Remember, this responding to this week's posts are for enrichment - not a course requirement.
#1) In the article “A New Look at Information Books”, Kay Weisman gives numerous selection criteria for informational text: Text, Illustrations, Accuracy, Layout/Design, Point of View, Organization, Approach, Bias, Reviews and awards, and Annual Lists. She also gives other considerations, such as writing style. Give an example of a nonfiction title (include bibliographic information) that you think would fit these criteria. This can be specific to the library you are currently working in, or you can relate it to the category of books you are writing your CDP for. Give your reasoning behind why this title meets all the criteria and how it benefits your community.
#2) In the article “Basic Selection Tools: 21st Century Style”, Jody K Howards states “Selecting materials for school libraries has always been a challenging task, but it has become much more complicated in the 21st Century.” (pg,9) Do you agree or disagree with this statement? She gave several tools that aid librarians in their selection of resources. Which one(s) do you currently use the most or think you will use when you are working in a library? Do you know of any other selection tools that are not listed in the article that would be worth checking out?
#3) In Russell F. Dennison’s article “Quality assessment of collection development through tiered checklists: can you prove you are a good collection developer?”, he states “One of the earliest and still one of the most frequently used methods of collection-centered evaluation is checklisting. Checklisting is the comparison of the library’s holdings against an authoritative list.” (p. 24) What authoritative list(s) do you think should be referenced by every librarian when evaluating his or her collection and why? You can make your response specific to the school level (elementary, middle, or high school) you are currently working in or the level you desire to have a position in.
After reading Weisman’s article, “A New Look at Information Books,” a number of nonfiction books I’ve read began to flash in my mind. Then I thought about how each book had its own aesthetic qualities to convey information. Last semester I read, “Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's Parade” for my children’s literature class. At the time, my students were learning about different biographies and I shared this book (and others) with my students to show them that “information books exhibit many stylistic approaches.” (10) They really enjoyed how the author used a unique way to tell the life story of Master Puppeteer, Tony Sarg.
The following criteria apply to this book:
Layout/Design: Sweet’s design and style of this book appeals to all ages. From the cover to inside, this picture book biography tells about the toy collector and master puppeteer, Tony Sarg, who is the face behind the Macy’s Day Parade helium balloons. In addition to the colorful watercolor illustrations, Sweet uses different art mediums: 3-D, a variety of fonts, thought bubbles, and photographs to tell his story from beginning to end. Accuracy: The book begins with information about Tony Sarg's toy collection and a photograph of him, and also closes with more facts and a photo of Sarg and a balloon creation, personal “thank-you,” and a list of sources cited. Organization: The story is sequential and easy to follow. Sweet explains step-by-step how the balloons were shaped and evolved. The illustrations compliment the progression of how Tony’s idea evolved and became a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day tradition that we all enjoy today. Approach: Sweet’s picture-book narrative approach to tell how Tony Sarg began to create his puppets, keeps reader’s engaged with the turn of every page.
This book has won numerous awards: • Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Winner - 2012 • NCTE Orbis Pictus Award- 2012
Something I did point out to my students is that this book is considered a narrative non-fiction, and does not include everything about the topic, but can be used as an informational source. However, I did point out that the author included other bibliographic information in the back that could help them learn more about Tony Sarg.
Sandra
Bibliography: Sweet, M., & Newborn, R. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
I love this book! It was apart of the 2013-2014 Bluebonnet List. My kids read it and also performed readers theater to it. I paired video of the original Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with the read out loud so they could see the actual balloons the book referenced. I have found narrative nonfiction is a great way to tell a story. I think this is a great choice.
Sandra, I absolutely loved _Balloons over Broadway_. In fact, last year it was a Young Hoosier title, so I read it to all of my students 1-4 right before Thanksgiving. Then, we had our own Macy's Day parade in the library with the puppets we made from the publisher's website.
I know what you mean about narrative non-fiction not including *everything.* I think it's important that we show how no source includes everything, but some have a narrowed lens while others have more broader lenses. I think it is important for our biography collections to have both.
I too love this book. During my biography unit, students were to choose a person to research and present on. One of my students really enjoyed this book and chose Tony Sarg to learn more about. For her product, she made several "puppets" out of balloons shaped liked animals and put them on dowels. I like the narrowed lens and broader lens analogy, it's a great way to explain how some informational books are written. I also agree that biography collections should have both.
I absolutely love the idea of creating their own Macy's Day parade. This is something I can see myself doing with my students.
