"Dublin Core:Title","Dublin Core:Subject","Dublin Core:Description","Dublin Core:Creator","Dublin Core:Source","Dublin Core:Publisher","Dublin Core:Date","Dublin Core:Contributor","Dublin Core:Rights","Dublin Core:Relation","Dublin Core:Format","Dublin Core:Language","Dublin Core:Type","Dublin Core:Identifier","Dublin Core:Coverage","Item Type Metadata:Text","Item Type Metadata:Interviewer","Item Type Metadata:Interviewee","Item Type Metadata:Location","Item Type Metadata:Transcription","Item Type Metadata:Local URL","Item Type Metadata:Original Format","Item Type Metadata:Physical Dimensions","Item Type Metadata:Duration","Item Type Metadata:Compression","Item Type Metadata:Producer","Item Type Metadata:Director","Item Type Metadata:Bit Rate/Frequency","Item Type Metadata:Time Summary","Item Type Metadata:Email Body","Item Type Metadata:Subject Line","Item Type Metadata:From","Item Type Metadata:To","Item Type Metadata:CC","Item Type Metadata:BCC","Item Type Metadata:Number of Attachments","Item Type Metadata:Standards","Item Type Metadata:Objectives","Item Type Metadata:Materials","Item Type Metadata:Lesson Plan Text","Item Type Metadata:URL","Item Type Metadata:Event Type","Item Type Metadata:Participants","Item Type Metadata:Birth Date","Item Type Metadata:Birthplace","Item Type Metadata:Death Date","Item Type Metadata:Occupation","Item Type Metadata:Biographical Text","Item Type Metadata:Bibliography","Item Type Metadata:Player","Item Type Metadata:Imported Thumbnail","Item Type Metadata:Referrer",tags,file,itemType,collection,public,featured "Safe and Social at Home--with Books",,"As a librarian, I am always reading, usually two to three books per week. During this time of social distancing and online learning, I have more time for reading at home and am gravitating toward longer Young Adult novels and more non-fiction. Encountering characters from a story and reading about historical events are social activities for me. Whereas others might complain about being socially isolated, I find myself socially connected to the stories, historical figures and events, and concepts I am reading about in the pages of books.",,,,"Spring 2020","Scot Smith, 55, School librarian",,,,,,safe-and-social-at-home-with-books,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Andy Mink","Books & Reading,Children's Librarians,Children's Literature,Librarians,Young Adult Literature",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/376/Books_Outside.JPG,Text,,1,0 "Why I Read YA",,"
I was born and grew up in rural Southern Appalachia. Books and stories were my pathway out of the holler and into a world of hope and possibility. As a child and teen, I read and listened voraciously, and those stories found in books helped to save my life. Without them, I am not sure where I would be right now. During my early years as an adult, I searched for a career that would pair my enthusiasm for literacy and literature with my profession. I finally found that perfect match as a librarian.
As a middle school librarian, I fell in love with Young Adult literature, books written for teens between the ages of 13 and 18. When I am asked why I seldom read “adult” books, I respond that I believe that some of the best books—both fiction and non-fiction—written today are being published for teenagers. In my defense, I am quick to cite numerous studies that indicate between 48–52% of the YA books being checked out at public libraries and purchased in book stores or online are to readers over the age of 24, in other words, readers like myself. What does that tell us? That these books written for teens possess value and quality for people of all ages.
In 2017, I had the opportunity to serve on the Michael L. Printz Award committee for the American Library Association. This prestigious award is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and sponsored by Booklist. The winner and honors must exemplify literary excellence in young adult literature. Over the course of 12 months, I worked with a committee of eight other librarians from across the US. As a committee, we read hundreds of novels, biographies, and non-fiction titles written for teens. We convened online and in person, wrote about the books we had read, and in February of 2018 met in Denver to decide which titles we would select for the Printz Award. After two days of intense debates, we chose diverse five titles. The committee selected We Are Okay by Nina LaCour as the winner of 2018 Printz Medal and recognized four books with Printz Honors: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman, and Stranger the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
As the awards were being announced at the ALA conference on February 5, I sat in a packed auditorium as tears rolled down my face. And why is this my Humanities Moment? Because this moment validates what I have always felt about YA literature. My experience on the Printz Committee and the five books we selected affirm two of my core beliefs—that some of the best books being written today are being published for teens and that anyone, young or old, can find beauty and meaning in the pages of YA. As a middle school librarian, I remind myself that I have the power to hand a student the right book at the right time in his or her life, a story that might change a life forever. And that is the power of literacy for teens….showing young readers a pathway to the future and inspiring them with hope and promise.
