https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i en-us 2022-07-01 18:48:53 UTC 2022-07-03 17:48:49 UTC hello@padlet.com leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235272093 2022-07-01 18:50:18 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235272093 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235272407 2022-07-01 18:51:25 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235272407 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235272899 2022-07-01 18:52:52 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235272899 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235274765 2022-07-01 18:58:44 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235274765 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235275087 2022-07-01 19:00:03 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235275087 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235275453 2022-07-01 19:01:11 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235275453 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235275912 2022-07-01 19:02:47 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235275912 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235276435 2022-07-01 19:03:48 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235276435 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235277177 2022-07-01 19:05:34 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235277177 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235361262 Where The Sidewalk Ends was one of the first books that I remember really loving as a child. My mom and I would often read the poems over and over again; they always stirred different emotions in me. My favorite of them all had to be Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out.  I loved the way Shel Silverstein used rhymes to tell funny and poignant stories through his poetry. I consider this book one of my touchstones because it opened up my imagination and started me on the path to having a life-long love of poetry.  Even though this is a children's book,  I still read it from time and time as an adult. It reminds me that no matter what category or age group a book falls under, it can be good reading for a person of any age. This is something that I hope to always remember in my work as a librarian.

Click on the link below to read a 1974 review of Shel Silverstein's book Where The Sidewalk Ends.

]]> 2022-07-02 00:30:48 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235361262 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235361601 I loved reading A Wrinkle in Time in late elementary school or early middle school. I apologize that I cannot quite remember when I actually first read it;  I am in my early 40s and that was a long time ago. What I do remember is how much this book excited me and opened up my imagination. For me it is a touchstone book as it was the first book that started my life-long love of fantasy and science fiction novels. Like many others, I had struggles and issues as a child and sometimes real life was difficult to experience. The plot of A Wrinkle in Time gave me the strength to believe that I could overcome my issues while at that same time, it also gave me the chance to escape into a different and exciting world. It taught me that books could help me confront my troubles and/or leave my troubles behind.

Click on the link below to hear a 1975 talk by Madeleine L'Engle regarding her thoughts on writing. ]]> 2022-07-02 00:32:04 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235361601 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235361973
There was a period of time in my life, let us call it late middle school through some of high school when I stopped wanting to read. Reading became a chore and synonymous with academia. I also disliked all of the analysis that I had to do in reading for school, instead of just reading for pure enjoyment. This all changed when my Sophomore or Junior (I cannot exactly recall) English class read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. Although, I wasn't crazy about the work I had to with it for my class, I really connected to the main character of Holden Caulfield and his thoughts of life and existence as well as, to J.D Salinger's direct first-person style of writing. I consider this book to be a touchstone because after reading it I decided to read as many books of J.D. Salinger that I possibly could. The Catcher In The Rye broke my long drought of pleasure reading.

Click on the link below to read the first reviews of The Catcher In The Rye. ]]> 2022-07-02 00:33:39 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235361973 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235362686 The Stranger was another book that I had to read for one of my high school English class's but actually enjoyed. Although the book was not intended for adolescents, the style was extremely accessible and it really resonated with me as a person that was questioning my role in the world and the meaning of life; questions that I would grapple with through much of my 20's. I place it as a touchstone book since it was also the catalyst to me becoming interested in existentialist philosophy and French films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s.

Click on the link below to watch a short BBC documentary about Albert Camus and The Stranger. ]]> 2022-07-02 00:36:49 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235362686 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235366301 There was a period of my life from high school through college where I thought and was taught by teachers and parents that the books I read should either be informative nonfiction or books that have been established as "great literature", not popular fiction. This all changed when I picked up the first book in the Harry Potter series in my early 20s after graduating from college. It is a touchstone book for me because it was the first book in a long time that I didn't want to put down. It was the book that told me that reading popular fiction is fun and worthwhile. It also put me on the path to loving YA fiction as an adult, my preferred reading category to this day and the reason that I decided to become a high school librarian.

