👏👏 Celebrating Collection Development & Improvement

 After a two years of deliberate weeding and intentional purchasing, the nonfiction part of the collection is something to celebrate!

In just one year's time, the average copyright age has improved by four years, and the nonfiction books are now nearly 20% of the entire collection vs. 15% in August of this school year. 

Upon moving to the high school a year ago, it was evident that the nonfiction collection had been neglected. Years ago--under different building leadership--the nonfiction collection was significantly impacted by decisions related to a library remodel. It's taken more than five years to recover to this point, so while the current stats might be paltry by some standards, they're pretty impressive considering where we started. 

So how did this happen? Small steps with focus! Because of the popularity of graphic novels, that was the focus area last year. Using grant money and a portion of the budget, including using a subscription to graphic novels from a vendor, the graphic novel shelves began to fill and appeal more broadly to students. Gone were the older graphic novels and those that primarily appealed to younger readers; instead, students could choose current, full color, popular titles. Here's how the case looks now:

And this year? After hearing from students about what they were interested in, the nonfiction collection grew in these areas: biographies, true crime, poetry, and history. Many of the true crime and history purchases also fell under the "narrative nonfiction" umbrella, like Blood and Germs, and American Murderer: The Parasite that Haunted the South, as well books by Erik Larson and others. Another focus area this year was agriculture-themed books. After receiving a grant from the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation (see earlier blog post), these 12 books also helped bolster our growing nonfiction collection and were popular among a broad range of students.

With measurable improvement so prominent in the nonfiction collection, it's inspiring to think of where the collection can be in another year's time! 

Nonfiction Book Tasting

While we've hosted book tastings in the library before, we had a first-time request this week: Can you host a nonfiction books *only* book tasting? 

Of course we can!

After pulling several titles, commonalities began to emerge, like memoirs and biographies, sports-themed books, and narrative nonfiction titles. After putting all of the books together, broad categories became clear: memoir/biography, sports, military, narrative nonfiction, World War II/Holocaust, survival, and true crime. Using a template from earlier book tastings, we created table signs to help students move about the library to find a book.

Students in each class that visited would have time to browse the collected books as well as the nonfiction books on shelves. However, one teacher specifically requested book talks to accompany the activity, while another teacher preferred broad information about each category. In the end, nearly 65 nonfiction books were checked out!

If you're looking to host a nonfiction book tasting, you can use similar table signs that are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

👀 #TakeALookTuesday--Year-End Edition

How can it be the last week of school and final #TakeALookTuesday post? It feels like we all just returned to the building, and here we are preparing for end-of-year activities. One of the things we often do is run a variety of library system reports to reflect on the year and plan for the future. One of our favorite reports to consider is the Top Titles report.

So what made the Top 10 titles from the school year? Take a look!

No surprises here! Kids can't get enough of Rufus & Mateo or Charlie and Nick, and mysteries rule! Popular authors like McManus and Shusterman continue to earn spots on the Top 10 year after year, and true military stories are always popular. Graphic novels--the fastest growing section in the library--made the list, and LGBTQ+ stories have grown in popularity. Book-to-movie adaptations, both already on the screen and those coming soon, made the list, too. So much to consider and evaluate when looking at the list!

With McManus and Shusterman releasing new titles this fall, along with Cemetery Boys' author Aiden Thomas, students are sure to find something new to enjoy! And with Where the Crawdads Sing coming to the big screen, and Heartstopper currently on NetFlix, students have options to enjoy these popular reads.

👀 #TakeALookTuesday--Refugees' Experience Edition

World events have brought refugees' stories to the forefront again, and as is often the case, YA literature and nonfiction books can help build knowledge and create empathy among readers. Several refugees' stories can be found in the library.

While many of these stories--both fiction and nonfiction--tell stories of violence and struggle, despair and change, and uncertainty and fear, they are also stories of hope, acceptance, triumph, and love.

The group of books highlighted include several time periods and are set in a variety of places around the world. Some reflect a single refugee's story while others include the experiences of many. While the character's refugee story is central to the plot, other subplots add to the overall telling of the story. Sports, political turmoil, fairy tales, terrorism, bombings, romance, and mental disabilities are featured alongside the refugees' experiences.

