21C Libraries for Parents: Digital Intelligence

Last week, we had our first official 21st Century Libraries for Parents session. Led by our new IT Director, Santha Kumar, we discussed ways in which to develop digital intelligence in our children at home.

According to the DQ Institute, digital intelligence is "is the sum of technical, mental and social competencies essential to digital life." Here at CAC, we are starting to discuss this term and develop ways in which to ensure that our students can improve their digital skills. Advisory classes in the middle school are currently focused on digital intelligence skills. Guidance lessons in the elementary school also have touched about this. (The ES counselor has published summaries of those lessons in the grade level blogs, if you are an interested CAC ES parent.)

Our meeting last week was well attended and very productive. As the parent of two Internet-loving teenagers, I had a particular interest in the session. Just knowing that I am not the only parent with concerns about the quality of information and media my children consume is a relief, and I valued the opportunity to discuss those concerns with other parents.

We will repeat the session this Wednesday, November 1, from 8 to 9 am in the MHS Library. This repeat session is by request from the ES room mothers who were decorating classrooms last Wednesday and couldn't attend. It is an issue worth discussing again and again.

The 21st Century Libraries for Parents series is programming that we design to serve the needs and interests of our parent community at CAC. Stay tuned for details on our next session. 

DEAR Assembly - thanks for joining us!

We had a quiet but purposeful start to our day this morning as we all Dropped Everything and Read at our first DEAR assembly of the 2017-2018 school year.

I'm reminded of the video clip that is going around on Facebook right now. It's an Navy officer recommending graduates of the University of Texas that they start the day by making their bed. He says that making your bed first thing in the morning, gives you a small dose of achievement right at the beginning of the day, and that by having one task done, you set yourself up for a productive rest of the day. (The video continues to cover most of the commencement address. See it here on Youtube.)

That's what starting the day reading with the ES school feels like. It's going to be a productive day because we had that great shared start.

Do you wish you were more of a reader? Here is a handy infographic by Jennifer LaGarde. It was designed for teachers, but can apply to all adults.   Click on it to zoom in.

Want to get social about reading with me? Join me on Goodreads. I'm fitziane. I've been a member since 2005 and I really enjoy keeping track of my books. I also love setting myself reading challenges. This year, for the fifth year in a row, I want to read 365 books. I'm a little behind but will catch up soon!

Library Bags Build Responsibility Skills

All elementary students at CAC are required to bring a back to school to transport the library books and materials they check out each week.

Please be sure that your child’s library bag:

• Is sturdy and made of cloth
• Is large enough to transport at least 2 books
• Is labeled with his/her name

We recommend that each child has his/her own bag. CAC logo bags are for sale at the Booster Club’s Spirit Store on the ground floor of the ES building. However, you can use any cloth bag you have at home, provided they follow the guidelines above.

We also recommend that when library materials are home, they stay in the library bag when you are not using them. Place the bag in the same place every night, perhaps by the door, so your child knows where it is and can pick it up on his/her day to go to the library. (This is a lesson I learned the hard way when my family lived in China. The ayee (housekeeper) would tidy up the books but, since she could not speak or read English, she'd put everything on the bookcases. The night before "library day" for my children would be a mad scramble looking for the library books on the shelves. As you can imagine, as a librarian, my house library is pretty large so it really was looking for needles in a haystack.)

We have some library bags that can be checked out, but only as a temporary measure when someone forgets their library bag and needs to carry a delicate book. We do not have enough bags to check one out to every child that forgets his or her bag.

Last but not least, please please please keep library bags away from swim bags and water bottles. We do not access late fines, but books that are water damaged will have to be paid for by the student.

Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year

Hello there! Welcome to a new school year at CAC. I hope you had a lot of time to read during the summer vacation. I did, although I did most of my reading with my ears because crochet is now my new favorite thing to do. Take a look at these gorgeous dolls that I made.

This was the first I made and I gave it to a little friend of mine in the US. 

This one I had to make when I found out that my little friend in the US had a sister!

This guy is an alien. You can't tell here, but I sewed his legs on backwards. That's the way they walk on his planet. 

While I worked on the dolls, I listened to audiobooks on Overdrive. It was very relaxing. Want to learn how to listen to audiobooks on Overdrive? Come ask me at the library. I'm always happy to show people how to use the library's resources. 

Here's a screenshot of my history on the Overdrive app that shows you a few of the books I read:

Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday. Stop by the library and tell us what you read. We have a little prize for you if you do. It doesn't count if you come with your class though!

