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When should you read Charlotte's Web to your children?
It's a beautifully crafted book. The characters are vivid and easy for children to connect to. It's a wonderful combination of reality and fantasy. It does a "terrific" job of explaining friendship. 
It's a perfect chapter-a-night book, the chapters aren't too long and there are enough pictures to keep a child's interest. Also, a surprising number of the chapters end with a description of someone going to sleep, which makes it a great book to read at bedtime.
But, but but... Charlotte dies at the end. There's no way to get around that fact or sugarcoat it. You can explain to your children that death is part of the natural cycle of things and that Charlotte's children live on. No matter what you say, though, I guarantee your kids will be sad at the end of the book. I know I am every time I read it.
Many people read Charlotte's Web as a first read aloud. As a librarian, I frequently get asked what age the book is appropriate for. My answer is always that it depends on your child. Will they be able to handle it?
I recently asked myself this same question when I was deciding whether I should read it to my son. Stuart Little and My Father's Dragon had both been big hits for him. Was he ready for Charlotte's Web?
We talked about it for a while. He loved the cover and wanted to see more. I let him look through the book, taking in the pictures. I asked if he wanted to read the book, even if something very, very sad happens in it. He said yes... and we plunged ahead.
It was a wonderful experience. He savored each chapter and always begged for another one when we were done reading. He adored the goose, goose, goose and the gander, gander, gander. He fell wholeheartedly in love with Wilbur. He was studying spiders in his science class and he soaked in all the facts about spiders presented in the book. Since he was on the cusp of learning to read, he was delighted to learn how to spell "pig" and "Charlotte" and then find those words throughout the book.
Then came Chapter 21: The Last Day. You know the one. It ends like this:
"Next day, as the Ferris wheel was being taken apart and the race horses were being loaded into vans and the entertainers were packing up their belongings and driving away in their trailers, Charlotte died. The Fair Grounds were soon deserted. The sheds and buildings were empty and forlorn. The infield was littered with bottles and trash. Nobody, of the hundreds of people that had visited the Fair, knew that a grey spider had played the most important part of all. No one was with her when she died." (Excerpt from Charlotte's Web by E.B. White)
Before we read the chapter, we talked about the fact that there was something really sad about Charlotte was coming up. I told him that she was going to die and asked him if he still wanted me to read it. He said yes, and he snuggled into my lap and I held him very tight while we read the paragraph above. And then we both cried and talked about it. But then we moved onto Chapter 22 where we met Charlotte's children... and there was hope in the story again. And we were both okay again.
I asked him recently about the book (we read it a few months ago). He said it was one of his favorite books and he loved it. I'm planning to read it together again in a year or two.
Jen mentioned that there is now an award in honor of E.B. White. Did you know that the Association of Booksellers for Children sponsors the E.B. White Read Aloud Awards each year?
When did you read Charlotte's Web to your children? Would you do it again at that age level? Did you decide not to read the book to their kids? When did they read it to themselves? When did you read it to yourself? What was their reaction? What was yours?
I'd love to hear about your experiences with this timeless classic.
This is Part 8 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information.
Tip #8: Be selective in television watching, and limit total time spent. There has been various studies that suggest that children under the age of two should not be allowed to watch any television. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, recommends that television viewing for children under the age of two should be avoided. The PBS Parents website has an excellent FAQ on TV and kids under age 3), compiled by children's media expert Shelley Pasnik. It includes links to the full AAP policy statement on young children and television.
For older kids, as reported in an article by Annie M. Moss in the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy (Vol. 8, No. 1, 67-102, 2008), an examination of various studies concluded that "(1) moderate amounts of television viewing were found to be beneficial for reading; (2) the content of programs viewed by children matters; (3) programs that aim to promote literacy in young children have been found to positively impact specific early literacy skills; and finally, (4) there are limitations to the existing literature".
The message that I take from this, and other reading that I've done, is that it's a good idea a) to limit the amount of time that kids spend watching television, and b) to be selective about what your kids (especially younger kids) watch.
Limiting Television Time:
Here's one simple fact, in the context of growing bookworms: time spent watching TV is time NOT spent reading books. In general, allowing hours and hours of television watching per day is not going to help you to raise readers. When kids watch stories on TV, everything is spelled out for them. When they read stories in books, they use their imaginations more. They picture the characters. They can imagine that the characters look like them. They become accustomed to filling in some of the details in their own minds. They see the words printed on the page, and learn what they mean.
I also think that books are better in general than television shows in terms of helping kids to expand their vocabularies. Kids who are read to from birth will hear many more different words over the course of their preschool days than kids who spend most of their free time in front of the TV. Especially if those television shows primarily use words like "bam".
Using Television Wisely:
Of course television is quite enticing for kids. If you're going to allow your preschoolers to watch television, there are a couple of things that you can do to make TV work in favor of, instead of against, literacy skills. The first is obvious. Pick television shows that are educational and help your child's development, instead of violent or mindless cartoons. There are a number of educational shows that focus on vocabulary, but also strive to make reading fun. I've heard particularly good things about WordGirl and Super WHY!, for example.
Another tip is one I learned from Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook (a book that every new parent should have a chance to read). Jim suggests that if you are going to have the television on, you can turn it into a "mechanical reading tutor" by the simple act of turning on the closed captioning. He cites examples of children in Finland who don't start school until age 7, watch a lot of television, and yet have high reading levels, explaining that they typically watch quite a bit of non-Finnish television, and make heavy use of closed captioning. It's like an interactive reading tutor, with the televised characters acting out the words. Closed captioning provides a steady stream of words across the bottom of screen, words that your child will notice and, eventually, decode.
Jim concludes: "It stands to reason that reasonable doses of captioned television can do no harm and most likely help greatly with reading. There is enough research to indicate significant gains in comprehension and vocabulary development (especially among bilingual students) when receiving instruction with educational television that is captioned." You can read more details here.
Conclusions:
If you want your kids to love books, you have to give them time to love books. And that means quiet time, when the television isn't blaring in the background. Time to immerse themselves in other worlds, worlds that will build their imaginations. Time to just read.
But variety is important, too. If your kids are going to spend time watching television, the best ways that I know of to make TV work in favor of literacy are to select television shows carefully, and to turn on the closed captioning.
How have you balanced television and books in your house, in your quest to grow bookworms?
As you may remember from my post about letters to Santa, one of my goals for 2010 is not only to write more notes for my daughter, but also to let her see me writing more.
Modeling writing is important, as it is one way to help her become more comfortable with writing. I have tucked a couple of silly notes and cartoons into her lunch box and written in my journal at the table while she does her homework. It isn't an everyday thing, but it is something I am doing more consciously and consistently
All that thinking about writing and encouraging my daughter to write ultimately led to A Prompt Idea, a new column here at Booklights that will explore writing. Each month, I'll talk about writing and suggest ways to add writing to children's literacy diet.
Even if your child isn't ready to put pen to paper, prompts can open the doors to building vocabulary, honing communication skills, and being creative. Varying the outlets for writing and communicating is as important as offering different types of reading materials. With that in mind, I am going to use the concept of writing prompts as the foundation of to create literacy prompts. So let's get started ...
Prompts are like open-ended questions. They can help you bypass the yes-or-no answer, but sometimes nothing comes back. The question "What did you learn today at school?" is a great example. As parents, we're thinking, after six hours, Sammy should have lots to tell us. Sammy is thinking Geez, I don't know; so much happened where should I start? I can't remember. The proverbial brain freeze.
The same thing happens when we ask kids to "write about anything you want." That works for some kids, but for others it is too broad. That's where prompts can help. A writing prompt is a "device" to narrow the focus and help you start writing.
- Prompts can be in the form of a question or the first few words of a phrase or sentence which the writer completes.
- A prompt might ask you to describe something (sitting in a waiting room); explain something (how to plant a flower); persuade someone (why should I donate money to the library?); or finish an idea (When the blue bear ran in front of me, ...).
- The results can take lots of forms, though they are most commonly associated with journal entries or essays.
There are prompts for every type of writing, from creative to narrative to topical, on all kinds of topics, and lots of children's books. In the months to come, we'll explore many of them. For now, I've included a selection of resources at the end of this post. As you'll see, there is no shortage of writing prompt lists and prompt generators (based on words you plug in). Although many sites are for authors or educators, they can be helpful to parents, too.
Here are some Prompt Ideas for February. As part of this series, I will close each post with some writing prompt suggestions focused on topics relevant to that month.They may be helpful in just talking about ideas, dinner conversation, or as the start of a writing project.
If you haven't yet read it, Jen's latest Literacy 'Lights from the Kidlitosphere includes a link to Melissa Wiley's Saturday Snapshots post about her dad converting photographs to coloring pages for her kids. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
For St. Valentines Day and National Heart Month skip the store-bought Valentines and write or draw a love note. Try these ideas:
For President's Day and Black History Month sneak a little history in the process.
For Plant the Seeds of Greatness month take the opportunity to reflect, renew, and stretch your imagination.
These are just a few of the events and days of recognition/awareness for February. If you have a prompt idea for one of these themes or another one, I hope you'll add it in the comments.
Places to find Writing Prompt Ideas
Within the Grammar and Composition section of About.com, there is a list of 400 topic suggestions for paragraphs and essays.
Writing Fix, the website of the Northern Nevada Writing Project has the most robust bibliography of book-related prompts I've ever seen!
Children's authors Glen and Karen Bledsoe have built a robust website with all types of starter ideas for adult writers, young authors, and teachers, that is also an informative resource for parents.
Daily Holidays on the Net lets you search for holidays, awareness days, and days of recognition on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
images found via Google Image Search
Spilled Milk Writing Prompt Template - Make Learning Fun website
Mom and daughter painting - Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio blog
Mom writing note with daughter - ClearWisdom.net
Sketches are from the Microsoft Clipart Gallery
In January, I talked about three of the Cybils Fiction Picture Book Finalists with an eye towards which ones might win a Caldecott medal. I was right about two of them. "Bam!" said the lady!
I also reviewed one of the other finalists - Jeremy Draws a Monster - as a book that I was giving to my three year old niece. But with a bit more than a week to go before the ultimate winner is chosen, it's certainly time to share the other three books from the Cybils Fiction Picture Book shortlist.
The Listeners
by Gloria Whelan, illustrated by Mike Benny
The lives of the slaves are hard work, little food, and old clothes. But there are also times of pride, worship, and family. Under the cover of darkness, the slave children sneak under the windows of the Big House to hear the news and then take it back to their community. Inside the conversations are elements of harshness, indifference, compassion, and with any luck - hope. Beautifully rendered, this story for older readers will touch your heart and open your eyes.
Silly Tilly
by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by David Slonim
Here's a goose who "took her baths in apple juice," so we can safely say that she's pretty silly. Her crazy antics get to her barnyard friends, who read her the riot act to stop the silliness. Later though, they miss laughing and the miss the real Tilly, who they learn to accept just the way she is. The value of the book is in the wild lines that will have kids giggling even as they are learning about rhymes. It's a perfect read aloud with wonderful rhythm and expressive illustration that captures this very silly goose.
The Book That Eats People
by John Perry, illustrated by Mark Fearing
Dark and deadly, this is a book to be feared as it eats people. Throughout the pages the reader learns of many of the unsuspecting victims of this most dangerous book. The illustrations are appropriately creepy, and the tone is darkly comedic. While I personally would have put this book as most appropriate for older readers - say first and second grade - I've had personal reports of much younger children who want to hear this book read again and again. So beware, because it might just take over your family as well.
What's your favorite book?
That's an impossible question to answer.
Do I mean your favorite book from your childhood? Your favorite book as an adult? The book that most impacted your life? The book you read last week?
It's amazing to see how our tastes change over the years. As a librarian, I can't tell you how many times I've heard: "My child loves this book. It's his favorite." Yes, it's his favorite book right now. But what about last year? What about six months from now?
Let me use my own kindergartner as an example. His first favorite book was Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy! because he loved to play with it. Then he moved on to Good Night, Gorilla, Goodnight Moon, and Freight Train. Blue Hat, Green Hat enjoyed a spot on top of the charts too. As he got older, it kept changing. I Stink, Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go and Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel started appearing regularly on his must read pile. He thought Are You Ready to Play Outside? was the funniest book ever and we read that one over and over (and then some.) He's gone through Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss, Arthur and Curious George phases (some of which are still going). 
When we were reading Charlotte's Web, he couldn't wait for the next chapter. I asked him today, and he said his favorite books are Rhinoceros Tap, Philadelphia Chickens, Dog Train and Blue Moo... all wonderful books/albums by Sandra Boynton. They've been on the top of his charts for at least three years.
And I've changed my favorites too. In second grade, Cam Jansen was the best thing out there. When I was in fifth grade, I thought there was nothing better than the From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and I wanted to go live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I loved Marjorie Morningstar when I was an angsty teenage. 
At the time, it felt magical and as if Herman Wouk had written it just for me, but it doesn't resonate as much for me now. If you asked me for my favorite today, I'd say Pride and Prejudice. The interesting thing about that book is that I've understood, appreciated and loved it in different ways at different ages. But, I'd also say that my favorite book today is The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. And as of three months ago, I'd add Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. There's no such thing as one favorite, at least, not for me.
I wrote last week about keeping a book journal and got many wonderful responses. A few people commented that the idea of recording books every single day seemed overwhelming. If that's too much for you, try keeping a favorites journal. Wouldn't it be great to have a record of that?
What phases have you and your children gone through? What worked before that doesn't work anymore? What works now?
And most important, what's your favorite book today?
In my posting on January 2, I suggested that we put together a list of the 10 best picture books from the decade that just passed. I said that list would be my posting this month. Since I have already changed my mind about my New Year's resolutions, I have also changed my plan for this posting. BUT I promise to get back to that list very soon.
Given this year's Caldecott Award recipient, The Lion and the Mouse, is an almost-wordless picture book, I want to talk about ways to use such books with children. Parents and teachers may be at a bit of a loss on ways to share these books with children. With the great assortment of wordless picture books available, it would be a shame if children just looked at the pictures with adults telling the story.
Let me first include some of my favorite wordless picture books. David Wiesner's books may well be the leaders of the group. Three of his books have been awarded the Caldecott Award: 2007 for Flotsam, 2002 for The Three Pigs, and 1992 for Tuesday.
Raymond Briggs's The Snowman gave us the first "modern day" wordless picture book. 
Mitsumasa Anno followed with many beautiful wordless (or almost wordless) picture books, my favorite being All in a Day.
So how might we "read" these books with children? The youngest child will enjoy looking at the illustrations and will likely discuss what he sees. Jerry Pinkney would want us to spend a good bit of time on the end pages! Those endpages caught my eye when I shared them with you last November. 
This week is National Storytelling Week in the UK, established "to promote the oldest art form in the world". Tipping my hat to the UK's storytelling week, I've collected a smorgasbord of articles from around the world dedicated to encouraging young readers, writers, and artists. I hope that you find some of these links useful.
At Literacy Launchpad, Amy has started a new series similar to my own Tips for Growing Bookworms series. But she has much cuter illustrations than I do, since she's focusing on her young son, Isaac. Her first installment is about finding books on topics that interest your child. She says: "There's this certain joy that comes with finding a book that you know your little one is going to go gaga over. So far for me, it's been one of the most rewarding experiences when it comes to parenting... Who am I kidding? It's been one of the most rewarding experiences PERIOD." Who could resist that? Her second installment is about something that I'll be writing about soon, too: Have Books Everywhere!
And in the spirit of having books everywhere, Booklights contributor Susan Thomsen from Chicken Spaghetti shares a short list of suggested reading topics for six year olds. The list was compiled with help from Susan's first-grade reading buddies.
Here's another fun idea for six year olds (and others). At Here in the Bonny Glen, Melissa Wiley talks about how her father "converted a bunch of family photos to coloring pages and emailed them to us for printing out." Lori, a commenter at Melissa's site, dug up a link to Crayola's website for creating coloring pages from pictures. Seems to me that a creative aunt, uncle or grandparent could make a truly awesome coloring book for kids, with this technology.
The Book Chook (Australian author Susan Stephenson) has a fun post about using toys as a springboard for writing. She says: "Kids love their toys. Do you remember wondering what your toys got up to when you were asleep? ... Why not tap into that fascination and encourage your child to take photos of his toys? Use those photos to spark some writing OR plan your story first, and work out what pictures you need to accompany the story." She offers several concrete, detailed suggestions for children's writing projects based on photos of toys.
Also from The Book Chook, a lovely post that answers the question: "what's so great about children's literature anyway?". Susan highlights many excellent attributes of children's literature, particularly when used for shared family reading (closeness, conversational bridges, exploration and escape, etc.). Here's a snippet: "By reading children's literature, or listening to it read aloud, we are putting ourselves in someone else's shoes. We experience their reality. This exposure to other lives increases our empathy and tolerance. One thing our world needs is more tolerance! By understanding another's perspective, we are less likely to be ego-centric, or bully others." Regular Booklights readers probably already think that children's literature is pretty great. Still, Susan's post may give you some ammunition, if needed, for convincing other people about the many upsides of books for kids.
Everybody Wins has a Q&A with Mrs. P (aka TV star Kathy Kinney) about the importance of reading. Mrs. P says: "when you read to a child, you compel her to use her imagination, which can be a very addictive pleasure. Once you've escaped into that world, you always want to go back, and the best way in is through a book. The most interesting and successful people I know are book addicts. Hmm, all this talk has given me an uncontrollable desire to go read a book. Are we done?"
