Following a dynamic House 91, the library is proud to celebrate Black History Month with our students. We began with, Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Other favorite books included last year’s visiting author, the ballerina Misty Copeland who wrote Firebird. Students also loved the unbelievably true story of Wilma Rudolph, a young African-American girl who overcame childhood polio to become the fastest woman in the world. Students were riveted by her story, Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull. They were also entranced by the vibrant book Trombone Shorty, an award winning autobiography written by the famous crescent city musician.
Happy Black History Month!
With 105 votes, the winner of the 2017 Little Dalton Mock Caldecott is….
Penguin Problems and This is a Serious Book were runners up with 56 and 45 votes respectively. Students K-2 are celebrating with a re-reading of Du Iz Tak, as well reading the new winners Radiant Child (Caldecott/Coretta Scott King Awards) and We Are Growing (Geisel Award).
Outside of the Dalton library the American Library Association announced the winners of their 2017 youth media awards, including the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Newbery Medal awards. The Newbery Medal went to The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, and the Caldecott Medal went to Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. March: Book Three, written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell, swept four awards: the Coretta Scott King (author) Book Award, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award and the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.
Read on for the top honorees.
The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature goes to The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill.
Three Newbery Honor Books include:
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan, written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan
The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, written by Adam Gidwitz and illustrated by Hatem Aly
Wolf Hollow, written by Lauren Wolk
The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children goes to Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe.
Four Caldecott Honor Books include:
Leave Me Alone! illustrated and written by Vera Brosgol
Freedom in Congo Square, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and written by Carole Boston Weatherford
Du Iz Tak? illustrated and written by Carson Ellis
They All Saw a Cat, illustrated and written by Brendan Wenzel
The Coretta Scott King (author) Book Award, which recognizes an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults, goes to March: Book Three, written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell.
Two King Author Honor Books were selected:
As Brave as You, written by Jason Reynolds
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan, written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan
The Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award goes to Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe.
Three King Illustrator Honor Books were selected:
Freedom in Congo Square, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and written by Carole Boston Weatherford
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan, illustrated and written by Ashley Bryan
In Plain Sight, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and written by Richard Jackson
The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award goes to The Sun Is Also a Star, written by Nicola Yoon.
The Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults goes to March: Book Three, created by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.
Four Printz Honor Books also were named:
Asking for It, by Louise O’Neill
The Passion of Dolssa, by Julie Berry; Scythe, by Neal Shusterman
The Sun Is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon
The Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults goes to Sarah Dessen. Her books include: Dreamland, Keeping the Moon, Just Listen, The Truth about Forever, Along for the Ride, What Happened to Goodbye? and This Lullaby.
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children goes to March: Book Three, written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell.
Four Sibert Honor Books were named:
Giant Squid, written by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story, written by Caren Stelson
Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II, written by Albert Marrin
We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler, written by Russell Freedman.
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book goes to We Are Growing: A Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Book, written by Laurie Keller.
Four Geisel Honor Books were named: Good Night Owl, written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli; Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run! An Alphabet Caper, written and illustrated by Mike Twohy; Go Otto Go! written and illustrated by David Milgrim; and The Infamous Ratsos, written by Kara LaReau and illustrated by Matt Myers.
The William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens goes to The Serpent King, written by Jeff Zentner.
Four other books were finalists for the award:
Girl Mans Up, written by M-E Girard
Rani Patel in Full Effect, written by Sonia Patel
The Smell of Other People’s Houses, written by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Tell Me Something Real, written by Calla Devlin
The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults goes to March: Book Three, created by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.
Four other books were finalists for the award:
Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History, by Karen Blumenthal
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives, by Kenneth C. Davis
Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune, written by Pamela S. Turner and illustrated by Gareth Hinds
This Land Is Our Land: A History of American Immigration, written by Linda Barrett Osborne.
The American Library Association (ALA) is the proud sponsor of Youth Media Awards including the prestigious Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal and Coretta Scott King Medal. In anticipation of the 2017 winner announcements on Monday January 23rd, K-2 students have been reading new recommended picture books and voting on which book they think will win the Caldecott medal. These books include The Friend Ship by Kat Yeh, Penguin Problems by Jory John, The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Michelle Cuevas, This is a Serious Book by Jodie Parachini, Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie, and Du Iz Tak by Carson Ellis. We will announce all winners on January 23rd. We are greatly looking forward to it!
