Author Archives: Rebecca Moore

Short Story Summaries

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Some years ago, I got annoyed by the lack of summaries in short story collections. Teachers often asked for recommendations of stories featuring a particular theme, but most short story collection reviews or summaries did not detail the plots of each story. While asking AISL colleagues was a good work-around, I decided that I needed to start summarizing and reviewing every short story I read in a collection, and post my reviews on GoodReads. So I did. While it certainly takes more time to stop after each story (whether read in print or listened to in audio) and write up a summary/review, I’ve now amassed a decent if somewhat eclectic collection of short story summaries that I can share with teachers.

Then it occurred to me that I could share my summaries more broadly by posting them on a LibGuides page. I cobbled that together a few days ago, though I don’t think the organization or layout is the best. Perhaps someone reading this will offer some good advice? I ended up posting the books in a tabbed box, with tabs for different genres, and a table of contents on the side. I wish the lengthy texts didn’t sprawl all over the page, impeding browsing, but the two options for hiding text remove all of the line breaks differentiating the stories. For ease of reading, I capitulated to the text-on-page option. In addition, middle school and YA titles share space in some genres, so I put the middle school titles at the top.

As an example, here’s the text of my reviews for “You are here: connecting flights” by Ellen Oh.

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“Paul: Something to declare” / by Christina Soontornvat. Paul and his family are flying to Thailand, his parents’ and his grandmother’s home country. Paul is very close to his grandmother, who does not speak English. She has something unusual in her carry-on that she doesn’t want Paul’s mother to know about. That will change when they get to security. I liked this one. It was affecting and touching, to see the close relationship between Paul and his grandmother, and the way he wonders about his own connection to a place that he’s only ever visited. And, of course, the microaggressions, always, and always—but also those who understand.

“Jae: Ground rules” / by Linda Sue Park. Jae’s mother works at the airport, and when his babysitter fell through, she had to take him to work with her. Her supervisor is mean about it, but Jae promises to stay in the break room. While he is watching the airport monitors, though, he sees a toddler wander away from her family at security, and they don’t notice. He decides he has to rescue her. I liked how this one showed how different people regarded Jae, so totally differently in such a short period of time. It really illustrates the stereotyping and racism people in his position face every day. It’s also a good story to talk about when is it a good decision to break the rules?

“Mindy: Standing up” / by Meredith Ireland. Mindy was adopted from Korea as a baby by her two dads. Now they are in the airport on their way to Korea so she can “reconnect with her culture.” Problem is, she really doesn’t want to because she feels no connection with it at all. After a racist incident on the concourse, in which her fathers stand up to the racist and make Mindy feel uncomfortable because she is just not the stand up and be noticed type, she runs off to be by herself. And she’ll learn something about herself. I liked this one too. I liked the tension between what Mindy thought she should be like and what she really was like, and how she found a way to understand that and still do something about it, I also thought that her feelings about being either too Asian or not Asian enough were poignant and understandable.

“Lee: Jam session” / by Mike Chen. Lee is 12, it is flying by himself to see his uncle. Lee has his Stratocaster guitar with him, and two security guards hassle him because “of course” no Asian kids play guitar. This was a painful one to read. I hate it that some adults in positions of authority can be so mean to children and so racist at the same time. I really liked Lee’s perspective, which I think will resonate with a lot of kids. I also thought the details were really well done.

“Ari: Guidelines” / Susan Tan. Ari is traveling with her six year old brother. When their flight is diverted because of weather, she is stuck with trying to entertain her brother, and also stuck with someone from the airline as a chaperone, who, like, seemingly everyone else, is totally confused how Ari can be both Asian and Jewish. In the Food Court, something happens that makes Ari realize that maybe she is ready for her bat mitzvah after all. I liked the plot of this one, and can see how frustrating it is when people stereotype you, and think that there’s no way you can be something you are. What I found irritating, in terms of the writing, were the endless numbered lists. I realize that was a representation of how the main character thought, but I found it annoying—though that’s only personal taste!

“AJ: A kind of noble” / Randy Ribay. AJ’s mind always lingers on ways that he has failed. Now he’s at the airport with his basketball team, thinking about how badly he played in the last game. Then he stands in line behind two of his meaner teammates, and hears them being racist and trash-talking the only other Filipino kid on the team, who could not come to the international tournament with them. That kid also happens to be AJ’s best friend. Will AJ be strong enough to stand up and say something? I liked how this showed how small acts, both negative and positive, can affect you, and how you can build on the positive acts and change the highlight reel in your mind.

“Natalie: Costumes” / by Traci Chee. Japanese American Natalie is going on vacation with her white best friend Beth, and Beth’s family. While at the airport, Natalie has a lot of uncomfortable feelings with some of the comments Beth’s parents make, as well as comments that Beth makes. Can she get Beth to understand why it’s not OK to say things like that? I like this one as well, with its vivid ways of describing the different feelings that Natalie has in different situations. I also liked the up to date knowledge about Manga and anime. This is another situation that I’m sure happens all the time in friendships among kids, and it is good to see a representation of it, and a representation of how Natalie decides to deal with it. One of the most memorable quotes from the book, for me, was: “My face is not a costume.”

“Henry: Grounded” / Mike Jung. Henry is with his dad in the airport. They are both Korean, American, and autistic. Henry wishes there were any books about characters like him, because both he and his dad, who is a librarian, love books. Henry has an idea about what his book character would be like, and that serves him well when a bully tries to mess with him. This was a quiet story, with a lovely relationship between father and son, understanding each other. I liked the intersectionality of it, because Henry is right.

“Camilla: Big day suitcase” / by Erin Entrada Kelly. Camilla‘s mother is Filipino, and her father is white. Camilla and her sister Greta, are in the airport with her mother, on their way to the Philippines, so they can see where they came from. Camilla does not feel Filipino, since she is white-passing, as she learns when her best friend says that she looks “normal.“ Then Greta tells Camilla about always having to be “it” when kids at her school play Chinese tag about Covid. It gets Camilla thinking. This was another fairly quiet story about family relationships and those microaggressions that kids like Greta face every day, and Camilla realizing what is happening. This is a good one for kids who don’t feel part of their genetic heritage.