I definitely agree with Jody Howard. Like Howard states, “The goals of developing school library collections have not changed drastically since the early days of school libraries (Johnson 2009, 9; Roscello 2004, 6). The difference today is the process, the materials, and the formats of these materials have changed. (pg. 10) Librarians nowadays must have a well- balanced collection that houses different formats, helps support the school curriculum, while also at the same time keeping in mind that the information needs of the students are being addressed. In my opinion, this is no easy task, as one major key factor creates stress-Budgets. Speaking only from the little knowledge I have gained from following and pestering my current librarian around, the library budget seems to continue to be cut year after year. This places an extra amount pressure on her when deciding on what she will be able to purchase for her collection. Last semester I got a chance to see her in action when she was going through her purchasing phase. First of all, I saw that she consulted with all grade level staff to see if there were any changes to the curriculum and if so, of what topics the staff would be needing new resources from in order to add them to her “needs” list. Next, I also saw that she sets up meeting with vendors. This was where I actually got to see what some of this article talks about. I typically imagined that vendors would come and just be pushy and try to sell you books, but I was pleasantly surprised that the vendors were extremely knowledgeable, and came with lists that had already created with “suggested” materials that were grade appropriate and that had been recommended as suggestions according to the collection needs of our school. My librarian met with the vendor(s) and using the lists she had made of suggestions, they created their list of materials that she was purchasing this year. For general information books, I did not see her do much, but for other material, like chapter books, I would see that she would look for reviews and what awards and best lists it was on, if any. She took about 3 days to do this, taking the material home to study it, as she told me that it was not an easy task. She had to make sure that she stretched her budget to include a variety of resources such as print books, DVD’s, and even some money to maintain access to electronic book sites (sorry my brain completely forgot the names of the ones we have for our students). So although I wasn’t present with her throughout the whole process of developing her selection for this year, the snippets that I did get to be a part of have really helped me to realize that when I have my library, I will need to first of all review my selection policy and then turn to the many award/best lists and review sources that are out there in order to make a determination as to what material “would” be appropriate to include in my collection. Being that it is impossible for a librarian to read all books, review sources and award/best lists, are the sources that I think I will be depending on the most in order for guidance when deciding on what to select for my library because they will provide me with opinions and information based on the content of the material from people that have actually read the book. In addition, Howard mentions that we must also consider what resources will best serve the needs of our library community. Although it is recommended that we have several formats of materials, one must really consider whether having that format will be beneficial for our library community or not. In our case, our library population is really into technology, and most students and families have access to computers or tablets, which allows my librarian the opportunity to provide for electronic resources for our community. I feel that I was very lucky to have had the opportunity this past semester to witness this and be able to relate it to our reading this week.
Remember, this responding to this week's posts are for enrichment - not a course requirement.
ReplyDelete#1) In the article “A New Look at Information Books”, Kay Weisman gives numerous selection criteria for informational text: Text, Illustrations, Accuracy, Layout/Design, Point of View, Organization, Approach, Bias, Reviews and awards, and Annual Lists. She also gives other considerations, such as writing style. Give an example of a nonfiction title (include bibliographic information) that you think would fit these criteria. This can be specific to the library you are currently working in, or you can relate it to the category of books you are writing your CDP for. Give your reasoning behind why this title meets all the criteria and how it benefits your community.
#2) In the article “Basic Selection Tools: 21st Century Style”, Jody K Howards states “Selecting materials for school libraries has always been a challenging task, but it has become much more complicated in the 21st Century.” (pg,9) Do you agree or disagree with this statement? She gave several tools that aid librarians in their selection of resources. Which one(s) do you currently use the most or think you will use when you are working in a library? Do you know of any other selection tools that are not listed in the article that would be worth checking out?
#3) In Russell F. Dennison’s article “Quality assessment of collection development through tiered checklists: can you prove you are a good collection developer?”, he states “One of the earliest and still one of the most frequently used methods of collection-centered evaluation is checklisting. Checklisting is the comparison of the library’s holdings against an authoritative list.” (p. 24) What authoritative list(s) do you think should be referenced by every librarian when evaluating his or her collection and why? You can make your response specific to the school level (elementary, middle, or high school) you are currently working in or the level you desire to have a position in.
Question #1
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Weisman’s article, “A New Look at Information Books,” a number of nonfiction books I’ve read began to flash in my mind. Then I thought about how each book had its own aesthetic qualities to convey information. Last semester I read, “Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's Parade” for my children’s literature class. At the time, my students were learning about different biographies and I shared this book (and others) with my students to show them that “information books exhibit many stylistic approaches.” (10) They really enjoyed how the author used a unique way to tell the life story of Master Puppeteer, Tony Sarg.
The following criteria apply to this book:
Layout/Design: Sweet’s design and style of this book appeals to all ages. From the cover to inside, this picture book biography tells about the toy collector and master puppeteer, Tony Sarg, who is the face behind the Macy’s Day Parade helium balloons. In addition to the colorful watercolor illustrations, Sweet uses different art mediums: 3-D, a variety of fonts, thought bubbles, and photographs to tell his story from beginning to end.
