Thursday, March 23, 2017

2017 - 2018 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Nominees

The next year's Dorothy Canfield Fisher, 2017 - 2018,  nominees have been chosen and are posted on the VT Department of Libraries website!  See the titles listed below with the author, title, publisher, and suggested grade level listed in that order.

Anderson, John David. Ms. Bixby’s Last Day. Walden Pond. Grade 5 up

Barnhill, Kelly. The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Algonquin. Grade 5 up

Bauer, Joan. Soar. Viking. Grade 5 up

Bayard, Louis. Lucky Strikes. Henry Holt. Grade 7 up

Brown, Peter. The Wild Robot. Little, Brown. Grade 4 up

Burg, Ann E. Unbound: A Novel in Verse. Scholastic. Grade 5 up

Cohen, Marina. The Inn Between. Roaring Brook. Grade 5 up

Crilley, Mark. The Drawing Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Teaches You How to Draw. Watson-Guptill. Grade 4 up

Davies, Jacqueline. Nothing but Trouble. Katherine Tegen. Grade5 up

Dumas, Firoozeh. It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel. Clarion. Grade 5 up

Gemeinhart, Dan. Some Kind of Courage. Scholastic. Grade 6 up

Gidwitz, Adam. The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. Dutton. Grade 6 up

Gratz, Alan. Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II. Scholastic. Grade 6 up

Griffin, Paul. When Friendship Followed Me Home. Dial. Grade 6 up

Harrington, Karen. Mayday. Little, Brown. Grade 5 up

Hopkinson, Deborah. A Bandit’s Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket. Knopf. Grade 5 up

Kelly, Erin Entrada. The Land of Forgotten Girls. Greenwillow. Grade 5 up

LaFleur, Suzanne. Beautiful Blue World. Wendy Lamb. Grade 5 up

MacLachlan, Patricia. The Poet’s Dog. Katherine Tegen. Grade 4 up

Messner, Kate. The Seventh Wish. Bloomsbury. Grade 5 up

O’Connor, Barbara. Wish. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Grade 4 up

Olson, Tod. Lost in the Pacific, 1942: Not a Drop to Drink. Scholastic. Grade 5 up

Reynolds, Jason. Ghost. Athenaeum. Grade 5 up

Sherman, Delia. The Evil Wizard. Smallbone Candlewick. Grade 5 up

Sonnenblick, Jordan. Falling Over Sideways. Scholastic. Grade 6 up

Sullivan, Tara. The Bitter Side of Sweet. Putnam. Grade 7 up

Sweet, Melissa. Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White. HMH. Grade 4 up

Weeks, Sarah & Gita Varadarajan. Save Me a Seat. Scholastic. Grade 4 up

Weiner, Jennifer. The Littlest BigfootAladdin. Grade 4 up

Wolk, Lauren. Wolf Hollow. Dutton. Grade 6 up

2017 - 2018 Red Clover Nominees

Next year's Red Clover nominees have been chosen and are listed at the VT Department of Libraries website.  They are as follows:

2017-2018 RED CLOVER AWARD NOMINEES VERMONT’S PICTURE BOOK AWARD FOR CHILDREN IN GRADES K-4


 Archer, Micha. Daniel Finds a Poem. Nancy Paulsen, 2016. (ISBN 978-0399169137)

Barton, Chris. Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions. Illustrated by Don Tate. Charlesbridge, 2016. (ISBN 978-1580892971)

DiPucchio, Kelly. Dragon Was Terrible. Illustrated by Greg Pizzoli. FSG, 2016. (ISBN 978- 0374300494)

Hall, Michael. Frankencrayon. Greenwillow, 2016. (ISBN 978-0062252111)

Hood, Susan. Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay. Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. Simon & Schuster, 2016. (ISBN 978-1481430951)

John, Jory. Penguin Problems. Illustrated by Lane Smith. Random House, 2016. (ISBN 978- 0553513370)

Levy, Debbie. I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark. Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley. Simon & Schuster, 2016. (ISBN 978-1481465595)

 London, Jonathan. Otters Love to Play. Illustrated by Meilo So. Candlewick, 2016. (ISBN 978- 0763669133)

Tonatiuh, Duncan. The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes. Abrams, 2016. (ISBN 978-1419721304)

Wenzel, Brendan. They All Saw a Cat. Chronicle, 2016. (ISBN 978-1452150130)


Each year wonderful books are chosen as nominees and this year's titles certainly convey fun ways to delve into different topics.

