ActivityVine activityvine.com

When I heard that ActivityVine had the opportunity to speak at the North Dakota Library Association (NDLA), I immediately had flashes of Donna Reed in the classic 1946 movie "It's a Wonderful Life." In one scene, she is shown carrying books and is portrayed as a nerdy librarian complete with glasses, a knit cap and a sweater. Although I did see one knit cap that screamed "I'm a librarian!", the glasses and the few sweaters I saw were all very fashionable. The days of the stereotypical Donna Reed librarian are gone.

Today's librarians or library media specialists, as some ..

Blood spattered envelopes surround a bloodied young male's body. Darkness and suspense. Books flying around and silence...silence.

No, this isn't a trashy mystery paperback or a horror film, but it is a night at Dickinson State University's Stoxen Library. "Murder in the Library" event was a highlight of the North Dakota Library Association (NDLA) Annual Conference in Dickinson, North Dakota.

Walking up to the library there was no way to be prepared for the events that would transpire. Looking back, being greeted by a well dressed, spectacled, and mustached man speaking with an accent should ..

               When I was a child I remember vividly having The Giver by Lois Lowry read to me. It was in school and my face rested on the desk looking at the words as my teacher read them. From that experience I not only learned proper inflection and meter but of this separate world of Jonas and The Receiver of Memories. It is a memory of read which has stuck with me.

                So when I, as a teacher, got a chance to select the books I taught and The Giver was on the list, I was elated. I ..