#childrens librarian

[teenslib]

I'm back in Children's Services at a different branch and going through their stuffies and puppets to see what animals I can pull together for There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. There's a set of farmyard animals that includes a donkey, so now I'm considering adding a new verse:

There was an old lady who swallowed a donkey-- That crazy old honkey, she swallowed a donkey!

[booksinmythorax]

My dear friends: When a librarian or teacher says "Audiobooks count as reading", we do not literally mean that audiobooks are the same as decoding visual meaning via symbols representing sounds. We mean, among other things:

Audiobooks can expose listeners to new vocabulary and forms of syntax.

Audiobooks can present listeners with long-form fictional narratives with engaging characters, interesting literary devices, and poetic turns of phrase.

Audiobooks can teach listeners new information in a long-form manner that goes into depth or wide breadth on a particular subject or subjects.

Audiobooks can help listeners' verbal comprehension skills.

Audiobooks can do all these things without presenting the same difficulties to blind, low vision, partially sighted, visually impaired, or dyslexic listeners; listeners with ADHD; listeners who experience physical difficulty with holding a book or e-reader; or listeners who are disabled in a host of other ways that a physical book or e-reader might present.

The written word is not specially imbued with magical noble worth above the spoken word, and if you think it is, you may have some ableism and/or racism to deconstruct.

[the-forest-library]

[bisexualhobgadling]

Dream of the Endless would be a great professor, but you know what else he'd be amazing at?

Children's Librarian

Kids are full of stories. He would absolutely love to hear them and help nurture that creativity. The really young ones could be read to and have nap time. Parents would love him. Kids would love him. Hob would love him.

also it would just be really cute 😌

[ayyy-imma-ninja]

Just realized I don't think I ever posted the illustrations for this story here!

Here are the illustrations for chapter 1!

[intothestacks]

As a children's librarian, people who harass fans of Harry Potter indiscriminately really worry me.

Here's why.

1. The majority of Harry Potter fans are children.

I've had people call me disgusting and scum and an embarrassment to my disabled community. I've been suicide baited and have received death threats. All of this can be heavy enough stuff for an adult to deal with.

And then I think of how most of my 700+ elementary-aged students are huge Harry Potter fans. Because, you know, Harry Potter is a children's series. And they also have access to the internet and social media like TikTok and YouTube.

Now imagine the stuff that's been said to me being said to a kid. Because Harry Potter's main audience are KIDS.

2. This black-and-white mentality isn't healthy.

Very few things in life are cut-and-dry good vs bad. And if you employ this kind of thinking in one area of your life, odds are you'll apply it to other areas too(more on that in a moment).

And people who go out of their way to harass people who like Harry Potter don't seem to particularly care about any context beyond "If you like Harry Potter in any way whatsoever you're scum".

It hasn't mattered when I've pointed out that I absolutely and unequivocally think Rowling's TERF views are awful and scummy and wrong. It hasn't mattered that I try my best to consume the content only in ways that won't monetarily support her, (which kids typically can't do, btw). It hasn't mattered that it's literally in my job description to keep up with children's media to procure content for my patrons as well as to be able to hold conversations with them.

3. Saying "You're not allowed to read this without being harassed" is no different from saying a book should be banned.

This is ironic, seeing as the people doing the harassing are also often up in arms about queerphobic and racist book bans (as they should be) while demanding book bans of their own.

Because in their all-or-nothing way of thinking, book bans are only bad when the "bad" people do it.

No. Book bans are always bad, no exceptions.

Book bans aren't bad because they're banning the "good" books, they're bad because banning access to different ideas is always bad. Because every book has a lesson to teach us (perhaps not the lesson intended by the author, but a lesson nonetheless).

[librarianproblems]

When you’re at the desk and a large children’s summer program releases

[lost-in-interwebs]

met the sweetest 13 year old boy at my job who talked my ear off about fallout and he said "I don't understand why Preston gets as much hate as he does. He sends me to get good loot and I always need that. So I appreciate it."

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[geezerwench]

You need to watch this and pass it along.

According to Project 2025, the only REAL family is a man, his wife, and their children.

They're going to eliminate overtime pay.

They want pregnancy and abortion surveillance.

They want to jail teachers and librarians because of "banned books."

Trump IS Project 2025.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

A librarian reads to children in a park, 1920s.