The newest edition of the monthly Carnival of Children's Literature was posted this weekend at Jenny's Wonderland of Books. Among other kidlit-related topics, host Jenny Schwartzberg included a section of links dedicated to the importance of literacy and reading to children. One post in particular (in addition to The Book Chook's second post above) caught my eye:
Fiona Ingram from South Africa shares her thoughts on why many children don't enjoy reading. She says: "the problem of literacy in my home country affects me deeply as an author. Around one fifth of the population of 48-million people are still illiterate." She offers advice for parents to remedy the problem, focusing on ways to keep reading from feeling like a chore. For example: "Be innovative. For example, reading to each other or acting out the various characters' parts will make it fun (children love acting), and if another parent or enthusiastic family members are the audience the 'cast' have to work hard to entertain."
But do check out the other links from this week's Carnival of Children's Literature. It's an excellent resource for anyone interested in kids and reading. For additional literacy links, you can also check out this week's children's literacy and reading news roundup from Terry Doherty and me, now available on my personal blog. Thanks for caring about connecting kids with books!
Last Thursday I listed some of the American LIbrary Association's Youth Media Awards, and highlighted three winning books from among the Coretta Scott King, Schneider, and Pura Belpré awards. I had fully intended to go back to the other honors given at ALA, but was stopped by the appearance of one of my favorite things and its name is the 2010 Notable Children's Books List.
Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children's books. The list also includes the current year's Newbery, Caldecott, Belpré, Sibert, Geisel, and Batchelder Award and Honor books. Now Notable Children's Books that have also received other ALA awards, such as the Coretta Scott King Award, Michael L. Printz Award, Alex Award, and Schneider Family Book Award, are noted as well. I hope that next year that they will include the age-appropriate winners of those categories, regardless of whether they were already chosen as Notable Books.
As a parent, this is the ultimate list to take to your library throughout the year to expand your exposure to different styles, genres, and cultures. I've talked about some of the books listed already in my other posts, but today I'll put the focus on three picture books that made the Notables list and that were also nominated for the Cybils Fiction Picture Book awards.
Posy
by Linda Newbery, illustrated by Catherine Rayner
Posy is a most delightful kitten who tangles yarn, swipes crayons, and cuddles mommy. The abstract style may surprise those looking for a standard, sweet watercolor, but offers so much more in the artistic interpretation. The illustrations are amazing with a sense of texture and movement that springs from the page. The slight, rhyming text is geared to the youngest readers and the gentle story of exploration will bring them back again and again.
Waiting for Winter
by Sebastian Meschenmoser
Hearing about this wondrous thing called snow, a squirrel is determined to wait it out to see the first sign of the cold, white, soft stuff. As he involves Hedgehog and Bear in his wait, they each suspect things that are most definitely not snow, but that will make readers giggle. Of course, in the end the real snow falls in all its cold, white, soft beauty. Lovely pencil illustrations give interest and humor to the story.
My People
by Langston Hughes, photography Charles R. Smith Jr.
Langston Hughes' 1923 classic poem provides the muse for a photographic tribute of African Americans through different stages of life, shades of color, and state of being. The short poem is portioned out a bit at a time, allowing each word and each picture the space to resonate. Quiet, joyful, and ultimately moving.
Links to books in this post are affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which the site MotherReader.com may receive a referral fee.
What book(s) did you you read to your kids last night? What book did your kids read to themselves? What book did you read?
I recently asked my friends this question, and got an incredibly varied response. It ranged from Harry Potter to the Berenstain Bears. From Little House in the Big Woods to Captain Underpants. From Raggedy Ann to Star Wars. From Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever to Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. (Okay, so that last one didn't have a lot of range.)
One of the fun things about the summer reading program at my library is that the kids get a reading log to record all the books they read that summer. It's so fascinating to see their lists. Some kids read the minimum number of books they need to receive the prize. Others fill up the whole log. Some kids even attach extra pieces of paper to their lists. Regardless of how long or short the list is, every time I look at one, I get a sense of who that child is.
Wouldn't it be amazing if you could look back at a list of books your child (or you) read? Not just over the summer, but for the whole year? How about if you could see the titles of all (or most) the books they read while they were growing up? Can you imagine what a priceless gift that would be to both you and your child?
It doesn't matter if your journal looks like this:
It doesn't matter if you arrange it by day (for picture books) or by date the book was finished (for chapter books) or by year. (However you do it, I recommend numbering your entries).
It doesn't matter if you include just the title, date and author in your entry. Or if you write down your kid's reactions to the book such as "Emily loved putting her fingers through the holes of everything the hungry caterpillar ate." Or "John just wanted to find Goldbug on each page." Or "Jennifer didn't like the part with the Wicked Witch of the West."
The only thing that matters is having one. How do you make that happen?
Step 1: Answer the question that was at the top of this post: What book(s) did you you read to your kids last night? What book did your kids read to themselves? What book did you read?
Step 2: Write it down.
Step 3: Repeat daily.
I'd love to see what you and your kids did read last night. Please comment!
This is Part 7 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information.
Tip #7: For younger children, point out when you're learning useful information by reading. The idea is to gradually (and in non-didactic fashion) show young children the many doors that reading opens, and make them that much more eager to learn to read themselves. Here are just a few examples:
Recipes. When you're cooking from a recipe, you can ask your older child to help you by reading the next step, or measuring out an ingredient. For younger kids, you can browse through recipe books or cooking magazines that have pictures, and point out that the text can tell you how to make the dishes that you see. If you then follow up by actually making some of the most interesting dishes, that will really reinforce the value of reading. [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery]
Product names, ingredient lists, and prices at the supermarket. You can say "Look, your favorite cereal is on sale" or "Well, let's check the package and see how healthy this is" or even just "Can you tell which one is the Cheerios box? See the C?". Teaching kids to read and pay attention to ingredient lists is especially important for kids who have food allergies. (One of my favorite bloggers, HipWriterMama, writes about kids and food allergies occasionally.) But for most kids, food is a pretty important part of their day-to-day life, so seeing the connection between food and reading can only help. When you're out to eat, you automatically demonstrate useful reading when you read the menu. [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery]
Maps. When you're planning to go somewhere new, near or far, break out the atlas, and point out some of the things you can learn from the writing on maps. Being able too read the symbols on a map is like learning to decode words, and is sometimes easier (since the symbols appear as pictures).
Signs on the roadways. I've seen snippets on blogs (I don't remember exactly where) to the effect that the first reading that many kids do involves street signs. Makes sense to me. STOP signs are big and clear, and have a special color and shape to add visual cues, and make reading easier. Any time you're out in the car, or out in the neighborhood for a walk, it can't hurt to point out signs, and talk about what they say. The same goes for directional signs in neighborhood parks and amusement parks. For example: "This sign says that there are ducks around this way. Should we go see?". [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery]
Instructions. Whenever you have something new come into the house that requires setup or assembly, you can point out how helpful it is to read the instructions. As kids get older, you can encourage them to read instructions themselves.
Newspapers and magazines. When you pick up the daily paper or a magazine, it might make sense to point out to your child that you're getting useful or interesting information there. For example: "Should we check and see if the Red Sox won yesterday, and where they are on the standings now?" or "I'm thinking about buying a new phone, and this article talks about the one that I'm thinking of." And of course many kids enjoy reading the comics before they're ready to read much of anything else. I personally think that it's a great idea to keep printed newspapers and magazines coming into the house, even when you can look up a lot of things online. The physical presence of printed material provides opportunities for entertainment and consultation. [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery]
Search engines. When a question comes up that you can't answer off the top of your head, you can develop a habit of turning to the computer. Most of us do this anyway - it's mostly just a matter of pointing out to kids when we consult Google or Wikipedia or IMDB or whatever. Of course we can also still turn to the printed dictionary or thesaurus. The more important point is to show that when certain types of questions come up, we can use reading, in whatever format, to answer them.
These are just a few ideas for pointing out the positive consequences that come from knowing how to read. We can get to where we need to go, eat what we want to eat, use the new things that we buy, and find information that we're interested in. Of course there's no need to be overly aggressive about this, and turn every little walk around the neighborhood into a reading lesson. But here and there, as you go about your day, you'll naturally find a few opportunities to demonstrate practical reading. It makes sense to me to use them.
What do you all think? Do you have other ways that you subtly point out to your kids the benefits of reading (above and beyond reading with them)?
On Monday, January 18th the American Library Association Youth Media Awards were announced. I had made some predictions on the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and NAILED IT! The books I covered did get a shiny gold or silver sticker, and some additional books were named.
For the Newbery Medal, I predicted the winner, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead and two honor titles, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly. Two additional honor titles were chosen: Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, by Phillip Hoose and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, by Rodman Philbrick.
For the Caldecott Medal, I picked that the winner would be The Lion & the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney and also suggested an honor title, All the World, written by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee. One additional honor title was named: Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
Not bad. Many other awards are given, which include the Coretta Scott King, Schneider, and Pura Belpré. Here are the winners of those awards, and I've selected one from each to share more fully.
Recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award:
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
CSK Author Honor Book:
Mare’s War, by Tanita S. Davis
Forced on a cross-country road trip with their eccentric grandmother, teen sisters Octavia and Tali discover more about their family history through a series of recollections of Mare's time in the Women's Army Corp. Along the journey, the teens develop a better understanding of their grandmother and themselves. A wonderful, engaging book, the positive and strong characters earned the author a nomination for a NAACP image award.
Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:
My People, illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr., written by Langston Hughes
CSK Illustrator Honor Book:
The Negro Speaks of Rivers, illustrated by E. B. Lewis, written by Langston Hughes
Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award:
The Rock and the River, by Kekla Magoon
Honoring books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience
Picture Book:
Django, written and illustrated by Bonnie Christensen
Middle-Grade:
Anything but Typical, by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Jason is a sixth-grade boy, who loves creative writing, and has been diagnosed with autism. He is comfortable in his online world, where he can shape his words of fiction and interaction. He is less comfortable among people, where he needs to turn to his lessons on social expectations and body language to interpret the world around him. When the two worlds are scheduled to mix, Jason faces a true conflict of interest and self. An interesting and well-written book, it slipped under the radar in children's literature - probably due to the attention given to the Young Adult book that focused on a character with Asperger's syndrome and its title is...
Young Adult:
Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork
Honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award:
Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros, illustrated by Rafael López, written by Pat Mora
It's Children's Day and Book Day and the kids are celebrating by reading their favorite books anywhere and everywhere. The bright lively pictures and joyful, bilingual text are engaging. The festive feeling is infectious. A fun picture book to extol books and reading as a cause of celebration.
Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Books: Gracias Thanks, illustrated by John Parra, written by Pat Mora; My Abuelita, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Tony Johnston and Diego: Bigger Than Life, illustrated by David Diaz, written by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
Pura Belpré (Author) Award:
Return to Sender, written by Julia Alvarez
Pura Belpré Author Honor Books:
Diego: Bigger Than Life, written by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, illustrated by David Diaz; and Federico García Lorca, written by Georgina Lázaro, illustrated by Enrique S. Moreiro
Links to books in this post are affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which the site MotherReader.com may receive a referral fee.
Monday was a huge day in the children's literature world as the American Library Association's (ALA) Youth Media Awards were announced. Curious about what won? Read the full press release here.
Check out our predictions and see how we did. Here's mine and here's Pam's Caldecott and Newbery predictions.
Maybe you watched the live webcast of the press conference. Or followed the updates on Twitter. Or read about the results online or in the newspaper. Maybe you saw the interviews with the Caldecott and Newbery medal winners on Tuesday morning's Today Show. Or maybe, you're just finding out about it all now.
What to know more? Here's my in-depth look at some of the highlights from January 18, 2010. Wondering what all these awards are? Take a look at this post.
5 am: Committee members woke up and headed over to the convention center.
6 -7 am: Phone calls were made to the illustrator or author of the books that won or received honors. As I walked through the convention center on my way to the press conference, I could hear the shouts of joy and applause from the press booth as the committees made their phone calls. Check out these photos of Grace Lin recieving her Newbery Honor call.
6:30 am- 7 am: Multitudes of people (including librarians, publishers, editors, writers and me) slog their way through heavy sleet, freezing temperatures and unbelievable wind to get to the press conference.
7 am: A crowd starts started to gather in front of the Grand Ballroom at the Boston Convention Center.
7:30 am: All over the country, booksellers and librarians log into the live webcast. Some are just curious, but others are all business as they try to order the winning books the second they are announced. They're ready to pick up the phone or place an online order for anything they don't already have in stock.
7:35 am: The doors open and the vast, excited, chattering crowd full of anticipation makes its way into the ballroom.
7:40 am: Twitter starts buzzing with comments.
7:45 am: The press conference gets off to a rollicking start as the Alex Awards, the Schneider Family Awards and the Coretta Scott King (CSK) awards are announced. Marcelo in the Real World gets a great audience response as it wins the Schneider Family teen book award. There is thunderous applause as Walter Dean Myers is announced as the first ever winner of the Virginia Hamilton life time achievement award. This is his 12th Coretta Scott King Award. My People, a book that aches to be read aloud, wins the CSK illustrator award and Bad News for Outlaws takes home the CSK author award. Kekla Magoon wins the John Steptoe New Talent Award for The Rock and the River.
8 am: The YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) awards are announced. Jim Murphy becomes the first winner of the Margaret Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award to be honored for non-fiction books! The crowd is delighted. (Check out his books, they're wonderful). The new YALSA non-fiction award goes to Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith. The YA Morris debut award goes to Flash Burnout. Onto the big one, the Printz award for excellence in Young Adult Literature. There's earsplitting applause as Going Bovine wins. Then slowly the realization hits the onlookers that Marcelo in the Real World (one of the predicted favorites) didn't win the Printz award or an honor. The audience starts to talk amongst itself. The booksellers watching from their homes or stores, get on the phone with their sales reps or distributors immediately to make sure they have plenty of copies of Going Bovine.
8:15 am: Onto the ALSC awards. Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken wins the Odyssey Award. The Pura Belpré awards are announced. Book Fiesta! by Pat Mora, the founder of ALSC's Dia de los niños wins the Belpré illustrator award. Julia Alvarez gets the Belpré author award for Return to Sender. A Faraway Island wins the Batchelder. Lois Lowry adds the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award to her considerable resume.
8:25 am: Random House accidentally posts on Twitter that When You Reach Me has won the Newbery Medal.... 13 minutes before the Newbery is actually announced.
8:30 am: Almost Astronauts takes home the Siebert Medal. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus wins the Carnegie Medal and the crowd is treated to a clip of the irascible pigeon. A few minutes later, Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! becomes the first graphic novel ever to win the Geisel Award. Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books are shut out of the Geisel (after winning two straight years in a row.) But hey, Mo won the Carnegie, which is his 6th award in the same number of years. I think he'll survive.
8:34 am: Time for the Caldecotts. I'm holding my breath, hoping The Lion and the Mouse doesn't show up as an honor book (which would mean it wouldn't have won the medal). Marla Frazee wins her second Caldecott Honor in two years for the beautiful book All the World. Pamela Zagarenski wins a Caldecott Honor for her wonderful mixed media and computer illustrations in Red Sings from Treetops.
8:35 am: Drumroll as everyone waits to find out the Caldecott winner. And it's The Lion and the Mouse!!! Jerry Pinkney finally won the medal 21 years after his first of five Caldecott honors. There is earth shattering applause as the crowd goes crazy for this stunningly beautiful book and its wonderfully talented creator.
8:36 am: The applause keeps going. A picture appears on the big screen of the The Lion and the Mouse with a Caldecott Medal on its gorgeous cover.
8:37 am: And now it's Newbery time. A surprising number of people in the crowd are follwing Twitter and Facebook during the annoucements via their phones and laptops, so sadly, this is a bit anticlimatic since the winner has already been leaked. Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice wins its third honor of the day (it also was recognized by the Siebert and YALSA non-fiction committees. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, a lovely historical fiction book filled with great characters, wins a Newbery honor. Grace Lin's beautiful and timeless book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon wins one too. The humorous Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg wins a surprise Newbery honor.
8:38 am: When You Reach Me is officially declared the Newbery winner. This book is a bit on the older side (recommended for grades 5-8) and it's a fantastic, wonderful book with a surprise ending. The crowd goes wild as When You Reach Me wins. Rebecca Stead wins the Newbery 47 years after the book it was based on, A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery.
8:40 am: The crowd in the room grab press releases as they slowly meander their way out. Tons of side conversations start. The crowd at home logs off from the webcast. Exhausted book buyers hang up their phones, turn off their computers and then race around to find every last copy of every book that won an award or honor.
.
8:45 am: A multitude of reactions to the awards start to get posted on a multitude of blogs. Listserv discussions begin.
9 am: When You Reach Me is # 613 on Amazon's list of bestsellers (this includes all books, not just children's books.)
9:30 am: The award committee members finally get to eat breakfast.
9 pm: When You Reach Me is # 23 on Amazon's list of bestsellers.
9:50 am on Tuesday: Jerry Pinkney and Rebecca Stead are interviewed on the Today Show.
10 am on Tuesday: When You Reach Me is # 4 on Amazon's list of bestsellers.
