Cultivating. Cultivation. Cultivate.

 I've been thinking a lot about words. Because that's definitely something librarians do. 

And probably many other educators as well. 

In the past I've described the act of choosing my one word each month as a struggle. Reflecting back on this I've decided that using the word struggle to describe the thinking, choosing and writing about a word that ultimately only affects me was a poor choice. So many others have real struggles that they are facing each day. Choosing a word to write about here on a blog does not qualify. 

Does that mean choosing my word each month is an easy task? No. Does it mean I should be more precise and deliberate with the language I choose. Yes.

I think our society would greatly benefit from more of us choosing our language carefully and deliberately. Really reflecting on the words we choose to use and the impact of those choices. 

The idea and concept of cultivating and cultivation has been popping up a lot in my sphere and in my silo. For we all do live in a silo to some extent. We seek out others like us, who agree with us, who bolster our beliefs. We cultivate relationships with those who make us feel good about our choices. 

In many ways this can be a good thing. 

The wonderful Lisa Noble created #EDUKnitNight in April 2020 and a group of crafters (knitters, crocheters, scrapbooks, weavers, and more) meet almost every Tuesday to talk about crafting, yarn, books, education, families and more. In between Tuesday meet-ups we have an ongoing Twitter group chat where we post about the ups and downs of our lives. We hold each other up. We commiserate and cry together. We laugh. We laugh a lot. 

Lisa posted the lyrics to Crowded Table by The Highway Women a few weeks ago and expressed her feelings about having all of us "at her table" this past year. So many of us echoed the same sentiment. Lisa started the group and together we cultivated the space. We look out for each other. We share book recommendations. We share yarn sales. We share the tales of our days. We share and cultivate a love that comes from friends who enjoy each other's company. 

The #EDUKnitNight group keeps me on the hunt for new crochet projects and new yarns/patterns. (And yes, we've decided that collecting yarn and collecting patterns are entirely separate hobbies from the act of creating with said yard and patterns. All hobbies are worthy of cultivation!) Starting, working on and finishing a new craft project cultivates my spirit. I have always been a crafty person and enjoy making things for my home and people in my life. Having "a reason" to find time each week to devote to this love has cultivated small moments of peace for me in an otherwise chaotic and noisy world. 

It's also important to seek out those who reside outside of your silo. For me that is educators of the global majority bravely sharing their stories. Bravely speaking out. Bravely educating the rest of when it is not their job to do so. It means reading books by authors who do not look like me. Reading books with characters who have a different lived experience than me. Buying books for my children to read from authors and with characters that are different than them. Sharing and reading those books with classes and my school community. 

Deliberately cultivating a habit of seeking out, listening to and amplifying the voices of others. 

I have been reading and discussing Cultivating Genius by Gholdy Muhammad as part of an ongoing series with other educators in my board and we recently started using it for a book talk with a group of educators in my school. I had the privilege of hearing Gholdy Muhammad speak a few weeks ago. This is one of those books that is pedagogical gold. It is practice-changing. You will not be the same educator after reading this book. 

This book, along with Tiffany Jewell's This Book Is Anti-Racist, has been forming so much of the lessons and discussions I have been engaging in with students. Just yesterday the Grade 4 class that has been reading Tiffany Jewell's book chapter by chapter all year together discussed using our voices and taking action as our superpower (Ch 12- This Book is Anti-Racist) and we read a few pages from The Power Book: What Is It, Who Has It, and Why?  The depth and complexity of the discussion was breathtaking. Once we started talking about social norms and unwritten rules the students couldn't share their ideas fast enough. The discussion even reached as far as "why is it that so many moms and women do the cooking at home but we mostly see men as chefs on TV?" 

So my word for April (a little late this month...) is Cultivate.

Cultivating.

Cultivation.

How might we continue to cultivate and seek out learning, loving and living in this ever changing and ongoing stressful pandemic life? 

Looking Back, Reading Forward

Maybe this is why we read, 

and in moments of darkness we return to books: 

to find words for what we already know. 

