The Story Spectator
Stories are magical, for both the young and old. Here you can find book reviews for specific age groups, topics, or learning experiences. There are also booklists and lesson ideas for educators, librarians, and families.
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Sunday, February 4, 2024
Less toxic masculinity, more community support
Saturday, January 13, 2024
This Book is Banned -- a basics on censorship for children
Banned Books Week is held every September, yet in these past few years, it has become even more important to educate the public about. Celebrating the freedom to read is a cornerstone of a free community. When others dictate what is or isn’t available to read based on biased opinions, it is dangerous. I teach my older elementary school students about the history of banning books and they are continually shocked by how it starts small, but then grows to epic proportions. Student lessons on this even reach our present-day times when book bans and challenges are at the highest levels on record.
As an educator and librarian I am trained on how to select the best books for my school’s library collection. A book that I will definitely be adding and reading with students is the humorous, yet informative picture book, This Book is Banned.
From the start of the story the narrator is speaking directly to the reader, warning them that they will never make it to the end of the book because an arbitrary decision to ban the book’s topics will keep them from reaching its conclusion. Through humor, the writer demonstrates how book bans affect people’s ability to choose for themselves.
The hand-drawn illustrations by the artist, Julia Patton, are detailed and they help the information get through to the reader in a funny way. Readers will want to go back and look at the images again and discuss what they see.
I highly recommend this book for elementary students and the larger community. It sends an important message while entertaining the reader about this topic. Very rarely do picture books do this well. It would benefit the reader to supplement this book with further research into the current situation in which books are being banned, especially books by people whose perspectives are not widely shared.
Thanks to NetGalley for sharing an ARC of this book with me.
Here is an interview of the author, Raj Haldar, as he discusses what brought him to write about this topic and a video of him reading aloud the book:
Listen to and/or read NPR's All Things Considered news broadcast about This Book is Banned.
Middle grade readers can continue their study of this topic by reading the following chapter books:
Ban This Book, by Alan Gratz
Attack of the Black Rectangles, by A.S. King
What are more books that deal with censorship that you'd like to share in the comments?
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
My Top Reads of 2023
"How do you decide to what to read next?" This is a common question I get asked by my students, colleagues, even friends and family members want to know. One of my responsiblities as a school librarian is to be on-top of publishing trends, award nominees, and participate in global professional learning networks centered around literacy for young people.
Below, you will find my top reads of the year for young adults and middle grade readers. These are all books that I personally read as print books, e-books or audio books. Some were from my public and school library, some I purchased from used bookstores, garage sales and independent bookstores. In my work I get to pre-read books prior to publishing so some of these titles were read as Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) through NetGalley. I'm also in a book review group with fellow educators and school librarians from across the U.S., #BookExcursion. We receive books from publishers and authors with the intention of getting the word out about upcoming titles. Finally, in addition to these professional groups that I am a part of, I am personally a reader in over 4 book clubs.
I hope that this list below helps people who are looking for powerful books to read themselves, read with children, for a book club, read aloud for a class lesson, use with small groups, order for their children, for school libraries or even to gift to others.
Check out my list from 2022 HERE for more book ideas to use with children and young adults.
- Warrior Girl Unearthed
- Monday's Not Coming
- Like a Love Story
- Punching the Air
- Only This Beautiful Moment
- Invisible Son
- Rana Joon and the One and Only Now
- Allegedly
- Lily and the Night Creatures
- Key Player (Front Desk series #4)
- Wildoak
- Iveliz Explains it All
- On Air with Zoe Washington
- Big Tree
- The One and Only Ruby
- Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
- Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian Test
- Dust
- Skyriders
- You are Here: Connecting Flights
- OCDaniel
- Time to Roll
- Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution
- Forget Me Not
- Good Different
- Eb & Flow
- What About Will
- Closer to Nowhere
- City Spies
- Ground Zero
- Lost Kites and Other Treasures
- Mixed Up
- Green
- A Work in Progress
- Nightbooks
- The Order of Things
- The Last Cuentista
- Finally Seen
- Stuntboy: In Between Time
- Top Story (Front Desk series #5)
- Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame
- The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto
- Attack of the Black Rectangles
- The Labors of Hercules Beale
- Grounded
- The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn
- Rez Dogs
- The Lion of Mars
- Linked
- Different Kinds of Fruit
- Mihi Ever After
- Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy
- Out of My Heart
- Freewater
- The Windeby Puzzle
- Counting by 7s
- The Story of Gumluck the Wizard
- The Very Unfortunate Wish of Melony Yoshimura
- Coyote Queen
- Eli Over Easy
- Not Quite a Ghost
- Between Monsters and Marvels
- Tree. Table. Book.
- The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams
- Invisible
- My Aunt is a Monster
- White Bird
- School Trip
- Mexikid
- Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
- Two Tribes
- A First Time for Anything
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Creative ways to end the school year
- Students choose a book, either a new one or a past read that they enjoyed.
- Use a picture book to challenge students to construct an object from the story, for example, we read the new version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen:
- Put up a big Spot the Difference to complete as a class. Then challenge students to make their own and trade with one another. They can use old magazines to cut out pictures and words or use Google Slides or another digital format to make their pictures.
