2011 ALA Banned Books List

Celebrating Banned Books Week this week?
Read a Banned?Frequently Challenged Book!

2011 Most frequently Challenged Books

1.ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Juv. M9975tt
Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

2.The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
(On order)
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

3.The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Juv. C7136
Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

4.My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
(On order)
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

5.The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Juv. A387a
Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

6.Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Juv. N333
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

7.Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
PR6015.U9 B65 1999
Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

8.What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Juv. S 698w
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

9.Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Juv. V9489w
Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

10.To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
PS 3562.E353 T6 1995
Reasons: offensive language; racism

For more information see http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged

NJ Education Commissioner Cerf comes to NJCU

Are you Interested in Education issues in New Jersey?


Attend the Public Hearing with state Education Commissioner Cerf ( with Senator Sandra Cunningham)

Monday, September 24, 2012, 5-8pm

Gilligan Student Union Building,

Multipurpose Room B
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City, NJ 07305

Call (201) 451-5100 for more information
see also:
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2012/09/education_commissioner_chris_c.html
http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2012/09/cerf_to_discuss_education_in_j.html



An NJToday report on the meeting is available here

No current full text for ERIC-UPDATE

UPDATE from ERIC (8/20/12)
ED has approved for all full-text peer reviewed journals and IES publications to become available again. Our contractor is working to release these documents and we expect to have them on the site by the end of the week or early next week.

These will be the only documents available at this time due to privacy concerns about information contained in some of the collection. Although the documents in ERIC had been publicly available in ERIC microfiche for many years, the advent of the Internet has amplified the possibility that someone could make improper use of information in these ERIC documents.

We are seeking to restore access to the rest of the collection as soon as possible. Our number one concern is to ensure that any full-text documents we provide do not violate any individual's privacy. We believe that if any of us were to have our privacy compromised by an ERIC document, we would want the same consideration.

UPDATE 8/23/12
We have made all peer reviewed articles publicly available again—this is approximately 20,000 full-text articles. We are also in the process of creating a request process for individual records to be given priority in being returned to the site. ore information on that process will be provided in the next week.

UPDATE 9/6/12 (http://eric.ed.gov/pdf_availability.html)
We are seeking to restore access to documents as soon as possible. In order to restore access to ERIC, we have to check every document to see if it contains personally identifiable information. Due to the quality of many of the documents, a large portion of the search has to be done by hand. This is a large undertaking and we are in the process of hiring a team to help restore access in a fast and responsive manner. We hope to get this team in place by late September and releasing large numbers of ERIC documents by the end of October. We will continue to release documents after that point on a rolling basis.


To minimize the burden on our users, we will prioritize searching the documents that users request. If you would like to request a PDF to be returned online, please email ERICRequests@ed.gov with the record number (such as ED263102). Documents will be returned on a rolling basis and may take several weeks, but we are working as fast as possible.

Update 9/17/12 (excerpt)
We are seeking to restore access to documents as soon as possible. In order to restore access to ERIC, we have to check every document to see if it contains personally identifiable information. Due to the quality of many of the documents, a large portion of the search has to be done by hand. This is a large undertaking and we are in the process of hiring a team to help restore access in a fast and responsive manner. We hope to get this team in place by late September and releasing large numbers of ERIC documents by the end of October. We will continue to release documents after that point on a rolling basis.
http://eric.ed.gov/pdf_availability.html

No current full text for ERIC

ERIC Documents are no longer available in full text format since last week. This includes access through databases such as EBSCO.

The following message was sent out on April 15, 2012:
The full text documents for ERIC have been temporarily disabled due to a privacy concern. We apologize for the inconvenience and are currently working to isolate the affected documents and return full text access to users as quickly as possible. Please stay tuned to eric.ed.gov for an update on when they will become available again.

The reason for the unavailability is due to privacy concerns connected with some of the older documents. These issues were not suitably addressed when the documents were digitized.

According to messages, alternate sources of resolution of this issue are being sought.

The result is that there is no access to full text ERIC documents other than microfiche. The total lack of online digital access may hamper students and other researchers, especially as we are only a few short weeks from the beginning of the fall term. Some libraries have weeded their ERIC microfiche as these have been digitized, so this may be a burden  for researchers needing older documents.

12/12/12 is Museum of Mathematics Opening Day

On 12/12/12 the Museum of Mathematics will hold its opening ceremony. The museum is located in Manhattan at 11 East 26th Street, NY, NY. The event is by ticket only.

The museum opens to the public on December 15, 2012.

