Category: Libraries

Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for?

This weekend, if you are so fortunate, enjoy some turkey. Enjoy spending time with family and friends. Enjoy a day off of work on Monday. Enjoy some relaxation and recreation. Put your feet up. Read a book. Sit by the fire. Go for a walk in nature.

Whatever you do for fun or rest this weekend, take some time to consider what you are thankful for in your life.

The relationship between joy and gratitude was one of the important things I found in my research. I wasn’t expecting it. In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude.

Dr. Brene Brown

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Like all holidays, Thanksgiving is even better when we stop to consider the meaning of the holiday.

Book Banning: Not Just History but Current Events

It can be tempting to think of the banning of books as something that happened in the past, only by extremely conservative types, or in authoritarian regimes. Sadly, book banning is alive and well here and now. Sure, it is not shocking that anti-democratic governments in places like China, Russia, Iran, Hungary or Venezuela strictly control the flow of information and literature. Yet in our society, where we make claims on being champions of democracy and freedom, book banning is on the rise.

Kara Yorio writes in School Library Journal: “It has been a busy Banned Books Week, as the stepped-up challenges to books and their authors continue,  with books by kid lit creators Jerry Craft and Kelly Yang added to the list of titles some parents claim are objectionable.” Read the rest of this article.

Meanwhile “Ruby Bridges Goes to School” has been targeted by book banners as well. Author Ruby Bridges recounts the true story of her experiences as a 6 year old girl who became the first black student to attend a formerly whites only public school. An organized group of parents wanted their local school board to ban this book, “for supposedly “explicit and implicit anti-American, anti-white” bias (source).” Read more in this Miami Herald article.

Here are four of the most challenged books from the last year, all available in our school library:

  • George by Alex Gino. Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting “the values of our community.”
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds. Banned and challenged because of the author’s public statements and because of claims that the book contains “selective storytelling incidents” and does not encompass racism against all people.
  • All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism and because it was thought to promote antipolice views, contain divisive topics, and be “too much of a sensitive matter right now.”
  • Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Banned, challenged, and restricted because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint, it was claimed to be biased against male students, and it included rape and profanity.

Read the rest of the “The Top 10 Challenged Books of 2020” from the American Library Association.

Libraries Rock Bigtime

Celebrate Libraries in October

October is a big month for libraries.

October is International School Library Month.

October is Canadian Library Month.

October 15 is Canadian Library Workers’ Day

October 22 is the BCTLA Conference

October 25 is BC School Library Day and Canada School Library Day

October 25 is Drop Everything and Read

Check back here for more info, and visit us in person, as we party all month in the School Library.

Volunteer with the Library Team

In the 70s they said these kids were funky.
In the 80s they said these kids were choice.
In the 90s they said these kids were rad.
In the 2000s they said these kids were hella cool.
In the 2010s they said these kids were lit.
In 2021 they say these kids are on the Library Team.

Find out more here to see if you have what it takes to join the squad that everyone says is bussin.

2021 Teen Summer Adventure: Time Travel Edition

From Surrey Libraries:

Sign up for the 2021 Teen Summer Adventure (TSR).

Combat summer brain drain with our All-Access Passport to summer fun!

Need some inspiration for how to spend the summer?

Get ready to go back in time with Surrey Libraries’ Teen Summer Adventure 2021, Time Travel Edition (Ages 12-18)

Combat summer brain drain with our All-Access Passport to summer fun! Our All-Access Passport is filled with time travel themed challenges and activities you can do all summer long. Complete activities to earn tickets that go toward 8 weekly prizes and 3 summer-end grand prize draws!

Sign up by July 10 to be eligible for all 8 weekly prizes!

Go to Surrey Libraries to find out more.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely

The Surrey Teens Read book of the year, as selected by the students of Surrey Schools, is A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer.

Thanks to all the students who voted in this year’s Surrey Teens Read. And special thanks to the Teacher Librarians on the Committee for all their work running this program. Every year they manage to come up with a slate of outstanding titles for Surrey Teens Read. Once again they gave the students of our district an enjoyable set of books to read during the 2020-2021. We are already looking forward to the next set of nominated titles for 2021-2022.

Find out more: Surrey Teens Read

Award Winners

Come down to the School Library to see our display of recent “Award Winners.”

The Printz Award and the Alex Awards are significant honours to consider when adding title to a secondary school library collection. The Printz Award is given for excellence in young adult literature, while the Alex Awards are given to books written for adults but that have special appeal to young adults and teens.

The Printz Award is “for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.” (ALA) The 2021 Printz Award was given to Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri. In this autobiographical novel, middle-schooler Daniel, formerly Khosrou, tells his unimpressed and at times cruel classmates about his experience as an Iranian refugee.

Printz Honors were awarded to Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth; Dragon Hoops created by Gene Luen Yang; Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh; and We Are Not Free by Traci Chee.

The Alex Awards “are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.” (ALA) This year the Alex Awards were presented to the following titles:

· Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

· The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

· The Impossible First by Colin O’Brady

· Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf

· The Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony

· The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

· Plain Bad Heroines by emily m. danforth

· Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

· Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

· We Ride Upon Sticks: A Novel by Quan Barry

Find out more about all the other books and authors that were honoured with these very prestigious awards in the world of youth and children’s literature: ALA Youth Media Awards.