Yeah I talked about it with my mom too but first I freaked the fuck out about how I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO WEAR A BELT OMG NO PLEASE NO and the text meant to make me feel less alone made me panic. What if I didn't have a cool mom to talk to? If Judy Blume wants to update her text that's JUST FINE.

Jaya Saxena@jayasaxena.com · 4mo ago

I remember reading Are You There God It's Me Margaret and the whole description of having to wear a pad that used a belt, which obviously I didn't know about, so I asked my mom and we got to talk all about various grooming procedures of the past and I learned something and it was good!!!!

Gotta love an email from @wearealsc.bsky.social promoting their fall institute with a session on helping youth lead the way to a sustainable future AND a session on how to use generative AI in your library. Those are literally contradictions & it's so embarrassing no one at ALSC acknowledges that.

I'm a Jedi ... like my mother before me. #MayTheFourthBeWithYou as for me I'll always be here waiting and hoping that someone at LucasFilms wises up and makes THE HUNT FOR BEN SOLO.

I will never stop being frustrating that when it comes to the mystery/thriller market for youth publishing has two categories and they are "the gosh dink secret of the very cute lost puppy" and "17 year olds involved in high stakes, bloody murder conspiracies" Great, perfect, thanks.

I wish the person who wrote the smoking piece had the pleasure I had, of growing up with two chain-smoking parents for literally their entire life and never understanding what it was like to not live with that until they went to college. Real delight and so healthy too!

Jacquelyn Gill@jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I didn’t know I had an arch-nemesis but apparently there’s an opinion piece going around suggesting that since we’re all doomed we should also just take up smoking.

@brandonhoang.bsky.social @trungles.com I am making a graduation gift for my 8th grader who moved here from Vietnam. She has loved your books! I want to put "I am a poet" on a bag but I would love to have the phrase in Vietnamese. Can you point me to a reliable source for the translation? Thank you!

I love doing digital agency/digital well-being lessons for middle schoolers.

I don't mind being turned down for NCTE even though one of the ELA intervention teachers and I had an AMAZING presentation (with the stats to back it up) about how poetry has empowered her students but knowing they'll have 600000 sessions on HOW GREAT AI IS and TEACH WITH AI...now that's depressing.

Huge shout-out to Rosen Publishing for creating A HUMAN BEING MADE THIS, a series for K-4. I think every school librarian working with elementary should build curriculum around it. Now can they make a secondary version, I volunteer to write some this summer. dai.rosenpublishing.com/series/A-Hum...

Hello Bluesky maybe if you know me from other social media you know one of my favorite gratitude practices is sending real mail. I got a bunch of weird rando postcards at a reuse store. So...it's time to send some mail. You want in? Reply and inbox me!

I got this for $1 at a thrift store and now the discussions will begin. #WhiteboardMagic

My latest, with @propublica.org + @nytimes.com: An Oklahoma law was supposed to help reduce the sentences of domestic violence survivors who fought back -- women who are serving long sentences for killing their abusers. Why are nearly all of them still in prison? www.propublica.org/article/okla...

They Were Convicted of Killing Their Abusers. A New Law Offered a Second Chance at Freedom.

An Oklahoma law was supposed to help reduce the sentences of women who killed their abusers. Why are nearly all of them still in prison?

propublica.org

I still believe in a world where real people make real things and that's in part because this 7th grader crocheted this onto their hair clip, "just 'cause" and isn't that reason enough?

Nothing but love for the avid narrative non-fiction reader who is always desperately trying to get their friends to read it as the friends only care about fiction. Kid is constantly out there hand-selling narrative NF. Spent all lunch booktalking this one. Keep at it, kid. "Just try this one."

My best friend and I are doing a bf journal for the year and I'm having a hard time letting him have his turn but also I love it.

Me, trying to explain KPOP DEMON HUNTERS to one of my coworker: okay so they're like a classic hot boy band but ALSO they are demons so the song is about drinking SOULS not soda but - oh I forgot the bird. So - My coworker:

a little boy in a blue shirt is sitting on a couch .

ALT: a little boy in a blue shirt is sitting on a couch .

media.tenor.com

do y'all ever think about the truly wild coincidence that 99% of the time every single year "the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature" is ... a middle grade chapter book for ages 9-14? That seems weird doesn't it. And yet somehow....

Don't you love when you get messages from friends because a teen in their life finally connected with a book so they want more recs to keep the reading going? And don't you EXTRA love it when it's a book you know is totally amazing and by @kosokojackson.bsky.social ?? Yeah I love that too.

The most magical time of year for a school librarian! Teaching lateral reading time!

This is our 10th student librarian and I just gotta tell you it gets better every time. (This is a generic version of the sign I made to share, the real one has the student's name obviously.) Every part of this program is a joy. #librarylife

For my last RT, there's no one making books about prison abolition and toll incarceration takes on families and children like @prisonculture.bsky.social. Please get all three of her picture books for your libraries.

Okay there's just no way middle schoolers like pumpkin pie THIS much right?? (this was a fun one. #WhiteboardMagic)

First book club of the school year. How many kids will show up?

I'm not a member of ALA anymore because I'm poor now as a teacher (that's literally true I cannot justify the expenseon my current salary) but I would NEVER want to hear anything religious from the leader of any of my professional orgs. You don't know shit about what I believe. Shut up.

Nicole Pagowsky, Ph.D.@nope4evr.bsky.social · last yr.

I do want to point out on main that “act justly walk humbly” is from a bible verse and part of a CCM song. ALA pres is subtly referencing religion in official communications (I consider it official if tagging ALA, and really anything publicly posted while leading the org is official).

Nothing like when you just put out something (after a request) and they just start making magic. #librarylife

here's a real niche tweet: it's been four years but one of the hardest parts of school librarianship v. public librarianship is still not marking down the tallies for reference questions.

One thing on my dream wishlist is more middle grade titles from Vietnamese American authors, ideally fun and contemporary stuff. @brandonhoang.bsky.social, Thanhhà Lại, and @trungles.com can only do so much. This is a gap, imo.

This is what happens when you let your #1 reader be the first student librarian of the year and they literally twirl through the stacks with joy. #librarylife

while there are many exquisite feelings in librarianship there are none MORE exquisite than when a kid sees your favorites cart, beams at you and thoughtfully says "Oh! Thank you for having and loving this book. Did you know the character is Native like me but from Canada?"