TLA Librarians

One of the wonderful things about TLA is the chance to meet and talk with other librarians from far away school districts (and in Texas, districts can be VERY far away.)

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At the Children's Round Table breakfast I met a librarian from Corpus Christi who is planning a Percy Jackson party to celebrate The Titans Curse on May 1. She has preordered the books so the kids can get them that day! There is going to be a whole lot of reading going on at that school that day.

I thought the idea of hosting the celebration at the school library was splendid. I hope she sends the photos to RRR. I would love to see them.

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As different as school districts and libraries are, we all have so much in common. Had a very thoughtful conversation with a librarian who had recently been through a book challenge with the book Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn. We discussed the parent's objections to the book (subject of abortion) and agreed that it is ironic that students are asked to examine the "deeper" meaning in the books they read but book challengers are not. Abortion is not presented as a happy outcome in this story at all. Did the parents want a story where it was a portrayed as something to party about?

I have pointed out that there are parents who have sincere and honest concerns about the books their kids are reading. I continue to applaud their interest in their child's reading life.

I do have a test question about book challenges: who did the parent go to first about the book--was it the librarian or the principal?

Ah, in this case they went to the principal first.

Sorry, folks, this pushes you a little closer to the "nutter" category. If a child is having trouble in school, do you talk to the teacher first or do you go straight to the principal, blustering and threatening? If you go to the principal first, without talking to the teacher, then I'm thinking it is not really about your child.

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Finally, Grace Lin has a link to a Robert's Snow project at Hancock Elementary School in Houston. What a beautiful idea librarian, Heather Jankowski had to involve her students.
Do not miss this! <-- (Soul-Sister Alert!)