Wondering why I have exact times such as 8:37 am in this post? I ventured onto Twitter (something I rarely do) and tweeted my reactions while sitting at the press conference.
Curious about how Caldecott and Newbery books (and all the rest) get their shiny stickers? Here's the answer, to the best of my knowledge.
What were you doing between 7:45 - 8:35 am on Monday morning? Were you at the press conference? Did you follow the webcast? What about Twitter or Facebook? Or were you (quite understandably) asleep?
Got opinions about the awards? I'd love to hear them.
As many of you know, today, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, has been designated a National Day of Service to honor the life and work of Dr. King. The First Book blog has a guest article from Tina Chovanec of Reading Rockets with links to ways to help out in your community, as well as some "reading-writing-and-book-inspired ideas for the Day of Service or for a year-round community project." And here are a few other ideas from around the Kidlitosphere for encouraging young readers every day.
Big Universe shares Five Ways to Raise a Reader from parent and former classroom teacher Dawn Little of Links to Literacy. Dawn's suggestions aren't unusual (read to kids, talk to them, expose them to plenty of print material, etc.), but her genuine enthusiasm shines through in every tip. For example: "Reading and writing go hand in hand. The more you read the better writer you become and the more you write the better reader you become. Encourage your child to write."
Terry Doherty found a nice little article about why reading aloud to your child is important at The Hobbit Movie Guide. Kent W. Johnson says "By reading aloud to your kids, you're showing them how to enjoy children's books, the English language, the wonders of a good story, and hopefully, you're instilling a love of reading and learning. Many kids associate books with the drudgeries of school and homework, but you want to show them how a well written children's book can be an exciting adventure, a real pleasure, as their imagination takes them to places they've never been to visit with people and characters they've never met." Obviously, we've been talking about the importance of read-aloud here at Booklights since day one. But we liked how this article specifically mentions poetry as a way to engage kids with reading.
Another pro-read-aloud post, with book suggestions, can be found at Grow Up With Books, where Lara Ivey includes quotes from both Patricia Polacco and Jim Trelease. Lara concludes: "So, here is our challenge for you this week. Take a look at your calendars. What do you value? What do you make time for? Is there time for reading? Go ahead...write it in pen and commit to it! Do it for yourself as much as for your child."
The Book Dads blog recently linked to a handy 2-page flier prepared by the Eaton County School Readiness and Kindergarten Transitions team. The first page features tips for reading to young children, while the second page is chock-full of book recommendations by age range.
At Literacy, families and learning, Trevor Cairney shares 30 simple ways to stimulate children's learning over the holidays (he's based in Australia, and wrote this while facing the warm-weather end of year holidays last month). His suggestions cover a wide range of activities, including things like: "Dramatisation - Dramatisation is an excellent way to respond to a book. If you have a dress-up box all the better. Let your children either re-tell the story through dramatisation or improvise. Get involved to help set the pattern for turn taking etc. I play a mean wolf, and an even better Grandma!" See also Trevor's post about making books come alive during the holidays by visiting the real-world setting for a treasured book.
At Getting Kids Reading, Joyce Grant suggests encouraging kids to write thank you cards as a way to promote literacy. I thought this was a nice companion piece to Terry's recent Booklights post about Letters to Santa. Joyce is firm about requiring her son to write thank you notes for all gifts, and she includes suggestions for keeping the activity fun, rather than letting it turn into a chore. And it's probably not a coincidence that Joyce's son's favorite holiday gift this year was a book.
Pam snuck in an important post here at Booklights on New Year's Eve, with three recommended reading resolutions for parents. My favorite, of course, is Pam's third resolution: model pleasure reading. She says: "If you're like most of the moms I know, you save your own reading time for the very end of the day after the chores, the carpooling, the ballet/karate/music class when you're so exhausted that you fall asleep with latest Grisham book on your lap. Well, no more. I'm telling you to read during the day, perhaps in the actual presence of your child."
At Kidliterate, Melissa urges parents not to rush into reading the Harry Potter books to their young children. She says: "If you are reading HP to your kids before you have read them the RAMONA books, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, the FUDGE books, most of Cynthia Rylant, A CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE, STUART LITTLE, and most of Roald Dahl, just to name a fraction of the available books, then your kids are not ready for HP. Shorter books do not equal bad. It is okay to finish a read-aloud quickly. It is okay to tell your child that they are not old enough for HP yet." She also offers a great list of read-alouds that are appropriate for six to eight year olds. I agree with Melissa completely, and I know that Pam does, too.
The Learning & Reading Disabilities blog recently ran a guest post by Francesca Lopez about how her family helped a child who started out at-risk for reading problems to learn to love reading. Lopez's suggestions are in line with several already discussed (including parents modeling reading behavior), but I liked the personal nature of the article. I found this link via Everybody Wins! USA.
I hope that you all find some food for thought in this article. If you would like more literacy-related links, check out this week's Children's Literacy and Reading News Roundup at The Reading Tub. Enjoy MLK Day / the National Day of Service.
Last week I shared three of the Cybils Fiction Picture Book finalists that I believe have a strong chance to win a Caldecott medal. So this week I could complete the list of Cybils finalists, or I can make my best guesses for the Newbery.
Following Susan's wonderful breakdown of the awards, and in the interest of putting you ahead of the library crowd in getting to read them, I'm guessing that one or more of these three books will make the list.
When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead
Miranda is comfortable with her friends, family, and generally her New York City life. But it feels as if things start to shift when her best friend Sal pulls away from her. Left adrift in sixth grade, she meets new people and tries new things - but is most intrigued by the strange notes appearing for her eyes only. The story is clever, layered, interesting, and intelligent. The buzz is big, the hype is high, and the love is loyal for this title. I won't be surprised to see it somewhere on the list, and maybe even as the winner.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
by Grace Lin
Seeped in her father's fairy tales and pushed by her mother's sighs, Minli leaves home to search for the Old Man of the Moon to change her family's fortune. Along the way her kindness makes her many friends, who turn out to provide the help she needs. Incorporating Asian fairy tales with her own adventure, this is a beautiful book of love, friendship, and gratitude. The full color panel illustrations throughout add to the astonishing beauty of the book. And just look at the cover! Lots of people are hoping for a Newbery for the delightful book and author too, but it may be too light and happy for another award that tends towards death and calamity.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Jacqueline Kelly
The hardest thing about this book is making the one sentence description sound gripping. It's the story of a girl in 1899 who discovers the world of science under the tutorage of her grandfather. Calpurnia Tate is the youngest of a bunch of brothers, and can sometimes get lost in the shuffle to spend time at the creek looking at plant specimens or holed up in Grandfather's lab, testing the fermentation of pecans to wine. But for all this exposure to science, she's still growing into a woman at the turn of century and wonders when she'll have to put away her magnifying glass for a mop. Wonderful historical fiction that doesn't focus on death, dismemberment, or abject poverty - which is why it may not be taken seriously enough to win the Newbery.
The wonderful children's librarian, and former Newbery committee member has her predictions at School Library Journal with the discussion continuing in the comments. The results will be announced on by American Library Association on Monday.
Links to books in this post are affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which the site MotherReader.com may receive a referral fee.
We've been talking about children's book awards on Booklights quite a bit lately because award season is in now full swing. Why are we so interested in which books win the awards?
For one thing, the lists of the winners and honor books make excellent reading lists and offer good suggestions for a child looking for the next book to read.
And for another, (particularly in the case of the Caldecott and the Newbery medals) schools and libraries are more likely to buy the books that win the awards. That means they'll be readily available and it's more likely that your children may read them.
Some (not all) of the award winners turn into classics. Where the Wild Things Are won the Caldecott medal and A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery Medal. The classics aren't always award winners though. Dr. Seuss never won the Caldecott medal, although he did receive three honors. Eric Carle has never won a Caldecott medal or an honor.
A few words of caution before you dive into the award lists, though. It's important to know what the award was actually given for. For an example, let's look at two different awards for picture books. The Randolph Caldecott medal is awarded to the book with the best illustrations. (The Caldecott is actually only given to the illustrator, not the author.) The Charlotte Zolotow award, which Ann wrote about is given to the picture book with the best writing. The Lion and the Mouse, this year's Caldecott favorite, could never have won the Zolotow award. It's a wordless book. But the illustrations are incredible.
Also, make sure to check that the book is appropriate for your child. Not every award winner is for every kid. Take a look at part of the Newbery criteria:
A "contribution to American literature for children" shall be a book for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children's understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen, and books for this entire age range are to be considered.
For example, the The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo won the 2004 Newbery medal and is generally recommended to ages nine and up (although some children read it at a younger age.) The 2005 Newbery medalist was Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata which is generally recommended for ages 11-14. These two books both meet the Newbery criteria but they have two very different audiences and are intended for different age groups.
I mentioned the ALA Youth Media Awards in my post last week. The Newbery and Caldecott are the most famous children's book awards given by the American Library Association, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. The press conference where the announcements are made is an hour and a half long and many, many awards are given. It's well worth checking out the lists of past winners and honors of these awards while we wait to find out which books will be getting the awards this year. Below is a list of all the awards that will be announced at the press conference on January 18. The official description of each award is from the the appropriate American Library Association (ALA) division's website.
Awards administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC):
The John Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal honors the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The Randolph Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal honors the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
The May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
The Arbuthnot award honors an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site.
The Pura Belpré Medal
The Belpré Medal honors a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose works best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award
The Batchelder Award is given to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
The Andrew Carnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal honors the producer of the most outstanding video production for children released during the preceding year.
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal honors the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished contribution to the body of American children's literature known as beginning reader books published in the United States during the preceding year.
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
The Sibert Medal honors the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published during the preceding year.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
The Wilder Medal honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. (This award is only given every other year. Since it was awarded last year, the next winner will be announced in 2011.)
Awards administered by The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA):
Michael L. Printz Award
The Printz Award honors excellence in literature written for young adults.
The Alex Awards
The Alex Awards are given annually to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults.
The Margaret A. Edwards Award
The Edwards Award honors an author and a specific work for significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens.
The William C. Morris YA Debut Award
The Morris Award honors a book written for young adults by a first-time, previously unpublished author. The first award was given in 2009.
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
YALSA's newest award honors the best nonfiction book for young adults; the first winner will be named this year.
Jointly administered by ALSC and YALSA:
The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
The Odyssey Award is awarded annually to the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.
Under the auspices of the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT):
The Coretta Scott King Awards
The Coretta Scott King Awards are given to African American authors and illustrator for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions, the Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream of a pluralistic society.
The John Steptoe New Talent Awards
The John Steptoe New Talent Awards affirm new talent and offer visibility to excellence in writing or illustration at the beginning of a career as a published book creator.
Under the auspices of the American Library Association:
The Schneider Family Book Awards
The Schneider Family Book Awards honors an author or illustrator for the artistic expression of the disability experience for children and teens. The award is given in three categories: birth through grade school, middle school, and teens.
Follow the announcements live on January 18th:
Be sure to tune in on January 18 . You can either watch the live webcast or get updates via Twitter to find out this year's winners. You may be able to hear me screaming on the webcast.... I'll be in the audience at the press conference at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston. Look for a 2010 ALA award post game analysis here on Booklights next week.
First, welcome back to Booklights posting, Susan! Your January 6 posting got many of us looking forward to next Monday when the Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King Awards and others will be announced. Several other important awards have already been announced.....so I want to talk about one of particular interest to Booklights parents.
The thirteenth annual Charlotte Zolotow Award was announced this morning. The award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book (published in the United States in the preceding year) for children from birth - age seven.
And the 2010 Charlotte Zolotow Award goes to.....What Can You Do with a Paleta? a beautiful story of a young Mexican-American child's delight with a popsicle on a hot summer day (which may be difficult to imagine after this past cold, cold week). The book is both culturally specific and universal in its theme. 
As the judges said, "Author Carmen Tafolla playfully appeals to all of our senses with rich imagery and crisp language. She invites us to think of all the creative things that can be done with a paleta, from painting your tongue purple or giving yourself a blue mustache to making a new friend or learning to make tough decisions. A sprinkling of Spanish words and Magaly Morales' sun-warmed acrylic illustrations add details of life in a vibrant barrio where the daily arrival of the paleta wagon is met with anticipation and celebration."
So parents and teachers, go ahead now and check out this beautiful book and have it ready for a sunny day when your children are ready for popsicles/paletas!
The 2010 Zolotow Award committee named three Honor Books:
Birds, written by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek
Pouch! written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein
Princess Hyacinth: (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated),
written by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Lane Smith
The 2010 Zolotow Award committee also cited four titles as Highly
Commended:
Hello Baby! written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Ready for Anything! written and illustrated by Keiko Kasza
Under the Snow, written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by
Constance R. Bergum
Who Will I Be, Lord? written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by Sean Qualls
I also want to mention that the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction was also just announced. It went to Matt Phelan
for The Storm in the Barn. It is a graphic novel that will be most enjoyed by children ages 9-12.
Happy reading of award-winning books! Ann
For some of us, winter wears out its welcome long before the season is over. If you or the kiddos in your life are anything like me, you've got an extended case of cabin fever. Here's an outlet for all that pent-up energy: the Exquisite Prompt Writing Challenge from Reading Rockets and AdLit.org.
This year-long activity and writing contest (through seasons warm and cold!) gives students the opportunity to flex their creative muscles with writing prompts inspired by famous authors and illustrators. The challenge is connected to a larger serialized story (called an exquisite corpse) sponsored by the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance and the Library of Congress, and boasts participation by superstars like Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson and Kate DiCamillo.
January's prompt has Gregory Macguire (Wicked) and Patricia and Frederick McKissack (Goin' Someplace Special) to thank for its roots. Learn more and participate here.
Has anyone tried an exquisite corpse in a classroom or casual setting before? How crazy did the story get?
On Thursday, Pam focused on three Cybils picture book finalists for her Thursday Three. Today I'd like to talk a bit more about the Cybils finalists in general, and why I think that they're such a great resource for parents, teachers, and librarians.
The Cybils are an annual series of book awards given by children's and young adult book bloggers. Now in their fourth year, the Cybils were started by Anne Boles Levy and Kelly Herold with a dual purpose:
"1. Reward the children's and young adult authors (and illustrators, let's not forget them) whose books combine the highest literary merit and "kid appeal." What's that mean? If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to brussel sprouts, and other, more populist ones to gummy bears, we're thinking more like organic chicken nuggets. We're yummy and nutritious.
2. Foster a sense of community among bloggers who write about children's and YA literature, highlight our best reviewers (and shamelessly promote their blogs) and provide a forum for the similarly obsessed."
The Cybils award process is quite an undertaking. Each year, children's book fans nominate titles in a variety of categories ranging from picture books to young adult fiction and nonfiction. This year, 939 books were nominated across the different categories. Anyone who likes can nominate titles (one per category).
Once the nominations close, two rounds of judging ensue for each category. The judges are drawn from children's book bloggers, including authors and reviewers, people who immerse themselves year-round in their respective categories. Nearly 140 bloggers are involved in this volunteer-run effort. Many authors and publishers help by providing review copies, though panelists also buy, borrow, and share titles.
In each category, the first team of panelists weeds down the nominated titles to a shortlist of five to seven titles. Then a second panel selects a winner from that shortlist. This year, there are a total of 72 shortlist titles spread across a dozen sub-categories. The winners will be announced on February 14th (and we'll be sure to share the news here at Booklights).
This year, in addition to being the Literacy Evangelist for the Cybils (read: person who jumps up and down and tells people how great the Cybils are), I'm a second round judge for the Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction category. I'm currently reading my way through the seven shortlisted titles. I know from my experience in past years that selecting the best of the best will be a difficult task. That's because, honestly, every title that makes it onto the shortlists is amazing.
And that's why I'm telling you about the Cybils shortlists at Booklights. Where else can you find recommended titles, guaranteed to have both literary quality and kid appeal, helpfully grouped by age range and genre? There are thousands of children's and young adult books published every year. What the Cybils process does is start with those thousands, and then use an open nomination process to narrow down to roughly 1000 nominated titles, and then us a well-thought-out judging process to get the list down further to a few dozen recommendations. And although I'll be taking my round two judging seriously, my personal belief is that the most valuable thing that comes out of the Cybils are these shortlists. Are you looking for high-quality nonfiction picture books? Look here. Are you looking for middle grade graphic novels? Here you go. The Cybils shortlists are an excellent resource for anyone looking to match books to kids.
Here are the links to this year's Cybils shortlists (the Easy Reader and Short Chapter Books and Graphic Novels categories each are broken into two sub-lists, by age range):
Easy Readers & Short Chapter Books
Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Non-Fiction Middle Grade/YA
Non-Fiction Picture Books
Poetry
Young Adult Fiction
And here are links to printable versions of the shortlists from last year and the year before (each link opens a PDF file).
I hope that you'll find the Cybils shortlists a useful resource. I know I do.
For the past few months, I've been working as a Cybils panelist to find the best picture books that combine literary value with a kid-friendly appeal. On January 1, 2010 Fiction Picture Book finalists were revealed - along with the finalists from all of the Cybils categories. Taking off on Susan's post on the upcoming Caldecott awards, I'm starting my focus on all of the Cybils winners with the ones more likely - in my opinion - also bring home Caldecott silver or gold.