For the past few weeks, students K-3 have been working very hard in a new unit involving the democratic process of elections, inspired by the recent presidential election. During the first week, students read Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. In the book, students are introduced to the concept of what makes a good leader, how to campaign and a simplified version of the electoral college.
After this book, students raised their hands and nominated potential candidates (“the Library Lion would be a good president, but David from No David! would be a bad president!”) and librarians Maria Paz Alegre and Lynn Frielinghaus narrowed it down to 5 potential candidates:
Piggie & Gerald, Library Lion, Amelia Bedelia, Ling & Ting, Paper Bag Princess!
Students were broken into groups and asked to campaign for different candidates by listing reasons that they would make good presidents (“Amelia Bedelia tries her best no matter what! The Library Lion loves kids! The Paper Bag Princess is very smart!”) After campaigning with their classmates, students were checked off one by one and allowed to vote! Their names were checked off of lists, votes were done in private voting booths on iPads, and each student received a “I Voted Today!” sticker!
Congratulations to all of our young voters! And the winner of the Little Dalton Library Presidential Election is…
PIGGIE & GERALD!!!
On Friday, October 21st, the First Program Library was thrilled to host Grace Lin! Grace Lin is an award winning author and illustrator for children and has over 20 published books. Her work spans picture books, “I Can Read” books and novels. Grace grew up in upstate New York and aside from her two sisters, she was the only Asian-American student in her school for most of her elementary school years. As she grew older, Grace learned to appreciate her Chinese culture and began incorporating characteristics from Eastern art and myths into her work.
For Kindergarten and First Grade students, Grace created an interactive presentation which demonstrated “How a Book is Made,” taking students through the process from first sketches to a finished product. Students were excited to volunteer, reading lines and giving advice as her Editor, Designer and Printers. Her presentation with the 2nd and 3rd grade students focused on the myths that inspired her Newbery Honor award-winning book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which 2nd graders have been reading during their library classes. Student volunteers donned costumes and played roles in Chinese folklore in a reader’s theater play!
In our continuing efforts to promote equity and diversity in school and in literature, Grace’s visit marks the first time the First Program Library has hosted an Asian-American author, who almost exclusively features Asian and Asian-Americans as the main characters in all of her stories. Students K-2 have been particularly delighted with her books series featuring the Asian-American twins, Ling and Ting, which First Program Librarians Maria and Lynn have been reading with students in preparation for Grace Lin’s visit. Growing up, Grace was disheartened to find that few (if any) fictional characters in books looked like her or her family, which is why she makes a strong effort to fill her books with vibrant and colorful paintings of Asian and Asian-American children. Students who are familiar with Asian-American culture were proud to feel represented and eagerly shared language and stories with their classmates, while students unfamiliar with Asian-Americans in literature were given a wonderful window into their classmates stories and international folklore.
3rd Grade student Sophie S. was so inspired by Grace Lin’s visit, that she eagerly wrote, “Grace didn’t just give us ‘author tips’ like many other visiting authors who come to First Program. I thought it was really unique that not only did she talk about her books, but she gave information about her family, her Asian background, and she taught us how to draw a Chinese luck dragon. Grace Lin is an amazing author and more people should check out her books!”
We could not be happier with Grace Lin’s visit. And, don’t forget, the book fair is taking place on Nov. 7th and 8th and will feature many of Grace Lin’s autographed books!
It has been a VERY exciting month in the library. During April and into May, library classes were regaled with children’s poetry from around the world. Favorite poets included Neruda, Prelutsky, Katz and everyone’s favorite children’s poet, Shel Silverstein! In celebration of this delightful month, we created our first “Poet-Tree” filled with poem leaves created by students. It was such a success that librarians continued to add student work to the poet-tree during international lessons with kindergarten students including piñata leaves and butterfly wishes. These two elements correspond to two of the books read during their book plane journey around the world, Pancho’s Piñata (Mexico) and The Faerie’s Wish (Ireland) as they continue their journey across the continents for new and fascinating folk tales.