Monday, March 6, 2017

2016 - 2017 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Titles and More

Every year the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Committee chooses the best of children's literature as nominees for a vote for best book by Vermont students in Grades 4 - 8.  A brief biography of Dorothy Canfield Fisher can be found at the Vermont Hisorical Society at this link: https://vermonthistory.org/explorer/people-places/whos-who/vermont-women/dorothy-canfield-fisher

The Vermont Department of Libraries offers annotations or summaries of each book at this page:
http://libraries.vermont.gov/services/children_and_teens/book_awards/dcf

The 2016 -2017 list of Dorothy Canfield Fisher nominees are as follows:

2016-2017

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Nominees

Vermont's book award for children. 
This list include fiction and non-fiction books. 


AuthorTitlePublisherGrade
Barnett, Mac & Jory JohnThe Terrible TwoAmulet4 up
Beasley, CassieCircus MirandusDial4 up
Benjamin, AliThe Thing about JellyfishLittle, Brown5 up
Bond, RebeccaEscape from Baxters’ BarnHarcourt Brace4 up
Bradley, Kimberly BrubakerThe War that Saved my LifeDial5 up
Brown, DonDrowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New OrleansHarcourt Brace6 up
Chmakova, SvetlanaAwkwardYen5 up
Draper, SharonStella by StarlightAtheneum5 up
Gannon, NicholasThe DoldrumsGreenwillow4 up
Gino, AlexGeorge (audiobook)Scholastic4 up
Graff, LisaLost in the SunPhilomel5 up
Gruenbaum, Michael with Todd Hasak-LowySomewhere There is Still a SunAladdin5 up
Hautala, BethWaiting for UnicornsPhilamel5 up
Hilton, MarilynFull Cicada MoonDial5 up
Hoose, PhillipThe Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill ClubFarrar, Straus & Giroux7 up
Jamieson, VictoriaRoller GirlDial4 up
Jones, KellyUnusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry FarmerAlfred A. Knopf4 up
Kidd, RonaldNight on FireAlbert Whitman5 up
Maberry, JonathanThe Orphan Army (Nightsiders #1)Simon & Schuster5 up
Magoon, KeklaShadows of SherwoodBloomsbury5 up
Nielsen, Jennifer A.A Night DividedScholastic5 up
Oppel, KennethThe NestSimon & Schuster5 up
Pearsall, ShelleyThe Seventh Most Important ThingAlfred A. Knopf5 up
Priest, CherieI am Princess XArthur A. Levine7 up
Resau, LauraThe Lightning QueenScholastic5 up
Ryan, Pam MunozEchoScholastic5 up
Sands, KevinThe Blackthorn KeyAladdin5 up
Stead, RebeccaGoodbye StrangerWendy Lamb6 up
Stevenson, NoelleNimonaHarper Teen7 up
Wiechman, Kathy CannonLike a RiverCalkins Creek6 up

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

2016 - 2017 Red Clover Award Nominees

Bandy, Michael S. and Eric Stein. Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box. Illustrated by James E. Ransome. Candlewick, 2015. (ISBN 978-0763665937)

Bond, Rebecca. Out of the Woods: A True Story of an Unforgettable Event. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015. (ISBN 978-0374380779)

Bram, Elizabeth. Rufus the Writer. Illustrated by Chuck Groenink. Schwartz & Wade, 2015. (ISBN 978-0385378536)

Desmond, Jenni. The Blue Whale. Enchanted Lion, 2015. (ISBN 978-1592701650)