~ Alberto Manguel

This past year I tracked my reading using GoodReads for the first time. It's not the first time I've ever tried to keep a list of the books I've read but it is the first time I used this app and that I was consistent for the whole year. 

I set a reading goal at the start of the year, not because I wanted to reach a certain number but because I was interested in knowing how many books I would read over the course of the year. I've noticed in the last two years as my daughters have gotten to an age where they can be trusted to play and entertain themselves that I have been able to read more again. In the early years when they were babies, I was either too exhausted to focus on reading or every time I tried to read they would want my attention. 

Now that they are older, I can read as much as I want ... but 

I also miss those little baby arms always reaching up to me. 

I started out the year blogging about my reading with the intention of keeping it up all year. Isn't the saying that "the path to Hell is paved with good intentions..."? Well, as the year got busier and other things took my attention I dropped that endeavor but I think I'd like to pick it back up this year. 

Maybe focusing on just 1-2 books each month? Maybe completing a FOLD Reading Challenge? Perhaps this is the year I read the Canada Reads long list as I did a few years ago?

I'd definitely like to find time for more PD books during the school year. 

A wonderful educator, Alanna King, that I met at previous OLASC's and who I follow on Twitter recently blogged about her reading journey and it really stuck with me.

Alanna shared this video on Jacques Derrida from Youtube (and I swear I haven't heard anyone mention Derrida since my days in undergrad...) and it was super interesting.

My husband and I often talk (or have a fierce discussion... however, you want to call it!) about the state of the world, people's reactions to things, and our own opinions. For two people who pledged to spend their lives together, it's rather amazing how little we often agree on.

One thing that usually comes from our chats is the belief that most people are too stuck in their own thoughts and beliefs. That they haven't attempted to learn enough about the "other" around them. That we need to go outside of ourselves, to ask questions and to learn more, and to understand that we know less than we think we do.

So what did I read last year?

Well, GoodReads just happens to create a visual display of the books logged over the course of the year.

I have also been reading articles related to reading. What reading is and could be.
The books that should be available to children and the books that need to be available to children.

I started with Diverse Literature in School Libraries: Reflected Realities by Matthew Courtney (School Librarian, Vol. 67, Issue 3, The School Library Association) and then moved on to Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors by Rudine Sims Bishop (Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, Vol 6, no. 3, Summer 1990.)

I was sad, disappointed and a little ashamed that neither had crossed my path during any of my teacher-librarian courses or qualifications.

Then the amazing article by Rabia Khokhar came out in the ETFO Voice Magazine entitled- The Power of Stories: Learning from Complex Characters to Counter Islamophobia (Winter 2019). This led me to A Black Character Does Not a Good Book Make: Choosing Black-Focused Books to Support Culturally Relevant Teaching by Natasha Henry (ETFO Voice, Spring 2018). And finally, as I had already started writing this blog post the latest edition of The Teaching Librarian magazine arrived with the article Silent Message in the Stacks by Holly Dickson (January 2020, Vol. 27, Issue 2).

So after a year (and more) of intentionally diversifying my reading-

...reading books with #OwnVoices, from backgrounds and cultures different than my own, trying new genres and formats, reading more non-fiction and memoirs, reading Canadian books, etc-

Do I have less questions? 

No.

But I'm happy with that. I'm happy to have more questions.
More wonderings. More confusion.
Less certainty. More openness.
Less silo.

More books to read. Always more books.

And isn't that the magic of reading?

What the Librarian Read- Part 3

The One With All the Middle Grade Novels...


Back again to share my reading from the year so far. To be honest... I'm pretty shocked as to how much I was able to read in the past few months as I completed my Teacher-Librarian Specialist, packed up our house to move next week and dealt with all of the end of the school year craziness.

Perhaps, as always, reading was my escape from the realities of every day life.

I did choose to read a number of middle grade novels that were new to the library before putting them out on the shelves so that might have skewed my numbers a bit as middle grade novels are shorter than my usual book choices.

