Shelf Notes
October 2024 - Issue #17
In September, we discussed the new Picture Book Preschool Expanded Edition on the Our Librarian Life episode of the Plumfield Moms podcast! Originally designed for families, this updated resource is perfect for libraries too. We dive into the exciting changes in the new edition, explore how librarians are adapting it for library use, and share why we’re thrilled for you to discover it. Tune in to learn how Picture Book Preschool can support meaningful reading experiences both at home and in your library! Listen now on your favorite podcast platform.
Calling for Nominations: New in 2024
Have you discovered any exciting new (or newly republished) books from 2024 that you think fellow librarians will love? We are curating a 2024 list of must-read titles and would love to hear your recommendations! The list of favorites from 2024 will be published in our January edition of Shelf Notes. Share your submissions of titles published or reprinted in 2024 for consideration here.
Book Review Roundup No. 9 is live!
In our Book Review Roundup, a joint project from Sherry Early at Semicolon and Diane Pendergraft and Sara Masarik of Plumfield and Paideia, you can find book reviews for all kinds of books from picture books to middle grade fiction to adult novels and nonfiction to help guide your book buying choices as you put together your own unique lending library.
Books with review links in Book Review Roundup, Issue 9 are:
-Balderdash! By Michelle Markel
-Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators by Robert Arthur
-Books by Horseback by Emma Carlson Berne
-Planting Stories by Anika Aldamuy Denise
-Out and About by Shirley Hughes
-The Shy Stegosaurus by Evelyn Sibley Lampman
-The Box with Red Wheels by Maud and Miska Petersham
-The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko
-The Sailor Who Captured the Sea but Deborah Nourse Lattimore
-This Book of Mine by Sarah Stewart
-Going Places by Aileen Fisher
-Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs
-Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora
-Sparrow Being Sparrow by Gail Donovan
-Across a Dark and Wild Sea by Don Brown
-Is This You? By Ruth Krauss
-The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
-A Walk in Wolf Wood by Mary Stewart
-Jennifer and Josephine by Bill Peet
-Strange Intruder by Arthur Catherall
-When Winter Comes by Nancy van Laan
-Nurses Who Led the Way by Adele and Cateau de Lewis
In the Small Publishers corner of the newsletter each month, we hope to draw your attention to something lovely from one of our beloved small publishers. We are so grateful for the good work these publishers do to revive otherwise lost good, true, and beautiful books!
Living Book Press is excited to announce our Early November Sale, running from October 28th to November 10th. This is the perfect chance to get everything you need before the holiday shopping chaos begins! With Black Friday around the corner, we’re giving you a head start so you can avoid the freight delays and enjoy stress-free shopping.
Whether you’re looking to update your curriculum or add some fresh new reads to your homeschool, this sale will feature a wide selection of discounted resources to support your homeschooling journey. Don’t miss out—mark your calendars!
New from LBP:
Bethlehem Books is having to let go of two timeless favorites. The Kitchen Madonna, written by Rumer Godden and illustrated by Lydia Halverson, is a heart-warming book of two kids on a quest to keep their beloved Marta from returning to her dear Polish Ukraine. Happy Times in Noisy Village, written by Astrid Lindgren and illustrated by Ilon Wikland, shows the daily escapades of children living in rural Sweden. As far as Bethlehem Books knows, this wonderful translation by Florence Lamborn is being discontinued by the Astrid Lindgren Company. Bethlehem Books is offering a 35% discount on these titles October 15-November 15.
30% Off All Print—Ends October 31st!
No code needed at checkout!
Yesterday's Classics has an excellent selection of over 350 print books, including:
- Number Stories of Long Ago by David Eugene Smith
- Through Four Seasons by Edith M. Patch
- The Dutch Twins, The Japanese Twins, and The Irish Twins (and others) by Lucy Fitch Perkins
- This Way to Christmas by Ruth Sawyer
- and many more
Plough Publishing has a lovely reprint of Corduroy author Don Freeman's picture book, Come Again Pelican. This book was added to the new expanded edition of Picture Book Preschool, and it's a keeper.
Moody Publishers is running a Pre-Christmas Warehouse Sale, today and tomorrow: 80% Off selected titles and 30% off everything else in the warehouse. Sale ends October 16th. Books on sale include:
Living Books For Early Grades
Gone are the days when living books were cast aside and sold off at bargain prices. Today’s librarians face the challenge of seeking out the best living books, as they become increasingly scarce. Fortunately, a growing number of small publishers are working tirelessly to revive these treasures by bringing them back into print. In October, November, and December, we will be sharing curated lists that feature some of the finest living books still accessible today—either due to the availability of used copies or recent reprints by dedicated publishers. This month’s list focuses on living books for the Early Years.
