McConnell Center Newsletter April 2013

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 Above from left Gary Wallace, Dylan Jamison, Becky Nelson (librarian), Katherine Nolan, Megan Johnson

The McConnell Center has been busy this last week. Dr. Stephanie D. Reynolds and Mercedes Hopewell have been visiting schools that participated in the 2013 Connecting with Characters Contest.

We also had a visit from the 2013 Connecting with Characters Contest participants from Gallatin County. Here are some of the pictures of our winners and participants. Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2013 Connecting with Characters Contest. We hope to see your entries next year!

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Above Dr. Stephanie D. Reynolds and Olivia Thompson

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Above from left Katherine Nolan, Dr. Stephanie D. Reynolds, Olivia Thompson, and Gary Wallace

Above Gary Wallace: 2013 honorable mention

Above Brittany Kay Allen & Brookelynn Perkins: 2013 Winners

Above 2013 Connecting with Characters participants from Gallatin County

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April 13 at 7:00 p.m.

McConnell Board Game Night http://bit.ly/ McConnellBoardGameNight2013 As always you can access Mercedes’ Board Game spreadsheet at http://bit.ly/MercedesBoardGames Be sure to send all of your suggestions to mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com before April 10th.

Please RSVP on our Facebook pages or using the form found here for these events so we know approximately how many are coming or if we need to reschedule. ~Thanks!

After 4 years, the McConnell Listserv is now 300 subscribers strong. Not subscribed? Don't miss out on McConnell Center and Conference news, subscribe today. Please email Mercedes Hopewell at Mercedes.Hopewell@gmail.com with your preferred name and email address.

April 2, 2013 is International Children’s Book Day. This celebration has occurred since 1967 and is around or on Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. International Children’s Book Day is a celebration of reading and a call to inspire children in all their literacy endeavors. For more information you can check out the official site at: http://bit.ly/InternationalChildrenBookDay2013 How will you celebrate this year. The McConnell Center would love to hear how you will spend International Children’s Book Day this year. Be sure to send all your pictures and event postings to the center.

You can send pictures to mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com.

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April is Autism Awareness Month. Are you planning any programs in for your children? Below is a list of chapter books that feature autistic characters.

Baskin, N. R. (2009). Anything but typical. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Lord, C. (2006). Rules. New York: Scholastic Press.

Lowry, L. (2003). The silent boy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Ogaz, N. (2002). Buster and the amazing Daisy.

London: Jessica Kingsley.

Rodowsky, C. F. (2001). Clay. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

Tarshis, L. (2007). Emma-Jean Lazarus fell out of a tree. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

Cady’s Talent is baking the perfect cakes. When she meets you, she can tell exactly what the perfect cake for you would be. But, one cake that she never thought about baking was her own. She would save that for her Adoption Day, when she finally meets her perfect family. On her last day at Miss Mallory’s Home for Lost Girls, she would be eating her own perfect cake. Will Cady ever have the opportunity to bake her perfect cake?

develop and Fate continues to intervene. This story teaches that, like Cady’s cakes, there is more than meets the eye: a person, like a cake, is their own unique mix of all the right ingredients.

Graff tells an exciting and heartfelt story about families of all kinds. You will uncover several surprises as you read and continue to turn the page to see what happens next. The story is full of adventure, a lost luggage emporium, spitting, a ferret, one popular novel, monsters and cake, of course. Who could ask for anything more?

In this story, told from multiple viewpoints, we are introduced to many characters that come together Graff, L. (2013). A tangle of knots. in more ways than you could expect. There’s a little bit of mystery New York, NY: Philomel Books. to this story, as connections between the characters continue to

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Rick Yancey has a gift for storytelling, and that gift is on full display with this beautifully told classic horror science fiction alien invasion tale. What sets Yancey’s story apart from other alien invasion tales is that the aliens need the planet, so instead of attacking in ways that would damage the planet, they find more sinister ways to exterminate the human species. Each new terror they unleash is a "wave" of the invasion, hence the title reference: 5th Wave.

The narration shifts between several different characters.

Cassie and her high school classmate Ben are the primary narrators, with an odd chapter or two told from the perspective of Cassie's little brother Sam, and a stranger she meets named Evan. The narrative style works well, as it allows the reader to piece together things faster than our characters, adding to the suspense and tension.

