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Mandi Aubrey
7-26-14
Collection Development Assignment—Middle School Nonfiction Collection
IS572: Resources for Young Adults
Author
Stone, Tanya Lee
Hoose, Phillip
Partridge, Elizabeth
Heiligman, Deborah
O’Connell, Caitlin,
Donna Jackson, and
Timothy Rodwell
Schanzer, Rosalyn
Literary Non-fiction
Title
The Good, the Bad, and the
Barbie: a Doll’s History and Her
Impact on Us
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward
Justice
Marching for Freedom: Walk
Together Children and Don’t
You Grow Weary
Charles and Emma: The
Darwin’s Leap of Faith
The Elephant Scientist
Witches! The Absolutely True
Tale of Disaster in Salem
Bragg, Georgia and
Kevin O’Malley
How They Croaked: The Awful
Ends of the Awfully Famous
Montgomery, Sy
Kakapu Rescue: Saving the
World’s Strangest Parrot
Aronson, Marc and
Marina Budhos
Sugar Changed the World: A
Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery,
Freedom, and Science
Hole in my Life
Gantos, Jack
Publisher &
date
Penguin, 2010.
Cost
$15.38
Square Finish,
2010.
Viking
Juvenile, 2009.
$13.49
Square Fish,
2001.
HMH Books
for Young
Readers, 2011.
National
Geographic
Children’s
Books, 2011.
Walker
Children’s,
2011.
HMH Books
for Young
Readers, 2010
Clarion Books,
2010.
$13.93
Square Fish,
2012
Non-Fiction for Research (Holocaust and WWII for middle school)
Krinitz, Esther and
Memories of Survival
Art and
Bernice Steinhardt
Remembrance,
2010
Bartoletti, Susan.
Hitler Youth
Scholastic
Nonfiction,
2005.
Houston, Jeanne
Farewell to Manzanar
HMH Books
Wakatsuki and James
for Young
Houston
Readers, 2002.
$15.92
$13.86
$13.56
$14.04
$13.88
$11.70
$14.52
$14.39
$15.83
$12.97
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Sheinkin, Steve
Bachrach, Susan
Drucker, Malka.
Bomb: The Race to Build and
Steal the World’s Most
Dangerous Weapon
Tell Them We Remember
Levine, Ellen
Portraits of Jewish American
Heroes
Darkness Over Denmark
Allen, Thomas
Remember Pearl Harbor
Colman, Penny
Rosie the Riveter: Women
Working on the Home Front in
WWII
Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of
the Japanese American
Incarceration During WWII and
a Librarian Who Made a
Difference
The Good Fight: How WWII Was
Won
Oppenheim, Joanne
Ambrose, Stephen
Lobel, Anita
No Pretty Pictures
Paper Clips (DVD)
Bascomb, Neal
The Nazi Hunters: How A Team
of Spies and Survivors Captured
the World’s Most Notorious Nazi
The Complete Maus: A
Survival’s Tale
Spiegelman, Art
Non-Fiction for
Recreation Reading
Albee, Sarah
Poop Happened! A History of the
World From the Bottom Up
Kidd, Chip
Go: A Kid’s Guide to Graphic
Design
Anderson, Jameson
Peyton Manning (Awesome
Athletes)
National Geographic Animal
Spelman, Lucy
Flashpoint,
2012.
$11.69
Perfection
Learning,
1994.
Dutton
Juvenile, 2008.
Holiday
House, 2000.
National
Geographic
Children’s
Books, 2001.
Crown Books
for Young
Readers, 1998.
Scholastic
Nonfiction,
2006.
$23.94
Atheneum
Books for
Young
Readers, 2001.
San Val, 2008.
Hart Sharp
Video, 2006.
Levine Books,
2013.
$21.36
Pantheon,
1904.
$26.97
Walker
Childrens,
2010.
Workman
Publishing Co.,
2013.
Checkerboard
Books, 2014.
National
$35.78
$22.94
$53.05
$9.47
$24.99
$17.03
$16.56
$13.25
$12.23
$12.71
$23.44
$16.02
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Encyclopedia: 2,500 Animals
with Photos, Maps, and More!
One Direction
Pollan, Michael
Butzer, C.M.
Abadzis, Nick
Stalder, Erika
Santiago, Wilfred
Glenday, Criag
Claybourne, Anna
One Direction: Who We Are:
Our Official Autobiography
The Omnivore’s Dilemma For
Kids: The Secrets Behind What
You Eat
Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel
Laika (Graphic Novel about an
astronaut dog)
Fashion 101: A Crash Course in
Clothing
21: The Story of Roberto
Clemente (Graphic Novel)
Guinness Book of World Records
2014
100 Most Disgusting Things on
the Planet (ebook)
Geographic
Children’s
Books, 2012.
HarperCollins,
2014.
Dial, 2009.
HarperCollins,
2009.
First Second,
2008.
Zest Books,
2008.
Fantagraphics
Books, 2011.
Guinness
World
Records, 2013.
Scholastic,
2010.
