I had heard Christina discussing her passion for getting publishers to focus on books for our 12-15 year olds on Amy Hermon's School Librarians United podcast, and was completely on board with her message. Months later, I happened to come across Christina on Bluesky, where we were able to connect and share some ideas. And now she's here to share some of those ideas with you, too! 

Guest: Christina Chatel

Grade(s) Taught: 6, 7, 8

Resources: 

• Troybery Author Blitz Lesson: https://troymiddleschoolmediacenter.weebly.com/troybery.html 

• Add’l Info: The Troybery Author Blitz supports our Troybery Reading Program, now in its 25th year. Annually we choose a list of around 20-30 titles. Students vote them down to the top 10 and then Troybery Award winner. As part of Troybery, we host the Author Blitz, where we offer a virtual author visit every hour of the school day. Teachers from across curriculum tune in to these 30 minute author visits, where authors plead their case for students to read their books and vote for them. The librarians moderate the Q&A portion with pre-submitted and live questions. Teachers and students look forward to this event every year--we tell teachers, "Let your librarian do your lesson plans for the day!"

Book Break: 

• Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi

Where to find Christina Chatel (say it "SHUH-tell"): 

• Website: https://troymiddleschoolmediacenter.weebly.com/troybery.html 

• I can be found on: Bluesky, Instagram

• Bluesky:  bsky.app/profile/medialoguer.bsky.social

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/young_teenlit/ 

• Other Social Media: www.youngteenlit.com, @youngteenlit.bsky.social

Check in with us, and check us out!

• Have an idea, a question, or a lesson you want to share? Email [email protected]

• Check out the curated list of free online resources & events at www.SchoolLibrarianLearningNetwork.org

Some Bluesky Resources

Starter Packs - These give you a list of accounts you might be interested in following. You can selectively choose among the accounts, or "Follow all" with one click!

• School Librarians by @techielibgrl.com

• UK School Librarians by @ljwattswales.bsky.social

• K-12 School Library Professionals in Canada by @dnevillebooks.bsky.social

Feeds - These are collections of posts that meet certain search criteria. They're a great way to see topics you're interested in! You can add feeds to your account for easy repeat viewing. 

• School Librarians Feed by ‪@davidbfox.com‬: Follow the feed to see posts that include "schoollibrarian," "schoollibrary," "School Library Journal," "LMTS," "AASL"

• School Libraries Feed by ‪@tljamesa.com‬:  This is a feed of posts from and for school librarians, teacher librarians, library media specialists, etc. #TLChat #FutureReadyLibs #SchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrarian #TLsky

• School Libraries Feed by ‪@debbieohi.com‬: Picks up posts that include hashtags related to school libraries and school librarians. Search parameters still being tweaked.

• TLSky Feed by ‪@techielibgrl.com‬:  - TLSky is a feed for Librarians. Share by using #tlsky