Last Month of 2020!

 Both days were involved in 'classroom' presence and breakout rooms and two classes each day of book talks! Huzzah! I brought home four sets of books and I actually had classes each picked a different set, too funny! Non-fiction or fantasy, then animals or graphic novels. I love it that students pick out different genres. It seems to happen a lot. Nothing mind bending today. Except I have a view of Mt. Hood and even saw Mt. Adams out the windows here today. 

Monday November 30

 What a great day! Got two whole carts of books out from the back back textbook room and I am nearly halfway through back there! That was exciting! I'm just about through the M's and worked a bit on the N's. So exciting (really!!)! Then as I was moving books from the pony wall to tables I thought the last week of school before break I'd make book grab bags for students and families to pick up. I ran it by my principal and she loved the idea. So I will work on matching genres of the books I've withdrawn, putting them in ziplock bags and just setting them out on a table for families to just come and pick up. Love it! My principal loved it too! I put away books from last week, and did my drive by book drop off and pick up, but I didn't have any customers today. I thought I might because I had a student put a hold on books and may have come to pick them up, but she didn't. I also talked with a fellow about donating books and ended up sending him to Salem Public Library for the Friends of the SPL and their book sale. He was happy to do that. Full day! So much fun!

Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving

 I spent most of the last two days doing support for classes. I did set up some book talks for next week with the 8th graders, or was it 7th? I'll have to check! Then I also set up a 'Book Dash Delivery' for the library. Students can now email me and after I'm done with the drive by book drop/give time I'll take books to homes. I think there must be students that just cannot come in to get books. I had to do a training and clear it with my principal, but I'm kind of excited about it all! I hope students get on board and ask me to bring them books! Thank you Mrs. H for inspiring me! 

Library Day

 I love to be in the library and doing work down there that needs to get done! Today I went up and got the three carts full of books from the old staff bookshelf and from rooms and maybe some from locker clean out. So I trolled through all of them. I found one that had a current student name in it and emailed her that I had it and let me know if she wanted it. I boxed up about five boxes of books that need to go. Some were very old teacher resources. I figure if the teachers hadn't come in and picked up books to use in their rooms, out they went. I did keep out four books that I felt deserved another chance. Then there were some other books that teachers had put on the staff bookshelf that no one had ever picked up. They were all great copies in fabulous shape, no marks or anything, so I will donate them. I did my outside hand out times today and finished a book, Deadly Aim. So good! About the Michigan Anishinaabe sharpshooters during the Civil War. Such a great look at the history of that area and the Civil War from a Native American view. So very good! Scheduled book talks for next week after I let the teacher I support know that I'd be off doing that and she said that was fine. I also wanted to let her know so she wouldn't schedule an activity where she needed me. I love to do book talks! Had a student pick up her next three books in the Warriors series. Had some time to work on the back room again. We got in a new copier and our bookkeeper needed some information on that so I left the manuals up on her desk for the next time she's in. I had to get to see if a book was on the shelf, but all the computer carts that were up in the staff lounge were put into my non-fiction section. I had to get the carts into spaces where they wouldn't be totally blocking shelves! Have I ever mentioned that I love my job??

Last Week

 Monday was a half day, so no library time. Tuesday and Wednesday I grappled with learning my new duties as support for 7th grade Language Arts. My Q2 (Quarter 2) duties are really wrapped around class support on days I'm not in the library and I must admit I spent a lot of time hashing out my schedule with where I needed to be when! I finally came up with:  

	Adv. - 9:00 - 9:15	1st - 9:20 - 10:20	2nd - 10:25 - 11:25	Lunch	3rd - 12:20 - 1:20	4th - 1:25 - 2:25	5th - 2:30 - 3:30
Mondays		Library Work
Tuesdays	Advisory - Helbling	K-prep R-Avid	K&R ELL LA7		K&R ELL LA7	K - LA7	K - LA6
Wednesdays	Advisory - Helbling	K - LA7	K&R ELL LA7		K&R ELL LA7	K&R prep	K - LA6
Thursdays	Advisory - Helbling	Library Work
Fridays	Advisory - Helbling	K - LA7	K&R ELL LA7		K&R ELL LA7	K&R prep	K - LA6

So I still have two days in the library and I'll still get to do book talks by request. It was crazy to cut and paste everything in, getting times, periods, and everything all to make sense to me! I am truly amazed by teachers who work through their schedules every day. All this computer time wears me out and I feel like a slug because I sit all day more or less. With only 5 minutes between classes, it's hard. I did breakout rooms with students. I took over Advisory for a day. It was fun to talk with students and teachers though, I like that part a lot! I helped a student find their BookCreator book they were working on. I enjoy it when I actually help a student! And I took over Advisory for a day. Thursday was my work in the library day and more books out of the back, stacking books everywhere to see if anyone wanted them on my Sheets document. Sitting upstairs to hand out books. I had a student come by and said she put a book on hold, but I didn't see it, and had been with a student to help him out with LA class, so I didn't get a chance to check my computer before it was time to go up. So I told her to wait a moment, and I zipped down to the library, found her requests, grabbed her books, checked them out and ran upstairs and got them to her. She was really happy! I was also out on Friday getting some time with my heart doc to see if I could get off one of my meds. And I did! Back on tap next week!

Professional Developement

 I had a pretty easy time with this today because Library Con Live was on November 5th, and I got to pick the recordings of the sessions I would have attended, but was too busy for! I listened to the Opening Keynote with Jerry Craft - Have New Boy and Class Act is on order! I loved that he drew Jordan while he was talking! Very cool! He talked about inherent racism a bit with his own experience. He was at a light when a cop pulled up and rolled down his window and said "We're going to have to do something about that." Jerry freaked out, did he need to escape through his moon roof? Did he need to pull over? What was going to happen?? Then the cop pointed to his hand and Jerry was wearing a Giants glove and they had just traded a great player. He has a scene in his book where there's a cop with a dog and same kind of interaction, nice but the thoughts of what could happen came out. Interesting. He also talked about that making a novel into a graphic novel has a reputation of kind of being a 'Clif Note' of the novel, but no, there's other things that happen in graphic novels. In New Kid there are actually story lines going on in the drawings that are never mentioned. I might have to go back and relook at that one! Then Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, kind of a scifi/fantasy era and I put three of the books on my winter order. Then I listened to Finding Ourselves: Grappling with Finding our Identity. So authors speaking on their own identities. I liked the one part where one author said that sometimes they feel like they're not trans enough or bi enough or whatever enough? And learning to be comfortable with what makes you feel comfortable was nice. Same on all sides I think! 