Books 22- 37 of 2019

22. The Moscow Club by Joseph Finder

23. Ghost by Jason Reynolds*

24. A Drop of Hope by Keith Calabrese*

25. Homes: A Refuge Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

26. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

27. Gracefully Grayson by Amy Polonsky*

28. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling*

29. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson*

30. Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green*

31. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino*

32. The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

33. The Unteachables by Gordon Korman*

34. Ungifted by Gordon Korman*

35. Supergifted by Gordon Korman*

36. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

37. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 


Something I have always found interesting in the ebb and flow of reading patterns. Obviously as I was doing my AQ course and reading/ viewing all sorts of different PD texts I wasn't drawn to add in any PD books to my personal reading. This entire list is narratives.

There's also a large portion of middle grade novels because as I said before they are shorter than my usual reading material but also, I think, chosen as a way to escape the grind of relentless PD reading that occurs during an AQ course. I suspect (well, I know since I can see my to be read pile) that this summer's list will contain a lot more PD focused books.

(I have marked all the middle grade novels with an *)

Must Reads....

If you are an educator, parent, have children in your life please get your hands on Gracefully Grayson,  Locomotion, A Drop of Hope, You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P, and The Unteachables.

These are the types of books that make me wish I was still in a classroom so I could share them with my students through the magic of read alouds. I will be creating a display with these as recommended reads in the library once we start back at school. Can't wait to hear what the kids think.

If I had to pick one book to pass on...

I can never pick just one book but I'll try for two.

I'd say that Homes: A Refugee Story is an important read for our time.
We need to see each other more.
We need to try to understand each other more.
We need to share in our humanness more.

For the second book, probably The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. Her books never disappoint and always keep me on my toes wondering how the narrative will play out.

Biggest Surprises...

So The Moscow Club was passed on to me by my mother-in-law and I picked up The Woman in the White Kimono from a sale table at a bookstore. Both were riveting and very enjoyable. Highly recommend.


Here's the summer and lots of time to read!
Can't wait to get started.

Looking for my other posts:

What the Librarian Read: Part 1

What the Librarian Read: Part 2

What the Librarian Read- Part 2

Goodbye Reading. Hello Coursework. 

I started my Library Specialist AQ on Monday, April 15th and I'm super excited about it... but I also realize that it's really going to cut into my reading time.

Oh, I'm sure I'll still be reading lots- but it will be articles, posts, and discussions. Valuable of course, but not books of my choosing.

So what did I read while I was still reading books? Here are books 12 through 21 for 2019.

12. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

13. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

14. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

15. In Conclusion, Don't Worry About it by Lauren Graham

16. I'll Take You There by Wally Lamb

17. Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

18. Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia

19. By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz by Max Eisen

20. The House Girl by Tara Conklin

21. In This Together: Fifteen Stories of Reconciliation by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail

Some thoughts on these books... in no particular order.

Two books that I would consider to MUST reads for all educators and parents right now are Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story and This Is How It Always Is. Both books provide an honest and open look at the heartache and pain that individuals who are gender non-conforming or transgender face. This is a piece of our community that has been ignored, left-out and hurt for too long. When I speak to my daughters about their experiences with a classmate who is gender non-conforming and their utter acceptance of this child and the child's choices in clothing, activities, passions and humanity I believe that we are headed for a beautiful future. e

I want that future for us.

But it will take work and that work starts with reading, and learning and reading some more.


I am ashamed to say that Brown Girl Dreaming and Harbor Me are the first two books I've ever read by Jacqueline Woodson.  A good friend of mine is always raving about her writing and how much his daughter loves her books so I knew I had to give them a try and wow, have I been missing out. In the past few years I have really grown to love books that are written in poetry. The words slide through your head and create these beautiful pictures as you are reading. I'm finding too, that many of my students enjoy reading noels written in this form as there were two of them in this year's Silver Birch selections. Harbor Me was just WOW. The topic. The characters. The depth of the storylines and the connection to the world we live in today. If you have a middle grade reader in your life, get them this book and read it together.

