News from the LMC
April 2021
Libraries are for everyone
This issue of the Library Media Center newsletter will focus on the ways our school library is for everyone. Libraries are known as a "third space," a location beyond work and home where everyone feels comfortable. All are welcome!
See you there,
~Ms. Tolva, librarian
Wide range of books
Our book collection reflects diversity in characters, settings, and issues. We give reading suggestions on multi-colored bookmarks. Click here to search the LMC catalog.
Reading formats
Our reading formats allow reading in diverse ways: print, ebook, audiobook, graphic and several international languages. Click here to access digital books through Sora.
Be kind
Our student behavior expectations emphasize consideration for others. For example, "Your voice and behavior should not disturb other people." We support the goals of #vhgive.
LMC classroom wall: "Books can be a window into the world, or a mirror into yourself"
"Books can be a window into the world ...
The LMC classroom features an installation of windows and mirrors, curated through many Facebook Marketplace transactions. One community seller donated a mirror because she so appreciated this message.
... or a mirror into yourself."
The message shown on the LMC classroom windows and mirrors is adapted from Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, who famously promoted literature as a tool of self-affirmation. "Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us," she wrote.
#WeNeedDiverse Books
This is the rallying cry of DiverseBooks.org, an organization that advocates essential changes in publishing and libraries to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.
Apple: Skin to the Core
Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth tells the story of his life and family through poems about their Onondaga heritage, from the horrible legacy of government boarding schools, to watching his siblings come and go, to his fight to be an artist who balances multiple worlds.
Every Body Looking
Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh focuses on a mixed-heritage dancer's coming of age within the African diaspora. She is shaped by abuse at the hands of a cousin, her mother's descent into addiction, and her father's efforts to create a Nigerian-inspired home in America
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender follows Felix Love, a transgender seventeen-year-old, who attempts to get revenge by catfishing his anonymous bully, but lands in a quasi-love triangle with his former enemy and his best friend.
VHHS check out books for curbside pickup
What Ms. Tolva is reading
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger is set at the Lincoln Indian Training School in 1932. Brothers Odie and Albert, along with 2 other orphans, seek kindness in a desolate life. I wish I could #vhgive Hope to them. The author's book Ordinary Grace is a beautiful read that reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird.
I am also happy to announce the winners of the 2021 Illinois High School Book Award and to promote the 20 titles nominated for the 2022 award.
Email: monica.tolva@d128.org
Website: http://www.d128.org/vhhs/students/student-services/library
Location: 145 Lakeview Parkway, Vernon Hills, IL, USA
Phone: 847-932-2039
Twitter: @monicatolva