Young people’s book awards

Image retrieved from http://slav.global2.vic.edu.au/files/2011/03/

Review an electronic resource for children or young adults.

Inside a Dog is a website for teen readers where they can find great books to read, share their own book reviews, take part in discussions through forums and blogs, create or join a book club, and gain insight into authors’ thoughts about writing and reading through the Writers in Residence blog.

Developed by the State Library of Victoria as a place for young people to share what they love about books and as a resource for them to discover new books, Inside a Dog is an attractive website that is packed full of information.  While the website is aimed primarily at teenage readers and around young adult (YA) literature in particular, I was pleased to see that there is also a resource page for teachers which includes ideas for lesson plans and resources linked to curriculum standards that support the use of book clubs in the classroom, writing book reviews, and exploring the use of new media in creative responses to literature (Bright ideas, 2011).

I hadn’t really thought about genres in YA literature before and was surprised to learn there are so many!  Browsing through the book titles listed under each genre I discovered that there were only a handful of titles that I would choose to read myself.  Also, as I was looking through some of the many book reviews written by young readers I was reminded of the fact that, “young adult literature is for teens” (Walsh, 2013).  As an adult, what I think about the books presented here or the reviews and comments is irrelevant – what is important is that young people are reading, commenting on books they have read, and engaging with others through the website.

One section of the website Inside a Dog is dedicated to the Inky Awards which are an annual award for new youth literature.  During the year young people can nominate their favourite books for consideration.  There are a number of guidelines that must be adhered to and there are two prizes: the Gold Inky for an Australian book, and the Silver Inky for an international book.  All of the titles are nominated, selected and judged by teens and the winners are voted for online by teen readers of Inside a Dog.

Teen choice book awards such as the Inky Awards empowers young people by giving them a voice to say what they think a great book is and allows them to share their excitement about the new books they love, by voting and honouring their chosen author with an award (Rogers, Szymanski, Cavanaugh & Dunphy, 2010, p. 26-27).

What Inside a Dog and the Inky Awards offer to the professional working with young people in libraries, is the opportunity to engage with young people to provide creative reading opportunities and a positive interaction with books.  It also helps provide an insight into the books that young people like to read and can help inform the choice of books purchased as part of a YA collection (Court, 2011, p. 156).

References.

Bright ideas. (2011, March 9). Guest post: Inside a dog with Heath Graham [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://slav.global2.vic.edu.au/files/2011/03/09/guest-post-inside-a-dog-with-heath-graham/

Court, J. (Ed.). (2011). Read to succeed: Strategies to engage children and young people in reading for pleasure. London: Facet Publishing.

Rogers, M. A., Szymanski, S., Cavanaugh, L., & Dunphy, M. (2010). Massachusetts teen choice book award: Our partnership for Massachusetts teens. Young Adult Library Services, 9(1), 26-27.

Walsh, A. (2013, February 1). Where are the teens in teen book awards? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://readalert.blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/2013/02/01/

 

Digital materials/resources and emerging technologies

Learn how to use a new tool, software, or game and write about your experiences.

Canva is a new graphic design tool that can be used to create posters, cards, infographics and more.  I came across this tool when I was looking for a way to create a colourful promotional calendar for the first INF330 assignment.  After signing up for a free account and creating a username and password, I discovered that the tool itself is relatively easy to use with plenty of free elements that you just drag and drop into your design.  Another great feature is that you can upload your own images into Canva to create your own personalised designs.

However, I very quickly made a rookie mistake by clicking onto one of the paid elements, which even though I didn’t use it in the final poster, still cost me $2 when I wanted to download my completed design.  The software also became a little tricky to manipulate because I was trying to insert a lot of text and I couldn’t increase the size of the design in the interface to line things up very well.  Despite these very small difficulties I would use this tool again to see how it could be applied in other ways.

