I Spy More "I Spy" Books

Last week I had a patron and her son ask where the I Spy books were, so I showed them these books:



...which were the ones they were thinking of, so that's good. However, I also showed them a few other series they didn't know about, and they decided to take the new ones instead. So here's a quick list of some other search-and-find types of books in case your patrons need some fresh ideas, too.

Usborne "1001 Things to Spot" books
Shelved by author; a keyword search for "Usborne and spot" will find them all.
Each two-page spread has, around the perimeter, images of a number of particular things to look for, like "6 sharks" or "10 magic wands."



Spot 7
Under E Kidslabel.
In these books, you have to compare two pictures and spot 7 differences.



Look-Alikes
Under E Steiner.
The author uses everyday objects like paperclips, dollar bills, and crackers to create her pictures.



Where's Waldo?
Under E Handford.
The Grandaddy of Them All! Check your shelves; you may have gotten fresh copies in.



Can You See What I See?
Under E Wick.
An "I Spy" for the younger crowd.



Let's Find Pokemon!
Under E Aihara or E Pokemon; a title search for "Let's Find Pokemon" will get them all.



Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo have some I Spy books in the Easy Reader section, too. They are under ER Marzollo or ER Wick, a keyword search for "I spy and easy reader" will find them.

For younger kids who want to search, but find these other books a little hard, here are some titles that have worked out as I Spy books:

Faraway Farm, E Whybrow



Alphabet House, E Wallace



My Very First Word Book, E 428.1 WILKES



Last but not least, if you need to find this type of stuff, try a word/keyword search for "picture puzzles and juvenile."

More Reading Levels Help

We have several lists on Tales' Treehouse that may help:

Ready for Chapter Books
The lists here contain some of those "skinny books" that are in J but are just one step up from Magic Tree House or Cam Jansen. I checked several of them on the Scholastic Bookwizard, and they ranged from 3rd-4th grade reading level, with a 3rd-5th grade interest level.

Books by Grade Level
Check here for books for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders, plus more.

Read the Books
This database has a new interface, so check it out if you haven't played with it in awhile. Remember you can select books by grade level. Each book is tagged with a range of levels (one book may be tagged as 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade) so a search for a particular grade is more flexible and less restrictive that it seems.

Also, parents always want their kids to be "challenged" but it's good for kids to read a lot on several different levels. If parents are stressed out and not sure if a book is on a good level for their child, remind them that a variety of types and kinds and levels of books is a benefit. Books that are "easy" for children to read give them a chance to practice their fluency skills, build their confidence, and identify themselves as readers...all good things.

Reading Levels Rescue

Frequently a parent will approach us and say, "My son is reading at level C, where are the books for him?" Or it's, "Level 10" or "Lexile 400." How do we have any clue where to start?

The first thing is to know that there's no national standard for leveling books. Different publishers and different curricula use different assessment tools, so patrons will come in using a variety of different terms and codes, depending on their school situation. I did however, find this chart, which offers a comparison from system to system and may help you start to get your bearings.

The next thing to know is that we use a completely different kind of assessment on our Easy Readers to select whether they get a green, red, or yellow dot than publishers and educators use on their books and their students, so it's really pretty fruitless for us to try to graph Green, Red, and Yellow onto the chart I just gave you!

If anyone asks, though, you can say that the Easy Reader section as a whole ranges from material that's appropriate for preschoolers through 2nd or 3rd graders, and that the color dots offer a rough guide as to beginning, practicing, and more fluent readers. The Junior Fiction section overall ranges from books written at a 2nd grade reading level through about a 6th grade reading level. Often the most practical thing to do with a parent is to walk with them to the Easy Reader section and try to find together books that look similar to what the student is reading at school.

One site that may offer you some more help is the Scholastic Bookwizard. Lori Romero mentions it in her article, "Making Sense of Beginning Reading Lingo."