- Challenge students to create a BookFace photo. They will need access to a camera and book covers You can do this with book covers that are already separated from books or from the books themselves. In small groups, 3 people is usually good, students select a book cover that they can finish with their own bodies, faces, or other objects. Then students pose in a way that aligns with the book's cover art and another student takes the picture. Pictures can be edited and cropped so that only the BookFace remains. Here are some of our favorites from this past year:
- Show photos and ask students to recall those lessons. I also record or have them write down what they are interested in at the start of the school year. At the end, I share with them what they said and ask if anything has changed since then. It is so neat to hear how their interests and lives change.
- Roll videos produced by students, for example, stop motion films, book trailers, etc. After looking at some, students asked to make more next year and for specific events, like, Talk Like a Pirate Day. We even made several of our own as a class on our last library day!
- Have students rank their top reads of the year. Our library management system allows them to see their circulation history, so students were able to rank their favorite books they checked out.
- Share with students special days, holidays, or hide them in plastic eggs around the room. (I got the list from LM_NET and had to cut some out due to the age of my students.) Students select one to learn more about and then share with their classmates what they learned. You can have them write it on a sticky note, make a poster, or a digital copy.
- Survey students about their opinions about the library program or your classroom. I've had students use devices to fill out Google Forms and I've had them write their ideas on paper posted around the room. This helps to shape the next year and gives students a voice:
- Peep Knock-out: you take turns with a partner trying to knock a Peep off of the side of a table using only a plastic egg that you roll. I heard about this game from a librarian colleague of mine and was waiting to play it on a special occasion. My 1st graders played the game and then we came together to critique it and adjust the rules for playing it again in the future.
- "Water Balloon Battle" or "________ Battle": You take turns launching a balloon on paper towards your opponents figures, also drawn on paper. Your eyes are closed when launching and if you hit the figure then you succeed. I first saw this on a fellow librarian's Twitter account and had my students play it, they loved it! They also had fantastic ideas for adjustments.
- Follow the directions below for the rules to the tabletop game:
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Who protects nature? Legends of Lotus Island, a new middle grade series
"I'd never known my parents. I was just a baby when a storm capsized their boat on the open sea." - Plum
Monday, April 17, 2023
Understanding the misunderstood worm
Spring is in full force and as people tend to their gardens, one animal that inevitably pops up is the worm. Love them or hate them, they are here to help the earth in many ways. As a teacher, parent and librarian, I seek out picture books to help young people understand the why behind creatures in nature so Marie Boyd's debut story, Just a Worm, does exactly that! Other than the sweet story of a worm, Boyd also has illustrated the book with an artistic paper cut technique called, quilling. You can learn more about her craft on her website where she has a tutorial on how to make a snail! I am excited to share this with my students and daughter.
I had some questions for Marie Boyd regarding her book, its topic, her inspiration and other topics. Here are her responses:
1. Why did you decide to write about a worm of all creatures?
Hi Fallon, Thanks so much for having me on The Story Spectator! I’m excited to be here. I decided to write about a worm because when my son was younger, I often told him “It’s just a worm” when he saw worms on the sidewalk. One day I started thinking about how a worm might respond if it could understand my words. That question led to my debut picture book Just a Worm.
2. What do you hope readers will gain after reading your book?
In Just a Worm, after being called “just a worm” by two children, Worm embarks on a journey through the garden to prove them wrong. Along the way, Worm encounters several insects and other creatures, each of which has important qualities. But what can Worm do? I wrote Just a Worm for everyone who has ever compared themselves to others and felt that they have fallen short. I hope that Just a Worm will encourage readers to consider the special ways that they contribute to their families and communities.
3. How did you get into quilling?
I learned about quilling by chance. I was at a craft store buying fabric when I came across some quilling supplies. I didn’t know what quilling was, so I looked it up on my phone. I was intrigued by what I saw and bought the supplies. I started quilling cards for my family and friends and quickly fell in love with quilling. I had a lot of paper that I had collected over the years for various craft projects so eventually I began cutting my own quilling strips. That opened so many new creative possibilities, and eventually led to me using quilled paper to illustrate Just a Worm.
4. What came first, the words or the illustrations?
The story started with the phrase, “it’s just a worm,” but when I thought about what Worm’s garden would look like I imagined it quilled.
5. Do you have a special experience or memory with gardens?
I have so many special memories with gardens and the illustrations in Just a Worm draw on some of those memories. As a child, I often helped my parents in the yard and many of the plants in Just a Worm are inspired by plants from their garden. I love gardens so much that I got married in a garden.
6. What advice do you have for people who think worms are gross?
Worms play an important role as decomposers and it is possible to appreciate worms and what they do from a distance.
Thanks again for hosting me and allowing me to share a bit about Just a Worm. If your readers are interested in learning more about how I illustrated Just a Worm, I share quilled crafts and more on my website at www.marieboyd.com. Happy reading!
Less toxic masculinity, more community support
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