The Lion & the Mouse
by Jerry Pinkney
Gorgeous. Jerry Pinkney has to win the Caldecott for this stunning book. Has to. The wordless book - unless you count the owl sounds and mouse squeaks - allows the reader to fill in the Aesop's fable of the mighty lion who releases a mouse, to find that the tiny creature comes back another day to save him. But by making the story wordless, it removes the arrogance of the lion and the meekness of the mouse, allowing a greater depth of interpretation. This spectacular book breathes new life to an old tale. And I must mention again, gorgeous.
All the World
by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee
The Lion & the Mouse is likely to find company on the Caldecott list with this enchanting book. The poetic text is simple, taking a multicultural family through a day that focuses on their connection with each other, with friends and neighbors, and the world around them. The sentiment is lovely and is made more so by the detailed illustrations and breathtaking panoramas. This title encourages repeat readings to expand on the stories contained in the pictures, and the beauty contained in the message.
The Curious Garden
by Peter Brown
Don't rule out this title for the Caldecott list, with it's amazing artwork that takes a dark, smoggy urban area to a green, bright lushness. In the story, Liam discovers a little bit of greenery in a gray, bleak city and decides to care for it. He nurtures the struggling plants into a thriving, growing garden which creeps into the city and transforms the buildings and people. If the book is about the value of nature and the environment, it is also about the possibilities in each of us to affect change for the better.
Links to books in this post are affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which the site MotherReader.com may receive a referral fee.
January is a month of wild speculation in the children's literature world. With the ALA Youth Media Awards on the verge of being announced, everyone is trying to guess what books will win this year's Caldecott and Newbery medals. The answer will come on January 18 at an early morning press conference held by the Association of Library Service to Children (a division of the American Library Association).
Who will walk away the winners this year? After receiving 5 Caldecott honors, will Jerry Pinkney finally earn the Caldecott medal for The Lion and the Mouse? Will Jacqueline Kelly earn the Newbery medal for her debut novel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate?
While we wait anxiously with the potential winners to find out whose telephone will ring on January 18, here are a few things we know for certain:
The winning books, whichever ones they happen to be, will be completely sold out within hours of the announcement. They will be purchased by nearly every school, library and bookstore (with a children's department) in the country. With very few exceptions, they will never go out of print.
The winners receive a phone call from the entire 15 member committees shortly before the official announcement at the press conference. If the ALA Midwinter meeting is on the East Coast (this year it's in Boston), a winner who lives in California can expect to get a phone call around 3 a.m. I love hearing the stories that authors and illustrators tell about when they got "the call."
I'm curious to know which past winners are your favorites. Since so many schools and libraries buy the winning books, you may have read more than you realize.
Here are my favorite Caldecott winners. This list changes every time I put it together:.
2008: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
2007: Flotsam by David Wiesner
2005: Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
2004: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
2002: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner
1996: Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
1994: Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
1992: Tuesday by David Wiesner
1991: Black and White by David Macaulay
1986: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
1980: Ox-Cart Man, illustrated by Barbara Cooney; text: Donald Hall
1968: Drummer Hoff illustrated by Ed Emberley; text: adapted by Barbara Emberley
1965: May I Bring a Friend? illustrated by Beni Montresor; text: Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
1964: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
1955: Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, illustrated by Marcia Brown; text: translated from Charles Perrault by Marcia Brown
1954: Madeline's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans
1943: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
1942: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
The list of all the Caldecott medal books is here and the full list including both medal and honor books is here.
I'm more of a picture book person (as you can probably tell from the list above) but I do have several favorite Newbery medal winners.
2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar
1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
1982: A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
The list of all the Newbery medal books is here and the full list including both medal and honor books is here.
Be sure to tune in on January 18 via Twitter and/or a live webcast to find out this year's winners.
Want to find out more about how the winners are selected.? ALSC has put together a great list of answers to frequently asked questions about the awards.
What are your favorite Caldecott and Newbery medal books and why? Have you ever tried (successfully or unsuccessfully) to read all the winners? Got any predictions for this year? I'd love to hear about it.
Tomorrow, January 5th, the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature will be announced by the Library of Congress. The official National Ambassador site explains: "The position of National Ambassador for Young People's Literature was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people's literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people... The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children's Book Council (CBC), and Every Child a Reader, the CBC foundation, are the administrators of the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature initiative." As you might imagine, I was thrilled when this position was first announced two years ago.
Today, Mary Lee and Franki from A Year of Reading are hosting a virtual celebration of our outgoing (first) National Ambassador Jon Scieszka. They asked for blog posts honoring Scieszka, saying: "The "Thank You Jon Scieszka" post can be a review of one of his books, your reflections on his work as ambassador, a personal story around one of his books or author visits, something connected to Guys Read...anything Jon Scieszka."
I have previously reviewed one of Scieszka's books (Smash! Crash! (Trucktown)) on my blog, and recapped one of his bookstore events during his term as Ambassador (see a photo of me with Jon Scieszka above). I just mentioned one of Scieszka's articles, written as Ambassador, in my most recent Literacy 'Lights from the Kidlitosphere post, among many other mentions over the past two years.
I also loved Scieszka's memoir, Knucklehead (though I didn't review it, because I listened to it on audiobook, but you can read a great review at A Fuse #8 Production). I think that his Trucktown series cries out "make reading FUN" with every new book. All in all, I'm a huge fan not only of Scieszka's books, but of his tireless efforts to promote reading, especially among boys and reluctant readers.
Before he was appointed National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Scieszka founded Guys Read, a website dedicated to helping boys learn to enjoy reading. Here's his brief statement on boys and reading (much of which he carried over to his work as Ambassador), edited slightly for formatting:
"Boys often have to read books they don't really like. They don't get to choose what they want to read. And what they do like to read, people often tell them is not really reading. We can help boys read by:
- Letting them choose what they read.
- Expanding our definition of "reading" to include: nonfiction; graphic novels, comics, comic strips; humor; and magazines, newspapers, online text (edited for formatting)
- Getting boys to recommend reading they do like to other boys.
- Providing boys with male role models for reading in school and at home.
Great ideas, all! A big part of what Guys Read provides is lists of boy-friendly books and audiobooks, broken up into entertaining categories like "Outer space, but without aliens" and "At least one explosion". But there are also recommended resources, options for starting a Guys Read field office, downloadable bookmarks and bookplates, and more.
Guys Read is a great resource, and I'm glad that it will be continuing. But I personally think that Jon Scieszka has done even more for kids (especially boys) and reading during his tenure as Ambassador. You can read his platform here. He visited 33 states and 274 schools, libraries, bookstores, conferences, and festivals in the past two years (per the Huffington Post article). He engaged thousands and thousands of children, and their parents, during that time. He spent the past two years encouraging people to let kids choose what they want to read, provide adult reading role models, expand our definition of what constitutes "real" reading, stop vilifying other types of media like television, and take ACTION to prmote literacy. The amount of energy this must have taken is truly breathtaking.
The committee members who chose Jon Scieszka to be our first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature chose well. They picked someone dynamic and talented, with a kid-friendly sense of humor and an unquenchable enthusiasm for connecting kids with books. I can't wait to hear who the 2010-2011 selection committee chooses for our next National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He or she will have big shoes to fill. Thanks, Mr. Scieszka. You did a great job!
Updated to add: you can find links to many more posts in honor of Mr. Scieszka in this post at A Year of Reading.
My "job" at Booklights was originally supposed to be writing an end-of-the-month wrap-up. So as December ended, I thought about responding to this month's posts OR writing an end-of-the-YEAR (well, since April when Booklights began!) summary. I have spent the past few days re-reading our posts, clicking on the wonderful links, and reflecting on the great suggestions for bringing children and books together.
Decisions, decisions......I could easily do my "job" and summarize our December posts. For example, I could suggest that you heed Pam's and Jen's and Terry's advice to provide children with a model of at least one grown-up who enjoys reading a good book. If I took that route, I could mention how wonderful the conversations we have with children about our own reading tend to be.
Or, just as the media always does at this time of the year, I could certainly go back to the "Best of 2009," and re-direct you to some of the Booklights highlights. Should I do that, I'd need to talk more about Gina's September 22 Show and Tale, Susan's August 19 posting about reading the classics, Susan T.'s November 17 suggestions that started us talking about gift books, and Jen's Growing a Book Worm series that began on November 2.
But, I have been influenced by the hype about the end of the decade. We tend to want to think back over the last 10 years and how those years have changed our lives. From international events, to political activities, to the impact of cell phones and electronics, reflection on these years makes for lively discussion.
So how about thinking about the best picture books that were published over the past decade? What were your favorites? What were the favorites of your children who were born during the decade or as the last millennium ended?
To prompt your thoughts on the questions, you might want to return to the Booklights posts where we listed some of our favorites. Pam included How to Heal a Broken Wing, Susan mentioned Zen Shorts, and Jen listed Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.....all published in the last decade. And my list of favorites? Unfortunately, they were all published pre-2000!
So this month I resolve to come up with a list of the Ten Best Picture Books from the last decade. At this point, I suspect it will likely include Ian Falconer's Olivia, David Wiesner's The Three Pigs, Jack Prelutsky's If Not for the Cat, and Jerry Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse.
Let me know what you'd like to see included!
Happy Reading and Happy New Year, Ann
It being the last day of the year - of the decade - it's a good time to set Reading Resolutions. Continue to follow Jen's fabulous series on Tips for Growing Bookworms and make this the year - and the decade - that you...
1. Establish a Reading Ritual
The easiest way to keep reading in your child's life is to schedule it with as much regularity as dinnertime. Sure, it seems easier to fit in books whenever it works - and that's not to say that reading can't have some time in the quiet moments of the day. But what tends to happen, especially as the kids get older, is that other activities slowly crowd out books. Scheduling reading time for the end of the day keeps it important and keeps it happening.
2. Expand Reading Choices
I suspect that one of the reasons that parents become less invested in reading time is that they get bored. Hey, I've been there. I've done the tenth reading of Pinkalicious. One of the things that helped me through twelve years of reading time is keeping it interesting for me by expanding our reading choices. The easiest, cheapest way to do this is go to the library. I definitely believe that kids should choose their own books, but I also believe that parents should pick a few titles too. Use our suggestions here at Booklights. Print out some of the "Best Of" lists, and make your way through them during the next year. (My favorite lists for children's literature are The Cybils shortlists, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Association for Library Services for Children.) Ask the librarians for some new books that they've enjoyed. Along with exposing your child to many different kinds of books than what you might select yourself, you will keep the reading time engaging and interesting for you. Who knows, you might even learn something new.
3. Model Pleasure Reading
Okay, here's the one where I - and Jen - give you permission to do what you probably haven't been doing enough - reading books for fun. If you're like most of the moms I know, you save your own reading time for the very end of the day after the chores, the carpooling, the ballet/karate/music class when you're so exhausted that you fall asleep with latest Grisham book on your lap. Well, no more. I'm telling you to read during the day, perhaps in the actual presence of your child. I know it sounds crazy. But sometimes the dishes - and yes, even your kid - can wait. Kids interrupt adults' reading because we subtly train them to. We wouldn't stop cooking dinner because Susie wants us to color, but we'll quickly put down our newspaper for the same request. Yes, we want to show our children how valued they are by playing with them, but we need to balance that by showing them that reading is an important activity. That it is What People Do. Try out these phrases: "You play with your felt board here." or "Mommy's going to read. I'm going to read for a while, so do you want to make a picture with your crayons?" and my favorite, "Hey, get your book and I'll get mine and let's read together!"
This is Part 6 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information.
Tip #6: Read yourself, and model an appreciation for reading. It's all very well to SAY that books and reading are important. But what kids notice is what you DO. If you turn on the TV during every free moment, and never have time to go to the library or the bookstore, your kids are unlikely to turn to books themselves. Terry just talked about this in her Dear Santa ... post last week. She said: "One of the easiest ways for us to get kids to see reading as just a regular part of their life is to catch us reading."
This especially important for male role models, because boys often think of reading as an activity that's primarily for women. Every time a boy sees his dad (or uncle, or grandfather) reading, whether it's a novel, a history book, a business plan, or the sports section, he absorbs a tiny message that reading is something that guys do. Those tiny messages accumulate over a lifetime, and create a strong base for literacy. [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery]
So what do you do if you're not much of a reader yourself, but you want your kids to grow up as bookworms? One answer is: tell them the truth. "I didn't read much as a kid, and now reading is hard for me. Plus I feel like I missed out on a lot of great stuff. I want better for you." That's modeling an appreciation for reading. Cap that off by making sure that your child has plenty of books.
Also, remember that all kinds of reading count as reading, and make sure your kids notice whatever it is you're reading. Point out when you come across something interesting in the morning paper. Talk about how much you love a particular cookbook, or how much you learned from a how-to manual. Listen to audiobooks in the car on long trips, or on your regular commute, and tell your kids about what you're listening to. [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery]
Another way of modeling an appreciation for reading is to have lots of printed material in your home, especially books and magazines. This shows that you think that reading is a valued activity. Subscribe to the local paper, instead of just reading the news online. If you're planning a family trip, bring home some guidebooks about your destination. If you're planning a household project, pick up some books or manuals about that. Fill your house with printed material, and take books and magazines with you everywhere you go.
There are always competing demands on our time. Laundry to fold, bills to pay, phone calls to make, shows to watch on the DVR. And, hopefully, books that we want to read. But here's the thing. If we always prioritize the other tasks, and we let the books get dusty on the shelves, how on earth can we expect our children to think that reading is a valuable way to spend their time? Pam has a great anecdote at MotherReader about an incident playing house with her young daughter one day. The daughter, as "the mommy", sat down on the couch with a book, and told "her child" to go play with her sister, and let "the mommy" read for a while. Pam is justly proud of this story.
Here's what I recommend. Over the holiday vacation, take some time out to read. I mean, how great is it that you can do something to help your kids, and have it be enjoyable for you at the same time? So, curl up in that armchair in front of the fire with your book, lose yourself in its world, and be a reading role model, all at the same time. Years from now, your children will thank you.
Surely, you’ve covered The Night Before Christmas in your seasonal reading, but you may have missed these picture books which focus on after Christmas.
My Penguin Osbert
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, illustrated by H.B. Lewis
Joe gets a penguin for Christmas from Santa after years of misunderstandings, but having a penguin turns out to be a lot of work. The feeding, the cold baths, the mounds of smelly fish - it’s a real problem. It’s also not an ideal situation for the penguin, so Joe does what is best for both of them. The “be careful what you wish for” message is handled with humor and grace. The illustrations and story make it brilliant.
Jingle Bells
by Nick Butterworth
Two mice would have happy barnyard lives, but are constantly bullied by the Cat. When they make Christmas stockings out of glove fingers, the mean feline puts up a note to Santa saying they went away for the holidays. Drat! They decide to teach cat a lesson, that involves a noisy jingle bell. A twist on the idea of the gift, where the present they give the cat is actually much better for the mice. Lovely illustrations with great details and a fun story.
Merry Un-Christmas
by Mike Reiss, illustrated by David Catrow
You may be surprised that Noelle isn’t happy with her Christmas pony or fancy dinner, but it soon becomes understandable when you find that she lives in a town where it is Christmas every day. Well, except for the one glorious day when it’s Un-Christmas and the mail comes and the kids go to school and everyone eats frozen dinners. Silly, funny, and yet with just a touch of message for kids who need to hear why Christmas comes just once a year.
Love Catherine 2007
As she explained to us, Catherine didn't want something made out of plastic or a tube you load batteries into, she wanted a REAL wand. The kind that goes "poof" and makes what you want appear (and what you don't disappear). Well, because that was the ONLY thing my then 6-year-old daughter wanted, Santa felt compelled to reply with a letter of his own. When the Jolly Elf himself explained that wands are very tricky to make because the ingredients are different for each person, Catherine could accept why hers wasn't under the tree ... yet!
Periodically throughout 2008, Catherine would ask if we remembered the letter and what Santa said. Last year, still hopeful about that wand, she added another request, this time on behalf of her dog. Santa wrote again, explaining why he couldn't bring 15 real squirrels for Casey to chase.
In addition to creating two-way communication, Santa's letters have had another benefit: he is encouraging Catherine to keep writing. While she has always enjoyed reading, writing has always been very hard. In Kindergarten and first grade, her struggle with fine motor skills frustrated her, and even now that she has mastered correct letter form, getting her to write is still a battle. Only when something is important to her - like that wand - will she do it.
Santa thought he was showing her that he understood her requests. He didn't realize at first that he was becoming a role model. Through this written conversation, he is quietly demonstrating how the two skills complement each other in her growth as a successful person.
Those simple replies from Santa are very important to Catherine. Last Christmas morning she made a beeline for the letter sitting in Casey's stocking, completely ignoring the gifts under the tree. She sat and read it immediately ... it was that imperative. Then she asked if she could write a thank-you letter to Santa. [Yes!]
So what does this have to do with raising readers? Well, it goes back to the idea of modeling our goals. One of the easiest ways for us to get kids to see reading as just a regular part of their life is to catch us reading. The same thing is true of writing ... if I want Catherine to see that writing is important, I need to do more of it around her and with her ... with pen in hand, not sitting at a keyboard.
