Monthly Archives: December 2023

We All Belong in Our Family Book Club

A collaboration between our school’s principal intern and I, we created a Family Book Club, which focuses on our school community’s diversity, and each month, we read aloud books, lead a book discussion, and related book activities to build relationships. The purpose of the Family Book Club is to celebrate our diversity and to build relationships among the families in our school community.  Our school’s slogan is “We All Belong” and we truly mean it, and hope that our efforts help both our students and their families experience this authentically. 

In September, Hispanic Heritage Month, we chose books that focused our our diverse cultures, and read these three picture books:

  • All are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman
  • Lunch from Home by Joshua David Stein and illustrated by Jing Li
  • Spanish is the Language of my Family by Michael Genhart and illustrated by John Parra

All are Welcome “is a picture book about a school where diversity and inclusion are celebrated.” In Lunch from Home, “four students stand out with their homemade, culturally-specific lunches in a classroom of sandwiches.” Spanish is the Language of my Family “is an intergenerational story of family ties, cultural pride, and spelling bee victory following a young boy who bonds with his beloved abuela over a love of Spanish.”

Link to our September Family Book Club presentation.

In November, we had two Family Book Club meetings – in early November, we shared books around Diwali, Hindu holiday known as The Festival of Lights. Three of my colleagues who celebrate Diwali dressed in clothing from their culture, and shared their family traditions. Our read aloud selections included two picture books:

  • Shubh Diwali! written by Chitra Soundar and illustrated by Charlene Chua 
  • Archie Celebrates Diwali! written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths and illustrated by Parwinder Singh 

 We had also given families the option to read and discuss Odder by Katherine Applegate.

Shubh Diwali! is a sweet book about the excitement of The Festival of Lights from the perspective of a child. Archie Celebrates Diwali! ”Archana loves her family’s annual Diwali (deh-vah-lee) party, and this year she gets to share it with all her friends from school.” Odder is a touching and lyrical tale about a remarkable sea otter, and a wonderful introduction to marine life rehabilitation.

Link to our November 8th Family Book Club presentation.

Our third Family Book Club was held at the end of November and focused on both Native American Heritage Month and gratitude. We read We are Grateful: Otsaleheliga written by Traci Sorell and illustrated by Frané Lessac and The Thank You Book written and illustrated by Todd Parr.

The Thankful Book celebrates all the little things children can give thanks for in their lives.
In We are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, the Cherokee community is grateful for blessings and challenges that each season brings. 

Link to our November 29th Family Book Club presentation.

Our last Family Book Club meeting focused on celebrating differences and the winter holidays of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.   The books I chose to share were:

  • Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You written by Sonia Sotomayor and illustrated by Rafael López
  • Caleb’s Hanukkah written by Lisa Bullard and illustrated by Constanza Basaluzzo
  • Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh written and illustrated by Mo Willems
  • Seven Candles of Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Just Ask! is a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique. In Caleb’s Hanukkah, he describes all the things that make the holiday special for his family. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh is a fun and silly story about Pigeon, and Seven Candles for Kwanzaa is a beautifully written and illustrated book that “describes the origins and practices of Kwanzaa, the seven-day festival during which people of African descent rejoice in their ancestral values.”

Link to our December Family Book Club presentation.

While the kids had fun calling back “No, Pigeon!” as I read the story, in retrospect, I wish I had chosen Christmas book that focused on the true meaning of Christmas, such as Season of Light by Jess Redman and illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki, The Christmas Blessing written by Erin Guendelsberger and illustrated by Gail Yerrill, or The First Christmas by Will Moses.

During the meeting we discussed how in each of these winter holidays, Hanukkah, Christmas,and Kwanzaa (and Diwali as well) candles were of great importance, and each represented light over darkness. Diwali includes oil lamps called diyas, Hanukkah, the menorah, Christmas, the advent wreath, and Kwanzaa, the kinara.

We will continue our Family Book Club with once a month meetings in the new year, January through May, with hopes that our families will continue to find the meetings meaningful. Look for a year-end post about the remainder of the school year in June!

An Elementary School Librarian’s Book Selection Process

This is the third blog post in a series about library book selection in Maryland (originally published on the Maryland Association of School Librarians blog on December 27, 2023).

In earlier posts you read about processes for evaluating and selecting books from high school librarian Brittany Tignor, and former middle school librarian Dr. Jennifer Sturge, who is now a school library coordinator in her county school system.  While each of our Maryland school systems has a slightly different book evaluation and selection process, our ultimate goal is the same: to curate a library collection of quality books that encourage our students to read. 

