Visiting Authors Celebrations: Week 1

When you walk on to campus, you can feel that something special is taking place at ASD. Students, teachers and parents are experiencing a kind of magic. Our community is buzzing with excitement about books and the inspirational people who create them. 

Jacqueline Woodson, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page have delighted our students from K1 right up through High School, as well as our teachers and parents. Thirty-two presentations and workshops were offered in our first week of their visit.

Highlights from the week include the Elementary School welcome assembly, hosted by our Student Librarians, an after-school writing workshop with Jacqueline for ES students and and Steve and Robin's discussions about the design process with AP Art students.

Jacqueline has captivated our Elementary students with readings from Show Way, Brown Girl Dreaming, This is the Rope, Each Kindness and The Other Side. One student described Jacqueline's poetry readings as "mesmerizing" and another said he could listen to her read all day. Jacqueline's insights into her writing and passion are inspiring for our students. Her message is clear, "Do what makes you happy. Do what you love." And writing - writing is what Jacqueline loves.

Steve and Robin engaged our younger students with a book making project in which students each created their own guessing game book. Our upper elementary grades gained insight into many intriguing animal facts and got sneak-peeks at some of Steve and Robin's latest books. Our students are fascinated by the collaborative process that Steve and Robin use to design their intricate books.

Our Library team is proud of the thoughtful questions, responses and enthusiasm of our students as they take full advantage of the learning opportunities with our visiting authors. We can't wait to discover what the second week will bring! 

Upcoming Family Opportunities:

Thursday, March 17: 

ES Art and Movement Workshop with Steve, Robin and their daughter Page 

3:15-4:15pm in the ES Library

Tuesday, March 22:
Talk Tuesday Double Feature: Books as a Mirror and Window to the World (ES Library)

8:15-9:00 Jacqueline Woodson: Diverse Characters in the Hands of All Children
9:15-10:00 Steve Jenkins: Blending Science and Art in Nonfiction

One School, One Book: Reading is Our Own Kind of Show Way

Have you read Brown Girl Dreaming and Show Way? Show your participation in our One School, One Book by adding a patch to our readers quilt in the Elementary Library. 

Each triangle patch on the windows of the library represents one reader. The warm colors of red, orange and yellow show readers of Show Way and the cool colors or blue, green and purple show readers of Brown Girl Dreaming.

Jacqueline tells us that the things that happened before you are your own kind of show way. We believe that all the books you read also make up your own kind of show way.

Stop by to add to our readers quilt and to read the thoughts of our fellow ASD readers.

Visiting Authors Family Opportunities

One School, One Book: Show Way and Brown Girl Dreaming

Many students, teachers and parents across our ASD community are reading Jacqueline Woodson’s 2014 National Book Award winner, Brown Girl Dreaming in a school-wide reading event, One School, One Book. In addition, we are celebrating Woodson's Newbery Honor picture book, Show Way, as a supplemental reading experience including even our youngest readers.

One School, One Book is a program designed to create a shared reading experience. The goals are to celebrate literacy, build community and encourage intergenerational conversation about great books. We are building up to our upcoming Visiting Authors program, March 13-24, with both Jacqueline Woodson and Steve Jenkins joining us as authors in residence.

Brown Girl Dreaming, recipient of the Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award as well as the National Book Award for 2014, tells the story of Jacqueline's childhood in verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, she shares a poetic memoir of growing up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Jacqueline reflects on finding her voice through writing stories, despite struggling with reading as a child.

Show Way is also based on Jacqueline's family history. "Show Ways”, or quilts, once served as secret maps for freedom-seeking slaves. This is the story of seven generations of girls and women who were quilters, artists, storytellers and freedom fighters.

The libraries have multiple copies of Brown Girl Dreaming and Show Way for check out and for sale. Why not watch the Weston Woods version of Show Way with Jacqueline Woodson reading her own story?

See the link to BookFlix below. Remember ASD Libraries subscribe to BookFlix, so the usual login and password apply. See the eResources page for a reminder.

Show Way: Link to BookFlix

Visiting Authors Coming Soon

Excitement is starting to build in our library as we get ready for our long-anticipated Visiting Authors celebration from March 13-24. Jacqueline Woodson and Steve Jenkins will soon be joining our community of readers and we can't wait! All of our students from K1-Grade 12, faculty, staff and parents will have the opportunity to learn from these amazing storytellers. Our elementary students are already busy reading their books in classrooms and in the library.

All of our Grade 5 students are currently reading Brown Girl Dreaming, actively participating in our One School, One Book experience. Students are engaging in meaningful discussions as they learn about Woodson's childhood through her memorable verse. In library class, students are digging in deep to specific poems in the book and comparing multiple picture books by Woodson. Grade 4 will begin Brown Girl Dreaming later this month.

Students in our lower grades have been pouring over the mesmerizing pages of Steve Jenkins vast collection of science books. Students have read several books in small groups, shared fascinating facts and found common, unique features and techniques in the books. Students in Grades 2-4 are also writing book reviews in Destiny Quest on their favorite Jenkins books.

Make sure you are ready for our authors' visit by reading as many books as you can! Please see one of the librarians to discuss how you can participate in One School, One Book by reading Show Way and Brown Girl Dreaming.

Check out these cool videos to learn more about our authors:

Watch Steve Jenkins process for researching, planning and creating his amazing animal illustrations out of cut paper collage.

Listen to Jacqueline Woodson talk about her thinking behind Brown Girl Dreaming and some discoveries she made about her family as she researched her past.

Purchase Books for Author Signing

We will have a wide range of Woodson and Jenkins books for sale in both libraries starting from Sunday, February 21. Prices range from AED 25 - 100 and both hardback and paperback books are available. You may purchase your books from library staff throughout the day. You may choose to label the book with your name and grade level and we will have the books signed by our visiting authors. We will then deliver the books to students' classrooms.

Keep in mind, our supply of books for sale is limited. If you really want a book, don't delay! You are also welcome to purchase books elsewhere and then bring them to the library to label and have signed. We will accept signing requests up until March 17.