Down with Dewey?

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I attended a session at WLA in Green Bay in November of last year about the Whitefish Bay's Book Seek classification system for their nonfiction collection presented by Valerie Morris. The gist of the session was the multitude of reasons that the Dewey Decimal System needs to go! This session inspired me to change how our children's nonfiction collection is classified (a work in progress). And, after doing more research into the negative side of the Dewey Decimal System, and its creator, I'm firmly on team Ditch Dewey! 

School Library Journal published an article in 2019 titled The Trouble with Dewey, which stated, "Dewey is in many ways an outdated mess. Racist and sexist, it classifies 'women's work' separately from jobs, and African American culture separately from American culture." And, those are only two examples of the problematic nature of continuing to use a system created by a biased creator over 150 years ago.

Is your library still using the Dewey Decimal System?

You can read the School Library Journal Article here: [The Trouble with Dewey. Marrocolla, Elisabeth. School Library Journal. 10/01/2019. https://www.slj.com/story/The-Trouble-with-Dewey-libraries]

For those of you interested in diving further into Dewey himself, I recommend: 

Racism in the Dewey Decimal System from Book Riot

ALA Votes to Strip Melvil Dewey's Name from its Top Honor from Publisher's Weekly

Move Over, Melvil! Momentum Grows to Eliminate Bias and Racims in the 145-year-old Dewey Decimal System from School Library Journal.

Mental Health Teen Nonfiction

The wonderful Brooke Windsor over at the YALSA Hub shared an amazing list of nonfiction titles focused on mental health for teens.  I know that my teen nonfiction section could definitely use some updated and informative books covering a range of questions and topics regarding mental health.  In particular, non-judgmental books and books that guide teens to even more resources would be most welcome.  Happily, Windsor's list includes books on topics as broad as "positive psychology" and as specific as a single personal experience had by an author.  Time to stock those shelves with solid resources on this growing topic of interest to teens!

Find the list in it's entirety HERE.

YALSA's 2019 Excellence in Nonfiction Shortlist

YALSA's 2019 Excellence in Nonfiction Shortlist has officially been revealed!

The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor written by Sonia Sotomayor
                                    
Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam written by Elizabeth Partridge
                               
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler written and illustrated by John Hendrix
                                 
Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
                                 
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees written and illustrated by Don Brown
                                 
The YALSA 2019 Excellence in Nonfiction Award honors the best nonfiction books written for young adults between November 1, 2017 and October 31, 2018.

The winner of the award will be announced on January 2018 during the Youth Media Award announcements at ALA's Midwinter Meeting.

To read the official press release, click HERE.

To head over to Amazon to pick up these titles for yourself, click on the book covers!

ICYMI: A Book About Standing Rock Told From a Child's Perspective

Broaching injustice issues with children in a way they can understand isn't always the easiest task.  While an increasing number of authors and illustrators have begun tackling sensitive subjects, it's not often that you find a title told from a child's perspective that was actually written by a child.

Aslan Tudor (then 8 years old) and his family were present at Standing Rock Reservation during the 2016 conflict over the Dakota Access Pipeline.  After having time to reflect over what had happened, Aslan and his mother realized that there weren't any resources available that would help children to understand the events that took place.  

"He wanted to make a resource for younger kids to understand what happened at Standing Rock and why." - Kelly Tudor, Aslan's mother

Thus, the idea of a book was born.

Now, two years later, 10-year-old Aslan--with the help of his mother--has a published book on the market: Young Water Protectors: A Story about Standing Rock .

To learn a bit more about Aslan's experiences, check out this article published on www.cbc.ca.

NOTE: I haven't had a chance to read it yet (it just came out this August) but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be doing so straight away when it arrives at the library!

VOYA's Nonfiction Honor List 2018

Looking to revamp your nonfiction offerings for your 5th through 8th graders?  

Check out VOYA's Nonfiction Honor List for 2018!  With subjects ranging from sandwiches to computer coding, you're sure to find something to entice readers.

Ready to take a peek?  Click HERE.

Who Was? Series to Hit Netflix

I hope you're ready, fans of the Who Was? book series...because there's a new show hitting Netflix this month based on the bestselling biographies!

According to the Netflix website: "Fresh voices bring some of the most famous names in history to life. A live-action sketch comedy show based on the series of best-selling books."  

From the looks of the trailer, viewers should be ready for some high-energy, goofy fun.  (And with guest stars like Ellie Kemper and H. Jon Benjamin, I'm guessing they'll have no trouble delivering on that promise.)

The books are already pretty popular, but maybe we'll be seeing a spike in the circulation numbers after the new show debuts?  Only time will tell...

Watch the trailer here!