Click on the link below to read Kirkus's review of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. ]]> 2022-07-02 00:52:16 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235366301 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235366486 When I was living in London for graduate school, I had a now ex-boyfriend who loved to read. We loved to watch police procedural dramas and mystery shows on television, so he was surprised to learn that I had never read mystery novels. He suggested that I read The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, which had just been published that year. I remember loving the mystery in the story. This book is one of my touchstones because after reading The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, mystery novels became one of my favorite genres to read.

Click on the links below to read reviews of The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time.]]> 2022-07-02 00:53:04 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235366486 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235366804 I love animals and always have, ever since I was child. However, it was not until my 30s when I decided that I wanted to have four-legged "children" instead of two-legged children that I became very interested in the minds and behaviors of animals. I remember picking up Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena, California and deciding to buy it. I loved reading about the emotions and behaviors of animals from a knowledgeable scientist and it is one of my touchstones because it started me on the path to reading more books about nature and animals such as, the Hidden Life of Trees and the Genius of Birds. Learning about nature makes me feel connected to the world around me. Nonfiction books can sometimes be overlooked during readers advisory in a high school setting, but I think they can be great touchstone books for the right reader. They can help us to be less lonely.

Click on the link below to watch a Ted Talk by Primatologist  Frans de Waal. ]]> 2022-07-02 00:54:19 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235366804 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235375365 2022-07-02 01:02:55 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235375365 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235413823 Shel Silverstein's Where The Sidewalk Ends may have started my love of poetry but Maya Angelou taught me that poetry was one of the best vehicles to expressing one's truth and one's experiences as a person in society. I remember reading her poetry in middle school and seeing how powerful it was to have a Black woman take control over her life by telling her story through poetry. I put her poetry as one of my touchstones because I was so moved by her work that it led me to start writing and reciting my own poetry at a local bookstore, which I did for a period of my life during childhood and adolescents. I have noticed in my current work in a school library that poetry can often be overlooked by students. However, I hope in the future to be able to put more books like Maya Angelou's in the hands of students because much it is accessible to young students and can be so vital in helping them navigate their emotions and life experiences.

Click on the link below to learn more about the life and work of Maya Angelou. ]]> 2022-07-02 03:22:41 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235413823 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235416883 Creating this reading autobiography was not a simple task for me. It was hard for me to select around ten books that I would consider touchstones for me as a reader versus books that I have just immensely enjoyed. Not all of the books on this list are books that I took great pleasure in reading. Some, like Robin Diangelo's and Ibram X Kendi's books were challenges. However, like the rest of the titles on this Padlet, each book changed me as a reader. They either opened my eyes to looking at the world in a new way or they opened me up to a new genre that I continue to love today. 

One thing that I noticed in this exercise is how much my reading has fluctuated throughout life. As a child, I remember my parents reading to me before going to bed.  I also have fond memories of going to the library with my mom, my dad, or my stepmom and being able to pick out a couple books to check out. At that time books were a source of pleasure and fun. A lot of this changed during my middle school, high school and college years when reading for my classes took precedence and I no longer wanted to spend my free time with a book. It was also the time that I was inculcated into believing that certain books were worth reading while others were not. It is not a surprise to me that the books which I consider to be touchstones for me during the period of my adolescence were books that I also had to read for English class. I am lucky that I connected with them and they helped to propel me as a reader. Despite my experiences as a reader, It will be very important for me as a high school librarian to remember how challenging academic life can be at that time. Providing easy, simple and fun reads to students in a school library setting could be the catalyst to get those students reading again.

Reflecting on myself as an adult reader, I noticed a push and pull between what I wanted to read and what I thought I should read. Beliefs about what is literature and what one should spend their time with are hard to shake. Harry Potter very much helped me shake the notion that every book I read needed to be considered "great literature", whatever that really means. It also helped me see how much I love Young Adult literature, my favorite category up to today. 

