Tips and Info from DPI's March 27 , 2025 Youth Services Newsletter

Jeni Schomber's DPI Youth Services Weekly Reminders and Resources is now in a cool new format!

The email newsletter is chockfull of great resources we've come to rely on. If you are a WI youth library staffer and you don't receive this weekly missive in your email inbox, please contact Jeni (jennifer.schomber@dpi.wi.gov) to be placed on the list! 

Here is the March 27, 2025 edition. 

Hello All,

CLEL (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy) Bell Selection Committee

• The CLEL Bell Awards are an annual recognition of five high-quality children’s books that provide excellent support of early literacy development in young children ages 0-5.
• This committee is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to early literacy advocacy, gain experience working on an award committee, and build your resume!
• Apply for the Selection Committee - the application deadline is Friday March 28, 2025.

CSLP Slogan Wordsmithing Sessions (Collaborative Summer Library Program)

• Join the conversation to refine the 2028 Slogan suggestions for the “Mystical Creatures” theme. You can choose to attend either session as your schedule allows.
• Click to register for Wednesday April 9, 2025 at 3 p.m. CST 
• Click to register for Thursday April 17, 2025 at 12 p.m. CST

Positive Impacts of BadgerLink

• We want to hear from you! BadgerLink provides access to a wealth of trusted resources for learners of all ages. An important component is hearing from you about the positive impacts these resources have had on your life. View the Impacts Story here. 

Have a great weekend!

Jeni

Tips and Info from DPI's Oct 17, 2024 Newsletter

Jeni Schomber's DPI Youth Services Weekly Reminders and Resources is chockfull of great resources. If you are a WI youth library staffer and you don't receive this weekly missive in your email inbox, please contact Jeni  (jennifer.schomber@dpi.wi.gov) to be placed on the list! 

Here is the information from the Oct 17, 2024 edition

CLEL Beyond Bilingual: Making Storytimes ELL-Friendly FREE webinar

 

• Tuesday October 22^nd at 2 p.m. CST
• Presented by Jessica Ralli and Rachel G. Payne (Brooklyn Public Library)
• Libraries are seeing a growing number of immigrant families at their programs, but what do you do when storytime leaders and storytime families don't speak the same language?  Learn how Brooklyn Public Library has developed simple strategies and techniques to make storytimes for young children friendly to parents and children who are English Language Learners by creating visual schedules, incorporating simple props, using translated resources, using Plain Language, and more!
• Learn more and register

 

Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) Youth Services Section (YSS) 2024 Virtual Performers Showcase

 

• Tuesday December 3^rd starting from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• The 2024 Virtual Performers Showcase, presented by the WLA Youth Services Section, will connect performers with members of the Wisconsin library community through live virtual demonstrations and marketing materials offered by magicians, puppeteers, storytellers, musicians, and anyone who presents library programs for children, youth, teen, and family audiences.  
• $20 for WLA members and $40 for non- members.
• A digital directory of performers will be made available to attendees for future reference. Can’t attend the live virtual event? A recording of the showcase will be available to registered attendees for 60 days after the event. 
• Learn more and register

Calling All Early Literacy Advocates

This just in from CLEL. It’s a great opportunity to get involved on a national level and meet and work with other early literacy advocates.

Did you know that CLEL (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy) has no paid employees and is powered by an all-volunteer Steering Committee? We need your help for next year! Consider applying today. 

NEW for 2025 - up to 4 Steering Committee members can be from outside of Colorado!

Learn more and apply: https://www.clel.org/announcements/call-for-new-leadership/

Tuesday Tips - Registration for CLELCON is open

Sam Jones is the Youth Services Librarian at the Beaver Dam Public Library. She shares tips to make your job easier in her Tuesday posts.

CLELCON (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Conference) registration opened recently. The conference is "open to anyone who is involved or wants to be involved with early literacy." 

It is scheduled for October 3-4 on Zoom. The registration fee is $35. Speaker information will be coming soon. I'll be presenting on the 3rd along with other CLEL Mini Grant award winners to discuss what the grant funds were used for. Previous conference materials can be accessed through the CLEL website.

ASL for Stortime Webinar

From DPI's Jeni Schomber's weekly Youth Services Weekly Reminders and Resources Updates 4/4/24:

ASL for Storytime: Feelings Signs Webinar 

(CLEL – Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy)– Wednesday April 24^th at 2 p.m.

