Books, Bytes & Big Ideas

04/11/2026

📚 Books & BIG Ideas is making a move… Not going away—just getting a bigger stage. 👉 We’re officially rolling into
🫎 Muddy Moose - Movies, Music & More - Why?
Because Books & BIG Ideas has always been about more than just books… It’s about:
🎬 Stories
🎵 Culture
🧠 Big ideas
📚 And what’s actually worth your time
And that fits perfectly with what the Muddy Moose is building.
🔥 What This Means
👉 You’ll still get:
📚 Books & BIG Ideas
🧠 Thoughtful takes
🎬 Movies, music & pop culture
😏 And a little more personality along the way
Just all in one place now.
👉 Follow along here:
https://www.facebook.com/MuddyMooseMMM
📚 The librarian who actually makes books, movies, and ideas interesting… just leveled up.

04/10/2026

Ran a quick poll in the library this week—👉 Favorite season?
Completely unscientific… but also 100% accurate 😂
☀️ Summer dominated. Not even close.
Which makes sense because:
no alarms
no snow
and the general “I’ll deal with it later” energy
Fall held its own 🍁
Spring showed up 🌸
Winter… exists ❄️
One of my favorite parts of being a school librarian is stuff like this—
simple, low-key things that get people to actually stop, think, and interact for a minute.
💬 So now I’m curious—what’s your pick?

04/08/2026

📚🌲 Books & BIG Ideas. What if professional development didn’t feel like…professional development? The Forests of NH Teacher Tour is a 4-day, hands-on experience that takes you beyond the classroom and into the real world of forestry, sustainability, and environmental education.
🌿 Forests of NH Teacher Tour
📍 Based in Alstead, NH
📅 July 21–24
Spend four days immersed in:
The forest industry
Project Learning Tree (PLT) activities
Real-world connections to “green jobs”
Collaboration with educators from across New Hampshire
💡 Walk away with practical strategies, new resources, and a deeper understanding of how to bring nature-based learning into your teaching.
🎓 Earn 30 professional development hours
👥 Open to:
Educators, administrators, counselors, college students, and youth leaders
💵 $250 (register by 4/24/26) | $300 after
Includes lodging, meals, transportation, and a PLT curriculum guide

👉 Learn more and register:
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/newhampshireprojectlearningtree/event/2026forestsofnhteachertour/

Sometimes the best ideas don’t come from sitting in a room…
they come from stepping into the forest.

TONE FOREST RECREATION ASSOCIATION, Alstead, NH Each participant will be certified as a Project Learning Tree Educator and will earn 30 hours of Professional Development credit.

04/07/2026

📚🌲 Books & BIG Ideas. What if learning didn’t just happen inside four walls? The “Teaching Youth about Nature with PLT” Workshop is all about getting students outside, thinking differently, and connecting learning to the real world.
🌿 Become a certified PLT educator
📍 The Rocks – Bethlehem, NH
📅 April 15 | ⏰ 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Spend the day exploring hands-on activities from the Project Learning Tree curriculum—designed to bring environmental education to life in any classroom or learning space.
💡 Real tools. Real ideas. Real engagement.
💵 $25 (includes a full PLT curriculum guide)
👉 Learn more and register:
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/newhampshireprojectlearningtree/event/415workshop/

Sometimes the best lessons don’t come from a textbook…they come from stepping outside.

Receive PLT’s K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide, correlated to national and state academic standards (or equivalent, if you have this one)

04/04/2026

📚✨ Happy National School Librarian Day! To my fellow school librarians—especially right here in New Hampshire—you get it.
You’re not just running a library… you’re:
📖 helping students find that book
💡 teaching real research skills (not just “Google it”)
🧠 juggling 20 things at once… and somehow making it look easy
Some days it’s quiet.
Some days it’s chaos.
Most days… it’s both.
But what we do matters.
👉 You’re building curiosity
👉 You’re creating access
👉 You’re making a difference—whether anyone notices or not
And if today happens to fall on a weekend again… 😂
just know it still counts.
💬 Shoutout to all the NH school librarians doing the work every day. You’re appreciated more than you know.

04/03/2026

📺 Books & BIG Ideas… but make it STREAMING. So we tried something a little different in the library this week…
👉 A Streaming Showdown
Students voted (old-school style 🖊️) for their go-to platforms—and let’s just say… the results got interesting.

🎬 Netflix and YouTube came in HOT
👀 Disney+ held its own
📉 Apple TV… might need a comeback tour
🤔 And “Other” quietly made a case for some hidden gems

⸻

💡 Here’s the BIG IDEA:

This isn’t just about streaming—it’s about what stories we choose, how we consume them, and what keeps us coming back.

In a world of endless content:
• What actually holds attention?
• What makes something worth watching (or reading)?
• And how do our choices reflect who we are?

⸻

📚 Because whether it’s a book or a binge…
👉 Story still matters.

03/27/2026

📊 Passive Programming That Actually Works. This simple “This or That” board turned into something more than a quick activity—it became a snapshot of student voice in real time.

No signup.
No pressure.
No big event.

Just a prompt, a marker, and a chance to participate.

Students walked by… paused… voted… and then did something even better—
they talked about it.

That’s the quiet power of passive programming in school libraries:
✔ low barrier to entry
✔ high engagement
✔ organic conversation
✔ student ownership

Sometimes the simplest ideas create the most meaningful connections.

📚 Libraries aren’t just about access to information—
they’re about creating spaces where students feel seen, heard, and included.

03/26/2026

Interesting 🤔 These superintendents believe that districts need to get creative about how they address barriers to student internships.

🛠️ Read more:

Districts must get creative about addressing barriers to student internships, leaders said.

03/25/2026

📚 Books & BIG Ideas. If a student can write an entire essay with AI…
what exactly are we assessing? 🤔 💻 A tool that flips the conversation: Process Feedback for Google Docs (free Chrome extension) It doesn’t just show the final product—it shows the process:
👉 What was typed vs. pasted
👉 How much was revised
👉 How long they actually worked
So maybe the real question isn’t:
❌ Did they use AI?
👉 It’s:
Did they actually do the thinking?
Are we grading the result… or the learning behind it?
💬 Curious—where do you land on this?
Tool for growth… or just another workaround?

03/25/2026

📚💡 Books & BIG Ideas. Sometimes the biggest ideas start with the simplest questions… 👉 THIS or THAT: iPhone vs. Android. A quick vote. A simple choice.
But suddenly—conversations, debates, and opinions start flying 👀📊

That’s the power of library passive programming:
✔ No pressure
✔ No sign-up
✔ Just jump in and be part of something

💭 Libraries aren’t just about books…
They’re about thinking, connecting, and sharing ideas.

So… what’s your pick? 👇

03/25/2026

📚 Books & BIG Ideas – Today in Literary History (March 25). On this day in 1947, Flannery O'Connor’s first novel, Wise Blood, began to take shape as she worked on the manuscript that would later become a cornerstone of Southern Gothic literature. 📖 Known for her sharp, often unsettling storytelling, O’Connor explored themes of faith, morality, and human nature in ways that still challenge readers today.
💡 Big Idea: Do people find meaning… or create it for themselves?