Saturday, November 12, 2011

Books and Threads

Purl Soho--Emma, The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, Penguin Threads edition
Emma, jacket flap
Jane Austen, Emma
A display of books in the store windows of Purl SoHo, one of my favorite fabric and yarn shops, caught my eye as I walked by this weekend.  Apparently, Penguin books has just released three classic titles repackaged in new "Penguin Threads" editions, which, according to the website, "will appeal to the Etsy-loving world of handmade crafts." The cover designs were stitched by artist Jillian Tamaki, using needle and embroidery floss, and then reproduced in a final, embossed design. The underside of wraparound French flaps boldly and honestly reveal the underside (i.e., normally hidden side) of the stitching.


These designs connect to a genre of children's book art:  illustrations where needlework panels make up an entire picture.  A Pocketful of Posies, is an example that we recently acquired for our library.  Illustrated by Salley Mavor, this book is made up of page after delightful page of appliqued and embroidered scenes from nursery rhymes.  While researching Salley Mavor, I discovered that there currently is a traveling exhibit of the work that she made for the book.  You can learn more about Salley Mavor, her work, and her process on her Wee Folk Studio blog.
Pocketful of Posies by Salley Mavor,  Houghton Mifflin, 2011
Clare Beaton's Mother Goose Remembers is another collection of nursery rhymes, illustrated with felt, embroidery, vintage buttons, and beads.  The homespun, pastel images evoke a a cozy feeling of snuggling up to a lap reading of familiar rhymes.  
Clare Beaton, Mother Goose Remembers, Barefoot Books, 2000


Tô Ngoc Trang (illustrations), Pham Viêt Ðinh (embroidery)
Inspired by the embroideries made in the village of Quat Dong in Vietnam
Anna Grossnickle Hines, Pieces: A Year in Quilts,  Greenwillow Books, 2001
There's a huge body of children's literature around the subject of quilting.  But in Anna Grossnickle Hines' Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts, quilting is the medium for illustrating her poems on the theme of the seasons.  In the appendix, Hines describes her process of making quilts.


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Mark Aronson @ NYCSLS Fall Conference

Once again, New York City's School Library System's (NYCSLS) Office of Library Services put together a fantastic day of learning at Brooklyn Tech.  Marc Aronson, the prolific author of many original nonfiction books for young people, kicked off the 2011 NYCSLS Conference with a spectacular keynote called "The Magic Key and the Great Quest: The Many Journeys Nonfiction Books Offer Readers."  Aronson disputes the notion that fiction is for pleasure and nonfiction for information.  He even called into question the very name "nonfiction," as if it defines itself by what it is not (fiction).  In light of the demands of the new Common Core Standards, which emphasize reading informational text, Aronson asked "how can we convey the pleasures of nonfiction reading?" With nonfiction books, readers find pleasure beyond story.  A reader of nonfiction is not reading about or living through someone, s/he is someone. Librarians, he concluded, are the wizards, giving young people the key to a journey, albeit one that does not necessarily take them out of themselves.


Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert (forthcoming, August 2012) by Marc Aronson

Wall Street Journal Features our Library

Jennifer Maloney, a reporter visited our library to cover the new pilot program.  The story,

Library Links to Schools:

Books Borrowed Online Are Delivered Directly to Classrooms for the First Time appeared on Monday's edition of the Wall Street Journal.



Sunday, August 21, 2011

Library as Living Room

An article in Britain's Globe and Mail, The Library is not Just a Book Warehouse Anymore," describes the shift of a public library from a repository of books to a community hub, and with it a new role for librarians.  Diana Guinn, a public librarian from Vancouver suggests that we “think of [librarians] as knowledge and information curators – we bring together the best resources from across all dissemination platforms together for our patrons.” 

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and ActionsEnchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this up from the library after attending uber-librarian Buffy Hamilton's presentation at a tech educator's conference (video here): http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com... where she discusses the possibilities for enchantment in the library. *Enchantment* is defined here as something that "causes a voluntary change of hearts and minds...transforming situations and relationships." This is basically a business book of the "how to persuade" variety written by venture capitalist and former Apple fellow Guy Kawasaki. Particularly of interest for me is the concept of "push" and "pull" technologies, i.e., bringing your story to people, and bringing people to your story; and tidbits like "underpromise and overdeliver."



View all my reviews

Monday, July 18, 2011

PS 63 Tech Team

Technology Development with PS 63 Teachers.  We are adopting and practicing new tools to use with students, including podcasting and moviemaking, as well as developing a plan to infuse technology into all areas of the curriculum.  Sarah Benis Scheier-Dolberg, from the Urban Education Leaders Program @ Teachers College, is consulting with our team, as well as leading workshops for the whole staff.

Friday, July 1, 2011

ISTE 2011

I had the privilege of attending my first ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference in Philadelphia. Having had a few days to recuperate, I'm settling in with my notes (I used the Penultimate app on my iPad to quickly scribe my notes) for review. There were so many tools and--more important--ideas to mull over. For now, I offer a precis of the sessions I attended:

Opening keynote: Dr.



What will I take back to school in 2011-12? I recently read a piece called How To Make Planning for Next Year Fun on an edutopia blog, wherein the author suggests going through your notes and circling the items that seem like they'd be really fun. "Go with the topics that make you feel tingly," she advises.Well, I'm sure there will be no shortage of these.



June 10, 2011. Last night Mat (kindergarten teacher) and I attended Teq's (the SMART Board people) "Innovation Celebration," which showcased new products, e.g., a wheelchair-accessible SmartBoard and a SMART Table (which we have in our library). They also presented videos recognizing the achievements of schools that are using SMART and other technology devices to enhance learning. We left feeling inspired to create more interactive learning activities for our students.


The Library has been closed a lot these past weeks, causing much disappointment among the students , and I am sorry for this. However, this has been a season of rich professional development that will be, in the long run, passed on to the school community.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Day of Dialog

School Library Journal's Day of Dialog, a day-long program where librarians, publishers, and authors meet to discuss issues and trends affecting the book and library world for children and teens. It's an opportunity to preview upcoming books and pick up bagloads of advanced reading copies (I assign students to review these for purchase). Among the highlights were a panel discussion on diversity in literature; and a panel on the state of e-books for children. As well, it is a chance to circulate with other teacher-librarians in the city (and country).

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Exploratorium

New York City School Library Services Spring Conference: An Exploratorium. This event, with over 350 attendees (school librarians and teachers from all NYC boroughs), was a chance to look at students' work produced in libraries all over the city. It was set up "science-fair" style--with tabletop displays around the perimeter of a room. I presented the animoto book trailers that 4th and 5th graders have been producing. I also had a chance to walk around a get good ideas to bring back to PS 63/Neighborhood School. In addition, there were presentations from the librarians of New York Public, and a "petting zoo" of new technology including several e-readers, e.g., Kindles, iPads, Nooks, etc.