Freedom Reads!

February 15, 2006 - Jail North

I wanted to start the book club off with a great book so that the guys would see that books can be cool and to pull in new participants. I selected several different manga titles because I had already talked up graphic novels and they are usually quick reads. We had a lot of trouble finding multiple copies of any graphic novel within two weeks. I ended up with Girl Got Game v.1, by Shizuru Seino, which I hadn't read but the premise was interesting.

"A father enrolls his daughter in a prestigious prep school... as a boy! A comedy/action manga, full of misunderstandings and gender-bending cross dressing." Kyo's father always wanted to be a famous basketball player before he was injured, so Kyo has to live his dream by pretending to be a boy and playing basketball for the famous Seisyu Academy. Here's a good review of the book http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=610

I thought this book would be great because it's got sports, teenage angst and situational humor. When I actually sat down and read Girl Got Game, I was mortified that I had recommended it to the book club and especially as the first book. It's a great book don't get me wrong, but the plot of one whole section centers around "feminine issues" and the tension between Kyo and her roommate, Chiharu, comes off as a lot more romantic than I expected. With Kyo's short boy hair cut it almost feels like a gay graphic novel. I was incredibly nervous about this discussion before hand, but the guys liked it. They were definitely more mature than I gave them credit for, which was a nice surprise. They liked the premise and the sports theme, and thought it was funny. Most of them hadn't read a graphic novel with the right-to-left format before, and had a little trouble with that. They want to read the other volumes in the series.

Attend: 4

Freedom Reads!

ALA Great Stories CLUB

American Library Association offers a grant aimed to facilitate partnerships between libraries and other organizations that serve troubled teens. The webpage is http://www.ala.org/ala/ppo/currentprograms/greatstories/club.htm

I came across the grant shortly after I started volunteering at Jail North. It seemed like the perfect program to continue the book club activities after my coursework ended in May. I could not apply for the grant but luckily Kelly, the teen librarian at ImaginOn, was interested. I am extremely grateful and thankful that Kelly took this on so enthusiastically. It really means a lot to me that the book club will be able to continue after I leave.
ImaginOn is the new kids and teens library that opened in October of 2005 with all kinds of cutting edge technology and programs. More information can be found at
www.imaginon.org.

Kelly and I worked together to write the essay portion of the grant, which I have included below.

Freedom Reads!, the book club for young men at Jail-North in Charlotte, NC will introduce participants to characters and ideas that can change their lives. Jail-North already has a strong foundation for this book club since it has a library with a well thumbed collection, a full time librarian, and a library science student working with eager readers at the facility as part of her coursework during the spring semester. Kelly, a Teen Librarian from ImaginOn, will join the program already in progress, with previous experience in library outreach at a juvenile detention center. This grant will allow the momentum of the book club to continue.
Some of the more popular books in the Jail-North collection are books by James Patterson and the Goosebumps and Fear Street series by R.L. Stine. Teens have shown interest in discussing what they have read and wanting to find ‘the right book’. Borrowers often return to the library discussing the plots and asking for poetry, art or other nonfiction titles. One teen has even said, “It doesn't really matter what it is, I just want to read."
We plan to promote Freedom Reads! in ways that support YALSA’s ten core values of service to young adults. We will create an online blog or wiki of book reviews and discussions that will encourage participation and collaboration. An inviting flyer and logo will help draw teens into the program. Activities to connect teens, reading, and public library resources that will address their developmental needs will include watching movie clips, booklists for further reading, read-aloud sessions, games, and sharing library resource information such as how to obtain a library card. A reward system of giving away ALA promotional materials and gift certificates will be implemented.
Participants of Freedom Reads! are 16 and 17 years old and predominantly African American. Since education and reading levels vary, this book club will be a great opportunity to address equity of access. While at Jail-North, the young men are required to attend either classes at Charlotte and Mecklenburg schools or study for the GED, which a few have completed. Participation in the book club will give these youth credit toward classes.
The book club will meet every other Wednesday morning, 8:330 am30am. Since several young men at Jail-North have described interest in reading such books as Holes by Louis Sachar and Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, we believe, The First Part Last by Angela Johnson, Born Blue by Han Nolan, and Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman will be similarly enjoyed by members of Freedom Reads!

