KASL

NWKLS WAW Grant Winners

Cyndie Aumiller, Hoxie Schools; Jana Gfeller, Wallace County School; Cindy Harold, Weskan Schools are the 1st ever William Allen White Grant winners.  The grant is provided by the Northwest Kansas Library System for the winning schools to attend the William Allen White October celebrations in Emporia, KS.  Their students will meet the authors of the winning books and take part in the planned celebratory activities.

 

Aurelia Jackson 
Northwest Kansas Library System
Cataloger/School Consultant
2 Washington Square
Norton, KS 67654

 

Betsy Lobmeyer receives inaugural Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award

  

Plymell Elementary 3rd graders are happy to share the fleece and embroidered flannel blankets they stiched.

CHICAGO — Betsy Lobmeyer and her project “Charlie’s Ever Warming Blankets” Children in Poverty, is the inaugural recipient of the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award. Sponsored by Penguin Random House, the Roald Dahl Award recognizes collaboration between school librarians and teachers in the instruction of social justice using school library resources.

“Charlie’s Ever Warming Blankets,” designed for 3rd-6th grade students at Plymell Elementary in Garden City, Kan., combined a four-week study on the concept of social justice in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” with a charitable project. Students read and discussed Dahl’s work and voted as a group to make blankets for children of jailed women in Ecuador. Children under the age of 2 years old remain with their mother while she serves her sentence and often go without simple comfort items such as blankets or toys.

The project inspired students to discuss what it would be like for children to spend their first years in jail, how life can be unfair and how a small gift can make a big difference.  Fifty students then spent two weeks making blankets out of fleece and flannel to send the children of inmates.  The words “paz,” “fe” and “amor” (“peace,” “faith” and “love”) were stitched into the corner of each flannel blanket. 

"Our project combined three student activities dear to my heart; reading good books, creative hand work and increasing awareness of the big world beyond our small community," said Lobmeyer. "We had a wonderful time studying 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' laughing and cringing and rooting for poor Charlie. The idea of the babies in prison in Ecuador captivated our hearts and imaginations, and students were enthusiastically engaged in creating the blankets. In the end, 50 students were introduced to the wonderful world of Roald Dahl, learned simple embroidery skills, and gave something of themselves to help someone across the world. What could be better?"

6th grade students at Plymell Elementary pose with the fleece blankets they created.

“The Miss Honey committee members were impressed with how the students attacked a social justice issue, accepted the challenge and made a difference in the world,” said award committee chair Terry Young.  “This project brought home clearly to the children in this school that even a child can play a part in reaching out into the world to bring comfort and compassion to those who need it most. Like Charlie, they learned that family is the most important thing.”

Lobmeyer will receive $2,000 and up to $1,000 in reimbursement towards travel and housing to attend the AASL awards presentation at the ALA Annual Conference. In addition, the Plymell Elementary school library will receive a $5,000 book donation from Penguin Random House.

"Thank you to Penguin Random House and especially the teachers and students of Plymell Elementary," said Lobmeyer. "Their enthusiastic participation made this project possible, and fun."

The Roald Dahl’s Miss Honey Social Justice Award recognizes AASL members who have collaboratively designed a lesson, event or course of study on social justice. The award is named for Miss Honey, a character in Dahl’s “Matilda,” honoring the way many of Roald Dahl’s books convey a child’s sense of social justice. In “Matilda,” Miss Honey is a nurturing educator who supports the title character, a gifted young girl in an unkind home.

All AASL award winners will be honored at AASL's Awards Ceremony during the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas. The ceremony will be held from 9 – 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, and is open to all attendees.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.

"Betsy Lobmeyer receives inaugural Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award", American Library Association, June 17, 2014.

http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/06/betsy-lobmeyer-receives-inaugural-roald-dahl-miss-honey-social-justice-award (Accessed June 19, 2014)

Document ID: 052cbf09-2c49-cb34-8110-912d94c64b76

KASL is pleased to announce the recipients of several awards and scholarships.

 

• Dr. Mirah Dow and George Blume are winners of the 2014 Vision Award due to their contributions to Kansas school library media centers. Their dedication to libraries, participation in conferences, and continued professional development demonstrate their commitment.
• Robin Schrack is the recipient of the 2014 AASL Fall Forum Grant due to contributions to school libraries. Her dedication, service, involvement in workshops, and role in library services portray the model librarian.
• The Ruth Garver Gagliardo Scholarship for summer school is awarded to Tracey McGann, who is beginning the master's program in Library and Information Science with a concentration in school library media at Emporia State University.
• The President's Distinguished Library Media Specialist Award is presented to Barb Bahm, who is a member of the KSDE Text Complexity Team, has presented at a variety of workshops and conferences including the Summer Institute for School Librarians.
• Mrs. Sandy Almos is this year's Distinguished Service Award recipient. As principal at Edith Scheuerman Elementary School in Garden City, she has been supportive of the library program from day one.

Congratulations to these dedicated professionals!

Carmaine Ternes

Sheri Roberts Presented With President's Distinguished LMS Award

Sheri Roberts, Carmaine Ternes

Carmaine presented the President's Distinguished Library Media Specialist Award to Sheri Roberts at the January 18, 2014 Council meeting at Circle High School.

