I created a Goosechase scavenger hunt for students at my school to complete while attending these fests. I suggest you invite students to attend through an advertisement and then create a fun activity for them to do as an attendee. Bookfests are great exposure for students because of the potential to discover authors and new genres, and it certainly doesn’t hurt if it helps them realize reading is cool. As a school librarian I have always found it important to engage students in experiences that provide important real-world connections. Another bookfest, The Middle Ground Bookfest, was hosted by authors Shannon Doleski, Tanya Guerrero, Lorien Lawrence, and Janae Marks, and it is still available on YouTube where you can watch topics such as “Brave Girl Characters,” “Curating Books as Windows & Mirrors,” and “Finding Truth: Non-fiction and Realistic Fiction” (Middle Ground Bookfest 2020).īookfests are an amazing way to engage students by introducing them to the authors that write the stories they read. Plus, so many other sessions, such as Putting Story in History and Home and Belonging: Immigrant Stories in Middle Grade Literature, to name a few (Everywhere Bookfest 2020). Stone, theffest also included pre-recorded sessions with Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, and Meg Medina, as well as live sessions such as a picture draw-off by book illustrators, like Tom Lichtenheld, Raúl the Third, and Chloe Bristol. One of the keynote speakers was Georgia’s very own, Nic Stone, author of Dear Martin and the newly released Dear Justyce. This past May was my very first bookfest, and the one that got me hooked was Everywhere Virtual Bookfest. I have attended FREE online literary bookfests, each with an incredibly rich cast of authors. So, it was a perfect author and school librarian match!Īlong with virtual class visits, several authors have stepped up to be active participants in online bookfests. My students had also recently read her historical fiction book, Resistance, a Georgia Children’s Book Award nominee. Nielsen has written several series, and her newest release, The Captive Kingdom, released this month. I was simply amazed with her cordiality, and I was extremely ecstatic when she replied accepting my request. Nielsen offering to do free virtual visits with students during the month of October. As I casually scrolled through my Twitter feed, I came across a tweet by Ms. It’s also how I made contact with author Jennifer Nielsen. Learning about new releases and seeing book cover reveals is inspiring. I admit, I hang out on Twitter a lot and so naturally, I follow several authors. The students were enthralled to learn about her writing process, how she created the characters, and of course they loved hearing about her new puppy, Galileo. She was personable and engaged in conversation with the students for the entire class period. Lackey’s generosity created a memorable and positive reading experience that my students will never forget during an unprecedented time. I was positively geeked and couldn’t wait to surprise my students. She then offered to join me and my students in one of our Zoom sessions. Lackey took notice of the posted activities my students were doing as we read her book in a virtual classroom during distance learning. My first author experience was with Lindsay Lackey, author of the middle grade book, All the Impossible Things. Talk about a mega partnership! Quite simply, authors and school librarians go hand in hand making the virtual world a happier place. We had extraordinary help through the online presence of children’s authors stepping into the virtual world and bringing the ultimate student engagement possible during a pandemic. However, we soon discovered we weren’t doing this amazing accomplishment alone. While school librarians in my district have managed many roles during the pandemic, it was in our newly created virtual library spaces that we decided to do what we do best: promote reading. Like the character Lucy in Peanuts, we created our virtual libraries and flipped our open signs to, “The School Librarian is In.” Once this was accomplished, the initial and immediate question became, “How do we transfer the roles we successfully managed in our traditional library spaces over to our virtual spaces and still impact student learning?” Like other school librarians across the globe, we quickly transitioned from our beloved library spaces to an unknown virtual world. March 13 was the day COVID-19 changed everything for school librarians in my school district. Making the Virtual World a Happier Place: Authors and School Librarians Go Hand in Hand Home › Blog Topics › Advocacy/Leadership › Making the Virtual World a Happier Place: Authors and School Librarians Go Hand in Hand
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