MORE 'MIDDLE-SCHOOL-MONDAY' POSTS
I love advocating for books that reflect the wonderful reality that is our diverse schools and then putting those books in the hands of all students. You too? Awesome. Sometimes, in our collections, books that feature diverse characters seem to often fall under four main categories that I call the BIG FOUR: Historical Fiction, Biographies, […]
Let me ask you a question. How much—on a scale of 1 to 10—do you dread that question when the speaker / trainer / principal asks you to “say a few words about yourself” as a way of introduction? For me, it hovers around 42. Robin is that person in this story. She asked me […]
I’ve been a middle school librarian for the past 18 years. A week from Friday will be my last day. It’s kind of difficult to wrap my mind around it, but I’m actually leaving schools to be a youth services librarian in a public library. I’m really excited for this new adventure, but it is […]
So, on its release date, a copy of Rick Riordan’s new book, The Trials of Apollo showed up on my doorstep. This was weird for me, because Rick Riordan is a household name amongst my middle school students. There is no way he needs to do a blog tour to promote his next book. Students […]
Today, author Django Wexler joins us to talk about some of his middle school experiences and how he would handle the challenges his main character faces: From the point of view of my later life, two important things happened in middle school. The first was that I started playing D&D with a […]
After about 4 years of friendship on social media, I finally got to meet Victoria Schwab this weekend. I shouldn’t complain; I have a wonderful local book store which is able to attract some of the biggest and brightest stars of the writing world as well as some of the more obscure. On the other […]
It’s Friday afternoon – the last hour of the school day – and you’re about to be visited by a group of ‘too cool for school’ 8th graders, what do you do? Pull out the gruesome books; the ones whose stories will really make them squirm. First, it will hold their attention long enough to […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about Harper Lee’s masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird since news of her passing was announced. I actually read it in middle school, for my 8th grade language arts class, although I understand many people didn’t read it until high school. Well, that was the first time I read it. It […]
Regardless of the percentage of patrons you serve who happen to be of African American descent, it’s important to remember and celebrate Black History month. Unfortunately, the library might be the only place some of your middle school patrons encounter it. Fortunately, there are a number of excellent, engaging books which detail various aspects of […]
From the jacket copy: Built on an ancient mountain pass, the city is forever being invaded by one nation or another, and every new master gives it a new name. But for the natives, their home is the Nameless City, and those who try to name it are forever outsiders. Dreamy, sheltered Kaidu is one […]
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