Hey everybody, we are back and I have got Andrea here with us this week and man, I'm excited. I saw Andrea giving some amazing presentations at TLA. Was it last year? I can't even keep track of, it's just, whew, it's a whirlwind. And I was so excited by all the awesome stuff that Andrea was doing in her school.
before we get to what we're gonna get to, I gotta back up and I gotta say, Andrea, why don't you take a second, introduce yourself, tell people where you're at, where you're from, what's going on. Hello, Sunshine. So I am in Texas and our district, we are each librarian has two campuses. I, however, have a high school campus and I'm a flexible floater. So I support all the campuses as needed. This is my ninth year as a librarian. I absolutely love it.
But I did start my career as a special education life teacher, which is learning in a functional environment, K through five. And then my first master's and I was an educational technology specialist. And my friends like you need to be a librarian. I was like, no, no, no. You And then I went to the North Texas Teen Book Festival. was like, I need to be a librarian. And so I became a librarian and I've done elementary school. I've done middle school.
I've and I've done high school and I do all of the schools. So I'm super, I, I, I didn't realize how much I'd love this job, but it's also one of the hardest jobs I think I've ever had. I, yeah, but I love being on social media. I love sharing. So I'm super excited to be on here. And let me tell you, When you came to my presentation, I was like, Steve is sitting in the front row. my gosh. Total fangirl, total fangirl. Well, I appreciate that.
But I got to tell you, that was just your presentation. You had so many awesome things that you were sharing with us. And so I'm super excited that you're here to share tonight because or today or whenever people are listening. It's night for us, but who knows? Maybe people will listen to this in the morning. I lose track, but it's OK. So it's funny. I usually ask people like, so how did you get into school librarianship? And you were like right there like you.
That's an interesting sort of a path that it was special ed into librarianship. That's not what I hear. I don't think I've heard anybody else make that trip. That's an interesting journey. It was. So I really strive. My big thing is I like for people to belong and everybody has a different story and different background and can do so much. But sometimes I need that space. So even when I was a life teacher, my kids, we did video conferences.
We had a news show and I had low verbal, nonverbal kiddos. Like we did. We did the things because they needed all these opportunities to that every other student has. And sometimes they don't always get. And not because we don't want to, like, well, it's hard. And so I like having the library because it's space where everybody belongs, they can be who they are and can bring a lot to the table. And I love working with people. I love people. I definitely get that.
I mean, every time I check out your social media, you're off doing something with another group and another organization. And like, you are always just engaged and involved in everything, which I love. I mean, your handle is Busy B. I mean, I think that really is fitting. It is, yeah. I have two Girl Scout troops. I'm not a DI manager this year. I took a break after 14 years, destination imagination, but I am appraising.
But I also work as a water aerobics instructor and a swim instructor and a lifeguard. So I like doing the things. I like certifications. Man, and you have got a boy, I tell you. So it's interesting that you started with special ed and that we're going to be talking about special ed tonight, right? So why don't you give us maybe just a little bit of where did this idea for this lesson, this program come from in the first place? Like what was the Genesis?
So every teacher is amazing with what they bring to the table. But a lot of times our special education and our life teachers, especially like those self-contained classrooms, they kind of get left out. Not because a librarian doesn't know what they're doing, but maybe because they don't necessarily know how to collaborate and connect with those teachers. And let me tell you, those teachers are like, please, please come work with us because so often they get left out. And so...
And I was, and like I I worked with amazing librarians, but you know, it's, scary sometimes having different kinds of kiddos in our library. So one of my most favorite, I'm not supposed to have favorites. I know, I know. One of my most favorite things to do though, is to collaborate with all content areas, like everybody.
And so when I can, when I can go in and collaborate with those life teachers and remind them that they are doing an amazing job and these kids can do the things, it just justifies what they're doing already. Mm-hmm. I want it all the time. The library is a place where we want to make sure that these everybody has a chance to be a contributing member to society. You want them to learn, them grow, belong empathy. So what better, what better way to start than one of those.
