Goblet
of Fire'.
The scavenger hunt especially was a great success. We
managed to get around 25 teens (mostly 13-15 years
old) at my branch even though we were competing with a
last minute dance at the middle school. All of the
teens who came have been begging us to do another one
and one local school seems to have gotten wind of it
and has asked us to reproduce the program at their
media center.
Because we used this theme last fall, we won't use it
again this summer (repetition and teens is a fatal
combination). We are leaning toward a 'patriotic'
theme this year.
Still if we hadn't used it so recently, I think it
would be an excellent theme to use.
Youth Services Staff
Baraboo Public Library
230 4th Ave., Baraboo WI 53913
Phone: 608-356-6166 FAX: 608-355-2779
barch@scls.lib.wi.us
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From: "Christi Miller" <cmiller@acpl.lib.in.us>
To: <PUBYAC@prairienet.org>
Subject: Book Discussion Group Help--Compilation
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Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 19:24:53 CST
Thank you to everybody who responded to my plea for advice about Father/Son=
and Mother/Daughter book discussion groups. I have decided to forge
=
ahead with the groups and am calling them "Guys Read" and "Girls
Read." =
In the program descriptions, I invite boys to bring a favorite grown-up =
guy and girls to bring a favorite female grown-up--a little awkward, but =
somehow everything else seemed even worse.
Below is a compilation of responses to my query:
Christi Miller
Dupont Branch
Allen County Public Library
***************************************************************************=
*******************************
I have been leading a Mother Daughter bookgroup for about 6 months. It has
been such a joy to get to know the girls and the mothers. I would love to =
do
a Father/son group too but like you I think that a male should lead it.
Maybe if you have an organizing meeting the dads themselves would be =
willing
to take turns leading it. I know that a couple of my moms would be open to
that. I don't think I personally would ever try a mixed gender group =
simply
because of the distractions of hormones. Also I don't know how open the =
kids
would be about how they felt about things. I don't know it could get
interesting too huh? Anyway I just wanted you to know that I have enjoyed
every meeting we have had, even when no one likes the book!!
***************************************************************************=
******************************
You've inspired me to start one. I have a feeling that there=20
couldn't be any reasonable objections to having it limited=20
to one gender-since you offer a mother/daughter one also. =20
I also think as mediator, your gender wouldn't be an issue. =20
If it were for older groups(say, preteen or teen), a woman mediator =
might=20
not get as much dialogue out of the group.
***************************************************************************=
*************************
How about Guys night and Gals night for the different groups. It is
an
easy way to get across the idea that you want of older role models of the
same gender. I haven't done this (yet, it is one of the ideas that is
floating around in my head) but if you want a guy to lead you could try
snagging a male friend or relative of your own or maybe an interested
library patron. You could do a short survey to see if people would like an
inclusive group or start with the two and at some point use the same book
and try getting them together and see how it works.
***************************************************************************=
********************************
Hi- I saw your listing on PUBYAC about a father/son book group. We =
have=20
been doing one since Sept. We call it "Guys Read" (very
creative) and =
I=20
used, at least for the first mtg., a lot of the info from the web site. =
=20
My library is small- we serve a community of 14000+ and have a low turn=20
out for the sessions. The children who do come (I'm talking about 5 or=20
6 families are a big mtg.) are K-2nd grade and it has turned into a=20
storytime rather than a true book discussion. I don't run it- I just=20
help with the planning. It is another woman who meets with the=20
families. I didn't want to have a gender specific group- but the other=20
woman did, so I let her have it. She really likes it (they meet once a=20
month)and she lets the children/fathers decide what the next month's=20
discussion will be- we've had science, humor/poetry, dinosaurs, etc. =20
They seem to be more interested in non-fic than fiction but that could=20
be the age group. She refused to give it up & that's fine with me.
We=20
even had a newspaper do an article on it but it didn't drum up any new=20
participants. So maybe the gender thing is an issue. In this
suburb=20
community, the children are borderline overscheduled so most school age=20
programs (except the summer events) aren't well attended. Hope that=20
this info helps- Good luck!
