This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Tonight I’m Someone Else by Chelsea Hodson from Holt Paperbacks.
Student Volunteers Replacing School Librarians Criticized In Scotland
Three Scotland schools are testing out a trial program from the Scottish Borders council that will place pupils and volunteers in school library staff positions for cost-cutting reasons. Many parents, experts, librarians, and unions are critical of this plan: “Librarians do not just open the library door and check out books: they have the knowledge and skill to support learners in their study and research, and to support literacy skills.”
He Once Got Himself Arrested On Purpose–And 12 Other Surprising Facts about George Orwell
If your well of facts for “Hey did you know” is running low Mental Floss has put together a list of surprising facts about novelist Eric Arthur Blair, the man behind the pen name George Orwell. You probably already know he wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four but do you know how many foreign languages he knew? Or that he coined the term “cold war?”
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks Statue Unveiled
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is now the first black, Chicago-based poet honored with a statue and memorial in a city park. Just another “first” for this extraordinary poet who was also first the black person to win a Pulitzer Prize (for Annie Allen) and the first black woman to be the poet laureate of Illinois. If you’re in Chicago you can see her statue at her namesake Gwendolyn Brooks Park or enjoy your weekend with a poetry collection: A Street in Bronzeville.
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