🌐 🙌 Celebrating Diversity Through Book Trailers

A celebration of diversity and inclusivity has been underway these last two weeks as the student body celebrates Culture Week. Students could sign up to watch book trailers featuring stories with diverse characters and written by diverse authors. With each click of the play button, students embarked on a journey of exploration, delving into the district voices and experiences that make up the literary world.

To access the document, click HERE.

These powerful narratives--many of them new books in the collection--explored themes of identity and belonging or were heartwarming tales of friendship and resilience. Students were not only entertained but also enlightened, gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation for the diverse perspectives that shape our society.

In our library, diversity isn't just celebrated; it's embraced wholeheartedly as we strive to create an inclusive space where every student feels seen, heard, and valued. When offering book trailers featuring diverse voices, we aim to spark curiosity, empathy, and a lifelong love of reading. So come join us on this journey of discovery as we celebrate the beauty of diversity through the pages of our books this week during Culture Week and every week. Happy viewing! 📚✨

🌎 It's Culture Week!

Because Culture Week was such a hit among students and staff a year ago, it's now a 2-week event with a week showcasing student, staff, and community presentations both in the fall and again the in spring. (You can read about earlier Culture Week sessions here.) Two sessions were offered in the library this week: Diversity in Books and Creation Stories from Around the World. 

Like previous Culture Week sessions, students could again sign up to watch book trailers and talk about diverse books. This time, students accessed a Google Drawing featuring 15 diverse titles that included book trailers or author interviews. While some of the titles have been part of the collection, new books to the collection were also included to encourage browsing and checkout during our time together.

CLICK HERE to access the resource.

Another sessions students could choose to attend featured creation myths from a variety of cultures. We chatted about several of the beginning Slides and identified the Adam and Eve/Garden of Eden story as a creation story they were already familiar with, and we also applied several elements from the Slides to the the Garden of Eden story. 

LINK to presentation

After our discussion, students had time to access the Slides presentation to move through an interactive world map featuring creation stories from several different cultures.

Clicking on a box took students to a Slide with a brief description and video about the creation story. Finally, then, students had the opportunity to add to a Padlet to reflect on what they'd seen or read.

Students had the option to watch and work independently or with others, and throughout their work, we continued to chat with each other about what they were seeing and what they already knew about creation stories, the cultures featured, or their Culture Week experience so far.

Culture Week continues through Friday, so students will have the opportunity to attend more sessions lead by students and staff.

📚😍 New Books!

Back from the holiday break, students can now browse and check out new books that have been recently added to the collection.

Clip art from EduClips

Many of the new books are fiction, but also included in the order are poetry books, narrative nonfiction, and graphic novels. Many are by authors already popular with students. You can see a lot of them below:

Students could also visit the library during advisory to watch book trailers for some of the new books. They accessed a Google Doc with links to YouTube trailers.

CLICK HERE to access the trailers document.

Feel free to stop by to take a look at the new books! Happy reading!

Wrapping up National Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15 - October 15 is traditionally celebrated as National Hispanic Heritage Month. In the past, library displays and advisory activities have helped introduce students to the people, culture, history, places, and more related to this month of recognition. (You can read an earlier blog post HERE.) 

CLICK HERE to access the 1-pager.

Several books in the library feature Hispanic characters or are written by Hispanic authors--you can see a few of them below:

Want to know more about the books or find others that relate to National Hispanic Heritage Month? Check out this playlist of book trailers:

Hope to see you soon in the library--maybe even to check out one of the featured books here! :)

👀 #TakeALookTuesday--New Books Edition

Recently several new books have been added to the collection. Titles are both fiction and nonfiction and in multiple formats--graphic novels, novels in verse, and prose. 

See something you like and want to know more? You can watch book trailers for several of the books HERE, or you can access them from the playlist below.

More new books are on the way, so be sure to stop by regularly to see the newest additions! Hope to see you soon--happy reading!

