Do you ever get tired of reading books by the same few authors?

Sure, the authors you like are great, but sometimes it’s nice to read something totally new.  But how do you find a new author whose books you will love?

One tool we’ve found recently is the Literature Map – Author Finding Tool from GNOD, the Global Network of Discovery.  All you need to do is type in the name of your favorite author.  The tool will suggest several other authors who write in a similar way to the author you enjoy.  The closer the choice is to the center, the more like your favorite author they are.  And it’s all for free!  Choose a new author, try a new book, and enjoy your reading adventure!

You can click on the name of the tool above to visit the site, or click here.

Just for the record, we don’t have any kind of “deal” with this organization.  It’s just an awesome tool.

If you are a student at Big Flats Elementary School, we need your opinion about something very important.  We have a special survey to help us organize all the opinions people are sharing.  Please click the link below to get to the survey.  Take your time answering – say as much as you want!

Thank you for helping us.

Click here for the Survey

I hope you had an amazing summer and that you’re coming back to school ready to go!  I know I am.  I’m so excited to be your new librarian!

One of the first things you will notice is that the library looks a little different.  You’ll notice pirates and palm trees and things like that.  Do you want to know why?  It’s because pirates are known for going after what they want, no matter how hard they need to work for it.  They use all kinds of strategies to achieve their goal.  And that’s exactly what we’re going to do with information and books!  The only difference is, we are going to limit ourselves to strategies that are actually legal.  There are plenty of those that work really, really well.

Another thing you will notice is that the books are still exactly where you remember them being.  Librarians don’t move the books all around, even if they are pirates!  All your favorite books will be right where you remember them.  Look forward to learning new ways to find books and plenty of explorations in some sections you may not have visited much last year!

The final thing I hope you will notice is that there are some special things to do in the library.  You will not be able to use all of the activities – some are for specific grade levels only – but there will be some just for you!  We’ll look at those and learn to use them as we go.

Can you handle an extra surprise?  Each six day cycle, you get to come to the library an extra time!  It’s like having an extra special class!  We’ll do special library activities on those days, not regular ‘ol library stuff.

I can’t wait to meet you!