Reviewing Style

It has been a joy this week to watch people come to the library to review the books. The conversation that happens when people find a book they love, or hate, is unstoppable. You can see the feelings bursting out, needing to be shared.

The way that individuals are going about the process is fascinating to me. No two people seem to approach it alike. The Caldecott Manual’s sample form has a place to check off which publications have reviewed the book. So I decided to provide the reviews of each material. Some people don’t want to read the reviews at all. They are just checking off the boxes. Others want to  read them to see what they missed. One of my colleagues, who was unsure of her own knowledge, is scanning the reviews to glean vocabulary to expand her reviewing skills. She does this BEFORE she looks at the book.

This blew my mind. Most of us are creatures of habit. We get so used to doing it our way that it is hard to see any other possibility. I approach reviewing books like I do film adaptations of books. Before I see the film I must read the book. I will pass on an intriguing film if I haven’t had time to read through. Why? I feel that visual images are so strong they will dominate. At least that is the way it is for me. I need to read the book and conjure up my own mental picture of the characters, the scenery and all the details. If I do this first, my character can live very nicely in harmony with the filmmaker’s vision. In fact, my characters can sometimes be strong enough to banish the filmmaker’s vision. If I see the movie first, it’s all over. The filmmaker will intrude and ultimately win.

So when I look at a new book, I don’t want to know what someone else is thinking. I need to find out for myself. I need to be clear of someone else’s critical eye. They may be much more knowledgeable than I, but I want the opportunity to make my own observations and my own mistakes first. After that, I like to look at the reviews. It’s sort of like trying to do that crossword puzzle before peeking at the answers.

Seeing my colleague dive into the reviews first astounded me. I found I had to hold myself back from running over and correcting her. The big lesson for me here is to see how many ways there are to do this thing. My colleague is not having any trouble coming up with insights of her own. Nor is she having trouble in expressing them or defending them.

One day I returned to the library after doing an errand to find three participants huddled over a book. The idea of reading a book that way for review purposes would never have occurred to me. Each of them added a different perspective to the viewing. While we will discuss and expand our own visions, this group was doing it immediately. It was interesting to watch.

Personally, I feel like an old dog. I don’t feel much like veering from my way of reviewing the book first, by myself, before letting someone else’s voice get in my head. I’m finding it hard to do as people review books I haven’t gotten to yet. They have enthusiasm or distain to share and I want to be there to share it. So I’ll have to find a way to allow myself to grow along with the process. 

Setting up a Mock-Caldecott Committee group

I was asked if I would blog the process of my Mock Caldecott group. So I started where I was – on kick off day. I didn’t want to loose the importance or the feelings of the moment. Yet so much happened before I got to that point and I think that’s the part that anyone considering doing a group like this would want to know about.  It takes a lot more than loving reviewing books.

The idea to form a group started poking me during the course I took through the ALSC last winter. The course, Newbery Award: Past, Present and Future, was an inspiring and mind expanding experience. K. T. Horning is an inspiration. Her extensive knowledge and masterful structuring of the course made it one of the highlights of my year. It certainly expanded the way I looked at the award process and children’s literature in general.

During the class I began to think that it was the process the award committee takes which really interested me above all else. I guess I had always thought of the end result, finding the most distinguished book for children, to be the goal. Learning more about the process, I felt that the process of reviewing in a systematic way in relation to other people doing the same was something I wanted, more than anything else, to experience.  Some people have told me that they don’t see the point in taking graduate classes when they can get knowledge experientially. While everyone has to walk their own life and find their own truth, I have found that the systematic approach to studying something does give a different kind of perspective. For example, while I may be widely read in some areas, systematically reading and comparing with a goal in mind gives a whole new realm of experiencing what is being viewed. It is well worth the time and effort because my experience grows into a deeper level. A person can do this without a course or a group, but most of us don’t stick to a system unless we are in concert with others. We also miss out on the perspectives gained from others, the growth in our relationships with others and a network of fellow seekers.

So I knew I wanted both a system and human contact. Sharing the experience was paramount to the experience I was seeking.

And I knew it was the Caldecott Medal that I was interested in.

Now I needed a forum. Professionally, I had a goal of providing some professional development in my school. This focus group is a chance to form a group without the travel time, foster learning with my peers, provide an opportunity for people to earn professional development credit which I hoped they would find interesting while fulfilling some of my own, build community and have the opportunity to try out the process all wrapped in one. It didn’t hurt that I’d be doing advertising for the award while I was at it.

