A couple months ago, I wrote a post about performative allyship as it relates to storytime—specifically, my own storytimes. I conducted a diversity audit of the books I used during storytimes at my branch and realized that I was failing as an ally and social justice advocate. I decided to make a change and resolved “to read at least one book featuring characters of color or another marginalized identity in every storytime I lead.”
A year ago, I left my AmeriCorps position at an inclusive preschool and child development center for my first true librarian gig. My time with AmeriCorps was one of the most rewarding, confusing, challenging, and life-changing years in my life. For a moment, I thought I would ditch librarianship altogether to become a preschool teacher. Instead, my experiences kindled the special passion I have for early literacy in my library work.
Continue reading “What I Learned From My Year in Early Intervention”
Even though I broke my suitcase and got lost way more times than I’d like to admit, I made it safely back to Eugene! Last weekend was full of so many surprises—including some hard truths. Rather than delve too deeply into it all, I’m going to suggest that you take a look at my and other contributors’ guest posts on the ALSC Blog. There was so much coverage of the conference that you’ll almost feel like you were there.
Inspired by Travis Jonker’s series of posts about the highest circulating books at his school library (chapter books, picture books, nonfiction books, diverse books), here’s a list of the highest circulating juvenile fiction at my small public library branch this fiscal year. It’s a lot of the same, but it’s interesting to see a few differences.
Continue reading “Popularity & Diversity in Juvenile Fiction: A Mini Case Study”
Last week, I shared something really personal: I came out to my 8-year-old niece. Since then, I’ve received some wonderful words of support and, perhaps more importantly, some really great book recommendations to further my discussions with young people about what it means to be LGBTQ+. All the books I sent my niece were focused on gay (white) men—yikes!—so I’m thrilled to take this opportunity to share more books (with her and with you) to include a broader representation of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Stories Guy 