Happy February BTS students and families… love is in the air!
Here are some books that the BTS Library has that can help you reflect on all the people who love you, including your BTS teachers!
How do I Love You? by P. K. Hallinan
(Call number is: PIC Hallinan. Located in the Picture Books section, with a yellow sticker and the letter H)
Do you like poetry? Nikki Grimes is an excellent poet! Check out:
Hopscotch Love: A Family Treasury of Love Poems, by Nikki Grimes
Take a look at this book we just got for our library. Math is everywhere, and with this book it can be fun!
How Mathematics Works
by Carol Vorderman
Find it in the nonfiction section, with the call number NF 510 Vor.
This is the publishers description:
The experiments in How Math Works are presented step-by-step to demonstrate clearly what is happening. They demystify math and encourage a real understanding of the subject. Additional informative illustrations show the relevance of math to the world around us. Fascinating biographies introduce men and women who have advanced our understanding of how to use numbers.
Enjoy!
We just purchased a brand new, up-to-date World Atlas! Come to the BTS Library and see it… where in the world would you like to travel?
Student Atlas (World)
DK Publishers, 2013
This fully revised 7th edition of the Student Atlas includes all current border, name, and flag changes around the world, including the creation of South Sudan. Perfect for middle school students, this reference guide includes a detailed introductory section on map skills along with a balanced coverage of each continent. The Student Atlas maps have accurate computer-generated terrain models with a key, scale bar, and locator map for every region in the world, and a country fact file shows key statistical data for each country and lets the reader easily compare nations. Integrated text, illustrations, and exercises complement the maps, encouraging students to learn more about each topic, and making the Student Atlas the perfect reference book to stimulate an interest in the world, geography, and maps.
(Description from the publishers.)
The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights
by Russell Freedman
“A voice like yours,” celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini told contralto Marian Anderson, “is heard once in a hundred years.” This insightful account of the great African American vocalist considers her life and musical career in the context of the history of civil rights in this country. Drawing on Anderson’s own writings and other contemporary accounts, Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art despite the social constraints that limited the careers of black performers in the 1920s and 1930s. Though not a crusader or a spokesperson by nature, Marian Anderson came to stand for all black artists—and for all Americans of color—when, with the help of such prominent figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave her landmark 1939 performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which signaled the end of segregation in the arts. Carefully researched, expertly told, and profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs, this Newbery Honor and Sibert Medal-winning book is a moving account of the life of a talented and determined artist who left her mark on musical and social history. Through her story, Newbery Medal-winning author Russell Freedman, one of today’s leading authors of nonfiction for young readers, illuminates the social and political climate of the day and an important chapter in American history. Notes, bibliography, discography, index.
A 2005 Newbery Honor Book
Winner of the 2005 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
Another book for our collection. Ask your teacher to help you find it and check it out!
It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden
by George Ancona
Want to grow what you eat and eat what you grow? Visit this lively, flourishing school-and community garden and be inspired to cultivate your own.
At an elementary school in Santa Fe, the bell rings for recess and kids fly out the door to check what’s happening in their garden. As the seasons turn, everyone has a part to play in making the garden flourish. From choosing and planting seeds in the spring to releasing butterflies in the summer to harvesting in the fall to protecting the beds for the winter. Even the wiggling worms have a job to do in the compost pile! On special afternoons and weekends, neighborhood folks gather to help out and savor the bounty (fresh toppings for homemade pizza, anyone?). Part celebration, part simple how-to, this close-up look at a vibrant garden and its enthusiastic gardeners is blooming with photos that will have readers ready to roll up their sleeves and dig in.
(Description from the publishers.)
Our Library is growing!
In the next series of posts, I will be sharing some of the new books acquired for the BTS Library. Remember to go to the LibraryThing catalog to search for these books, and get the location on the shelves!
Here are this week’s three new nonfiction books:
The Human Body: Children’s Reference
Capella Publishers
Questions and Answers About Planet Earth
Capella Publishers
A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women
by Lynne Cheney
Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
Are you ready for a new school year? Are you ready to learn, grow, and have fun with your BTS family?
The BTS Library is now ready for you! Look at these pictures…
BTS Students will be provided with a Library Card and will be able to check out books from our new and improved Library. The teachers will show you how to use the Library, the Catalog, and how to check out books. You can also look at our instructions here in this blog. Click at the top, on the link to the page: BTSL Catalog.
Every BTS student will have his or her own Library Card soon!
See more pictures of the Library, the Computer Lab, and the Reading Room/Rainbow Room here:
We hope that you enjoy the Library. Remember, reading takes you beyond!
… And the BTS Library Blog is back!
BTS Library had a very nice long break for the summer, but here we are, ready to start the 2013/2014 school year with a new Library for Beyond the Spectrum!