So in the new year, I'm going to write more notes ... silly notes, story notes, just different things to entice Catherine to keep writing. Speaking of writing ...
When 2010 arrives, Susan Kusel will be back on board at Booklights ... which makes me very happy! I love how she brings the library to us in ways we can use at home. Although I won't be a regular contributor to Booklights every two weeks, I will still be writing about literacy, libraries, and books over at the Reading Tub blog. So I hope you'll stop by and chat there, too.
Here's wishing you times filled with great books, shared stories, and the magic of the season during the holidays and beyond.
It's been a quiet time in the Kidlitosphere lately. But I do have a few links saved up to share with you.
The third issue of Literacy Lava is now available. Literacy Lava is a free downloadable magazine (in PDF format) dedicated to encouraging children's literacy. It's produced by Susan Stephenson from The Book Chook. Susan says: "It's another great issue, exploding with tips for parents about ways to encourage literacy in family life. Find out what your local library has to offer, read ideas on making books with kids, sneak some learning into shopping, discover games that build literacy skills, develop imagination while playing Grocery Store, make writing part of your family's life, read why picture books are so good for kids, and find out how literacy helped one child fight night terrors. Don't forget to check out the Online Extras page, and the Writing Prompt activity page for kids." I hope that you'll all check it out. [Image credit: Susan Stephenson, The Book Chook.]
The Book Chook also recently linked to an Australian study that found that most kids are largely sedentary, and that "Preschoolers are spending 85 per cent of their waking hours inactive". Susan went on to discuss ways to balance the need to encourage literacy AND encourage kids to be active. She suggests: "Making small changes might be the best way to start. We could swap half an hour of TV watching with half an hour of family walking or bike riding in the park. Once the whole family is involved, it becomes not only a healthy habit, but a way for everyone to wind down after work and school, and a great opportunity for casual conversation." She also suggests focusing TV time on shows that encourage kids to move around, rather than sitting passively.
Outgoing National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jon Scieszka had a great article in the December 11th Huffington Post. Scieszka says: "I used my two-year term to work on reaching the reluctant reader: that's the kid who might be a reader, who could be one, but just isn't that interested in reading. The new Ambassador will have his or her own program, and ideas on connecting kids with reading." He then outlines his top advice for encouraging reluctant readers. Although the advice is technically focused on kids who aren't so into reading, I think that it's a great list of tips for anyone. For example: "If a kid doesn't like one book, don't worry about finishing it. Start another. The key is helping children find what they like." Click through to see the whole list. Thanks to Meghan Newton from Goodman Media for sending me the link.
The Washington Post's Answer Sheet recently ran a guest column from Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer about whether good readers are born or made. Miller says: "The widespread belief that some readers possess an innate gift, like artists or athletes, sells many children short. I often hear parents claim, "Well, my child is just not a reader," as if the reading fairy passed over their child while handing out the good stuff." She adds: "The strong readers always outstrip the weaker readers because they practice, finesse, and expand their reading skills through hours and hours of reading." She also outlines the conditions that have been found to increase "reading engagement" in kids. Things like time to read, access to books, and reading role models. Click through for more details.
Our own Terry Doherty has a timely post at The Reading Tub, chock-full of holiday gift ideas that keep an "I" towards literacy. She notes: "With the kids in my life, I look for gifts that look more fun than educational. For example, kids who love mysteries and riddles might enjoy word puzzles or games. Because it is a game, then don't notice that they're practicing spelling, expanding their vocabulary, or learning synonyms and antonyms." She then suggests pen and paper games ("that you can create yourself, find online, or purchase in a "formal" game") as well as board games.
Terry also found a fun article with tips for practicing family literacy at home and in your community. Cindy Taylor shares an alphabet themed list that has everything from "Ask your child questions about the story you're reading to ensure comprehension" to "Zap off the TV - pick up a book instead!". I also liked "Quiet, cozy reading spaces are good places for your child to read independently."
Also from Terry, an article at Literacy News on teaching about language through reading aloud. The article emphasizes in particular the benefits of dads reading aloud to kids, saying: "When dads read aloud to them, children are learning many different things. They are learning about the world, they are learning to love books and reading, and they are learning about language. This learning about language occurs mainly as children hear, see and understand the language as it is used". My Dad always read us The Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve, and I can testify first-hand that this kind of experience leaves a lasting impression.
And on that note, I'll leave you with my hope that for those of you who celebrate Christmas, it's a festive and happy experience for you this year. [And don't miss Pam's post on celebrating Christmas around the world.] For those who celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or some other holiday - I hope that is, or was, wonderful, too. Me, I'm wishing for, and giving, books for Christmas, and gifting myself time to read them. Happy Holidays!
The original post I did at MotherReader about Christmas Around the World always gets a lot of traffic this time of year. So I'm posting it here for the PBS Booklights subscribers who may not have seen these options for expanding your holiday storytelling at home or in the classroom.
(By the way, it would be more accurate to call this post Christmas Around the World plus One Hanukkah Story, but that title was too long. Forgive me.)
The Magic Maguey
by Tony Johnson, illustrated by Elisa Kleven
A large maguey plant sits in the middle of a Mexican village providing many resources to the people of the town, as well as a gathering spot. As Christmas approaches, a rich man who owns that land says that he will get rid of the maguey and build a house there. Miguel, with the help of the other children, decorate the maguey so beautifully for Christmas that the rich man realizes his error and doesn’t cut it down. A great story about resourcefulness with a little bit of Christmas tradition and a smattering of Spanish words.
What’s Cooking, Jamela?
by Niki Daly
Jamela’s family gets a chicken to fatten up for Christmas dinner, but Jamela gets attached to the chicken as a pet. Tension builds as a woman comes to prepare the chicken dinner, but in the end, Jamela’s mother finds something else for the Christmas dinner and gives the chicken to Jamela as a present. A fun story of a South African Christmas,conveying a sense of the culture along with a few words of the country.
A Kenya Christmas
by Tony Johnson, illustrated by Leonard Jenkins
Juma’s Christmas wish is to see Father Christmas, and his special aunt brings a red and white suit to the village. She tells Juma to find someone to wear the suit so that the whole village can see Father Christmas for the first time. He does so and Father Christmas surprises the village with his arrival. But it is Juma who is surprised later when he finds out that the man who was supposed to play the part didn’t do so after all. Who was that man on the elephant? A very different picture of Christmas in Africa with amazing pictures by Leonard Jenkins.
Cobweb Christmas: The Traditon of Tinsel
by Shirley Climo, illustrated by Jane Manning
In Germany, a old woman sets up a Christmas tree and cleans her house throughly, chasing the spiders outside. Let back into the house by Kris Kringle, the spiders are curious about this interesting tree, and end up “decorating” it with their cobwebs. What could be a holiday mishap becomes magical as Kris Kringle turns the webs into silver, making the first tinsel. A sweet story about the Christmas tree tradition.
The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes
by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Nancy Cote
As a family prepares for Hanukkah, more guests are due to arrive than expected. The daughter, Rachel, borrows potatoes and eggs from their elderly neighbor to make the latkes, each time hoping that by borrowing food she will convince the woman to join the family for Hanukkah. She can’t make her come over, but in the end comes up with another plan to bring Hanukkah to the woman. While not a story of Israel, it is my favorite Hanukkah story, so I kind of cheat and use it anyway.
I have yet to find a Diwali story that isn’t just, “This is what happens during Diwali,” so if anyone has one, I’d be happy to hear about it. If anyone wants to write a good Diwali story, I’d say you’d have a pretty open market.
This is Part 5 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information.
Tip #5: Visit libraries and bookstores. I talked last week about how I think that it's important for kids to have at least a few books that they can own and cherish. And that's absolutely true. But I think that libraries and bookstores are important in raising readers, too.
Libraries
It would be impossible, not to mention incredibly wasteful, to try to buy copies of every book that might possibly work for your child. Libraries allow you to choose a variety of books on every visit, and to try books out before you buy the ones that your child really loves. This is a true gift. The library will have the big-name popular books, sure, but they'll also have books that you would never have heard of on your own. The array of choices can be dazzling. Some of those books might become your child's favorites. [Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt gallery]
But there's much more to it than just the chance to try out books for free. A library is a celebration of books and reading, day in and day out. Taking your child to the library is a way to show her that you aren't the only one who values books. Lots of people, from all sorts of backgrounds, work in and visit the library, and think that books are important. Libraries also have events and read-alouds, programming centered around showing kids that books are fun. Yes, you can (and should!) read books aloud at home. But being surrounded by other kids listening to the same book delivers a powerful message to pre-schoolers. Hearing someone besides Mom or Dad reading books aloud tells kids that literacy is a universal thing. All of this reinforces what you're already doing at home.
Another plus to visiting libraries, although one that not every visitor takes advantage of, is access to librarians. Youth service librarians excel at recommending books based on a child's interest. Sure, you can find book recommendations online, too. But if your school or community boasts a highly trained, caring person, someone who can get to know your child and help him to select books, why on earth wouldn't you take advantage of that? I still have books on my shelves that were recommended for me personally by my elementary school librarian.
For more on the services performed by librarians, from collection development to cataloging, check out this recent post from Liz Burns at A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy. Other Booklights posts that talk about the benefits of libraries can be found here (from Susan), here (from Terry), and here (from Pam).
Bookstores
Many of the benefits of libraries (with the notable exception of the free access to books) are also true of bookstores. Bookstores show kids an environment and a culture filled with people who also love books. The good ones are staffed by people who can help you choose books based on your child's interests. Bookstores also often have fun events. A bookstore is more likely than a library to host author events. These can be an amazing opportunity to get kids excited about books. See my Booklights post about a Rick Riordan author event last summer, an earlier post on my own blog about an event by Jon Scieszka, and Becky Levine's recent post about a signing by Eoin Colfer. [Image credit: Photo taken by Susan Taylor Brown at Jon Scieszka signing event at Hicklebee's Books.]
And although the books aren't free at the bookstore, that can be a plus, too. Occasionally taking your child out and buying her a book says that you value books enough to spend money on them. My mother used to take me to our local used bookstore on a regular basis. She'd buy books for herself, and she'd buy books for me. We always had fun picking them out. I loved the treasure of finding a used copy of a book by one of my favorite authors. Is it any wonder that I grew up a reader? (And, actually, my mom and I still go to used bookstores together when we have the chance. And I still love finding old copies of books by cherished authors.)
Some of my fondest childhood memories are of visits to the library, and visits to bookstores. Taking your child to visit both can be a wonderful component to growing bookworms. And, as an added bonus, you get to visit libraries and bookstores yourself.
Poetry Friday is a tradition at many of the children's book blogs. People review poetry books for kids, share original works, and post short, copyright-friendly excerpts of other authors' poems. It's a lot of fun; I call Poetry Friday a literary happy hour.
So, today is a Friday, and a perfect time to mention The Frogs and Toads All Sang, a picture-book collection of ten poems by Arnold Lobel (HarperCollins, 2009). Yes, the very same Arnold Lobel of the Frog and Toad beginning readers. The characters in the new book, very much their own amphibians (and different from the beloved Frog and Toad Are Friends guys), dance, bake, eat, and, in general, celebrate life. One even leaps to the moon.
Recently a couple of first-grade buddies and I were reading the book aloud. Suddenly, one little girl stopped and asked if she could sing the one of the poems. I said, "Sure." In the sweetest high-pitched voice, she began, "A bright green frog/With slippery skin/Played waltzes/On a violin." I clapped at the end. Good books inspire kids time after time.
Arnold Lobel died more than twenty years ago, but had written and drawn what became The Frogs and Toads All Sang as a single-edition gift for a friend. The work eventually found its way to Lobel's daughter, Adrianne, a Broadway set designer. She added watercolor to her father's original sketches and used them, along with the poems, to create a new book.
Publishers Weekly said that the poems and illustrations are the "progenitors" of the Frog and Toad series, but I didn't go into the publishing history with the first graders. We just enjoyed the book together. I bet you and yours will, too.
Feel free to sing.
If you would like to read more of the entries for today's Poetry Friday, Diane May is gathering all the links together at her blog, Random Noodling.
With the holidays quickly approaching, here are three books that I've been favoring lately to celebrate the season.
The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming.
Lemony Snicket
Just hysterical. A latke runs screaming from the frying pan, and encounters various Christmas icons along its path. As the latke explains what it is and its significance in the celebration of Hanukkah, it keeps getting compared to Christmas. And so it keeps screaming. Lemony Snicket actually gets in a fair bit about the meaning of Hanukkah, while keeping a wry tone throughout. For instance as the latke explains in a long paragraph about being fried in oil as a reference to the oil that was used to rededicate the temple and the miracle that made the oil last for eight nights, the answer it receives is par for the course:
“So you’re basically hash browns,” said the flashing colored lights. “Maybe you can be served alongside a Christmas ham.”
“I’m not hash browns!” cried the latke. “I’m something completely different!”And then it runs screaming, “AAAHHHHHHHHH!” for two pages. As my kids have grown past the traditional - and too often schmaltzy - Hannukkah stories, this one is our new family classic.
The Lump of Coal
Lemony Snicket
On the same note, we've turned to this title to replace the cute Christmas stories that absorbed us in the past. It contains perhaps one of the most perfect opening sentences of all times:
The holiday season is a time for storytelling, and whether you are hearing the story of a candelabra staying lit for more than a week, or a baby born in a barn without proper medical supervision, these stories often feature miracles.A humble lump of coal longs to be something more and visits an art gallery and Korean barbecue in hopes of fulfilling his search for meaning. Instead a drugstore Santa decides he'll be the perfect thing for his stepson's stocking as punishment. But this ill intent goes right as the coal finds his purpose in an artist's hand. Wry, funy and odd, this book ends on just the right note for the holidays, and in echoing the first sentence, with miracles.
Robert's Snowflakes
Grace Lin
Lest you think I'm all about the wit, my third choice is not about either holiday, but it is about beauty, joy, and hope. The book features dozens of snowflake shapes decorated by famous children's illustrators and gentle haikus for the winter season. The artwork created is amazing. Some illustrators featured their characters - like Oliva, of Ian Falconer and the dinosaurs of Mark Teague. Others contributed scenes of snow, skating, Santa, and lights. The real story within the book is the dedication of this group in auctioning of the original snowflakes to fund cancer research with the push of Grace Lin and her husband Robert Mercer, diagnosed with the disease. It's been a few years now, another set of snowflakes were auctioned, and more money raised through Robert's Snow for Cancer Cure.
Unfortunately, Robert himself has died. In his memory, Grace wrote and published her latest book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - a beautiful book of love, friendship, and gratitude that I can't recommend enough. Incorporating Chinese folktales with the style of European fairytales, the story tells the adventure of a girl trying to help her family by appealing to the Old Man in the Moon to change their family's fortune. I mention it now because the cover is very similar to the snowflake that Grace contributed to Robert's Snowflakes - a girl riding on a dragon against a blue background. I was in love with the cover months before I even had a chance to fall in love with the book. I also mention it because it would be the ideal gift for either/any holiday for a special girl in your life. Or for you.
Links to books in this post are affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which the site MotherReader.com may receive a referral fee.
During a recent conversation with my mom, she said that she would like to buy a book for my 13-year-old nephew, "Sam," for Christmas. For years, Sam was a dormant reader. Like his dad (my brother) he didn't like reading when he was younger. Unlike his dad, he has come to really enjoy books just for the fun of reading.
At the moment, Sam loves the middle-grade books by Mike Lupica, a sportswriter for the New York Daily News. Mom wants to get Sam something he likes, so she zeroed in on these books. After she got to the bookstore, though, she realized that didn't know what books he has already read. [There are 12 titles, three released this year.] My mom thought she would call my sister-in-law, but then realized that she might not know the answer, either.
So what do you do when you want to buy books for a reader who loves a particular author or series but you're not sure they're at the beginning or the end of a collection? Thanks to Sarah Mulhern, I had an idea on how to help my mom: look for a read alike. A read alike is a book (or series) that is similar to something that you (or your reader) already likes. The formula is fairly straightforward:
If you like [insert: author, title, series name], then you might like ________.
Earlier this year, Sarah (a 6th Grade Language Arts teacher) wrote a post about middle grade read-alikes for Share a Story-Shape a Future. She is a voracious reader and gets her students excited about reading, too. Her Reading Zone post is filled with read alike ideas. Sarah says she frequently relies on "the wonders of the internet" to find book lists for titles that her kids are excited about.
My mom isn't going to search on the Web; she wants to ask a person. Using the example above, she can get some recommendations from a librarian or a bookseller by asking this question:
"My grandson likes the sports books by Mike Lupica. Can you recommend some books that are similar to his?"
For those of us who are web savvy, the Internet makes it easy to find read alike lists. With Google, when you search read alikes, you'll see a number of additional options. I selected "for kids," and instantly had a list of library systems that keep read alike lists on their website. Here are several I found particularly easy to maneuver.
- The Charles County (Maryland) Public Library has a read-alikes page that lists popular book series. One click takes you to a printable list of read alikes. Suggestions range from books for early elementary readers to young adult.
- The Hennepin County (Minnesota) Library has a series of read alike tools, including the "If You Like" Author Search that offers real reader reviews of books that mention your author of interest. There are some glitches, as a search of "J.K. Rowling" came back with ideas that covered every genre. However, because the site maintains a series of tools, it is easy to overcome that hiccup.