Last Week

 Yes, a bit crazy. Once I get done with work, I am done! So much computer time! Monday was my in the library working on the books in the LIT that I need to get out of there and adding in available books to my spreadsheet, going upstairs for my drive by book pick ups and drop offs. Tuesday I remembered to drop in for Advisory with Danielle and also worked on a Kahoot for a breakout session for her students that are getting A's in class, the regular Language Arts class that is. I searched up some Kahoots, but I actually went in and made my own! I only had one glitch where I think I used a 'premium' picture and they wanted me to pay, but I just swapped out the picture and that worked! We had issues with that because I didn't get share screen ability with the breakout room, so I had to go back out and get permissions then come back in. One class got just the one I made, the other class got to do two others as well since I had permissions right away. Wednesday was Veteran's Day, so no work. Thursday back in the library working, book drive by and sheets document updating and Friday was a class day, maybe? I forget. Computer work mostly I think, and doing some reading. Now, for actually today!

Thursday the 4th

 And still no president elect! Crazy. First of all I bashed my hand taking the boxes out to the car that I brought home and got a nasty big tear on my skin from that. Ugh, had to bandage and package it up for the day with this really old 1 inch gauze I had in my first aid kit from my hiking pack. It worked, but wasn't pretty. Took in three full boxes and then we had some nice Amazon boxes perfect for books that I took in - three of them as well. Put the books I finished out on the carts for easy access for me to see. Had my Advisory at 9 then one of the teachers who call me the 'Book Whisperer' wanted me to connect with a student to find him something to read. So I got a link up, sent her the link to the Zoom meeting and before and while waiting for him I looked at his check out history and started to pull books I thought he may be interested in. He never showed up. So, I started an email for him with the link to our Destiny Discover page and then put in all the titles of the books I thought he might be interested in, and added a few comments and a 'sorry we didn't connect' and BCC'd his teacher. Then it was off to set up for the drive by book pick up and drop off. Up I went. Had my Warrior cats student pick up the next two books and a new boy I was in a break out room with last week come get his book. Read When Stars are Scattered during most of the time up there. On the way back picked up from my mailbox, went downstairs and checked in the books that had come in since Monday. Then, I worked more on cleaning up the LIT books in the back back textbook room. Got through a lot, put the ones on the spreadsheet that could go to other schools. Didn't take any boxes of books home! But I did bring books home to read for Friday. 

Still Waiting

 As of right now, we are still waiting to see who will be our president. Glad I just went to bed last night rather than wait up! Today I finished up working on the boxes of books I brought home. Then I went to work on the lists I had brought to delete books we no longer have from very old textbooks (one was dictionaries from 1975) and some others. I put some books on a list then realized that I had so many of them and when I got done with taking off all the books that I already had, of course, because the list was from winter of 2019. I thought I was putting books onto the winter 2020 list. Not so smart. But I did move the new books I had put on the 2019 list onto the 2020 list. Good thing I noticed! Listened to another of the webcasts from the Day of Dialogue that was really good on books about and from Indigenous peoples. I almost went by it, then decided I should listen and was really glad I did! Got some great titles and looking forward to the books coming out in 2021. Maybe even because it'll be 2021! I sent in an email to get a book put on a series list. Got an email from another school about books that had been transferred there five years ago and did I want them back, so I replied 'no'. The ones I do have at Leslie haven't been used in all that time and I certainly don't need more. I will book whisper to a student tomorrow for Ms. K, she sent an email that he would be available around 10am. Will be back at school tomorrow for book pick up and drop offs. Reading They Went Left. One of our LMSS peeps said I should read it for content before I check it out. 

Election Day

Had a great Advisory today. A lot of the students are really interested in the election. I had a meeting with our new Assistant Principal about what I do and how he can help. I told him I was pretty self sufficient and just to know I could call on him was great. I spent the rest of the day working on my books, answered some questions. Had a student talk about a book that to her was pretty horrific, so I asked her if she wanted to talk about it, and she gave me a synopsis. It was pretty scary. So I told her that yes, there are horrible things in our world. But also that all of the school employees were mandatory reporters, and what we look for to stop things like that from happening. I asked if she'd like some other book recommendations and she said yes, so I gave her some that were a bit more on the gentle side! I did send all this to her counselor, just in case something came up in the future. I didn't even notice that she was a 6th grader and the book maybe was more a 8th grade book.

November 2nd

 I have so much to do on my days in. But I enjoy that I get the chance to come in and work in the library. I brought back all the books I had taken home last week. Got them all the cart and then pulled off the books that I'd never put date due stickers in. One of the teachers asked if she could have the book shelf that used to be in the staff lounge, so we got all the books off. I took the other books from room 213 and we now have three carts of books for anyone to have. I let the staff know that the books are up there and will be taken care of during Thanksgiving week. Nice books - without marks - will be donated, other books will be sent to Garten most likely. I had a great time outside with book pick up and drop off, it was so nice outside. I packed up my car with three boxes of books to bring home. Along with some paperwork I can do from home for Tuesday and Wednesday. 

October 26 - 30

What a crazy week! On Monday I was at the school all day, had our meeting, then collected books. I have 8 different book talks to do this week for 7th graders. I brought home three boxes of books, selecting for their 'mirrors and windows' theme for this week. I had to reread at least parts of most of the books so I'd have the good bits to read to students. I really love to do that. It is so much fun to read great parts and I even had some students asking questions in the chat. I had to do two classes by myself on Wednesday. First period went just fine, then I worked with Ms. R on two more. I could not get into 5th period and had to call for help. Mr. E stepped up and got the class going while I struggled to get back into Zoom. Since I was home my computer didn't want to hook up correctly, but I finally got in and did a poor job of book talks since I was so late and flustered. I felt bad. One out of eight classes is not too bad, but I still do feel bad about it. Thank you Mr. E for saving us all! I let the teacher know what happened. Thursday I went in again for book pick ups and drop offs. I cleared out room 213 for Ms. M of books and brought them all down to the library. I had new books come in so I took home six boxes of books and inventoried them all, putting in the date due slips. I'm sure there was much more, helping students, helping teachers. Checking in books that came into the office while I'm gone. Putting the quarantined books away. Those were the main pieces. Kind of glad I don't have book talks scheduled for next week for now!

Sick Day

 Friday the 23rd, I was still so cold, decided to take the day off. Even though I was at home, I just needed to take care of myself after getting so chilled. So I did.

