And the winners are . . .

You've probably watched many different kinds of award shows. Movies, music, and television shows are awarded all kinds of different honors this time of year. It's also time to honor books. The American Library Association announces the winners of its book awards during the Midwinter meeting each year. On Monday, I sat patiently in the audience rooting for my favorites. I was surprised by some of the winners and am excited to read a few that were dark horses. Below are a few highlights from the honor and award books:

Newbery Medal

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

2013 Newbery Honor Books:

Three Times Lucky
by Sheila Turnage

Bomb: the Race to Build and Steal the World's
Most Dangerous Weapon
by Steve Sheinkin

Splendors and Glooms
by Laura Amy Schlitz

2013 Newbery Medal winner:

The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Coretta Scott King Award

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.  The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.

2013 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books:

Each Kindness
by Jacqueline Woodson

No Crystal Stair
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

2013 Coretta Scott King Author Medal winner:

Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America
by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Offers insight into the lives of ten influential African American men from different times in the history of the United States.

Pura Belpré Award

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.

2013 Pura Belpré Honor book:

The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano
by Sonia Manzano

2013 Pura Belpré Award:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before. 

For a complete listing of the American Library Association Youth Media Award winners, check out the press release. There is also a webcast of the award presentations so you can hear all the excitement as each award was announced. Many of these books are already available in the middle school libraries. Titles that are middle school appropriate and are not available will be ordered and you will have access to them soon. To look up these books, visit your school's library catalog.

Follow That Food Chain

In sixth grade science, the students learn about food webs. Specifically, they work to understand the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers. The series "Follow That Food Chain: A Who Eats What Adventure," by Rebecca Hogue Wojahn and Donald Wojahn, provides twelve titles that explore the interrelationships of organisms in the food web throughout various parts of the world. In each title, animals are classified as a consumer (tertiary, primary, or secondary), a producer, or a decomposer. At the beginning of each book in the series, students are asked to choose a tertiary consumer. Once the tertiary consumer is chosen, the student turns to the appropriate page and learns more about what this consumer eats within the food web and can then take a closer look at any of those organisms and what they consume, produce, or decompose. Each organism is labeled using a color-coded shape. These books have the feel of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book because students can turn to any page and learn something new without following a specific page-by-page path throughout the book. There are many interesting facts and details and different paths to choose--most readers will probably immerse themselves for hours in these books.

Lerner, the publisher of "Follow That Food Chain," provides some sample activities through their eSource Downloads that can be used along with the books. Further reading and websites, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

Michigan Science Curriculum Connections:

L.OL.M.5 Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers – Producers are mainly green plants that obtain energy from the sun by the process of photosynthesis. All animals, including humans, are consumers that meet their energy needs by eating other organisms or their products. Consumers break down the structures of the organisms they eat to make the materials they need to grow and function. Decomposers, including bacteria and fungi, use dead organisms or their products to meet their energy needs. *

    

L.OL.06.51 Classify producers, consumers, and decomposers based on their source of food (the source of energy and building materials). *

L.OL.06.52 Distinguish between the ways in which consumers and decomposers obtain energy.

Common Core State Standards Connections:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9 Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.

Titles currently available at Milwood Magnet, Hillside Middle School, and Maple Street Magnet School.

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

Secondary students from Kalamazoo Public Schools were invited to attend a celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. at Western Michigan University on January 19, 2013. Sessions included S.T.E.M. careers and there were speakers on several topics. Students from Milwood Magnet, Linden Grove, and Maple Street Magnet also competed in the Social Justice Book Bowl. Sixth graders read Social Justice: How You Can Make a Difference by Lynn Bogen Sanders and The Clone Codes by The McKissacks and seventh and eighth graders read Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy and The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinago.

Students read the books, prepared an essay as a team, and answered questions at the Book Bowl event. Team 4 from Linden Grove won the sixth grade event. Congratulations to William, Sienna, Destiny, Zonterio, Trinitee, and Amir. Team 6 from Maple Street won the seventh/eighth grade event. Congratulations to Galadrea, Lauren, and Sierra. Each of the students on the winning teams were presented with a Kindle Fire. All of the teams did an excellent job of preparing for the event.

Kalamazoo Public Schools Library Services Department has also prepared a list of Martin Luther King, Jr. resources available in KPS middle school libraries. This list is located on each library's home page (click to find your school). Please feel free to browse the list and request any items you might like to use with your students.

A View From the Middle

Libraries in the Middle is a place where resources available through the Kalamazoo Public Schools' middle school libraries will be highlighted. Check back on a regular basis for book reviews that link materials to the Common Core State Standards, websites that will enhance research and teaching and learning, and recommendations for apps that are useful in education. The middle school libraries are full of rich, diverse resources to enhance your practice--Libraries in the Middle will help you discover what is available and how it use it to make learning even better.