Getting clearance to do this project was an education in itself. I am fortunate, as everyone was supportive of me in the process. However, writing the proposal and filling in the paperwork was not as easy for me to do as convincing people that it was a good idea. It took me several months from the time I picked up the application to the time it was ready to be submitted. Part of that was my own dreaming and reflecting on how I should structure the project -what parts to go as authentic as possible and what parts to be more relaxed about. When I thought I was ready I submitted it to our Curriculum Director who sat down with me and helped me work through the pieces I needed to clarify.

While I was doing this I was reading like mad. I read the Caldecott Medal Committee Handbook multiple times. The bibliography in the document served as my guide in ordering books online. Hint to those who want to do this – some of the out of print books can be had used online. For a while I was receiving books from UPS or the US Postal Service every day. I read and I reviewed. I took copious notes, distilled some key vocabulary, typed it in large font and hung it over my desk to remind me of what I am looking for when I review books. It was overwhelming. It was inspiring. It took over my waking and my sleeping.

Here’s the difficult part - structuring it all. It sounds easy to find books and review them. In reality it would be easy to loose track. So creating a personal recording method is essential. I have a spreadsheet for the eligible books. I can use spreadsheet software, but I’m not a whiz at all the formatting for printing. So that means I save the spreadsheet several times over customized in a variety of ways. I have a list of the books and the publications which have reviewed them, a list of the books and their ILL status, and a list of the books and who has read them to reference to see if a book can go back to the library.

Then there are the review notes. Very clever I thought myself when I made a chart echoing the sample given in the Caldecott Manual. I copied and pasted the charts until I had plenty to work through. Each new book reviewed was entered in the next empty form. Now, I have a long, long list of charts out of order. It would be simple to print, sort alphabetically or by general impression, three hole punch them and file. Digital formats are so less clunky, though. So I guess I’d better start cutting, moving and pasting them in alphabetical order.  It has been suggested that I would have been well advised to add date and some sort of easily identifiable mark which marks whether I think it is in the running or whether it is not to be borne.

Yes, these things will work themselves out during this session and be in place for next year. They take more time and energy and thoughtfulness than you originally bargain for.

Finally, I had to find 15 people to form the group. I was able to get one member from the public library when I went to invite and discuss the program. Several teachers who I knew to be children’s lit enthusiasts had helped me through the thinking stages. They readily joined and brought others with them. An all staff email garnered a few inquiries. Mostly though, I talked to everyone as we crossed paths. I stopped talking when I hit the magic number. I did find that the most successful way for me to garner members was to talk to them. I don’t know if it was the personal invitation, my enthusiasm for the project or my sparkling personality. It doesn’t matter. I have a wonderful group of 15 intelligent, perceptive, energetic people who are helping me to realize my goal. 

Mock Caldecott Kick Off

Today I hosted my Mock Caldecott Kick Off. The Mock Caldecott is being run as a focus group for members of my school and community. We have a nice cross section of our school represented and a school/public library connection. I was hoping that we could mimic the actual committee as much as possible and so I aimed for 15 participants. I selected myself as chair and sent out an email to all the staff of my building. I'll blog about how it came to be another time. For now, it's all about today.

I prepared folders for each participant with the materials I thought they would need. This included a copy of my Power Point slideshow for taking notes, contact list for all participants, evaluation sheets, a list of titles to start looking at and a bookmark with all the Caldecott Medalists up to 2005 which I had bought from CBC back in the day. To add to the festive nature of the day I put a gold medal sticker on the cover of each and wrote a name on each one.

I served refreshments. After a full day of teaching people need to unwind a bit. We had tea and soft drinks available. I wanted something Caldecott theme oriented, so I baked some brownies, frosted them and placed circles of white chocolate which was tinted yellow in the middle of what I thought would be each brownie. I thought when I cut them apart they would look like books with gold medals. Well, it was a nice fantasy, but really I think I'd better leave the themed baking up to two of my favorite bloggers - Grace Lin and Jamma Rattigan. Those are two ladies who know how to do it right. On the contrary, when you try to cut fudge brownies with a table knife they don't cut evenly. In fact, they kind of form balls. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't choose fudge style brownies and I would  bake them until dry. At least they would look good. The rollos and peanut butter cups which were both wrapped in round gold foil held up the theme of gold medals a bit more successfully.

