Off the Page
A blog on Canadian writing, reading, and everything in between
Launchpad: Legacy of Trees, by Nina Shoroplova
"A fascinating answer to why we should care about trees in the first place." —Wayne Grady
COVID–19 Teacher Diary: Eric Walters' New Book Explores the "Now Normal"
Written, published and released during a pandemic: Eric Walters defies traditional publishing norms to create a book for …
The Abortion Caravan: A Ragtag Army of the Willing
The Abortion Caravan, intent on bearding prime minister Pierre Trudeau in his den and removing abortion from the Crimina …
COVID–19 Teacher Diary: A New Way to Celebrate the Forest of Reading
Forest of Reading is Canada’s largest recreational reading program, celebrating Canadian books and authors. In the eye …
Big Fiction
Fall book season is exciting with its televised ceremonies and fancy galas, but spring is just as interesting, with regi …
10 Unapologetically Twisted Reads
Ten crime reads to help you discover why authors in Canada have their own hashtag (#ReadTheNorth), and deserve a place o …
Launchpad: Murmurations, by Annick MacAskill
Populating her poems with birdsong and murmurings of the natural world, MacAskill highlights how poets and lovers share …
COVID–19 Teacher Diary: Time to Slow Down, with Deborah Ellis & Richard Scrimger
This is the second pair in a series of interviews with a host of Forest of Reading authors interviewed by Erika MacNeil, …
Launchpad: One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet, by Anuradha Rao
This is a book to be celebrated and shared!” —Elizabeth May
Launchpad: In Veritas, by C.J. Lavigne
“The perfect mix of incandescent writing and enthralling storytelling. C.J. Lavigne has given us something we can beli …
Results for keyword: “school libraries”
Shining Light on School Libraries With a $500 Holiday Contest
Every year at 49thShelf.com we run a holiday contest that ends up with one lucky member winning a lot of books. This year is no different and our holiday contest is on until December 12th, so don’t miss your chance to win big!
This year we are using our contest to shed light on an important issue that is very close to our hearts (and we guess many of yours as well): school libraries.
Year after year, studies tell us that teachers and teacher-librarians spend hundreds of their own dollars to buy books and learning materials to help stock their classrooms and libraries’ shelves. Without teachers’ own contributions and school fundraising events, school libraries can turn into barren rooms that aren’t fun for children, diminishing the likelihood that these children will grow up with a love of—or even a capacity for—reading. This is especially true in low-income areas.
The Ontario Library Association confirms that, “Students who are in schools without a staffed and resourced library program are not receiving the same education as students who have school libraries.”
“Students who are in schools without a staffed and resourced library program are not receiving the same education as students who have school libraries.”
To support teacher-librarians an …
Continue reading >
Notes from a Children's Librarian: What I Miss About the Library
Our Children's Librarian columnist, Julie Booker, brings us a new view from the stacks every month. This month she, like many of us, is working from home—and missing the library.
*****
“My” library, where I spend each morning, is a long room with bookshelves all around the perimeter, beneath sky blue walls. Meeting tables are hexagonal and fit together like a beehive. A spinning holder of graphic novels stands as a leaning tower. Someone, long ago, built castle turret bookshelves, which punctuate the picture book area. They house popular series such as Arthur, and Elephant and Piggie, with small stuffies as clues to favourite authors. Various tiny Franklins cluster near Paulette Bourgeois’ books. A jumbo-sized Madeline slumps next to an ever-smiling Curious George, cotton poking through his midriff. A grey and white chickadee is perched near Frank Glew’s That Chickadee Feeling. More characters used to live here but I came in one morning to find Captain Underpants without underpants, Angelina Ballerina disrobed and Stuart Little with his tail between his legs.
In the corner is a den—a set of three carpeted stairs and a sloppy green couch donated by a family that couldn’t bear to set it out for garbage. Read-alouds are performed smack in the middle of t …
Continue reading >
Shining Light on School Libraries With a $500 Holiday Contest
Every year at 49thShelf.com we run a holiday contest that ends up with one lucky member winning a lot of books. This year is no different and our holiday contest is on until December 12th, so don’t miss your chance to win big!
This year we are using our contest to shed light on an important issue that is very close to our hearts (and we guess many of yours as well): school libraries.
Year after year, studies tell us that teachers and teacher-librarians spend hundreds of their own dollars to buy books and learning materials to help stock their classrooms and libraries’ shelves. Without teachers’ own contributions and school fundraising events, school libraries can turn into barren rooms that aren’t fun for children, diminishing the likelihood that these children will grow up with a love of—or even a capacity for—reading. This is especially true in low-income areas.
The Ontario Library Association confirms that, “Students who are in schools without a staffed and resourced library program are not receiving the same education as students who have school libraries.”
“Students who are in schools without a staffed and resourced library program are not receiving the same education as students who have school libraries.”
To support teacher-librarians an …
Notes from a Children's Librarian: What I Miss About the Library
Our Children's Librarian columnist, Julie Booker, brings us a new view from the stacks every month. This month she, like many of us, is working from home—and missing the library.
*****
“My” library, where I spend each morning, is a long room with bookshelves all around the perimeter, beneath sky blue walls. Meeting tables are hexagonal and fit together like a beehive. A spinning holder of graphic novels stands as a leaning tower. Someone, long ago, built castle turret bookshelves, which punctuate the picture book area. They house popular series such as Arthur, and Elephant and Piggie, with small stuffies as clues to favourite authors. Various tiny Franklins cluster near Paulette Bourgeois’ books. A jumbo-sized Madeline slumps next to an ever-smiling Curious George, cotton poking through his midriff. A grey and white chickadee is perched near Frank Glew’s That Chickadee Feeling. More characters used to live here but I came in one morning to find Captain Underpants without underpants, Angelina Ballerina disrobed and Stuart Little with his tail between his legs.
In the corner is a den—a set of three carpeted stairs and a sloppy green couch donated by a family that couldn’t bear to set it out for garbage. Read-alouds are performed smack in the middle of t …
