Tickled Pink to be a School Librarian
As winter break approached in 2020, I was, like many of you, tired. I was tired of teaching in Zoom. I was tired of not being able to get books into the hands of ALL students, and was frustrated by the fact that many students who needed access to books the most were not getting them. I was tired of working either from my temporary home office or from what felt like a cavernous, empty school. What I--what EVERYONE--needed, was something to keep our spirits up. Something to unite our school community, to brighten the cold, dark days, and to make the slog to spring seem shorter. And that's when I got an idea. This is almost always dangerous. . . What if I did a reading challenge? What if it focused on stamina and FINISHING books (a problem I recognized, particularly in my 3-5th grade students)? And what if it culminated in something that would get the entire school community talking? After consulting with some classroom teachers and library colleagues, I landed on a "Stick W