The View from the Leslie Library Windows: May Day Mars Day

Friday, May 1, 2020

May Day Mars Day

I attended my first meet today and signed up to try and contact a student that is an aide for me. I'm checking Synergy on them, and the classes are all gone, but the header still says what class they should be in at the moment! I finally got all seven classes and teachers. Huzzah! So I can ask their teachers if they've heard anything from them. Had a blast at the LA 7 meet this morning. I love hearing the students talk. The interaction from teachers. Their focus this week was on what it would be like to live on another planet. Like Mars! They had articles to read and such, padlet to write on. Sharing stories. Very fun. Then the teachers and I talk afterwards. What we heard, what we noticed, how about next week. I love being a part of the staff this way. We also talked about Flipgrid and I'm still learning, but our IC will have a training on that next week I think. Sent out the writing prompts from Jason Reynolds to the LA staff. I particularly loved his focus on art prompt. I also sent that one to our art teacher. Had a very, very quick staff meeting. Then I went out and took a quick walk before our district meeting at 1. I liked the quote that said "We are grading privilege." when we look at who and what we're grading. Kids with computers, internet, focused parents. What about those that don't have that? I am encouraged that I don't need to do it all. But at the same time I feel my contribution is so much less than before. We also learned that our budget may not be the same next year. Some of that budget is based on business, and with businesses shutting down, being forced to rethink, we may not have that same revenue coming from that sector. I think I'm pretty safe, but we'll see. I just need one more year! Got an email today that my 5th grade pen pal contribution is ended for this year. Another meet to scratch off the list. My pika meeting got cancelled for this month as well. I didn't even have anything on my personal hanging calendar for April except that I had put in my birthday when I got it. Got to flip that sucker out of my life. Sad that it will rain all weekend. And the rain started early. It wasn't supposed to start until tonight, but started around noon. Le sigh.

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What I'm Reading

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris was a great non-fiction read! Love a good non-fiction! Joseph Lister worked hard, studied hard, never gave up on his ideas that something outside was causing untold numbers of people to die after surgery. His quest to find the answer was long overdue and he was the one to craft it and make it a medical standard. Brilliant!
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy by Emmanuel Acho was so good. I liked it even better than Stamped. His honest and open look at what is was like for him growing up really brings the issues into focus. Highly recommended!
Verify by Joelle Charbonneau - what if everything went digital which gave the government and people in power a way to change history, past and current. What happened to some words, like the word 'verify' that is no longer in the digital dictionary. Meri has lost her mom and her dad drowns sorrow in liquor. Meri is entranced by her mom's last art pieces and is given a slip of paper (the horror! what about the trees? recycling?) and on it is the word 'verify'. Atlas gives her a dictionary, a paper one and an old history textbook. Meri jumps on the train with him so they can change the world.
Kalahari by Jessica Khoury - what a ride! I even took this home one night to finish! Sarah lives with her dad doing research deep in the Kalahari. A group of students are sent to see if they can qualify for a grant and when her dad goes missing when he heads off after poachers, she is left to take care of them. Her dad doesn't return and the poachers are after them. They come across a white lion stalking them, but wait? It isn't white it's something else. They come across a lab and realize there is a virus, that has been let loose on the Kalahari that could destroy the whole world. So exciting!! Great ending as well!
The Year of the Buttered Cat by Susan Haas with Lexi Haas - Okay. I have to admit that I got this book because of the title. Buttered cats, what an intriguing thought! But the real intrigue is the persistence, the optimism of Lexi. Because of jaundice, she was disabled and this story is about her decision to take a chance on ground breaking surgery to try and get some mobility, speech and live her gifts. She has five she had to find. Read it for Lexi (and maybe to find out about that buttered cat).
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. There are spaces only you can fill, and Darius learns this as his family travels to Iran to see his grandfather who is dying. Along the way he deals with his depression, makes a friend, has innumerable Star Trek references and also learns that it's okay, to not be okay. I must admit, I had to look up some of the places he got to visit. What a rich heritage. I thought Zoroastrians were long gone, but no, they are still practicing today in Iran. Great book, totally okay.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - perfect book lover tale of a woman captivated by a man and a bookstore and how she made more impact on her fellow book lovers and the man who got her to read than any bomb that fell during the Blitz. Very lovely!
The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat - Lovely WW2 story by Jenny who actually grew up on one of the Channel Islands. Hedy fled Austria only to find her island haven invaded by the Germans. And though she is wary, she falls in love with a German officer. The twists and turns of German occupation test them both as each find a way to help the allied forces win.
Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I loved these short stories that all center around a modern day Native American Powwow. My fave was Rez Dog and they were all a great window into culture that I have rarely seen. I watched some videos on Fancy Dancing because of this and I would love to attend one, but feel a bit like a looky loo if I did. Fun, eye opening and full of information. Loved it!
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams Loved this fictionalized tale of the daughter of one of the lexicographers of the first ever Oxford Dictionary. As Esme goes from hiding under the sorting table, to one day being a lexicographer herself, we see her story unfold along with the people attached to the dictionary. It was really wonderful as we glimpsed her life and how the words she found and rescued formed the backbone of this novel. Really well done. It will stay on my shelves.