Picture Book Picks

Bev Humphrey
Literacy & Digital Media Consultant
www. Bevhumphrey.com
Social media – https://linktr.ee/BevHumphrey

I have just checked my home library app and apparently, I have 560 picture books on my shelves… so you can probably guess that I do love an illustrated story! I don’t think that picture books are just for young children either, I’ve taught some very popular lessons with 14 year olds using picture books to focus on inference and prediction etc so it certainly isn’t just primary schools I would like to find picture books in. There are so many published each year it’s hard to keep up however so I hope this collection of recent picture books that I love will be useful:

The Midnight Mitzva, Ruth Horowitz

This gentle story that encourages children to think of others is a retelling of a 2000-year-old story from the Jewish book of law, the Talmud. Included at the end of the story are some educational endnotes about the Jewish value of tzedakah (helping those in need) as well as information about similar traditions in other faiths.

We Can! – Make a Difference, Alexandra Strick and Steve Antony

We Can! Is the second book written in this style, the first being You Can! and both are unique in that they were written with a team of children, for children, and both are empowering and fun reads. This story is about activism and making a positive change in your world.

The Language of Flowers, Shyala Smith & Aaron Asis

I’m not ashamed to say that this beautifully written and illustrated picture book brought a tear to my eye, the story is poignant and explores how a child copes with grief and finds a way to pay tribute to a lost friend.

The Story Orchestra – The Planets, illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle

The Planets is one of a series of stunning picture books that explore classical music , with a play aloud sound on each page. I only have two at the moment (this one and the Nutcracker) but all of the rest of them are on my wishlist.

Are You A Hungry Monster?, Guilherme Karsten

As this is one of my granddaughter’s favourite books at the moment, I just had to include it – it’s such good fun to read! This is the third in the series about a small bespectacled monster and it would be wonderful as a read aloud with a group of children. Plenty of gross out moments – dried bogies in a sandwich anyone?! – and wind references.

Cloud Boy, Greg Stobbs

Bobby has a very vivid imagination and struggles to focus which is a little inconvenient as whenever his mind takes flight so does he and he floats up into the clouds. Hi family and friends try to help him by tethering him to the ground but by the end of the story we discover that Bobby’s way of thinking isn’t so bad after all and that we should all celebrate our differences.

Dance Just Like So, Annemarie Anang & Natelle Quek

Dance Just Like So tells the tale of Kwesi who every week dances with his grandmother and her neighbours until Gran has an accident and cannot dance standing up. Together they find a way round this however and their happiness in being together just shines off the page. Such a joyful, family centric story.

Colours of Home, Miriam Latimer

In Colours of Home we meet young Ana who has been forced to leave her home by war and is feeling very sad about it, to the extent that she no longer sees any colour in her world. The young girl she now lives with, Olive, wants to help Ana feel better and slowly the colours come back. A great book to introduce the subject of refugeeism to young children.

A Story of the Seasons, Anna Wilson & Carolina Rabei

This sumptuous large format picture book is a factual one and leads us through the seasons in nature. The full page illustrations are gorgeous and the text is full of so many facts that it would keep any nature lover occupied for ages.

Me and My Hair, Kimberley Kinloch

Young Kyla loves her afro hair but her friends don’t always understand everything she does to look after it , and she’s curious about other people’s hair, her friend Mia’s who has ginger hair for example. I learnt so much from this book and it’s interesting, fun and promotes understanding and individuality.

Accessit as a Learning and Marketing Tool to Increase Student Engagement

Gabrielle Mace is the former Head of Library Services at St Augustine’s College in Sydney, Australia. The all-male school caters to Years 5 to 12 grade students. When she began her role at St Augustine’s, she knew that to change the schools’ LMS was a big decision and one that would require a good reason. The library had low patronage and most students had no idea how to use the existing Learning Management System to find a book. She had implemented Accessit Library at two other schools in her career, and she felt unequivocally that Accessit was the right tool because “it was the best for the students.”

Colorful and Easy to Use

Gabrielle states that her philosophy is that students are first. Accessit has the friendliest OPAC to navigate, and the tool is the most visual and easy to use. She describes the user interface as critically important. Accessit was implemented in June 2023. There could not been an easier implementation. The team at Accessit provided exceptional value by extracting the old data and bringing it into the new system with no disruption in the school day. Younger students love the Visual Search tool to assist them in finding books, and older students can search by genre, age group, and even classroom. And with the drag and drop functionality, it’s actually fun to use! A new teacher was once given the opportunity at St Augustine’s to navigate through Accessit – “You can’t break it,” Gabrielle told the new teacher. She was able to navigate quickly and found her way around with ease.

