Fostering curiosity in kids (and their parents) since 2011

Posts by Shala Howell

Stack of books from our nonfiction section on voting, immigration, puberty, and body positivity.

Making our nonfiction section more browse-able

More than half of our collection is nonfiction, yet only about 14% of the books checked out in our library are from the nonfiction section. Most of those are for class assignments. And yet, this section is full of gems. Is it possible to entice students to browse our nonfiction section like they do our fiction stacks?

A snippet of my one-page poster that reads, "A Year of Reading: 2021-2022". In the lower right corner, there's an open book. Design by Canva.

An end of the year library report & why it matters

The teacher librarian at my school constantly talks about the importance of advocating for our school library and its services. So when I saw Kelsey Bogan (@kelseybogan) tweet about her one-page end of the year library report, I knew I wanted to create something similar for us. Here’s what I learned in the process.

Mother duck + ten very fluffy ducklings swimming in a pool.

It’s spring break, and you know what that means…

2022, like 2021, 2020, and 2019 before it, has been a lot so far. Between the news, some difficult events in our extended circle, and everything going on at school lately, I am emotionally exhausted and in the market for a distraction. You may be too. So in that spirit, I offer this update from the mini-wildlife refuge we call a backyard.

Update: Middle school library life in these Omicron times

If I were you, I’d be really curious to know what it’s like to work in a public school library during Omicron. With the caveat that our district has done a lot of mitigation work during this pandemic (ventilation upgrades, mask mandates, vaccine mandates), and is located in California so eating outdoors and opening windows is possible, Omicron is still having an impact.