Photo: NYPL

[rebeccathenaturalist]

I volunteer in a school library (for elementary, middle, and high school students) and we've got one shelf of plant books, and seven shelves of animal books. Can you (and your followers) recommend some kid-friendly books about plants? Maybe some organizations willing to donate some to a public school?

@sovereignsolace I don't work with kids much so I don't have a lot of suggestions personally. However, I was delighted to see this recently:

While there are certainly kids who will happily read the original book (which is excellent for so many reasons!), this will make it accessible to those who might find the original too long or who like the sorts of informational sidebars and other asides that make this version more adapted for primary/secondary classroom discussion.

I also found this list of botany-related books for kids on Goodreads.

Anyone else want to chime in with other suggested titles? Or know of a source for a library to get titles donated to them?

[teenslib]

Kid at the reference desk: Do you have any of the Dork Diaries books?

Me: Yeah, they should be... here!

Two minutes later, see the kid walking to checkout like:

Me:

[rhymeswithfart]

Please look, important info below taken from this list

https://gofund.me/bc348229

"Mohammed Matar: Mohammed's entire future as a water infrastructure engineer, and the company he was setting the building blocks for are all gone. He now has to care for his children and his wife struggling with postpartum in conditions of genocide."

This is a vetted campaign. Low on funds, €4,465/20,000. Please read and share their story. More info under the cut.

El Shab Hussein is a trusted vetter who vouched for this campaign. More info about vetting here.

"HELLO BELOVED COMMUNITY

My name is Wael, I'm making this account on behalf of my friend Mohammed

Matar.

Hi, I am Mohammad Matar, a civil engineer. I graduated in 2015. I am a father of two children, Imad, 3 years old. Rima, 6 months We lived a comfortable life and I owned a car . I used to live in an apartment in Khan Yunis, then I moved to an apartment in Gaza City.

I own a company that works in the field of contracting and selling building materials with five employees, and engineering equipment, a trailer, a forklift, and rams. My life was like paradise.

Suddenly, on October 7, everything turned like a dream. I woke up to the sound of missiles and explosions. My wife was pregnant with my little girl. I tried and escaped from my apartment in Gaza City and headed to the safe areas, which I do not know where they are. The sound of death and destruction is everywhere.

what can i do !! I was displaced south to the central city

He stayed there for two months, then came the second exodus to the city of Rafah, then the third exodus to the city of Nuseirat, then the fourth exodus to the city of Deir al-Balah, and one exodus after it. Our life is like hell. We do not have the energy to absorb this amount of pressure.

In February 2024, my wife was about to give birth. I could not provide clothes for my newborn daughter, nor milk, nor diapers, due to the brutal war and the scarcity of financial resources. Just writing and thinking about this thing makes my condition worse than tragedy.

I learned the English language and am currently studying the Spanish language. I obtained a degree in water engineering. I was dreaming of myself and my company, but everything went to waste. I did not imagine that one day in the wind I would get what happened and live in a battlefield after home and become unemployed after being the owner.

My dear brothers and sisters, I did not accept one day to receive charity, but I had everything and I lost everything. Your support for me, even if it is a little, will change my life and the lives of my children so that I can provide them with milk, pampers, and safety, rebuild my home, and restore my life for the better.

I put my family first in everything. My children are the most precious thing. I have this life. I hope they live a more beautiful and better reality

Your support for me will strength my resilience and will keep me holding up . Thank you from the bottom of my heart

The land of peace has never seen peace.️✌️"

[commiepinkofag]

In 1983, the 1981 book Jenny Lives With Eric & Martin, by Danish author Susanne Bösche, was published in England. The book was intended for primary school children and told the story of Jenny, a little girl who lived with her father and his male lover. It was quickly banned from schools after protests from parents and politicians who feared that it might encourage children to "experiment with homosexuality".

[intothestacks]

2 queer-inclusive picture books about becoming a big sibling

All Our Love by Kari-Lynn Winters – A little girl writes a letter to her new baby brother, welcoming him to the family. Features gay parents.

When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff – When Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl. Eventually, Aidan realized he was actually a boy, and so he and his parents corrected the parts of his life that didn’t fit anymore. Now, Aidan is about to become a big brother, and he wants to make everything right for the new baby. But what exactly does that entail?