Cold, so Cold

 Thursday the 22nd - Off to the school today! I took back the books I used for the book talks and put them away. Got the books ready for students to pick up today. Sent in a note to one of our counselors about what I'm working on this year in the library since they had asked my schedule and how I could help out teachers. I think I kind of blew him away with all 'on my plate' as he put it. I attended Advisory and then got ready for my drive by library. I was cold all morning in the library, it was like the air conditioner was on and I went around with my coat on all morning. Then I went outside and even though I was walking a lot, had my mask and did put my gloves on because my hands were so cold. It was sunny, but the wind just put enough edge on the walking and being outside that I was cold. I went in and worked a lot after I got in, that kept me warm. I worked on my LIT books. I started to withdraw them, boxed up ones that had no chance for a new home, but put others on a cart and started a spreadsheet for others to see if they wanted to give them a new home. I really got things going and felt good about all I got done in there. Got a lot cleaned up, keeping a few here and a few there. Felt really good about it. Then I went to my car and the low tire light was on, so headed for Les S. While they looked, I went over to WalMart and picked up my prescriptions, then back to Les S. My tire had a slow leak and the tires were so worn they couldn't fix it. They did put air in it and gave me a tire quote. So I went to my friend's house to work on a cement leaf project (that turned out really cool!) but we were outside for a couple of hours and I got chilled all over again. Came home, ate hot soup, hot bread, took a hot shower, curled up on the couch in warm things and went to bed early.

Dreamwalking

 Wednesday the 21st - I did two more book talks for the 6th grade break out groups. I love to do these! I then emailed the attendees so they knew they could pick up all day Mondays and Thursdays with all the books I talked about. I actually had two students request books! Had another request for my most prolific reader and will pull those Thursday morning for her to pick up. Answered a parent query. Listened to three more SLJ LibraryCon Live talks and oh my goodness! Bryan Collier was sooooo good! I could have listened to him all day, not just his half hour lunch talk. He talked about dreamwalking, how did he know about that? His favorite book ever, Snowy Day. The boy in it is dreamwalking he said. Making his journey walk,  his dreamwalk, how he walked, what he decided to do. Then he talked about how Harold and the Purple Crayon was the same, Harold decides how his journey with the crayon will be, he's dreamwalking. Then he talked about his new book, All Because You Matter. I loved he made pointed oval pictures, some eyes, some noses, all the different people he did, then he put those in the book! He loves doing collages because of his grandmother and her quilting. And how all those pieces of people, are all the people that we carry in our knapsacks, carry in our hands, are a part of who we are. He made absolutely amazing illustrations!! My favorite? Best talk of the ones I've watched so far! He really inspired me! Love this!

Webinar and Book Talks

 Today I got to do some more books talks for our 6th graders. I brought home books yesterday from work so I could stay at home. I had four piles, one for each talk today and tomorrow. I held up two of the piles and asked the students in my breakout room what they wanted. One was definitely the scary kind of things, the other was half and half, so I mixed the two piles. It was fun! One student checked out two books and I might have a taker on another! Two more book talks tomorrow. I also emailed our science teacher and let him know which students did not pick up their science books. Some may have gone to EDGE program, others might have gotten moved to a different science class, but I thought he should know. I also did not get to attend the SLJ Live Conference, so I listened to three of those sessions today. Put some of the books on my order list. Book club tonight! Excited about that!

Monday the 19th Events!

 I get so tired and have so many things going on because of the fire, I just veg at the end of the day. Yesterday was very busy! We had conference day and were supposed to work 10 - 6, but I actually went in at 9 and worked until 5. I sent out emails to our students that haven't picked up books yet and let them know that they could come anytime on Mondays or Thursdays, not just during 'drive by' hours. I got one response back! I got in a ton of books from the ladies that were sorting out the rest of the locker things that no one came by to pick up so I got all those checked in and laid out on the table for quarantine. I checked to see if we had any other hold requests, nada! I also pulled more of the old magazine LIT sets off the shelves in the back workroom. No one has touched them in the five years I've been here, so out they are going. I deleted them, but I kept the magazines since I occasionally get a call for magazines for collages. I did my outside 'drive by' and got two books to come in. We had notices go out last week for overdue books and that they will turn to lost and get fined, and I had a stack in the office from our community coming in to drop off books. I finished reading Look Both Ways while I waited and started The Kingdom of Back - Ooooo, loving it! A tale of Mozart's very gifted sister and how she enters a world of the fae through her music. Shivery good! I also took all the rest of the 8th grade science books that were checked out to students, but never picked up and checked those in. There were quite a few. Put away the cart of books I had pulled for our 8th grade book talks to remind them of what we all have in the library. Two shelves of a cart worth! Loved being at school today! Busy and got a lot done! 

Book Talk Thursday

 I got to do my first book talks today! Huzzah! Definitely exciting! Worked on picking out books from the shelves to do a whole reminder of the different areas that we have in the library. From computers to football I reminded them of all the types of books we had from fiction, to graphic novels, to everything. Next time I will do a more conventional book talk. Did two 8th grade classes today and will do 2 more tomorrow. Did Advisory. Went outside and did my two hours of drive by book check out pick ups and drop offs. I usually walk and read while I wait and since it was a beautiful day, it was the best way to spend that time! Spent the rest of the day working on my LIT sets and checking to see what needs to go and what doesn't. Got through to page 52! 

Just a Day at Home

 Worked on my LIT sets today mostly. Got through about a third of the 3,800 books on the books! Had a couple of emails from students. Yammer from staff. Other emails. I finally made it to Advisory this morning with Ms. Smith. I totally spaced it yesterday. Also checked on students that are not making it to one of our 6th Grade Blue Cohort teachers. I have a Web conference tomorrow that I may end up just listening to later because I have BOOK TALKS tomorrow! I am so excited about that! And of course, since it is Thursday I will be giving out books to students that they've checked out! So exciting! Today was a long day in front of the computer. I'm glad it's over! 

It's been Awhile

 Getting moved into our temporary housing, getting internet, working from school then having to come home and work on replacing so many things - pots and pans, silverware, glasses. Books! I have had the time to do this. But I need to! Yesterday (Tuesday) I finished reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes. I added in the new books that just came in Monday to the Collections in Destiny Discover and tried to put in the new books I have read on my Mrs. Willer's Reads list. I'm also going through the LIT books to pull them from the back, back textbook room and withdraw ones that haven't been used in awhile, a lot of them so I have room to put the non-fiction back there for the bond work next summer. I want them all moved out into the back on shelves/carts, but so that I can still find them when a student asks for them. It takes time for the LIT books since I go through them to see if any have been checked out recently. If I have a few, I'll check each one, compare to what's on the shelf. If I have a ton, I'll spot check history through a few to see. So far, there are not many that I will be keeping. Monday I worked on moving all the fiction over so that there's no more fiction on my pony shelves. Handed out books during our 'drive-by' library time. I told the office that since I'm there on Mondays and Thursdays, students could come during office hours and still pick up books. They can just hit the call button and say they are here to pick up books and give their name and the office can call down to me and I'll bring them up. 

