The very first major assignment I completed for my School Library Media degree was the Annotated Bibliography for the Children’s Literature course. It took an entire semester of faithful reading and writing to produce this product, but as Dr. Mona Kerby, Coordinator of the School Library Program, put in her evaluation comments, it was truly “a labor of love.” I had just been hired as the Lower School Librarian at Roland Park Country School, and I began my graduate program when I started the job. The Children’s Literature course provided the perfect springboard for my new career. I was required to read at least eighty books in different categories--picture books, chapter books and the ten classifications of nonfiction in the Dewey Decimal System. I chose well-written, classic and award-winning books that were in my very own library, and this helped me to learn more about my collection. Since my previous teaching positions had been in high school and middle school, I had to familiarize myself with many Caldecott books, and I chose some Newbery Award winners that I had not previously read. I also selected some of the winners of Maryland State Black-Eyed Susan Book Award to review. I was surprised at the depth and scope of books written for children on the elementary level. They tackle important issues and provide insights with complexity for the younger set.
The biggest challenge I had was developing an interesting and appealing way to present these books to students. After much thought, I came up with a theme that worked well for me—books as treasures. I compiled everything in a scrapbook entitled “A Treasure Trove of Titles in the Killebrew Library.” I used different jewels to represent the various categories of books, and I color-coded everything according to the hues of the gemstones. For example, fairy tales were amethysts and science books were sapphires. I geared it toward my audience—young girls who like things that glitter and sparkle! The online document does not do justice to the final product. I mounted each page individually onto jewel-toned cardstock and used a variety of embellishments, including three-dimensional gems.
I displayed the scrapbook in my library that year, and students referred to it regularly. They loved the jewels and the colored categories. After that, though, it pretty much sat on a shelf in my office. Although most of the titles are classic books that should stay around for a long time, it would be nice if I updated and edited this booklet. It might be better to make it an online document now, even though there would be the loss of the scrapbook’s tactile features. This could be an ongoing, living document with new additions each year. I would like to think of a way to involve students in this project to make it more meaningful to them.
I am very proud of this bibliography; I think it is the perfect artifact for the 2.1 Literature standard because it shows how I dove into the world of children’s books headfirst with great enthusiasm. Since then, I have widened my knowledge of children’s books considerably by consulting professional journals and keeping abreast of the new books before they are published. My goal is to continue to read as many children’s books as I can to support reading in the RPCS Lower School.
The biggest challenge I had was developing an interesting and appealing way to present these books to students. After much thought, I came up with a theme that worked well for me—books as treasures. I compiled everything in a scrapbook entitled “A Treasure Trove of Titles in the Killebrew Library.” I used different jewels to represent the various categories of books, and I color-coded everything according to the hues of the gemstones. For example, fairy tales were amethysts and science books were sapphires. I geared it toward my audience—young girls who like things that glitter and sparkle! The online document does not do justice to the final product. I mounted each page individually onto jewel-toned cardstock and used a variety of embellishments, including three-dimensional gems.
I displayed the scrapbook in my library that year, and students referred to it regularly. They loved the jewels and the colored categories. After that, though, it pretty much sat on a shelf in my office. Although most of the titles are classic books that should stay around for a long time, it would be nice if I updated and edited this booklet. It might be better to make it an online document now, even though there would be the loss of the scrapbook’s tactile features. This could be an ongoing, living document with new additions each year. I would like to think of a way to involve students in this project to make it more meaningful to them.
I am very proud of this bibliography; I think it is the perfect artifact for the 2.1 Literature standard because it shows how I dove into the world of children’s books headfirst with great enthusiasm. Since then, I have widened my knowledge of children’s books considerably by consulting professional journals and keeping abreast of the new books before they are published. My goal is to continue to read as many children’s books as I can to support reading in the RPCS Lower School.