Remember that all summer check outs are due back on the first day of school. Don't wait to find out when your library day is. Bring those books back so you can check out more!

If you are new to our school, note that all elementary school students must bring a cloth bag to transport their books to and from school. This bag will protect the books from harm and will help you stay organized. You can use a cloth bag that you already have as long as it is big enough. The new and improved Spirit Store sells cloth bags. Just remember to label your bag and to keep it very far away from your swim bag!

See you on Wednesday!

Mark your Calendars for End of Year Library Dates

Here are a few dates to pay attention to as we race towards the end of the school year.

Drop Everything and Read Assembly - May 2

Image credit: CAC ES photographers, Sherifa and Ragia

Our very first date has nothing to do with the end of the school year and everything to do with having time to build our CAC reading culture. Join us on May 2, at our usual assembly time for another DEAR assembly. Students should remember to bring a book to read on their arrival at school. Teachers and the library will also have baskets of books available. Parents, you are welcome to join us in reading.

Used Book Sale - May 10 and 11

Stop by our annual used book sale and purchase lots of inexpensive titles. These titles have been weeded from the CAC libraries and classrooms. We welcome donations of books, DVDs, puzzles, magazines in good condition.

21st Century Libraries for Parents - Overdrive - May 29

The CAC Libraries have a large and varied ebook and audiobook collection on the Overdrive Media Console. Join us on May 29, 2 to 3 pm in the MHS Library, as we show you (or review with you) how to access the Overdrive collection. Please be sure to download the Overdrive app on to your mobile device before the session as downloading it on the guest wifi network will take a long time.

Also, please check to make sure that you can log in to the library catalog using your CAC single sign on as you'll need that to access the Overdrive collection.

Check out dates

Image credit: Britannica Image Quest

Last day of checkout - Monday, May 22

All materials due back - Monday, May 29

Summer check out starts - Saturday, June 3

How the ES library supports reading and writing at CAC

The CAC elementary school does a fantastic job of teaching reading and writing using a workshop model. Teachers guide students in acquiring literacy skills and strategies, and students have lots of opportunities to develop those skills.

The ES library supports the literacy workshop model in many ways. Here are a few of those ways.

The Library Catalog's Visual Tab

I use our Destiny catalog's Visual Tab as the central access point for library print and digital resources.

The Visual Tab is visible from all the pages of the library catalog. Students learn to go to the Visual Tab from grade 1. 

Each grade level has a page on the Visual Tab. 

Take your time to visit the library catalog and explore all of the different pages. Literature integration such as book lists or specific websites are in the "CAC Units of Study" page, which is broken down by grade level. In each grade level, there are links to the all the science and social studies units, and for some grades, links to literature integration resources. 

On this grade 4 page, there are links to the 6 science and social studies units, and links to language arts and literature integration resources.

Each unit page includes at least one book list and has many links to teacher-selected webpages.  

Library lessons for preK to grade 2

All ES classes are scheduled for a weekly checkout session. For preK to grade 2 classes, that includes a library lesson. Usually, those library lessons include a read-aloud and basic library skills, like how to use shelf markers to return books to shelves in the picture book section and how to care for books. We try to tie the read-alouds to topics that are being studied at each grade level or that illustrate the CAC core values. 

In second grade, as students become more proficient readers, we start introducing more advanced library skills, like using the call number to locate books on shelves and using the catalog for research. For example, grade 2 right now is embarked in a informational reading unit so I gave them an overview of how our non-fiction collection is organized by Dewey Decimal system and how to browse the shelves noticing the titles and call number stickers on the spine. 

Genre stickers, displays and book talks

Our fiction collection is organized alphabetically by author's last name. To help students locate books in different genres, we have label stickers that we place on the spine. We also place small selections of books in each genre on top of the chapter book shelves, with an accompanying poster. When students are engaged in genre studies, I give them a brief talk about how to find titles in those specific genres and we often designate our display table at the front of the library to selections that will support grade level units of reading or writing. I also give book talks where I promote the best examples of each genre at the request of the teacher. 

Research skills

Grades 3 to 5 come to the library for a scheduled weekly checkout. Instruction in research skills happens at different times as needed by the requirements of each unit. I go to classrooms to help introduce and review those skills. We have an information literacy skills continuum that helps guide the progression of skills to ensure that we are preparing our students for middle school and beyond. We use the Big Six research model at CAC, and I am usually working with students on Steps 2 and 3: "develop research strategies," and "locate and access information."

