Literati Cares: It’s the People Who Make the Difference

The best partnerships are about so much more than the products, programs, or resources we share. They are about the people who listen, take the time to understand what you need, and genuinely care about helping you bring your ideas to life.

That is one of the things I appreciate most about working with Literati.

Recently, we had the wonderful opportunity to have Megan Gray, Literati’s Creative Director, spend time with my library assistant, Natasha, and me at our school book fair. It was such a special experience, not only because Megan was there to see our fair in action, but because we got to brainstorm, create, and work together throughout the event.

As we talked about ideas and thought of little things that could make our book fair even more fun, Megan jumped right in to help us bring them to life. 

We brainstormed ideas for our marshmallow guessing game, created signs for our book fair bags, put together a preorder resource for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and made a mini-poster and an “A Gift for You” tag, and more. These were ideas that came up as we went, and Megan helped turn them into real resources we could use right away!

I loved that we could share an idea, talk it through, and watch it come together. It was such a fun and creative way to work together, and it made our book fair even more special.

And guess what, friends? I get to share these resources with you, too!

Megan put together a special collection of the assets she created for us, and now you can use them at your own Literati Book Fair. How wonderful is that? I love when something we create in our library can be shared with other librarians and schools, giving everyone a few more ideas to make their book fairs special.

You can access this special collection Megan created here.

This experience was such a great reminder of what makes Literati special. It is the people behind the books, the amazing fair themes, the creative marketing resources, and all the thoughtful details that go into making Literati Book Fairs so special. It is the willingness to listen, the excitement of brainstorming together, and the care that goes into helping schools bring their ideas to life.

One of my favorite parts of the book fair was seeing the connections Megan made with our students and families. One especially sweet moment was seeing Diana and her granddaughter, Talia, enjoy the fair together.

Diana is a Van Meter grandma, but she is also someone very special to our library. She was my library assistant in the past, so she has a special connection to our library and our book fairs. Watching her and Talia spend time together, explore the books, shop, and visit with everyone was such a joy. Moments like these remind me that a book fair is about so much more than finding your next great read. It is about bringing people together, sharing stories, and creating memories that last long after the fair is over.

And I have to give a special shout-out to our Literati sales rep, Chuck Mills, because this kind of personal connection is something we experience throughout our partnership with Literati. Chuck checks in with us well before our book fair begins, stays connected throughout the event, and follows up afterward. Whenever we have a question, need something, or have an idea we want to explore, he is there to help. That kind of consistent support means so much. It makes us feel like we have someone on our team who genuinely cares about our school, our students, and making each book fair a success.

Having Megan alongside us felt less like working with a company and more like having a creative partner on our team. And having Chuck there to support us along the way makes that partnership even stronger. It is the people who take the time to listen, build relationships, and help bring ideas to life who make such a difference.

Thank you, Megan, for spending time with us, sharing your creativity, and making our book fair even more memorable. We loved having you here, and we can't wait until you come back for our next Literati Book Fair!

And thank you, Chuck, for always being there for us, and to the entire Literati team for reminding us that it really is the people who make the difference.

Join Us For This Fun New Follett Content Webinar, Friends.... Passive Programming Ideas School Librarians Can Run With Less Effort!

                  

I am so excited about our upcoming Follett Content webinar, Passive Programming Ideas School Librarians Can Run With Less Effort, on November 17th at 2:00pm CST. 

As shared in the invite, 

You've got twenty things pulling at you before first period even starts, and "run more programming" is not what you needed on your to-do list. But your library still needs to feel alive between classes, during lunch, when kids just wander in with ten spare minutes.

Shannon McClintock Miller has spent years building low-lift, high-engagement passive programming that doesn't require another staff meeting, another hour, or another line item in your budget. She's back to walk through what actually works.

In this session, you'll:

• Identify low-prep passive programming ideas that take minutes to set up

• Build a rotating lineup so your space stays fresh without constant reinvention

• Choose free or low-cost resources that work with a tight budget

• Get ready-to-use ideas organized by grade level you can adapt immediately

Whether you're running a one-person library or leading a team, this one's for you.