Accessit as a Marketing Tool

St Augustine’s has made full use of the Custom Dashboards, and Accessit is a marketing tool as well as a learning tool. By setting up custom dashboards, you can essentially create a web page by student year, classroom, curriculum component, or anything you can imagine. Using the dashboard site has an additional benefit. It exposes students to multiple topics or resources they may not have searched for on their own. The creative use of this feature has resulted in a huge increase in visits to the library, and checkouts for Years 10, 11, and 12 have increased substantially. St Augustine’s has several ways in which they utilize the dashboard including:

Seasonal and Thematic Displays

Aligning the dashboard themes with key events or seasons – such as Book Week, holidays, or upcoming exam periods. For example, Gabrielle featured a “Study Success” dashboard with links to research guides, curated collections of study tips, recommended reading lists, and micro lessons to assist students with referencing and academic writing. This encourages students to engage with resources they may not have explored otherwise.

Bringing Students Back to the OPAC Wherever Possible

Gabrielle recently hosted a Gamified Literacy Initiative and a Murder Mystery challenge, which took the students from a simple display in the library to inhabiting an online world where evidence was slowly drip fed and opportunities for multimodal learning were possible. This was only possible through the use of the custom dashboards in Accessit and the ability to load in video content from ClickView to deliver pieces of evidence over a long period of time. Through newsletter pieces, parents were encouraged to join this initiative from home and work with their son to help solve the mystery. This allowed parents to build familiarity with Accessit, and as a byproduct they became familiar with all the elements it offers.

Promoting New Arrivals and Events

When new books arrive, she features “New on the Shelves” or “Just Arrived” widgets that auto-refresh on the dashboard, keeping things exciting. Event promotion is another key – whether it’s a visiting author or library competitions, these widgets act as eye-catching reminders for students to get involved. They are so highly visual and so easy to change up that Gabrielle makes changes to her custom dashboard every three or four days to keep the student experience fresh!

Data-Driven Student Impact

The library at St Augustine’s has seen tangible benefits which can be seen through Accessit’s analytics. After the introduction of regular dashboard updates with targeted genres, they observed an increase in both borrowing rates and genre diversification. This has had a direct impact on fostering a love of reading among students, who are now more engaged in independent reading.

Gabrielle says, “Using Accessit in this way keeps the library experience fresh and relevant, which drives student interest and supports their academic and personal success. The flexibility of the platform allows us to adapt quickly to the needs of our community, making it a crucial part of our literacy strategy.”

Bring on the comics!

Bev Humphrey
Literacy & Digital Media Consultant
www. Bevhumphrey.com
Social media – https://linktr.ee/BevHumphrey

I love reading in all the different shapes it comes in (and yes I do consider listening to an audiobook to be reading!) but I do have a particular liking for graphic novels/comic books and it has always upset me in the past when friends and colleagues have dismissed these illustrated stories as not ‘proper books’. It doesn’t happen as much now I’m happy to say but I’d like to share with you some of my favourite graphic novels from the past few years, just in case there’s any lingering doubt in your mind!

For young children looking for a first comic book

Hilda & Twig Hide From the Rain, Luke Pearson

Children may already be aware of Hilda and Twig from the Netflix series so this simple comic book should be an easy win.

Guaranteed to make you laugh

Bunny vs Monkey series, Jamie Smart

These laugh a page comics are silly, irreverent and just a joy to read with plenty of toilet humour and slapstick thrown in.

To experience someone else’s culture

Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir, Pedro Martin

In this award-winning graphic novel we travel with Pedro from his home in America back to Mexico to collect his grandfather who is coming to live with the family.

For lovers of mythology

The Fox Maidens, Robin Ha

This fantasy romance is based on the ancient nine- tailed fox legends of Korea and has inspirational strong female characters and an underlying theme of family honour and expectation.

Based on facts

Courage to Dream, Neal Schusterman

This emotive, sometimes hard to read book contains 5 different takes on one common theme, this being the tradition of resistance. There are fact pages about the Holocaust too which help to make this a sobering but important read.

Neurodiverse representation

Frankie’s World & Finding My Voice, Aoife Dooley and Speak Up!, Rebecca Burgess

I couldn’t choose between these three fun novels which give a unique perspective on Autism and how it can give you a different outlook on life.

For your dark, atmospheric reads lovers

Through the Woods, Emily Carroll

This one’s a bit older but it’s a classic in my mind. It includes five, eerie, disquieting stories which follow journeys in and out of the abyss.

