MSLA Podcast

In sharing our conversation with Gardner, Ella and I hope to dispel some of the anxiety you might be feeling about... well... climate anxiety. But also, anxiety about scheduling something around Climate Preparedness Week, which runs annually from Sept. 24th to 30th. Gardner is a tireless advocate for this issue, and she discusses resources, programming ideas, and how climate change is, for some, still discussed as an abstract concept. With her students at Dartmouth Middle School, Gardner uses the curriculum to move past concepts into action and service.

Initiatives discussed:

• CREW and Climate Prep Week, https://www.climatecrew.org/climate_prep_week_2021
• Climate Reality, https://www.climaterealitysouthcoast.com/
• 10 Questions for Young Changemakers, the Democratic Knowledge Project, https://yppactionframe.fas.harvard.edu/home
• Climate Cafes, https://climatecafes.org/
• Break Free from Plastic, https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/
• Sunrise Movement, https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
• Cli-Fi, https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/cli-fi/
• “State AG settles with New Bedford bus company over allegations of excessive idling at schools” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/state-ag-settles-with-new-bedford-bus-company-over-allegations-of-excessive-idling-at-schools/ar-AAOg7t2

Books discussed:

• How to Change Everything: A Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other, Naomi Klein
• Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion (Scientists in the Field Series), Loree Griffin Burns
• The Wisdom of Tress, Lita Judge
• One Small Hop, Madelyn Rosenberg
• Life As We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Dry by Neal Shusterman, Jarrod Shusterman
• The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
• Ashfall, Mike Mullin
• Good Neighbors, Sarah Langan
• Lights out in Lincoln Woods, Geoff Rodkey
• The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
• Octavia Butler

Liza Halley is Library Teacher at Plympton Elementary School in Waltham, MA, who not only believes graphic novels are great-- but essential. In collaboration with Plympton Elementary’s visual art teachers, Liza is developing an “Art of the Comic'' class. Join us for a conversation about how literacy is-- crucially-- more than just about words on the page.

Liza on Twitter: @LizaLitDiva

Liza on Insta: lizahalley08

Media discussed:

• Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz
• Go with the Flow by Lily Williams, Karen Schneemann
• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
• When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
• Run: Book One (Run #1) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell, L. Fury
• Beowulf by Santiago García, David Rubín, Javier Olivares
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare
• Erin Hunter’s Warriors series
• adaptations of Clifford the Big Red Dog and The Magic Treehouse
• Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Margarita Engle
• Gareth Hinds
• The Flintstones by Mark Russell
• Howard the Duck by Chip Zdarsky
• Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
• Yotsuba by Kiyohiko Azuma
• Yuzu the Pet Vet by Mingo Ito
• Under the Cottonwood Tree: El Susto de la Curandera by Paul Meyer, Carlos Meyer, Margaret Hardy
• Factory Summers by Guy DeLisle
• Vanni: A Family's Struggle Through the Sri Lankan Conflict by Benjamin Dix, Lindsay Pollock
• Agatha Christie's Poirot (ITV show)
• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
• How the Word is Passed by Clint Hill
• The Runaway Princess by Johan Troïanowski
• Pity Party by Kathleen Lane

In this episode, we talk to Barb Fecteau, librarian at Beverly High School. Barb is Barb. She wrote a great column in the last forum issue about one of her favorite subjects, Fun (https://www.maschoolibraries.org/newsletter/conference-fun-committee). Ella and I had fun talking to her, too.

Mentioned texts and hubub:

Renee Hobbs, VirtuallyViral

Chernowitz! by Fran Arrick

My Antonia, by Willa Cather

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,by Betty Smith

Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi

Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman

Readicide, by Kelly Gallagher

Beauty, by Robin McKinley

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Almost American Girl, Robin Ha

Dragon Hoops, Gene Luen Yang

All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown, Sidney Taylor

Maud Hart Lovelace

For our debut episode, we invite MSLA President Elect Jen Varney for a conversation about her start in cataloging and academic librarianship and her move to schools in and around Boston. Jen's term begins in July. She charts her involvement in MSLA and plans for the future of the organization.

Episode resources:

MLSA Website

Massachusetts School Library Study: Equity and Access for Students in the Commonwealth

School Libraries Are the Bedrock of Freedom from Publisher's Weekly, May 07, 2021

Jen's email: [email protected]

Cambridge PS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cps.schools

Podcast email: [email protected]