And so I was that teacher. I was that teacher that the librarian didn't mind working with me, but was also like, what do I, what do do exactly? Like, like I'm nervous, you know, so, you know, like we hold that baby. You're like, do I hold it right? You know, so that's kind of how it is with life. Just, but she's got jump in. Yeah, and I mean, so we're gonna be talking about shared adventures, bridging special needs, education, and library resources.
Just from the title alone, I am just, I'm in, I'm all in, I love it. So sort of what does this look like? We're clearly gonna be collaborating, how does this sort of unfold? What are the students gonna see? How does it go? Well, of course, in collaboration work is different for everything. So I do attend, we call them PLTs, professional learning teams. It's different every campus. I know sometimes it's called PLC.
So I make sure that I visit my life PLT, just like any other PLT, at least once a week. And I work with the teachers about what they're working on. They too have a curriculum that they're following. So I hop into their PLT for like 30 minutes, because they've got to talk about other things other than me, and that's okay. So I go in, I chat with them about what they're working on, and then we count up the plan. So just like this last week, I went in, I was like, hey, what are you guys working on?
They're like, Marco Polo, the Silk Road. I said, okay, let's do Marco Polo and the Silk Road. But I also, the life classroom in high school has other components as well. So they have like a work-based program and like the kiddos are getting ready to go out and work. And so I worked with those kiddos because the teacher was like, well, we're working on. getting it out to community and like being prepared for the community. I said, let's build resumes. So we made resumes. We use Canva.
And so when I go in, I go with the understanding that the end product might look different depending on the kid. And I also go in knowing that I'm going to have to make modifications. But guys, we make modifications all the time. You just have to figure out what those modifications will look like. So for my life kiddos, it might be just printing out the presentation that I'm using.
And now when I talk about life kiddos too, I'm talking about our students are learning in a functional environment that are pretty much self-contained, that sometimes are low verbal or nonverbal or have other things going on. But they can still should have the opportunity to do every activity that every other student has to do as well. They should not always just be stuck in the classroom and they're not. But I want them to know that they have that the library is a space for them. as well.
So like for the resumes, had, I had a step-by-step presentation with big pictures on it. I printed that out, but then if kids need to type something in, I had a specific thing already set aside for them to be able to type in what they need to type into search. So they had to keep looking up and down at the board. But like for the resume, it was great because these kiddos, they're already working on their address. They're already working on their phone.
And so even if they're not necessarily going to have a job, This is also a great way for them to use Canva, for them to share documents, but for them to also write a resume about themselves that they could share with their teachers. Like, hey, this is what I can do. This is where I can be. Because sometimes we see and we put people in boxes, Steve. That's what we do. We put people in boxes. So that was a great way for me to collaborate with that teacher.
It's funny, like, as librarians, know we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but we also know that it happens all the time, you know? absolutely. And then two, when these kids do it, it also, I don't like it, but it's buying from their teachers. well, that student can do that. Absolutely that student can do that. Your student can also do all this. Like you gotta have those, that expectation that yeah, we can do a lot of hard things if we just figure out how it's going to look.
Yeah, absolutely. So it sounds like this is sort of an evolving sort of a process program with you were saying weekly, you're checking in and kind of figuring out, okay, here's a way this week I can support you. so next week might be totally different than what we're doing last week. Exactly. And that's what we do with our content areas anyway. We go in because their content's not the same every week or it shouldn't be. I'm like, it shouldn't be.
just like a regular content area, their needs change. And just like these kids, they have different curriculum. you know, there's cute Thanksgiving stuff. Absolutely. But my teachers were like, I need Marco Polo. I said, fantastic. I really didn't know anything about Marco Polo. I'm not going to lie. I thought it was a game. yeah, me too. I'm with you. So thanks to Nearpod, I was able to easily have a lesson ready to go that was interactive. They got to do virtual tours. It was already ready.
Like, and I just had to think outside the box. Like I said, look for, look for things, you know? So it really does depend on what the teachers are working on. So we're not at the book break yet, but I do need to toss in, since we're talking about the Silk Road, I literally just got a copy in my library of Daniel Neyari's book, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams. And it's historical fiction. It is so funny. It is so great.