While researching the topic of emerging technologies I discovered that one of the key skills for librarians working with children and young adults is to be comfortable with using new technologies, and be willing to adapt and explore the possibilities of what new technologies bring (Hamada & Stavridi, 2014, p. 108).  This makes a lot of sense when you think that young people today are considered to be digital natives who spend much of their time living and working in technology-based spaces (Braun & Martin, 2010, p. 66).

Having observed my son as he has grown to become a teenager it is clear that young people are no longer passive consumers of technology; rather they are active contributors, collaborators and creators of content (Johnson, Clapp, Ewing & Buhler, 2011, p. 2).  The internet has had a profound effect on their behaviour and their collaborative learning informs a culture of participation that encompasses a range of new media literacies around activities such as play, multi-tasking, networking, negotiation, problem solving, and creativity. This culture allows young people to learn necessary life skills, develops their information and digital literacies, and encourages lifelong learning (Johnson, et al. 2011, p. 5-6).

Technology enables libraries to provide relevant services and programs to meet the rising expectations of this new generation of young people, and in doing so, increases the opportunity to engage with those who might never come into the physical library otherwise (Braun & Martin, 2010, p. 70).

As a librarian working with young people, staying informed on current digital materials and resources, and emerging technological trends allows us to best support their needs (ALSC, 2009).  There are a number of ways to keep up-to-date with what’s new in technology including networking, technology journals, websites and blogs.  Importantly, talk to young people and find out what they like, currently in my household that would be Oculus Rift, which if my son manages to talk me into buying, I would love to try out.

References.

Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). (2009). Competencies for librarians serving children in public libraries. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/edcareeers/alsccorecomps

Braun, L. W., & Martin, H. J. (2010). Risky business: Taking and managing risks in library services for teens. Chicago: ALA Editions.

Hamada, D., & Stavridi, S. (2014). Required skills for children’s and youth librarians in the digital age. IFLA Journal, 40(2), 102-109.  Retrieved from http://ifl.sagepub.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/content/40/2/102

Johnson, M., Clapp, M. J., Ewing, S. R., & Buhler, a. (2011). Building a participatory culture: Collaborating with student organisations for twenty-first century library instruction. Collaborative Librarianship, 3(1), 2-15.  Retrieved from http://www.collaborativelibrarianship.org/

Censorship

Image retrieved from: http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/book.aspx/1263/

Write a book review – either a book for young people, or a book to support your professional activities.

The book I chose to review is The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn.  This book appealed to me as I’m always looking for books that my 15 year old son and I will both enjoy reading.  It’s not that he doesn’t like to read, I just have to encourage him to turn the technology off occasionally and what better way than placing a good book on his bedside table.

Claire Zorn is a young Australian author and The Sky So Heavy is her acclaimed first novel for young adults (YA).  Set in the Blue Mountains and Sydney, The Sky So Heavy revolves around 17 year old Fin and his younger brother Max.  What starts as an ordinary school day soon turns into an apocalyptic tale as the brothers find themselves abandoned and facing a nuclear winter alone.  Food is scarce, electricity and phones are down, and it is cold.  The situation becomes increasingly desperate and dangerous and the boys join forces with Lucy, Fin’s crush from school, and Arnold, the boy everyone bullied, and together they set off on a journey to Sydney in the hope of finding Fin’s mother.

Zorn has written a thought-provoking and compelling book, and one I found hard to put down.  The novel explores a number of themes around the nature of humanity and relationships but above all implies that we ask ourselves “what would you do?”

While this book review may seem a million miles away from the topic of censorship, I found an article that related the story of a teacher who faced a dilemma when she set a class reading assignment based on a book that she hadn’t yet read (Denzin, 2013, p. 7-8).  The book, also a post-apocalyptic tale, contained some very explicit sexual content that Denzin soon realised could land her in trouble with either parents or the school administrators.  To her credit, Denzin handled the situation in a very rational way and she concludes that restricting students from reading what they want is not her role, but that young people have the power of choice and will make their own decisions about what to read the same as everyone else (Denzin, 2013, p. 10).

