Lower School Library News

Hello Lower School Families,

This month has been all about Mock Book Awards! Every January, the ALA (American Library Association) announces the winners of the Youth Media Awards. This is a bit like the Oscars of the children's book world! Back in December, I pored over a multitude of "Best of" lists and reviews and then chose books that I thought would be strong award contenders.

In the past few weeks, Pre-K, K and 1 students looked at six beginning reader books eligible for the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, Grades 2 and 3 focused on six contenders for the Caldecott Award (for illustration) and Grades 4 and 5 explored six candidates for the Sibert Award (for nonfiction). The voting is finishing up now and in the next week or so, I will announce both the Brimmer winners and the actual winners. We'll see how our choices stack up against the award committee's choices!

The picture above shows Mrs. Wylie's Kindergarten students, who visited the library to present their Antarctica poem.

Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate!

Ms. Rosellini

This year, one of my professional goals is to acquire more bilingual books for the library. I checked in with the classroom teachers and found out that Mandarin, Spanish and Korean were the most common home languages (apart from English). In the end, I bought three Mandarin books, two Spanish books, and one Korean book. I am excited to celebrate our students' cultural identities by increasing representation in this area!

Grade 5 students are currently studying Mars and reading A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga, so when I heard about a virtual visit opportunity with the author, I jumped at the chance. On January 14, both Grade 5 classes came to the library and heard from Ms. Warga about her inspiration for A Rover's Story, her research process, and much more. This presentation was streamed to multiple schools across the United States, and students were able to ask questions at the end.

In addition to Britannica School, the Lower School Library provides access to another general database, Gale Elementary. This online encyclopedia's interface is welcoming and easy to navigate. On the homepage, students can browse topics, news, pictures and videos. Under the news tab, students can read news articles specifically written for children as well as explore fun facts for that particular month. For example, did you know that January 20 is Penguin Day? Whether students are researching a topic for class or just browsing, there is much to explore.

Invisible Things, written and illustrated by husband-and-wife team Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller, is one of those books that is a guaranteed conversation starter. The dynamic and playful cover invites the reader in right away. The concept is fascinating: how do you represent emotions and other abstract concepts in pictures? While the book does include more straightforward emotions like joy and anger, Pizza and Miller don't shy away from complicated ones like melancholy and déjà vu. Not all pictures are labeled, either. On one page, readers see a variety of zany, colorful images, and are asked: "What do you think these smells are?" You can imagine the hilarious guesses that follow.

Looking for some great books? Read at least 5 of the MCBA (Massachusetts Children's Book Awards) titles by March 2025 so you can vote for your favorite!

Email: arosellini@brimmer.org
Library website: https://www.brimmer.org/lower-school-library
Phone: 617-264-1430