And it's about, he did research on what would it be like to travel the Silk Road back in the 1300s, 1400s. And so his characters go from one end of the Silk Road to the other. And as they go, the main character is this, we can't go into the book right now, but it's a great book and it ties in with the Silk Road. So if you were doing like maybe a read aloud or something, that might be a fun one to sort of bring in some different kinds of details. I need to write that down.
I got my pen so I can write that down because that sounds absolutely amazing. Now, is that a picture book or a chapter book? It's a chapter book and it's a, it kind of lands somewhere in between like a story that you read to children and a story that like middle grade students might read for themselves. But it's just, it's so well written and it's so funny.
especially the story as you read, you learn some stuff and then like halfway through the book, you get this little detail and you go, wait a minute. That's not what I thought was going on. And then the story continues and then you get another de-healing like, that's not at all what I thought was going on. And it's just, it's really, yeah, it kind of just keeps opening up and like a flower just keeps blooming in different directions.
That was Daniel Nyeri is the re-author and the title is The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams. I think it's the many, is it the thousand assassinations? I'm gonna have to look it up after and double check that, but. It's great. I read it, I bowed it, right when it came out, I happened to get my hands on a copy at my public library. They had it out in the kids section. was like, this author is coming to our conference. I need to read his stuff, pick that up.
And I was just blown away. I was rolling, laughing in places. But other places are like super nail bitey, like action, inventory stuff. It's great. It's great. It's a good one. It's definitely a good one. I have completely dragged us off topic though. So. I'm gonna try and... what, but you know what though, you're probably a good point though. You probably a good point about. making those book connections when you're in there.
I love reading a picture book, a nonfiction picture book to lead into an activity. Cause one kids, no matter what the age, even adults love hearing a book being read, but also we can make those connections. We talk about research all the time. Kids hear research, research. I'm like, guys, y'all research the latest TikTok trend or the latest shoe. That's research. And so if you can get them interested in one piece and you had assassinations in that, I'm sold, sold. yeah, it's great, it's great.
And like I said, it works in like actual real, like these are things that happen to these are the kinds of people that you would have met. like, so there's those hooks that like, found myself going online and going to resources to see like, which parts of this are the real parts, which parts are the fiction parts. And so, yeah, like you said, it kind of pulls you in and all of a sudden you find yourself hip dipping some fun research, but. And I said, because like we don't do research, you do.
You do research. So yeah, that's awesome. They don't realize how often they research, but that's a, can have a whole discussion about that another time, but. I know because I I talked I think I did four research lessons this week So because I work so I don't just work with my life kiddos. I work with all content areas So I just happen to really I love all the content areas. I do I do so we can bring it in when we get outside the English classroom. That's always a bonus in my book.
Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, so I go weekly and so the needs change and sometimes it's just checking out books and that's okay. Like still having them come check out books and two, I've done a couple of homebound, I have a homebound student that the teachers come in and like records a lesson as I'm doing it. So they are also interacting. And the mom was asking, well, what kind of books are you interested in? I like, well, they're high school. They're interested in anything.
Now, my kiddos do tend to go, my life kiddos do tend to go more to the picture books and nonfiction books just because the pictures and interaction and everything. But I'm not going to stop them either because they're high schoolers. They get to choose. They get to choose what they want to read and carry around. So yeah, sometimes just checking out books and that's okay too. Absolutely, 100%. Now you had said before that they do have curriculum that they follow.
I guess the question before that is how long have you been doing this, bridging the needs for your students here? How long has this been a thing that you've actively been involved in? Well, I've been in education for 23 years. So, and I started, I spent 13 years in the classroom. And so as soon as I got out as an instructional technology specialist, I kind of did that.
But then as soon as I became a librarian, it was one of my first classes that I wanted to make sure, because, know, when we become a librarian, we tend to really attach to those people the things we know, you know, we're like, that's where I can start building relationships. That's where I can get in. And so I knew these, I knew not necessarily these people, but I knew the needs and the expectations and I was okay with that. I, like it was okay.
