‘Cancel culture’ and diversity in children’s and Young Adult publishing

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Created by David Huyck and Sarah Park Dahlen. See full citation in Bibliography.

This semester, for SOC 2 at Santa Rosa Junior College, I compiled a Literature Review that examines: How does “cancel culture” affect efforts toward greater diversity in children’s and Young Adult publishing?

California Young Reader Medal, 2019-2020 : Picture-book nominees

Would any of our students like to cast their vote for the California Young Reader Medal? I’ve created a video to explain the program, and will soon post read-alouds of those picture-book nominees that I have access to. Students can vote in any category for which they’ve experienced all of the books in that category. Please cast your vote by May 20.

SRCS to serve meals on Mondays and Wednesdays

Effective Wednesday, April 15, Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS) will serve meals on Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m at all nine meal distribution sites. A total of five breakfasts and five lunches will be served each week with fewer pickups. “Fewer pickups with more meals keeps families and staff safer. See you soon!”

SRCS servirán comidas los lunes y los miércoles

A partir del miércoles 15 de abril, las escuelas de la ciudad de Santa Rosa (SRCS) servirán comidas los lunes y los miércoles de las 11:30 a.m. a la 1 p.m. a los 9 sitios de distribución de comidas. Se servirá un total de 5 desayunos y 5 almuerzos cada semana con monos recogidas. “Menos recogidas con más comidas mantendrá a las familias y empleados más seguros. ¡Hasta luego!”

Keeping busy during shelter-in-place

American Libraries Magazine is inviting library workers to “Show us how you’re working” during shelter-in-place in response to COVID-19.

April is School Library Month

Physical libraries may be closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but school library workers offer resources and support to school staff and families while we all shelter-in-place.

Face masks for COVID-19 pandemic

I dipped into my fabric stash to create face-masks for Jonathan and me. I worked from instructions shared by The Turban Project​.

Happy birthday, Starfire!

Our beautiful Starfire is 11 years old! She was born April 6, 2009. We’ve always considered her such a wonderful blessing, so vital to our morale — and so much more so during the time that we’ve had to shelter in place because of COVID-19. Whether “cat-bombing” my video recordings for “virtual” library story-time, or just simply stretching out on an available lap: Starfire brings so much joy and delight into an uncertain time.

‘Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic’

When I borrowed this book via Libby / Overdrive through my public library, it was the featured selection for “Big Library Read,” March 23 to April 13, 2020.

First, concerning the book itself, I found it entertaining. Michael McCreary pokes fun, in an engaging way, at himself and his own foibles — including the notion of whether he, in his early 20s, has accumulated enough life experience to be able to write a memoir.

The book is geared toward a young readership and I found it a quick and easy read, with more “technical” information presented in easy-to-digest formats.

‘Rick’ by Alex Gino

Middle-school is such an important time, when a person is trying to figure out who they are.

Add too, the incredible importance that peers play in a person’s life.

Rick by Alex Gino is especially valuable because, not only does it address the issues of gender and sexuality, but it also illustrates a protagonist having to cope with having a toxic “best friend.”

Not all relationships are healthy, but it isn’t always easy to identify.

This book takes place after Gino’s earlier novel, George, but I feel it can be read on its own.

SRCS : Distance learning will continue through end of school year

This just in from Diann Kitamura, superintendent of Santa Rosa City Schools: Distance learning will continue through the end of the school year; SRCS students and staff WILL NOT return to school campuses this year.

SRCS : Latest update about COVID 19

Here is the latest update from Diann Kitamura, Superintendent, Santa Rosa City Schools, at https://www.srcschools.org/COVID-19.

SRCS : última actualización sobre COVID 19

Aquí está la última actualización de Diann Kitamura, Superintendente de Santa Rosa City Schools, a https://www.srcschools.org/COVID-19.