It's consolidation time! After 149 SEABURY READS posts and much thought, I've decided to fold this blog about books and reading into my mauilibrarian2 in Olinda blog. Everything will be in there! Please take a look at my very first "Books and Reading" post at mauilibrarian2.com: the answer to a question by my friend Richard about a suitable replacement for the revered Book of Knowledge, for his 6-year-old granddaughter.
SEABURY READS will still be active. The Books and Reading and eBooks LibGuide pages will be updated. And the castlelibrary tweets on the right that give you a glimpse into our library will continue. But the blog action will be at mauilibrarian2.com. Be on the lookout for a new mauilibrarian2.com blog design to reflect this change. (I'll get to it when time permits.) Moving onward and upward! Won't you join me?
We learned a thing or two on Earth Day! Former music teacher Cathy de Moll returned to Seabury Hall on Friday after 30-some-odd years to tell us all about the 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Scientific Expedition, her role as its executive director, and the importance of preserving Antarctica for the sake of the earth. Cathy's book Think South: How We Got Six Men and Forty Dogs Across Antarctica was just published in October by the Minnesota Historical Society, on the 25th anniversary of the Expedition. That Cathy told the story in chapters devoted to the people involved in the expedition is a genius arrangement. Such interesting characters! And of course the story of crossing the merciless Antarctica is so compelling.
These are some of the things I learned from Cathy's talk: •The 1989-90 Expedition was the first-ever and last-ever unmechanized crossing across Antarctica:
•Antarctica is the only place on earth ruled by consensus. It's a scientific laboratory, with no military activity.
Photo by Minnesota Historical Society
• Ten million students followed the 1990 International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition, and they fell in love with Antarctica. • Antarctica plays a critical role in climate change. Antarctica will prove to be one of the primary contributors to the rise in sea levels all over the world. See 'A dire prediction' on melting ice sheets and rising sea levels by William Yardley and Raoul Rañoa, L. A. Times, April 7, 2016. •The Paris Agreement of 2015, a global treaty signed by 171 countries to limit carbon dioxide emissions, is a giant step in the right direction to prevent global warming. More international cooperation is imperative. •It is of extreme importance to renew the 1991 International Antarctic Treaty which will protect and preserve Antarctica. This Treaty will expire only 5 years from now in 2021. History teacher Kathy Czar, who arranged to bring the entire sixth grade to listen to Cathy talk, gave Cathy and her talk a hearty thumbs up. Mrs. Czar noted that Cathy's presentation brought up lots of questions that her students will discuss in class later. #eduwin ((Be sure to check out Think South'sReading Guide for Book Clubs and Reading Groupson Cathy's website.) For further study about the importance of Antartica to the health of the planet, check out these two articles:
Our special guest storytellers enchanted our alumni keiki today!
Mahalo to Head of School Sarah Bakhiet, Seabury alum and K-2 teacher extraordinaire Annie Lowson Queirolo (and her daughter Daisy), and Seabury Sophomores Mikhaila and Patricia Sung for bringing such joy to the little ones!
A photo posted by Seabury Hall's Castle Library (@seaburylibrary) on
Here are some reactions to the experience. Profesora Mrs. Fuentes-Asato:
"I really enjoyed the Google hangout with Mariana Llanos. It was great to see my students so engaged and interested in knowing more about Tristán Lobo. I also enjoyed seeing them asking different kinds of questions to Mariana regarding her career, personal life, and hobbies.
I think this Google hangout was a great experience because we got to do something outside the classroom and it was different. It was neat to meet the author that we had been talking about for the last few days and to learn so much from her.
Even though Tristán Lobo is a story for kids, it had new vocabulary, expressions, and different past tenses, which made the lessons more meaningful and challenging, perfect for a high level Spanish class.
I highly recommend this to all the teachers." From some of los estudiantes: "I enjoyed listening to Mariana share her story with our classes-- it was a nice change in classroom setting and really nice to hear a native speaker speak over video chat. It was very different and I loved the idea of the video chat. I really enjoyed listening to her talk, her voice was so energetic and fluid. Overall, it was a great experience, meeting someone so passionate about what she does."--
Shayla
"I thought the visit went really well except for some technical glitches like the sound and the text on screen. But overall, it was really cool to have a Google hangout with a Spanish-speaking author who told us a story and then answered our questions afterwards." --Jesse
"I really enjoyed the visit because Mariana was very energetic and passionate about her books. It was nice to change up the normal classroom activities and have a bit of real world situations in having a conversation in Spanish with strangers. There were technical glitches, but that didn’t ruin the experience. It was really good practice for listening and speaking in Spanish which was very helpful and fun for me." --Ava
"I enjoyed meeting and listening to Mariana. Although it was occasionally hard to follow her Spanish speaking, it was a great experience and showed me that with more practice I could really be able to have a conversation with somebody in Spanish. She made me feel very comfortable and seemed very excited to help us practice our Spanish!" --Peyton
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We'll be purchasing more of Mariana's books, and you can too, either HERE (for an autographed copy) or on Mariana's website.
I was thrilled to facilitate Mariana's visit. Hopefully there will be more Google hangouts and author visits in our future! (◕‿◕✿)about.me[Subscribe] Cross-posted at mauilibrarian2 in Olinda.