Starting in second grade, I encourage students to use online databases for class and homework. The databases that we subscribe to on behalf of CAC are listed on the Home Tab of the library catalog. To access that page, you will need to log in to the library catalog using your CAC single-sign-on or our Quick Login. If you are a CAC parent of a student in grades 2 to 5, you should be able to ask your child/ren to help you. We practice accessing the library catalog a lot!

Collaboration with teachers

Last, but not least, I try to collaborate with teachers as much as possible to integrate information literacy skills to their classroom programs. We have an incredibly talented and dedicated team of teachers in the ES. The work they are doing in the reading and writing workshop is really inspiring and the results from the students are impressive.  It is a privilege to work with them.

Library Assemblies Coming Up!

We have 2 exciting dates coming up for the ES Library.

March 28 - DEAR Assembly

Bring a book next Tuesday morning and drop everything and read on the ES lawn during the time we usually have assembly. Parents are welcome to read with us too.

April 4, ES Book Parade

Dress up as a favorite book character and show your love of reading! Our assembly on April 4 will be given over to the ES Book Parade, hosted by our ES Library Council.

Costumes can be store bought but it's fun to make your own. The costumes don't have to be very elaborate. See my Pinterest page for simple and fun ideas.


Post your character costume pics on social media and tag with #CACESBookParade or #CACESReads. Images on Instagram tagged with #CACESReads will show up on the right sidebar to this blog.

Where to find images for school

Need images for a school project? The best option would be to take your own pictures or create your own images to use for a school project, but when that isn't practical, here are some alternatives.

Not all images are free for use, and even if they are, digital citizenship requires you ask for permission before using. Instead of using Google Images to find a picture, head over to the ES library catalog for ethical alternatives so that you can demonstrate the CAC core values of integrity and respect.

Students in grades 2 and up will be learning how to find images for for which they have permission to use and how to cite the sources of those images. 

Here are a few places to start your search for images. 

Britannica Image Quest

This subscription database offers millions of high quality available for students to include in their work. Britannica Image Quest offers images from many reputable sources, including government archives, famous museums and stock photography collections.

Britannica Image Quest is a subscription database, which means that we pay a fee on behalf of our CAC community, and that log in credentials are required. Students in grades 2 to 5 receive a card from the library through their classrooms with all usernames and passwords for all of our databases, but CAC patrons can also use the Quick Login. (All ES students know the Quick Login. Ask your child or stop by the ES library to request it.)

Wikimedia Commons

This site from the Wikipedia family offers 36 million images uploaded by users. Each image is available for download in different sizes and permission details are included on the page. There's even a monthly challenge for photographers.

The search interface is not as elementary school friendly as some other sites, but it is a good option for our older students.

Creative Commons Search

Creative Commons licenses are  sets of permissions for work of all types. By invoking a Creative Commons license, creators of content let people know what type of credit they would like for their work. Here is a very easy explanation of the main four types of licenses. I've also link to this explanatory cartoon on the Visual Tab.

The Creative Commons Search link on the Visual Tab will take you a site where you can search for different types of media: images, videos, and sound files.

Photos for Class

My new favorite, Photos for Class,  offers copyright friendly images that include the proper attribution right on the image once you download it.

CAC ES Library Council Hard at Work!

It's been two weeks since my last blog post inviting CAC students to join our ES Library Council. The council is now established and it has been very busy!!

Our first meeting, on the first Sunday on the return from the December break, was dedicated to establishing essential agreements. We agreed to abide by the following agreements:

We will ALL:

• Work together. 
• Help others.
• Listen and respect each other.
• Respect each other’s reading choices. 
• Arrive on time. 
• Clean up after ourselves.
• Respect the books and library property.

That first meeting involved "a LOT of talking" in the words of one slightly disappointed council member, but the next 2 meetings made up for it. 

In the 2 meetings we have had so far, we have:

• read new picture books, classified them by CAC Core Value and awarded a "Library Council Recommended" sticker each to a new picture book

  

• added letter shelf markers to the DVD collection

 

• moved the back issues of magazines to a highly visible display rack at the front of the library

We will be announcing the next library visitor, origami instructor Lidia Coronado from Venezuela, at tomorrow's assembly. Preparing announcements for assembly is a very popular activity among the library council members. Be sure to come to assemblies for a chance to seeing them shine!