- The New Jersey State Library has a collection of read alike lists on its Youth Services page. Although there are just a half-dozen lists, the read-alike titles each come with a short note about the story. On that same page, you'll find links to the Pick of the Decade list with the Best Books for Children Grades K to 8 with books, 1995 to 2005. [They aren't read alikes, but it is quite a nice list.]
Another tool that I found useful is a website called bookseer.com. After you type in the author and title of a book you just read (or may be interested in), your search comes back with recommended read-alikes from BookArmy, Library Thing, and Amazon.com. You can click on a title in the list to get more details about the book, which is a nice feature. Another tool, What Should I Read Next? Is similar to BookSeer.com, but it clearly has a commercial relationship with Amazon.com.
UPDATE: In a comment, Shana offers this information about www.literature-map.com. "[It] allows you to type an author's name and find other authors that are read by the people who read the searched author. The results are displayed graphically to show you which are most similarly read, least similarly read."
Between the bookseller in person and me on the web, we should be able to help mom select a good book or two for my nephew. Update: Melinda has already offered John Feinstein's books!
Read-alikes are a great way to keep kids excited about reading; keep them in their [genre] comfort zone; and, at the same time, stretch them beyond the totally familiar. For the gift-giver, they are a great way to show that you listen to their book talks without the risk of duplicating something they already read!
Do you have a go-to source for finding tailored book recommendations? Add it below and I'll update this post with your suggestions.
This is Part 4 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information. Today's tip also includes links to a variety of book suggestions for the holiday season.
Tip #4: Make sure that your children (and nieces and nephews and grandchildren) have books of their own. Sure, it's great to visit libraries (we'll talk more about that in the next tip) and explore a wide range of books. But it's also important that kids have at least a few books of their own. Books that they can re-read as often as they like. Books that they don't have to return by a certain date. Books that they can save and cherish and (eventually) look back on as priceless childhood mementos. I know that the books from my childhood that I still have on my shelves will always remain among my most treasured possessions.
There's a special bond that comes with re-reading a book many times. Especially as a child becomes older, and is reading on his own. The experiences of reading a beloved book build upon one another. Each reading becomes a celebration of the book, and a reminder of the past readings. To have that bond, I think that you need to own the book. Sure, you can check the same book out of the library every year. But it's not the same as having the book on the shelf next to your bed, and being able to pick it up when you can't sleep, or aren't feeling well, or just need the comfort of familiarity. The shelf doesn't need to be large, but it needs to be filled with books that are loved.
There's also a sense of pride that comes with ownership of possessions. And attaching that pride to books elevates the importance of literacy. When you spend your hard-earned money to buy books for your children, you're putting your money where your mouth is. You aren't just saying that books are important. You're demonstrating that you value books and literacy. I think that's important. And books are a bargain, compared with video games, going out to eat, going out to a movie, etc.
So, if you're doing any holiday shopping for the children in your life this season, I urge you to consider buying at least a few books. Great books are truly a gift that can last a lifetime. I know that it can be difficult to know what books to buy. Fortunately, quite a few bloggers have taken the initiative to offer targeted suggestions. Liz Burns from A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy has a post in which she's keeping track of other people's gift-giving ideas (mostly books). You'll find lots of links there.
Here are links to a few of my favorite sources for book ideas this year:
- Booklights' own MotherReader shares 105 Ways to Give a Book, with suggestions for pairing books with other things. For example: "Give a book with a gift card to rent the movie. Include a box of microwave popcorn." Surely everyone can find something that sparks their imagination out of Pam's huge list of ideas. Pam also shares her favorites of the year from several "best of" lists.
- Right here at Booklights, Ann shares her selected gifts for a year of reading for preschoolers.
- Abby (the) Librarian is running a series called the Twelve Days of Giving. Each day she offers a new themed book list or a specific book recommendation. For example, on Friday she offered an assortment of book suggestions for young musicians. She also has lists for drama fans, books for boys, and books for Twilight fans. Stay tuned for more offerings.
- Sarah Mulhern from The Reading Zone presents a Tween Book Buying Guide for the Holidays. She has targeted lists of books for sports fans, adventure seekers, romantics, dystopia fans, mythology buffs, and more. All of these books are focused on 10-13 year olds.
- Charlotte from Charlotte's Library offers a gift-giving guide on spooky books from 2009 for middle grade fiction fans.
- At Chasing Ray, Colleen Mondor has input from several authors, who have each suggested books for girls age 12 and up. This is part of Colleen's What A Girl Wants series.
- Trevor Cairney from Literacy, families and learning suggests chapter books for 6-12 year old girls, from real life to adventure to fantasy to history.
- At Chicken Spaghetti, our own Susan Thomsen is keeping track of "best of" lists for 2009. Lots of pre-vetted, excellent books there.
- And, of course, one of my favorite sources for book ideas is the nominated titles for the Cybils Awards, a set of book awards given by children's book bloggers. Even better, the short lists from last year's Cybils process offer lists of five to seven books each in a variety of age ranges and genres. If you look in the upper right-hand corner of the Cybils blog, you can find downloadable versions of part short lists (many of the books now available in paperback!). Also, at Semicolon, Sherry has book and gift suggestions drawn from the Cybils middle grade fiction nominee list. And (updated to add), Sherry just put up a huge list of links to posts dedicated to giving books for the holidays. There is something for everyone!
I hope that you'll find these lists a useful resource. But really, however you choose the books, and whenever you buy them, the important thing is that you make sure that your children have at least a few books of their own, to keep. You'll give them books to re-read and fall in love with, and you'll show, in a tangible way, that you think that books are important. And that's worth doing, both at the holidays and year-round.
Today's title may be confusing, but it's not a mistake. In looking for books to give for the holidays, I thought I could share which of the dozens of new picture books I'm choosing to give as gifts this season. Chosen from the Cybils nominated titles I'm judging for Fiction Picture Books, today I have the books I selected for my adorable three year old niece.
There are Cats in This Book
by Viviane Schwartz
Bright, fun, clever and let's repeat fun, this book will surely entertain any toddler or preschooler. Using cutouts, flaps, and oddly shaped pages, the book interacts with the reader in a - can we use fun again? - fun way. The end papers even get in on the act with the first words on bright blue informing the reader that "The cats aren't on this page." They aren't on the next page either, but then move ahead to see purring and a quilt as a large flap. Lift it to find three awakened kitties, surprised and then happy to play with you. The cats address the reader the whole time, asking for pages to be turned, yarn to be tossed, and boxes to be opened. The happy cats are brightly and simply drawn, which lends even more of a surprise to finding the pages with more detail. This is a truly delightful book to share with a child and just plain - yes, I'll say it again - fun.
I Always, ALWAYS Get My Way
by Thad Krasnesky, illustrated by David Parkins
The terrible two's might bring tantrums and frustration, but the tricky three's are all about testing limits. One of the hardest things in approaching this age is figuring out when the child isn't old enough to understand something and when they do know better. This book is a wonderful, learning tribute to that concept handled in a light way. Emmy spills juice on dad, but mom intervenes in Dad's annoyance knowing that Emmy is only three. Same with a mistake with her siblings toys. But then Emmy does things Wrong, and learns that "only three" doesn't always excuse her behavior. The message is strong, but not overbearing. The rhyming text lightens the tone, and the pictures are excellent - especially in capturing the moods of three year old. Emmy's bad choices are pretty funny to see, like seeing her dress the lizard in a doll's bathing suit, but the consequences are firm and appropriate. An enjoyable book that will ring true for any preschool parent.
Jeremy Draws a Monster
by Peter McCarty
This title is one of my favorites of 2009, though it seems to have slipped under the radar in the book world. I didn't think the amazing message contained within was too subtle, but maybe it did escape many readers who looked at the surface and saw a simple, light story. It's a shame, because people missed one of the better combinations of art, story, and message that I've ever seen. In the simply written and illustrated book, Jeremy stays in his room, never goes out, and draws pictures. And one day, with his special crayon, he draws a monster. The monster is demanding and Jeremy has to keep working to satisfy it. He's relieved when it goes out for the day. But can things end that easily? No. Only when Jeremy takes an active role in getting rid of his monster does he find a chance to be happy. Young kids will enjoy the story - especially as you read in the cranky monster's voice - but can also absorb the deeper meaning within. Hopefully the adult readers will too. In my own family, after all enjoying this book, we've taken to saying, "you draw your own monster." And we now see that you can't feed it or ignore it, but you have to tackle it. An amazing message wrapped in a charming book with engaging illustrations. Not to be missed.
Links to books in this post are affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which the site MotherReader may receive a referral fee.
When my son was a baby, he loved a book called Alphabet Band. An older friend had handed it down as a present. Outfitted with a side panel of buttons to push, the book talked. I can still remember the very electronic voice starting off, "Alligator number one/Squeezes the accordion." We took it with us wherever we went.
When the kiddo grew into a toddler, he decided to figure out how Alphabet Band worked. I'm not sure what he discovered, but the book did not survive the thorough investigation—and is no longer in print, either.
These days when I'm looking for gifts for babies, one favorite resource is the annual "Best Books for Babies" list at Beginning With Books, an early-literacy center in Pittsburgh. The 2009 lineup (for books published in 2008) can be found online here.
Now ten, the Alphabet Band enthusiast is happily reading (and not tearing apart) chapter books, but if he were a toddler or preschooler, I'd use the recommendations for that age group at the blog Your Friendly Librarian. I like her roundup of 2009's best, which includes the lovely rhyming picture book All the World, written by a blogging pal, Liz Garton Scanlon, and illustrated by Marla Frazee.
I truly have the best job in the world....being an aunt! And since this is the gift-giving season, I thought I should mention my ritual of selecting my niece's and nephews' Christmas gifts each year. When the children were young, I gave a "book to start each month" as his/her gift. I wrapped one book to be opened on Christmas morning; then they waited on the other wrapped books in the bag and opened one on the first day of each month throughout the year.
In order to make sure my selections were age/stage/interest level appropriate, I purchased and wrapped the books in two intervals. I wrapped January - June books for under the tree. Then I took July - December when we spent our vacation together in June.
Now that there are three teenagers in the family, I select far fewer picture books (although my 19-year-old nephew is getting one this Christmas). So I thought that I would pretend with this post that I still have a preschooler for whom to buy. Here is what would be wrapped for January - June, 2010:
January: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. Using only a few words to describe the animal sounds in the beloved Aesop's fable, Jerry Pinkney illustrates the story of kindness in a beautiful way. I think that this may be my favorite picture book of the year! And the end pages begin and end the story with illustrations that are easily pored over for a long time.
February: The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin. This is not your typical book of colors, as the text is written in both Braille and in white letters on all-black pages. But the text presents color to the reader in a creative way.
March: A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet by Stephen T. Johnson. And this is not your typical alphabet book either! Adults will enjoy studying the 26 abstract creations that form the letters of the alphabet every bit as much as the child to whom they are reading.
April: The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett. Gravett uses humor to provide the reader with a very happy way to discuss motherhood, fatherhood, adoption, and acceptance. And the "Eric Carle-type collages" help the new baby make a dramatic entrance.
May: How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham. "No one saw the bird fall." But Will was not like the masses of people who walked by/around/over the injured bird. The illustrations show us the gentleness and care taken to save the bird and return it to the sky.
June: Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth. The inspirational Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson's book for adults, is now available for very young readers. The stunning cut paper and fabric collages are the perfect illustrations accompany the story.
Finally, you may also want to do like I do and pick out a couple of gifts to give yourself! This year,
I am selecting Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book edited by Anita Silvey. The collection includes children's books that first inspired 100 leaders from arts, sciences, politics, and business.
Will you share with us your own recommendations for picture book gifts for young and "not so young" readers?
Happy Reading, Ann
I hope that you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. I spent part of the long weekend poring over children's literacy and reading-related news. In the process, I found a variety of newspaper articles and blogs posts aimed at helping parents to encourage young readers. Coincidentally (or maybe there's something about this time of year), nearly all of the posts are written in the form of tips for raising readers. I hope that you will find some useful ideas.
At Great Kids Books, Mary Ann Scheuer reviews two websites specially designed for children just learning to read. She says: "Two websites that I particularly like for children learning to read are: PBS Kids Island and Starfall. Both sites help children develop early literacy skills while having fun. Both are solidly based on literacy research, and both have no advertising. Best yet, both are free and easy to use." Mary Ann describes PBS Kids Island in quite a bit of detail - her post is well worth a look.
At A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy, Liz Burns recently republished an article that she wrote for Foreword Magazine in 2007, about ways to encourage reading. Liz says: "Reading is fun. And I think that should be enough reason to encourage reading, and to praise reading, and to value it when we, and kids, read. Linking reading to increased employment opportunities and civic duty may be necessary to get press attention or involve employers and other organizations, but c'mon; does a ten year old care about that? Should they? No; they shouldn't read "because I will be a better person." They shouldn't read "because then I will make more money." They should read because it's fun." And then she discusses specific ideas for making reading fun (including "Read what your kids are reading", one of my favorite suggestions, too).
For more tips on encouraging reading, check out this article by Dr. Michele Borba with tips to get kids and teens to read. Borba says "Here are nine tips from The Big Book of Parenting Solutions I shared recently on the TODAY show to help parents get their kiddoes reading and hopefully even rekindle that great love of the printed page. (A little disclosure here: I was a former teacher and taught children's literature so you have to know I LOVE the printed page. I've also written 22 books so my bias should be evident)." There's definitely some overlap between Michele Borba's list and my own list of Tips for Growing Bookworms. But personally, I don't think we can talk enough about the importance of letting kids choose their own books, reading aloud to older kids, and so on. I found this link via Tweet from @KidCriticUSA.
Still more tips are available in a Times Press Recorder article from First 5 San Luis Obispo County, published in honor of Child Literacy Month. This article breaks the tips down for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. For instance: "Babies like brightly colored books with photos of other children and such familiar objects as toys and baby bottles. Also, choose books with pop-up characters and images that are soft to the touch so your baby can feel different textures." And, for preschoolers, "Make sure to always have books available for your children, even while running errands or traveling in the car. Read while waiting at the doctor's office or the bus stop -- anytime is a good time for reading."
Back in September, I linked to an article by Trevor Cairney about using nonfiction to engage boys in reading. This week, Trevor published a second post relative to fiction. He says: "While using non-fiction is a great way to get boys actually reading, it is also very important to raise their interest in reading fiction. It is out of the reading of literature that so much knowledge of language develops as well as a whole range of study and research skills that are important for life". He shares a host of specific techniques for younger boys vs. older boys, as well as specific books to try with boys of different ages. (Image credit: Microsoft ClipArt)
Based on sometimes frustrating personal experiences, Amy from Literacy Launchpad shares suggestions for making the most of a library visit with a toddler. My favorite of Amy's ideas was: "When you read a library book at home that you really like, talk about how it came from the library! Get them excited about finding MORE great books at the library." There are some other suggestions from Amy's readers in the comments.
That's all I have for this week. How about all of you? Has anyone come across any good articles or blog posts about encouraging young readers? If so, I'd love to hear about them. I also have some additional links in this week's Children's Literacy and Reading News Round-Up on my own blog.
With all the toys and DVD's and video games clamoring for attention during the holiday season, it can be hard to notice the quiet book. For a few years now at MotherReader, I've put together lists of specific book titles and links to particular gifts. Feel free to stop by for some ideas. Overall though, there are a few themes that you can apply yourself for ways to give a book.
Give a knitting, crocheting or other craft book with supplies and gift card to craft store. If you know how to do the craft, perhaps you can spend some time teaching it.
For a teen or adult, give an interesting, insightful book with a restaurant gift card and a date to discuss the book together over a meal.
Comparing the book with the movie can be fun, so consider giving the book along with a handmade gift certificate for a movie date for a rental or a theater release.
For girls, pair a book with a related necklace. It's easy to find both books and jewelry for lovers of horses, dolphins, cats, and dogs. You should be fine with ballerinas, musicians, and soccer players.
Young kids will enjoy picture books with a stuffed animal. With so many books featuring animals, finding a match isn't a tough prospect, though it's worth noting for ease sake that Kohl's sells inexpensive pairings of books and toys to benefit its own charity foundation.
Speaking of charity, there are a number of books that can be paired with a donation to a related organization. An easy choice is One Hen — How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference with a loan to Kiva or a donation to Heifer International to buy chicks. Abby the Librarian has a nice selection of matches for making the world a better place.
Look at giving an experience, but add a book to make the gift giving fun. Animal books with a trip to the zoo, marine life books with a trip to the aquarium, dinosaur books with a trip to a natural history museum, sports books with tickets to a game, dance book with tickets to ballet, or theater books with tickets to a play. Think about what is else is available in your area like ice skating rinks, indoor pools, trail rides, etc and what book might help represent that outing. If the place you have in mind doesn't sell tickets or memberships, make your own gift certificate.
Go ahead and give the toy you're dying to buy, but consider if a book might go along nicely with the gift. It can't hurt to thrown in a book as a little extra, maybe a special holiday title or an old favorite. Give a book this holiday season, however you want to do it.
The malls are all decked with holiday décor, and whether we're ready or not, "toy season" is here. As you might expect, books are one of my favorite gift choices, but I also think its fun to sneak in something that doesn't look like it is related to reading.
