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The big news in the library world last week was that author Jason Reynolds was named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for the years 2020-2021.  This means he’ll be traveling around the country visiting libraries, schools, and other places where young people congregate to inspire kids to read and tell their own stories through his platform, “GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story”. He will partner with StoryCorps to record interviews with students while on tour and create a true story archive of America’s children. These recordings will be housed in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Jason Reynolds  is the author of 13 books for young people including his most recent, “Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks.” He is a Newbery and Prinz Honor recipient and a National Book Award finalist. He succeeds Jacqueline Woodson, and is the seventh National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book council and Every Child a Reader.

Our Monroe One BOCES SLS Overdrive Account has the following titles. Click the picture to open it in SORA:

In the 1950s and ’60s, the civil rights movement brought sweeping reforms to nearly all facets of American life. With historical photographs and videos, Rosen Publishing’s Spotlight on the Civil Rights Movement records the 20th century’s most significant moments in the struggle for equality.

Monroe One BOCES School Library System has purchased all 13 books from this ROSEN ebook series and offers them for free to all of its school libraries.

Titles are:

• Affirmative Action
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Freedom Riders
• Lyndon B. Johnson and the Civil Rights Act
• Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Sit-Ins and Nonviolent Protest for Racial Equality
• The Black Power Movement and Civil Unrest
• The Life and Death of Malcom X
• The Life and Death of Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Little Rock Desegregation Crisis
• The March on Washington
• The Murder of Emmett Till

Each ebook includes lesson plans, inquiry and project-based learning activities, primary sources – including historical documents and photos, biographies of key individuals, correlation to national and state standards, and an easy-to-use planning guide. These are incredible resources.

If you need the access information, please contact Liesl or Katie.

WXXI has also made some great resources available for grades 3-7 about Martin Luther King Jr, just in time to celebrate his national annual holiday. These include a five minute video aligned to History and Civics standards, and a Lesson Plan. These are available in Spanish and are housed on PBS Learning Media, which is free for New York Educators.

Take advantage of these valuable resources today!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is coming up on January 20th. We have some great resources for you!

There are a number of great videos for all grade levels in Safari MONTAGE. Click on the titles to view the videos in Safari MONTAGE. (Some videos are embedded below and viewable if you are signed into our Safari MONTAGE account already.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Song (Grades K-4)

This video from NUMBEROCK presents a song about the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. This video is hosted on YouTube and offered through Safari MONTAGE.

Martin Luther King, Jr: Our top 5 fun facts (Grades 3-8)

This video from Educational Videos for Students presents a brief biography of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and five facts about him that you may have never heard before. This video is hosted on YouTube and offered through Safari MONTAGE.

History Kids: From Selma to Montgomery-Marching with Martin Luther King Jr. (Grades 5-8)

By watching this program, students will discover what led to the civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. What were the events of Bloody Sunday? What did Martin Luther King Jr. do in its aftermath? How did the official march from Selma to Montgomery on March 21, 1965, unfold? What were the effects of this march? The answers to all of this are covered in depth with detailed graphics, diagrams, and historic video. On-screen multiple-choice reviews at the end of each segment reinforce important concepts. This video is offered through our Learn360 service.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Dream (Grades 9-12)

The video, embedded below and linked in the title, opens with a clip from his most famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and moves into the nation’s reaction and the aftermath of his death. It is a thorough examination of Dr. King’s legacy. This video is offered through our Learn360 service.

King in the Wilderness (Grades 9 – Adult)

From award-winning director/producer Peter Kunhardt, King in the Wilderness follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the volatile last three years of his life, from the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to his assassination in April 1968. Drawing on revelatory stories from his inner circle of friends, the film provides a clear window into the civil rights leader’s character, showing him to be a man with an unshakeable commitment to peaceful protest in the face of an increasingly unstable country. Illuminating and poignant, the documentary – which is tied to the 50th anniversary of King’s death – reveals a conflicted leader whose successes were punctuated in his final years by an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, whether the Black Power movement, who saw his nonviolence as weakness, or President Lyndon B. Johnson, who viewed his anti-Vietnam War speeches as irresponsible. With compassion and clarity, King in the Wilderness unearths a stirring new perspective into Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence, and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his death, inviting a sense of penetrating intimacy and insight into one of the most profound thinkers of our time.

This is An HBO Production offered through our Learn360 service.

Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise: Out of the Shadows (Grades 9 – Adult)

In ”Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last 50 years of African-American history. The first episode of the series begins at a turning point in American history: the Selma marches and Watts riots, which marked a new phase in the African-American struggle. Gates explores the rising call for Black Power, which redefined American culture, politics and society. This program contains strong language. This is a PBS production available through Safari MONTAGE.