This post will be about an elementary school librarian’s process for selecting books for her school library collection. My name is Melissa King, and I am an elementary school librarian in Montgomery County Public Schools.  In our school system of 211 schools (and counting!) we have a well-honed process for reviewing and selecting books for our diverse school communities and school libraries. Every school library media specialist in MCPS is part of the evaluation and selection process.

It is extremely important for me to include books that reflect my students and also shed light on different perspectives.  Ohio State University professor, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, in her article, “Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors”, stated, “Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror.” 

This means that I want to have books in my library that students can see themselves in, books that they can learn about people different from them, and also have books where they can immerse themselves into the story. It means that I make thoughtful consideration of books that I include in my library collection.

There’s many steps that go into developing a library collection. Just as Jen mentioned in her blog post, I also believe it is both an art and a science. One way that I identify books that I would like to add to my school library collection is by following fellow school librarians, as well as authors and illustrators on social media. I use social media as a professional learning network, and read about newly published titles online.  Additional ways in which to learn about new book titles is to read professional review publications such as Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Booklist Online, and Publishers Weekly. I utilize TeachingBooks, a helpful online resource that my county school system purchases. Follett Destiny, our online library catalog system, provides a variety of book and library resources, including Titlewave professionally curated content, and TitleWise collection analysis.  Lastly, I seek, and receive, book recommendations from my colleagues and requests from students, who are ready to share their thoughts about topics and favorite authors.

For a book to be added to an MCPS school library collection, it goes through a formal evaluation and selection process. MCPS Regulation IIB-RA, Evaluation and Selection of Instructional Materials and Library Books guides my evaluation.

When I evaluate a book, I look at the entire book, from cover to cover, including the end papers, illustrations, photographs, author’s notes, and backmatter. I review the grammar, spelling, and all the text details of the book.  With nonfiction books, I review the diagrams, captions, author’s notes, bibliography, and glossary.  

When I am evaluating a book, I am looking to see if it will expand my students’ knowledge and help them learn about something new.  I analyze my collection using the tools available in our online library catalog, and search for books to fill in where the selection is dated or limited.

Fiction chapter books are available in many genres, including realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy fiction, mystery, and adventure. They are also available in different formats, including graphic novels, novels in verse, and illustrated novels. It is important to have a wide variety of genres to allow for student choice. Many of my students love book series, so I work to have a complete set of their favorites as well.  

When evaluating fiction titles with illustrations (such as graphic novels and illustrated novels) and picture books, I look for diversity in the topic, theme, setting, and the characters. My students love to laugh, to dream, to empathize, to explore, to learn – so it is important to add books to my collection that encompass all of these.

I look at the publisher’s suggested age of the reader.  I want to have a variety of reading levels from beginner to more advanced, so our fiction chapter book and middle grade section meets the needs of all readers in my school.

Once I have completed my evaluation, I share it, and the book, with a second school librarian in our county, so that they can give their input.  The MCPS guidelines require each library book to have been evaluated by two educators, with at least one being an Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) certified school library media specialist. 

After the evaluation has been submitted into our Database of Accountable Evaluations and been verified, the information is sent to our cataloger, who creates a MARC record so that we can add the book to our school collections (a MARC record is a MA chine-Readable Cataloging record).

“I believe library collection development is both an art and a science.”

-Melissa A. King, MLS

Once that step is complete, then my school’s media assistant or I add the book into our school’s Destiny online library database using the ISBN number to identify the book and its MARC record. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique for each book title and type (hardcover, paperback, digital, etc). We place a sticker with our catalog barcode number to identify the specific copy, a spine label with its shelf address, and often, a spine label genre sticker.  If it is a hardcover book with a dust cover, we also place a plastic cover over it to protect it.  For paperbacks, we will also reinforce the spine and binding by placing book tape over the book spine.

Once the processing is complete, then the book is placed on display in my library with a “New Book – Check it Out” bookmark to call students’ attention to it. I also “book talk” new books, or read the first page of the first chapter – I call it a “First Page Read Aloud” to introduce them to the book, and pique their interest. I also have two larger bulletin boards in the hallway outside of the library where I regularly spotlight books and reading.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my article, I believe library collection development is both an art and a science. The goal of which is to watch a student come into my library, find that perfect book, and to see their face light up with a big smile, hugging their book as they come up to the counter to check it out.  And if I am lucky, I will see them come the next day (or soon after) to return it, and to find another book in the collection that makes them smile again.

I believe that S. R. Ranganathan, who proposed The 5 Laws of Library Science in the 1920s, would be thrilled to know that 100 years later, our evaluation and selection processes helps our school libraries grow like living organisms, that we absolutely know books are for use, and that our book talks and displays of books help every reader find his or her book –  and finally, that every book has its reader.

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