“Jane: Questions and answers” / by Grace Lin. Jane is Taiwanese American, and she is in the airport with her mother, her little sister, and her grandfather, who was injured in what he and Jane’s mother insist on calling in “accident.” Jane knows it was not an accident because she was there, and she wonders if it really is the right thing, not to call attention to themselves and to the bigger issue at hand. Jane’s family is reflective of many of the other families described in this anthology, in not wanting to draw attention to the anti-Asian microaggressions and hate. I liked Jane really thinking about it and making her own decision.

“Khoi: Lost in translation” / by Minh Le. Khoi is Vietnamese American, and he is at the airport with his parents, getting ready for his first trip ever to Vietnam. He’s worried that he will be a disappointment to everyone, but a strange dream helps him sort some things out. This was a short one, and the only one so far without any microaggressions or bullying. I think a lot of kids in Khoi’s situation probably have this same feeling, so they can sympathize with him, and hopefully also come to feel as he does about his trip.

“Soojin: You are here” / by Ellen Oh. Soojin and her parents live in New York, but after a hate crime destroys their business, Soojin’s mother insists on moving back to Korea, while her father insists on staying. Soojin desperately wants to stay in New York, but her mother is dragging her to Korea. When they get stuck in the Chicago airport for a while, they encounter all the other characters from all the other stories, and Soojin’s mother begins to see that perhaps there are more reasons to stay and then go. I liked this one for all the people who stood up to the bullies, and for the hope that there’s still enough good in America to make it worthwhile. I thought the author incorporated all the other characters really well, and it was fun to remember their stories as well.

“A note from the editor” / by Ellen Oh. The author talks about why she decided to put this anthology together, the origins of the term “Asian American,” and why it’s so non-descriptive of all the people from that part of the world.

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Feel free to explore my reviews if you are in search of stories with specific themes for your teachers or students!

Teaching Technology Guidelines to Fifth Grade

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At the start of the year, the library/technology team (ILT) introduces our fifth graders to the technology they will use throughout the year. This includes Canvas, Veracross, PaperCut, Microsoft 365, and all its related apps. One thing that we and the teachers felt was missing, though, was more about Overlake’s philosophy around technology.

One of our fifth grade’s overarching goals is instilling a set of values called “Citizen Owl.” These tailor Overlake’s values for our youngest students: Compassion, Community, Curiosity, Integrity, Respect, and Independence. The fifth grade teachers work hard to integrate these values into their curricula and SEL lessons throughout the year. Likewise, the ILT team, instead of an acceptable use policy, hasGuiding Questions for Responsible Use of Technology.

So with both of those things in mind, we designed a lesson to get the kids thinking about how we can use technology to support Overlake’s mission and values. We started with a basic PowerPoint to share the values, and the guiding questions that connect them to technology:

Compassion: How will we use technology to show compassion, care, and kindness to others?

Curiosity: How will we use technology to explore, research, and find out about the world?

Integrity: How will we use technology honestly?

Inclusion & Equity: How will we use technology to create environments that include everyone equally?

Respect: How will we use technology to show respect for ourselves and our community?  

From there, we broke the kids into five groups, and assigned each one a specific guideline. We gave each group a list of possible technology uses/scenarios, with the instruction that the group should decide which ones applied to their guideline. Each group had a poster-sized post-it with the value on it, and two columns: Yes and No. They also got a pad of small post-its, and if the group decided a use/scenario qualified as something that people SHOULD do, they wrote it up and put it in the “yes” column. If the use/scenario qualified as something people should NOT do, it went on a post-it in the “no” column. We also asked the groups to come up with their own examples for each column.

On the screen, we showed examples for each guideline:

Compassion: For example, communicate electronically with the same care and caution as you would in person, recognizing that electronic communication has limitations.

Curiosity: For example, learn and inquire within school-appropriate boundaries, exploring relevant topics safely and responsibly.

Integrity: For example, represent yourself and your work honestly, giving credit where it is due.  

Inclusion & Equity: For example, help everyone feel welcome and included when communicating online. For example, avoid assuming everyone has access to the same technology.

Respect: For example, consider the appropriate time, space, and tools for each class, audience, etc. For example, demonstrate responsible use of technology when you are on your own. 

Here are the scenarios we gave the students:

•            Eating or drinking next to laptop

•            Searching for Taylor Swift tickets while I’m supposed to be researching the US Constitution

•            Spamming a chat group with silly (appropriate) gifs and memes

•            Walking across campus with my laptop open

•            Having Flint (AI) quiz me on science topics before a test

•            Playing a bloody first-person shooter game

•            Sending emails during class

•            Using someone else’s Veracross id number to print 

•            Creating a meme from an embarrassing pic I took of my brother

•            Sending a message to my teacher that is all emojis and says “’sup?”

•            Interacting with people on my Discord server during class

•            Sending messages to my parents during class

•            Playing games on my Apple Watch

•            Listening to a podcast on my AirPods during class

•            Listening to a podcast at home 

•            Surfing YouTube or TikTok for funny videos

•            Taking pictures of people and posting without permission

•            Using my friend’s computer to send a message as them to a teacher or student

•            Sharing my password with a friend

•            Sleeping with my laptop in my bed

•            Having ChatGPT write my report on Ancient Mesopotamia for me

•            Using my laptop in the bathroom/restroom

•            Doing research for class

•            Using Canva AI to create images for a PowerPoint

•            Sending a nice message to someone who is having a bad day

•            Emailing a teacher to ask for help on an assignment

•            Storing my laptop safely

•            Working with a teacher to set up a virtual author visit

•            Setting up a group chat on Teams for an assignment

•            Having Flint (AI) help me brainstorm story ideas

So, how did it go? We thought it went reasonably well. Clearly the kids thought about the questions, and in the end maybe that’s all you can ask of fifth graders! We will definitely make some changes next year, though. First, we had all 33 kids together due to scheduling complications, and that didn’t work so well—the rooms are not designed for that number of kids, and it got rather chaotic. Splitting into two groups would have worked better. Also, we thought that it would work better to offer the kids scenarios specific to their guideline as well as the general scenarios; they had trouble applying specific scenarios to their guidelines, though they had less trouble identifying negative and positive uses of technology in general.

