ms. larsen's classroom library: progress report

Back in September during the first week of classes, the school that my sister Ginny (or Ms. Larsen to her students) teaches at experienced flooding.  Everyone is/was safe, but classes were canceled for several days, and then held off-site for a couple more at a local high school.  They had to gut classrooms, and replace ceiling tiles and drywall in others. My sister's room was one of the ones affected.  The displacement, construction and confusion were a lot to deal with, but on top of that, much of her classroom library was destroyed.  I wrote a post about the whole thing at that time, and solicited titles of books I should send to replace what she lost.

The rest of this post is happy, I promise!  As you can see from the photos, Ginny has recreated the entire thing exactly as it was before the flooding.  She repainted the classroom and has done beautiful new chalkboard designs for each season.  AND, books!  I have been ordering and sending the titles you suggested in small batches directly to her school.  Some of you even sent your own copies!  THANK YOU!  As you can see, Ginny's library is back in business, and her students are reading a great new selection of titles recommended/donated by book bloggers.

I have still more books I plan to give her from my own collection, but I'll sort that out when I'm back in Seattle over the holidays.  In the meantime, check out this partial list of titles donated to Ms. Larsen's 9th Grade English classroom:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Pena
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
White Cat by Holly Black
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

I'll be scouring my fellow bloggers' "Best of 2013" lists for more titles to add to her collection.  In the meantime, if you have any further suggestions of books that belong in a 9th grade classroom (for self-directed reading), please mention them in the comments.  Ms. Larsen and I thank you!

how to replace a classroom library

I may be the book blogger in my family, but all of my siblings love to read, and my sister (and best friend!) Ginny is a huge fan of YA lit – and not only does she love reading it, she teaches it!  She’s a 9th grade English teacher in Washington State.  Ginny is an amazing teacher and inspiration, and this was her first week back teaching after an intense summer of volunteering.  Last night severe storms caused parts of the roof of her school to collapse, and classrooms flooded.  When she went in to work this morning, there was standing water 2" deep in her classroom, and part of the ceiling had fallen.

The good news is that she and her kids are safe – all of the major damage happened overnight.  They closed down the whole school, as around twelve classrooms were affected (here's the video news segment).  The bad news is that there’s a ton of work to do to make it safe for classes again, and part of that work means ripping out walls she’s spent hours decorating. 

The flooding also destroyed Ginny’s classroom library, which she has collected over the past 7 years (with my help!).  Her 300+ books were sitting at ground level and soaked up the water and debris.  Visualizing all of that hard work and those lost books made me cry, and I know I’m not even close to feeling what she feels, and I can’t imagine what her students will lose out on.

My heart is aching for her, and I need to do something to help. 

I can’t do anything about the walls of her room, but I can do something about the books.  I’m going to donate from my own shelves and fill a couple of boxes to send to her.  I’d also like to solicit your help, dear readers.  In the comments, please tell me what books you’d put in a 9th grade classroom library.  I’ll search for used copies of those titles on Amazon and other sites and put together a big order for Ginny and her kids.

Do you know other ways to help?  Please mention them!  Thank you!

(If by some miracle you’d also like to donate appropriate books, you can send them to Ferrucci Junior High in Puyallup, Washington, care of Miss Larsen.  The mailing address should be easily searchable on the interwebs.)

*All photos (before and after) by Ginny