Join the CAC ES Library Council

It has long been a dream of mine to have a tween advisory board for my elementary school library. There's a great article in American Libraries that served as inspiration. In my dream, I see industrious and responsible book- and library-loving students working hard to make their library an even better place to be. I see students come up with great ideas to make the library more efficient and more attractive to their peers. I see them helping out with literacy and/or fun stations for the younger students, and turning the maker space from guided crafts to real inquiry-based projects. The tween advisory board of my dreams is recognized by their peers and the community as a valuable human resource of, and for, the library. It's a beautiful dream.

Until now, it has only been a dream. This year, I have made it a professional goal to force myself to step up to the plate and get it going once and for all. Our first meeting will be on the first day back from our December break.

I've had invaluable help from Ronna Zigmand, super duper librarian at the Delhi Embassy School. She generously shared her application forms and meeting minutes with me and I unabashedly copy-and-pasted to create my own application form. (Click here for my finished version.)

I invited the grade 4 and 5 students to apply this week when they came for their scheduled weekly check out sessions. I explained that this tween advisory board, which I'm calling the CAC ES Library Council for now, will be helping me with library projects, that we'd be meeting weekly and that we needed responsible lovers of books and libraries to apply. I handed out application form and worried about getting enough applications by today's deadline. I want to cap the library council to 12 students to ensure we have enough students to carry out the work but not so many that it is not efficient.

There are 2 questions on the application:
1. Why would you be a good library council member?
2. What idea/s do you have for the library council?

I have received nine 13 applications so far. The best part are the ideas that these students have offered. They cover circulation, collection development, signage and customer service. I love all of them, even the ones I don't agree with, like leveling books because "now one can get confused." Here's an opportunity for patron education! Our students are too focused on the F&P level and don't seem to understand that that is a teaching tool and not the only selection criteria. I'd love to get the library council to spread that word, or to demonstrate choosing great books based on author, recommendations, interests, etc. We could make posters and movies and who knows what other cool things they'll come up with!

Gifted graphic designer and library assistant Lena Rezk came up with these 2 buttons. One will be worn by each council member and the other one is "Library Council Recommends..." to put on books.

 

Having the library council will be a great way to start 2017. Can't wait to see what they'll do!

Grade 3 sound and light links on the Visual Tab

The grade 3 is currently studying a science unit on light and sound. As with other units, the library catalog has a page with links to support students in their inquiries.

How to access this Visual Tab page (for a step by step tutorial with images)

• Visit the library catalog and choose the elementary school library
• Look for the tab marked Visual. (It's above and to the right of the search field.)
• Click on the button with Talon. It's called "CAC Units of Study."
• Click on the grade level and then the unit. 

Each of the buttons on the page will take students to sources selected by the classroom teachers or the elementary librarian. I look for sources that are authoritative, accurate and reliable, and as current as possible. I welcome suggestions from the classroom teachers and from students. I give priority to informational sites over educational games sites. If you know of a good source for information on light and sound - or any other science topics - please let me know in the comments.

Note that Britannica Encyclopedia and BrainPop are subscription databases and require username and password. Students in grades 3 to 5 have been taught to access our passworded list of login credentials. The lower grade levels have printed out cards with the logins for the most used databases.

If you are a parent at CAC and missed our parent information session where we demonstrated how to access the library catalog's resources, please stop by the library for help from Mrs. Fitzgerald.

Grade 4 Social Studies on the Visual Tab

Grade 4 is currently studying a social studies unit called, Connections to History. The essential question for this unit is,

How do geography and people connect to build a nation?

Our fourth graders will focus this question by looking at Native Americans and specifically their settlements, use of resources like food, shelter and clothing, and cultural traditions. One of the projects that will track their learning throughout the unit is going to be a multi-layered map that will show Native American nations geographical regions and movement. We started that map today. 

Students came to the library to start on the map project and also to review the steps of the Big 6 research model. The Big 6 is an useful model to use when embarking on an academic task. More information on it can be found here.

The map that we created today is a physical map. It shows the landform regions of the US. Students accessed the Visual Tab to see the map they would be duplicating on paper. 

(To access the Visual Tab, visit the library catalog, then click on the tab marked "Visual." From there, click on CAC Units of Study, and then follow the picture clues to the grade level and unit you need. There are resources for most social studies and science units in grades 2 to 5, as well as links to poetry websites, mathematics websites including Mathletics, online newspapers for children, and much more. Go ahead and explore. If you would like a guided tour, please contact me at the library.)

