The Backlist Reader Challenge: fifteen books I've been hoarding on my To Read shelf are getting read this year! 📚 #BacklistReader
Reading Goals 2020
The Orphan in My Family Tree, Part 8
This is Part 8 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.... Continue Reading →
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.
Reader Response: Ulysses
I look forward to doing a book review for Ulysses next, but a Reader Response based on my margin notes felt more appropriate given the nature of the work. Okay so this may not be as bad as I remember I mean it’s just some dudes eating breakfast and borrowing money from each other and then... Continue Reading →
Reading the Hard Stuff
We believe that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. -ALA's The Freedom to Read Statement
Informed Voters
Photo credit: The featured image on this post is Vote by Theresa Thompson, made available via a Creative Commons 2.0 license by personalincom.org/vote. I became a librarian because I am passionate about empowering people by connecting them with information they can use to positive effect in their lives and communities. With the election fast approaching, we all continue to... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Sapiens
The Vagabond Teen and I took Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari on the road this summer. We listened to the audio book on road trip days, read some chapters in our down time, and further dove into the subject of humankind, our biology, and our social history by watching videos about early humans and... Continue Reading →
Book Review & Library Lesson: Tribe
This book...will serve as a valuable learning tool to emphasize to young writers the importance of maintaining a clear main idea in their writing and of utilizing an organized system of citation to give credence to their work.
Book Review: Antifragile
I tackled Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Antifragile slowly--both to reflect on Taleb's ideas, and because reading this book is like hanging out with a brilliant and obnoxious friend who is best taken in small doses. Nearly a year later, reading the book's Conclusion, I found Taleb had articulated exactly why I couldn't stay away from this... Continue Reading →
Transforming Stories Collaboration Celebration
I'm excited to share this celebration video I'm creating for one of the classes I worked with during my practicum. I am going through their project packets to provide a final round of feedback---and am excited that their planning and creativity resulted in some amazing projects! Sharing a few snippets of their hard work seemed like a great... Continue Reading →
Kate Gukeisen 