FINAL PROJECT

S. Vardell 09
Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictus
Combined Nonfiction Award Books (Since 2000)
Holdings & Circulation Statistics Survey

Date ____12-3-2009_____________

Name of Library _________Fowler Elementary Library WFISD_______________
School library ____X____ Public library ________

City, State _______Wichita Falls, Texas___ ____________________
(All the library’s identifying information is confidential.)
1. _____14_______ Number of Nonfiction Award books in library collection
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
2. _____70_______ Percentage of all Nonfiction Award books possible
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
3. _____20_______ Total number of Nonfiction Award book circulations to date
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
4. ______4_______ Circulation average per Nonfiction Award book
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
List the ten Nonfiction Award books (Orbis Pictus and Sibert combined) with highest current circulation (from most circulated to least)
Author’s Last Name, First Name Book Title
Montgomery, Sy The Tarantula Scientist____
Montgomery, Sy The Snake Scientist _____
Ryan, Pam Munoz When Marion Sang _____
Giblin, James Cross____________The Amazing Life Of Benjamin Franklin___
Murphy, Jim___________An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story
Of The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Bridges, Ruby and Lundell, Margo ____Through My Eyes________
Lasky, Kathryn The Man That Made Time Travel
Murphy, Jim__________________ Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America
Montgomery, Sy______ Quest For The Tree Kangaroo:__An Expedition To The
Cloud Forest Of New Guinea_
Jenkins, Steve At The Top Of The World__




ROBERT SIBERT AWARD AND HONOR BOOKS AND ORBIS PICTUS AWARD AND HONOR BOOKS ALL COMBINED

*The circulation data report includes total circulation of each book, not yearly.*

AUTHOR COPIES CIRCULATION

Adler, David A. 1 0
America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle.
Illustrated by Terry Widener. Gulliver Books, 2000.

Arnosky, Jim. 0 0
Wild & Swampy. HarperCollins, 2000.

Aronson, Marc. 0 0
Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado.
Clarion Books, 2000.

Bardoe, Cheryl. 0 0
Gregory Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas.
Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith. Abrams, 2006.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 0 0
Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845–1850.
Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 0 0
Hitler Youth: 
Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow.
Scholastic, 2005.

Bausum, Ann. 0 0
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement.
National Geographic, 2006.

Bausum, Ann. 0 0
Muckrakers. National Geographic, 2007.


Bial, Raymond. 0 0
Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side.
Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Bishop, Nic. 0 0
Spiders. Scholastic, 2007.

Blumberg, Rhoda. 0 0
York’s Adventures with Lewis and Clark:
An African-American's Part in the Great Expansion. HarperCollins, 2004.

Blumenthal, Karen. 0 0
Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum Books, 2002.

Bolden, Tonya. 0 0
M.L.K.: Journey of a King. Abrams, 2007.

Bridges, Rudy and Lundell, Margo. 1 3
Through My Eyes. Scholastic Press, 1999.

Burleigh, Robert. 0 0
Seurat and La Grande Jatte: Connecting the Dots. Abrams, 2004.

Byrd, Robert. 0 0
Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer. Dutton Children’s Books, 2003.

Cobb, Vicki. 0 0
I Face the Wind. Illustrated by Julia Gorton. HarperCollins, 2003.

Curlee, Lynn. 0 0
Brooklyn Bridge. Simon & Schuster, 2001.

Dash, Joan. 0 0
The Longitude Prize. Ill. by Dusan Petricic. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

Delano, Marfe Ferguson. 1 1
Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein.
National Geographic, 2005.

Fleischman, John. 0 0
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science.
Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Fleischman, John. 0 0
Black and White Airmen: Their True History.
Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

Floca, Brian. 0 0
Lightship. Simon & Schuster, 2007.

Freedman, Russell. 0 0
Confucius: The Golden Rule.
Illustrated by Frederic Clement.
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2002.

Freedman, Russell. 0 0
In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bill of Rights.
Holiday House, 2003.

Freedman, Russell. 0 0
The Voice That Challenged A Nation:
Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights.
Clarion Books, 2004.

Freedman, Russell. 1 0
Children of the Great Depression.
Clarion, 2005.

Freedman, Russell. 0 0
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Holiday House, 2006.


Gantos, Jack. 0 0
Hole in My Life.
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2002.

Giblin, James Cross. 0 0
Secrets of the Sphinx. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.
Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc., 2004.

Giblin, James Cross. 1 3
The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin.
Illustrated by Michael Dooling. Scholastic Press, 2000.

Giblin, James Cross. 0 0
The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler.
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.

Govenar, Alan B. 0 0
Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter.
Illustrated by Shane W. Evans. Jump at the Sun, 2000.

Greenberg, Jan and Jordan, Sandra. 0 0
Vincent van Gogh. Delacorte Press, 2001.

Greenberg, Jan and Jordan, Sandra. 0 0
Action Jackson. Ill. by Robert Andrew Parker.
Roaring Brook Press, 2002.

Hoose, Phillip. 0 0
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.

Hopkinson, Deborah. 0 0
Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-
1924.Orchard Books, 2003.