Stop by the library to take a look at these titles, and be sure to check MackinVIA for electronic copies of these and additional refugees' stories!

📚 Using Nonfiction Children's Books

Often during our advisory offerings, students can select a library activity that includes a combination of print or electronic books, videos, and articles or websites related to a timely topic. Recently, students could sign up for AO's related to the children's books Snowflake Bentley and A Tower of Giraffes.

In each session, students listened to read-alouds of the books to start the sessions, paying attention to the sidebars in Snowflake Bentley and to the illustration style in A Tower of Giraffes. Students then accessed the Google Draw one-pager related to each book.

Access the one-pager HERE

Access the one-pager HERE

Taking inspiration from choice boards, one-pagers usually include video links, articles, or links to official sites when applicable. Students then have time to read about and watch related content as they choose. Other timely one-pagers that included children's picture books included topics such as these:

• National Reptile Awareness Day (blog post) that incorporated several different fiction children's books featuring a variety of reptiles
• Roller coasters (blog post) that included Marla Frazee's book Roller Coaster
• Chocolate (one-pager) that included the Who Was? biography of Milton Hershey
• Mo Willems's Pigeon (one-pager) featuring several Pigeon books

With many more weeks of school to come, children's book one-pagers are sure to continue as AO offerings. Stay tuned!

👀 #TakeALookTuesday--Book Awards & Novels Class Edition

In Novels class, students are taking a look at several different book awards and some of the nominees and winners of those awards. Using the same genre categories that students worked through earlier in the semester, nominees and winners were grouped into six categories related to different national awards, including these:

Award nominees and winners were grouped into genre categories and set out on tables so students could rotate through, looking at the titles there. Students had time to read, and the handouts with each group provided access to the official websites related to the different awards related to the books there.

Graphic novels and realistic fiction

Mystery and historical fiction

Nonfiction, science fiction, and fantasy

The class met in the library so groups and students could spread out to read and look several of the books grouped by genre.

As part of their work, students wrote a quick synopsis of a book, searched online to find any judges' comments related to the award won, and reflected on whether or not the book was something they might read. Finally, students evaluated whether or not they believe the book was deserving of the award won based on the short time they spent with it. To wrap up their time in the library, students talked with a partner, reflecting on their chosen books and their work related to it.

👀 #TakeALookTuesday--Book Edition

In a recent, completely chance encounter, I had the opportunity to meet an amazing, inventive artist who has written a book about the effect baseball has to unite us even when we seem so focused on differences. Nathan Rueckert is the founder and CEO of Baseball Seams Co., LLC, a company that evolved from his love of baseball, his emotions related to the events and Sept. 11, 2001, and his faith.

When Rueckert was a college student in 2001, he began creating artwork from used, seemingly useless baseballs. For many years, he made only handcrafted American flag artwork from old baseballs. These pieces even sold out at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown!

“‘America's Game’ Original Artwork - Navy Red Unframed.” The Baseball Seams Company, www.baseballseamsco.com/collections/best-sellers/products/america-s-game-baseball-american-flag-original-artwork.

Rueckert's book came about as a way to "... combine the story of America's pastime and those who love it today, symbolically bringing people together again" (Rueckert, xvi). In it, he shares one story from each of the 50 states, stories that were chosen because "... they represent the best in who we are as a country" (Rueckert, xvi).

The map of the United States is five feet wide and is made from over 350 baseballs "... obtained directly from each of these 50 stories" (Rueckert, xix). Willy Amos, from Mt. Pleasant, IA, is featured in the story from Iowa. He is a baseball coach and former president of the Mt. Pleasant Cal Ripken League. In 2008 his life forever changed when he was paralyzed after a hunting accident. In telling his story, readers learn how he moved forward with the help of medical professionals, his family, and--of course--baseball.

In talking with Rueckert, I shared that I was a high school teacher librarian, and I so much loved his own story of college student-turned-artist-turned-storyteller. We talked about the power of the stories he collected--that they would appeal to so many people regardless of their interest in baseball. After all, these are stories of love, of family, of perseverance, of hope, of joy. As we talked, Rueckert asked if my students would be interested in the book, and he very generously donated a signed copy to DCGHS students.

The book is now in our collection, ready for students to read and share with others. Stop by to take a look or check it out.