At the museum's website at http://momath.org/ , you can find links for  many different activities and events, including :

Math Encounters, http://www.youtube.com/museumofmathematics, videos of programs that were previously held:

• July 31-August 1, 2012 – The Topology of Twisted Toroids

• July 11, 2012 – Intuition Gone Awry: Puzzles that S-T-R-E-T-C-H Your Mind

• June 6, 2012 – Blown Away: What Knot to Do When Sailing

• May 2, 2012 – Shape Transformers: Forms That Fold Two Ways

• April 4, 2012 – Proofs from The BOOK: Putting Pieces Together

• March 7, 2012 – ABC Easy as 123

• February 1, 2012 – The Shape of Space

• January 4, 2012 – Revolution and Evolution in Math and Design

• December 7, 2011 – Five Balls, Two Hands: The Patterns of Juggling

• November 2, 2011 – Creating the Illusion of Life with Math & Programming

• October 5, 2011 – Mathematical Morsels from The Simpsons and Futurama

• September 6-7, 2011 – Fibonacci & the Golden Ratio Exposed

• July 6, 2011 – Points to Paints

• June 8, 2011 – Soap Bubbles and Mathematics

• May 4, 2011 – The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

• April 7, 2011 – Symmetry, Art, & Illusion

• March 3-4, 2011 – The Geometry of Origami

Math Mondays http://momath.org/home/math-monday/ ,a weekly column discussing fun, experiential, and puzzling topics in mathematics

Activities http://momath.org/home/activities/

Math Midway, http://mathmidway.org/, which looked like a lot of fun. You can see if it will be coming to a location near you!

(The Museum of Mathematics began in response to the closing of a small museum of mathematics on Long Island, the Goudreau Museum. A group of interested parties (the “Working Group”) met in August 2008 to explore the creation of a new museum of mathematics — one that would go well beyond the Goudreau in both its scope and methodology.)

Visit the sites and see what you think.

Jersey City Author Walter Dean Myers shares feelings about reading

Author and Jersey City resident, Walter Dean Myers recently was featured on PBS Newshour and shared his feelings about reading. The program shows him visiting his old school in Harlem and sharing some of his story and his love of reading with the students.Myers is the Library of Congress' national ambassador for young people's literature. ( Thanks to Fred Smith for sharing this with me!)

Cybersecurity Bill- Speak up today for Privacy

This week (today and tomorrow) the Senate is considering major cybersecurity legislation, S. 3414, that could let the  government collect your sensitive and personal internet  records. The bill is in flux and subject to change during floor  debate with “good” and “bad” amendments. Your calls can make the difference.  It is imperative that you call your senators now. For more information and a suggested call script, check out ala.org/cybersecurity. At that site, you can be directly connected to your senators by using our new advocacy tool, Mobile Commons. You can also find talking points and contact information at the Legislative Action Center. If you’d like to receive text message updates from the ALA on advocacy alerts, news, events and more, text “library” to 877877.  You can also sign up online at districtdispatch.com/textalerts See the American Library Association Advocacy Alert Page for more information http://www.capwiz.com/ala/home/

Free Comic Book Day is May,5 2012

May 5. 2012

What is Free Comic Book Day?
Free Comic Book Day is a single day - the first Saturday in May each year - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE* to anyone who comes into their stores. *Check with your local shop for their participation and rules.

Check the website for information- http://www.freecomicbookday.com and the Find a Participating Store near you!

ALA Book Awards 2012

(Note- Starred books are in the Guarini Library, others are on order. )

Coretta Scott King:
Illustrator Award Kadir Nelson Heart and Soul:The Story of America and African Americans*
Illustrator Winner: Shane W. Evans Underground:Finding the Light to Freedom

Author Honor: Eloise Greenfeld Great Migration: The Great Migration: Journey to the North
Author Honor: Patricia McKissack Never Forgotten
Author Award: Kadir Nelson Heart and Soul*

Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Award: Ashley Bryan*
May Hill Arbuthnot Winner: Michael Morpurgo*

Pura Belpre:
Illustrator Honor: Samantha R, Vamos Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred*
Illustrator Honor: Monica Brown Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match
Illustrator Winner: Duncan Tonatiuh Diego Rivera : His World and Ours

Author Honor:  Xavier Garcia Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel:A Lucha Libre Mystery
Author Honor: Margarita Engle: Hurricane Dancers
Author Award: Guadelupe Garcia McCall Under the Mesquite Tree

Printz Award:
Honor:
Daniel Handler & Maira Kalman:Why We Broke Up
Christine Hinwood: Returning
Craig Silvey Jasper Jones
 Maggie Stiefvater Scorpio Races
John Corey Whaley Where Things Come Back

Newbery Award:
Honor:
Thanha Lai Inside Out and Back Again
Eugene Yelchin Breaking Stalin's Nose

Medal:
Jack Gantos Dead End in Norvelt

Caldecott
Honor
John Rocco Blackout
Lane Smith Grandpa Green
Patrick McConnell Me -Jane

Medal:
Chris Rachska Ball for Daisy

Complete list at http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/american-library-association-announces-2012-youth-media-award-winners)

Newark educators, parents-Abbott Leadership Institute

The Abbott Leadership Institute Presents: Series 21  Moving Newark Schools Forward   With Community Power and Parent Leadership   

 

Series 21 Begins: January 28, 2012

 

The Return of Local Control of Newark's Schools to Newark's Citizens        

Where do we stand?

