Your Neighborhood Librarian

I love being the first person to share certain special books with children, particularly my children. Don't Let the Pigeon Dirve the Bus by Mo Willems is an oldie but goodie, published in 2003. Kids love telling the pigeon "no!" when he tries to persuade them to let him drive the bus. And I love giving the pigeon a (bad) New York City accent.

Once I had a young student who had moved here from Pakistan ask me to help her find a good book to read. I asked my usual readers advisory questions and she borrowed books every few days for a week but didn't seem very happy. I continued to ask her what she liked about them or didn't and eventually she came down to tell me she wanted to read a “Muslim Junie B. Jones.” Children want to see themselves represented in their stories. I am happy to report there is a lot more diversity in children's literature these days. American Girl books especially have been reflecting a lot of diversity. I thought of all of these things as I started reading Shepherding Sam by Melinda Johnson. It is a beautiful story about a boy and a dog who grow together and help each other. The setting is an Orthodox Christian Monastery and as an Orthodox Christian living in New York State it reminds me of New Skete in Cambridge. I think readers who love animals will appreciate Saucer the corgi and his

Hello! I am your friendly neighborhood librarian! Well, I may not be your actual neighbor but I am finding myself with more and more digital neighbors.  I love to share with my students and coworkers at school, and I prepare reading list for parents, staff, and special projects.  But I wanted a place where I could mention books that I personally enjoyed as a parent, a teacher, or just a human. I hope this blog will serve as a place where I can share books you might like too.

Winter Dance is a soft and beautiful story in which the reader can learn about how animals prepare for winter. Young readers will like to follow Fox through the story and might want to make up their own winter dance!

I don't think I will ever stop getting the back to school jitters. This anthropomorphized school story is sweet in dealing with those feelings. It would make a great book for parents to use when talking about their feelings with their children but I could also see a writing activity for elementary age students to think about ways our school might be nervous.