The Many Hats of a School Librarian

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy My rating: 5 of 5 stars I wasn't looking forward to reading this because I thought it might be too serious and I prefer light, funny, or dystopian. I thought this one might feel too real and I get very emotional very easily. I bit the bullet and started reading it and all of a sudden my whole life drifted away and I was in hot, dusty, rural Afghanistan feeling all of the feelings of a 13 year old girl who lived there. Her life is so different than mine and I craved being in the town with her, watching her, praying for her. I thought I would get frustrated because of the way women are treated there or get mad that she didn't understand how much better her life could be. But I didn't. I just wanted to follow her and understand her life. The only time I got frustrated was when it was certain that the American army captain did not understand the cultural rules and disrespected the father. I stayed up too late, and...

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really liked this! I don't make a point to read the backs of the MHL nominees, I just read the book no matter what it is about. This one may have alerted me to a twist or two, but I'm glad it didn't. I enjoyed letting this story unfold. View all my reviews

Creativity by E.B. Lewis My rating: 5 of 5 stars The teachers at our school just had a meeting yesterday about what it might be like to follow the rules of culture. We talked about how it might be hard for a student new to our school to know what all of the rules are if we don't teach them. The rules at their last school or home might be very different. This book is a perfect illustration to that. Hector is a boy that is new to the class from Puerto Rico, and Charles a boy in the class gets to know him and helps him figure out how to fit in at his new school. It really spoke to the fact that each school has a different culture of rules and expectations for learning and making friends and the best way to learn those rules is to have a trusted friend help explain them. Sometimes, a book resonates more because of the timing in which you read it. That was definitely the case today! View all my reviews

The Pied Piper of Peru by Ann Tompert My rating: 4 of 5 stars At first, I thought that this would be a book that I would want to take out of the library because it looks a little old. but then I started reading and I immediately wanted to know what would happen to the little mouse colony! Would they starve, die, move? And how does the benevolent Brother Martin solve the problem of being told to kill the mice? View all my reviews

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu My rating: 3 of 5 stars I will change my review when I really read it. soon... View all my reviews

Moo! by David LaRochelle My rating: 5 of 5 stars Moo. Mooo. Moo! I love it, my students love it! It's a great way to talk about how punctuation and size of words changes the meaning. The illustrations are funny. I wear a button that says Moo! on my work badge. View all my reviews

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Hilarious! I love the point of view of each crayon. It really shows that everyone sees things a little differently, everyone has a different experience, and everyone is needed to make a perfect box of crayons. It makes me think just a bit differently when I color. View all my reviews