Like I knew that it's going to look different and I was okay with that. I just kind of delved in. at least 10 years, I did have two years off because I was at a campus that did not have a life class. So that was a little tough for me. Had to collaborate with, you know, I collaborate with everybody. Yeah I do all the things, but it's really been going on since I became a librarian because that was where I was comfortable with.
You know, like I know librarians that, well, they're of course, they're English teachers. So they tend to focus right on English. I know librarians that were history teachers. So they tend to do their first little latch on because you got to build those relationships because I want everybody to come to the library, but I'm also realistic that it's going to take a minute sometimes. Yeah, yeah, that's funny. I was just having a conversation yesterday. had a graduate student come to visit.
do this, doesn't matter. Graduate student came to visit and we were having this really interesting conversation about like, how do you get the teachers to come to the library? Because she was working with a new librarian and she was a library aide going to get her degree so she could become a librarian. but the librarian she was working with was new and was trying to figure out like, do I get the teachers to use this space?
And she was saying it was, she was having a real hard time figuring out like, what is that, that in that you get? And like I told her, I had an advantage when I started because I was coming to it, A, in the school that I was already a teacher in and B, as a long time teacher. So I already kind of knew like, there are certain things I know they're gonna need or I know that I can support them with.
like you're saying, We've got those, when we can draw on those advantages, it benefits everybody, but it makes our lives so much easier. And it makes you feel like, cause you know that you're already doing a great job, but when you can latch on, makes you realize that you are, that you are, that you do contribute, you know, that you can, you know what you're doing. Because sometimes you have that clash like, do I know what I was doing? Was that a great present, like lesson? I don't know.
I also provide activities. Like you're talking about getting people, teachers in the library. I, love hosting like little maker spaces at the beginning of the year. We had, we made key chains. I also have a photo booth coming up. They don't know it yet and they'll either play or they won't play, you know? And that's the thing with teach the library too. Like I don't get too upset because they're either going to play or they're not going to play. It's not about me.
It's about how they feel and hopefully love, hopefully they feel love, but you know. absolutely. So you've been working on bringing your special students, your life students, I should say, into the library space, which is awesome, and working with their teachers. And you said that they've got a curriculum, and so you've been doing this for a while.
Are there certain kinds of things that you find like, okay, every year I know I'm going to come back around to this particular thing that you can like polish or tweak or, you know. So actually not yet because I started in elementary land. And so middle school curriculum is different. And so that got into middle school and I was there and now I'm at high school. So it's and this is my first year. I know I'm like, but I'm writing them all down. I take notes. I'm like, we can do this.
I need to fix this. Definitely like the resume thing. That is definitely going to be a first thing you're thing. I want to do with all the students because I think they can then give that to their teachers like that. I think that would be Because our kids do go to inclusion. They go outside their life classroom. So what a great way say, hey, this is me. This is all about me. These are the things I am totally capable, can do, want to do. This is what I enjoy.
And every student should have a resume like that. Wouldn't it be great for every resume to have like, about you? Like I would love an about you page about some of these kids. that's why. know, like, please, I will feed you chocolate. Let me help you. Yeah, but even like it sure it'd be nice for me to know but it's the super benefit is now I know, okay, here is a way I know how to hook you. I know you like this or I know you don't like this.
So I've got to figure out I can pre-plan how I'm gonna overcome those obstacles. But then like I said, these students also have, they do go into the workforce. So then now they have a resume and they can already put on there. They're like, well, I don't, I don't do anything. I was like, are you bilingual? yeah. So, I mean, even our life students, they're bilingual. Like that's, that's a huge sell right there, you know?
So, and they also had to be reminded that they do things, like they know things, you know? And I think, I think sometimes we forget that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. yeah. Yep. no, absolutely.
And I think too, there's this tendency for us to think, A, to think that the students know pretty much everything we know in some form and or that the students are maybe more, I don't want to say more experienced, but more knowledgeable about a lot of things that we just assume they must know like, Yeah, they're always on their phone. So they must know everything about being online and everything about using their phone.
