I have long followed Heather Daly‘s work and you need to know that most of the time I’m simply gobsmacked by what she is able to accomplish. So it was an absolute thrill to listen to her in our small table talk – a 20 minute, small group protocol — that is a legacy piece […]
This article was originally published in Canadian School Libraries Journal Spring 2020. It is the third part of 3 articles on my relationship with the school libraries in Buenos Aires including 1) Donde esta Alanna King? At the Jornada de Bibliotecas Escolares and 2) Getting on the Train: A Decade of Shifting Culture in the […]
I’m the type of person who generally doesn’t like surprises. 2019 has been full of them for me.
I am the Head of the Library and Learning Commons at my secondary school, and that means I work 4/6 in the library, 1/6 in a EWC 4C/4U classroom, and 1/6 in a fully online ENG4C class. I have held this role since 2010 with variations on which classes I teach. So my year […]
Starting with a little crowdsourcing on the topic: #TMCanada2017 Tweets This is an incredible event, and it’s only offered every 2 years but I try to never miss it. Our focus this year is about being culturally responsive to our school community and there were a wide range of topics explored. Being hosted in the […]
This week Michelle Campbell and I are off to the Manitoba School Library Association Conference to present this paper to other learning leaders in Canada at Treasure Mountain Canada 2017, the school library think tank for Canada. We would love your feedback on our work and to hear from you about your projects in school […]
This week editor Derrick Grose and his team of editors released their inaugural edition of the Canadian School Libraries Journal. Derrick says: “This first issue of the Canadian School Library Journal reflects the exciting times in which we are working” and “the actual work being done in school libraries”. For those of you who don’t know, […]
Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese My rating: 5 of 5 stars Masterfully written. This is my first encounter with Wagamese but certainly not my last. I admire his ability to weave the novel as the background stories reveal themselves. This is a must-read in the Canadian canon. I think anyone would like this book but […]
Delusion Road by Don Aker My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is nominated this year for an Ontario Library Association White Pine award and It is hopping off the shelves in my secondary school library. At first I found the book to feel very abrupt as the chapters interchange between the two essential […]
Every Day by David Levithan My rating: 4 of 5 stars If you think that all young adult fiction is about dystopias and shallow relationships, give Every Day a try. I found it really impressive that Levithan could carry this unusual format through the entire book. At first I was quite worried that the days […]
A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return by Zeina Abirached My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is such an important book because the voice of young Zeina is so authentic. She doesn’t know that life inside Beirut in the 1980s is unusual as it is as it has always been. The […]
Saga, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I find it amazing how quickly Brian Vaughan’s characters can be developed in this short graphic novel. As usual, Vaughan’s visual aesthetic does not disappoint. However because there are about 4 pages of nudity and sexuality that are outside the limitations of […]
We Are Water by Wally Lamb My rating: 4 of 5 stars I often describe Wally Lamb as a writer who really gets in the heads of women so I was pleasantly surprised to see him prominent male characters in We Are Water. Like his other books, this novel delves into some heavy topics of […]
This week I’ve been attending the Connect conference in Niagara Falls for the first time and as a representative of the Ontario School Library Association Council. It also gives me a chance to speak about my M.Ed. capping paper on how teacher-librarians are in the ideal position to facilitate transliteracy. I mean, we really do […]
Cinder by Marissa Meyer My rating: 3 of 5 stars As much as I wanted to get into this book about a Cyborg with way more problems than Cinderella (who the book loosely resembles), I had trouble with the world-building and the flow of unfolding the politics of this fantastic setting. I had trouble understanding […]
threadbare beauty 