Photo submitted by Carmaine Ternes

Award Winners!

Cindy Pfeiffer, Vision Award; Sheri Roberts, President's Distinguished Library Media Specialist Award

Photo by Marla Lambert

Award Winners

Photos by Carmaine Ternes

White Book Awards

The nation's first book award program of its kind turns 60 this year.  The authors of the 2012 award winning books, Wendy Mass and Diana Lopez, will be in Emporia to help celebrate at two events.   Friday, October 5 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. the authors will sign books at Red Rocks, the home of William Allen White, 927 Exchange in Emporia.  Town Crier will be selling books at the sites, refreshments will be served, and docents will be on hand to give tours.  For information, consult the site's website. This event is free but donations are appreciated.   Saturday, October 6 is the date for the awards celebration held in the newly remodeled Emporia State University student union.  The fun begins at 7:30 a.m. with booksigning and a variety of other free activities for kids.  The union bookstore will be open all day for the purchase of the award winning books and other White Awards related items.  A 10:45 a.m. parade around campus will end back at the union where the awards ceremony will be held at Webb Hall.  Tickets will be sold at the door, but reserved-seat tickets are available now.  Full information here.   Please help spread the word about these events.  Hope to see lots of Kansas librarians there! Beverley Olson Buller White Book Awards selection committee chair and White biographer Newton, KS

2011 William Allen White Awards

‘Swindle,’ ‘The Boy Who Dared’ selected for White book awards EMPORIA, KAN. - Two books about young boys making extraordinary decisions have been judged the best by Kansas schoolchildren. “Swindle” by Gordon Korman and “The Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of Hitler Youth” by Susan Campbell Bartoletti are the recipients of the 2011 William Allen White Children’s Book Awards. Both titles are published by Scholastic Books. The William Allen White Children’s Book Award program was founded in 1952 by Ruth Garver Gagliardo, a specialist in children’s literature for Emporia State University. One of the few literary awards that asks young readers to choose the winners, the program is directed by Emporia State University and supported in part by the Trusler Foundation. Both authors have been invited to the awards celebration, set for Saturday, Sept. 24, in Emporia. “Swindle,” selected by voters in Grades 3 through 5, is the story of sixth-grader Griffin Bing, who puts together a band of misfits to get justice after an unscrupulous collector swindles Griffin out of a valuable Babe Ruth baseball card. “It’s a story of kids taking matters into their own hands,” Korman says. Korman, a native Canadian who now lives in Long Island, N.Y., published his first book, “This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall,” with Scholastic when he was a high school freshman. He had written it for a seventh-grade English assignment. By the time he entered college, Korman had decided to make writing his career. “Swindle” is the first of three titles in the Swindle series. Korman also has written titles in the “39 Clues” series as well as expanded his Macdonald Hall books. In his writings, Korman is drawn to characters in their middle school years. “I think there’s something special about the books that you read at that middle grade age group,” he said in a 2007 interview, “because it’s really when you become kind of in charge of your own opinion.” “The Boy Who Dared,” chosen by readers in Grades 6 through 8, builds on Bartoletti’s earlier nonfiction book, “Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow.” In “The Boy Who Dared,” Bartoletti takes one episode from “Hitler Youth” and creates a thought-provoking novel based on the true story of Helmuth Hübener, who as a teenager dared to stand up against the Nazi regime. Although best-known for her nonfiction work, Bartoletti has written poetry, shorts stories, picture books and novels. Long drawn to artistic endeavors, Bartoletti, who lives in Scranton, Pa., began writing in college, then accepted a position teaching eighth-grade English. Throughout her teaching career, she continued to be pulled toward writing, She did both for nearly 10 years before taking the leap to writing full-time. Winning an award memorializing Pulitzer Prize-winning editor William Allen White has special meaning for Bartoletti. "I am thrilled by this great honor,” she said. “I taught eighth grade for 18 years and used William Allen White's editorial on the death of his daughter, Mary, as a writing model with my students. His tribute inspired and moved my students. “Based on White's description of his daughter, Mary, - a girl who ‘hungered and thirsted for righteousness’ - I'd wager that she'd approve of this recognition for ‘The Boy Who Dared.’” During the September awards celebration, schoolchildren from across the state of Kansas travel to Emporia for special events including lock-ins, author readings and book signings along with a parade through downtown Emporia to the awards ceremony itself. Many teachers use travel to the book awards as incentives in their school reading programs. Additional resources: ●       William Allen White Children’s Book Awards ●       Scholastic Books ●       Gordon Korman ●       Susan Campbell Bartoletti -ESU-

2011 Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award Winner

Kansas  Reading Association is pleased to announce...
**
*2011 Winner Bill Martin Jr Picture Book Award*
*Lousy rotten stinkin' grapes*

by Margie Palatini

Jane Kurtz Wins the Kerlan Award

Jane Kurtz will be officially awarded the Kerlan Award on this Saturday in Minneapolis. She is such a great friend of literacy through her own writing, mentorship of other writers as a faculty member at the /Vermont/ College of /Fine Arts/ MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults, and with her tireless work to
establish libraries and bring literacy to children in Ethiopia.

Read a little bit about Jane and the award at http://bit.ly/kerlan_kurtz