Customer Reviews

Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything!: A Mrs. Skorupski Story [With Book]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a fantastic book. This book is a wonderful way to help teachers and librarians to help children in learning to become independent library users. The book delivers the message in a simple and cheerful manner. The story is great for students beginning a research project, learning to use the online card catalog or searching for books to meet their individual needs and interests. This book makes a wonderful read aloud as well as a fantastic book for kids to read on their own. After reading this book students will want to become "A library success story".

Robert is new to Liberty Elementary and is sent to the library media center for books. After being assured by a classmate that the librarian, Mrs. Skorupski, won't tell him anything, he bravely asks anyway. What he learns is that Mrs. Skorupski, a smart and flashy librarian, will teach him what he needs to know - when he needs to know it!
I love the message here: the library is available to learn whatever you need to know and the librarian is there to help you. I also love the lively energy depicted in the colorful illustrations of this busy facility. The booklet has lots of rubrics and forms you could adapt to all kinds of learning projects.

Author Toni Buzzeo's captivating writing style and library/media expertise shine through as she introduces librarian Mrs. Skorupski and students Robert and Carmen in her latest book, Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything! This book would work fabulously as an introduction to the library at the beginning of the year or at the start of a research project. As Mrs. Skorupski works her librarian magic, the energetic and engaging characters are well on their way to becoming independent library users, without even realizing it. Included with the book is a booklet of library lessons which will serve as an excellent start for collaborative library projects. Highly recommended.

Way to go, Mrs. Skorupski!

This book challenges children to discover libraries and become capable, independent learners. In a cheerful manner with vibrant illustrations (love the spider earrings on Mrs. Skorupski!), the storyline empowers children on their quest for knowledge within a library setting.

This book is ideal to use at the onset of a research project with students within classrooms or within a library setting, as a read aloud, or to offer to children for leisure reading.

Sachiko Yoshikawa's illustrations are the perfect compliment to the lighthearted yet meaningful message.

-Jennifer Ward

I love this librarian. She runs one smooth operation and if I were a kid who needed to do a project, I would go find Mrs. Skorupski. Her data projector works. She is never flustered.
When she meets a new fourth grader, she says, I love fourth graders. Students will love her back and tackle their research problems with more skills because of meeting her.

Written by School Library Media Specialist Toni Buzzeo for children in grades 3-5, and illustrated by mixed media artist Sachiko Yoshikawa, Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything! is a wonderful picturebook about a school librarian who never answers questions directly - instead, she gives young people the tools to find out the answers for themselves! "I clicked SEARCH and got a long list of books. I chose a few titles and read more about them. Then, I wrote down the call numbers and titles of the books I wanted on the catalog slips she handed me. 'Okily dokily,' she said at last. 'Now use the shelf labels to find them!' 'Ummm, Mrs. Skorupski? I asked YOU to show me where they are.' She smiled. 'Yes. You certainly did.'" The cheerful, stylized color illustrations add the perfect touch to this upbeat picturebook about learning to discover things on one's own, and a corresponding "Library Lessons" booklet is filled with useful lessons and reproducibles, suitable for classroom or homeschooling education. Highly recommended.

Like all good teachers and media specialists, Mrs. Skorupski won't tell her students anything, but she will teach them how to find answers on their own.

Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything! by Toni Buzzeo is a delightful book with strong characters, and the bright, lively art by Sachiko Yoshikawa adds even more zest to this empowering story. Highly recommended.

This is a story with a very average storyline. It was too focussed on "teaching" and lacked a solid and convincing storyline. I would not really recommend it.

Several years ago I met Toni Buzzeo on an airport shuttle at a conference in Kansas City.The van was full of Teacher-Librarians swapping stories, and after I shared mine, from the front of the van came...."there's a picture book in that". Fast forward to Pittsburg, October 2005 when Toni and I met again and I reminded her about her comment. The rest as they say, is history! There really is a Liberty Elementary, a Carmen character and me, the Real Mrs. Skorupski! I hope many of my Teacher-Librarian colleagues enjoy sharing Toni's book with their students! My students did! I can't wait to see the second in the series "Fire Up with Reading".
The Real Mrs. Skorupski

Toni Buzzeo's book Our Librarian Won't Tell Un Anything! is of more use to the library media specialist preparing to teach reference skills and research strategies than as a read-aloud with the students. It is very useful in making sure the steps to research are reviewed, but not at inspiring young students to do the research. A book for the professional shelf of an elementary library media center, not a must-read for third graders.