Young writers and readers at St. Francis Xavier School in Winooski were recently treated to a visit from children’s book writer Jamie Gilson, author of twenty funny and nationally acclaimed books for elementary school age students.   The visit was organized by School Librarian Kathleen Finn.

Students in grades 2 to 5 at St. Francis Xavier have been reading Mrs. Gilson’s books since school began. On the day of her visit, Mrs. Gilson spoke to these students about how her ideas develop and how the book process works, from manuscript to finished product.   The importance of the back-and-forth process between editor and writer – and many, many rewrites – was emphasized.   She showed the students samples of her original, edited manuscripts; some illustration drafts; and what her books look like when translated into German, Dutch and Braille. After the presentation, there was time for questions that students had formulated prior to the author’s visit.

Mrs. Gilson’s uncanny eye and ear for what kids are like at this age is key to her success, from her earliest titles first published in the late ’70s to those published in the last few years.   Notebook in hand, Mrs. Gilson has been prowling school classrooms for years in the Chicago suburb where she lives.  “This is the way my books grow,” she says.  “I watch what kids are doing and write stories based on what I see.” The everyday stuff of elementary school – such as field trips to catch spiders, chess clubs, class clowns, and substitute teachers – is foundational to her fast-paced, engaging, and witty books.  Mrs. Gilson’s most recent book is Chess – I Love It!  I Love It!  I Love It! (Clarion, 2008), and her 1982 title Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub (the winner of five child-voted state awards) is being reissued this fall as a “Classic” by Marshall Cavendish.  It has already sold over a million copies in paperback.

Jamie Gilson at Rick Marcotte Central School

Jamie Gilson Visits the Marcotte School

While in Vermont, Jamie Gilson also visited her grandchildren’s school in South Burlington, the Rick Marcotte Central School.  She spoke to the second through fifth grade students there.  Mrs. Gilson has a granddaughter in second grade, and a grandson in fifth grade.  Photos were taken by her son-in-law Martin LaLonde and sent to us by Mrs. Gilson’ daughter Anne Gilson LaLonde.

by Kathleen Finn

Interested in some new ideas to help promote the Green Mountain Book Award?  It’s difficult to get students to read beyond what’s required of them for class.  We have been trying to get increased participation for years and came up with a new plan.  We created a new promotion to encourage our students to read more GMBA books.
It all began with offering the sweet incentive of ice cream!

Our Plan:

•    Create New Shelving Section:  We moved GMBA books to an area where they are more visible and accessible.

•    Implement a GMBA punch card program:  Each time a patron reads a GMBA nominee we punch the corresponding image on their card.  When they’ve read three titles, they get a personal invitation to our “GMBA Make Your own Sundae” voting party.

Punch card: The student puts his/her name on the back of the card.

•    Create Promotional Advertising: Designed new signage, buttons and displays to get the word out.

•    Library Staff wears buttons in support of the GMBA.
•    Library Staff actively includes GMBA nominees when recommending books to individual patrons and during book talks for classes.

The End Result; We’ve tripled the number of student participation in the GMBA program!
We’re really excited about our increased participation in the program and are looking
forward to our “Make Your Own Sundae” voting party in the spring.
If you have any questions regarding our promotions let me know via e-mail.

This is a snapshot of the poster that we’ve displayed above our books. If you’d like a jpeg file, or the original publisher file let me know and I can e-mail it to you.

Written by:
Jill Abair< Library/Administrative Assistant jabair@ccsuvt.org
Philip Crawford, Library Director
Pictures taken by: Jill Abair

Internationally recognized as an authority on medieval Cistercian architecture, Dr. Terryl Kinder recently spoke to students at Rice Memorial High School in a special visit sponsored by the Friends of Rice Library and supported by a grant from the Paul Post Foundation.

Ann Kenney (left), librarian at Rice Memorial High School, displays Architecture of Silence: Cistercian Abbeys of France by Dr. Terryl Kinder (right) of St. Michael’s College.

Kinder’s presentation discussed how the Cistercian monks evolved from their Benedictine roots and how they lived, worked and prayed in silence. She also described how the architecture of their monastic buildings-simple, beautifully proportioned and well-built-reflects the spiritual transformation to which they aspired.