As a person who works in a school library and intends to for the long future, I see it as a vital part of our work to accept all reading as valid and all students as readers even if they and others may not see them this way. Additionally, in reflecting upon my reading choices and my work in a school library, I can attest to the great importance that libraries and librarians can have in putting books that are often missing from the general curricula into students hands. Not all learning takes place in the classroom, libraries are also important places to help teach students and community members. 




]]> 2022-07-02 03:34:29 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235416883 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235590830 I picked up White Fragility in my late 30's when my husband's school asked the faculty and staff to read it over the Summer. He read it first and thought that I would be interested in it as well.  It was not the first book that I read about racism and its history in the United States. However, it was the first to put White People who consider themselves to be liberal and not racist at the center of racism. The book is one of my touchstones as it forced me to reflect on my inherent beliefs and behaviors and reactions to uncomfortable conversations. It taught me that books like White Fragility and the next book on my reading autobiography are so important to have in school libraries since for me these are spaces that should not only reflect a school's academic philosophy but also fill in the gaps to what is missing in the curricula.

Click on the link below to read a review on Robin Diangelo's book White Fragility. ]]> 2022-07-02 16:02:58 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235590830 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235591484 2022-07-02 16:05:54 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235591484 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235596846 After reading White Fragility, I picked up How To Be An Antiracist and it was another book about racism that changed my perspective and helped me grow as a person. I had already subscribed to the idea of systemic racism, but Ibram X. Kendi's argument that you either posit yourself as a racist by support of laws and policies that hurt people of color or an antiracist by supporting laws and policies that work to dismantle systemic racism helped me to see that it was not good enough for me to live as a person who considered herself as a not racist person. It is one of my touchstone books because in this day and age when Critical Race Theory, which has existed since at least the 1970s is being banned in schools throughout the country,  it is vital that those who can put books like these on our library shelves and into the hands of students.  In the library that I work for, we often put books like How to be an Antiracist  on display to attract students. As school librarians, I think it's important for us to remember that we also have a role to educate students.

Click on the link below to listen to an interview with author of How To Be An Antiracist, Ibram X Kendi. ]]> 2022-07-02 16:26:54 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235596846 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235598505 When I started the Rutgers University Master of Information program, I also started working as the Assistant Librarian at an all boys Catholic School in New Jersey. Our library has a significant collection of graphic novels, comics and manga since these have proven to be the most popular with our high school aged boys. After working for a few months,  I noticed that a large percentage of the students who came to talk to us at the library circulation desk were manga fans and wanted to talk to us about the books they were reading. I had never read any manga so I felt somewhat out of place. My supervisor, the head librarian, also a graduate of Rutgers MI  program talked to me and suggested that I read Junji Ito's Dissolving Classroom. This book takes its place as one of my touchstones because not only did this book make me a manga fan, it also made me a huge fan of Junji Ito's work. I promptly read all the books we had of his and even bought more of my own for my home collection. His books also taught me to appreciate the artistry and visual literacy of graphic novels and connect more to my students. I have learned that being able to connect to the students is very helpful in developing relationships with them and recommending future books to them.

Click on the link below to watch an interview with the horror manga artist Junji Ito. ]]> 2022-07-02 16:32:04 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235598505 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235625884 An Autism Spectrum View of The Curious Incident Of the Dog In The Night-Time. ]]> 2022-07-02 18:30:28 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235625884 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654039 2022-07-02 20:50:23 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654039 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654298 2022-07-02 20:51:46 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654298 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654708 2022-07-02 20:53:34 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654708 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654859 2022-07-02 20:54:35 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235654859 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235655274 2022-07-02 20:57:06 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235655274 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235655542 2022-07-02 20:58:45 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235655542 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235655962 2022-07-02 21:01:30 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235655962 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656134 2022-07-02 21:02:38 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656134 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656347 2022-07-02 21:04:09 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656347 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656581 2022-07-02 21:05:36 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656581 leh127 https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656754 2022-07-02 21:06:46 UTC https://padlet.com/leh127/6cxr99gp9pv8a75i/wish/2235656754