"No, we are not celebrating that books are banned, we're celebrating that we read banned books." I found myself saying this more than a few times throughout Banned Books Week. "We're celebrating our freedom to read!"
A photo posted by Seabury Hall's Castle Library (@seaburylibrary) on
It was a great week of raising awareness!
Here are three cool things I learned:
1. Our students are astute readers and free thinkers. Listening to the two student discussions English department chair Mr. Alan Hodara facilitated, "The Hunger Games" and "Challenged Books at Seabury Hall", filled me with awe. Our students are extremely aware. And our English teachers are doing a fantastic job of sharpening students' analytic skills.
2. If you start a school-wide conversation about banned / challenged books, students will start looking for free reading, banned or not. Our students are busy! Discussing banned books seemed to help kids remember how much they love to read for pleasure. It was awesome to watch more kids than usual browsing the shelves, and borrowing. Librarian's delight. :) 3. Our Head of School GETS it! At the end of the week, our Head of School, Ms. Sarah Bakheit, dropped by the library to check out our banned book display. Her comment? "When I was in school, the fact that a book was banned was my SIGNAL to read it. " How cool is that? All in all, Banned Books Week at our school was a success! #makesmehappy Ms. Lindsay (◕‿◕✿) @mauilibrarian2 G+ [Cross-posted at mauilibrarian2 in Olinda.]
BookRiot came up with another fantastic reading list, this time for 14 to 15 year olds.
Here's another great book list, this one for ages 14 to 15. Not only for reluctant readers! (◕‿◕✿) #kidreads(here's...
Posted by Linda J. Lindsay on Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Maui author Toby Neal's visit to our school was all I hoped for and more!
Just got done speaking at Seabury Hall to a hundred or so students on "developing creativity." Yes, some yawns occurred,...
Posted by Toby Neal on Monday, April 20, 2015
Here's how I introduced Toby:
Author Toby Neal was raised on the island of Kauai, and now lives on Maui. She has written 9 books for adults in the "Lei Crime" series, which has sold 1/2 million copies worldwide. The books follow policewoman Lei Texeira as she solves crimes around the state. Toby is one of the most successful self-published authors in the state. She sells most of her books through Amazon and Hawaii Business Magazine has called her "Hawaii's Amazon queen". Toby is in private practice as a mental health therapist, so her well-drawn, complex characters in her books reflect her keen understanding of what makes people tick. Toby has just written Island Fire, which is her first Young Adult novel. It's a post-technology adventure set on the island of Lanai. It happens to be on sale on Amazon for 99 cents until April 28, so if you don't win a copy in our drawing today, you might want to download a copy. It's a great read! Toby is planning more in the series.
Toby's talk on "Developing Your Creativity" in our Creative Arts Center to over a hundred students was thought-provoking! (I learned that it's okay to be bored, to allow for creativity to come in.)
Afterwards, Toby met with our Middle School Book Clubbers and others in our Hawaiian Studies Room. Toby read to us from Island Fire ...
I loved this intimate venue! (And the chocolate chip funfetti cookies passed inspection. ☺) What a special opportunity for our students! Thank you so much, Toby! P. S. And about Island Fire? Highlyrecommended!
Emboldened by the interesting responses to my plea on Facebook for Must-Read Nonfiction titles for high school seniors, I'm going LARGE to reach my G+ and Twitter supporters. :) Won't you weigh in with the one Must-Read Nonfiction for High School Seniors title that pops into your head? Here are the Facebook comments so far. You should be able to add a comment, since the post is public.
Aren't the responses eye-opening? I'll definitely be purchasing the titles we don't already have. If you don't have a Facebook account or you would rather recommend privately, you can use the Google form below.
OR, you can leave a must-read title on Twitter. Simply add my Twitter handle @mauililbrarian2 to your post. Thanks in advance for your input. Our Seniors will appreciate it very much!
My little group of student readers selected a Winter Wonderland theme for our library's sixth annual Keiki* Christmas Storytelling Hour, the last stop for the children at the Alumni Keiki Christmas Party. Oh what fun it was! ☃
4 student readers and the librarian, with some of
the student-made snowflakes in the background.
Aria reads The Polar Express. The keiki participated
with silver bells they could take home with them. "Believe."
Faculty and staff keiki ♡
Group photo. Check out the scarves. Brrrr! ❄
Afterwards, a spontaneous mom-read of Winnie the Pooh's
The Merry Christmas Mystery, with grandma looking on.
Mahalo to Aria, Sean, Mikhaila, and Patricia, for making the event extra special! Merry Christmas, everyone!
Some GREAT suggestions! Here's the short list, alphabetically.
Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
Brain Jackby Brian Falkner
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
Every Day by David Levithan
Measle and the Wrathmonk by Ian Ogilvy
Slathbog's Gold by M. L. Forman
The Swindle by Gordon Korman
And the winner is (no surprise, no surprise)...
The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan! Check out the book description on the author's website here. We'll be discussing the book on November 14, at 11:40 am, under the hala tree next to the library. :) Several students have already borrowed and read the book, which just came out on October 7 -- a good sign! Come by the library to borrow / reserve a copy!
