Maine Student Book Award

The Maine Student Book Award, a joint project of the Maine Library Association, Maine Association of School Libraries, and Maine Reading Association, has been around for decades.  While most awards for children’s books are chosen by adults (I mean, what’s up with that, right?) the Maine Student Book Award is awarded each spring to a book that kids in grades 4-8 in Maine have chosen by voting.  A committee chooses a list of books, published the previous year. Kids can suggest books to go on the list.  Kids in grades 4-8 read from the list, and then vote by April 1st.

Here is a link to the MSBA home page where you can find all the titles on the current list.
Maine Student Book Award Home Page

 There is a display of available titles in the Youth Services Room at the library.  And don’t forget that many are available in Scarborough Public Library’s very cool Cloud Library, too!

The Cloak Society, by Jeramey Kraatz is a fantasy title on the list.  

 
Like many kids, Alex isn't sure he wants to continue in the family business and is struggling to find his own path. Complicating matters: the family business is super-villainy! His great-grandfather was a founding member of the Cloak Society, a team of radiation-enhanced bad guys whose powers range from controlling electricity to super strength and, in Alex's case, telekinesis. His mother is telepathic, which presents the ultimate kid nightmare: his mother really can read his mind. On his 12th birthday, Alex fails in his first field test, a bank robbery. His powers cannot open the vault and he impulsively does the unthinkable: He saves Kirbie, a shape-shifting member of The Rangers of Justice,--the good guys. Even worse, she becomes his friend. And the more time he spends with her, the more Alex wonders about the world outside of Cloak—and what, exactly, he's been fighting for.



Check out the other titles on the list for more great books!

Happy reading,
Connie

Poetry Tweets!

         As we wrap up April and National Poetry Month, I wanted to share the great poetry tweets that the kids who participated in the poetry workshops created.  When they shared these with family and friends in an evening presentation at the library, the audience enthusiastically snapped their fingers (applause at a poetry slam is not clapping but snapping!). 

People are like snowflakes.  Not one of them is the same.  So never, ever, ever let the world change you.  How about you change the world?          Zoe

Drawing.  Line sliding, turning, starting, stopping.  “Needs more ,” I say.  More painting.  Brush strokes, starting, stopping.  A new day.          Maddie

Time to go.  Running home.  In the dusty sky, stars flying by, moon glowing as much as the wonder in my eyes.          Cameron

With every moment more heat.  I can hear the beat of my heart.  Wonder who is sharing the earth with me, who is hidden in the shadows.  Scared.          Cameron

A flower stands in a field, weathering the storm.  The beauty will never yield.  This flower will always stand.      Max

Kids run, balloons in their hands.  They lose their grasp.  Balloons float away.   Tears. Balloons float peacefully up in the air into outer space. POP!            Sasha

The sun shining, wind blowing.  I go to my house with something to say.  “Let’s go outside.  It’s a beautiful day.  Let’s go play.”                  Dyllan

Scared.  Scared as shadows move under the stars and moon.  The wind blows peacefully through the trees.  Chilling my heart with fear.  Scared.          Sarah

Writing.  Flowing, cascading, rushing like a river.  The words pour out of my pen link a fountain.  What is my story?  I don’t even know.         Elizabeth

Making dinner again. My family is lazy.  Doing chores stinks.  Can’t text right now.  Wish my family would get up and do something, too.          Maya

         Bravo to Scarborough Public Library’s young poets!  I am already looking forward to next April when the library again will host poetry workshops and presentations.

Happy reading (and tweeting),
Connie

Six-Word Memoirs!

          I hope you enjoyed seeing the Book Spine Poems in the last blog post.  I want to share with you the second creative writing we worked on in the Sweet Tweets Poetry workshops: Six-Word Memoirs.  You can find lots more examples of these online, too. The idea is  to say something about yourself in exactly six words. 
   