***************************************************************************=
*****************************************************************
There's a UK journal called "Books for Keeps" that tells about a few =
sessions that have been run called "Dads and Lads". There are is a
useful =
article in the most recent edition if you can get hold of it.
***************************************************************************=
****************************************************************
I have led a mother-daughter book club for 3 years. Over those 3 years=20
I have had 2 people ask if there would be a father-son book club. This=20
past January I told our mother-daughter group that since the girls were=20
getting older, I needed to start another group targeting younger (9-12)=20
girls , and I felt I would make it a Parent-child book club. Universal=20
negative reaction from the group! The moms felt it was very important=20
for the girls to have a place just for them. Citing research about=20
girls in girls-only settings allowing them to be freer to be themselves,=20=
etc. Soooooo, time will not allow me to lead more groups! I told =
those=20
who asked for father-son that if I have a man who would like to lead =
it,=20
I'd be happy to set it up. So far, no takers. I have not put a lot
of=20
time into pursuing this, I admit. =20
When I advertise the Mother-Daughter book clubs - in the "small print"
=
I=20
say "All girls 9 and up and their mother/grandmother/aunt are invited). =
=20
I had a grandmother come once when a mother couldn't attend. I had a=20
dad request to come once so of course I said yes, but he never came. =
I'm=20
sure we would get used to it, not a big deal. =20
***************************************************************************=
***********************
As a long-term single foster parent, I wanted to remind you how hurtful it
is for kids whose parents have failed them to have parent words used in
program titles (not just in libraries, but for school father/daughter
dances, etc.). In some cases, it probably can't be avoided, but maybe for
book groups it could. The handy "Guys Read" phrase is, I'm sure,
borrowable, and it could be billed this way: "Guys ages __ to __ are
invited to bring along their favorite grownup guy on March __ at __
p.m." A similar program at our library was called "Pizza, Pops,
and
Paperbacks." Why not make it easier for kids who don't have the right
gender parent available, or who prefer a stepparent over a biological one,
or whose parent works the wrong shift to accommodate the program?
***************************************************************************=
*******************************
Good points. Many children live in non-traditional settings.
***************************************************************************=
*******************************
Our book club is called "Generations Book Club" and we currently have
one
mother/son and three mother/daughters. I personally would prefer to do a
same sex book club for some of the reasons mentioned previously, but my
system vetoed the idea. This is working out, but it does color my book
selection. The young people are from 11-14. We primarily discuss
young
adult fiction books.
***************************************************************************=
*********************************
It's not just invitations that can cause a problem. As a military=20
wife and mother (and daughter) it was bad at the civilian schools to=20
have to explain that there really was a daddy in the family he just=20
was away in Sadahheap, or Sinop, or Agana or Brindisi and I'll never=20
forget how much she cried after my granddaughter was forced to=20
explain to her second grade class that her dad had committed suicide=20
when the teacher insisted that she make a present for Father's Day.
------------------------------
From: Pam Gravenor <pam.gravenor@ncc.govt.nz>
To: "'pubyac@prairienet.org'"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: RE: Horrakapotchkin!
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Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 22:36:49 CST
No, it's a Mahy-ism. I was quite impressed when I saw you using it, mind
you! We don't use it here.
Pam Gravenor
Children's and Young Adults' Librarian
Nelson Public Library
Private Bag 41
Nelson
New Zealand
pam.gravenor@ncc.govt.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Dailey [mailto:obldailey@wellscolibrary.org]
Sent: Friday, 8 March 2002 2:21 p.m.
To: PUBYAC
Subject: Horrakapotchkin!
To the Yaccer's who are enjoying summer now,
I've read the word "Horrakapotchkin" in several of Margaret Mahy's
books.
Is this a common expression in New Zealand? If so, what does it mean?
(I
can probably guess from the context, but...)
Just curious,
Susan Dailey
librarian and author of A Storytime Year (www.susanmdailey.com)
Ossian Branch Library, Ossian, Indiana
219-622-4691
<mailto:obldailey@wellscolibrary.org>
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End of PUBYAC Digest 704
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