Jean Darnell: Awaken Librarian

The book that I worked on as a researcher and contributor, Uncensored: Educators Speak Out on Teaching in a Time of Book Bans by Dr. Jonna Perrillo (Harvard Educated Press, 2026), has hit the shelves in academic libraries across the country. Please check it out from your preferred local library. If you like it as much as I hope, then please purchase here . Thank you to Dr. Perrillo and all other contributors and editors of the book. Am I happy to have my perspective and experience finally validated in a librarian's favorite way--a book? Of course. Does it make me anxious? Of course. But the source of fear isn't where you'd think it's from. I have a habit of speaking my truth, regardless if it's documented or tolerated. I see it as only I can. I bring my whole self to everything I touch. It's a matter of fingerprints literally and figuratively. Within the book, I recount my darkest days as a school librarian from 2020-2022 in the hotspot for book bans: de...

Nothing like being banned to help a teenager select a worthy book to read!!! :) I'm not saying that I do my part in ensuring students have books that they WANT to read but...I promise you and my kids, they will read stories about them, their lives and whatever other reflection they need to guide and govern themselves with intellectual freedom! For those of us librarians in Texas, we've been ordered and CENSORED by the GOP party/Govenor of certain Texans to remove 850 books. Never mind the mindset of "putting kids first" and "diversity is the fabric of life," books that represent all Texans are being pulled from the shelves . But guess what? My hometown, the Bayou City of Houston, TX is on to these suckers. To read more excerpts, click here . Or if you want to hear more of my thoughts on this scandulous, trumped up foolishness, then by all means, here you go . P.S.A.: The truth doesn't have to censor, hide or deny its mission. Having said ...

So...how many of you librarians have visual directives to assist students with returning items to the shelves? Well if you don't have any visual aides, you're in luck! This post is dedicated to shelfie conversations that "cutely" address how to treat the library books. If you have CHAMP behavior level expectations at your campus, then these Shelfie Talkers cover all facets! C -Conversation: Level is 1. The only discussion is for assistance with shelving materials. H -Help: The help needed is re-shelving books. Follow alphabet order for "fiction" books and numeric order for non-fiction! A -Activity: We're returning the books back to the shelves in alpha/numeric order. M -Movement: We're walking to the shelves without disturbing others. P -Participation: This activity benefits you & the librarian so books can be easily found next time. S -Success: I know exactly where that book is on the shelf! Enjoy!

Tomorrow is... We're kicking off our celebration with "Story Webs!" However, instead of a boring graphic organizer (LOL), I made it interactive with a ball of yarn, some giggle and one classic story! We featured a great updated version of the "Three Ninja Pigs" with Corey Rosen Schwartz and Dan Santat's " The Three Ninja Pigs " See all the excitement with our iMovie recap: International Literacy Day from AwakenLibrarian on Vimeo . Here's the campus wide challenge that we gave staff members: For more resources on how you can incorporation some literacy and reading fun check out 11 Creative Reading Incentives for You Classroom ! As a bonus, I came across this wonderful Eduphoria find for teaching literary analysis. I just had to share! :) Big Update: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY NEW PRINCIPAL! She's a former librarian and she loves reading to the students! Her SUPER-POWER is spreading the joy of literacy! Thank you, Mrs. Metoye...

As the school year comes to a close, let's not forget about the importance on learning, even when playing. Help us stop the "Summer Slide!" Here's a handy graphic from the National Summer Learning Association . Thank you to our Sienna Branch Librarians for coming out to spread the joy of their summer reading programs! TY #FortBend County #Librarians for inspiring our kids! Be sure to stop by & say hello to Mrs. Goss & Ms. Parra! https://t.co/H72rViU6LT — Goodman_Owls (@Goodman_Owls) May 24, 2016 Love our Sienna Branch #Librarians ! They're helping our kids stop the #reading #summerslide ! @SugarLandSun #FBISD pic.twitter.com/u3PHljg120 — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) May 24, 2016 Don't forget to join their Summer Reading Club ! The fun starts May 30! Look for the above graphic if you're in grades K-5! Look for the above graphic if you're going to MIDDLE SCHOOL! Before you head on over to Sienna Branch Library, b...

The end of the year is THANKFULLY near! WE MADE IT!!! To couple along with the relaxed pace (now that testing's finished too), we're slow-jamming in the library with Cedella Marley's Every Little Thing with illustrations by my wonderful friend, Vanessa Brantley Newton !