And it's like, well, no, it's that little, you know, a mile wide of use, but like an inch deep of actual understanding of what's going on there. You know, and that's where I think some of those kids absolutely do have that deeper understanding, that deeper knowledge. And when you can give them the opportunity to put down on a resume, like, well, I know how to reset the wifi in my home or, Like those are, you know, I'm the tech support for my teachers. Like that's a great thing. absolutely.
So it was really fun to see as these, as my students built these resumes, because you didn't have the ones that, because it's all levels in this class. So you didn't have the ones that already had a job and so they're able to put on there, I already work at this place. And then the other ones, well, don't do anything yet. But you do, you're a student, you're a junior in high school. And like those are, those are still qualifications for things, you know?
So that was nice because I think sometimes everybody, no matter what your ability is, you realize that you might not be completely the same as everybody else. And sometimes that's hard. So it's nice to have those conversations of, dude, you absolutely have this right here. Like, yeah. Like, and that was nice to hear that affirmation. You can definitely tell that helped me out a lot. Yeah. man, that's awesome.
I can just, I'm picturing it in my head and I'm just, loving every moment of it as it's unspooling in my mental theater here. And I did all the lessons, especially my life lessons. I try to always share on my social media and I also try to blog about it. So this way people can go back and use, steal, do whatever they need to do to have access to those. So any lesson I try to do, I try to also blog and put all my resources and everything. So this way they can just grab. That's awesome.
I mean, that's as far as I, my experience I should say has been when I was in English teaching for 20 something years, I shared some stuff with some of the people in my department, but it wasn't like everybody just had an open like door policy of just come in and take whatever you need. But as soon as I became a school librarian, it was like, everybody's like, here, you're doing that. Here's 400 things. And let me tell you about these five other people that are doing something. Like it's just.
It's. helpful and so willing to throw their stuff out there, which is awesome. Yes, but it can be very overwhelming as well. It can be, it definitely can be. That's one of the things I love about getting to do this podcast is that I get to kind of find these little bite-sized pieces that people can come back to and like say, that's something that I can use. And maybe this one isn't for everybody, but this thing, that's the one that's definitely gonna help me out.
And I love that you're really building this bridge, literally built, well, not literally, metaphorically helping us build this bridge with this lesson on building bridges, because like you said, I think that's an area that is really easy to overlook. And so this is a great way to kind of get it in everybody's mind, like, yeah, hey, you've got students over here too. And just so you know, sometimes those lessons fail, but that's with any lesson.
It's not you, it's just that's what happens, because it's life. Like life in general. But it's also a great chance when something doesn't go the way we think it should go. We get to reflect, we get to refine, we get to come back at it. that's, I think that can be as valuable to model for students as being successful. It's so easy to get caught up in that fallacy that as the educator, we have to have the answers and we have to get it right.
We need to also show that sometimes we don't get it right and okay, we learn and we move on. Exactly. Exactly. I started working with some of our, we don't call them life students, but our life students at my school last year were looking for a way that they could help out. And I had done a pop-up library in the middle school, because we didn't have a space at that time for the library.
And the teacher who is in charge of those students had heard about it she was like, if you're going to do that regularly, like maybe my students can be like, check out people to help out. And I was like, we can, we're going to figure something out. And so we ended up not quite going in that route, but I did make them library ninjas, like my student volunteers are library ninjas. And so they got library ninja badges.
And we talked about how do you front a shelf and how do you make sure you've got front-facing displays? And they did a great job of keeping the high school library looking nice. know, giving them those opportunities to demonstrate. Yeah, absolutely. And there's something else they can add to a resume too is, I've worked on doing this, I'm organizing, I'm arranging. And so one of the things I did, and I did this with my elementary land when I had Life High School students come and help me.
I made jigs, and I just did a video over this. I made jigs, so did the alphabet on notecards. And on the top of the shelf, I put that alphabet down. And then the kids had to take the book and file it, like stack it on. They had to sort my alphabet. So they necessarily shelve for me, but they at least got an order so I could easily shelve. They also did that with nonfiction. So just doing a jig. make some note cards.