Picture Book Preschool, The Expanded Edition
It's here! The freshly updated and expanded Picture Book Preschool is now available at Biblioguides! To make it even more fun, we have a special giveaway!
We're excited to introduce our Librarian Book Labels—an exclusive set of Picture Book Preschool stickers! These 1.5" circle stickers are perfect for marking the backs of all your PBP books, helping you find them easily when it’s time to read. Whether you're a school librarian, home librarian, homeschool librarian, or lending librarian, you'll love using these! Each unit includes ten identical stickers.
How to Get Your Librarian Book Labels:
1. Share a picture or video of your Picture Book Preschool experience on social media.
2. Set your post to public, tag Plumfield Moms, and send us a quick email letting us know you’ve shared.
3. We'll email you a link to download the PDF of the stickers!
We can't wait to see what you’re doing with Picture Book Preschool—thank you for helping us spread the love of stories!
Happy reading,
The Picture Book Preschool Team
Book Clubs With Librarians in Mind
In January we announced that the Plumfield Moms are creating custom book club guides perfect for librarians (and others) to use in their libraries. Each PDF guide comes with 25-35 pages of resources, questions, background information, invitations and book marks, participant journals, and more. Think of it as a book club in a box. All you have to do is print and host!
Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morporgu
Kensuke’s Kingdom is a story about adventure, love, faith, friendship, resourcefulness, art, and beauty, and it is absolutely worth finding out how it ends. Ideal for middle-grade readers, this is an adventure and survival story that will tickle the imagination of readers young and old.
This guide has over 30 pages of everything you will need to host a memorable book club from invitations and reading journals to enrichment suggestions and no-fail book club conversation starters and questions in one digital download. You can purchase this guide, here. You can learn about our other guides, here.
Because you are a subscriber to Shelf Notes, you can download The Princess and the Goblin for free! Just email Plumfield and let them know you would like to have The Princess and the Goblin Book Club Guide (plumfieldandpaideia@gmail.com). If you would like to see more of the guides, go to the guide page, here. You can hear the story behind these new book club guides on the Plumfield Moms State of the Podcast episode, here.
New to the Private Lending Libraries List at Biblioguides
Frank Fort Home Library, Caliente, Nevada. Teri Frank, Librarian. Open Fridays 10:00a-3:00p OR anytime by appointment.
Learning Resources Library, Lander, Wyoming. Amanda Shade, Librarian. Creative learning resources and books for everyone in the family, educational events and experiences, as well as classroom spaces available by reservation.
St. Columba's Place, Port Royal, VA. Lara Purciel, Librarian. Tentative opening date, January of 2025.
Worden Family Collection, Saginaw, MI. Chelsea Worden, Librarian.
The Private Lending Library Movement Is Spreading
There are 97 libraries across the English-speaking world listed in the Private Lending Library Directory at Biblioguides. We're shooting for 100 by the end of the year! If you know of other living books lending libraries that are not listed, please ask them to share their information so that families can find the books that will speak to their minds and hearts at a library near them. And please share this list of libraries on social media whenever someone asks where they can find the "Good Books."
And since this newsletter is called Shelf Notes, we thought we'd share a Shelf Notes Photo from one of the private lending libraries in our directory each month. Click on the photograph to see whose library this shelf belongs in. Can you guess without looking? Send us a picture of one of your shelves, and we'll feature your library in Shelf Notes!
Other Library News
Lorinda Newton of Newton Family Library in Clinton, WA shares a Book Collection on the Fine Arts booklist for librarians and home collectors.
Erin Hassett of Wattle Gum Library in New South Wales, Australia was wondering why the books weren't circulating as fast and as widely as she thought they should. So she gave a 30 minute
Parent Book Talk after Book Club at her library. The talk covered:
How you can use picture and chapter books in your homeschool.
What is a Living Book?
What is a Literature Based Education?
Afterward, Erin says the books were jumping off the shelves!
Sara Masarik, Plumfield Living Library, gave a similar talk in her library. Sara's talk, Books: the Great Ambassador of Beauty, was recorded and will be available for purchase in the near future.
Do you have library news to share with Shelf Notes readers? We at The Card Catalog hope you are enjoying the resources we have provided there, and we also aspire to make our monthly newsletter, Shelf Notes, a valuable source for news and encouragement to the private lending library community. If your library story is not already published on our Librarian Notices page at The Card Catalog, we would love to talk to you about adding your story there. Please email us at thecardcataloglibarians@gmail.com to submit your library story to Librarian Notices.
Also, we really enjoy hearing about what’s going on in your library and sometimes publishing that information in brief in Shelf Notes. If you have news of events or new endeavors in your library, please share with us by email at thecardcataloglibrarians@gmail.com. Thank you for all you are doing to connect children and families with good, life-giving books. Keep on doing what you are doing, and we pray for God’s blessing on all our work.