Friday Five: The first 5:00 of this month's BEST BOOKS webinar

In addition to teaching middle school, I travel all over the country presenting seminars to teachers, librarians, and administrators on the BEST NEW BOOKS for K-12 students, classrooms, and libraries. I LOVE talking with people who love talking about books...and adding to everyone's TBR pile. It is definitely a great way to spend my days when I'm away from the classroom. Sometimes I present for the Bureau of Education & Research (BER), sometimes I present directly for schools/districts/state associations that bring me in for the day. Last year, I presented over 80 day-long seminars on "Best New Books"...whew, that's a lot of travel (and also meant that I had to take a year off from the classroom/library). In order to get back into the classroom, I have cut my BER travel schedule in half, which sadly means that there are many cities that I won't be visiting this school year.

Cannot attend a seminar in person? Not one in your area? Here's what you can do: 1) I am still scheduling school/district/state library full-day or half-day seminars this school year upon request. Check out the options here and CONTACT ME!

2) Become a SUBSCRIBER! In order to accommodate all the people who cannot attend in person, I've started recording monthly webinars of BEST NEW BOOKS. I will post these 50-60 minute webinars every month this school year (through June), plus a back-to-school edition in August. I'm currently running a SALE on the Teacher-Librarian rate (now through 11/16/18). It is a budget-friendly PD option compared with attending the full-day BER seminar, and you can watch/listen from the comfort of your living room, at your leisure. There are two different levels...something for every budget.

To entice you to subscribe, I've made this week's Friday Five video a sample of the September/October webinar. It's the first 5:00ish minutes of the Best New Books for Grades K-12. (Because it covers two months, this first one is about 75 minutes long). If you like what you see in the sample, subscribe ASAP and you will get immediate access to the full-length webinar...and all webinars for the next 12 months. You also get access to book talk videos that I do periodically that can be shown to your students (or watched with your colleagues). HAPPY READING!

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#yalit #kidlit #bestbooks #webinars #seminars #subscriber #newbooks #fridayfive

So Many Books, So Little Time

Getting ready to present last year's seminar.

"So many books, so little time." Any avid reader will tell you that is the story of their (reading) life. I've been know to use it as a hashtag. You might think that this is hyperbole, but this sentiment is pretty much how I feel every day, especially as Labor Day Weekend rolls around.

Why is that? In addition to my teacher-librarian hat, and my #FeednRead literacy coordinator hat, I also present seminars around the country on "Best New Books" every year. In order to be prepared to talk about the best new books, I am ALWAYS reading. Always. I am also constantly afraid of missing some spectacular book. There really are too many new books published every year, and just not enough time to read them all.

Why does Labor Day weekend spark fear in the hearts of...well, me? Because that marks the point that I have to STOP READING (*gasp*) and put together the current year's handbook of titles before the mid-September deadline. (Yes, I am a procrastinator. Also, can we talk about how mid-September is a ridiculous deadline when SO MANY BOOKS are published between October and December every year? Sometimes I have to guess and hope for the best. Hooray for addendums!)

I look forward to seeing you on my 2018-19 school year "Magical Librarian Tour" (my name for it)! If there isn't a seminar in your area this year, holler. I'd love to come visit your school/district! If money is an object, and there is no professional development budget, subscribe to my website to access my "mini" webinars every month. It's just like getting the full-day seminar I do for BER (Bureau of Education & Research) in smaller segments throughout the school year...and you can watch in your PJs from the comfort of your living room (or at school on your lunch "hour"😂). Happy Reading! If you're back at school, enjoy the long weekend. If you're starting school next week, enjoy those last few days of summer vacation. If you need me, I'll be madly trying to make dent in my TBR pile. 📚

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#yalit #kidlit #bestnewbooks #seminars #magicallibrariantour #newbooks #webinar #amreading