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Reading is Life
The last week of the school year hits different every year. While the circulation stats, anecdotal evidence, and conversations with colleagues reveal many of our students are reading more than last year, we still have so very many students who are struggling and below grade level. I do not despair for them, because the teachers…
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A Taxonomy of the Middle School Library Patron
Middle schoolers are a specific kind of human. They are simultaneously the most earnest and the most performatively indifferent people on the planet. They will die of embarrassment if you compliment their book choice in front of their friends, and then come back the next day alone to tell you they loved it and need…
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You Belong Here (And So Does Everything Else, Apparently)
The narrative details a hectic week in a middle school library, highlighting the multifaceted responsibilities of a librarian. It begins with the librarian setting up a “You Belong Here” theme while juggling tasks like managing inter-library loans and addressing a parent complaint about a book. Each day presents unique challenges: hosting events, coordinating logistics, and…
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The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 7
This is Part 7 of The Orphan in My Family Tree. It is the true tale of my ongoing search for the parents of my great great grandpa Fritz, who was orphaned in New York City in the late 1870s and sent, at the age of seven, to live with a foster family in Bow Valley, Nebraska.…
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The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 6
This is Part 6 of The Orphan in My Family Tree. It is the true tale of my ongoing search for the parents of my great great grandpa Fritz, who was orphaned in New York City in the late 1870s and sent, at the age of seven, to live with a foster family in Bow Valley, Nebraska.…
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The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 4
This is Part 4 of The Orphan in My Family Tree. It is the true tale of my ongoing search for the parents of my great great grandpa Fritz, who was orphaned in New York City in the late 1870s and sent, at the age of seven, to live with a foster family in Bow Valley, Nebraska.…
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The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 3
This is Part 3 of The Orphan in My Family Tree. It is the true tale of my ongoing search for the parents of my great great grandpa Fritz, who was orphaned in New York City in the late 1870s and sent, at the age of seven, to live with a foster family in Bow Valley, Nebraska.…
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The Half-Pint Award: What’s in a Name?
I am instead suggesting we have continued conversations as a reading community about building the best collections we can that include characters and stories that have the potential to connect with each of us in a way that makes us all better and that increases our understanding of our society, our history, and our connectedness.
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Book Review: Ulysses
I appreciate Joyce’s technique and experiments with style. I found his echoes of, and connections to, other literary works rather fun. I, in turns, enjoyed Joyce’s cleverness and found that cleverness eye-rollingly overdone.
Dog-eared & Overdue 