Thursday, May 12, 2016

Goings On Around Town - May- June

As always there is lots going on at Books of Wonder. These events caught my eye

Launch Party for Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
Sunday, May 15th, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Help Books of Wonder and authors SARAH WEEKS and GITA VARADARAJAN celebrate the launch of their newest novel for middle grade readers, Save Me a Seat, a delightful celebration of friendship in the face of adversity and difference.
Off-Site Launch Event for Draw the Line by Laurent Linn
Tuesday, May 17th, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Join Books of Wonder in celebrating the launch of LAURENT LINN's new book Draw the Line at the Society of Illustrators at 128 E 63rd St. (between Park and Lexington Avenues). LAURENT LINN will open the evening with a short presentation, followed by a book signing. There will be a cash bar and refreshments available.
The Raven King Tour
Sunday, May 22nd, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Join Books of Wonder as we welcome NY Times bestselling author MAGGIE STIEFVATER in conversation with her editor, NY Times bestselling author DAVID LEVITHAN for the release of the fourth and final book in The Raven Cycle, The Raven King!
Great Middle Grade Reads
Sunday, May 29th, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Get ready for some GREAT MIDDLE GRADE READS as FIVE fantastic authors present their latest tales of adventure with your young readers. GORDON KORMAN, DAN GUTMAN, JULIE SALAMON, ED MASESSA, and GAVIN BROWN will be here starting at 1pm and you won't want to miss a page!

A selection of events at various Barnes and Nobles

Barnes and Noble, Tribeca

Three Magic Balloons  Julianna Margulies

Tuesday May 17, 2016 4:00 PM This afternoon, we welcome actress Juliana Magulies. She'll be here to discuss her new book Three Magic Balloons. Priority seating with book purchase. This will be a wristband event. Please call the store for details

Barnes and Noble, 86th St

Friday June 10, 2016 7:00 PM Join us at 7:00PM for our Trivia Blast, created by Penguin Teen and Random House's First In Line, who will send one winner in every store advance reader's copies* of the most anticipated new teen books. *Advance reader's copies will be preselected by the publisher. #BFESTBUZZ 


Barnes and Noble, Tribeca
Matt de la Pena
Saturday June 11, 2016 11:30 AM  Special Instructions:Like us on Facebook for event updates. www.facebook.com/barnesandnobleunionsquare 

The Society of Illustrators is proud to announce a celebration of the Comic and Cartoon Art Annual! Opening Reception and Awards Presentation

Friday, June 17, 2016

Society of Illustrators
128 East 63 Street
New York, NY

Doors open at 6PM
Awards Ceremony at 7PM


Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Participating in New York State's Charlotte Award

In the fall, many HVLA librarians and students had a blast predicting which book would win the Newbery medal. Part of the challenge for librarians was trying to figure out which books to put on the shortlist. I found this both engrossing and agonizing in equal parts! (Well, maybe not agonizing, but I did worry that we would completely overlook the winner and honor books). With the Charlotte Award, organized by the New York State Reading Association, this is not an issue, since a list of ten books is supplied for each age category. Charlotte fever is running high at A-S right now (pizza voting parties are next week) so I thought I would share a little about how and why we do it.

We offer the The Charlotte Award to boys in the 4th Grade and it has become an excellent stepping-stone to our Newbery Challenge program which we run for boys in Grades 5-7. The brilliant thing about the Charlotte Award is that the winner is chosen by children living in New York state, so when we have our celebration party we actually get to vote online.

NYSRA requires students to read at least six of the books in order to vote. I have to say I’m a little tougher on our boys since I ask them to read all ten books. This is because a number of the titles in the grades 3-5 age group are picture books. In addition, I introduce the award by reading one of the books aloud, enabling all of our boys get a star on the progress chart immediately.  



If I had to name a drawback to the Charlotte Award, I would say that although thought provoking, some more challenging titles would fit my student population better. That said, the fact that many of the books are quick, easy reads ensures very high participation. In addition, the selection is not always as up-to-date as it might be. For example, one of the books on the shortlist is El Deafo.
However the boys are enjoying nearly all of them, including books that they wouldn’t normally pick up.

One other thing to bear in mind is that the Charlotte Award only takes place every other year.This took me by surprise last year and I had to  scramble to find a replacement. Last year’s 4th grade proudly took part in South Dakota’s Prairie Pasque award! As out-of-state participants their votes didn’t actually count but the selection of books was great and with our usual system of incentives and quizzes in place, the program was just as popular.

I’m looking forward to our voting parties next week. The motivation that pizza provides cannot be overestimated and I think about three-quarters of the grade will be able to attend. Of course, we will be having that all-important conversation about which book merits the award and why, but we will also just be reveling in the fact that we have this shared reading experience. This morning I conducted a parent focus group to discuss the library. The reading challenge programs emerged as one of the things the parents appreciate the most. At the end of the day, building a community of readers is my central goal, and the Charlotte Award helps to get us there.

For more information about the Charlotte Award, check out their website.

Sarah Kresberg
Library Director, The Allen-Stevenson School