Kinder’s time is currently divided between teaching at St. Michael’s College and living near the site of Pontigny Abbey in the Burgundy region of France. She has written several books, including Architecture of Silence: Cistercian Abbeys of France, which she co-authored with David Heald, the chief photographer at the Guggenheim Museum.

by Ann Kenney

The list, printed as a full-color brochure by VSLA-affiliate VT-NEA, has a print run of 30,000+ each year, and has often “sold out.” (Hint:  order your copies early!).  VT-NEA provides the printing and covers all shipping and handling costs to deliver copies to classrooms or your school library and to local bookstores and public libraries around the state.  Originally conceived and created by Leda Schubert, former VT Department of Education Library Media Consultant, and Laurie Huse, Communications Director for VT-NEA, Summer Reading for Kids has been featured on WCAX News, Across the Fence, and received an honorable mention from The Wall Street Journal.  Past lists may be accessed at:  http://www.vtnea.org/vermont_education_center/summer_reading_lists.aspx.

Barb Marvin of Colchester High School has already stepped up to the plate to cover the high school titles for 2010.  Contributors for both younger age groups are still needed. (Note:  as VT-NEA covers all the production costs, they do ask that list contributors be VT-NEA members as well as VSLA members).  If you are interested, please contact Shannon Walters at swalters@bsdvt.org at your earliest convenience.

Shannon Walters, Library Media Specialist, C.P. Smith School, Burlington, Vermont 05408
swalters@bsdvt.org
(802) 864-2228

Poetry Outloud Contest

Poetry Outloud Contest

One of our favorite and best-attended events in the library this past semester was the poetry declamation contest initiated and planned by the English Department in honor of a former faculty member, Graham Newell.  It was held on Parent’s Night, which brought more parents than usual to the library.  Over ten English classes participated in this National event (http://www.poetryoutloud.org/) coordinated as a first annual event at the Academy by English teacher Angela Drew.  Two Academy student winners will proceed to the State level contest and hope to win an expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete at the national level.

Capstone Conference Day/Silent Art Auction

Each student at the Academy prepares a Capstone project in their senior year.   On December 4, over 100 Capstones were presented on campus during the course of the day.  Juniors and seniors could rotate through the various venues to see their fellow students’ presentations, and the library was one of the busiest venues on campus.  A Capstone project highlight later in December was Hannah Spero’s silent auction in honor of her mother, an award-winning photographer, who died from melanoma when Hannah was 8.  Faculty, staff and students contributed art projects for the silent auction, and the art works were displayed on low shelving in the library.  A student violinist played music in the background and cookies were served just like in a big-city gallery.  As a backdrop, Hannah prepared a multimedia presentation about her mother and the disease which took her mother’s life. The event was attended by several hundred students and faculty members, and raised more than $600 which Hannah donated to an organization that funds melanoma awareness.

Odyssey Book Presentations at the Library

The last week of school the English department again used the venue of the library for the grand finale for a fun Humanities project.  Freshman Humanities students worked in small groups over the previous weeks to prepare a physical book which retold the Odyssey as a modern story.   Each book was formally presented to the library staff as if the students were trying to sell it to an editor for publication and to the library staff for inclusion in the collection.  The students prepared posters, book blurbs, and even bribes (in the form of chocolate kisses palmed off to library staff with goodbye handshakes!).  The library staff was impressed by the variety of abilities and skills the students honed working on this project:  imagination, creative writing, drawing, graphic design, teamwork, marketing, and presentation and public speaking skills.

Recommend a Book! Contest

Our newest staff member, Caitlin Smith, who comes to us with experience at Powell’s Bookstore, initiated this contest.  The students responded enthusiastically and quickly.  She gave the students a month to recommend from one to three books, prepared an eye-catching display, and posted the 24 book recommendations as they were submitted.  We displayed copies of the recommended books if we had them, and if not, we ordered a copy or the entire series.  The books and recommendations were displayed in a popular seating area of the library and more than half of the student-recommended books were checked out while the contest was underway!

Caitlin Smith and the student who won the $25 gift certificate to a local bookstore

by Linda Wooster, SJA Library Director lwooster@stjacademy.org (802- 751-2100)

What time is it? It’s Twilight time, of course!

Last month I ran a contest where I raffled off a New Moon poster from the New York Times that I had laminated. Each student filled out slips with his/her name and the title of the book they were currently reading, and dropped it in the box. I ran it for about two weeks and I ended up getting a lot of entries. It was a pretty popular idea, and a good way to find out what else they are reading.

Jessica Langlois, Librarian, Proctor Jr/Sr High School