On the Bookwizard, you can search for books in a few different ways. A Quick Search lets you enter a title and find out a suggested reading level for it. The BookAlike Search asks you to enter a title, then choose whether you'd like more books like that book that are easier, harder, or just the same reading level.

Finally, the Leveled Search is a more advanced search that lets you put in separate information for reading level and interest level, as well as type of book, genre, or topic. So you can look for books for that 2nd grader reading at a 6th grade level by entering 6th grade for reading level and 2nd grade for interest level.

What is potentially very helpful for parents is that you can select one of four reading level systems to frame your search in: Grade Level Equivalent (a decimal such as 2.4 or 5.1--publishers sometimes give this as a reading level on the back covers of paperbacks--2.4 means 2nd grade, 4th month), Lexile (often given as a range of 3 digit numbers, like 400-500), DRA (even numbers 2-80), or Guided Reading (a letter of the alphabet).

Two other tools you might be able to use are:
Accelerated Reader BookFinder (AR uses both a reading level and an interest level)
The Lexile Framework Book Search

Top Circulating Childrens Books

Allison Roberts has just finished up the lists of top circulation material last year (An endlessly tedious task - Thanks Allison!)

The top childrens items were:

Disney princess - Weinberg

Alphakids - emergent readers

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows.- Rowling

Knuffle Bunny too : a case of mistaken identity -Willems

The field guide - DiTerlizzi

Diary of a wimpy kid : Greg Heffley's journal - Kinney

Harry Potter and the half-blood prince - Rowling

Scarlett, the garnet fairy- Rainbow Magic

More 5-minute princess stories - Bergen

Lucy the Diamond Fairy - Rainbow Magic

Junie B., first grader : boo --and I mean it! - Park

Barbie as the island princess - alberto

High tide in Hawaii - Osborne

The seeing stone -DiTerlizzi

The invention of Hugo Cabret - Selznick

Yes, Another Award!

This time it's the Sydney Taylor Award! This award is given by the Association of Jewish Librarians to outstanding books for children that authentically portray the Jewish experience. It's named after the author of The All-of-a-Kind Famiy books, which were pretty much the first mainstream children's fiction titles about a Jewish family.

This year's winner for Older Readers is Brooklyn Bridge, about a 14-year-old immigrant boy, in 1903 Brooklyn, whose life changes completely after his parents invent the teddy bear. (Based on a true story!)

Check out the full list here.

Basic Readers' Advisory Class

Speaking of Readers' Advisory, there's a basic class for PSSs being offered March 5, taught by Eileen.

It's a great way to brush up on tools and resources on our website and in the online catalog!

Check with your supervisor if you'd like to attend.

Good Reads on Good Reads

I'm passing along the recent invitation from the Web Team to participate on Good Reads, the online book-based social networking site. You can take part in a couple of ways!

You can create your own account, and start building your library with books you've read, are reading, and want to read. You can use tags to create "shelves" to sort out your books--by genre, by who recommended it to you, by whether or not you own it, any categories you want. You can add stars and reviews to the books in your collection. You can comment on your friends' updates and they can comment on yours!

Then you can choose to "friend" the ALD Good Reads account. When you do this, all of your updates about books you've added or reviewed are posted on the ALD Friend page. Anyone can click on the ALD Good Reads page and see your updates...ta dah...online readers' advisory!

The other way to participate is to log into the ALD Good Reads account directly. (Check StaffNet for the username and password, or email me.) You can add books you've read to the ALD shelves. Anyone who is a friend of ALD Good Reads will then get those books and reviews as updates on their own Good Reads pages!

Lastly, there's a challenge for you to accept! Broaden your reading by creating some "outside the box" categories for yourself for 2009. Here's my challenge as an example: I'm trying to read at least one new author in several different genres. Some of the genres will be easy, because I really enjoy them, like Romance, or Historical Fiction. Other genres will be harder for me because I don't prefer to read them, like Chick Lit or Thriller/Suspense. But that's the whole point of the challenge, to make sure I'm reading widely so I can do a good job on the RA desk.

What categories would help you broaden your children's literature reading?