Bec Taylor, Lower Elementary School Cybrarian has been working at the International School of Beijing for 10 years. She is passionate about the power of read alouds, authentic and scaffolded research opportunities, and parent education.
1. What’s a book (or 2–3) you found over the holiday that you are excited to recommend to your community when you return to school?
Through the Darkening Sea by Claire Saxby and Peter Cheong. A breathtakingly beautiful narrative non-fiction about what happens when a whale dies at sea.
Why Do We Cry? and others in the “Wondering Why” series by Fran Pintadera and Ana Sender (translation from Spanish). A sensitive, creative exploration of a universal phenomenon.―School Library Journal
Everything on the Panda Book Awards shortlist for 2026-2027. A brilliant curation of English and Chinese books from across the world, suitable for ages 2-adult.
2. Gearing up for the new school year, what is a little display/program/initiative that you are excited to launch as the year begins? (Just a little thing that you and your team have put some effort into, not the big spotlight project yet.)
A strongly held and beloved tradition in our library is that we start the year by displaying a huge selection of our new books that arrive over the summer. We have 6 different collections displayed around the library – NF, picture books, graphic novels, Chinese, Korean, and chapter books. Nothing gets our readers more excited than knowing they are the first kid to borrow a book!
3. Share a little fun fact. (A personal or quirky detail, ex: I don’t like eating raw onions.)
I’m obsessed with Australian Rules Football, specifically the Western Bulldogs.
Spotlight Project
A relatively new piece of parent programming we are incredibly proud of is our Dragon Storytellers program. We have now trained three cohorts of parents to read aloud in their home language to homeroom classes, during whole school events, and even as an ASA.The parent readers feel seen and valued for their contribution, we honor the gift that is multilinguism, and we all enjoy the power of read alouds.