So not Ready!

 All right, it's Friday and I haven't written since Monday! I'm going to blame the fire. We had our two Taking Care of Business days Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday I came in early to get ready for the day. We started it at 11am. Had to have masks, gloves. We were supposed to have just 9th and 8th graders. 9th to just pick up locker stuff, 8th to pick up locker stuff and if they had Dr. Rockow, they were to get two science books. I talked to our principal, and she said that if a family came in with others, we would go ahead and take care of them. Good call! I hadn't even thought of that, so I got together the few other books we would need and we needed everything! Glad she gave me the heads up to get that ready. It was a long day, but so very good to see all the kids again. Tuesday was a bit slow and I was glad to get some really great help. We were originally supposed to be outside, but with the air quality, it was  decided to do it inside. Wednesday I went in about an hour early, so it was easier since we had run with it all the night before. Loved the help, loved seeing more kids. Thursday I actually wrote down stuff, but it's sitting on my desk at work! Today I attended the classified meeting, spaced out more books to quarantine. Cleaned up the carts from the TCoB days. Worked on our sites response to checking out print books. I worked on a slide show doing the steps for students to follow. I also got together some math books to send to another school. I had to get them, find out which ones were 'new' and find the correct volume. I found 51 copies, but the teacher quickly wrote me back to say she only needed 15! That was so much easier. It was a great busy week. Glad I was at work and today we could finally breathe. The rains came in last night and almost cleared all the air.

Ready to Take Care of Business

Today I headed over to LMSS to pick up bags to put books in for checkouts, hopefully tomorrow. Our air quality is so bad (521 this afternoon, normal is 0 - 50). But I had to stay at the school, so much to do for tomorrow if we do go ahead with our Taking Care of Business Days. I went to the Zoom training first and then had the student lists for the books that need to go out tomorrow, if we do get to do our Taking Care of Business day tomorrow, I'm ready! Four classes of books all checked out to students already and in bags with the student's name on it, grouped by class and alphabetical order. Checked in a book that was in my box. Moved all the 6th grade iReady math books. There were 18 of the Volume 1 and 13 of the Volume 2 ones. I sorted them because they were all mixed up and the Volume 1 will go out on the second TKoBd, so they're ready. Then I had the math teachers send their lists, so I can start on those tomorrow for the second day. I put away the rest of the non-fiction, I had started last week, then totally forgot and the cart and 921's were sitting there still. And I had just a bit of the fiction to finish - about P - Z. Glad it's going!

Not in the Habit - House Burned Down

 Due to the wildfires in Oregon, Tuesday morning our home burned down. I did come in on Tuesday for a bit. Wednesday I came in to be sure all books and textbooks from lockers would be checked in before we had the Taking Care of Business day. I noticed up in the upper halls, that there were bags of items from the lockers that still had books in them from Leslie, so I had to spend that afternoon regoing through all the upper hall bags to search for books. I found two entire cart shelves of books. Huzzah. It was hard to do with the mask on, very hot, but I got them all pulled. We are still waiting for the lower halls to be cleaned out. So I did those books on Thursday. I filled out a library slide for the family night and sent that to our principal about what is going on for the TCoBd on the book side of things. Sometime in here I asked all the teachers that might need books if they did indeed need them for the TCoBd and got that list together. I attended some meetings and missed others. We got direction that the TCoBd's were going to be postponed because of all the smoke in the air, so it became not quite as important, we are scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday. I got all the books checked in and got most of the books and textbooks all put away. I have had a lot on my mind, so much needs to be addressed with the house. I know I did a lot of work. Almost completed my mandatory training. Still have some other documents to read before I can sign off on them. But I'm tired, it's been an emotional week. My school has been so supportive. It really has made me realize again, how amazing people can be. The care, concern, wanting to help have been nearly constant since we escaped the fire, then found out that yes, our house was gone. I am so lucky to work where I do. Miracle we made it out of the house alive, but it's no miracle that people are reaching out to help us. That's how amazing they are. We are blessed beyond belief.

Back into the Habit!

 Wednesday the 3rd - I totally forgot to write yesterday. I was home working online. I had to get together several pieces of information. The Master Schedule and then the Cohort schedule so I could see which classes would need books for the Taking Care of Business Day. We had a meeting this morning and worked on what needed to be done to get students their items from lockers, get back books, and hand out books. There is an entire schedule and map of how things will flow, from cars to volunteer sign ups. I was impressed. I got all the information together and sent out emails late afternoon because I wanted a response by Thursday.

Today I went in started the day cleaning out the classrooms of books. I got a cart and a half out of the rooms. We were so surprised and fled in March, that a lot of things were just left. There was an entire large cart full of books, both top and bottom from cleaning out lockers. As I walked along one side though, I found the bags still had books in them. We had a staff meeting to pull together all the information we worked with all summer. Then I went to a quick meeting for IA’s. As soon as it was nearly over, I headed up with a cart to go through all the bags and retrieve books. I ended up with about $1,500 worth of books. Glad I went through them. Then I took everything down to the library and set all the books from the large cart on regular book carts, got book carts set for when they do the downstairs lockers. I got responses from the teachers that might need textbooks, which ones to get the students through the first semester. So I let them know. I also got a response from TCI on the online history access. I really think we need to do this. I told our principal I thought it just made sense to do this since our textbooks are so old. I helped getting some math books to a teacher. I also checked in all the new books so they show up as ‘available’ rather than ‘in process’. I then added the JLG books that had come in to the New Books Collection in Destiny Discover. I also found out that I had missed a new book! I had to stamp a couple of sets of the JLG books with the Leslie stamp. A very busy day.

Wowza! We're Back!

 Two days of Student Engagement and Educational Equity training were last week on August 25th and 26th. Well done!

On August 27th I went into the building and found boxes of new books! Great joy!! I cleaned up a bit, moved things around. Had taken in small moving boxes for withdrawn books from our move this summer, just kind of checked to see what was going on. Spent about 2.4 hours there. 

August 31st! Back in the building! Huzzah! I opened all my new boxes since they had been sitting since last Thursday. Worked on my answers about how we are going to do library work. Getting back old books from last year, books from lockers, how checkouts this year might happen. I compiled all my answers and then sent that to my principal and assistant principal. Did a check to see which staff are going to need textbooks and if we can find on line textbooks. I worked on a new Collection for Destiny Discover on our new books. I got them all checked in and on a cart. I picked up another five small boxes of books and will work on those next week after they have sat for three days - which would be this Friday, but we're all off this Friday. Then some HVAC technicians came in and I left the building. 

