About the Books
One Student Objective for kindergarten and first grades is “learning to care for books and other media.” Therefore, one of the first lessons in a kindergarten curriculum is an introduction to media manners and book care. While searching for a picture book that introduces book care in an engaging way I discovered that most of the books recommended by other media specialists or in media curriculum books were “out of print.” After spending the day in a used book store in the Twin Cities, I was in my car for the five hour drive back to my school district with five cases of books for the elementary school when the story idea “came” to me. I wrote the outline for the story on the boxes of books while driving.
“What Happened to Marion’s Book” follows Marion’s first experience with a school library book and the lessons she learns about taking care of both library books and her own books. It was published in October 2003.
“What Marion Taught Willis” takes Marion’s friend Willis on an adventure through the library by learning the Dewey Decimal System. It was published in January 2005.
“When Marion Copied” shows students what plagiarism is. It was published in March 2006.
A fourth book is currently in the idea stage.
The illustrations were done by Nathan Alberg, a friend and local artist.