Re-Dressing the Classics

How fortunate for me that the 2012 Kidlitosphere Conference was held here in NYC.  On the agenda for was a pre-conference trip to Penguin publishers, where we heard from the editors of the various imprints, including Viking, Dutton, Putnam's, Philomel, and Razorbill. The icing on the cake was was the presentation by Penguin's art department, where they presented the process of designing the books' jackets.  I hadn't realized that negotiating a final book cover can go through as many as 50 versions, before the team selects the "right" one?

We--librarian/bloggers--were treated to a show-and-tell of classic titles that Penguin has enticingly repackaged.  Printing classic titles is a relatively economical enterprise for publishers, on account of the texts' placement in the public domain.  At a time when such titles are widely available for free in electronic format, the publisher must come up with a design that is so irresistible that one wants to own it in its physical form.  Well, I'd say they have succeeded in making this reader covet some of them.

Here's a taste of the display (below):

Penguin Threads designed by Jillian Tamaki (some of which I featured here back in November 2011), were painstakingly embroidered by hand in prototype.

Penguin Ink (tattoo art style):

Illus.  Robert Ryan

Illus.  Jen Mumford

Clothbound childrens' classics re-outfitted by designer Coralee Bickford Smith:

The last specimens to be unveiled were the soon-to-be reissued children's classics, such as Pippi Longstocking and The Wizard of Oz, decked out in the bold signature chalkboard lettering by designer Dana Tanamachi.  You must wait to see these--

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.