Lovers of Bridgerton and Jane Austen

I Shall Never Fall in Love, Hari Conner

A Regency love story with a definite twist with lots to say about the expectations placed on women and the importance of conforming to society norms in that time period.

Retelling of a classic

War of the Worlds, Chris Mould

The classic story told in stunning fashion, this has pride of place on my bookshelf and is the graphic novel I would choose to buy as a present as I think everyone would appreciate its beauty.

Meeting well loved characters

Bad Magic: A Skulduggery Pleasant Graphic Novel, Derek Landy, PJ Holden & Matt Soffe

I am a dyed in the wool Skulduggery fan and I was anxious when this was published, not sure if it would match up to the pictures I see in my head whilst reading the stories but I shouldn’t have worried! Great, diverse storyline and brilliant illustrations.

For introverts

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World, Debbie Tung

Quiet Girl was published in 2017 but it stands out in my mind as being a book that would definitely make my introverted family members feel ‘seen’. It represents the author’s own experiences as an introvert in a world that at times seems to be entirely populated by extroverts and is a wonderfully empathetic read.

The (multiple) books of Christmas

Bev Humphrey
Accessit Library trainer, Library consultant, and host of the SLA’s ‘Book Chat with Bev’.

Hi everyone I hope you are enjoying some festive reading at the moment! For me Christmas means family and the hopeful possibility of some bookish gifts and I love it when I can give books as gifts and tie the two together. If you are hoping to do the same here’s some suggestions you might find useful:

For very young children

That’s Not My Reindeer
(978-1409556046)

The latest in this very popular touchy feely series , with different textures to stroke, starring a very cute reindeer and his white mouse friend.

Usborne Slide and See Christmas
(978-1805076759)

Sturdy, brightly coloured board book with charming illustrations and a slider to explore on every page.

For toddlers who like a giggle

Santa Needs a New Bum
(978-0702338779)

The next one in the already very popular New Bum series, this story will have kids in fits of merriment.

Has Santa Been?
(978-0702330957)

Poor Santa enjoys all the lovely drinks that children leave for him but he never has time to spend a penny! The story ends with a patch of suspiciously yellow snow , which is sure to bring laughter.

For ages 9 -12 who love classic children’s books

Charlie and the Christmas Factory and Other Stories
(978-0241618776)

So many fabulous children’s authors have written short stories for this anthology and children will be delighted to meet old friends from Dahl’s books.

Christmas Classics 8 Book Collection
(978-1802634969)

This set of simplified classics works as a great introduction to well know stories , Little Women, The Nutcracker and Christmas Carol for example.

For ages 9 – 12 who like funny books

The Biggest Christmas Secret Ever
(978-1510113053)

This is the second festive themed title from LD Lapinski, the first being Step Father Christmas , and this story has the same blend of humour and feeling that leaves you feeling warm inside.

Sprouts
(978-1526639462)

Imagine it being Christmas every day……all that lovely food! Not so lovely when you end up having sprouts every day though. A fun, magical adventure and I’m sure this will be as popular with young readers as the author’s previous title, Tinsel, is.

Young Adult festive romcoms

Some Like It Cold
(978-1035027842)

I’m told by my friends who are school librarians that this one is just flying off the shelves and I’m not surprised. Cosy small town romance stories are very popular at the moment and when you add Christmas into the mix it just enhances everything.

Stay Another Day
(978-1786541086)

Although not newly published I loved this tale of three siblings going home for the festive season with secrets being revealed and old rivalries resurrected. I love Juno Dawson’s sly humour although be warned, this one does have fruitier language than some.

For Booktokers

Spectacular
(9781399721523)

Following on from the Caravel series this festive themed novella is sure to be on many booktokers wish list and the hardback is indeed a thing of beauty, with gorgeous illustrations by Rosie Fowinkle.

Carrie
(9781399731294)

Obviously not a festive story but this special 50th anniversary edition is just stunning and has pride of place on my bookshelf. It has an introduction by Margaret Attwood and foiling on the cover that seems to just glow.

For book lovers of any age

At Home in a Book
(978-0241665794)

This amazing book allows you to peep into the homes in nine classic stories , introducing them to younger readers and proving nostalgic to those of us who have already roamed the rooms in our imagination.

The Incredible Pop Up Bug
(978-1800784130)

There can be only one word to describe this book and that is ‘WOW’! A large format book packed with intricate, colourful illustrations and pop ups with tons of information. I was blow away by it (and I don’t like bugs!)

I hope you have found some ideas to add to your shopping lists but I did run a webinar for the School Library Association recently with most of these titles featured and many more besides, you can watch it here.