The debate about censorship and banned books has been raging for a long time and there are many articles worth reading about the history of censorship related to books that have been deemed unsuitable for young readers, including the Harry Potter series (Jenkins, 2008, p. 232).  As a librarian it is important to be aware of this debate and also the policies that have been put into place to protect the reading rights of all people (ALIA, 2007).

Reading YA literature is important, not to censor the reading content of young people, for that is not our role as librarians either, but so we can make recommendations and encourage young people to read the books we hope they will enjoy.  My last thoughts on this topic come from an anecdotal story about an eight year old reader who told her school librarian that she wanted to read Fifty Shades of Grey, which just begs the question, “what would you do?”

References.

ALIA. (2007). Statement on free access to information. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/statement-free-access-information

Denzin, J. (2013). Boundaries for contemporary literature: The role of censorship and choice. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 57(1), 7-11. doi: 10.1002/JAAL.213

Jenkins, C. A. (2008). Research directions: Book challenges, challenging books, and young readers: The research picture. Language Arts, 85(3), 228-236. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org

 

 

Diversity

Image retrieved from: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Observe and document a program delivered for children or young adults at a local library.  Reflect on the experience.

Multicultural storytime is a program delivered for pre-school children and toddlers once a month at my local library.  Similar to the weekly storytime programs delivered at the library, multicultural storytime differs in that it is designed to connect cultures and does this by encouraging members of the community who speak a language other than English (LOTE) to come to the library and share a little of their culture with children.

In this instance, a volunteer from the local Chinese community joined with the Children’s librarian to tell stories and sing songs in English and Mandarin.  The session was well-attended with an audience of around 40, divided almost equally between adults and children, and represented a microcosm of nationalities from the local population.

Having previously introduced myself to the Children’s librarian she came to talk to me while the attendees were busy with the craft activity at the end of the session.  From our discussion I learnt that it can sometimes be difficult to find volunteers who speak another language willing to assist and that the program has had mixed success with some sessions being better than others.

A successful program often came down to whether or not the volunteer was able to engage effectively with the children and I was given the example of a Russian volunteer who arrived in national costume with her own Russian language children’s books and action songs and proceeded to engage the children with gusto.  The library also experienced difficulties obtaining a broad range of multilingual children’s resources and often the books read to the children needed to be translated from English which created a barrier to effective story telling.

Diversity encompasses many different areas such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, age, religious and political beliefs, and is about acceptance and respect.  Public libraries serve diverse communities and it is important that they promote the right of community members to access information equitably in respect to their cultural identity and values (IFLA/UNESCO Multicultural Library Manifesto, 2012, p. 1-2).

Children who are exposed to multicultural influences are encouraged to develop tolerance and a positive cultural awareness of those who may be different to themselves (La Tronica, 2014).  Also, children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds benefit from libraries that provide culturally responsive programs and resources because it helps to influence their social and identity development in a positive way (Naidoo, 2014, p. 2).

As a professional librarian working with children and young people it is important to seek both formal and informal partnerships with multicultural groups and those who support them in order to promote inclusion and equity. Conducting regular analysis of population statistics will help you to be aware of any significant trends, new migrant groups, and CALD populations in your local area, and help provide evidence to seek funding for high quality multilingual resources and programs that represent the diversity of the local community (State Library of Queensland, 2009, p. 2). 

References.

IFLA Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section. (2012). IFLA/UNESCO Multicultural Library Manifesto. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/node/8976

La Tronica, S. (2014). Libraries working to bridge the cultural divide. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/starr-latronica/libraries-cultural-divide_b_5241903.html

Naidoo, J. C. (2014). The importance of diversity in library programs and material collections for children [White paper].  Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/importance-diversity

State Library of Queensland. (2009). Young peoples services standard. Queensland Public Library Standards and Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/138435/138435_Young_People_Services_standard_-_April_2009.pdf

 

A new journey

This blog has been created as part of my studies for INF330 – Library Services for Children and Youth and will be used to report and reflect upon a number of topics through professional development activities undertaken during my coursework.