Youth Services Newsletter

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy, along with numerous participating agencies will host a day-long invitation only Federal Hiring Event for People with Disabilities on April 26, 2010 in Washington, DC.

Information about this event, including what to submit to be invited and where to send a resume, is at www.usajobs.gov/DisabilityHiringEvent. That website also explains what documentation supporting your disability is needed.

On February 23, NJSL TBBC hosted a forum, People of Color Living With Disabilities.

A report on this forum, with photos, is at the New Jersey State Library Newsletter: http://newsletter.njstatelib.org/blog/2010/03/04/nj-state-library-talking-book-braille-center-hosts-open-forum/

School Library Journal (a magazine for teachers and librarians at www.schoollibraryjournal.com) is holding a purely for fun “battle of the kids books.”

Sixteen books are selected. At the first bracket, eight judges read two books each and select a winner who moves up the next bracket.

Those eight books in the second bracket are read by four judges who read two books each and select a winner, and so on, until only one book is left as Winner.

It’s a lot of fun, especially since the judges are authors of books for children and teens.

Information is at the Battle Website: http://sljbattleofthebooks.com/ 

The sixteen books are all 2009 titles; most are in the process of being made into Braille, digital book, and cassette. Requests cannot be made for books “in process.”

Some of these books are already available in commercial audiobook, that is, they are books that you can either buy yourself or borrow from a library.

BR = Braille; DB= Digital Book, cartridge and download; RC = recorded cassette. At the moment, all the available DBs listed are download only. Any DB cartridges are in process. “Commercial audiobook” means you can buy it or borrow it from a public library.

Here are the books and what is available:

CHARLES AND EMMA  In Process: DB68925, RC68925.  Commercial audiobook

CLAUDETTE COLVIN  DB 68732 (download only), In Process: BR (no number yet), RC68732.  Commercial audiobook

THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE  In Process: BR (no number yet), DB69280, RC69280.  Commercial audiobook

FIRE  In Process: DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet).  Commercial audiobook

THE FROG SCIENTIST  In Process: DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet)

THE LAST OLYMPIAN  In Process: DB69015, RC69015.  Commercial audiobook

LIPS TOUCH  In Process: DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet). 
Commercial audiobook

THE LOST CONSPIRACY  In Process: DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet)

MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD  In Process: BR18579, DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet).  Commercial audiobook

MARCHING FOR FREEDOM  In Process: DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet)

PEACE, LOCOMOTION  DB68495 (download only), In Process: RC68495.  Commercial audiobook

A SEASON OF GIFTS  In Process: BR (no number yet), DB (no number yet), RC (no number yet).  Commercial audiobook

THE STORM IN THE BARN  Not available. This is a graphic novel, so won’t be made into Braille or NLS audiobook.

SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM  Not available.

TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA  Not available. This is a graphic novel, so won’t be made into Braille or NLS audiobook.

WHEN YOU REACH ME  In Process: BR18568, DB69837, RC69837.  Commercial audiobook

Camp Marcella’s Open House is on Sunday, April 11, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Camp Marcella will have a tour; you can meet with Camp Director Phil Cocilovo; find out more about this summer’s program; and refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP on or before March 15th  to Paula Tarantino at 201-709-4944 or pdgpaula@verizon.net

Do not RSVP to TBBC!

For more information, including directions, please visit the Camp Marcella website campmarcella.org

The Garden State Teen Book Awards is all about teens! Librarians select a short list of twenty titles, then teens read the books and VOTE.

Who won this year?

The 2010 winners are:

Grades 6-8: Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. RC66423, DB66423.

Grades 9-12: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Not available at TBBC, but it is available in commercial audiobook. Check at your local public library!

Nonfiction 6-12: Houdini the Handcuff King by Jason Lutes.

The 2009 winners were:

Grades 6-8:       Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. RC65047, DB65407 

Grades 9-12:     The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. BR17409, LT25977, RC62431, DB62431

Nonfiction Grades 6-12: Freedom Riders : John Lewis & Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement by Ann Bausum. RC62902  

The nominations for 2011 will be posted here in April so you can start reading and vote for what you think is the best!

Coming to your local PBS station in March!

THE EYES OF ME, a documentary: “How do you see yourself, when you can’t see at all? At the Texas School for the Blind students juggle all the usual pressures of high school along with the added struggles of growing up blind. Spend a dynamic year with four blind teens learning how to fit in and live independently. Forced to confront the world without sight, they share their inner-visions of the outer world. Ultimately, you cannot understand their perceptions without challenging your own.”

Information at the PBS website: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/eyes-of-me/index.html

Resources & materials, including discussion guies, at the PBS website: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/eyes-of-me/getinvolved.html

And a trailer for the program, at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPcnAvKDwog

The New Jersey State Library Talking Book & Braille Center (TBBC) and the New Jersey State Library’s Diversity Committee will host an open forum on “People of Color Living with Disabilities” on Tuesday, February 23, from 10 a.m. to noon in the TBBC conference room, 2300 Stuyvesant Ave., Trenton. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will be moderated by Lorraine Jenkins, principal library assistant and chair of the NJSL Diversity Committee. Presenters include Gail Stokes, TBBC’s reader services advisor, who will discuss “Living with Macular Degeneration;” and Andrea Wright, local voice-over artist, discussing “Living with Multiple Sclerosis.”

Although free, space is limited. For more information or reservations call Gail or Karen at TBBC at (800) 792-8322 or (609) 530-3258.

What if everyone in New Jersey read the same book?

One Book New Jersey, sponsored by the New Jersey Library Association, is a fun and exciting program to get people reading and talking about what they read. More information is available at the website  http://www.onebooknewjersey.org/

Did I say ONE book? I meant four! One for each age group.

For adults: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon. Available at TBBC in Braille BR15215, Cassette RC56893, and Digital Book (may be download only) DB56893.

For young adults: The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Available at TBBC in Large Print LT27738, Cassette RC65403, and Digital Book (may be download only) DB65403.

For middle grade: The Tale Of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. Available at TBBC in Large Print LT24342, Braille B3795 or BR15300,  Cassette RC57805, and Digital Book (may be download only) DB57805.

For read to me: Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. Available at TBBC in Braille BR13089.

What are you waiting for? Be part of One Book New Jersey!

One of NJSL TBBC’s customers, Rocco Fiorentino, was on the television show Sesame Street!

Here is a link to the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-dVEYP82a8

Here is a photo of Rocco with the cast of Sesame Street! Photo by Richard Termine.

Congratulations, Rocco Fiorentino!

Thanks to the blog  Reading Rockets, I found an article called Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/35053. It says “vision problems are not the cause of dyslexia or learning disabilities”.

Reading Rockets’ short article is based on the longer article of the same name, Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision prepared by The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Council on Children with Disabilities, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology and located at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/124/2/837 If that link doesn’t work, try: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/124/2/837 

The original article explains, “Most people with dyslexia have a neurobiological deficit in the processing of the sound structure of language, called a phonemic deficit, which exists despite relatively intact overall language abilities,”  and “There is solid scientific evidence that supports the neurologic basis for the phonological coding deficit theory of reading disabilities.”

The article itself is seven pages, but well worth reading.

This article was published in the journal PEDIATRICS, an official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is peer reviewed.