Wishing you all a very bookish, cosy festive season , however you celebrate, I would like to follow the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod and spend Christmas Eve curled up reading but I doubt I will be able to!

What Does Information Literacy Mean to Our Wider School Community?

In the recent webinar “What Exactly Do We Mean by Information Literacy?” we considered this important question in depth and looked at ways to try and resolve the issues it raised. If you missed the webinar there is still time to watch it again and tell us your ideas.

As school librarians, we often face dilemmas being both information specialists and educators. One of our greatest challenges lies not in the complexity of the subject matter we deal with daily, but in the very language we use to describe it. The diversity in terminology surrounding information literacy has become a significant hurdle in our efforts to collaborate effectively with teachers and integrate these crucial skills into the curriculum. Why has this happened? Some say it is because information literacy is not an “examined” topic and therefore has no associated controlled vocabulary, unlike the closely related subject of information technology (Leaning, 2017).

I was recently involved with the BRIDGEInfolit project (BRIDGE, 2024) funded by Erasmus and our research found that while librarians speak of “information literacy”, teachers might refer to the same concepts as “study skills” or “digital literacy”. This discrepancy in language isn’t just a matter of semantics; it can significantly impact our ability to co-design teaching strategies and assessment methods. When librarians and teachers aren’t speaking the same language, creating cohesive, integrated information literacy instruction becomes an uphill battle.

The webinar explored how it is necessary to prioritise building a shared vocabulary, beginning by initiating discussions about terminology. By engaging in open dialogue with teachers, we can co-create agreed-upon terms that resonate with both parties. These conversations shouldn’t happen in isolation; involving students in developing this canon ensures that it remains accessible and relevant to all. By aligning our terminology with widely recognised information literacy frameworks such as Alberta, Informed Learning, Guided Inquiry Design, FOSIL etc we can also create a more universal approach. Once established, we can collaborate with teachers to co-design lesson plans that incorporate these skills, reinforcing their cross curricular importance.

The webinar also demonstrates how we can draw insights from Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1961). He suggests that people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modelling. For example, if teachers and librarians model effective information seeking and evaluation strategies, students are more likely to copy these behaviours. So maybe when we are teaching concepts of misinformation and disinformation, rather than promoting what is “bad” we should be modelling best practice and encouraging students to follow this pathway.

Bandura’s theory also emphasises the role of self-efficacy in learning. Hence if we integrate information literacy skills into various subjects and projects, we can provide students with multiple opportunities to practice and master these skills. Each successful application of an information literacy competency builds students’ confidence in their abilities, increasing their likelihood of using these skills in future situations.

Our Library Management System (LMS) can be a powerful ally in this endeavour. We might develop an area within the LMS as a resource hub for teachers, including lesson plans and terminology guides related to information literacy. We could create a centralised space for sharing knowledge and best practices. This not only supports teachers in incorporating information literacy into their lessons but also reinforces our shared vocabulary. For students we could devise dashboards for different projects incorporating guides, exemplar work, “how to” videos of research databases and use tracking data to show how students access and use this resource when completing their project work. Furthermore, we can ensure that the terminology we wish to use is prominent during library induction sessions and explanations are given within the LMS too to make searching easier and finding the required information more exact. For example, by using features such as “see also” or the citation tab, we can reinforce information literacy concepts in a practical, hands-on manner.

Engaging parents and the wider community is equally important. By hosting information sessions that explain the importance of information literacy, we create a support network that extends beyond school walls. This aligns with Bandura’s emphasis on the social context of learning, recognising that students’ understanding and valuation of information literacy skills are influenced by their entire environment, not just their experiences at school. We might initiate a newsletter that highlights success stories in information literacy instruction. By showcasing real-world applications and achievements, we reinforce the practical value of these skills to all stakeholders in the educational community.

Remember, establishing a shared understanding is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. We must regularly review and adjust our strategies to ensure they remain relevant and effective. By doing so, we can help our students develop the critical thinking and information skills they’ll need for success in school and beyond. Why not watch or listen again to the webinar and see how you might underpin an understanding of information literacy in your wider school community.

Refrences

Bandura, A., Ross, D. & Ross, S.A. (1961) Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-82. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0045925

BRIDGE Partners (2024) Information and digital literacy at school. A bridge to support critical thinking and equality values for primary education using children’s literature and transmedia. Available at: https://bridgeinfoliteracy.eu/

Leaning, M. (2017) Media and information literacy: An integrated approach for
the 21st century. Cambridge: Chandos Publishing.