Did you know the ABCs of learning to read doesn't begin with letters? It's true. Much of what we as adults tend to dismiss as "just playing" is really the brain's way of organizing and putting together the building blocks that kids later use for learning to read. There is a lot of science (link to Reading Online article, ©2000, International Reading Association) to support the idea that playing is a very effective way for kids to build lots of skills, reading being one of them. Trevor Cairney has additional links and some tips for encouraging simple play at Families, Literacy and Learning, too.
This week, I thought I would pull together some ideas for ways to give the gift of reading that don't require batteries, computers, flashcards, or workbooks.
Encourage your Artist in Residence - Every toddler and preschooler I've ever met loves to play with crayons, markers, chalk, and paint. Giving kids the tools to create their masterpieces ultimately feeds into their reading. First, they can tell you fantastic, often very elaborate stories about those abstract versions of castles and dinosaurs, flowers and houses. Second, it also gives them practice in recognizing and drawing shapes. What does that have to do with reading?
Well, let's look at the letter b. It has two shapes: a line and a circle. The process of turning those early squiggles into straight lines and misshaped lumps into a circle is a precursor to being able to put the two objects together to create that "b." Before you know it those waves that mean "I love you. You're the best Mom in the world" will transform themselves into letters and lots more love notes that don't require translation!
Promote your Little Detective - Just as kids need to recognize the parts that comprise a letter, they also need to know what makes them different. When they're building a puzzle, they are looking for those types of clues ... one of the stepping stones of reading. That same stick and circle not only make a "b," but they are used for a "d" and a "p" as well. Putting together picture puzzles gives kids practice in finding shapes that fit together and pick them out from those that don't. It also lets them practice separating the "trees from the forest" and what makes sense (or doesn't). Does the tree branch really connect to the top of the sheep's head? Look for puzzles with pieces that range from 2 to 4 inches, are easy for a young child to manipulate, connect with "buttons and holes," and have just a few elements to the picture. Not the ones with 60+ pieces, varied shapes, and subtle distinctions (like 15 striped hot air balloons).
Add a Little Exercise - Studies (link to February 2008 Education Week article, PDF) show that there is a direct correlation between vigorous physical activity and learning. One of the best things to happen to my second grader this year is that she has PE before having to settle into math (a subject she struggles with). She concentrates better, she comprehends more, and she is more confident in her ability to learn. When kids get that heart pumping and use their "big muscles" - be it with jump ropes, jungle gyms, trampolines, hopscotch, basketball, soccer, or just running around - they are preparing their minds to focus. If you're looking for something to go along with your exercise ideas, Susan Stephenson of The Book Chook created a downloadable book of skipping and clapping rhymes, songs, chants, and games from her Literacy on the Playground (pdf) series. Speaking of songs ...
Mix in some Music - You can find children's music in every genre. The sillier the better ... at least from their perspective! The lyrics in kids' songs let them hear language in new ways, whether it is a made-up word or just a really big one. The rhythm, rhyme, and repetition all help with vocabulary.
These are just a few of the ideas of ways to mix in some "literacy toys" this holiday. When it comes to kids, their imagination and energy, there is no limit to where they can - and want to go! We were all born with an insatiable appetite to discover and learn, and there are so many ways we can encourage that and still meet our goals of turning our little ones into successful readers. If you've got some ideas, please add them below. I know one elf who would appreciate the help!
image sources
child's drawing and girl swinging - (c) Terry Doherty
puzzle pieces - Microsoft ClipArt, modified
This is Part 3 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information where I have them.
Tip #3: Choose books that your children enjoy. Find books that satisfy their interests, and let them choose books that please them. When kids are reading (outside of assigned school reading), the important thing is that the reading is a pleasurable activity. The best way to make this true is to help them to find books that they are interested in. Not books that are good for them. Not books that teach them a particular lesson. Not books that are someone else's favorite (like the parent's favorite). Just books that the particular child eagerly wants to read.
This is especially important for women selecting books for boys, who may prefer reading in formats other than traditional fiction. Yes, it can be frustrating to have your child read nothing but comic books. But reading comic books IS reading. I'm not saying don't try to suggest other books for them, too. But keep in mind that the central goal is for kids to find reading a pleasurable activity, one that they wish to continue. Everything else follows from that (all the way to better test scores and dream colleges).
A related point regarding book choice is the question of reading levels. Pam suggested in a post from earlier this fall that children benefit from reading a mix of books, some within and some outside of their comfort zone. She also said, strongly, that it's important for parents to avoid playing "The Reading Game". You know the one. Where parents speak loftily to one another about their children's advanced reading levels. Don't get sucked into this trap. The important thing isn't that your third grade daughter is reading a sixth grade book. The important thing is that your third grader is avidly reading ANY book. She'll get to the sixth grade level book eventually, if she enjoys reading. But if you pressure her to read harder and harder books all the time, you're likely to turn her off of reading altogether. And that is a tragedy.
For more on reading levels, see my earlier post about discussions in defense of escapist summer reading, which links to several articles in defense of letting kids read what they enjoy. I also had a two-part piece (part 1, part 2) early last summer about reading levels, and the defense of kids reading books that they enjoy, even if they are capable of reading more challenging books.
It's simply, really. If you want kids to learn to enjoy reading, you have to give them time to read things that they like, and that they choose. The choice itself is empowering, and leads to a positive association with reading. Your son could choose fiction or nonfiction, graphic novels or poetry, magazines or car manuals. He could read Goosebumps or Junie B. Jones or 100 different Magic Treehouse books. He could read the comic pages of your newspaper, all of the Harry Potter books, or the Guinness Book of World Records. What he's reading doesn't matter. What matters is that he is engaged in what he's reading, and wants to read more. Because that's what we're after here. As long as kids keep reading, something, anything, they'll become more proficient. And that's the way to make them readers for life.
Thanksgiving in the White House
by Gary Hines
President Abraham Lincoln’s youngest son, Tad, is very fond of Jack the turkey. He has tamed him and taught him tricks, and the bird follows him all around the White House yard. But Jack was meant to be the main dish of the first official Thanksgiving celebration. Big problem! Can Tad convince his father to spare the turkey? This is a perfect book to share in the elementary classroom where you can sneak in a little learning along with your holiday celebration.
This Is the Turkey
by Abby Levine
Following the standard rhyme of “This is the House that Jack Built,” this book describes the activities of a young boy and his extended family as they share Thanksgiving. They pick out a turkey, prepare the bread, set the table and so on. However a mistep sends the turkey into the fish tank instead of on the table, and the family realizes what they have to be thankful for is more than a cooked bird. I particularly like that an African American girl is featured on the book cover, showing a mixed-race family. The simple text and bright pictures make this a good choice for a preschool audience.
’Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
by Dav Pilkey
Using the format of Clement Moore’s classic Christmas poem, we’re treated to a story about eight boys and girls whose trip to a turkey farm leads to a surprise. The book is blunt at times about the fate of these birds, but always funny, especially when the kids leave the farm considerably fatter and with feathers sticking out from their coats. The poem aspect of the joke will be lost on preschoolers, but they'll still enjoy the story. The elementary kids will be more on board and will really have fun with this clever book.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner and the December holidays quickly approaching, parents may need some great book recommendations fast. Whether the children are looking for entertainment for a long plane trip or a little something to tide them over until the turkey is ready, the following offer a bounty of ideas. I collect lists, and these are some of my favorites:
The New York Times Book Review's Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2009
Booklist's 2009 Top Ten Religion Books for Youth
Outstanding science books of 2008, chosen by the National Science Teachers Association
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Gift Guide 2009. A large, wide-ranging selection of books published in the last few years.
The National Outdoor Book Awards. This roster includes books for children and adults.
The E.B. White Read Aloud Awards
Wired Magazine's GeekDad's book picks for 2009. Geektastic titles for kids and grown-ups.
This is Part 2 of a continuing series on encouraging young readers. These ideas were originally captured in a post that I did on my blog in 2007, 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Here at Booklights I'll be expanding upon and updating each idea, and adding links for more information where I have them. You can find Tip #1: Read Aloud here.
Tip #2: Read the books that your children read, even after you are no longer reading aloud with them (or along with books you're reading together). Talk to them about these books. Let them recommend books to you. By reading the books your children read, you show them that you value them, and the books, and you open up untold avenues for important discussions. I personally think that if more parents and other adults did this, there would be less of a drop-off in reading for pleasure as kids get older (though I have no formal data to back this up). I wrote about this in more detail in a very early post on my blog. But here are three good reasons to read the books your children read:
A. Reading the books that your kids are reading will give you a much better idea of what they like, and what their reading level is. This will make it easier to help them pick out other books, to buy books for them as gifts, etc. Some parents take this approach a step further, and read certain books before their children do, so that they can help decide when the child is ready for the book. The more you know first-hand what your kids are reading, the more you can help.
B. If you and your child are reading the same books, you'll open up all sorts of doors for discussion. This is especially true for parents of teens and tweens. Today's YA titles cover a wide range of issues, and sometimes it's easier to talk in hypotheticals than in actuals. As in "hmmm, I wonder what you would do in that situation." It's a thought, anyway. I do know parents who have found this to work well.
C. Reading the books that your children are reading sends a strong message to your kids that reading in general, and specifically what they are reading, is important to you. This tells them a) that they are important to you, and b) that you value books and reading. And I can't emphasize enough how important this last point is. There are all sorts of reasons why many kids' interest in reading for pleasure drops off as they get older. All of the distractions of television and computers. All of their activities at school. A perception that reading isn't "cool" in some cases. And so on. But if you are as excited as they are about the release of the new Rick Riordan series featuring Egyptian mythology - surely that has to help.
I'll also add a side benefit of reading the books that your kids are reading - it's a tremendous amount of fun. I know lots of people who got back into reading children's and young adult literature because of their children, and then simply never stopped, because the books were so good.
One thing I'm not sure of with this whole "read the books your children read" idea is what you do when you are flat out not interested in the type of books that your child is reading. The most common example is mothers who enjoy fiction, confronted with sons who want to read about planes, trains, and war. Any parents out there have suggestions for handling this one? All I can say is that even a little bit of effort probably goes a long way here.
Of course I'm not suggesting that you try to read everything that your kids are reading in any case. If your child is a real bookworm, this will be impossible. And some teens might resist the idea that their parents want to read all of the books that they're reading. But I'll say this: if your son or daughter (or niece or nephew or grandchild) has a favorite series, it's worth checking out an installment or two. If "everybody" in your child's class is reading Twilight, then perhaps you should, too. I think that you'll find the experience rewarding. You may help keep your older child interested in reading. And perhaps you'll find yourself hooked on children's literature, too.
Nighttime is the right time for reading, and here are three, new, Cybils-nominated books to pick up for bedtime.
Night Lights
by Susan Gal
To be able to appreciate its charm, think of this book as a wordless picture book that happens to contain a little bit of text. The story is entirely in the pictures, with the words pointing out the various lights seen at night - like headlight, firelight, and flashlight. The story is of a girl and her mother biking home in the city, having a cookout and birthday cake in the backyard, and then the girl going to bed. Simple enough. But allow lingering over the illustrations to see the way the lantern light shines differently on the faces than the firelight. Notice the marshmallows that go outside in the lantern light, are forgotten in the lightning storm, and attract surprise visitors in the spotlight. Delight in the use of real fabric, elaborate patterns, and children's drawings to add depth to the drawings. Even the endpapers have a little story. Wonderful, gentle book for toddlers and preschoolers.
Scaredy Squirrel at Night
by Melanie Watt
Scaredy Squirrel is here in his fourth book, and just as charming as ever. Now he can't sleep because he is afraid of bad dreams in the form of bats, dragons, and polka-dot monsters. He stays up, but experiences many negative side effects of not sleeping. He faces the problem with preparations that involve cupcakes, banana peels, and a fire extinguisher. Will his plan allow him to get a good night sleep? Of course, but the fun is in how. Funny, silly, adorable, and clever the book quietly contains a message about the importance of a good night sleep along with the series theme of maybe not needing to worry so much. Delightful book that will be enjoyed by the preschool set and up.
I Need My Monster
by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam
When Gabe is ready to go to sleep, he needs his monster under the bed. Unfortunately, his monster took off on vacation, leaving Gabe to interview possible candidates. But each one is rejected for not having loud breathing or sharp claws or a slimy tail. It's only Gabe's monster who is scary enough - in a good way, understand - to keep him from getting out of bed at night. This is a great take on the traditional monster-under-the-bed story where kids conquer their fears of this beast. Here the story embraces the concept in a humorous and clever way. The illustrations are amazing in bringing the story to life, but the monsters may be a bit on the creepy side for younger readers. Know your kid. It's perfect for the kindergarten to second grade set, who want a bedtime picture book with a little bite. That wasn't a monster joke. Okay, it was.
Mom Jodi picks the beloved tearjerker Bridge to Terabithia. Katherine Paterson's classic story of Jess and Leslie, who create their own kingdom in the woods, is popular reading in schools, was a Trophy Newbery, and has been made into a movie.
"This book is my favorite because when it was read to me as a child, it began my love affair with reading," Jodi says. "It brought me to another world of imagination."
What book has opened you or your child's minds to other worlds?
Just the other morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee and visited my library. I was still in my pajamas. It was okay, the librarians didn't mind. In fact, they didn't even notice. Why? Because I was visiting the library from the comfort of my house.
Don't get me wrong, I L-O-V-E going to the library. Frankly, if I could live there, I would. There are times, though, when the library's hours don't work for my schedule. So I improvise. One of the great things about living in the 21st century is that we can go to the library whenever the mood strikes. It doesn't matter that the library itself isn't open, we can check on - or check out - all of the wonderful offerings that live there. Many (if not most) library systems have at least a Web site with an online catalog of their holdings.
As an example, in my local library - Jefferson-Madison Regional Library - I can search for talking books (aka audio books, books on tape, books on CD), videos, musical recordings, scripts for plays, and of course, books. I can find them by subject, author, and title; and in a HUGE leap from the card catalog I grew up with, I can find them by just about any keyword, too.
Aside from the "cool" factor of searching the stacks with coffee in hand, what makes visiting the library after hours so great is the opportunity it creates for parents and readers alike. Here are some ways that those early morning or late night visits can help you.
Reserve books you want to read. Let's say a friend recommended a "must read" book to share with your kids during a recent play date. Odds are you aren't the only person who is going to want that book. Head to the online catalog and place a "hold" to reserve it. You may need to wait a day or two until it is pulled, but having the book waiting for you can save a lot of time on one of those days when your schedule is more than a little pinched.
Create a cheat sheet of the books you want. One of the great things about visiting the library is looking through the stacks. Sometimes, though, fate intervenes and there isn't a lot of time for browsing. On the days your toddler is overdue for a nap or your first grader is ready to melt down, it helps to have a ready-made list (with call number) of the books you plan to read. If your child is fixated on trucks, then having that list of picture books about trucks - with an X next to the ones you've already read - can save a lot of time and frustration!
Check on book availability. Forewarned is forearmed. It helps to know BEFORE you get to the library whether the book on [pick a subject or author name] that your child desperately wants to read is available. One of the most important tools in the parenting toolbox is "redirection." If you know ahead of time that the book your child is looking for isn't available, you may be able to offer alternatives and avoid a conflict. Many library websites have a page for new arrivals. You may be able to entice your young reader to be the first person in your library to read a particular book.
Maximize your read aloud time. Libraries are filled with a lot more than paper versions of books. Within the various collections - including children's books - you can find audio versions that complement the traditional editions. For example, in my library I found Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower by Peggy Parish as both a hardcover and a book on tape. My daughter and I can listen together, and while she follows along with the book, I can stir the spaghetti!
Get a few book ideas. Holiday shopping has begun, and books make great gifts. Let's say you heard about a book that sounds like it might be great for your nephew. Yes, the publisher's blurb can help you; but your nephew is particular about his fantasy (and his parents are particular about violence). So before you decide, why not borrow it from the library?
Do some in-depth research. With more than 10,000 libraries listed, Worldcat.org is the largest network of library content and services. Worldcat is also a portal for building research bibliographies and digital content like downloadable books. A simple search will tell you whether or not the book/CD/video/periodical/etc. you are interested in is at your local library or a neighboring one.
These are just a few of the ways that you can take advantage of all that the library has to offer and ensure that your visits go smoothly. A tool I discovered this summer is Library Elf. The Elf is a FREE service that can help you keep track of your library holds and due dates. You can register all of the library cards in your family to help you manage who has what checked out and avoid overdue fees. Having the Library Elf's assistance was particularly handy this summer when all of us were borrowing books on our own cards and more recently during this first round of Cybils reviews to let me know when holds were available.
Spending the day at the library, wandering in and out of the stacks, and talking with the librarians is my idea of a perfect day. Nothing can replace the fun of chatting with the librarians. They are the most helpful, insightful, excited readers I know. But at the times they aren't available - and you want to sneak in some of that library quiet at home - the online catalog can fill the gap.
For some reason, Terry and I have come across quite a few articles lately for parents on encouraging young readers. Since I had several articles stacked up, I decided to share them with you this week. I'll be back next week with Tip #2 in my new Tips for Growing Bookworms series (Tip #1 is here). But for now, here are ideas from a variety of smart people across the blogs and the press.