Yeah, like there's so many things that can make them successful and we want every student, we want every person to be a contributor to society. So how we get them there is really important. Yeah. man, I love it. Boy, just ideas on top of ideas on top of ideas. This is great. So I imagine that as you're doing this, clearly you're working very closely with the teachers that are leading these students on a day-to-day basis when you're going in and working with them weekly.
Have you gotten much feedback from the teachers? I mean, I know that you're kind of starting in a new place with a new situation, but... Have the teachers had much to say about how things are going so far? They're very thankful. They're very thankful that the library is being like that. It is open for everybody. But they're I'm very lucky. They're very thankful though that they can come down and that they're getting not like, not saying that just a story time, that's fine.
Like you can do so much of the story time, but then I'm expecting more. And so that they're giving more. like it's, it's been nice that they, they know that I understand that these kids need to have expectations, high expectations like anybody else, you know? And so they appreciate that I'm doing more than just what we think we might just do, you know? right. that is not to say at all that story times are not fantastic, but take those story times and add that STEM activity. They will love it.
They can do it. It might not look how we want it to look, but giving that opportunity is really big. Yeah, letting them engage with the space rather than just being passive consumers. Hmm, that's awesome. And that's hard. That's hard. That's hard because it because you have to be okay and you have to be ready. If I said the lesson not to work or something or maybe different noises or maybe different actions, you know, but it's still a space for everybody. Yeah, absolutely.
And I also really appreciate that you pointed out we need to bear in mind that our expectations may not be, know, what we're seeing in our mind as the final product may not be what ends up, but that doesn't mean that it was an unsuccessful event for those students. Hmm. So I said, I love a story time, 1000%. But I think sometimes as a librarian, like, we have these kids, we could do a story time. Absolutely. But what else are you doing with your student?
What are you doing with your other students? You know, just a story time? You're not. I know you're doing more, because librarians are amazing. So how can you make that work for these kids too, that have the same age level and grade level, that need to be... Expect more for you, you know? So, yeah. like that. I like that. That's a good way to think of that. So it sounds like this is, I mean, clearly very successful. The teachers are enjoying it.
Sounds like the students are really engaging with it, which is awesome. I mean, that's, that should be the end goal for whatever we're doing. So that's so great. Are there any particular sort of resources that you find yourself drawing on or going to when you're working with these populations or? No, not really. I mean, when I was in elementary land, I had a lot more like symbols and I still kind of use those, but I really do whatever the teacher's wanting.
I really, so I'm thankful for Canva for making presentations for me. I'm thankful for Nearpod for like, I can do a lot of really cool things inside Nearpod that have the kids active and engaged. But also I love Canva because Canva is super easy for our kids to use too. And it makes us, it makes everybody look so good. Yeah. And it's a great way for them to share. Like we just had, it was Veterans Day, so the government life class was like, well, we're working on Veterans Day. I'm like, okay.
So we learned about Veterans Day using our premium resources. And then we learned about the veterans on our campus and then they learned how to use Canva to make thank you cards for our veterans on our campus. And we emailed them to them. yeah. kids can do anything. You just have to be okay to get outside that box for any student. So. right. man, wow.
So they're not just engaging with the school, they're engaging with the community beyond their immediate classroom, which is awesome, beyond the immediate library, which is awesome. Man, that's so awesome. Man, I'm really digging it. anytime I can talk library land anyway, but when I can talk about the importance of making sure that all of our students, and when I say all, I mean all of our students have a space, it's really important to me. Yeah, yeah.
And it's, I really appreciate it because it's a really important reminder because yes, I was working with those students last year a bit, but this year I've been focused on other stuff and I haven't made the effort to go out of my way and find, you know, how do I help support those kids more than I am now because I'm not doing enough. So that's. And even just once a month, like I'm telling you, those teachers too will be like, thank you.
Thank you for knowing that my kids are totally capable of doing the things, you know, cause they see it, they know that they are, you know, but it's, really appreciate like being remembered. yeah, now absolutely. I mean, we all love to be remembered. absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. So if somebody is going to start, know, maybe we haven't been as attentive to some of our students as we could.