 

The Newark Public Schools (NPS) has been under state control since 1995. As a result the people can no longer determine the school budget, and the Board of Education was changed to an Advisory Board. In June of 2011, NPS's QSAC scores met the criteria for return of local control to Newark; the state says it will maintain control. The Coalition for Effective NPS and NPS Advisory Board both filed an appeal. What will the court decision mean for Newark, and how will it change the operation of the Board of Education?

Guest Speakers:

 Carl Sharif, Past President, Newark Board of Education

 Richard Cammarieri, Former NPS Advisory Board Member

  

Sat., Jan. 28th, 2012               

10am-1pm                                                                

Rutgers University-Newark                                                         

Conklin Hall Room 100                                                       

175 University Ave. Newark, NJ 07102        

All classes are free, and children are welcome. We eat, discuss the issues, and have fun! Contact Kaleena Berryman with Questions 973.353.3560 or kaleenab@rutgers.edu.  

About the Abbott Leadership Institute: 

The Mission of the Abbott Leadership Institute is to develop community leaders by empowering parents, students, educators and community advocates of Newark Public Schools with information about public school reform, and knowledge of effective methods of education advocacy and family engagement in schools. Since its inception almost ten years ago, the Abbott Leadership Institute (ALI) has been very successful in its strategy to establish a regular gathering place where people can discuss education policy and practices, as it relates to Newark and surrounding communities. ALI classes have grown from 20 participants in the first series (2002), to 323 participants in the 19th series (2011). Today, ALI classes are generally attended by parents, educators, high school students, college students studying to become teachers, political officials, Newark Public Schools Advisory Board members, community leaders (many of whom were NPS parents at some point in recent time), and city residents looking for ways to become involved in, or better understand, urban school reform.

 

Save the Dates!  ALI Series 21

All classes begin at 10am, Rutgers Newark, Conklin Hall

Jan 28th, 2012

Feb. 11th, 2012

Feb. 25th, 2012

March 10th. 2012

March 31st, 2012

April 14th, 2012

April 28th, 2012

May 12th, 2012  Graduation

Support School Libraries-Sign the Petition Now!

From Carl A. Harvey II , AASL ( American Association of School Librarians) President

Dear Friends -

I am writing to you today to share that this morning I have posted a new White House petition about requesting funding and recognition for school libraries in the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  It is easy to sign the petition.   You will need to create an account (if you don’t already have one) to be able to sign the petition.
The URL for the petition is:
http://wh.gov/Wgd
We have until Feb. 4th to 25,000 signatures in order to get a reply from the White House.  I appreciate your support of school libraries.
Thank you,
Carl



For more information go to :
http://carl-harvey.com/libraryties/2012/01/05/white-house-petition-in-support-of-school-libraries-its-posted/

and read this:
http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2011/12/start-holidays-right-support-school.html

Walter Dean Myers named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

The January 3, 2012 issue of the New York Times reported that ..on Tuesday January 3, 2012, Mr.[Walter Dean] Myers, 74, will be named the national ambassador for young people’s literature, a sort of poet laureate of the children’s book world who tours the country for two years, speaking at schools and libraries about reading and literacy"

According to the New York Times article,January 3, 2012,  C1 of the New York edition with the headline: "Children’s Book Envoy Defines His Mission"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/books/walter-dean-myers-ambassador-for-young-peoples-literature.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Mr. Myers is the third person to hold this post awarded by  the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and Every Child a Reader, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Children’s Book Council, a trade association for children’s book publishers. Katherine Paterson, young adult novelist, and children's author Jon Scieszka were previous holders of this position.

Mr. Myers, a young adult and children's author  highlights the lives of urban teens in many of his books. His books are often considered edgy due to their realistic situations and characters, but  also uplifting.

Mr. Myers will be touring schools and libraries in the next two years speaking about reading and literacy. As quoted in the article, Myers maintains that:
“I think that what we need to do is say reading is going to really affect your life,” he said in an interview at his book-cluttered house here in Jersey City, adding that he hoped to speak directly to low-income minority parents. “You take a black man who doesn’t have a job, but you say to him, ‘Look, you can make a difference in your child’s life, just by reading to him for 30 minutes a day.’ That’s what I would like to do.” 

Mr. Myers, a Jersey City resident, also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the M. Jerry Weiss Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature (http://web.njcu.edu/programs/mjwc/).