Library School Connections

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I studied for my MSLS degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1990s, and loved my time there. It’s where I met my forever-friends (we Zoom weekly and gather annually), where I learned how to rent an apartment and pay state income tax (who knew that was a thing? Everyone else but me? Ok, then…), and where I earned the degree that started me off on a 30+ year career in school libraries.

My roommate and me in front of UNC’s library school during our first year. I’m in the hat and blue turtleneck (which I still own!)

My library school forever-friends and me in front of the same building a couple of years ago, when we were all visiting North Carolina.

When I was looking at schools, UNC was the obvious choice. The campus looked gorgeous, the town was small, and the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) offered me not just a graduate assistantship in the art library, but tuition remission to in-state level. Because I have always felt so indebted to the school, I have been a regular if small-potatoes donor ever since graduation.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to be contacted in January by the Assistant Director of Development at SILS, wanting to set up a Zoom call so she could thank me personally for all my years of donations, and “find out more about why you have given to SILS so consistently.” While I suspected she might want to ask for more money—I’ve worked in independent schools for 30+ years; I know what a development office does!—I did feel that a Zoom call was a small thing to ask.

I quite enjoyed the call. The young woman who interviewed me did not ask for money; she really did ask why I donated consistently, and asked for details about my time at SILS. So I talked about the professors, including the one that drove us all so crazy I actually turned into one of those kids who acted up in class for the first time in my life, and the classes, and life at UNC in the early 1990s. It was fun to reminisce, even if to someone who probably wasn’t born until at least 2000!

Some weeks after that, the Assistant Director for SILS let me know that the Assistant Director for the Graduate School at UNC would be in Seattle and would love to get together with me. This assistant director told me: “I am particularly interested in hearing about how your time at Carolina prepared you for your career as a librarian.” At that point, I felt I had to let her know that if she was after a big donation, a school librarian was the wrong person to ask!

She kindly responded: “We truly value our alumni and enjoy hearing about their experiences, particularly learning how their degrees have influenced their lives and careers. We’re always looking for alumni to be advocates for Carolina. There are numerous opportunities for engagement (networking and mentorship, for example) and many ways to support our efforts aside from donating.”

As getting away for coffee during the day is awkward, as you all know (plus I hate coffee), I invited her to visit the school. She did, bringing me a bag of Carolina swag, which I thought was nice of her. I showed her around the school and around the library, then we sat in the back room for an hour and talked. We chatted about how libraries have changed in the years I’ve been a librarian, advice I would give new librarians, and much more that I now forget because my brain is like the metaphorical iceberg with penguins and a few of those penguins got pushed off.

I do know I appreciated the opportunity to reflect on all I’ve done and all I’ve learned since I left grad school. I also appreciated that someone really was willing to travel 3,000 miles to talk to me and other Carolina grads about our careers! Since then, they recently contacted me to ask if I’d be willing to talk to SILS students interested in school libraries. I said if the students are willing to talk to someone at the far end of their career, of course I’d be happy to.

Probably many of you are already involved with your own colleges or graduate schools, but if not, it might be worth checking out what you could do for them as an alum, if you enjoyed/appreciated your time there. No matter where you are in your career, you are probably in a position to offer advice to nascent school librarians, and goodness knows, these days they need all the help they can get!

Webtoons Redux

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In September of 2023, I did a blog post about Webtoons. While I don’t want to repeat all the details, I did want to update a couple of my lists.

First, more Webtoons that are now available as traditional graphic novels. This is not an exhaustive list, just the ones I’ve personally read. Though these are mostly aimed at YA and adult audiences, Raven Saga, Cursed Princess Club, Punderworld, and Froggy are fine for middle school.

Nothing Special by Katie Cook. Fantasy, Humor, Drama, Coming of Age

“In the grand scheme of the worlds at large, Callie thinks she’s nothing special. Sure, she’s friends with the ghost of a radish and her dad owns a magical antique shop–but she’s spent her life in the human world. Her dad won’t let her join him on his collection trips in the magical realm “for her own protection”, so she’s only caught glimpses of that world through the gates of the town where her father’s store is. On her seventeenth birthday, Callie goes home with her friend Declan to find her home in disarray and her dad missing. Signs of a struggle point to the portal to the magical realm and when there are signs, you follow them. Now it’s up to Callie, Declan, and Radish to band together and bring him home. As they face creatures good and bad, and all sorts of adventure, Callie and Declan may just find out that they are both special in their own ways after all.” –GoodReads.com.

Acception by Coco Ouwerkerk. Coming of Age, School Story, Humor, Drama, LGBTQ+

“It’s the start of a new school year at Apollo High and Arcus just moved from England to the Netherlands. With his rainbow-colored hair and love of all things fashion, Arcus is anything but your average teenager. He’s an upbeat independent thinker, proud fashionista, and like the rest of us, is looking for a few friends to call his own. This won’t be easy for Arcus, because his best options for friends are prickly goth Maud and self-centered queen bee Iris.” –GoodReads.com.

The Remarried Empress by Rachid Ridouane. Drama, Fantasy, Romance

“Navier Ellie Trovi was an empress perfect in every way — intelligent, courageous, and socially adept. She was kind to her subjects and devoted to her husband. Navier was perfectly content to live the rest of her days as the wise empress of the Eastern Empire. That is, until her husband brought home a mistress and demanded a divorce. “I accept this divorce… And I request an approval of my remarriage.” In a shocking twist, Navier remarries another emperor and retains her title and childhood dream as empress. But just how did everything unfold?” –GoodReads.com.