Today I spent on emails and getting my calendar back together. I'm not sure why my calendar has nothing on it from anyone! There was a training today and I never saw it - probably because it was for licensed staff, but still! I did work on the 'Growing with Canvas' tutorial they have. But when I looked at Monday Notes, I saw the training slides from today and a lot of the work for the Canvas calendar will be populated by our district, so that will simplify a lot of the process. Got a call from my principal to join the Reunification process meeting tomorrow for getting items to the students that are in the lockers and hopefully at the same time checking out textbooks to use. We'll see if we can get that together! I also attended the meeting with our school supervisor this morning with lots of information. I forgot all about Mandatory Training! We do it every year and this year that's one thing that hasn't changed, except we now have a COVID module we need to do. Worked on helping another school get access to Spanish materials - I hooked them up with our Spanish teacher that had all that in a nice folder, all online. And getting materials for Social Studies. Hopefully online, and the district and our school will help make that happen! I'll go into the building on Thursday, but stay home again tomorrow! We also learned that we'll no longer have snow days - if it snows, we'll do distance learning and not loose those days! Well, darn, and nice that we won't have to worry about how much longer we'll have to stay in school in June! 

2019 - 2020 Reading List

• Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher - Had to read this and found it at my new home’s library! She is not a very good writer, or wasn’t at 19 when she did the first Star Wars movie. Much angst. Glad I didn’t buy it.
• Mornings with Rosemary by Libby Page - Loved this tender moving story of Kate, anxious and prone to panic attacks. Her editor sends her to do a story on the Lido, the community outdoor pool and she meets Rosemary, an 87 year old woman who has swam in the Lido her entire life. A large corporation want to purchase the Lido and cement it over for tennis courts and Kate and Rosemary rally to try and save it. Perfectly lovely in every way!
• Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse - a fun little book about Sherlock's older brother and his powers of observation! A fun romp with romance, a mystery and travel! What more could you want in a summer read?
• Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier - a tale of the great hunter of fossils, Mary Anning as told through a friend, Elizabeth. We see Mary on the beach, searching for the 'curies' to sell to help out the family. Her discovery of the 'crocodile' that set the scientific world on fire, and getting the recognition she deserved, even though she was a woman and a very poor family. Well done! Loved it. I will travel to Lyme Regis one day and walk the beach there to find my own 'curie'.
• The Last Paintings of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith - I actually really enjoyed this three era tale of the Dutch women painters. I loved the tale of Sara in the 1630's. And how young Ellie paints, the techniques of painting from Sara's time. The intrigue between her and Martin was all right. A good read. Enjoyed it.
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes - another tale of the horseback librarians of the Great Depression. Alice was swept out of England by the suave American Bennett and left to flounder in the backwoods of Kentucky. There she meets Margery, and starts to ride horses to deliver books to any and all, anywhere to spread literacy and a love of reading. I think I liked "The Book Woman...." more, but this was still very fine and lovely.
• 96 Miles by J. L. Esplin - This was a great survival/adventure story! After a massive blackout, John and Stewart know they'll be all right, even though their father is gone and they don't know when he'll be back. He was a survivalist and had food, water, anything they might need for six months, so they're set. Until a band of men come and take everything away. Including Stewart's insulin. John thinks they can make it the 96 miles to their friends, walking through the desert with even having to use toilet water. Then they meet Cleverly and her brother Will and realize they have to help them too. Really well done!
• ^Summer Reads 2020^
• Leo Thorsness - Medal of Honor by Michael P. Spradlin - great Hi/Lo book for my reluctant readers that tells the story of Colonel Thorsness and his actions that awarded him the Medal of Honor and also his capture and 6 years of imprisonment in 'Hanoi Hotel'. Thank you for your service. A really good book.
• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson - So, so, so good. Loved every chapter, even delayed reading at times so I wouldn't finish too soon! A fabulous telling of Churchill's first year as Prime Minister just as the Nazi's begin their war. So, so, so good...
• The Year I Didn't Eat by Samuel Pollen - Max is sure that every bad thing in his life is because of his weight. Either he is too skinny so everyone must think he is lame, or he is fat and really should cut down. The author was anorexic himself at 12 years old and comes to this subject with great insight into what it is like to live in that world. Well done!
• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson - Flew through this book! Loved it in so many ways! Not only for the book end, but learned about the blue people of Kentucky through Bluet, one of the horseback librarians. An amazing look into that time, the poverty, the racism, the scrabble life a lot of the people lived there. Definitely a great book!
• Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah - Hummm. Did not much care for this. Interesting, but not my cup of tea. The only thing I really liked was that Livingstone's bones did actually make it to England and are interred at Westminster Abbey.
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill - my granddaughter was reading this, so I picked up the ebook. Absolutely loved it. Luna was left as a sacrifice to the Witch. Each year, the witch would in actuality, take the left babies to other towns for others to raise. But Luna changes all that as she is fed starlight and then moonlight and the magic wants to take over. The witch decides to raise Luna and keep that magic under wraps until she's old enough to understand. Beautiful writing, amazing story, I loved it all.
• Cog by Greg Van Eekhout - loved this tale of the AI, Cog. Created by a robotics genius, Cog is so close to acting AND thinking like a human, it's a bit scary! When he gets in an accident, he is taken to the home office where they want to access his brain to find out what his creator put in there to make him seem so real. And that's when he decides to exercise bad judgement and have bad experiences and learn things. Well done Cog!
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I really loved this book! Eleanor has issues. A mother in jail who calls every week and tells Eleanor how disappointing she is. Laughing. But, Eleanor who has definite opinions on everyone and everything is offered a promotion. One day while walking out with Raymond from work, an elderly man collapses, and they come together to help him. It is the beginning of Eleanor dealing with her past, her mummy, and striding into a new life. Loved it!
• The Poison Eaters by Gail Jarrow - loved this history of the FDA and how they worked to keep our food safe! Really well done!
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - not sure how I felt about Olive. A series of stories that in some way have something to do with her and the small Maine town she lives in. I must admit, I like Britt Marie better.
• Restart by Gordon Korman - This is really a well done book. The video I used to promote it was not near as good as the book! Chase falls off the roof, total amnesia. He was a bully. And by the reactions of the students at school, and even his own family, he's not sure he really wants to know. Chase has a chance to restart. Will he?
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - Oh my! Not the book to read during a pandemic! An actor's death ties the people in this book together as the Georgia Flu wipes out 99% of the population. The traveling troupe of players and musicians winds their way along the great lakes bringing Shakespeare and Beethoven as the Traveling Symphony to the small communities that survived. Really well done, but glad I'm done and can move onto something a bit more not in the news right now!
• Warrior Girl by Pauline Chandler - A friend of Joan of Arc goes with her through the battles and is with her at the end. Well done, a nice and different perspective.
• Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough - what a chunky read a bit at a time book! But well done, telling the story of the Roosevelt family, how Teddy grew up and lived until he was 28. If you want great insight into a remarkable man, this one's for you!
• Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen - A WW2 tale of the book smugglers of Lithuania. Audra's parents are arrested and she is sent fleeing into the forest from the German troops. She heads for a nearby town to a friend of the family and becomes involved with what her parents did, smuggling Lithuanian books over the border so their language and stories won't be lost. Another great JAN story!
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - Loved this! Some of her word pictures on the marshes were so exquisitely lovely. How this young backwater girl became an author and illustrator for the area. Her two boyfriends, the murder. Well done!
• Lady at the OK Corral by Ann Kirschner - it was all right. The life of the woman who attached herself to Wyatt Earp and their life together. Interesting, but not as good as I thought it might be.
