Tradition: Share Book and Program Ideas

[Karen Brown]

Use this discussion thread to share book ideas and program activities.

[DianneConnery]

I just learned about this PBS Library Engagement program through ALA Programming Librarian. It sounds like a fit with what we are doing. Does anyone participate? I signed up.

http://www.programminglibrarian.org/articles/screen-films-through-pbs-books-library-engagement-program

http://www.pbs.org/book-view-now/blogs/news/2019/03/27/pbs-books-launches-a-national-library-engagement-program/

[Amy McKeever]

Has anyone read Quentins by Maeve Binchy or The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais? I’m wondering if they could be good for the tradition theme, sort of through the lens of food.
I’m also feeling a little stuck in terms of what science themes we can bring out as we talk about tradition. I think it’ll be easy to talk about tradition generally, but not sure about how to connect it to science in everyday life. It definitely seems to connect a lot more socially or historically, but not sure about scientifically. Thanks for any ideas!

[DianneConnery]

I haven’t read either of those, but the idea of food traditions is interesting.

The science related to tradition that comes to my mind relates to child development. Some of the recommendations that are followed now are polar opposites of previous generations – for example, when to start solids, how babies should sleep (back vs. tummy), potty training, catching a cold from not dressing warmly enough, etc. I’ve noticed it can be difficult for people to let go of what they did with their own children, and they refuse to believe that science has shown a different way of doing things.

Another thought for tradition – what about Inuit people whale hunting? https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/inuit-whalers-lose-right-traditional-food-source

I can see how heritage and tradition overlap, but I’m focusing on heritage as how we leave earth for future generations. I live on a lake that is a water source for Dallas so water conservation is a big issue here. Our library is offering programs on native planting. The plants don’t require as much water or maintenance and prevent stormwater runoff. If people would stop planting grass lawns and switch to native planting, our lake would be healthier. https://earther.gizmodo.com/lawns-are-an-ecological-disaster-1826070720

[Amy McKeever]

Also, there seems to be some overlap between Tradition and Heritage, especially when talking about ethnic traditions or family traditions. What are aspects of each theme to pull out that you might only be able to get at in the topic of Tradition, or in the topic of Heritage; ie, what are the key points of difference between the 2 themes?
Thanks!

[Amy McKeever]

Thanks Dianne for your very helpful comments!
I think we are going with The Hundred-Foot Journey for our book on tradition. I think we’ll be able to focus on food traditions through the book, and then we can talk briefly about our own food traditions as well.
We can ask questions like, how does technology affect our traditions? What and how do food traditions help us learn about our families or ourselves? What roles do traditions play in personal development? What can we learn about one another through our food traditions? Through our ingredients or means of cooking? Through how we think about food? What do we do when traditional ingredients become harder to obtain (either through moving to a different climate, or it being less available through overharvesting or unhelpful weather patterns)?

[KristinaMoe]

Hi, we’re actually doing our Transformation event first, and our Tradition event in October, so I’m checking to see if anyone is using the Alaska book, Eagle Blue, by Michael D’Orso in an earlier program, and be willing to send the books our way by late September? We were able to send book sets we’d purchased to Rural Gateways events at other libraries during the first round of programming, and I just thought I’d check on the chance we could recieve some this time- asking far enough in advance so we know to purchase them if not. Thanks- hope everyone is doing well!

[KristinaMoe]

(We went ahead & ordered a few copies from Amazon 🙂

[Laura Primrose]

Hi everyone! We’re starting with the Tradition theme and I’d like to use indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge of place to lead into a discussion about science and culture. It’s also about storytelling and passing along cultural perspectives but I can’t seem to find the right book. Any suggestions? I’m open to fiction, nonfiction, collections, kids books….Thanks! Kristin Fletcher

[LisaSammet]

Hello everyone,
I’m just catching up on this as we had lots of programming already in place this summer. I am actually planning to use FLIGHT BEHAVIOR by Barbara Kingsolver for Tradition. It fits as the main character has been stuck in her role of wife because of tradition but she is smart and starts to help the scientist who comes to look at the monarch butterflies. I have a butterfly guru in town and I am going to have him do the discussion and then a second follow-up program on the state of monarchs now with the problem of habitat loss and climate change.

[Laura Primrose]

Hi Lisa,
I’m using Flight Behavior for Transformation and wondered if it would be possible to borrow your books for our discussion? Don’t have a date certain yet but it will be sometime in mid October. I’m in Idaho.
Thanks,
Kristin

[LisaSammet]

Kristin,
I am sorry. I am going to get multiple copies of the book through Interlibrary Loan. Instead of buying books, I am going to use more of the money to give a stipend to a Butterfly expert to talk about monarchs as a separate program (companion program) to the book discussion.
Lisa

[Kristin Fletcher]

Questions to group…How do I figure out how many books to order? Do people sign up in advance? If so, that can be a plus for calculating order numbers but it’s can also be a deterrent for potential participants who may decide or hear about it at the last minute…. or who may want to come to just 1 or 2 discussions about books of particular interest but are not willing to commit to a series which spans 6 months.

Question for Lisa…will you have your stand alone butterfly expert giving a talk in addition to a scientist helping to facilitate the Kingsolver discussion?

Thanks,
Kristin

[LisaSammet]

Yes, my Butterfly guy will lead the discussion and then follow-up with the program about the Monarch’s.
As for number of copies, unfortunately, I rarely get more than 15 people to a book discussion. I will try to get people to sign-up and then get copies from interlibrary loan. Since it isn’t a new book I should be able to borrow enough copies.

Lisa

[KristinaMoe]

We’re also using Flight Behavior for our first program later in September; we’re fortunate to have NC Cardinal in our NC public libraries so we have access to plenty of copies (I’m re-listening to the audiobook read by Barbara Kingsolver- love it!).
We’ve partnered with the STEM coordinator in our neighboring county to be our science partner; she’s also a former high school teacher, and is bringing information about citizen science research we can do about monarchs.
Question- remember the templates for bookmarks, posters, etc. that we had for the first round of programs? I can’t find similar templates for this round of programming- no worries if they don’t exist; I can create something, but am I overlooking templates for Transformation, Tradition,etc.?

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