Jackson, Donna. 0 0
ER Vets: Life in an Animal Emergency Room.
Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Jenkins, Steve. 0 0
Actual Size. Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Jenkins, Steve. 1 1
The Top of the World.
Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

Johnson, Sylvia A. 0 0
Mapping the World. Atheneum, 1999.

Jurmain, Suzanne. 0 0
Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic
Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Kerley, Barbara. 0 0
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins..
Ill. by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press, 2001.

Kerley, Barbara. 0 0
Walt Whitman Words for America.
Illustrated by Brian Selznick.

Kurlansky, Mark. 0 0
The Cod’s Tale. Ill. by S. D. Schindler.
Penguin Putnam Books, 2001.

Lasky, Kathryn. 1 2
The Man Who Made Time Travel.
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc., 2003.

Lasky, Kathryn. 0 0
John Muir: America's First Environmentalist.
Illustrated by Stan Fellows. Candlewick, 2006.

Mann, Elizabeth, 0 0
Empire State Building: When New York Reached for the Skies.
Illustrated by Alan Witschonke. Mikaya Press, 2003.


McClafferty, Carla Killough. 0 0
Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.

Montgomery, Sy. 1 17
The Snake Scientist. Ill. by Nic Bishop.
Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

Montgomery, Sy. 1 18
The Tarantula Scientist. Photographs by Nic Bishop.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.

Montgomery, Sy. 1 2
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition
to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea.
Photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Murphy, Jim. 1 3
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying
Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

Murphy, Jim. 2 2
Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America.
Scholastic Press., 2000.

Myers, Walter Dean. 0 0
At Her Majesty’s Request:
An African Princess in Victorian England.
Scholastic Press, 1999.
O’Connor, Jane.

Emperor’s Silent Army: 0 0
Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China.
Viking Children’s Books, 2002.

Old, Wendie C. 0 0
To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers.
Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker. Clarion Books, 2002.

Rappaport, Doreen. 0 0
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ill. by Bryan Collier. Hyperion, 2001.

Reich, Susanna. 0 0
Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso.
Clarion Books, 1999.

Rumford, James. 0 0
Sequoyah The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing.

Ryan, Pam Munoz. 1 3
When Marian Sang. Illustrated by Brian Selznick.
Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc., 2002.

Siegel, Siena Cherson. 0 0
To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel.
Artwork by Mark Siegel. Simon & Schuster, 2006.

Singer, Marilyn. 0 0
Venom. Darby Creek Publishing, 2007.

Sís, Peter. 0 0
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.
Farrar/Frances Foster, 2007.

Siy, Alexandra and Kunkel, Dennis. 0 0
Mosquito Bite. Charlesbridge, 2005.

Stanley, Diane. 0 0
Michelangelo. HarperCollins, 2000.

Stanley, Jerry. 0 0
Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California.
Crown, 2000.



Sullivan, George. 0 0
Helen Keller: Her Life in Pictures.
Scholastic, 2007.

Thimmesh, Catherine. 1 1
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.
Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Walker, Sally M. 0 0
Secrets of a Civil War Submarine:
Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley.
Carolrhoda Books, 2005.

Warren, Andrea. 0 0
Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps.
HarperCollins, 2001.

Webb, Sophie. 0 0
My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

Winick, Judd. 0 0
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned.
Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2000.


The Results:
The Fowler school library contains 12,581 titles available for circulation. The school has 631 active patrons, which includes teachers and other staff. At the time the data was collected, there were 530 books checked out from the library. None of the checked out books included a Robert Sibert or Orbis Pictus Award Winner or Honor Book. There were 70 books listed in the Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictis Award Winning and Honor Books. The Fowler Library contained 14 books that were Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictis Award Winners or Honor Books. The 14 books available out of the library’s 12,581 books available, means that less than 1% of the books included Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictis Award Winners or Honor Books.
The 14 books available in the Fowler Library include:

Adler, David A. America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle. Illustrated by Terry Widener. Gulliver Books, 2000.

Bridges, Rudy and Lundell, Margo. Through My Eyes. Scholastic Press, 1999.
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein. National Geographic, 2005.
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. Clarion, 2005
Giblin, James Cross. The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin. Illustrated by Michael Dooling. Scholastic Press, 2000.
Jenkins, Steve. The Top of the World. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Lasky, Kathryn. The Man Who Made Time Travel. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc., 2003.
Montgomery, Sy. The Snake Scientist. Ill. by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Montgomery, Sy. The Tarantula Scientist. Photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
Montgomery, Sy. Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea. Photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Murphy, Jim. Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America. Scholastic Press., 2000.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. When Marian Sang. Illustrated by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc., 2002.
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.