Goodrich, Carter. We Forgot Brock! Simon & Schuster, 2015. (ISBN 978-1442480902)

Medina, Meg. Mango, Abuela and Me. Illustrated by Angela Dominguez. Candlewick, 2015. (ISBN 978-0763669003)

Pennypacker, Sara. Meet the Dullards. Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. Balzer & Bray (HarperCollins), 2015. (ISBN 978-0062198563)

Sayre, April Pulley. Raindrops Roll. Beach Lane (Simon & Schuster), 2015. (ISBN 978- 1481420648)

Walker, Sally M. Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh. Illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss. Holt, 2015. (ISBN 978-0805097153)

Weeks, Sarah. Glamourpuss. Illustrated by David Small. Scholastic, 2015. (ISBN 978- 0545609548)


The Vermont Department of Libraries  dedicates a page at their website for Vermont's three book lists that are offered each year for elementary, middle school, and high school students.  They are the Red Clover Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award, and the Green Mountain Book Award where you will find a lists of award winning books for your child to read.


Monday, April 11, 2016

Is your information accurate?

In the March 28th blog titled  Benson Village School's Research Database I shared the reasons for an online encyclopedia or research database. If students rather find and check their own information online there are a number of ways to do that.
One way is to use Snopes located at http://www.snopes.com/ which is specifically set up for checking validity of information.
This site can also be used to check email scams.




Monday, March 28, 2016

Benson Village School's Research Database

This year students have Scholastic's Go database for research needs.  The web address is
http://auth.grolier.com/login/go_login_page.html?bffs=N.

This database can be accessed at home with the at-home login and password which both students and teachers have.

Once you are logged in you will see different tabs which present information at various reading levels.  The tabs are Elementary School, Middle School, High School and Adults.

There is a citation for each article at the bottom of the page.  If students choose to find their information through a search engine such as Google, Internet Explorer, Edge, or Firefox, there is Easy Bib, Citation Machine, and NoodleTools to create citations. Each citation application is free.

There are quite clear reasons for a paid database with the most important one being reliable information, Other important reasons include the citations already created, lesson plans included  as well as videos, maps and other graphics.

For those students choosing other avenues for research information, the quality of the information will need to be evaluated.  Kathy Schrock, a former school district Director of Technology, instructional technology specialist, a middle school, academic, museum, and a public library librarian offers question forms that lead the way to choosing reliable information.  They can be found at her website:  http://www.schrockguide.net/critical-evaluation.html.  

Monday, February 22, 2016

January & February Notes of Interest

Have you ever noticed how many notable days there are in February?  The February celebrations are numerous compared to the number in the month of January.
Here are days of note used for Library displays for January and February 2016:

January 1st - New Year's Day
January 18 - Martin Luther King Day

February 1 - National Freedom Day
February 2 - Groundhog Day
February 8 - Chinese New Year
February 9 - Mardi Gras
February 10 - Vermont Writes
February 11 - National Inventors Day
February 12 - Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
February 14 Valentine's Day
February 15 - President's Day
February 22 - George Washington's Birthday
February 29 - Leap Day which occurs once every four years

A wonderful book that gives students a look at holidays and celebrations around the world is
"Celebrations!" written by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley  The book is organized around the seasons with the celebrations and holidays within that season described from a child's perspective.

Children's Press an imprint of Scholastic Inc. publishes a wonderful series about holidays through their "Rookie Read About Holidays" series for preschool through third grade students.  The celebrations are explained with historical background as well as "Fast Fact" text boxes.

Vermont Writes Day was celebrated on February 10.  Here at Benson Village School everyone stopped what they were doing to spend 6 minutes writing.  Students had the option of submitting their writing to the Young Writer's Project.

Wonderful books about the holidays abound and can be easily found at area libraries if you are looking to explain the significance of these celebrations with an exception of Leap Day.  A quick search of the various bookstores such as Amazon and Albris saw a small selection.

Please stop by if you would like to see Benson Village School's library display of celebration books.