• Anne Frank: her life in Words and Pictures by Menro Metselaar - This was so good. I loved all the pictures of the times, the pictures of her diary, very well put together and thought out. Everyone going to Denmark should read this.
• Highfire by Eoin Colfer - What a rousing tale of a dragon and a young boy. OK, so the dragon lives in the back swamps of Louisiana, and the boy has seen a murder by the local cop of the dragon's supplier. This really turned out well, and heck, it's just fun to see a dragon in the modern day!
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne - What a great ride for a play! I could imagine the scenes perfectly and really read this because my granddaughter got to go and see this! Loved Harry's son Albus becomes great friends with Scorpius, the son of Draco Malfoy. In trying to fix the death of Cedric during the Triwizard Tournament, they discover that Voldemort had a child, who could it be?
• Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradel - this was an interesting come around book. Eva's mom left her, and her dad loved to cook. He would always be creating something good, then he dies when Eva is just a baby and she becomes a true gourmand. From knowing who grew her tomatoes, to picking corn just an hour before cooking, she built a business and a reputation. All the chapters are different people in her life either current or will be when the book wraps up in the end. Came to love it!
• Goldeline by Jimmy Cajoleas - Goldeline was taken in by a band of rogues after her mother was killed. With her beautiful locks of hair, she could stop any coach so the bandits could steal from it! But she saves a young boy, then becomes responsible for him and the band is discovered and killed by the Preacher who is determined to find Goldeline and other her repentance, or burned as a witch. Really well told!
• Everything Happens for a Reason and other lies I've loved by Kate Bowler - Kate was a true believer and researcher into the prosperity gospel. When she is diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. She weaves through diagnosis, treatments and friendships that all come together to remind her life is not a series of conquering and moving one, life is only here and now.
• The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills - Loved this story of a girl and her grandmother who use their hair to catch ghosts. It is an old trait, handed down from the Native American blood they share. From noises that could be just ghost mice and cats to having a relationship with a teenage boy in the graveyard, Shelly wants to help the ghosts, either to maintain a life here or to pass on. When her mother dies, Shelly searches everywhere for her ghost. And wonders why she can't find her. Nicely done!
• A Different Sun by Elaine Orr - Emma feels compelled to be a missionary, and when she meets Henry who wants to go set up a missionary post in Africa, she marries him. Set in the slavery times of the south, Emma knows something of African peoples with her friendship of one of the older slaves who came from Africa and is surprised at the connection between this slave and her new environment. Nicely done.
• The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery - Loved this tale of her love of the Octopus! She does so many animals, this was a true stand out as she delved into their lives in the local aquarium and out in the ocean. Loved this book!
• Death in the Air by Kate Dawson - I heard about this from watching The Crown. Five days in London in December of 1952 an inversion hit the city run on low grade coal. Everything halted, the fog too thick to move in, any respiratory conditions were life threatening. It led to the Clean Air Act of 1956. Over 100,000 people were affected, over 6,000 directly killed with some putting the deaths because of the smog at 12,000. During this time, hiding in the smog was a lone man, drifting through and finding women with no ties to anyone, and killing them. Stuffing bodies in the garden, in the walls of his home, under the floor boards. Two killers, one December. Great read, well done!
• Internment by Samira Ahmed - what a fabulous book at a modern day internment, so alike our current situation and yet different. Layla and her parents are listed as Muslims and the current president has them rounded up and sent to an internment camp. Layla has a boyfriend, and he is determined not to let her go. Along with him, a guard at the camp, and social media, the world is shown what is happening and now it's their turn to bring freedom. Great book.
• I've let this go for awhile, and now that the COVID 19 is upon us, and we are no longer at school, I'm catching up.
• The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville - delightful retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The Vaughn’s are high born bears, one of the ‘Enchanted’ folk and hire a bear governess for their son, Teddy. When some of the humans in town decry the ‘Enchanted’ and Ursula finds out the Vaughn’s are hiding a human girl, the story takes some great twists and turns! I almost forgot they were bears! Lovely!
• The Magician of Lhasa by David Michie - Love his The Dalai Llama’s Cat so picked this up! Tenzin has become a monk just before China invades and helps bring ancient documents out of Tibet. Matt is a quantum scientist who is tops in his field of nanotechnology. He ends up next door to a monk as his world falls apart in California, he’s kicked out of his new directorship, his love pursues another path. And yet, they come together. Well done. Loved the history of the Chinese invasion.
• The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - I had no idea about Hungarian Jews during WWII. What a testament to that country that they were protected as much as they could until the end. Andras in Paris on a scholarship to be an architect, finds the love of his life then finds he can’t renew his visa and has to go back to Hungary. His ‘work team’ efforts, the trials of keeping his love safe, a true eye opener for me. Book club read.
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern - Wowsa! Loved this! An ancient underground library fallen into its last days, the innkeeper and his moon, the pirate and his fate, the honey sea. Poems swirled onto cupcakes, words floating up stories in champagne bubbles, ships sailing down dresses into new stories. Was so glad my husband bought me this for Christmas!! Will be one of my treasured books!
• Chasing Augustus by Kimberly Fusco - Rosie knows the only thing that matters is finding her dog, Augustus. Her mom left, her dad had a stroke and she's trying to live with her grandfather and his rules, that she blatantly wants to disregard because they are all aimed at stopping her from finding her dog. A lovely dog story, made my heart happy.
• A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi - one of our new books about Syrians and the impact of internal war, the wish for a better life, the horrendous lengths they will go through to get to Europe and possible safety. Hard to read, but we need to.
• I have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Jackson - What a blessing to have this book and see the war through another set of eyes. Livia ended up in Auschwitz and how she survived is a testament to her will and that she was only there for a year. Even then, she just made it. Well done. A recommend for sure.
• Obsessed by Allison Britz - a good read, though I must admit there was a section I didn’t read because it was driving me crazy! I re-entered the story when she finally gets in to see a counselor to get some help. OCD is not pretty, and really can make you believe things that are not true. She got help, and moved on. Loved the ERP way of handling the compulsions.
• North to Benjamin by Alan Cumyn - I love anything to do with the north, and picked this up! Edgar is once again uprooted by his mother to live in Dawson, Canada. All he knows is that there is a dog, Benjamin that he will get to take care of. When he starts to hear Benjamin talking, and he begins to bark, the stress from his mother’s mental moving is too much and he sets off on a winter’s eve across the frozen river to try and make things right.
• A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry - Loved this factionalized account of OR-7 who wandered into Oregon, the first wolf sighting in many years and hearing his story told with depth, details in just the right places and the incredible artwork made this a top love for me this year. Definite recommend to students!
• The Baker’s Apprentice by Judith Ryan Hendricks - the sequel to Bread Alone, more of both Mac and Wynter. Mac heads up to Alaska and gets stranded, Wyn has her own troubles at the bakery. Nicely done, but is there another one coming?
• Martin Marten by Brian Doyle - Loved this book! As much as I loved Mink River, this might even be a bit better. I love how he gently brings us into an intimate in the heart way, close to the people who inhabit this particular map of the world. Read it!
• Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein - yes, I read this in Milo’s voice for his parts! A pretty good dog story, I learned some things about racing, and yes, I cried at the end. Just a little.
• Stepsister by Jennifer Donolly - Loved this! How one of the ‘ugly’ stepsisters finds her own true heart that had been manipulated by the Fates and Chance. Most excellent!
• White Bird by R. J. Palacio - a Wonder story. The bully has to do a story on WWII from a member of his family and learns how his grandmother was hidden during the occupation. Graphic novel, very well done.
• Long Flight Home by Alan Hlad - loved this World War II story of the homing pigeons and how they may have helped the war effort. I knew they had used them, but not the extent or the care and training of them. Fascinating. Loved it.