Meet the Author: Michelle Groce

February 7, 2006 - In the Library

Children's Authors and Illustrators Week is annually the first week in February. The website for it is http://www.childrensauthorsnetwork.com. As I was searching for more information about it online I came across another librarian's blog that had great tips. Visit http://cynthialeithichsmith.blogspot.com/2006/01/tips-for-childrens-authors.html to check it out.

I really wanted to have a young adult author come for a program during this week. However, with a small budget and attendance numbers that don't usually reach double digits I thought that it would be difficult. I looked at several authors but they all lived farther away and I was worried about the weather during the first week of February. If there was a chance of snow or icy conditions anyone coming from more than an hour away probably wouldn't be able to make it. Then I found a perfect candidate.

Michelle Groce is a young adult author who lives within five miles of the library. Novello Festival Press published her first book, Jasper, so copies of the book were available for sale and to check out at the library. Jasper is a book about a cat with a psyhic sense for danger, who has to make choices between helping others and helping himself. To read a review of Jasper, follow this link http://www.readersclub.org/reviews/tresults.asp?id=2154
Her website at http://www.michellegroce.com/ has lots of information also.

Michelle was willing and enthusiastic about doing a teen program at the library. She put together a powerpoint presentation that shared pictures of her cats and answered some of the most frequent questions that people ask about her book and being an author. After the presentation, we had a drawing to win a copy of Jasper, then Michelle answered questions and signed books.

There were several aspiring authors at this event. Michelle was very encourging but also realistic about writing. She said that it took her years and years to write Jasper and get it published, mainly because at first she was trying to write a murder mystery. "You have to write the story that is inside you waiting to be told, not necessarily what you think will sell well." Michelle was planning on writing a trilogy with the characters from Jasper, but got sidetracked by another story, titled If which she just finished recently.

Jasper, by Michelle Groce, ISBN: 0976096315

Accelerated Reader Book Talk: One Fat Summer

January 31, 2006 - In the Library

"I always hated summertime. When people take off their clothes. In wintertime you can hide yourself...But in the summertime they can see your thick legs and your wobbly backside and your big belly and your soft arms. And they laugh." -Bobby Marks, in One Fat Summer

The Accelerated Reader (AR) Program is a way for teachers to track the books that their students read. When I was coming up through school teachers were big on one page book reports, but the AR program saves the teacher from having to grade all those book reports.

In the AR program students are tested on their reading ability and then assigned a reading zone, like 4.6 -5.9. The student can choose books to read that have an assigned level that falls within their zone. After they finish a book, they take a test on the book and if they past the test they earn the point value assigned to that book. For example, One Fat Summer, by Robert Lipstye has a Level of 4.5 and a value of 6.0.

More general information about the AR Program and how schools implement it is avaliable at:
http://www.renlearn.com/ar/overview/howitworks.htm
http://www.sbe.mps.k12.mi.us/AR_program.htm

The AR list that I use at work and reference here is avaliable at:
http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/allschools/FrancisBradley/index.html

The AR program can create problems at a public library in a couple of different ways. First the AR lists aren't always the same, so parents and kids have to look at the list for their school to know what they can read. Many public libraries keep copies of the lists, which can be a couple hundred pages in binders in the library. But librarians can't usually mark the level and point values on the book because it could be different for every school. I recently started making AR book bundles for a specific school with books in a level range like 7.0-7.9. I haven't had any feedback from parents and kids yet though.

I started doing one AR Book Talk program a month to highlight AR books and encourage teens to read. Both teens who have and haven't read the book are encourage to come to this program. If they haven't read the book the program tries to arouse their interest and entice them into reading it later. The format of these programs is to talk about the book in general terms without giving away the ending for fifteen or twenty minutes. Then play a game related to the book, like Character Pictionary. Then I provide snack and drinks and the teens can hang out and talk about whatever they want until I have to kick them out to clean up the room.