Woo-hoo! It's National Library Week! Are you participating in the ALA National Library Week Challenge?? I am! :) @ALALibrary Here's my #bannedbook from the 2015 list! 😈 #LibrariesTransform #photochallenge #LoveMySchoolLibrary pic.twitter.com/vAOEJnU2lW — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) April 11, 2016 Happy #NLWD2016 Myself & Mrs. Noceja-my beloved Kindergarten #coworker / #friend !! #WNDLibs @ALALibrary pic.twitter.com/llmLkhufRB — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) April 12, 2016 The best part of my #library 's the entrance door: Seeing those kiddos' smiles, hugs & exuberance inspires me! #NLW16 pic.twitter.com/f50iA27vSq — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) April 13, 2016 Libraries inspire hope w/in the community& provide the resources needed to achieve their dreams! #LibrariesTransform pic.twitter.com/u6ZLZo3csg — AwakenLibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) April 14, 2016 Pls chk out how we've celebrated #NLW16 ...

Today was a GREAT DAY! I did get to meet my #TwitterLibraryMentor, Mr. John Schu ! So for my kiddos who follow my blog, here's another example of my reaching out to my dreams. I've followed Mr. Schu's blog since 2013. I enjoyed learning from his book-trailers and experiences. He inspired me to keep going with my own views on what a 21st century library looks like! So it was UBER COOL to meet him today! Awesome-sauce! And, he admitted to being happy to meet me! Don't believe me...check this out! @awakenlibrarian It was wonderful meeting you. — John Schu (@MrSchuReads) January 27, 2016 What is even a greater bonus is Mr. Schu graciously gave me a copy of the newly awarded Newberry Medal book, Last Stop on Market Street written by Matt De La Pena with illustrations by Christian Robinson. Here's some student feedback of the author's purpose from the Last Stop on Market Street: "The author's purpose was to persuade the reader to be gratefu...

So...it's January! The kiddos have had a long holiday break and they DON'T want to be here...muchless follow rules! Therefore, this post is dedicated the rules of the library and behavior expectations. Please enjoy these pictures and videos...I hope it will inspire better behavior expectations! :) And for my little Owls, here's a message from our principal and an "Oscar-worthy" performance by some of your friends or in this case...partners in crime! :) We all know that students can listen and focus when they WANT to...ever seen a kid gaming? 100% focus. I've learned that their selective apathy is called #Slackitude . Check out this read on Medium by Sadies Ceng: #Slacktitude P.S. Here's a *BONUS* for you...a book on breaking rules: Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors on Speaking Up, Standing Out and Being Yourself !

A few weeks ago, I posted about Egyptian Mummies. The kids were AMAZED that beneath the pyramids were a labyrinth of mazes! That was the beginning of this week's lesson: MAZES! Yes...I was one of those kids that would complete a maze book in one day! Therefore, it was off to Amazon.com to find them: Then I had the grand idea to have the students compete on a poster-size and laminated free maze: And that was the beginning of the end...the kids went ZONKERS! Here's a video archive of the day... What I most enjoyed was the concluding activity: I chose 2 volunteers. One person acted as the "hands," the other were the "eyes." They had to work together to complete the maze. This was TEAMWORK at its best because one had to listen (because they were blindfolded) and the other volunteer had to articulate clearly. It's amazing how well they can listen when they want a treat! And yes, that pun was intentional! As my new, beloved principal say...

So we've reached the 3rd week of school here in Texas, and it's not quite eye-rolling time, but some of the kids are not playing nice in the sand-box! :) However, I'm not discouraged. I'm pressing forward and would like to offer these resources: for the disgruntled tween: for the 2nd graders trying to decide what's a good book: Helping #students "Choose the Right Book" today in the #library ! Here's cute video resource: https://t.co/OllQCC9ynT pic.twitter.com/Zc0K8bMTWx — awakenlibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) September 8, 2015 and, for those kids that hate books: The better news is that Halloween is next month and in case you don't know, I LOVE scaring the kiddo's. Here's last year's Halloween blog post ! Libraries and fear go so well together!

I've discovered a new book... AND I'M IN LOVE! In this one book, I will cover all subjects in learning (music, art, language art, social students, science, technology & PE-via dancing), ready? Here we go... Here's a small video I created to put on the morning announcements to entice the students: And, what kind of librarian would I be without including a book review: Mummy Cat by Marcus Ewert My rating: 5 of 5 stars I absolutely loved this book as it's the perfect platform to cover every subject taught in school. Without giving away too much, Mummy Cat was the victim of vengeance and now awaits to be reunited with his owner, the Queen of Egypt! The fluidity of Marcus Ewert 's choice of words is wonderful. Please check out my blog post, as it has the blessing of both author and illustrator: Mummy Cat! And, did I mention that illustrator Lisa Brown has fantastic illustrations that allude to the text seamlessly? View all my reviews Then, I beg...