$14.84
$13.96
$14.31
$19.89
$26.03
$12.89
$23.33
$16.56
Total $666.71
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For my collection development project, I chose to select titles that represent the
Holocaust and WWII nonfiction category for middle school age students. I chose this category
because of the amount of quality books available in this genre, because of my own reading
preferences, and because of my positive experience in teaching this genre to middle school
students. While this research topic helped narrow the book selection process, I still felt
overwhelmed as I scrolled through award lists and reviews. Collection development, while
extremely fun, is quite daunting and time consuming.
For the literary non-fiction portion of the assignment, I tried to pick titles that would
encourage critical discussion and offer opportunities to engage with common core standards. For
example, I feel that Gantos’s Hole in My Life and Bragg and O’Malley’s How They Croaked
would serve as interesting reads while meeting core standard #3 that “Analyzes the interactions
between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events,
or how individuals influence ideas or events).”1 In addition to receiving the National Book
Award for Young People, Hoose’s Claudette Colvin would pair well with Partridge’s Marching
for Freedom while meeting standard #9 to “Analyze how two or more authors writing about the
same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or
advancing different interpretations of facts.”2 Other titles in this portion include Heilgman’s
Charles and Emma, O’Connell’s Elephant Scientist, and Montgomery’s Kakapu Rescue because
these nonfiction titles received outstanding Kirkus and Booklist reviews and a host of awards
including, but not limited to: Printz, National Book Award, YALSA, Sibert, ALA notable book,
and Boston Globe-Horn book awards. These works of nonfiction address various topics and offer
substantial material for meeting more of the core standards. For all the titles in this section, I
chose to consult Kirkus reviews, awards lists, and Goodreads reviews. I also chose to purchase
them from Amazon because that particular vendor offered the cheapest hardback prices.
For the nonfiction for research portion of the assignment, I chose titles that I thought
represented a variety of interests and reading levels, ones that received good reviews on Kirkus
and Booklist, and those that received various literary awards such as the ones listed in the
previous paragraph. I did not limit myself to titles published within the past 5 years because I
Common Core. “English Language Arts Standards: Reading Informational Text: Grade 7.” State Standards
Initiative. Available at http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/7/.
2
Ibid.
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believe that Holocaust and WWII material is universal and not beholden to particular
timeframes; memoirs and first-hand accounts do not diminish in their capacity to speak to
modern readers. I did choose several titles related to Japanese-American internment because I
think that various comparison/contrast discussions could be facilitated with these books (also a
core standard) and because it seems that middle schoolers know little of this topic. I especially
wanted to include Bomb, Hitler Youth, and The Nazi Hunters because of their superb literary
merit, precise research, and readability. I believe that these 3 titles would pique the interest of
reluctant readers and their pictures and book layouts make them seem more like novels and less
like works of informational text. Finally, I included the classic Maus, because the graphic novel
would provide an interesting perspective on the topic, and Paper Clips, a rather unique
documentary about kids in rural Tennessee gathering paper clips for a project as they study the
Holocaust. I also consulted various library bibliographies for their suggestions about young adult
Holocaust literature, such as the University of Northern Iowa, which offers a fairly exhaustive
list of award winning books. Like the first category, I purchased all the hardbacks from Amazon.
The last category for the assignment includes works that deal with nonfiction for
recreational reading. I decided to choose titles that dealt with hobbies, animals, athletes, pop
culture, and a few informational texts. In class, we talked about how students love the Guinness
Book of World Records and other books like it, so I included that title as well as other fact books
that received popular ratings on Amazon (100 Most Disgusting Things, Poop Happens, etc.). I
also included a couple of graphic novels, and titles that reflect a wide range of interests from One
Direction to Peyton Manning to National Geographic animals. I did include at least one award
winner (Go! A Kid’s Guide to Graphic Design). I did not consult prestigious reviews or awards
lists; rather, I chose these titles simply from commercial recommendations on Amazon and
Goodreads.
This assignment taught me several things: that collection development must be ongoing,
thoughtful, and student-centered; that I am more biased than I ever imagined; and that libraries
need more funds so that they can truly offer collections that represent a wide variety of
perspectives, genres, and topics. First, collection development must be ongoing because so many
new titles keep being published in the YA field that are incredibly well-written and wellresearched. I was astounded at the plethora of good YA books from which to choose. Second,
that collection development should be thoughtful and student-centered. I was amazed at some of
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the discrepancy between prestigious book reviews and library holdings and actual reviews and
blogs written by teens themselves. While librarians should certainly consult the “experts,” they
should also include works championed by the kids. Teen approval and expert approval do not
necessarily equate the same results. Sorting through reviews, awards lists, expert
recommendations, and sales stats, and reader comments takes a considerable amount of time.
Collection development should not and cannot be performed in an afternoon. Third, I realize how
biased I am. For example, I am print-centric; I did not want to spend my money on ebooks. I am
humanities-centric; I did not want to purchase books about animals, science experiments, or
athletes. I am an awards snob; if the book jacket was plastered with medals, I assumed it was a
good read. I think it’s good to be self-aware as one works on collection development so that
he/she realizes that it really is collection development, not personal reading library
development. It might even be a good idea to do collection development with a team of people
rather than as an individual. Finally, I realized just how fast one can go through funds while
purchasing books, and I went the cheap route through Amazon. The collections are the heart of
the library and must receive a greater portion of the budget if they are to reflect academic
prowess, popular reads for pleasure, and everything in between.