Accuracy: The book begins with information about Tony Sarg's toy collection and a photograph of him, and also closes with more facts and a photo of Sarg and a balloon creation, personal “thank-you,” and a list of sources cited.
Organization: The story is sequential and easy to follow. Sweet explains step-by-step how the balloons were shaped and evolved. The illustrations compliment the progression of how Tony’s idea evolved and became a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day tradition that we all enjoy today.
Approach: Sweet’s picture-book narrative approach to tell how Tony Sarg began to create his puppets, keeps reader’s engaged with the turn of every page.
This book has won numerous awards:
• Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Winner - 2012
• NCTE Orbis Pictus Award- 2012
Something I did point out to my students is that this book is considered a narrative non-fiction, and does not include everything about the topic, but can be used as an informational source. However, I did point out that the author included other bibliographic information in the back that could help them learn more about Tony Sarg.
Sandra
Bibliography:
Sweet, M., & Newborn, R. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
I love this book! It was apart of the 2013-2014 Bluebonnet List. My kids read it and also performed readers theater to it. I paired video of the original Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with the read out loud so they could see the actual balloons the book referenced. I have found narrative nonfiction is a great way to tell a story. I think this is a great choice.
DeleteSandra, I absolutely loved _Balloons over Broadway_. In fact, last year it was a Young Hoosier title, so I read it to all of my students 1-4 right before Thanksgiving. Then, we had our own Macy's Day parade in the library with the puppets we made from the publisher's website.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about narrative non-fiction not including *everything.* I think it's important that we show how no source includes everything, but some have a narrowed lens while others have more broader lenses. I think it is important for our biography collections to have both.
Thanks for posting!
~jmf
Lana and JMF,
DeleteI too love this book. During my biography unit, students were to choose a person to research and present on. One of my students really enjoyed this book and chose Tony Sarg to learn more about. For her product, she made several "puppets" out of balloons shaped liked animals and put them on dowels.
I like the narrowed lens and broader lens analogy, it's a great way to explain how some informational books are written. I also agree that biography collections should have both.
I absolutely love the idea of creating their own Macy's Day parade. This is something I can see myself doing with my students.
Sandra
Question # 2
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Jody Howard. Like Howard states, “The goals of developing school library collections have not changed drastically since the early days of school libraries (Johnson 2009, 9; Roscello 2004, 6). The difference today is the process, the materials, and the formats of these materials have changed. (pg. 10) Librarians nowadays must have a well- balanced collection that houses different formats, helps support the school curriculum, while also at the same time keeping in mind that the information needs of the students are being addressed. In my opinion, this is no easy task, as one major key factor creates stress-Budgets. Speaking only from the little knowledge I have gained from following and pestering my current librarian around, the library budget seems to continue to be cut year after year. This places an extra amount pressure on her when deciding on what she will be able to purchase for her collection. Last semester I got a chance to see her in action when she was going through her purchasing phase. First of all, I saw that she consulted with all grade level staff to see if there were any changes to the curriculum and if so, of what topics the staff would be needing new resources from in order to add them to her “needs” list. Next, I also saw that she sets up meeting with vendors. This was where I actually got to see what some of this article talks about. I typically imagined that vendors would come and just be pushy and try to sell you books, but I was pleasantly surprised that the vendors were extremely knowledgeable, and came with lists that had already created with “suggested” materials that were grade appropriate and that had been recommended as suggestions according to the collection needs of our school. My librarian met with the vendor(s) and using the lists she had made of suggestions, they created their list of materials that she was purchasing this year. For general information books, I did not see her do much, but for other material, like chapter books, I would see that she would look for reviews and what awards and best lists it was on, if any. She took about 3 days to do this, taking the material home to study it, as she told me that it was not an easy task. She had to make sure that she stretched her budget to include a variety of resources such as print books, DVD’s, and even some money to maintain access to electronic book sites (sorry my brain completely forgot the names of the ones we have for our students). So although I wasn’t present with her throughout the whole process of developing her selection for this year, the snippets that I did get to be a part of have really helped me to realize that when I have my library, I will need to first of all review my selection policy and then turn to the many award/best lists and review sources that are out there in order to make a determination as to what material “would” be appropriate to include in my collection. Being that it is impossible for a librarian to read all books, review sources and award/best lists, are the sources that I think I will be depending on the most in order for guidance when deciding on what to select for my library because they will provide me with opinions and information based on the content of the material from people that have actually read the book. In addition, Howard mentions that we must also consider what resources will best serve the needs of our library community. Although it is recommended that we have several formats of materials, one must really consider whether having that format will be beneficial for our library community or not. In our case, our library population is really into technology, and most students and families have access to computers or tablets, which allows my librarian the opportunity to provide for electronic resources for our community. I feel that I was very lucky to have had the opportunity this past semester to witness this and be able to relate it to our reading this week.
-Yilsa DLS