There is a bit of the familiar with the story (War of the Worlds, anyone?). But there is plenty in Yancey’s unique way of weaving together a suspenseful tale that

The Lexington Public Library last month launched their Storytime-to-go program. They are offering 11 daycares in Lexington a chance to have storytime in the new retrofitted vehicle. Graduate Students Mercedes Hopewell and Mariam Addarrat are two of the volunteers traveling to different daycares offering their services.

Both Graduate Students from the School of Library and Information Science program are currently taking Dr.

will leave readers at the edge of their seat and gasping for breath. As with any classic SciFi tale, the overall story surmounts the often violent action and gripping passages of death and destruction to become a testament to the humanity of man.

The overall effect is a thick tome that is nothing short of a nightmare inducing page-turner that is the first in a trilogy. And though the publisher says the audience is 12 and up, I would recommend this for more mature readers, say 14, just because there is so much violence.

Yancey, R. (2013). The 5th wave. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Group Inc. Read A-Likes Meyer, S. (2008). The host: A novel. New York: Little Brown and Company.

Stohl, M. (2013). Icons. New York: Little Brown and Company Wells, H. G. (1990). The war of the worlds. Raleigh, NC: Alex Catalogue.

Reynolds’ youth literature classes. Hopewell sees this as a great opportunity for future youth librarians to get experience in their field.

To see the whole story of this new program check of the article from the Herald Leader located at http://bit.ly/Storytime2013 Mercedes Hopewell (left) Mariam Addarrat (right)

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STUDENT SECTION Are you in LIS614 or LIS612 this Spring? Come use the McConnell Center! We can help you find books to use for your class.

Our Spring 2013 hours Monday & Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Tuesday & Thursday, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Or by appointment contact mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com

Rachel McGuire is a graduate of UK’s School of Library and Information Science. She was the McConnell Center Graduate Assistant from 2010-2012.

grant (that I just found out I won-yay!), wrangle the computer lab, and weed and update our nonfiction collection and databases. We even did a new five-year plan this year that put my LIS603 knowledge to work.

What job do you currently hold?

I'm the Head of Reference and Adult Programming at the Raleigh County What classes from SLIS have been Public Library in Beckley, WV instrumental in laying the success in your new job?

What is your favorite part of the I really can't think of a class that job?

My favorite part of the job so far has hasn't been helpful in one way or another, but I think I've used what I been getting our nonfiction learned in the special topics classes collection in shape (it hasn't been about public libraries and LIS613 seriously weeded in decades)...and the most. I do all the adult planning programs. programming at the main library, so How has your education prepared I use the planning/budgeting/ you for your job? marketing skills I learned in those I use something I learned for my classes a lot. I also teach courses and MSLS nearly every day at work. I've do administrative stuff, so what I used it to plan programs, write a

learned in 601 and 603 gets a workout too. I feel like I've been prepared for just about everything, except the occasional, unpredictable patron issues--which is, of course, the definition of unpredictable! So far, so good, though!

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On the Blog: ARC Read & Review 2013! We have the following titles available for anyone who wants to read and review them for the McConnell Center blog at http:// youthlitmatters.wordpress.com/

Young Adult 

Prodigy: A legend novel by Marie Lu

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Dodger by Terry Pratchett

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Scarlet by Melissa Meyer

New Books in the Center:

Picture Books

Juvenile Fiction   

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Perfectly Percy by Paul Schmid

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Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman Jinx by Sage Blackwoord Amelia Bedelia: Means business

by Herman Parish

A vital gathering place for books and ideas, the McConnell Center is committed to identifying excellent literature for children and adolescents and to bringing this literature to the attention of those adults who have an academic, professional, career, or personal interest in connecting young readers with books.

We maintain two main, non-

circulating collections: Our Current Collection includes all books sent to us for review by publishers during the current year.

The Permanent Collection is several collections of books maintained in the Center as a resource for students and librarians. It includes the Basic Collection, the Awardwinning Collection (Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, Morris, Pura Belpré, Sibert, and Orbis Pictus Awards), the Kentucky Collection (notable Kentucky authors and books about Kentucky), the Reference Collection, and the Periodical Collection.

Please visit our website for more information: https://ci.uky.edu/lis/mcconnellcenter

In the Center: April 13 at 7:00 p.m.

McConnell Board Game Night http://bit.ly/ McConnellBoardGameNight2013

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