CEO, 072110

Children’s Event Organizer
Lakeshores Library System and
Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System
Youth Services Update
Issue 345; July 21, 2010
http://www.llsmwflschildrens.blogspot.com

In this issue:
Ruhama’s Reviews
Design Squad’s Trash to Treasure Competition
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read
Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival
Boosting Family Involvement through Better Policy Report
Dates to Remember
Website Faves
And Finally......


RUHAMA’S REVIEW

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
http://tinyurl.com/39v3jcv

Told from two different perspectives, this is a story of immigrants from Mexico, half of which are illegal, and a Yankee farm family. Tyler lives on a dairy farm in Vermont, and they need help. His grandfather recently died, his father had a farming accident and his older brother is leaving for college. This leads to hiring Mari and her family, and thus begins a tale of friendship, freedom and understanding. Tyler and Mari are in school together, and discover they both enjoy stargazing, which often saves their friendship throughout the tumultuous events in the narrative. As the year progresses, Tyler learns more about Mexican culture, just as Mari learns more about life in Vermont. They both learn more about deportation, ICE and coyotes. A subplot throughout is the disappearance of Mari's mother, which gives Tyler a chance to be a hero.

Overall, this book was disappointing. I enjoyed Tyler's growth through the year, especially his struggle with being friends with an illegal alien. I also appreciated the overall struggle of following the law, but also recognizing many of the people affected by the law aren't criminal or in the United States with evil intent. The topic is unique and can spur discussion, especially as both sides of the story unfold. The format, however, is one of the weaknesses. Switching from third to first person was awkward, especially as how the story was told didn't change. Having Mari as an omniscient narrator was jarring, and some of her story feels forced as Alvarez squeezes information into letters just to keep the story moving. The use of Spanish (and the italics to indicate it) was also inconsistent and some of the translating felt weird. And the subplot of actually finding Mari's mother felt like it was resolved with too many gimmicks and was hurried.


DESIGN SQUAD’S TRASH TO TREASURE COMPETITION

Design Squad, the PBS engineering reality competition series, is offering kids a chance to get in on the action this summer. Complement your library's summer outreach efforts and increase the chances of someone from YOUR community appearing on the next season of Design Squad by encouraging kids to enter.

The 2010 Trash to Treasure Competition challenges kids, ages 5-19, to recycle, reuse, and re-engineer everyday materials into out-of-the-box inventions. Three winners will win a trip to Boston to see their designs built and appear on an episode of Design Squad. Twenty-five finalists will be featured on the series website and will receive a Design Squad t-shirt. Entries will be accepted through September 5, 2010 at pbs.org/designsquad.

To help share the excitement, the following resources are available:

1. Contest Flyer
Print, post, and distribute the promotional flyer. You can find a PDF on the Design Squad website.

2. Invent It, Build It Activity Guide
Explore the invention process with kids through fun, hands-on challenges from this award-winning activity guide.

3. Promotional Language
Include a message about the competition in your newsletters, announcements, and print pieces.

4. Logo and Images
Include a web button on your website linking to our contest page. Or, spice up your newsletters with some fun signature images.


BANNED BOOKS WEEK: CELEBRATING THE FREEDOM TO READ

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. It will be held September 25 - October 2 this year.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them. The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.

For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events and Ideas and Resources. You can also contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.


SHEBOYGAN CHIDLREN’S BOOK FESTIVAL

An exciting new event for children, parents and anyone who loves children's literature is coming to the greater Sheboygan area this fall. The first annual Sheboygan Children's Book Festival, October 15-17, will bring exceptional children's book authors and illustrators to the community for a celebration of books, reading, writing and art.

The children's book festival, which includes the grand opening celebration for Bookworm Gardens, will be part of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center's “Sheboygan Shindig”, October 15-21. The “Sheboygan Shindig” is an arts and literary extravaganza that will feature the opening of the major exhibition, “Animal Instinct”. plus entertainment, live animals, art-making workshops, special tours and symposia and more.

Some of the outstanding and award-winning authors and illustrators scheduled to take part in the festival are: Avi, Kathi Appelt, and Wisconsin's own Lois Ehlert. Others include Calef Brown and David McLimans.

To learn more, visit www.sheboyganchildrensbookfestival.org. Author and illustrator biographies, book lists, and the event schedule will be updated as new information is announced. Visitors to the site can sign up for email updates or make a donation.


BOOSTING FAMILY INVOLVEMENT THROUGH BETTER POLICY REPORT

Available through SparkAction!’s website, the Harvard Family Research Project’s report, “Taking Leadership, Innovating Change: Profiles in Family, School, and Community Engagement” looks at ways to systematize policy efforts (currently often marginalized and piecemeal) toward achieving educational equity, and to help make family involvement more clearly seen as a major part of achieving educational equity. Research shows the importance of parent-school partnerships in education, and especially among disadvantaged families. Public libraries are not mentioned, which is disappointing, but typical. Go to http://sparkaction.org/resources/37790 to view the report in its entirety. (NCSET E-News, 7/19/20)


DATES TO REMEMBER

August 4 MWFLS Battle of the books, Watertown, 1:00 PM
August 19 UW-Madison SLIS Alumni Board meeting
August 20 WLA Strategic Planning meeting
August 23-25 CSLP Board meeting, Chicago
September 23-25 ALSC Institute, Atlanta
September 27 – October 1 Rhonda on vacation (guess where?)
November 2-5 WLA Conference, Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells
January 6-11 ALA Midwinter meeting, San Diego


WEBSITE FAVES

Sandra Boynton Event Kit
http://www.workman.com/blog/boyntoneventkit/

Love Boynton? He’s a link to Workman’s new downloadable authorless event kit, which includes a poster and other goodies.


Astro-Venture
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/astrobiology/astroventure/avhome.html

Students are sure to enjoy the interactivity of this adventure. They will be guided through four training modules as they learn how astronomy, geology, atmospheric science, and biology affect a planet's ability to support human life. After each training session, students are given a mission to complete, using scientific inquiry, to select a planet and star system that meets the requirements for human habitation. The final mission requires students to use all of the knowledge they have acquired to create a simulated planet that has all the characteristics in each of the four areas required to make it habitable to humans. Additionally, there is a Teacher/Parent section with lesson plans and suggestions for use, career fact sheets, and other related resources. This is a web site you don't want to miss. (Education World Site Reviews, 7/6/10)


The Gateway to Educational Materials
http://www.thegateway.org/

GEM is a one-stop source for high-quality Internet lesson plans, curriculum units, and other educational resources for parents, teachers, and others involved in education. It currently contains 24,926 education resources. This extensive collection is categorized by subject area, grade level, and keyword. Each collection is reviewed and must meet certain standards to be included in the Gateway. Search results provide a comprehensive list of annotated links. Each record provides a "more info" option that provides the complete GEM review and gives a short description of the resource, including author, title, and location. This is one site you will want to bookmark and visit often! . (Education World Site Reviews, 7/6/10)


AND FINALLY……

There’s a family of swans that resides in a small pond near the Lakeshores office. Often when I am heading to work in the morning they are sitting right along side the road. The parents are diligent and there’s been no undue loss of life. Eight of the cygnets have survived this year (which may actually be all of them), as compared to two last year.