Module 2.1: Conduct a stock take of your knowledge of children’s literature. List some strategies that you use, or could use, to increase your professional knowledge of children’s literature.
At present, I employ a number of strategies that I use to start afloat with Young Adult fiction (YA) when curating and managing the library collection for the secondary cohort of students at my small K-12 central school. Goodreads, for starters, sends me weekly emails of upcoming debuts, sequels, and highly anticipated releases for each month, and provides me with the option to browse categories and genres at the click of a button. Social media is another strategy I use to keep myself updated. I follow a number of ‘bookstagramers’ on Instagram as well as publishing houses (e.g. Bloomsbury) and artists who create merch for a range of YA texts, both those with well-established fan bases and upcoming releases. On Facebook I am the member of a range of YA fiction groups where members post recommendations, ask for recommendations, or converse about their favourite books or new releases they’re most excited for. More physically, once a month I travel two hours to my closest bookstore (Collins Booksellers in Tamworth) and spend at least an hour browsing the shelves. Here, I make more use of Goodreads; I use the scanner function to scan books of interest that I think would be a positive addition to the library and add them to my ‘wish list’ shelf on my TL Goodreads account. This means I always have a list of books ready for when I place new orders.
Catalogues that come through school are my next source of knowledge regarding children’s literature. Scholastic Book Club and the Boomerang Books catalogues are delivered fairly frequently, and these are the resources that I use the most for increasing my professional knowledge of literature for the younger cohort of students as they are frequent and easy to browse. Alternatively, browsing the CBCA list of notable, shortlisted and prize winning books is a strategy I have used in the past, but admittedly could utilise more frequently. This is also the case with the PRC book lists and the yearly Goodreads Choice Awards.
Whilst I feel relatively in-tune with the updates and demands of YA literature, it is the literature for the younger demographics that I find myself in need of professional development in. Collaboration with Primary staff members about quality literature enjoyed across all primary stages is one strategy I anticipate could have some positive results, as could subscribing to Primary English teacher social media pages and other relevant groups to stay updated on children’s literature. Already, I have found following more Primary English teachers on sources such as Instagram has been a great asset to my professional knowledge of children’s literature. Now my feed is filled with book recommendations, promotions about upcoming releases and fanart of classic and new literature, all set to inspire and inform.
What more could a budding TL want for their downtime scrolling?