 Click here to register.

Add some American Sign Language to your storytime toolbox! In this interactive session, we’ll focus on basic ASL vocabulary for emotions and activities to support self-awareness, an important social emotional skill. Learn how to incorporate ASL into storytime songs, rhymes, and stories in a respectful and effective way. 

About the Presenter:
Kathy MacMillan is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and storyteller. She is the author of the Little Hands Signing series from Familius Press and Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Hands Up Press) as well as many other books for children, teens, librarians, and educators. She has worked in school and public libraries for over 25 years and has presented workshops and trainings for thousands of library staff throughout North America. Find her online at StoriesByHand.com.

Vote on the CLEL Book Awards Shortlist!

 2024 CLEL Bell Award Shortlist Announcement 

We are pleased to announce the shortlist titles for the 10th annual CLEL Bell Awards. The 2024 year was historic in its submissions, committee involvement, and display of diversity. The way the award has evolved in the past 10 years speaks to how early literacy librarians have a voice in ensuring all our patrons are being reflected in the books we put on our shelves. 

This shortlist of 25 titles, five for each early literacy practice – READ, WRITE, TALK, PLAY, and SING – was chosen from 91 nominations put forward by our committee. 

We encourage librarians, caregivers, and all picture book lovers to vote on their favorites here until January 30, 2024. The winners will be announced in early February. 

The Shortlist titles are: 

READ 

● Benita and the Night Creatures — By Mariana Llanos, illustrated by Cocoretto — September 5, 2023 — Barefoot Books 

● Once Upon a Book — By Grace Lin and Kate Messner — February 7, 2023 — Little Brown and Company 

● Sam with Ants in His Pants — By April Reynolds, illustrated by Katie Kordesh — June 20, 2023 — Anne Schwartz Books 

● This is the First Book I Will Read to You — By Francesco Sedita, illustrated by Magenta Fox — May 2, 2023 — Viking Books for Young Readers 

● This is a Story — By John Schu, illustrated by Lauren Castillo — March 14, 2023 — Candlewick 

WRITE 

● From Here to There: A First Book of Maps — By Vivian French and Ya-Ling Huang — May 16, 2023 — Candlewick Press 

● A Garden in My Hands — By Meera Sriram, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat — April 18, 2023 — Knopf Books for Young Readers 

● The Nature Journal: A Backyard Adventure — By Savannah Allen — May 2, 2023 — Viking Books for Young Readers 

● Scroll — By Hui Li — September 19, 2023 — Christy Ottaviano Books (Little, Brown and Company) 

● The Wheels on the Bus: Touch and Trace Nursery Rhymes — Illustrated by Emily Bannister — August 1, 2023 — Silver Dolphin Books

TALK 

● A Day with No Words — By Tiffany Hammond, illustrated by Kate Cosgrove — May 9, 2023 — Wheat Penny Press 

● I Love You Mucho Mucho — By Rachel Más Davidson — September 5, 2023 — Beaming Books 

● Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar — By Mojdeh Hassani, Samira Iravani, illustrated by Maya Fidawi — February 28, 2023 — Dial Books 

● More Than Words: So Many Ways to Say What We Mean — By Roz Maclean — September 5, 2023 — Henry Holt and Co. 

● My First Learn-to-Talk Book: Things that Go — By Stephanie Cohen, illustrated by Lindsay Dale-Scott — December 6, 2022 — Sourcebooks Explore 

PLAY 

● Bath Time Physics — By Jill Esbaum — May 2, 2023 — MIT Kids Press

● The Fairest in the Land — By Author: Leslea Newman, illustrated by Joshua Heinsz — May 2, 2023 — Harry N. Abrams 

● Let’s Go Puddling! — By Emma Perry, illustrated by Claire Alexander — April 25, 2023 — Candlewick 

● Quiet Time with My Seeya — By Dinale Dabarera — March 7, 2023 — Roaring Book Press 

● You Are a Raccoon! — By Laurie Ann Thompson, illustrated by Jay Fleck — April 11, 2023 — Dial Books 

SING 

● ¡1, 2, 3 Merengue! — By Delia Ruiz and Graziela Andrade — September 5, 2023 — Soaring Kites Books 

● If Mama Sings — By Laura Wittner, illustrated by Maricel R. Clark — July 25, 2023 — Crocodile Books 

● Music is in Everything — By Ziggy Marley, illustrated by Ag Jatkowska — December 22, 222 — Akashic Books 

● Sugar Pie Lullaby: The Soul of Motown in a Song of Love — By Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sawyer Cloud — February 7, 2023 — Sourcebooks eXplore ● We Belong to the Drum — By Sandra Lamouche, illustrated by Azby Whitecalf — May 16, 2023 — Orca Book Publishers

CLEL Book Awards Wants Your Input!