Do you have any suggestions on like first steps or things people might want to have in mind as they're getting ready to go into this beyond? I mean, you've already shared some great tips and suggestions, but anything else we should maybe have in mind? So the first thing is, is going down to the classroom and talking with those teachers. That's the first thing. And that way the teacher knows that you're there. And like I said, we collaborate anyway. So just head down there and say, hey, I'm here.
What can we work on? And if it's a story time to start with, fantastic, because some of our friends, they need to learn how to be in the library. And that's what the story time, like you have to learn how to learn, right? So that's what can be a story time. And then you can build on that, you know, as the teacher says that being successful, cause even just Like our life classes wait at very back of the building. So they have to know how to navigate to the library. That's a thing too.
It's like there's lots of pieces that go into being successful. So it might take some friends and sometimes too, I have some friends are like, Ms. Keller, I can't listen to your voice today because you talk too fast. And so it's not going to work for them. And that's okay. You know, they can have those choices. So the first thing is to talk with a teacher and see what their needs are, you know. So that's always my first.
And I said, then they'll be like, we want to do all the things because they'll take you up on that offer. They'll take you up on the offer. I love it. Love it so much. All right. We've had so many great suggestions, so many great ideas. We are now going to take our 90 degree turn into the book break. So I love the book break. I hope you love the book break. What is some title that you think people should know about?
Well, so I was thinking, I looking at my Goodreads and when I talk to all my students, I always talk about mysteries. They're my favorite. So I want to talk about an author. Karen McManus is my favorite author. Take that back. I have a lot of favorite authors, like for mystery, I'm always like on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out who's done it, what's going on. And all of her books too are just the right length so I can get those high scores.
engaged in reading because they're like, Miss Keller, I want a mystery that there's possibly murder. I'm like, McManus, here she is. Here she is. And so those hurt. Any of her books are ones I gravitate towards if because a lot of our kiddos, prefer them night. I the romance friends and that's a little bit hard for me. But a lot of my friends, want they want mystery. They want some murder in a good bookish way. So maybe I need to pause on this one and think about how like.
That's what the kids are interested in. They want the mystery. want the mystery. So, Karen McManus is who I absolutely recommend every time. had students who were just going bonkers over One of Us is Lying a couple of years ago when it first came out and I hadn't read it. And so it was a little while before I got around to it. I was like, you know, the kids years they are still coming back to this book. This must be something that I need to check out. So I read it and I tore right through it.
I mean, it's definitely a page turner. It's it's it grabs you. Yeah. I want kids to read all the books, but I have to realistic. I have to pull them in first, you know? So they're just a perfect length, always on the edge of your seat every time, every time. And I'm like, no, I was so wrong, because I'm really terrible at mysteries, but I love them. have been flying off the shelves this year. I'm so glad the kids are into them, but it's funny because in the past it hasn't been as much, so yeah.
every year what the kids, it's interesting how it changes. But you know, I have a lot of friends that still want Twilight and I'm like, okay, okay. Thank you Netflix for Twilight. If it the kids to check out the books, then let's do it. Let's do it. 100%. Nope, there's no wrong answer when it comes to I wanna read a book. So that's great. Awesome.
Well, so thank you so much for not only a great idea that we need to be thinking about for our students generally and for some specifics for helping out our life students, but also for an awesome author recommendation. So much good stuff. You are always sharing great stuff online too. So where might people find you if they want to see some of the awesomeness that you're putting out in the world?
So for my library related stuff, I'm on the Instagrams and X for now, for Instagram it's BeInTheBookins, but for X and for TikTok it's AKBusyBee. But I also share a blog, beinthebookins.blogspot.com, cause I've been on Blogspot forever. And I can't change it cause that's just what I've used forever for years, years. So you're like, that's what it is. That's where we're at. that's awesome.
will, folks, I hope you are out there checking out what Andrew's putting on the world because it's always something interesting. It's always something that's going to help us out and make our libraries better, which makes our students lives better. Andrew, I can't thank you enough so much for being here, taking the time sharing with us. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for letting me chat you up today. I appreciate it.