I read In This Together over the course of the last few months as part of a book chat among educators in my school. Once a month we have been meeting to discuss three sections at a time as part of our ongoing commitment to reconciliation and learning more about the true history of Canada in relation to Indigenous people. I found some of the sections in this books to be thought provoking, eye opening and provided me with the opportunity to face my own history and role in colonization. Since it's split up into fifteen different sections, written by fifteen different authors it's a great introduction for those just starting on their journey of unlearning to relearn as we move towards reconciliation in this country.


I am currently working my way through a spy thriller to offset the amount of professional reading I'm doing for my AQ and hoping to regain some momentum with my reading again soon, but with everything there always needs to be a balance and I think for the next little bit reading books might not be in the cards for me...

What the Librarian Read- Part 1

I have been a voracious reader my whole life. Almost every childhood memory can be tied back to book that I was reading as in coincides with other important memories.

I remember reading a Richard Scary book at the cottage at a very young age and sounding out the word "prefer" and my mom and her friends being so shocked and excited that I could read it.

I remember the many, many, many visits to the public library in my hometown with my mom. She would get these HUGE stacks of big books. I'm talking 500+ pages and there would be 10 of them. I couldn't wait to read the same books as her.

I remember starting the Harry Potter series. I remember being at camp when the newest one would be released and everyone would be clamouring to get to the tuck shop to see if their copy had arrived from the city in a care package yet. I remember reading in the dark after everyone else had fallen asleep and Dumbledore dying. I remember trying so hard not to cry too loudly but feeling like I had lost a friend.

When my first daughter was born eight years ago and then my second daughter three years later my reading time took a serious hit. A serious hit. It's only been in the past year and a bit that I've really felt like I've been able to delve back into books and read as much and as often as I want to. It's so wonderful.

So this year I decided to track my reading using Goodreads. I set a goal of 50 books for the year and am on track so far to make it for sure. I also thought it might be interesting to look back at my reading every now and then and talk about the books I've read, loved and learned from as the year progresses.

So here are the first eleven books of 2019.

1. Becoming- Michelle Obama

2. Awkward- Svetlana Chmakova

3. Britt-Marie Was Here- Fredrik Backman

4. Women Talking- Miriam Toews

5. We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World- Malala Yousafzai

6. The Sisters of the Winter Wood- Rena Rossner

7. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood- Trevor Noah

8. Girl of the Southern Sea- Michelle Kadarusman

9. The Library Book- Susan Orlean

10. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality- Bob Joseph

11. On the Come Up- Angie Thomas

Thoughts on these books? Well to be honest I don't like giving book reviews and I don't like reading them. I want to decide for myself if a book sounds interesting. And yes, I do judge a book based on the cover! And the title. A good title and cover art will get me almost every time.

But here are some brief thoughts on some of the books for what it's worth....

I read Becoming over the winter break because my husband gave it to me for Christmas (so technically I started it in 2018...) and I felt like I had travelled back in time the Obama White House when intelligence and the pursuit of learning was celebrated. When moving forward to improve the lives of all people was the aim of society and I really didn't want to finish the book. I have tickets to see Michelle Obama speak in May and I'm over the moon excited.

Women Talking was recommended to me by several people and had been on my TBR list for quite awhile. I was very interested to read it and delve into such a troubling topic but I did not enjoy the ending. I felt it came too fast and left me wanting more.

I read We Are Displaced in a single day after a colleague read it and recommended it. LOVE.

The Sisters of the Winter Wood had everything I love in a guilty pleasure read- magic, mystery, set in the past and it was nice thick book! (I read very fast so I like my books big and juicy.) I also loved that the author and main characters (the sisters) in this story were Jewish and it was based on historical events. I'm hoping Rena Rossner has more books to come.

I am a huge fan of Trevor Noah and The Daily Show. This book did not disappoint and I've heard from multiple sources that the audiobook version is outstanding. It was an interesting look into apartheid and trying to learn more about why and how people treat each other in such horrible ways around the world.

The Library Book is a book that will stick with me for a long time to come. I could not put this book down. It's a look into the history of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Public Library, the place of libraries in our society and our fascination with stories. This is a book I will re-read at some point.

What have you read so far this year? What should I add to my TBR list?