Thanks to Alison Loewen, CLEL Book Award committee member and YSS chair-elect for passing on the following info!

The Bell Awards Committee has selected the shortlist titles for the 2023 award. Five titles have been selected for each of the early literacy practices, Read, Write, Talk, Sing and Play. View the complete shortlists on the Bell Awards page. 

The winners will be announced February 3rd. While the selection committee is responsible for the final decision, we value your input. Please take the time to complete this survey to let us know your thoughts about this year’s shortlist. Voting will close January 6, 2023. 

We had yet another year of strong titles that support and model the early literacy practices. All the titles on our shortlists and the numerous nominated titles are an excellent resource for storytimes, early education classrooms and caregiver recommendations. 

 READ 

 * A Library by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Erin K. Robinson (Versify, September 27, 2022) 

 * Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty, illustrated by David Roberts (Chronicle Books, February 8, 2022) 

 * Dear Reader: A Love Letter to Libraries by Tiffany Rose (little bee books, February 8, 2022) 

 * Everywhere With You by Carlie Sorosiak, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth (Walker Books US, May 24, 2022) 

 * The Book That Did Not Want to Be Read by David Sundin (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, March 1, 2022) 

 WRITE 

 * 123 ZOOM by Chieu Anh Urban (Little Simon, April 19, 2022) 

 * Enzo Y Su Arte/Enzo and His Art by Jessica Spanyol (Childs Play Intl Ltd; Bilingual edition, August 31, 2022) 

 * Every Dog in the Neighborhood by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Neal Porter Books, June 21, 2022) 

 * The Gift by Alain Serge Dzotap, illustrated by Delphine Renon (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, February 15, 2022) 

 * Sallie Bee Writes a Thank-You Note by Susan Verde and Courtney Sheinmel, illustrated by Heather Ross (Harry N. Abrams, November 1, 2022) 

 TALK 

 * Get Together by Miguel Ordóñez (Rise x Penguin Workshop, December 21, 2021) 

 * How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside by Kari Percival (Rise x Penguin Workshop, February 22, 2022) 

 * Miss Rita, Mystery Reader by Sam Donovan & Kristen Wixted, illustrated by Violet Tobacco (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 3, 2022) 

 * Tell Me a Lion Story by Kara Kramer (Candlewick, May 24, 2022) 

 * What’s Your Name? by Bethanie Deeney Murguia (Candlewick, November 8, 2022) 

 PLAY 

 * Again, Essie? by Jenny Lacika, illustrated by Teresa Martinez (Charlesbridge, May 3, 2022) 

 * Animals Move by Jane Whittingham (Pajama Press, March 29, 2022) 

 * Baby’s Here! by Jessica Young, illustrated by Geneviever Godbout (Clarion Books, May 31, 2022) 

 * Playtime for Restless Rascals by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, September 6, 2022) 

 * On a Rainy Day by Sarah LuAnn Perkins (Viking Books for Young Readers, March 29, 2022) 

 SING 

 * Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens, illustrated by Monica Mikai (Candlewick, October 11, 2022) 

 * Hush, Little Trucker by Kim Norman, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura (Harry N. Abrams, February 1, 2022) 

 * Song in the City by Daniel Bernstrom, illustrated by Jenin Mohammed (Amistad Books for Young Readers, September 6, 2022) 

 * Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie illustrated by Julie Flett (Greystone Kids, September 27, 2022) 

 * Welcome to the Cypher by Khodi Dill, illustrated by Awuradwoa Afful (Annick Press, November 30, 2021)

Help Suggest Award Books on Early Literacy

The following message is from Alison Loewen, CLEL Book Awards Committee member and YSS Chair-elect.

Is there a book published this year that you think provides excellent support of early literacy development in young children?  Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) is accepting suggestions for the 2023 CLEL Bell Awards.  Books suggested should be exemplary in supporting the 5 practices of early literacy : Read, Write, Sing, Talk, and Play.