👀 #TakeALookTuesday--Diverse Titles Edition

We're celebrating Culture Week here at DCG HS, and students are able to self-select from more than three dozen sessions discussing everything from food insecurity to specific countries to music and holidays. One session available to students is watching book trailers for books from diverse authors and/or featuring diverse characters.

CLICK HERE to access the book trailer playlist.

Nearly of the titles from the graphic are included on a YouTube playlist of diverse titles, along with several more titles that are currently checked out. To make browsing more convenient--and to talk about the books more easily--the titles are on display together in the library as well.

Students visited the library to watch trailers and talk about books of interest and read alikes, and while they were here, we also talked about accessing the titles electronically on MackinVIA.

Not able to make it to one of the book trailer sessions? No worries! Just stop by the library to browse the display--and chat about one of these or other titles and authors you're interested in!

Promoting Books with QR Code Book Trailers

With students heading into the second half of the semester, many are moving on to another or new book in their reading classes. That means it's time to get creative in promoting both our newer and not-as-new titles in the collection. Time to draw on the work of others and use book trailers to promote students' next reads!

YouTube is almost always my go-to for book trailers as I subscribe to several publishers' and library channels. But how to engage students with the trailers? QR codes to the rescue! Students have their phones, and cameras now access QR code content. And thanks to Tony Vincent from Learning in Hand, there's an easy-to-use sticky note template that can include not only the QR code, but a short teaser about the book. 

CLICK HERE to access Learning in Hand & the template.

With book trailers' addresses ready to copy, it's off to a free QR code generator website; I used QR Code Generator, which allows for multiple codes and even has a multi-video feature. I chose individual QR codes to insert onto the sticky note template, then added a short teaser. Take a look:

Once I have the sticky notes ready to go, it's time to get them onto books displayed on the shelves. I was sure to include books from all sections of the library--along and on top of fiction shelves, with our state award nominees, with the graphic novels, and among the nonfiction.

Students, be sure to stop by--and please *do* take out your phones to scan the QR codes you see. Hopefully, you'll find your next read! See you soon!

Remembering Gary Paulsen, 1939 - 2021

The literary world lost one of their best on October 13 when Gary Paulsen passed away at his home in New Mexico.

Photo: Brian Adams for the New York Times

Paulsen wrote around 200 books and was a Newbury Honor recipient for three of his books: Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. While many of his books were realistic fiction with themes of nature and survival, he also wrote science fiction (like The Transall Saga), historical fiction (like Soldier's Heart and The Woods Runner), and memoir (like Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books). 

Paulsen also had comic books, like Harris & Me and The Schernoff Discoveries, both stories loosely based on his time as a child--Harrie & Me as a boy visiting relatives in Minnesota and as a freshman in high school in The Schernoff Discoveries.

Paulsen's most recent book was a memoir titled Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood. According to Macmillan Publishers, ". . . beloved author Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments from his turbulent childhood as his own original survival story. If not for his summer escape from a shockingly neglectful Chicago upbringing to a North Woods homestead at age five, there never would have been a Hatchet. Without the encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book at age thirteen, he may never have become a reader. And without his desperate teenage enlistment in the Army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller."

You can watch the book trailer for Gone to the Woods, as well as other trailers for some of Paulsen's other books, from the playlist below:

If you're looking for a Paulsen book to reread or are curious to try one of his many titles, stop by the library! 

Information for this post taken from:

“Gone to the Woods.” Macmillan, 20 July 2021, us.macmillan.com/books/9780374

Risen, Clay. “Gary Paulsen, Author of Young-Adult Adventures, Dies at 82.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/books/gary-paulsen-dead.html.

October is LGBTQ History Month

October 1 - 31 is recognized as LGBTQ History Month, a time when we celebrate the achievements of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender icons. According to the LGBTQ History Month website, "LGBT History Month provides role models, builds community, and makes the civil rights statement about our extraordinary national and international contributions."

Several fiction and nonfiction books are on display to highlight LGBTQ+ characters and storylines.

If you're looking for some more information about the titles, book trailers for some of them are included in the Diverse and Inclusive Titles playlist:    

See you soon in the library!