",,,,"February 5, 2018","Scot Smith, 53, school librarian",,,,,,why-I-read-ya,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Teacher's Advisory Council","Education,Librarians,Libraries,Literacy,Literary Prizes,Young Adult Literature",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/243/Printz_Books.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "Spreading the Love of Libraries",,"Librarian Deborah Jung describes the moment she discovered libraries and the riches they offer, which fueled her passion for opening the world of literature to children. For Jung, finding a library as a child was like “going to heaven.” The beauty of Madeleine L’Engle’s writing introduced her to the world of science fiction, a genre that thematizes acceptance, empathy, and humanity. More recently, as a reader, Jung has turned to literature about immigration. As a school librarian, she strives to choose books—especially those that feature African American and Hispanic characters—in which students may see reflections of themselves. ",,"A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle",,,"Deborah Jung, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District",,,,,,spreading-love-of-libraries,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"A Wrinkle in Time,Books & Reading,Empathy,L'Engle, Madeleine,Librarians,Libraries,Multicultural Education,Science Fiction,Vocation,Young Adult Literature",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/4/43/library-960x590.jpg,"Moving Image",Educators,1,0 "The Golden Line",,"I started learning Latin in seventh grade because I decided it was the most difficult course I could take, and I had something to prove. I was an economically disadvantaged student in a wealthy private school, and all of my classmates knew it. I would never live in their mansions, or wear their expensive clothes, or go on their exotic vacations, so I set about making myself at least academically equal. Like most grade school students who read Latin, the poetry of Catullus was some of the first “real” literature I encountered. After the dry, contrived passages in my textbooks, the sensuous love poems and harsh invectives were a welcome change of pace. Catullus’ writing is the rare combination of accessible and beautiful — a perfect entry to Latin poetry.
I did not love Latin before Catullus. I was proud of my success with learning the language, and I dutifully memorized decks of vocabulary cards and recited declensions, but I worked through it without any real joy. Then, in tenth grade, Catullus’ mini-epic poem 64 seduced me and I never recovered. Catullus uses gorgeous, rich language, stunning imagery, and brilliant humor in all of his poetry, but these were not what initially hooked me. No, I fell in love with, of all things, his grammar, and at the same time Latin as a language. In poem 64, Catullus frequently employs what is called “the golden line,” a five word line usually arranged as adjective adjective verb noun noun. Writers in English cannot do this as our word order is too rigid. The precision of Latin grammar is what allowed him to use this rhetorical device and add another layer of nuance to his poetry. Latin writers were freed by the rules and structure of their language.
My life at the time was chaotic. I was still at the private school, shunned by my classmates. My home life was in turmoil. I had moved twelve times by then. With those golden lines, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the structure of Latin. The order both comforted and dazzled me. Latin stopped being a course in which I could prove myself and started being a passion. After Catullus, I devoured Horace, Ovid, and Virgil in high school, and went on to get my B.A. in Classics. Five words changed the course of my entire life.
First century Latin poetry may seem like an esoteric subject, especially one far removed from the concerns of a teenage girl in late 20th century America, but my exposure to Catullus and a learned appreciation for the elegance and beauty of Latin poetic grammar helped forge my life’s path — through college and into my career as a research librarian.
Experiencing the power and nuance of expression created through word transpositions in Latin grammar also opened my mind to the possibilities inherent in other languages and cultures, ideas and realms of feeling that were not only new and exciting — but that were nearly impossible to approximate in any other way.
",,"The poetry of Catullus",,,"Brooke Andrade, Director of the Library, National Humanities Center",,,,,,brooke-andrade-catullus-latin-poetry,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Aesthetics,Books & Reading,Catullus,Classical Literature,Comparative Grammar,Horace,Joy,Latin,Librarians,Literature,Ovid,Poetry,Raleigh, North Carolina,Research,Virgil,Vocation",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/26/catullus-960x590.jpg,Text,,1,0