You can register for the webinar here.  And don't worry if you can't make it live. The recording and resources will be shared with everyone who registers after the webinar too. 

Can't wait to see you there, friends. 

Register Today For The 7th Annual Future Ready Librarians Idea Smash!

 

The best ideas are meant to be shared!

Join us November 18 for the 7th Annual Future Ready Librarians App / Idea Smash, in partnership with the amazing support from Follett Content.

One of my favorite things about this event is seeing librarians and educators share the creative strategies and practical tools that are making a difference for students.

You'll discover fresh ideas, hear what's working in other libraries and classrooms, and leave with resources you can put to work right away.

You can preview some of the featured tools at the link below!

Find out more and register here, friends.

I Am Excited To Join SchoolAI For A Fun Booth Session At GaETC This Week!

 

I am heading to Atlanta for the GaETC Conference.  

To kick off my conference, I am excited to join SchoolAI for a fun booth session about the role AI has in the school library. 

I hope that you will join us in Booth 212/214 on Wednesday, November 4th at 10:30am EST, friends.

Our tonies® Library is Ready To Be Checkout and Used in the Classrooms Too!

Our tonies® Library is all ready for teachers to start checking out and using in their classrooms, too!

Last week, we cleared off a section of our nonfiction to make room for our tonies® Library. 

We put the tonies® + book bundles that we purchased from Follett Titlewave together in this area, and more that we ordered directly from tonies. 

 

Today, we spent the afternoon brainstorming what this space could look like and how we were going to check out the Tonie characters, books, and Tonieboxes, to our teachers. 

We decided to use these little plastic cases to hold Tonie characters teachers want to checkout and use in their classrooms. We are calling them Our Library tonies® Classroom Homes. 

I found these clear plastic cases on Amazon here. 

I created a sticker in canva. You will find the link to the sticker here.

I printed them on the Avery 5294 2 1/2 inch circle label.  You just upload that Canva design into the Avery Template 5294, download, and print. 

I put them on each plastic case and stacked them on the shelf where teachers can easily grab one as they check out the Tonie characters. 

We also created this sign in Canva that explains Our tonies Library, the newest neighborhood in our library. 

You will find this Canva template here. 

As we explained on the poster...

To check out Tonies, place your selections in a Tonies box from the shelf and ask Mrs. Watson to check them out to you. You can also check out the books that go with the Tonies. Please keep everything in the Classroom Home and return it to the library when you are finished. Thank you!

It' ready to go!  

As our teachers add their Tonieboxes to their classrooms, this is going to be a busy place in our library. 

We can't wait to see the difference it will bring to our classrooms and especially to our students. 

In the next post, I will share how we cataloged the tonies® and organized them for check out. 

You can find tonies® + book bundles here on Titlewave, friends.

Our November Choice Board For Reading, Learning, Making, Coding, and More Is Here!

                            

It's here!  Our November Choice Board where reading, learning, making, coding, technology and music can take you on adventures all month long. 

This month, the choice board is filled with so many new and exciting things!  I can't wait to share it with our students, teachers and families, and all of you. 

Within the monthly choice board, I do include other choice boards and links to special events and celebrations. 

This year,  I am including the amazing Aqua by Adobe under Making.  

This is a wonderful new site where our students can create and explore in so many different creative and fun experiences. 

I added the Harvest Harbor and...

,,,my new favorite, Collage Coast.  This one is sooooo cool!  You have to check it out here, friends. 

I also added one of my special collections in Epic for Kids.  You can find it here too...or make your own and add it to your choice board. 

I create most of my choice boards in Google Slides and Canva. With each choice board in Google Slides, I share this with our students and teachers by publishing it to the web. 

In the image above, you can see how to do this by clicking on Share and Publish to the Web. 

The Publish to the Web window pops up that will direct you to publish to the web. It will give you a link that you will copy to share with students and teachers through Google Classroom, Seesaw and any other place you want to share this like social media and through QR codes. 

I also explain how I create and share choice board posters each month in this post. 

