Readers' advisory with middle schoolers does not come easily. In an effort to expand students' reading horizons, the author describes how to teach students to speak intelligently and thoughtfully about their book preferences. She cites Joyce Saricks's "Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library" (ALA, 2005), a book that gave her the clarity…

Audiobooks are excellent tools to help students build literacy skills as well as improve listening, writing, and vocabulary competencies. In many shared or independent reading situations, audiobooks offer support to reluctant and struggling readers, special-needs students, and English-language learners. They are also embraced by voracious readers.…

As a group, readers' advisory (RA) librarians are a chatty bunch when it comes to what they are reading. They share book ideas with their friends and families. The adoption of online RA conversation forms is helping to extend these opportunities even further and offers a fascinating testing ground for RA work. Librarians have found that offering…

Genre is a hot issue in readers' advisory (RA) circles right now. Many people are looking at how genre functions and morphs. Studying a genre is not a new idea. Over two decades ago, and even longer in less formal ways, librarians began gathering to study genres--asking such questions as in what genre does this book fit and why, what are its…

This article offers a savvy guide to the best graphic nonfiction books for middle schoolers. These include: "Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography" by Andrew Hefler; "Clan Apis" by Jay Hosler; and "Corpses and Skeletons: The Science of Forensic Anthropology" by Rob Shone.

Dogs are indeed people's best friends. A majority of owners report that their dog is a "member of the family," and that acceptable canine behavior and optimal care are high priorities for them. The human-animal bond, the close connection between people and their pets, is forged by positive interactions, but unacceptable canine behaviors that…

This article offers a savvy guide to the best graphic nonfiction books for teens. Many of these titles work well with teens, offering them quick access to facts and an enjoyable encounter with books and information literacy. In putting together this list of essential titles for high schoolers, the author searched for graphic nonfiction that is…

Street lit is controversial stuff. Even though street lit is a huge hit with today's teens, one will not find the semiautobiographical novels of Vickie Stringer and Nikki Turner, the grandes dames of urban fiction, on many (if any) high school reading lists or, for that matter, on some public libraries' shelves. That's because street lit (aka…

As the end of the calendar year approaches, many begin to think about the holiday season. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's all bring an opportunity to bring family and friends together. Libraries will be stocked with titles to help folks remember classic stories and introduce them to new tales as well. Educators can use holiday books…

This article presents an interview with Cassandra Barnett, a school library media specialist at Fayetteville (Arkansas) High School. She is also a member of the AASL Learning Standards Rewrite Task Force, which has been working on developing AASL's new National Learning Standards. Fayetteville schools experienced multiple challenges during…

Recommends bibliotherapy as a way in which school media specialists can help children become more independent and more socially and emotionally mature. Situations for which bibliotherapy is appropriate and the importance of discussions and other follow-up activities are covered. (8 references) (MES)

Employing a metaphor of romantic relationship (e.g., monographic selections are like one-night stands; periodical selections are more like marriages), this paper assists the librarian in the selection of monographic periodicals for library music collections. It recommends finding existing titles through advertisements in other similar periodicals.…

Noting that nonfiction literature for children came of age in the 1990s, this book is a comprehensive tool for K-8 teachers, librarians, and students to use in learning to make good decisions about the quality of nonfiction titles. Each chapter in the book describes a specific aspect of the complexity found in nonfiction literature: the various…

Noting that research indicating Newbery Medal books are not popular with elementary students in spite of their unquestioned superiority in plot, characterization, and style, a study examined the readability level of Newbery Medal winners from 1974 to 1986. Three readability formulas were used to assess readability: Gunning's Fog Index, Fry…

Criteria for choosing biblical reading materials for children are described, including story content, vocabulary, denominational biases, illustrations, and intended use of the materials. An annotated bibliography is provided which includes evaluations based on the criteria mentioned. (CLB)