I’ve been putting together several ideas and resources, collecting everything but time to pull it together and post it. I’m a final round Cybils judge for MG and YA fiction and have been having a fantastic time reading some truly wonderful books! I love being pushed to read books I typically would leave on the shelf. As an adult, I want to learn and appreciate as much as possible but as a teen, I can’t say I always appreciated being *forced to read what I didn’t want to. I think the trick for them is that it needs to be a really good book! Some students are easier to push than others.
Lately, The Denim Diaries and the BabyGirl Daniels series have been flying off my shelves. Cerebral literature, it’s probably not (I have to admit I haven’t read any of these books…yet) but the books are building a love of reading with my students!

I think everyone who pays any attention to public schools would agree something needs to change as to how we’re educating our young people. Here in IN we have a governor who has privatized everything and education is next on his list. This scares me as I wonder how education will maintain any sense of equity in this system.  To me, little is more important in a democratic society than education. People need to be educating in times like these when news sources are more likely to deliver news that appeals to our emotions while sharing Twitter and Facebook updates rather than provided factual information to citizens. Hah! You’ll never hear that mentioned on the national news when they discuss why people act so irrationally! Read this informative article from Dissent Magazine to find out where the monies (and therefore decisions) are coming from to direct education reform.

I’ve had several requests this past week for GLBT fiction for teens. While I was able to refer to Alex Sanchez’s list, I didn’t know at the time that the Rainbow Project is jointly sponsored by the  SSRT (Social Responsibilities Round Table) and the GLBT-RT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Round Table) of the ALA to provide an annual list of books for young people from birth through age 19. Too bad this list isn’t as widely publicized as the Newbery and Printz, but then neither are the Coretta Scott King or Pura Belpre Awards. Did you notice how they were missing as folks shared lists of winners?
I didn’t see the Rainbow List where the link I was sent took me, so I’m going to just post them here. It looks like a really good list of books and I’m glad to share it with you here! Email me if you want the annotated list.

From Vanessa Irwin via Twitter, I received a link to “Cultural Inquiry: A Framework for Engaging Youth of Color in the Library.” In the article, Kafi Kumasi provides a theoretical framework for explaining some of the cultural disconnects that youth experience while learning in mainstream schools and libraries while developming strategies to engage youth of color.

Not all youth services librarians or school librarians will have the time or the inclination to integrate this approach into their repertoire of practices. However, for those inclined to try their hand at developing a library program rooted in cultural inquiry, the potential benefits to youth in the community are clear.
A question that might be lingering in the minds of many librarians reading this article is whether and how white librarians (who make up the majority of the library workforce) should implement this approach, particularly if they work in predominately white communities. The answer is deceptively simple. The first question that should be asked is :Can the youth in my community benefit from learning how to ask and answer questions that have to do with creating social consciousness and social justice for marginalized people? If you answer “yes” to this question, you cannot absolve yourself from the responsibility of attempting to create a library learning environment or program where cultural inquiry is fostered.

Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon recently began blogging together at DiversityinYALit. Great things happen when great talent comes together! Most recently, the ladies announced a Diversity Tour to take place this summer! Sounds like I need to do a road trip this summer! Right now, I need to make myself finish my applications for grad school. They’re not going to come looking for me, I must apply! Tomorrow, a short MLK post and the suggested Asian core book list for teens.

JANUARY POC Releases

Jazz in Love by Neesha Meminger; Ignite Books, January

Roots and Blues by Arnold Adoff; Clarion Books 3 January

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves; Simon Pulse; Jan.   excerpt

Clara Lee and the apple pie dream by Jenny Han; Little Brown and Company, 11 Jan (MG)

The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson; Flux, January excerpt

Camo Girl by Kekla Magoon; Simon and Schuster, January

The Little Rock Nine and the Fight for School Integration, 1957 (Civil Rights Struggles Around the World) by Kekla Magoon; Twenty-first Century Books; January

The Meltdown (Drama High Series) by L. Divine; Dafina, January

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shan; Scholastic, January

The trouble with half a moon by Danette Vigilante; Putnam Jan  excerpt

Joseph’s grace by Shelia Moses; Margaret K. McElderry Press; January

Doing my own thing by Nikki Carter; Dafina January

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang; Delacorte, January