You can suggest titles by visiting their website and filling out the Title Suggestion form: https://www.clel.org/clel-bell-awards/suggest-a-title/

For more information on CLEL, their upcoming virtual conference on Oct 6-7, 2022 ($35 registration) their resources and the CLEL Book Awards, please stop here. 

P.S. You too can serve on their book awards committee by joining CO Libraries for Early Literacy. Membership is free.

Registration Now (Nationally) Open for the CLEL Leadership Institute and Conference!

Guess what, everyone!  You're officially invited!  

To what, you ask?  You should take a gander at the following message...  

(As always, a big shout out to Tessa and Marge for sharing this amazing resource.)

**Note: original post has been edited to reflect the new registration cutoff date of September 23rd, per the CLEL website.**

Hi all,

We are opening up registration for the CLEL Leadership Institute and Conference nationally. Please feel free to register yourselves if you're interested and available, and send out this invitation to youth services folks in your state (students, volunteers, trustees, and partners are also welcome). Thanks so much! Beth

Register for the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Leadership Institute and Annual Conference

Each year CLEL–Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy–hosts a unique conference focused on serving children birth-6 and their families in libraries. And this year will mark two firsts for this conference: it will be virtual, and it will include a Leadership Institute! All are welcome to these virtual experiences--we welcome out of state folks, students, volunteers, trustees, and partners!

The first of this 2-day event will be a Leadership Institute on October 8; this event is geared for staff that are already in leadership positions, as well as those who wish to lead from where they are, and those who are looking to move up into official leadership positions. The Leadership Institute will feature ALSC president Kirby McCurtis as its keynote speaker, plus thought-provoking breakout sessions and some important calls to action. The main conference will be on October 9, with Library Journal Mover and Shaker Janet Damon as the keynote speaker and plentiful breakout sessions on a wide variety of topics. Both days are excellent opportunities to network with colleagues from across the state and country, snag some great ideas to try, learn something new and deepen your knowledge, and have some fun!

View the full schedule for both days here.

Registration is now open; register for the Leadership Institute and/or the Conference online. Registration deadline is September 23.  

The fee to attend the Leadership Institute is $20; the main Conference is $25; and the fee to attend both days is $45.

Oh, and if you’re not already a CLEL member, please join this unique organization–it’s FREE! No need to live in Colorado to join--there are CLEL members in other states and even other countries!

If you have questions about the CLEL Leadership Institute or Conference, please contact Beth Crist, crist_b@cde.state.co.us.

Thanks; we hope to see you at the CLEL Leadership Institute and Conference!

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Virtual Conference - - Call for Proposals!

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), a grassroots organization of library staff committed to strengthening children’s literacy through library services and community advocacy for young children (under 6) and their families, is offering its 12th annual conference this October. For the first time it'll be virtual, and for the first time it'll include a leadership institute the day before the conference.

Also for the first time, CLEL is seeking proposals for both the conference and leadership institute from a national audience (though preference may be given to those from Colorado). This can include library staff and folks from outside libraryland. CLEL is also considering offering a webinar series to provide a platform for great proposals that aren't included in the conference or leadership institute.

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) will be hosting a two day virtual conference, scheduled for October 8, 12:00-5:00 MT, and October 9, 8:00-5:00 MT, and we are seeking presenters for both days. The first day will be CLEL's first ever Leadership Institute; this event will advance the leadership skills of all participants to empower them to lead from where they are in their libraries and communities, regardless of position, experience, or skill level. The second day will focus on general topics for all library staff that serve young children and their families and caregivers. For 2020, both days of the conference will be exclusively online for the first time, while providing the high quality continuing education, networking opportunities, inspiration, and great ideas of prior CLEL Conferences.
Please click on this link to see additional information about the conference and to submit your session proposal for either day (or both days!) of the conference:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PRVJ26G
Proposal deadline: August 1, 2020

Have questions about the CLEL Conference or Leadership Institute? Please contact Beth Crist, Colorado State Library, crist_b@cde.state.co.us.

Many thanks and be well,

Beth

Beth Crist Youth & Family Services Consultant Colorado State Library, Library Development P 303.866.6908 201 East Colfax Avenue, Room 309, Denver, CO 80203 Crist_B@cde.state.co.us  |  www.cde.state.co.us