I had one or two teens at the AR Book Talks in the fall, but not a single teen showed up for this program. I should have sent some flyers to the local schools again and called some of the regular teens to remind them.

I found a copy of a great book called Teaching Banned Books: 12 Guides for Young Readers, by Pat R. Scales. One Fat Summer and the two other books about Bobby Marks by Robert Lipsyte are included. The book has discussion questions and activites for One Fat Summer. I've listed a selection of the discussion questions below.

1. How does Bobby get the courage to call Dr Kahn about the lawn job?
2. Why does he choose to keep his summer job secret from his family?
3. What does Joanie mean when she asks Bobby, "Are you a man or a rug?"
4. Why is Willie Rumson so angry? Why is Bobby a victem of Willie's anger?
5. Bobby's father says, "A man has to do something with his life." What do you think Mr. Marks wants Bobby to do with his life?
6. One Fat Summer has been challenged because it is "sexually explicit and full of violence." How do the sexual and violent passages affect this book.

One Fat Summer, by Robert Lipsyte, ISBN: 0439080886
Teaching Banned Books: 12 Guides for Young Readers, by Pat R. Scales,
ISBN: 0838908071

Graphic Novels

February 1, 2006 - Jail North

My first program at the jail was an interest session for the book club and a quick history of graphic novels and comic books. Four teenagers came and were enthusiastic about the book club. They were interested in reading but had trouble picking good books for their reading level or they were bored and reading and a book club offered diversion. I had a list of about 20 books that I thought might be good. Most of the guys had already read a couple of the books on my list, like Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. They were interested in reading murder mysteries and suspense, not science fiction or romance. So I pulled together a list of seven books, which are listed below. I had some trouble deciding on a name for this book club. There were some great suggestions such as Juvie Lit, but Freedom Reads! was chosen as the final name.

Books for Freedom Reads!
2/15 - Girl Got Game, by Shizuru Seino
3/1 - Deathwatch, by Robb White
3/15 - Curious Incident of the Dog in the nighttime, by Mark Haddon
3/29 - Hatchet and/or Guts, by Gary Paulsen
4/12 - The Killer's Cousin, by Nancy Werlin
4/26 - Funny Little Monkey, by Andrew Auseon
5/10 - Maximum Ride, by James Patterson

I brought lots of example to show during my talk on graphic novels. All of the information for my talk came from the introduction of Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel, by Mike Chinn, 500 Manga Heroes and Villains, by Helen McCarthy and my notes from a talk on graphic novels I attended at NCLA in 2004. The guys were interested in the graphic novels and not familiar at all with Manga. I explained to them how some graphic novels, like Girl Got Game had to be read back to front. I really hope the format doesn't discourage them from reading it. I wasn't uncomfortable working with teens in a jail setting, but I was uncomfortable when I realized that I make a lot of cultural references and use certain words in my everyday speech that these teens wouldn't necessarily know. For example, they didn't know who Hans Solo was from Star Wars but they did know Uncle Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie from the animated series Duck Tales back in the late 1980s.

Example Graphic Novels that I took:
The Encyclopedia of American Comics, edited by Ron Goulart, ISBN 0816018529
The Smartest Kid on Earth, by Jimmy Corrigan
Building a Better Life By Stealing Office Supplies, by Scott Adams, ISBN 0886876370
The Adventures of Tintin, by Herge, ISBN 0316359408
Maus, by Art Spiegelman, ISBN 0394747232
9-11: Artists Respond, ISBN 1563898810
Meridian: Flying Solo, by Barbara Kesel, ISBN 1931484031
The Boondocks, by Aaron McGruder, ISBN 0740706098
Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships, by Eric Shanower, ISBN 1582402000
Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl?, by Brian Bendis, ISBN 158240223X
Girl Got Game, volume 1, by Shizuru Seino, ISBN 1591826969