The Cursed Princess Club by LambCat. Fantasy, Humor, Drama, Romance

In the Pastel Kingdom, Princess Maria is so beautiful that birds and animals regularly help her get ready. Princess Lorena is so beautiful that she always wakes up surrounded by flowers. Prince Jamie is so beautiful that he radiates light and sparkles. And Princess Gwen, her family’s beloved treasure, always wakes up with an opossum chewing on her green hair. She looks nothing like anyone else in her family, but because their father is so restrictive (but warm and loving—he adores his children), and because her siblings and her father adore her, the kind-hearted and generous Gwen has no idea there’s anything different about her. That is, not until their father decides to betroth all his daughters to the sons of his crony, the king of the Plaid Kingdom. And his sons are so hot that Maria and Lorena—who have never been allowed to date—are frothing at the mouth to be married. The prince intended for Gwen is equally hot, but when they meet, he’s not as thrilled as his brothers, to say the least. When Gwen finally learns that some people—like Frederick—think she’s ugly, she flees to the forest, and accidentally encounters the Cursed Princess Club. Even though she doesn’t have a curse, they take her in, and her life starts to change.

Raven Saga by Chihiro Howe (expected 1/26) Fantasy, Adventure, Drama, Romance

“Once upon a time, in a land of fairy tales, lived a girl and her grandmother, protected and secluded from the rest of the world. When her grandmother is taken by a mysterious boy, Wen must travel to the outside world to save her, but the world isn’t as magical as she once thought, and danger lurks around every corner. With the help of her friends, will Wen be able to solve the mystery of the boy with the ravens? And more importantly, will she be able to solve the mystery of her past?” –Webtoons.com

Morgana and Oz by Miyuli. Fantasy, Adventure, Drama, Romance

“What happens when a struggling witch meets an angsty vampire? Either love or war. Morgana belongs to a long line of witches, and Oz to the rival vampire clan. After a chance encounter . . . and maybe a few stray spells . . . these two need to find a way to work together, or risk all-out war between coven and clan. It’s a Romeo and Juliet story where a boy and a girl from two rival clans, one a vampire and one a witch, meet cute, like each other, but then the girl makes a serious mistake and turns the boy into a cute kitty.” –GoodReads.com.

Punderworld by Linda Šejić. Fantasy, Adventure, Drama, Romance

“The classic tale of Greek mythology, but 100% more awkwardly relatable. Hades is the officious, antisocial ruler of the Underworld; Persephone, daughter of Demeter, is an earth goddess of growth and renewal—they’ve been crushing on each other for the past two centuries. But when a festival (and a little liquid courage) present an opportunity to put an end to their Olympian will-they-won’t-they, a meddlesome pantheon and several titanic misassumptions threaten to give every god in the sky the wrong impression… and leave their romance dead before it can bloom.” –GoodReads.com.

Castle Swimmer by Wendy Martin. Fantasy, Adventure, Drama, Romance, LGBTQ+

“From the moment Kappa tumbles into existence on the ocean floor, his life’s purpose is already decided for him: He is the Beacon, a light to all sea creatures, and destined to fulfill their many prophesies. In high demand and under immense pressure, Kappa quickly realizes that fame and glory are small compensation for a life of predetermined self-sacrifice. Unable to resist the call of destiny due to a magical yellow cord that appears from his chest and pulls him inexorably to any sea creatures he swims by, Kappa ultimately finds himself drawn to the Shark kingdom, where he is immediately imprisoned. The Sharks’ prophecy states that the curse maiming their people will only be lifted once their prince, Siren, kills the Beacon. But when Prince Siren decides to defy fate and help Kappa escape, Kappa realizes that there might be more to life than fulfilling endless prophesies, leading to a raucous adventure as big and unpredictable as the ocean itself—and a romance that nobody could have predicted.” –GoodReads.com.

Float by Katie Marchant. Drama, Romance, Coming of Age

YA. “Waverly Lyons has been caught in the middle of her parents’ divorce for as long as she can remember. This summer, the battle rages over who she’ll spend her vacation with, and when Waverly’s options are shot down, it’s bye-bye Fairbanks, Alaska and hello Holden, Florida to stay with her aunt. Coming from the tundra of the north, the beach culture isn’t exactly Waverly’s forte. The sun may just be her mortal enemy, and her vibe is decidedly not chill. To top it off? Her ability to swim? Nonexistent. Enter Blake, the (superhot) boy next door. Charming and sweet, he welcomes Waverly into his circle. For the first time in her life, Waverly has friends, a social life, and soon enough, feelings . . . for Blake. As the two grow closer, Waverly’s fortunes begin to look up. But every summer must come to an end, and letting go is hardest when you’ve finally found where you belong.” –GoodReads.com.

Froggy by Paige Walshe (expected 8/25) Fantasy, Humor, Drama, Adventure

Froggy has hilarious and sometimes touching or annoying adventures with friends and frenemies around his pond. This looks like a book for kids, and it would be fine for kids, but there’s a lot of humor and found family and character quirks that will appeal to any age. I’ve been reading this on Webtoons, and if I see there’s a new episode of Froggy up, I save it for the last of the Webtoons I read that day so I end my reading on a cheerful, comforting note.

I have updated my extensive list of favorite Webtoons, and to add to my 2023 top ten list, here are an additional ten that I have recently loved.

Rooftops & Roommates by Zaanart. Fantasy, Supernatural, Drama, Adventure, Friendship.

YA. Architecture major Jeb rooms with his best friend Todd. There’s just one problem… Jeb’s secretly a gargoyle! Between studying, partying, and a bad ghost problem, will Jeb be able to keep his true identity a secret? [Completed]

Note: This is hilarious, and also features a delightful platonic bro-mance between Jeb and Todd, who is the best roomie ever!

Realta by Rachel Eaton. Fantasy, Drama, Adventure, Romance, LGBTQ+.

YA. Hidden from the world for centuries that seemed like years, nonbinary Virgo Elowen learns that magic is illegal, the Fae are stronger, and star-sign-blessed Realta have been forgotten—or have they? [On hiatus]

Note: This has its roots in Celtic as well as Zodiac mythology, and has great LGBTQ+ representation.