Clicks.  Popular.  Mean.  Not for me.   (Sarah)

Without Lego, life has no meaning.   (Max)

Disney is my life and future.     (Dyllan)

Writing is flowing lines for reading.   (Maddie)

Anime isn’t weird.  You’re too normal.   (Sasha)

Never found the lion.  Which wardrobe?   (Cameron)

Photography is my way of speaking.   (Cameron)

What is music?  My entire world.   (Zoe)

Writing just happens.  Don’t rush it.    (Elizabeth)

I’m not weird.  I’m “limited edition.”   (Maya)

          Try writing your own Six-Word Memoir and post it as a comment on the blog!

Happy writing and reading,
Connie

April is National Poetry Month!

And we have been celebrating in the Youth Services Room!  A group of young poets attended two after-school poetry workshops.  They had a lot of fun creating poems from book spines.  Here are some examples of their Book Spine Poetry:

       They also created Six-Word Memoirs (describing something about themselves in exactly six words) and Poetry Tweets (writing a poem using only 140 characters or less, like a tweet).  I'll share some examples of these in the next blog post, after you've had a chance to hear the poets speak their words!

       Come to the library this Wednesday, April 10th, from 6:30-7:30 when the young poets will share their poems.  You are invited to share your poetry, too!  So bring a friend and be at the Youth Services Room on Wednesday.

Connie

Bullying

         We hear so much about the cruelty of bullying.  There are many helpful books that explore this important topic.  Here are two which pair nicely together and which I think are really good.

Bystander by James Preller

         Most of us are not bullies, but are likely to be bystanders.  We see and hear someone being bullied, but we try to ignore it…to not get involved… and we don’t stand up to the bully.

         Eric is the new kid in seventh grade. Griffin wants to be his friend. When you’re new in town, it’s hard to know who to hang out with—and who to avoid. Griffin seems cool, confident, and popular. But something isn’t right about Griffin. He always seems to be in the middle of bad things. And if Griffin doesn't like you, you’d better watch your back. There might be a target on it.
       As Eric gets drawn deeper into Griffin’s dark world, he begins to see the truth about Griffin: He’s a liar, a bully, a thief.  Eric discovers there are consequences to standing by and watching as the bully hurts people. In one shocking moment, Eric goes from being a bystander . . . to being the bully’s next victim.

Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance edited by Rhoda Belleza

       It does not necessarily take a fist to create a punch in the gut. Fourteen short stories by well-known young adult authors delve into the experience of being bullied—socially, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and sexually. The school hallways, walking home, and house walls are no longer boundaries for intimidation and harassment. With social media and smartphones, bullying has lost all limits, and the lines among truth, lies, and real accountability have become blurred.
     Cornered includes stories by Jennifer Brown (Hate List), Elizabeth Miles (Fury), and Josh Berk (The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin).

Books can help us understand ourselves and others.

Happy reading,
Connie

Have you registered yet for the Sweet Tweets Poetry workshops?

       I hope you have marked your calendar for March 27th and April 3rd from 3:00-4:00.  We’ll have some fun with words, creating poems from book spines and composing six-word memoirs before we try our hand at some poetry tweets!

Here are a couple of poetry tweets that I like:

 Every time we say goodbye a piece of me is torn aside.  It pulls and pulls, stretched out wide, until again we two collide.

________________________________________________________

Strength isn’t about the size of your muscles. It’s more to do with how you cope with all life’s little tussles.

 

See you there!  Bring a friend!
Connie

Sweet Tweets @ the Library!

April is National Poetry Month and we are ready to celebrate! 

I will offer two poetry workshops after school on March 27th and April 3rd, from 3:00-4:00.   Our goal is to write Poetry Tweets---creating a short poem using 140 characters of less (think Twitter!).

We will do some fun word play to warm us up, like creating Book Spine Poetry.  Here are two examples of that.

 

We’ll also try Six-Word  Memoirs, describing something about ourselves in 6 words or less.  Here’s one I just wrote about myself.

 Grand kids.  More fun than kids.

We then will be ready to tackle writing our Sweet Tweets! There will be plenty of time to work on your poetry tweet during the second workshop. We will share at the library on April 10th in the evening from 6:30-7:30.

So, grab some friends and register at the library (or call us to register) for some creative fun!

See you there,
Connie