During the summer, in addition to working on the last batches of books and organization of the library, the BTS Librarian has been busy attending conferences and other librarian events. Which is very important for BTS families, because she got to hear, in person, to a keynote speech given by none other than Temple Grandin. I assume most of the BTS family would have heard about her, maybe you saw the movie, read her books, or saw her in interviews. This great lady gave a very informative and powerful presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association, an event that the BTS Librarian attended in Chicago this past June.
Dr. Temple Grandin’s new book, The Autistic Brain
As I am about to start the “Parenting” collection of books for parents and families at BTS, Dr. Grandin’s books will surely be part of this section of our library. However, I would like to know what you: teachers, students, and BTS families, think about her and her books.
Let me share with you this interview with Dr. Grandin, in which she talks about the role of books, reading, and libraries in autism awareness and the education of children on the spectrum. A special thanks to the Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC) for the interview.
Please read and let me know what you think (you can use the comments section below, or send me an e-mail for privacy.)
Interview with Temple Grandin (by the Association of Library Services to Children)
If the link doesn’t work, you can find it here: http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2013/07/an-interview-with-temple-grandin-at-ala2013/
I hope to hear from you!
Your BTS Librarian
Soon the BTS Library will be ready for students and families to check out books. The processing of the books is almost done, just a few more weeks away!
In the meantime, anyone can get acquainted with the library’s resources by exploring the BTS Library Catalog. The catalog is housed in a social media site called “LibraryThing.” Here are some tips on how to use LibraryThing and how to use the special features of our BTS Library:
About Library Thing:
From the site librarything.com: “LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.”
I will give you tips on how to use the Catalog here, but we will approach it in steps. This first part will help you get familiar with the site. In future posts I will show you how to use some of the features.
Using the Catalog (Q & A) Part 1:
Q: Do I need any special software or downloads?
A: No. You can use the site from any internet browser.
Q: Do I need to create an account to view the BTS Library books?
A: No. If you are not a LibraryThing user, you can still view our catalog, do searches for specific books, and get their location in the library.
You only need to create an account with LibraryThing if you wish to catalog your own books, write reviews, share your library with other people, and other social features like that.
Q: How do I view BTS books?
A: Click on this link (or better, bookmark it in your own computer). You’ll see a list of books that belong to the BTS Library. The list will be displayed in a specific format, but you can customize how you see it. You can click on “List” or “Covers” to see the books listed or only the covers of all the books we own. Also, you can change the information that is shown on the list by clicking on “Style” and choosing styles A, B, C, D, E, or custom (the gear wheel.)
Q: How do I find a specific book or books on a topic?
A: At the top right there is a search box with a magnifying glass icon that says “Search your library.” You can enter an author, a topic, a tag, etc… to see what we have.
Q: How do I find the book in the BTS Library?
A: When you find a book that you’d like to check out, look at the book’s “Call Number.” You will find this number in the column that says “Dewey/Melvil.” Write down that combination of letters and numbers, and that will tell you in which section of the library it is, and the location on the shelf. The teachers or librarian present at BTS will be able to point you to the location if you have that number.
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This should be enough for you to begin browsing our books. As previously stated, in future posts I will share how to use features to see the books’ reviews, recommendations, popularity, and other tools that will make it easier to select books for you or your kids. Please send us any feedback on this introduction of the BTS Library. And remember that we are not done! The BTS Librarian is still entering books in the system each week!
Happy browsing, BTS!
Your BTS Librarian.
I am processing tons of books for the BTS Library this week! It’s supposed to be a “break” (Spring break) but for me it’s an opportunity to work more hours from home. Anyway, here I am, surrounded by piles of books, labels, book tape, and other librarian’s tools, when the book Rules, by Cynthia Lord, comes to my hands.
This is the BTS Library copy of the book
I had read this book before, but since I am now working for BTS, I decided to re-read it (by the way, do you find yourself re-reading books often? I do!) I think it’s a great book, and it seems I am not the only one who thinks that way. The book got a Newbery Honor Medal and also a Schneider Family Award (which you already know because you read my post on this Award.) I am not, however, an expert on the topic of siblings of children on the autism spectrum. Therefore, I would like to ask you, BTS parents, your opinion of the book from a “reality check” point of view.
If you have at least one kid with autism and one more kid not on the spectrum, would you tell me…
– Have you read Rules, by Cynthia Lord?
– If the answer is yes, do you think it is an accurate reflection of the experience of siblings? Why?
– If not, why?
I would really appreciate your input on this. Feel free to comment here, or send me an e-mail to akl.librarian AT gmail.com. Also, if you want to read the book, it will be on the BTS Library next week. We didn’t start the check-out system yet, but feel free to sign a slip of paper with your name and give it to Donna or one of the teachers and take the book home. Just make sure to return it as soon as you are done so others can read it.
I leave you with a quote from the book:
At a friend’s house, everything is uncomplicated. No one drops toys in the fish tank, no one cares if the cellar door is open or closed, and no one shrieks unless there’s a huge, hairy spider crawling up her arm (…) But the best part of being at a friend’s house is I can be just me and put the sister part of me down.”
I look forward to your comments!
Your BTS Librarian
Books & Beyond 