Many of our youngest students have questions about the election and in keeping with their interests, we devised a “Battle of the Books” election for K-1. Each week, the students would vote on their favorite book choices until each “primary” was narrowed down to two champions in the big “general election.” The winner of BOTH grades for the best beloved library book of the year is:
This means that Finding Winnie has the enviable position of brandishing not 1, but 3 gold medals! The 2016 Caldecott Medal, and the Dalton FP Library Kindergarten and First Grade 2016 Medals.
In classes, grades 1-3 are continuing their study of the dewey decimal system, examining books from every non-fiction subject including animals, technology, true-life adventures and history. Our goal is for our students to discover how to organize information into different subjects and use a cataloging system to locate them in a library. Up next, we will be sharing and celebrating stories for Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage month. Stay tuned!
April is a big month in the library! During the month of April, classes are delighted with read-alouds from favorite children’s poets including Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, Alan Katz, Doug Florian and Robert Frost. We also celebrate National Library Week which takes place during April 10-16.
In honor of this week, K-1 students have begun a “book bracket challenge” with Ms. Maria Alegre! Similar to the sports brackets during March Madness, children are asked to close their eyes and vote on their favorite books in the library. The winner of the favorite Kindergarten book and the favorite First Grade book will be announced in May.
Second and Third grade students celebrated the 100th (!) birthday of beloved children’s book author, Beverly Cleary. Ms. Cleary is the author of famed novels including Ramona, Mouse and the Motorcycle, Henry Huggins and many more. She is also the creator of DEAR time, a time used in schools across the world where students (D)rop (E)verything (A)nd (R)ead! Students in grades 2-3 are also learning about the origins and history of libraries including how membership was limited to elite citizens only. Students are also learning information about illuminated texts created by the clergy, complimenting a project the third students will be working on in the following weeks.
While first graders learn to identify different call numbers (Picture Books, Biography, Non-Fiction), the third graders are using their iPads to explore the online library catalog with searches for specific authors, titles and keywords.
The Dalton School First Program Library was honored to host the award winning author Misty Copeland! Misty has received the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award New Writer Honor and for her book “Firebird” which has also received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator award.
But perhaps Misty Copeland is best known for being the first African-American prima ballerina in history. She has danced performed at Lincoln Center, she has performed on Broadway, she has performed for the president, her commercial for ‘Under Armor’ sportswear has nearly 10 million views, and the accolades go on and on.
Students were riveted by her reading as well as the lively question and answer session which followed afterwards, assisted by FP Librarian, Maria Alegre.
More pictures and video of the event can be found on the internal Dalton website here.
This week we celebrate Ally Week at Dalton – a celebration of all types of families and the people who make the choice to be an ally to those who need support. We were very lucky to welcome Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson for our House 91 to read aloud from their bestselling picture book, And Tango Makes Three – the incredible true story of two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo who adopt a lone egg and become fathers to a baby penguin chick.
The children ADORED the story and were very vociferous in their desire to announce that they too are allies. In honor of Ally Week, we will be reading several books aloud to our classes which celebrates people who challenge gender normativity, books which celebrate all types of families and books which feature a moment where someone becomes an Ally.
Below is a book list of new books (and a few classics) to consider reading for Ally Week:
Red: A Crayons Story by Michael Hall
My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel & Jazz Jennings
This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman
Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer
10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert
Made by Raffi by Craig Pomranz
Goblinheart by Bret Axel
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino
My Family, Your Family by Lisa Bullard
The Case for Loving: the Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko
*Classic Recommendations
Lafcadio: the Lion Who Shot Back by Shel Silverstein
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
In honor of Earth Day, all students at First Program have been reading books focused around environmentalism. In Kindergarden, students have been riveted by the true story of William Kamkwamba – a 14 year old boy from Malawi who built his own windmill and powered his village.
In first grade students learn about Mama Mati, the Johnny Appleseed of Kenya who is responsible for thousands of new trees. They also explore a future world which has been victimized by pollution and are introduced into how the smallest changes can make the biggest differences in Chris Van Allsberg’s Just A Dream.
The second and third graders learned of Rachel Carson in Rachel: the Story of Rachel Carson. Rachel was a marine biologist and conservationist who challenged large corporations with her books about the harmful effects of pesticides on wildlife. She is revered by scientists and environmentalist and even has a woodland preserve named in her honor.
Happy Earth Day everyone!
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