The Remarried Empress. by Alphatart. Fantasy, Drama, Romance.

YA. Navier was the wise empress of the Eastern Empire, until her husband brought home a mistress and demanded a divorce. In a shocking twist, Navier remarries another emperor after the divorce. [In progress]

Note: This is a highly popular Webtoon, and includes violence that could bother some readers, and fanservice that can get a little spicy!

Lady Liar by Maripaz Villar. Historical, Humor, Drama, Romance.

YA. Adara, a lower class girl whose only love is money, comes up with the perfect plan to get her dream job: she’ll pretend to be a refined lady to be hired as a companion for a wealthy family. [Completed]

Note: This is laugh-out-loud funny, and the romances are sweet and only mildly spicy.

To the Stars and Back by Peglo. Romance, Drama, LGBTQ+.

YA. Introverted and grumpy, college student Kang Dae spends most of his time alone, and prefers it this way. Then he gets a friendly and bubbly neighbor named Bo Seon. Suddenly, his life takes a different turn. [Complete]

Note: This is a sweet, mildly spicy, slow-burn romance. There is some trauma in some characters’ pasts.

The D!ckheads by GummiBunny. Drama, Romance.

YA. New girl Eliana befriends Football Captain and most popular boy at school, Levi, as well as lone-wolf and outcast, Marco. She’s finally got the friends she always wanted, but what will she do when she finds out they hate each other? [In progress]

Note: This is high school drama to the max, and includes some serious depression storylines that might trouble some readers. While commenters are urging a throuple, it hasn’t quite happened…yet?

All Colors of Snow by Ah Ai Maria. Historical, Drama, Romance, Adventure.

YA. Balls, operas, beautiful ladies in silk and muslin, footmen, cadets, love, champagne, Parisian sunsets, alleys, funny pranks and walks, Schubert’s waltzes, Indian tea aroma, poems in thick volumes and the sparkle of unfamiliar eyes… [In progress]

Note: This was originally on Canvas, but has rebooted to Webtoon Originals and so only a few episodes are available, but it is a much longer story. The artwork is incredibly beautiful!

A Spell for a Smith by ArtSasquatch. Fantasy, Drama, Romance.

YA. A shy witch in her quiet forest cottage. A surly dwarf in his blacksmith’s forge. Both seeking solace in their respective refuge, but both aching for more. [On hiatus]

Note: This is a heartwarming story about recovering from trauma through a loving relationship. Ivy is more than shy—she has PTSD from her past.

Not So Silent by ROSEOAK. Romance, Drama, LGBTQ+.

YA. Lewis has perfect grades and a packed schedule—but no time for himself. Then he meets Fern, a deaf new student who captures his attention and challenges his routine. As feelings grow, Lewis begins to question his people-pleasing ways and may finally learn to love himself. [On hiatus]

Note: It’s unusual to have any disability representation in Webtoons, so this one is welcome!

Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story by Lemon Frog, A-Jin, DOYOSAY. Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Adventure.

YA. Reborn as a villain in her favorite novel, Suna—now Edith—vows to live kindly and rewrite her fate. But her marriage to Killian, who loves another and distrusts her family, threatens her hopes for a happy ending amid rivalries and romance. [Complete]

Note: This was recommended to me by a 6th grader! It’s fairly spicy, and does include some violence.

The Outsiders: Body Bios

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Our seventh grade English teacher, Kacie Simpson, always comes up with great projects connected to the books her classes read. This year, after reading S.E. Hinton’s classic, The Outsiders, pairs of students created these “Body Bios.” Each poster depicts a character from The Outsiders, alongside visual metaphors and quotes to represent their inner character and history. Below is a sample “Ponyboy” poster, by Angie and Yihan, with all of its parts explained.

Kacie says that even the kids who weren’t great artists learned from the work. For instance, one student drew a character as a square, because he thought it was funny (or perhaps had played too much Minecraft!). Ms. Simpson told him he had to have a purpose behind his choice of shape that connected to the book. Giving a presentation was part of the assignment, so when he presented to the class, this student connected the shape to the character being strong like a rock, which showed Kacie that he’d actually put some thought into it. Here are a few more samples of the posters.

Sodapop by Ellie and Lucas.
Two Bit by Amber and Phoebe.
Dally by Cecilia, Lade, and Angela.
Sodapop by Daksha and Riana.
Darry by Avni and Ashleen.
Johnny by Hannah and Ferris.

Promoting a Diverse Collection

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When a parent asked if I could contribute some booklists to a weekend cultural fair she was planning, I was thrilled. The event offered an excellent opportunity to further the library’s promotion of reading culture at the school, as well as to share our dedication to building a diverse collection. In addition, it provided motivation to review and reflect on our previous collection development efforts. As I’m passionate about building a diverse collection, I decided to go overboard, knowing I could use the results in future aspects of my work. I focused on two things: 1. Our vision of having mirror, window, and sliding glass door books, as described by Rudine Bishop Sims. 2: Avoiding a “single story” collection, in which, for example, we only had Jewish books about the Holocaust, or Native American books about the frontier.

In the end, I brought the following lists, items, and links to the fair:

  • Printed articles about mirrors/windows/sliding glass doors, and the “single story.”
  • Two poster-sized grids, one for middle school fiction and one for upper school fiction. These featured diversity on one axis and genre on the other. I filled the grids with covers of relevant books from our collections, either print or eBooks. I felt proud that out of about 162 books, only three did we not own. I wanted to demonstrate that if you wanted a fantasy book with Native American characters, we had it. If you wanted a horror book with characters with disabilities, we had it. I realize that the categories are broad strokes, and you could get more and more granular, just as with a diversity audit. In addition, what if you wanted a science fiction book featuring a Black character with a disability? So the grid is not perfect, but it was a start to represent what we value in building our collection.
  • Double-sided printouts of the grids with only the titles and authors.
  • A LibGuide featuring all of the books in tabbed boxes, with summaries and links to the eBook if we had it. I created boxes organized by diversity and by genre. The LibGuide also included the DEI list for parents and families, and other sources of diverse booklists.
  • Bookmarks created by my colleague with a QR code to the LibGuide.
  • A cart with thirty middle school and thirty upper school books, plus a scanner so I could check out books at the event.