• The Plover by Brian Doyle - wow. what a journey on the Plover into the seas of entangled feelings and lives. Brian has a deft and unusual skill at descriptions. Liked his Mink River better, but we’ll see how Martinj Marten goes for book club.
• Bread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks - a woman is ousted by her husband and ends up in Seattle with her best friend. She needs a job and finds a small bakery to put to use her stint in France at a boulangerie. Loved the recipes!
• The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz - a boy and his cousin must leave and get into America, otherwise the local gang will take over their lives.
• How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle - the story of a family on the trail of tears. Well done, a real insight into what it was like for the families that had to move.
• Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson - This is the Salem Reads book for this January and I was iffy about reading it, but oh my. What a great book. How to take the chances that sometimes happen, how to live them, how to still be yourself. How to grow. A montage of friends, family, Portland living and most of all, finding the pieces of yourself that give you truly what you want. Lovely.
• Spectacle by Pamela Newkirk - I heard about Ota Benga at the Pika end of summer gathering. Ota came from Africa in 1906 and displayed in the Bronx Zoo as an exhibit. What a sad story of how he was treated, what became of him and how he never returned to Africa. Grateful I got to read this.
• When by Victoria Laurie - this new book club read is a page turner! Maddie sees numbers just above the forehead of everyone she sees. Even in their pictures. They are death dates. When that person will die. When a lady comes for a reading, Maddie notices her son will die that next week, and when he’s found murdered, the FBI look to Maddie. How did she know? How did she plan it? Why? A fabulous thriller! All eight of my copies got checked out!
• Old Baggage by Lissa Evans - our book club read and a look at the suffragette world. Mattie lives to be involved in a changing world, and she wants to be someone helping still propel those changes for the better for women all over. But when she discovers a young girl is actually her dead brother’s daughter, she makes decisions she would not have thought possible for her.
• The Endless Beach by Jenny Colgan - a continuation of The Cafe by the Sea. It was lovely. Sad, but lovely.
• Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman - loved this book about the Van Gogh brothers. The sketches in there from Vincent, the voice, the detail told in vignettes is superb. Loved it.
• Gone to Drift by Diana McCaulay - loved this tale of a boy and his grandfather out in the islands. Grandpa has gone missing, to drift they call it. No one can find him. Lloyd is certain he can find him. He finds new friends, stows away on a Coast Guard boat, all to find the man he admires most. The voice is amazing.
• Driving by Starlight by Anat Deracine - Leena is not your ordinary Arabian girl. Her father is in jail, she wears boys’ clothes so her mother can shop with a ‘male escort’. She’s brilliant and has a best friend. When a new girl arrives, all her world pitches to the side as she navigates who and where she wants to be in this world full of rules. Nicely done, a great insight into our own freedoms and all we should be grateful for.
• Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood - found amongst family papers, Susan takes this based on a true story tale and fills this novel in verse with all the ups and downs of the children who were sent to Canada to escape the blitz and end up getting torpedoed on the way over. Very well done and a tale that did need to be set out there again.
• The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan - Loved this tale of a girl who escaped her tiny island off Scotland to become a lawyer. When a wind farm is proposed for her island and a billionaire doesn’t want his view disturbed, she finds she is back home trying to get the locals on his side. Truly lovely. I’d like to live there. It fits a place in my soul at the moment.
• White Rose by Kip Wilson - Loved this novel in verse about the White Rose movement in Nazi Germany. How the students tried to get others to rebel against the regime and how they paid for it. Incredibly touching. Inspiring. To face injustice and take a stand, even if it means death. Were I so brave.
• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei - Wow! Amazing graphic novel of the life of George Takei from when his family was sent to a Japanese internment camp during WWII. All I can say is wow. This is a powerful story of his family and their resilience in the face of unfair prejudice and how they rose above. Again, wow. Read this.
• Rebound by Kwame Alexander - a nice continuation of Crossover. Charlie can’t seem to rebound from his father’s sudden death. He’s stuck, and when his mother sends him to live with his grandparents for the summer, he’s pretty sure she’s made a mistake. But who’s made the mistake? Lovely Kwame novel in verse by a master of prose.
• The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan - Zoe needs a break. Living with her son, trying to make ends meet, she has help and finds herself at Loch Ness helping Nina, and a Lord with his three children. In saving her, they all save themselves. Another great fun, good hearted read!
• The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan - a great fun read for camping. Nina loses her job and finds a new pursuit, buying a van and converting it to a mobile bookshop. Loved this book! Then headed into the next one!
• The Names of the Stars by Pete Fromm - Pete is asked to live in the wilderness to watch the hatching of fish eggs to help restore runs in the back country and his take on life and the choices he's made. Loved it and it got picked up out of my Little Free Camping Library and I know whoever got a great read.
• Elizabeth - the Later Years by John Guy - loved this historical treatise on Elizabeth after the Armada. Her life in court, the play of Catholic vs. Protestant. The graph I had to use to figure out all the people in her life and a great quote I'd love to use on a student one day! Well done!
• We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels - Three generations of women who become involved with the African American men they interact with. Mary, who relies on George, an escaped slave who was sent to her by her husband as he battled in the Civil War. As her husband is away, she relies on George more and more. Nora meets William at an art exhibition and through the months they fall in love and get married. Nora’s family disowns her and after riots where Nora is threatened, they move to an old house in the country. Elizabeth is working on a story about racism and a fellow finds her to give her box of photos to take to her aunt, Nora. Nora is older and Elizabeth moves in to help out, at the old family home in LaPeer. Fascinating book and look at racism in different times.
• Black Death at the Golden Gate by David K. Randall - interesting story of the plague found in 1900 in San Francisco and the heroic and often ignored steps taken to try and keep it from spreading throughout America. Interesting look at the Marine Hospital Service and their role in keeping disease from other countries from spreading. Sanitation was a huge answer to keeping infection down! There is still plague bacteria out there! Beware!
• Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran - A continuation of Pomegranate Soup, recipes in the back! As life moves on and we learn more about how and why the girls had to flee Iran, we also see them becoming more a part of this quirky Irish community at the foot of Crough Patrick. Lovely. Though I was sad to hear the author has passed away.
• Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran - loved this story of three sisters who escaped from Islamic overthrow and find themselves in a small Irish town where using their Persian skills, open the Babylon Cafe. With their insight into the influences of their ingredients, they turn a town into loving Persian food and find their own place as well. Recipes at the beginning of every chapter!! Wonderful!
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - I have walked the Camino Primitivo in Spain and am planning on doing Hadrian’s Wall, so this book came up. Harold owes a great debt to Queenie, and when he gets a letter that she is dying 500 miles away, he writes her, and at the post box (England!) decides that his walk must be something greater, that she can hold on if she believes he’ll make it. He takes off, his wife wonders what he was thinking, and Harold goes on, in yachting shoes, no phone, but determined to pay his last respects to Queenie. Really lovely.
• Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman and Julian Smith - loved this history of the paniolo cowboys! They were herding and catching cattle long before our Wild West, through lava fields and jungles. I loved hearing the stories and meeting the men on paper who brought order to the wild beasts that were given to Kamehameha I and let to roam free. Truly a great book about amazing people, doing incredible feats with cattle. Loved it. If you like Hawaii, you need to read this book.
• Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman - loved this book about one of the characters in his other books - Britt-Marie has been left by her husband and applies with a job service. Plastic mugs? Are these people uncivilized? And no coasters? She finds herself running an almost closed down rec center in a town nearly gone and yet her quirky view of what is right, starts to pull the soccer club together, then the town. A really lovely, lovely book.
• Woodsong by Gary Paulsen - I love the north woods and his descriptions of living in Alaska and some of the incidents he encountered there are just good reading.