The collection includes 1 Robert Siebert Medal Award Winner, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy. There were two Robert Siebert Honor Books available. They include: When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan, and Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America, by Jim Murphy. There were 5 books available from the Orbis Pictis Award Winners. They included: Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, by Jim Murphy, Children of the Great Depression, by Russell Freedman, Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein, by Marfe Ferguson Delano, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy, and When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan. There were 6 books available from the Orbis Pictus Honor Books. They included: Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, by Catherine Thimmesh, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy, When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan, The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin, by James Giblin, The Snake Scientist, by Sy Montgomery, and The Top of the World, by Steve Jenkins.
Sy Montgomery had the most Award Winning and Honor Books in the collection, with all 3 of his books being available. Jim Murphy was next, with 2 books. The rest of the authors of the 14 available books, had one of their books in the collection. The majority of Award Winners and Honor Books were not found in the Fowler Library at all. I should add that there were books by all the authors listed, just not the titles that won these awards.
Sy Montgomery also had the best circulation of the authors, with
The Tarantula Scientist being checked out at least 18 times. The history that I could gather stopped at the year 2000, so I couldn’t go back any further. Mr. Montgomery’s other book, The Snake Scientist, was checked out at least 17 times. His third book, Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, has been checked out 2 times. The rest of the books available have been checked out 1, 2, or 3 times, over the lifetime of the book. Two of the available books have never been checked out. These include: America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, by David Adler, Children of the Great Depression, by Russell Freedman.
The books on animal science seemed to be the most popular nonfiction books. Followed by weather, catastrophes, and books on famous people. The least popular were books about famous people that students most likely haven’t heard about, or events in history most children are not familiar or are have not studied about.

Analysis:
The results of this survey were not surprising to me. I have been at Fowler for 8 years, and the library has been a sore subject for most of the teachers working there. For the first 5 years I worked there, we had a librarian who was waiting for retirement. She did not make the library fun. She did not let the students look for books. If they took to long, she would make them take a book she selected. She was very into organization. She did not even let the students go to the nonfiction and biography section, because she could not see what they were doing from her desk.
The last two years, we have had no librarian. There were no new books ordered the first year, and the second year, a few teachers took it upon themselves to try and get some new books into the library, and most of the titles were fiction.
To give the librarian or lack of one sufficient credit, there are more reasons why I think the circulation and purchase of nonfiction books is so low. When our school started the Accelerated Reader Program, we did not just use it as a reward for reading. Our Principal wanted it to be used as a grade. She decided that 25% of their reading grade was to be based on their Accelerated Reader average. At that time, our elementary school, had to buy their own quizzes. There were very few bought each year, so it made sense to buy quizzes for the books that all the students wanted to read. Fiction was usually the only Genre considered, because most students were reading fiction. This caused our library to purchase only books that students could read, test, and use to meet their Accelerated Reader goals. I believe that this is the main reason that we have very few Award Winning Nonfiction books in our library. With very little money available for quizzes or new books, nonfiction books have not been valued by our students, teachers, or our principal.
Two years ago, the whole WFISD district decided that, as a whole, the district would enter a contract with the Accelerated Reader program, that the whole district would receive any Accelerated Reader Test available, as they were developed. This means that any book that has an Accelerated Reader test, is available to our students. This could mean a new life for our nonfiction books on the shelf, as well as persuading our principal that students need to learn to love nonfiction books as well. Reading for information is one of that TAKS test main objectives, so this and the new contract with Accelerated Reader should help to increase the purchase and circulation of these award winning books.

Recommendations:

First, I would recommend that more money be considered for purchase of award winning and honor nonfiction books. The Accelerated Reader problem has been solved by the district purchasing all tests. Students can now read a wide assortment of nonfiction, and still be working toward their Accelerated Reader goals. The students just need to be able to get to the great nonfiction books, and unfortunately, they are not available in our library. I would recommend that next year, most of the money used to purchase new library materials, be spent on nonfiction.
I would also recommend that the librarian read an equal number of nonfiction books to classes, as they are read nonfiction. If one really good nonfiction book is read and enjoyed, students will likely go to other nonfiction books by that author, and hopefully, then go on to other nonfiction written by other authors.
I would recommend that the new and award-winning nonfiction books be placed in a preferential spot in the library. They should be moved to a place with better access and more visability. I also would recommend having my student librarians read some of the nonfiction books and we could showcase their favorite picks. The younger students admire the student librarians, because they read them stories and help them find books. It might encourage younger students to read those books. We could also interview members of our staff, as well as the principal, and have them recommend nonfiction books. Make a display which highlights the books and the staff member recommending them. As students read more nonfiction, have different students recommend also.
I also think a bulletin board should be made showcasing at least two award winning or honor books for nonfiction each month. They could also correspond with a date in history, or holiday. Several different nonfiction books should be displayed each month, so they are visable to all students. If possible, have book trailers which showcase nonfiction.
The librarian needs to discuss with staff, teachers, the PTO organization, parents, and administration, that an injustice is being done to our students, because they are missing out on a whole genre. Explain that our library doesn’t many of the current nonfiction books. If you go to the administration, parents, or the PTO, it could possibly lead to more funds found to invest in nonfiction.
There is also grant money available for many classroom needs. If the librarian is willing to do the research, she may be able to come up with funds to purchase books.
If I were to recommend a book for librarians about how to use different literature genres in the library and classroom, I would recommend:

Vardell, Sylvia M. CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN ACTION A LIBRARIAN’S GUIDE. 2008. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 9781591585572