I ferried many of the items to our Campus Center on the Friday before, including the cart of books, my easel with the two grids, and the booklists. On Saturday, I arrived early with the parents who were setting up. They assembled a cornucopia of tables representing various cultures, including a ton of delicious-smelling food! The event itself was lively (and tasty!), and I did get on the “stage” to present a one-minute explanation of what I’d brought. Though I didn’t get a lot of attention, I talked to a number of people and checked out a few books. I now have the grids posted in the library, and hope my work will be featured in one of our weekly parent newsletters. I really enjoyed the opportunity to consider the diversity of our collection, and look forward to using what I’ve learned to further build a collection that will best serve our students.

Classroom Book Recommendation Display

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by Rebecca Moore and Kacie Simpson

Overlake’s seventh-grade English teacher, Kacie Simpson, is passionate about reading. “Establishing a culture of reading, where students are excited to read, has been something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” she says. One issue she considers is how students can find good books to read. She knows parents also wonder about this, as they often request book recommendations for their children. While Kacie loves reading, of course, she knows that, “collectively, my students have read more books than I have.” Thinking how she could harness this resource, she decided to create a classroom “display where students could give book recommendations and share the types of books they are interested in with their peers.”

For her display, she created a large wall poster of a bookshelf. Next, she printed blank book spine templates in different sizes, to vary the height of the “books” and make the shelf arrangement look more natural. Students copied or recreated the spine of a book they would recommend to their classmates, choosing the template that made the most sense for the book. For in-class work, Kacie provided scissors and colored pencils, though several students also worked at home to have more time and add more detail.

While the students worked in class, Kacie noticed a lot of “great conversations about books.” She heard many positive comments, like, “Oh, I love that book!” That worked well for her goal of instilling in the students the knowledge that “the best source of what to read is their peers,” because seventh graders know what other seventh graders tend to enjoy reading. In the finished spines, Kacie found it interesting to see that fantasy was the most popular genre by a mile, and that Rick Riordan scored as the most popular author. The titles that surprised her the most were the non-fiction titles Blue Chip Kids, by David Bianchi, and Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari, books that she doesn’t “always associate with 12-13 year olds reading.”

When students finished the spines, Kacie organized them roughly by genre on the poster “shelves.” To add to the display’s welcoming appeal, Kacie added a picture of her cat sleeping on a shelf, as well as some “additional decorative touches.” As a librarian, I love it, and think it was an amazing project!

Partial Booklist

Note: I couldn’t read all of the titles, which is why this is partial

Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir

The Martian, Andy Weir

Scythe, Neal Shusterman

Space Case, Stuart Gibbs

The hunger games, Suzanne Collins

Catching fire, Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

The ballad of songbirds and snakes, Suzanne Collins

Atherton: the House of power, Patrick Carman

One piece, Eiichiro Oda

The ultimate hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, Douglas Adams

Legend, Marie Lu

Foundation, Isaac Asimov

The lion of Mars, Jennifer Holm

The giver, Lois Lowry

Ready player one, Ernest Cline

Iron widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

Animal farm, George Orwell

Home body, Rupi Kaur

What if?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Randall Munroe

Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari

Little white lies, Gemma Townley

The naturals, Jennfer Barnes

The inheritance game, Jennifer Barnes

The final gambit, Jennifer Barnes

Spy school, Stuart Gibbs

One of us is lying, Karen McManus

Five survive, Karen McManus

A good girl’s guide to murder, Holly Jackson

The land of stories: the wishing spell, Chris Colfer

The Penrose Series, Tony Ballantyne

Wings of fire, Tui Sutherland

Throne of glass, Sarah J. Maas

The theft of sunlight, Intisar Khanani

The tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo

Keeper of the lost cities, Shannon Messenger

The school for good and evil, Soman Chainani

The hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

Harry Potter and the sorcerer‘s stone, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the half-blood prince, J.K. Rowling

Summoner 3: The Battlemage, Taran Matharu

Red queen, Victoria Aveyard

Heartless, Marissa Meyer

The lost hero, Rick Riordan

The house of Hades, Rick Riordan

The lightning thief, Rick Riordan

The sea of monsters, Rick Riordan

The last Olympian, Rick Riordan

When you trap a tiger, Tae Keller

Two Degrees, Alan Gratz

The silent patient, Alex Michaelides

Ink and ashes, Valynne Maetani

Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, Steve Sheinkin

Front desk, Kelly Yang

Seaglass summer, Anjali Banerjee

Out of my mind, Sharon Draper

Simon sort of says, Erin Bow

The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid

Far from the tree, Robin Benway

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello‘s library, Chris Grabenstein

Blended, Sharon Draper

If he had been with me, Laura Nowlin

The Explorers Academy: the nebula secret, Trudi Trueit

Restart, Gordon Korman

Darius the great is not OK, Adib Khorram

Imogen obviously, Becky Albertalli

Wonder, R.J. Palacio

Posted, John David Anderson

The summer I turned pretty, Jenny Han

Prisoner B, Alan Gratz

Projekt, Alan Gratz

Grenade, Alan Gratz

The book thief, Markus Zusak

Little women, Louisa May Alcott

Pride and prejudice, Jane Austen

World in between: based on a true refugee story, Kenan Trebincevic, Susan Shapiro

The downstairs girl, Stacey Lee

Between shades of gray, Ruta Sepetys

Flooded: requiem for Johnstown, Ann Burg

The enigma game,

Blue Chip kids, David Bianchi

Battle of the Books on Steroids (Or, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time)

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I’ve been running Battle of the Books for over thirty years, at my various schools. Though the books changed from year to year, the format remained the same: two hours, rounds of twenty questions, each question phrased, “In which book…” with the answer being the author and title.