This is the copyable link to the 2026 November Choice Board.  Please feel free to use the choice board with your community and make changes to fit the needs of your learners and teachers. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need help sharing and creating choice boards.  

I hope the monthly and special choice boards will give you and your students special opportunities for reading, learning, creating, collaborating and having fun all year long.  

You've Been Book'd With Books For Dia De Muertos-Day of the Dead On November 1-2!

                  

We celebrate Día de Muertos—Day of the Dead, a beautiful and meaningful holiday that honors loved ones who have passed away, on November 1-2. This tradition, deeply rooted in Mexican culture, is filled with vibrant colors, decorated altars, marigolds, music, food, and storytelling that keep memories alive from generation to generation.

To help our readers learn more about this special celebration, I’ve brought together a collection of 10 wonderful books that share the history, traditions, and stories of Día de Muertos. These books are perfect for sparking conversations at school and at home, while also giving young readers a chance to explore the importance of family, culture, and remembrance.

You will find the choice board here. Click on the book covers to find the books in Follett Content's Titlewave. You will find the entire list linked in the choice board too.

The Story Squad from the Book Wrangler Came To Our New Library!

 

Today, Eric and I hung up the rest of our Story Squad in our new library. 

The Story Squad is created by Mike, The Book Wrangler!  You can find the Story Squad at his Linktree on his Instagram here. Everything that he creates is amazing and we love bringing his creations to our library and readers. 

I picked 22 of the Story Squad characters to hang in our library above the nonfiction and tonies® neighborhoods.  

I printed them on 11 x 17 paper on the colored printer at school and put them into these metal frames that we ordered from Amazon. I just cut off 1 inch on one side to fit the frames. 

Eric hung them up in two rows and used....

...this fancy laser level to make it super easy to hang them in two straight rows. 

I am waiting for the last two frames but look how cute our Story Squad is so far!  

Our readers will love seeing all of them when they come to the library tomorrow. 

Thank you, Mike for everything you create and share with all of us. We appreciate it so very much, friend.

My Special Collection Of Epic Books For November! Get It Here, Friends.

 

 

One of our favorite places to read at school is in Epic Books.  We love all of the amazing eBooks, audio books, videos, and more that keep our students engaged, reading, and learning throughout the year.

I love how we can make special Collections for our students, teachers, and families in Epic.  

To kick off the year, I curated a wonderful set of resources in Epic.  

My special Epic collection is called Shannon's Favorite Epic Books and can be found at go.getepic.com/shannon which anyone can follow.  

I will add different books every month.  

A lot of these are favorites of our students at my school.  I love seeing and hearing what they love to reach in Epic.  There are so many amazing choices so there is definitely always something for every reader. 

If you are not signed up for Epic, you can for FREE here.

I am so happy we are all connecting on Epic!  I know everyone will love Epic! and I cannot wait to talk about the new books you are read. 

Our tonies Library Become A NEW Neighborhood In Our Library!

 

This year, tonies® have become a special part of our library. 

We have been figuring out this exciting new addition as we go and it's been so much fun! 

 

One of the first things was figuring out how I was going to store and share the books that go along with our Tonieboxes and Tonie characters. First, I bought a basket and put it by the three Toniebox storage houses that I hung in our library. 

Most of the Tonie characters that we have so far are book characters from these books. 

I got them in Follett Titlewave, 

along with the book sets that go along with the Tonie characters. 

As we put these into our library, I also created stickers for our tonies® and book bundles.  

You can read all about them and get the template for the stickers here. 

Over the last week, we made a few adjustments to our library neighbors to make room on the shelves for our tonies library, and extra Tonieboxes and characters. 

I made a poster in Canva, put it in a frame, and popped up the books around it.  

You can find this Canva poster here. 

We have plenty of room to grow our tonies collection and expand the program in exciting ways. I love that teachers will also be able to check out Tonie boxes, characters, and books to use in their classrooms, giving students even more opportunities to enjoy stories and listening experiences throughout the school!

In an upcoming post, I am going to share the steps we have taken so far to add tonies to our library. 

You can find out even more about tonies® here on Follett Content, friends.