Although most of us work in the same building, we don't really all know each other. Our member from the public library needed to have a way to meet us as well. So I asked everyone to wear a name tag and tell about a picture book that they love. Any picture book they love. I was not foolish enough to ask for a "favorite". I couldn't have answered that - my "favorite" changes from moment to moment. It was really interesting to me, who knows everyone, what books they chose.

We turned to the power point in which I outlined some of the background of the Caldecott Medal, an overview of the criteria, the format of our meetings, some background on picture book evaluation and some resource information.

From tomorrow, people will start coming to the library to read and review the books. In conjunction with our public library, I have ordered a selection which I will keep behind my desk. Members are welcome to help themselves any time. They are also given a list so they can order them through ILL and see them at their leisure at home.

This all took about one hour. I looked about me and was really excited. It is a very lively group of people with very different perspectives. Hosting a group like this will be a real learning experience. I have no doubt that debate about the various merits of the books will be hotly contested at times. I look forward to this challenge. It will certainly stretch my abilities and my vision.

It was a good day.

Back in the Saddle

Over the summer I neglected my blog. No other way to say it. It certainly isn't the case that I had nothing to say. Quite the contrary. Between taking on too many projects, a computer virus, a long road walked before deciding to make a new computer purchase, medical issues (not mine but a worry to me) and some dreaming, I never connected keyboard to blog.

I have a lot to say and hope to be back in the saddle and sharing it starting this week.

Pop-Up Books

While in Providence, Rhode Island I saw the exhibit at Rhode Island School of Design’s Fleet Library.  From now until September 24th, the exhibit “Pull, Turn, Pop: A Feast of Movable Books” is on display.  The exhibit features 30 of the 100 pop-up books in Fleet Library’s collection. The library is closed August 16 – 27 for summer break.

While many of the books portrayed works of fiction, I was surprised to see how many non-fiction titles were on display. I especially liked the one about the art of creating pop-up books. Most of them are in the entryway display cases, but don’t miss out on the six which are located in a case on the balcony.

End Papers

When June rolls around I find that I had better find something really engaging to do with my students if I want to be cheerful. I realized that we had never done my end paper study.

I started by explaining the role of end papers. We talked about browsing in book stores. End papers help move you visually through the book. They keep your interest level high and make it more likely that you will keep turning the pages. End papers are like trailers for movies…they either leave you uninterested or have you counting the days until the movie comes out. Before you even come to the title page, you can be hooked.

After we understand the idea, we start looking at a stack of books. Students give their reviews on the success of end papers in each book using thumbs up or thumbs down. When we got to Grace Lin’s book, Dim Sum for Everyone, one of my classes broke out in cheers. In every class there was at least one person who declared themselves too hungry to go on. In Ian Falconer’s Olivia, the end papers not only delight, they actually make your eye take a journey from left to right. The response was warm. We looked at many examples of brilliant use of end papers before I presented the problem.

I took a book which is a brilliant book in terms of content and illustration. However, the end papers are really subpar. What were they thinking? I primed the book as I had all others. Excitement to see the end papers was high. Then I opened the book. Confusion was written on the faces of most of the children I showed it to. Exclamations of horror were not uncommon. Several children had to be spoken to regarding inappropriate language choices.

The challenge: To create end papers which were superior to the ones in the original book. We read the whole thing so they would have the context. Then I gave students a piece of paper, a pencil and some crayons. They followed through brilliantly.

Internet safety

My favorite teenager took an out take test in technology class this week. Said teen didn’t think much of the answers. I inquired as to what exactly was troublesome. Here’s the objectionable question and answer:

Which of the following is safe to post on the internet? Your:

1.) First name

2.) Last name

3.) Address

4.) Phone number



While this darling teen agreed that the best answer was 1.), there was quite a bit of grumbling a out the real safety of using your first name. After all, I make sure to introduce my loved ones to resources like Net Smartz.

Our conversation made me think. This idea that our first names are generalized enough to be safe seems odd to me. In the last few years I have had students who have had first names which were so individual that there is little chance of them finding someone else with the same name in their lifetime. Some of these individuals have family names which are relatively common. So in reality, wouldn’t using the last name be a safer bet?