Over the last few years, though, I have made some changes. First, I joined with two other local schools for the competition, which cycled between the schools for several years. Then, many of my students decided not to participate because they didn’t want to miss any class time, especially the half a day required for a field trip to another school. With the gracious acceptance of the two other schools, we moved to a virtual Battle, but my students declined to participate because a two hour Battle still meant missing a class. So I split the Battle into two parts on two different days, one a preliminary with just my students, and one the virtual final with the other schools. That way, participants only missed study halls. In addition, I shortened rounds to ten questions, and the winning two teams from the prelims went on to the final Battle with the other schools. Problem solved, right?

Yeah…no. I was still struggling for participation.

A couple of years ago, after National Geographic ended GeoBee, our 7th grade social studies teacher devised his own GeoBee. He hosted it during an assembly block, and it was lots of fun! Changing up the formats of the rounds, he also made it team-based rather than individual, which worked well. I wondered if I could do something similar with Battle of the Books.

I started by running a Battle of the Books club in which students would help determine which formats would work best. I surveyed the kids about these possible options, suggestions coming from both me and them:

  • Jeopardy
  • Pictionary or charades round with book titles
  • Relay: Teams at opposite ends of a space, teacher in the middle. One person from each team runs to the teacher. Both get the same question on a slip of paper, then run back to their team to consult. When the team has an answer, someone runs to tell the teacher. Points for most correct answers and fastest time.
  • Traditional format
  • Kahoot
  • Quiz Bowl: Teams, each student has a buzzer, question asked to the group, first to buzz in gets to answer. Correct answer leads to an additional question.
  • Mini-Rounds: A person from each team starts out, a round of four questions is asked, whoever buzzes in first gets the question. After four questions, a new person from each team replaces former person.
  • Breakout Box: There’s a box with several locks on it. Each lock is worth a certain number of questions. [I hadn’t worked out any more than that.]
  • Snowballs: Questions are crumpled into balls and teams throw them at each other. Every question caught is one the team gets the chance to answer.
  • Academic Whiz Kid: Each student on a team gets a round of questions only they can answer. Individual scores add up to form the team score.
  • Scavenger hunt: [No clue how this would work!]
  • Escape-room type clues: [No clue how this would work!]
  • Blook-It: Online. I haven’t looked into this yet, so it would need some testing out.
  • Gimkit: Online. I haven’t looked into this yet, so it would need some testing out.

After testing a few of these, I settled on traditional format, Jeopardy, Kahoot, Relay, and possibly Pictionary, depending on time. To further entice participants, we dropped the list from thirteen to eleven books, and instead of requiring participants to read at least three books, we lowered the bar to one.

I usually run a “mock” Battle of the Books during announcements to raise interest, and the mock Battle with different formats went well; I did get more sign ups than in previous years. Time for me, the other librarians, and generous colleagues to start reading the books, writing up the questions, and planning the rounds.

It was when I set about reformatting traditional questions into questions for Jeopardy, Kahoot, and relays that I realized…wow, this was going to take a lot longer than I thought! Because I run a required 5th grade Battle plus the voluntary 6th-8th grade Battle, I had to create eight Jeopardy rounds, six Kahoot rounds, five relay rounds, title Pictionary, and eleven traditional rounds. It took hours and hours, and I would definitely ask for help if we do it again!

I got a test run of the format with my 5th grade, who all participate. Though it was a little chaotic, 5th grade generally is, and the only format that didn’t work very well was the relays. The students participating enjoyed it, but the non-participants didn’t get to hear the questions, as they would with the other rounds, so they were bored. Plus, even though we’d formatted the questions so that every slip of paper listed every possible title and author, with boxes to tick off, the judges checking the slips had to check the answer key for everything. That meant that working out the score took almost as long as the round, so all the kids were bored and the teacher was stressed out trying to finish. I decided that when I ran the relay rounds in my 6th-8th prelims, the non-participating teams would do the scoring.

So, my 6th-8th prelims ran smoothly, right? Yeah, no. Despite as many reminders as I could manage, a third of the students forgot or decided to ghost, which meant the teams were so unbalanced I had to reshuffle on the fly. No one was really happy about it, but we struggled on. Then a few of the missing students actually showed up because they remembered, so we had to shuffle the teams again, and again no one was really happy with it. At least the technology worked!

My plan for the relay rounds failed, because the kids weren’t any faster at scoring than the teachers, and most were completely confused. So, note to self, never do relays again. In the end, we couldn’t come up with any winning teams to go on to the finals, because the teams had been so shuffled. I told the kids to let me know if they wanted to participate in the final, and I put together two teams from that list.

On to the final! As this was virtual, there were all the usual headaches of trying to remember our Pandemic knowledge of Microsoft Teams meetings, Polycom cameras, and sharing screens. One of our new tech staff worked hard to get it sorted out for me, with all the various inputs and outputs, sound, screen sharing, microphones, etc. This time, all of my students showed up on time and the other two schools signed on at the right time as well.

Everything went great until we got to the Jeopardy rounds. No matter how much I tried, I could not get the screen to share without showing all the answers. I ended up reading the questions off my phone, which was far from ideal, but the kids gamely rolled with it. The template I used also had a glitch in that followed links didn’t change color, so I never knew (in any of the Battle sessions) which questions had already been chosen, and the system I came up with instead didn’t work well and students felt it wasn’t entirely fair. The Kahoot went off without a hitch on our end, but was apparently glitchy for the other schools. We multiplied the Kahoot scores by .009 (90 being the highest possible score in a traditional round) to bring them into line with the other scores. In Jeopardy, each question was worth the same number of points, for fairness’ sake.

So, would I attempt multiple format again? Probably not for the three-school Battle, due to the complicated technology issues. For Battles on campus, the kids seemed to enjoy the new formats, so I’d probably try them again if I can solve these problems: 1. The time and effort needed to convert the questions into different formats. 2. Getting students to show up at the right time and place.

And that’s all the wisdom I have, folks! (For certain values of “wisdom,” anyway…)

Want to Rizz Up Your Library Catalog Lesson? Throw Some Zombies in It!