Last Day for Me

Put in my summer order today and then worked the 80% of my time for the day on the Dystopian Collection in Destiny Discover. It’s been a crazy end of this school year and we have no idea what will happen over the summer. Will we be back? Or not? Or a combination? It’s all up in the air. I love my job, but this has been hard and I only have one year to go. Will it be as crazy as all this? Or will things settle down to the way they’ve been my other 12 years in the library? I don’t know at this point. I do hope that everyone finds ways to be all right, that vaccines and ways to survive this time are found. We will see, one step at a time, one day at a time. Be safe all. Be kind. Keep reading.

I Got in My Library Today!!

Totally was so busy yesterday I didn't do this! I was so happy though that I actually got to be in my library!! I had so much to do and our principal was so sweet to allow me to come in because then she had to be in as well. When we had left in March, we had thought it was just for a couple of weeks, so all the books I had out on display I just laid them flat. So, I had to go around the library and actually shelve all of those. Then I had books waiting to be shelved and some to check in, so I checked in the books I needed to and then had to shelve all of those. I took down my last display, the liberation of Auschwitz and threw all the paper away, shelved the books from there, took apart my 'shelves' putting away the props I use to stagger the shelves for display purposes. Put away all the books for repair I had in my office and put them in a box in the back textbook room, put away the Rubik's cubes into my personal closet, took the two blue bins of MakerSpace stuff and put them into the Back, Back Room. I had taken in the books I had brought home in March and finished reading and checked them in and put them away. Grabbed the items I thought I might need over the summer just in case I got the OK to get my last order from the warehouse... I am hoping!! And my dystopian list to compare against the other dystopian lists on the Destiny Discover because a lot of books don't come up as dystopian when you do a search for that in the regular Destiny program. I had sent out a 'Let's Be Proactive!' Email yesterday with some thoughts on when/if we come back:

1. Only hardback books to easily clean
2. Only face front books on shelves - no more spines - this will take a lot of work to decimate our collections down. I'm thinking five would be the most we could get on a shelf.
3. Shelves would be tighter, so we can add in more shelving.
4. Each book has a QR code for it, or a 'Powell's' type description so books don't have to be picked up unless they will be checked out.
5. If the book is an eBook - the hard copy goes.
6. No book over 5 years old. That's right, Counting by 7's - it's gone.
7. Pulled books donated to shelters, other smaller districts, etc.
8. Carts out for patrons that need to read a few pages before check out, no? book goes on the cart to be cleaned before being put back on shelves - do we have to wait 3 days if we clean with sterile wipes??

Just a few thoughts. Any more?? 

There were some other thoughts that came back from our group. Our PA mentioned the ODE library requirements that just came out and that our district Risk Management team would also be partly in control of that. Others mentioned getting eReaders out to kids, taking carts into classrooms rather than having them come in the library, just boxing up other books for now rather than getting rid of them, the lack of copies of eBooks - one lamented that only one copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books would not be good! So we will see what actions we need to take as the summer goes on. My principal heard me and asked if I'd like to be on a committee this summer to help with these questions and I suggested our PA, since he's not on any committee and is a bit baffled that no one has asked him to be on any. Then I started reading It Wasn't Me  and it was pretty good. I actually finished it late Thursday night and like the concept of Restorative Justice. Students need to read it!