The Visual Tab page for the grade 4 Connections to History unit looks like this. The map we reproduced today can be found by clicking the button "Map USA-Landforms."

The resources linked here include books from our library catalog, links to database articles from Britannica Online and TrueFlix, and websites. To access Britannica and TrueFlix, students will need to log in. Their teachers should have given them the log in credentials, but those can also be found by logging in to the ES library catalog. All g3 to g5 students have been taught how to do that. If they cannot remember, please contact the ES librarian, Mrs. Fitzgerald. 

Speed Dating with Books

Grade 5 is focusing on author studies for their reading workshop unit. Each has to choose one author and read at least 2 books by that author. Ms. Kasal, the grade 5 team leader, asked me for a book talk to help students choose a great author to concentrate on.

Last year, I presented a traditional book talk, where I showed a dozen books and gave rapid-fire highlights for each author. At the end of the 20 minutes, students were to choose a book to start their author study. I was disappointed when many of the students found excuses for not choosing any of the authors or titles I had presented. I was determined to do a better job of hooking them.

With the goal of 100% engagement in mind, I decided this year to structure the book talk in a speed dating format. This way, instead of listening to me speak for 20 minutes, each student previewed books by different authors. At the end of 30 minutes, each had checked out at least one book from an author and had previewed 5 books from 5 different authors.

Authors were set up as stations with a poster (created on Canva) and a selection of chapter books. The authors I presented were: Avi, Sharon Creech, Andrew Clements, Sid Fleischman, Patricia Reilly Giff, Patricia Maclachlan, Gary Paulsen, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar and Jerry Spinelli.

A sample of the author posters I created for this speed book dating. I used Canva.com.

These authors were chosen because they have a large and varied collection of books - and we have many of them in our library - and because they are great writers who will challenge students to think deeply about their reading. 

Students had 30 seconds to choose an author and then 2 minutes to preview a book by that author.  They each had a sheet for notes on the book. They wrote down notes to themselves about the book they were previewing and rated the books on the sheet on their desire to read them. Find the sheet here.  (At the bottom of the sheet is a link to a programmable online timer.)

Each student checked out at least one book at the end of the session. The sheet also gave students the chance to indicate they wanted a hold on a particular title. 

All in all, it went very well. Our fifth grade students were very vocal by the mention of dating, but thrilled to be considered grown up enough. Even the reluctant readers were engaged and all left with a book to try. They also have a short list of 4 other books to try if the title they checked out at the end of the speed dating didn't suit. 

The next time I try speed book dating, I'll include time at the end for students to compare notes. That could increase their exposure to authors and titles they might not have had time to look at. I would also like to include more diverse authors and perhaps picture books, as many of the authors above also write picture books. Last but not least, I'll create a resource list so that I can track the circulation of the books included in the book talk. 

Recommended Book Lists on the Visual Tab

The Visual Tab of our library catalog is where we gather all sorts of resources for the CAC community. One of these resources is our selection of book lists.

CAC was fortunate to have a visit last week from literacy consultant, Christy Curran. Her presentation to parents on how to encourage children to read was well attended and filled with excellent advice.

One of the tip that most resonated with me was about "reading to your children, with your children and reading along with your children." My children are teenagers now, but we spent a lot of time reading together when they were little. I wish we hadn't stopped! Our reading time was special.

One happy benefit of our early reading life is that my 17-year-old son has started recommending great books to me. So far I've read The Martian, Wool and Ready Player One thanks to him. I've loved them all, but what I've loved even more are the discussions we've had about the books.

Receiving recommendations from others is a great way to discover new authors and genres. The library catalog has collected several lists recommending books on its Visual Tab. Click here to go directly to the Visual Tab Book Lists page.  Continue reading below for instructions in how to get there.

To access the library catalog's Visual Tab,

1. navigate to the library catalog. (We recommend bookmarking it on your browser.) http://cacegypt.org
2. Select the elementary library catalog. 
3. Click on the tab marked Visual on the main search page.
4. Click on the "Book Lists" button. 

You will see links from the American Library Association as well as lists of US and UK award winners. All of these include quality literature for children. We have most of the titles featured on those lists. 