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One of the skills I teach to incoming fifth graders is how to use our online catalog. The lesson is brief, so I start by going over how to access the catalog, how to search and filter/narrow by wild cards or phrase searching, and how to interpret the catalog record. Necessary, but boring!

A former librarian had spiced up the practice part of the lesson by using a story full of blanks to be filled with words from catalog searches based on clues. I liked the idea, but thought the story—‘Mr. Dewey’s Naughty Boy’—wasn’t exactly riveting. So I wrote my own story, tailored to our catalog, though I’ll admit I had to add a couple of no-copy records to the catalog to make it work (#Sorry-Not-Sorry).

When I introduce the story, the class and I do the first blank together, so I can show them the process. I emphasize how to interpret the clue so they know what to look up, and emphasize that they should find the most unusual word in the clue to use as a keyword rather than laboriously type in the entire clue (which they still do, because, of course. #FacePalm). Then I pass out slips with one clue on each, and the students work in teams to solve them. At the end, I read the story aloud, calling on them to fill in the missing words.

Below is the story, and here’s our catalog: see how you do! (And if you just want to see the completed story, click here.)

The Scene: The police received an emergency call from the Overlake Library. When they arrived, they found the library abandoned. Windows and doors were smashed, computers tipped over, and books lay all over the floor. The books had been ripped apart and mangled. What happened?

Clues from Eyewitness Accounts

1. It was a normal day in the library until all the students heard a strange sound, like a:

__________________________________

Title of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book by Laban Hill

2. The students in the library heard hundreds of voices shouting for:

________________________________

Title of a book by Sherre Phillips

3. When the horde descended on the library, it sounded as if someone had taken too literally:

___________________________________

The first six words in the title of a book by Rain Newcomb  

4. The police received an emergency phone call from someone who said the library was being attacked by:

__________________________________

Creatures from a baseball book by Paolo Bacigalupi

5. All of the students thought they’d get famous if they became:

_________________________________

Title of Emmanuel Guibert’s only nonfiction book (call number 070.4)

6. Each student in the library whipped out a:

____________________________

Technology in the title of a Myth-O-Mania  series book about Persephone

7. Ms. McCandlish shouted over the chaos.  “Don’t worry! I have a book called…”

____________________________

Title of a book by Max Brooks (look him up as an author)

8. After Ms. McCandlish told the students what to do, each threw a:

________________________________

Title of a book by Karen Brookfield

9. One student threw:

 _________________________________

Title of a book by Clive Upton

10. The creature ate the book and started spouting:

_______________________________

    Title of a book written or edited by “Peter Washington” (be sure to use the quotation marks!)

    11. One student threw:

    ________________

    Title of a book by Alessandro Taverna

    12. The creature ate the book and became a:

    _____________________________

    Last name of the author of Under Shifting Glass

    13. One student threw:

    _________________________________

    First three words in the title of a book by Terry Lee Stone

    14. The creature ate the book and started:

    _________________________________

    Title of a book by Amy Gordon

    15. Ms. McCandlish shouted, “Keep throwing! They’ve got:

    ______________________________!”

    First two words in the title of a book by Nancy Pearl from 2003 (Call number: 011.73)

    16. The students threw as many books as:

    _______________________________

    The number of “splendid suns” in a book by Khaled Hosseini

    17. While the creatures were distracted, Ms. McCandlish whispered to the raven statue:

    ____________________________

    Title of a book by Kelly Creagh

    18. Ms. McCandlish led the kids to safety through a:

    _________________________________

    Title of a book by Betty Cavanna

    19. To explain where the creatures had gone, Ms. McCandlish said: “I think what happened to them is…”

    _________________________________

    What happened to Henry in a book by Oliver Jeffers. (Read the book’s summary!)

    20. Ms. McCandlish said: “The books were:

    __________________________

    The title of a book by Sonia Levitin 

    Reading Culture Survey

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    At the start of the year, wanting to build our reading culture, a few teachers and I formed a reading culture committee. For our first action, we decided to survey the students about their reading. We would use their responses to determine our next steps. With the bribe of being entered into a raffle for homeroom cookies, over 70 of our 200+ middle schoolers responded, and here are their responses. For questions about “other” responses, if the responses were minimal or uninformative, I omitted the results here.

    1. Anything else you’d like to say about your reading?

    • I love reading, and I read mostly young adult fiction, fantasy, or romance. I don’t read as much as I used to because of the amounts of homework.
    • I love to read and it is fun to see all the different ways the author wrote the book.
    • I love finding out the answers to the mysteries performed by the book and author!!!
    • I love reading ([My friend] made me write this, but it is true)
    • I like reading adventure books and mystery books.
    • I read a lot and like reading! but sometimes other things get in the way.
    • I love reading especially when I need a break so I might join the focus club.
    • No but I want to know why we are doing this survey.
    • I get thirty minutes of reading time, because I listen to audiobooks in the car. I get no actual reading time at home, because [of other obligations].
    • I really like to read on my own, but when someone tells me to read, I feel like I don’t want to read anymore.
    • I like reading, but do less if I have too much other work or activities.
    • I like writing books.
    • Nothing about reading, but I love cookies!
    • I especially love historical-fiction/fiction.

    Conclusions
    We can see that for students who read, while regular print books are still the most popular reading material, they are also reading multiple other formats. I find that encouraging, and hope by listing all of those options as reading, students who might not have considered themselves readers will re-think that.

    Many students do not read a whole lot each week. We found their reasons telling, as the top two were too much homework and too many other obligations. Based on this, we decided we needed to find them more time to read at school. We are planning a “drop everything and read” wellness event, in which they will all read in their homerooms for a block. In addition, students who choose not to join an affinity group will instead join a “drop everything and read” group during fortnightly affinity group meetings. We are also working on setting up an evening for student writers to read from their works, since so many are writers.

    Building reading culture is certainly a marathon! It’s especially so when all of us are so busy that our reading culture group finds it hard to meet. However, we are moving forward bit by bit, and plan to keep at it. If you have some great ideas that have worked at your school, please add them in the comments!