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Resources from NJASL Mini-Con

4/10/2023

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This Spring, the New Jersey Association of School Librarians held a virtual mini-conference with the theme, "Hope and Healing." My presentation for this conference was "Manga that Heals the Soul." After all, there is an entire genre of manga, "iyashikei", that is meant to heal the reader. Many of these stories have something to do with animals and nature, so you'll find tons of cute animals all over my presentation. Check out my resources below:​

Presentation:
bit.ly/MangaThatHeals
Recommended Title List:
bit.ly/HealsTitles
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Resources from CSLA 2023

3/6/2023

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graphic card for Sara Smith's Supersize your Graphic Novel Section from the 2023 CSLA Conference
I'm back with another edition of "Supersize your Graphic Novel Collection", this time with some added goodies. In addition to the list of books I'd recommend from this year, I also gave attendees a list of EVERY book I've ever recommended from ANY of my various PDs! All in one place! Have fun!




All Recommended Books
bit.ly/AllRecs
2023 Title List:
​bit.ly/SuperSizeRecs
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Best of 2022 - my top 15

12/24/2022

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A collage of 20 covers of my top 15 favorite books and 5 honorable mentions.
by Sara Smith 
​
In 2022, I challenged myself to read 300 books, but that quickly became an unreasonable pace to keep with as I got more involved in things with my school. I re-set my sights on 250 books, and was ultimately successful.

From those 250, here are my Top 15, with 5 honorable mentions, and some shout outs to series I selected last year that kept churning out bangers in 2022.

(Note: any review marked with an * will require a Booklist​ subscription to read)


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Awards for 2022

11/20/2022

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by Sara Smith 
​
It's time for another awards roundup!

​Every year, there are several awards presented throughout the country, mostly at notable comic conventions. Here is a list of these award-winning titles that may not appear as an award winner on purchasing services. Even being nominated for these prestigious awards is an honor, so all of these books on the nominees list are quality titles that you can consider purchasing for your collection. As always, check for age relevance before purchasing! I've also linked my reviews when possible.

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Resources from SLJSummit 2022

11/12/2022

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I was so honored to be invited to lead a workshop on Manga 101 at this year's School Library Journal Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was such a great experience with some awesome Library leaders! I highly encourage y'all to submit a request to go to this conference in the future.
​
In my session, I gave some primer information on publishers, age ratings, and of course, some must-buy titles! Check out my resources below, and hopefully you find a title or two to put on your purchase lists.
Presentation: http://bit.ly/sljmanga
Elementary list: http://bit.ly/sljelem
Middle School list:http://bit.ly/sljmid
High School list: http://bit.ly/sljhigh
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Awards Roundup - 2022

10/23/2022

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by Sara Smith 
​
There are a lot of great titles nominated each year for prestigious comics awards. Here are some of the relevant winners and nominees for categories that will help school librarians with their purchasing decisions. 

I definitely haven't read all of these amazing titles (yet!), but where I can, I have linked my review of the titles I have finished. As always, this list means I have even more titles to add to my towering TBR pile!


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Resources from #BossLibrarianpd

8/22/2022

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I had the pleasure of speaking at K.C. Boyd's Back-to-School professional development mini-con in August of 2022. I got to share about some must-buy titles for Fall of 2022, and hear from some folks from across the nation. This was a fantastic experience, and I'm so honored I was included! Below are the resources I shared with the audience. Hope you find some great titles to add to your lists this semester!
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Slides Presentation

Recommended Titles List

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Article in Booklist's Guide to Graphic Novels in Libraries

7/18/2022

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Check out my article: "Tackling Readers Advisory within your Manga Collection" from July's issue of Booklist's Guide to Graphic Novels in Libraries.
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CSLA 2022 Presentation & Resources

2/27/2022

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Picture of CSLA 2022 Virtual Conference - included every head shot for every presenter taking part in the conference.
by Sara Smith 
​
This February, I not only helped co-chair the CSLA 2022 Virtual Conference, I presented yet again! I love being able to share what I'm passionate about and to help others find great books to put on their shelves. Take a look at the resources below.

Title List
Google-Drive Friends: Click this link to make your own copy of the Google Docs.
​
bit.ly/SuperSize22Copy
Office/Word folks: Check this link and download your own copy of the title recs​

Title List Doc

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Best of 2021 - My top 15

12/31/2021

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The Graphic Library's Best of 2021 - a tile layout of the 20 covers of my best books and honorable mentions.
by Sara Smith 
​
In 2020, I challenged myself to read a book a day and made my goal of 366 books (as it was a leap year!). This was made a little more possible by the state-wide shut-down in March of 2020, where California basically stopped operating and everyone stayed in their homes for months on end. In 2021, with going back to in-person teaching and a little bit of normal life, I brought that challenge down to 300. Then, a personal tragedy in November forced me well off my reading goal, so I *only* read 275 books in 2021. I'm still very pleased with how many books I was able to read. Here's to hopefully getting to 300 in 2022!

​Normally I like to limit my best books to 10, but this year, I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it down!

So that multiple volumes don't clog up this list, I have included all volumes of a series as one item. To be fair to everything I've read this year, I haven't included my personal favorite series that were being re-released this year, such as Fullmetal Alchemist, which received a beautiful hardcover edition, The Fullmetal Edition, or Sailor Moon, which is being republished in a really hefty Eternal Edition. 


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    Info Postings

    This section is where I will post general information about graphic novels, lists, news, or other things I feel are relevant to the development of graphic novel sections in libraries.

    About Me

    I've been reading Manga and comicbooks for years.  Now, it's time to share my knowledge with you.
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