Also on the Book List page are two websites: Common Sense Media and the Scholastic Parents' page. These offer recommendations by age. The Common Sense Media website includes reviews on books, movies, apps and other media. One thing that I like about the Common Sense Media site is that for each of the books (or movies, apps, etc.) it includes a section called "Families Can Talk About..." which lists discussion points for the book. 

The Scholastic Parents' site includes recommended lists by age here, and lots of resources to help with homework. 

Please note that including these two sites in this blog post does not constitute CAC endorsement for either. They are offered only as an additional resource. 

Previewing books: Judge a book by its cover and its spine!

Last year, whenever a student would tell me that he or she couldn't find a book they liked, my stock answer was, "We have 25000 books. Surely we can find something you like!" I'd then go off and pull books off the shelves for students to try.

I realized that perhaps for some of those reluctant readers, knowing that there's 25000 books might be overwhelming. How does one choose when there are so many choices?

I also noticed last year that most of our students will look only as far as the books on a front facing display and will ignore lots and lots of great titles that are displayed spine out. We can't display all of our books with their covers facing out. There isn't enough space - remember I said we have 25000 books? So, this year, I'm doing the next best thing: training students to locate those great titles when they can only see the spine. This also supports the work they are doing in their literacy classes on growing as readers.

There's lots of information on the spine of a book. Some of it comes from the publisher: the title of the book, the author. Sometimes, if the book is part of a series, the publisher may add the number of the book in the sequence. At our library, fiction is arranged alphabetically by author's last name, which means that all the books by an author are together. This last has been a novel idea for many of our fourth graders who hadn't realized that looking for books by a favorite author is a good book selection skill in the library. 

Some of the information on the spine of the book is placed there by the library. The call number sticker, for example, lets you know where the book can be found and who wrote it. This year, all new books have a neon green sticker at the top. For books in a particular genre, we have color and picture coded stickers. All that information, and you haven't even pulled the book out! 

Pick a fiction shelf and let your fingers do the walking, as you read book spines one after the other. Once you find a title that grabs you, pull that book out. 

Look at the cover. Read the title and the author. There may be a one-line recommendation like "By the best selling author of That Book That I Really Liked." Look at the cover art and start making predictions about what the book is like. 

Turn the book over. Many times the back cover has a summary of the book or recommendations from famous authors or popular newspapers. Read the back. Notice how the art work on the back matches the front. Adapt your prediction if you need to.

Open the book to the front jacket flap. This is usually where the book has a longer summary. Read the summary. 

Open the book to the back jacket flap. Here you usually find a very short author biography. Sometimes they can be really funny. Read to learn a little bit about the author - and possibly laugh a little too. 

You're almost finished with your preview! Turn to the first page and read it. Use the five finger rule to decide if it is a good fit for you and to see if you are interested in seeing what happens.

Your preview is finished. You can now decide if you're going to keep reading or if you're going to return the book. If not, please return to its place on the shelf. Use the call number to put it back where it belongs so that others can also find it. 

Grade 4 has been practicing this with fiction books, but you would also preview non-fiction books in the same way.

Go ahead, exercise your previewing muscles. Soon you'll be getting a just right reading workout!

Cool and Sweet as Summer Reading

CAC ES students were full of stories about all the books they read this summer. We were so happy to hear all about them!

Here's a little prize for those who read during the summer. Popsicles are cool and sweet like summer reading, so students who fill out a paper popsicle template will be treated by the ES library to a cool and sweet real popsicle on Thursday at dismissal.

Lots of new books for the new school year!

I spent a great hour today browsing through our many new books. Here are a few covers. Can't wait to read some more tomorrow and display them for our students to see on Wednesday!

Clicking on each cover should take you to the book's page on Goodreads.com. If you don't have a Goodreads account yet, you should! It's like Facebook but for readers. It has covers, summaries and reviews for every book published in English, and lots published in other languages as well. You invite your friends and they get to see what you are reading, as well as recommend books for you. One of my favorite features is the Goodreads challenge. Every year for the last 3 I have challenged myself to read 365 books. As I count picture books and children's literature in addition to the adult books I read, it's not that hard to reach that number, but right now I'm 28 books behind!! Good thing we have so many great new books.

2016 Reading Challenge

Mrs. Fitzgerald has read 198 books toward her goal of 365 books.

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198 of 365 (54%)

view books

Note: As I read more and more books, this widget may change. Right now there are 18 wonderful picture books but since CAC has a great book collection, it could change to include different. Moral of the story: Read the blog posts when they arrive!! :-)

Josianne Fitzgerald's favorite books »