The Book Chook, Susan Stephenson, shared a fun post about the "sheer pleasure" of playing with language. She said: "Children are hard wired to enjoy nonsense, (as are Book Chooks!) and playing with language is something they take to immediately. From early peek-a-boo and finger rhymes, through nursery rhymes, poems and songs, we are exposing our kids to new vocabulary, and the rhythms of language, as well as reinforcing the sheer pleasure of messing about with words." She then suggested several fun wordplay activities for parents and their children.
The Eden Prairie (MN) News recently shared tips from Heather Peterson for motivating "reluctant readers". For example, "Family reading time. Families read together - either aloud or silently, either the same book or separate books. It is a time when adults model good reading habits for their children."
The FirstBook blog published a guest post from Tina Chovanec, the director of Reading Rockets.org, chock full of suggestions for helping "parents jumpstart reading and learning together". I especially liked "Game night. Start a new weekend tradition centered around family games. Rediscover classics like Memory, Scattergories, or Scrabble, or explore something new."
At Moms Inspire Learning, Dawn Morris suggested that an important way for parents to raise literate children is by listening. She said: "Before children learn to read or write, they first need to listen to what people are saying and respond in an appropriate manner. The more they are spoken with and read to, the greater the chances that they will grow into active listeners, speakers, and storytellers. THEN they can become the strong independent readers and writers we so want them to be." She also included some concrete suggestions for more active listening and support of literacy development.
The Bolingbrook Sun published an article with simple steps for parents to help students read better. The author (no name was listed) focused on helping kids improve their reading comprehension by asking them frequent questions, and thus teaching them to think critically about what they're reading. I think this makes sense, to a point, as long as you don't stop and ask so many comprehension questions that you make the whole thing feel like work. The author added: "Experts suggest that what they read is not as important as the fact that they read. Encourage her to read often from a variety of resources; books, magazines and newspapers, just get them reading! Let them see you read as well. Children learn to value what the caring adults in their lives value. If they see you reading, they may be more willing to read regularly, too." (All of which you know I agree with.)
In a related vein, at Parents and Kids Reading Together, Cathy Puett Miller shared resources to help parents find the right books for their children. The column placed particular emphasis on resources for gifted readers, but the author said that "many of the resources here will also be terrific for all families, with children of all ages so read on and see what you can find that works for your child." Here's a snippet, "Remember that you are the commercial for reading and that motivation is an important indirect component." Cathy also included lists of book recommendations, including "books under the 9-12 year area that are "safe" content for younger children."
Finally, The Hindu Newspaper's Magazine section published yesterday a detailed, thoughtful article for parents about the benefits of raising readers, and ways to do so even in today's digitally-saturated environment. Aruna Sankaranarayanan wrote "Reading can give children analytical skills in this age of information overload. As another Children's Day comes around what can we do to foster this habit". She concluded: "For India to achieve 100 per cent literacy in the fullest sense, it is not enough to simply teach the mechanics of reading and writing. Ultimately, literacy informs a way of life. Instead of children reading under pressure, we should strive to be a nation full of children reading for pleasure." Of course, her ideas apply to children everywhere, not just in India.
That's all I have for you today. But Terry has a slew of other links this morning in this week's Children's Literacy and Reading Roundup at Scrub-A-Dub-Tub.
Higher, Higher
by Leslie Patricelli
Bright colors suck the reader into the world of a little girl and her dad, and carry through into the world of her imagination. As dad pushes the swing, she indeed goes Higher, Higher passing the head of a giraffe, the top of a building, and the summit of a mountain. With a special extraterrestrial high five, she slows down and returns home again without ever leaving the swing. With very few words, it's more like a wordless picture book, where the story is contained in the illustrations. Even then, it's a simple story of bright and lively imagination, making it a great book for younger tots.
Hello Baby!
by Mem Fox, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
It would be hard to beat the combination of these two powerhouses in writing and illustration. Mem Fox gives us the simple, rhyming story of looking for baby and finding animals. Steve Jenkins lends his amazing artwork to each creature, making the porcupine prickly and the elephant wrinkly all with cut paper. Don't miss the deep and varied greens captured in the crocodile, with a glorious reptilian eye peering out. The word baby in the title should tip you off that this is indeed a book for the baby and toddler set. Older preschoolers would appreciate the artwork more, but they'll be ready for the many, many Steve Jenkins books for their age group. As a baby/toddler book though, it's way above average.
My Goldfish
by Barroux
If you're looking for something a little different for your youngster - simple yet interesting - then turn to the French. While the cover shows the bright colors and hints at the simple text inside, it can't prepare you for the first page where the goldfish is holding up the bowl with the text reading, "My goldfish is the strongest goldfish in the world." While keeping the same simple artistic features of the goldfish, we see the little guy in a Halloween costume, coming back from vacation sunburned, and even falling in love. There's even allusion to the day that the goldfish will leave the bowl and "finally swim with the great white fish." It's meaningful and imaginative, silly and strange, and in the world of very safe books for the littlest kids - absolutely exceptional.
Author/illustrator extraordinaire Mo Willems has many fans here at Booklights (and beyond), and Mom Karen counts herself among them.
"My daughter loves Knuffle Bunny in all its forms (including the sequel). She adores the combination of photography and cartoons and has been able to recite the story since before she could read."
Many kids know a story word-for-word before they can read. Do your kids have any favorites that they know backward and forward?
Back in 2007 I wrote a post on my own blog called 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. This has remained a popular post, and people have suggested several other tips in the comments there. I've decided to expand upon each of these tips, and create a new Tips for Growing Bookworms series here at Booklights. Of course other Booklights contributors talk about tips for encouraging young readers here, too, as in Terry's Bedtime from Afar post from last week. But I say, we can't focus on this important topic too much. So, without further ado:
Tip #1: Read aloud to your children from (or even before) birth, as often as possible, and keep reading aloud to them even after they can read on their own. Reading aloud has been shown to have a huge impact in raising readers, and is the number one thing that parents and other concerned adults can do to help grow bookworms. By reading to kids in a comfortable, safe environment, you help them to think of reading as a pleasurable activity. You also increase their vocabularies and attention spans, and show them that you think that books are important. And with all of the many wonderful books out there, reading together should be enjoyable for you and the kids.
It's especially helpful when Dads or other male caregivers can participate in at least some of the read aloud activity. This shows boys that reading isn't just something that girls do, but rather something that's fun for everyone. A recent survey by UK charity Booktrust found that "some 67% of mothers of four to five-year-olds claim to be the principal reader, compared with 17% of fathers, although many more fathers were said to be reading than in last year's survey." The Booktrust study (as reported by BBC News) found that 96% of children surveyed reported enjoying reading, but also reported that only one in three families read with their children every day. I would personally love to see that last statistic increase.
It is, of course, tempting to think that once your child can read on his or her own, you can stop reading aloud. However, if you can find the time and the motivation to continue reading aloud with your older children, your whole family will reap rewards. You'll be able to read books that they aren't ready to read on their own, and share the experience of discovery. You'll be able to introduce your kids first-hand to the books that you loved as a child, and talk about why you loved them. You'll be able to discuss all sorts of topics that are raised in books, allowing you and your kids to learn from and about each other. Andrea Ross from Just One More Book! wrote a wonderful article for Canwest Newspapers last month about the benefits to parents of reading aloud with their children.
Of course sometimes it's hard to find the time for read-aloud. But I promise that if you do, you and your children will find the time well-spent. For parents who aren't comfortable reading aloud, you can listen to audiobooks together (libraries have audiobooks you can check out), or turn the pages of a picture book and make up your own stories. Children, young children especially, are a forgiving audience. They'll find the attention and the closeness and your time much more important than your particular pronunciation of a word, or the fact that you aren't skilled at giving the different characters distinct voices. The more you try, the easier it will get, too. See also Susan Kusel's post at Booklights about the ups and downs of reading aloud.
Reading aloud together. It's enjoyable time for parents and kids. It helps kids to do better in school, and builds family closeness. And it's free (all you need is a library card). It is well worth a try. Do any of you have success stories or tips that you'd like to share about reading aloud with your kids?
October was certainly an action-packed month for those at Booklights! In addition to Pam making great suggestions of Halloween books, she organized and led an excellent meeting of children's book bloggers gathering in Washington, D.C. It was a pleasure to get to meet colleagues who constantly read and think about how important quality literature is for children and their families.
Susan T. recommended good books for children who have developed a passion for volcanoes. One suggestion was Magic Tree House #13: Vacation Under the Volcano, by Mary Pope Osborne. Parents should also know about Ancient Rome and Pompeii, the non-fiction companion Magic Treehouse Research Guide #14. 
Steven Bush may also want to be sure to share this before heading out with his son in February to see a real volcano!
The non-fiction companions provide fascinating information that supports the travels of Jack and Annie in the Magic Treehouse fantasies. Boys, in particular, love knowing the real facts and I have never failed to learn new, accurate, scientific information when reviewing these guides as well.
Terry's posting Reading from Afar brought back so many fun memories. When my own niece was about three-years-old, she overheard her dad say he needed to be sure to pack a book for a very long international flight. When he went back to finish packing his suitcase, he found that Sarah had placed in his bag her favorite picture book! While Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse was surely not the novel he anticipated reading on the flight, it provided a wonderful thing for him to read to her when he called to check in back home.
It also reminded me of a community service project that one of my college students implemented. While volunteering in a Nashville women's prison, she noticed that incarcerated mothers had very little to talk about with their children after the first few minutes of a visit. She was able to take children's picture books to the prison for the mothers to read and record. Mothers then had a set of books and tapes to give their children during visits, and wonderful topics of conversation for subsequent visits.
Jen ended last week's posting talking about the importance of knowing your child's independent reading level. In addition to being sure your child is able to read the text with around 95% accuracy, also check out comprehension every now and then. And having lots of picture books around helps, as illustration often aids in comprehension.
Finally, Gina asked what readers' opinions have been about the movie Where the Wild Things Are. She asked if true fans should avoid it or give it a try. I can only report the words of a 10-year-old friend as he left the movie, "Max has anger issues!" Not a movie for young viewers, for sure! But we can all continue to love the book.
Happy Reading.....Ann
In the library, these are the days when we get frantic parents looking for a Halloween book to read at their child's school and finding that all the books are gone. This may be you. But no fear, there are some great monster books around that will fill the Halloween gap and that are often overlooked by parents heading only to the shelf with the big pumpkin sign.
Where's My Mummy?
by Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by John Manders
When Baby Mummy heads outside for a late-night game of "Hide and Shriek," he ends up searching for Mama Mummy in the deep, dark woods. Different monsters advise the little wrapped guy to go to home, but he trudges on unafraid, until a tiny creature gives him a big scare. But Mummy - or mommy - is there to give him comfort and take him to bed. The wonderful illustrations have just the right comical touch to take the edge off the spooky subject, and the story adds just enough suspense to the fun. Great for preschoolers.
Inside the Slidy Diner
by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Jaime Zollars
Edie is trapped inside the Slidy Diner for stealing a lemon drop, and gives a youngster a tour of the scary restaurant where patrons eat pig's heads and pies are garnished with eyeballs. This is definitely a book for the gross-out crowd, who will delight in the bug-filled flooded restrooms, the wall-mounted huge cockroach, and the most-questionable "chocolate milk." Detailed illustration supports the story with odd-looking patrons and clever visual jokes. Gruesome, creepy, and loads of fun for the school-age set.
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich
Frankenstein Takes the Cake
by Adam Rex
For some reason, people insist on giving these books to their preschoolers and then denouncing them because their precious tots aren't interested in these poems about various monsters. The smaller ones somehow fail to grasp the cultural and literary references or get the jokes. They aren't wooed by the detailed and varied artistic styles. So clearly, these parents claim, these books are not all that. HAH! And I say again, HAH! While shaking my head, of course, and noting that just because a book has pictures, it does not make it a "picture book." Sure, read it to your preschoolers if you feel the need, but it's the bigger kids who are going to appreciate the brilliance, the humor, the artistry of these amazing books. These are the perfect books to share in higher grades when the kids are wanting stories - especially to mark special times like Halloween - but parents don't think about sharing books in the classroom. I read the first one to my daughter's fifth grade class and they loved it. It was apparently very popular for the week I left it there, and I heard groans when I picked it up. Don't miss these fabulous poetry books, but do think about the right age of the reader. By the way, adults fall into that "right age" group.
One of our favorite daily rituals is sharing bedtime stories with our daughter. In addition to it being a nice way to end the day, sharing a book is a nice way to reconnect and say "I love you."
When Catherine was an infant, my husband had long workdays, so he really looked forward to having that daddy-daughter time each day. When he moved into his new job, he traveled more, and he hated the separation as much as Catherine did. Because he was often in a different time zone, it wasn't always easy to sync our schedules so that he could read to her over the phone. So we started "taping" books so he could read her a bedtime story.
For our first recordings, we hooked up a microphone to the computer, read a book into a music program, and then burned the recording onto CD. It worked, but was cumbersome. Neither of us are gadget geeks which probably added to the awkwardness of the process.
About six months ago, we purchased a hand-held digital recorder ($10). We bought it for another purpose, I went to Book Expo America, I recorded a bedtime story (and a few night-time messages). The digital recorder works MUCH better. Because I am old enough to remember cassette recorders, I like that the gadgetry is identical to the play, stop, record buttons I know. The recorder can hold more content than a CD, so we can read more books. What I really like, though, is that you can easily change out individual stories in the collection. Although we use the recorder to stay connected when one of us is traveling, there are other ways you can use it. These are just three ideas ... I'm sure you've got some suggestions, too.
Send a recorded gift. Grandparents could read a story or stories and send it along with the actual book(s). They might even add personal stories about growing up, too.
Try a reverse gift. Select a picture book or chapter book and have all the kids take turns reading them ... and have them autograph the book, too. Adults LOVE to hear the sound of their little relatives.
Create a book club. Send the recorder back and forth, with each recipient taking a turn reading a book or chapters from a book. This makes great practice in reading aloud for kids, too.
Ultimately, this is an easy, fun way to get in that daily dose of read aloud. Any book that is fun to read together is perfect. The sound of your voice is what makes it special. In sharing a recorded book with a child, you are enriching their world. Not only are you giving them wonderful memories, you are helping them grow as readers. Because the recorders are portable, kids aren't tied to their computer or their boom box and they can carry that little bit of love with them anywhere!
I'm always on the lookout for new book ideas, so if you could have a friend or relative read a children's book, who would it be and what book would you want to hear?
Here are some recent articles about encouraging young readers that I thought would be of particular interest to Booklights readers.
Cathy Puett Miller has a great post at Parents and Kids Reading Together about finding time to read with your young child. Cathy recognizes the difficulties that families have sometimes, with today's busy lives, in finding time to read aloud everyday. She says: "carve out time in 10-20 minute increments. Your schedule may not allow more or your child may need small doses so that he leaves with a pleasant taste in his mouth about the experience instead of a negative one because he was asked to sit still for too long." Cathy also makes a strong argument for continuing to read aloud to your child even after the child can read on her own. I've always been a big proponent of this (see my Ten Tips for Growing Bookworms, for example), but Cathy does a nice job outlining multiple, concrete reasons.
Cindy Hudson at Mother Daughter Book Club shares reasons why your children are never too old for you to read aloud to them. Among many great reasons, she says: "Talking about what you read lets you broach topics that may not come up otherwise. If the characters in the book are having trouble with a friendship, your daughter may be encouraged to open up with you about a difficult relationship she's having as well." I agree with her completely. See also a post at 5 Minutes for Books by Ann Wright Rossouw about the joys of continuing to read aloud with older children.
Another must-read post this week comes from Donalyn Miller at The Book Whisperer, on the subject of boys and reading. Although written from a teacher's perspective, I think that Donalyn's defense of boys as readers has relevance for parents, too. She says: "Instead of blaming our boys for their gender, or lowering our expectations for their literacy development, we should scrutinize any system where boys are hailed for their achievement in science and math class and allowed to define themselves as nonreaders." She also offers some recommended titles that have been catching the attention of boys in her classroom this year, and has sparked a tip-filled discussion in the comments. Dawn Morris has also shares some helpful links for finding books for boys at Moms Inspire Learning.
Homeschooling mom Sarah has a lovely post at In Need of Chocolate in defense of picture books for older readers. She notes: "Some parents encourage a steady diet of chapter books, ridding their homes and library bags of picture books as they children age, dismissing them as the reading material of babes, but I believe that one is never too old for picture books." Just a couple of her reasons include: "Picture books create and sustain family memories" and "Picture books provide an opportunity to learn more about art and how feelings and stories can be conveyed through pictures".
Do your kids eat Cheerios? Are you familiar with the Spoonful of Stories program, by which children's books are available as prizes in specially marked Cheerios boxes? I love the idea of kids getting books instead of little plastic prizes, don't you? Brimful Curiosities reports that you can now vote for which titles are included in the 2010 program. You can vote once a day from now through Friday for any of 13 titles (including a couple by Kidlitosphere friends of mine, but I'm not a believer in telling other people how to vote, so I'll just send you over to the contest). This article was a tip from Terry Doherty.
Another suggestion from Terry was this Wake County SmartStart article with five tips for raising a reader. "Anna Troutman of Wake County SmartStart and Laura Walters of the Literacy Council of Wake County offer ... five simple ways to start your child on the road to reading even before your child can read to himself." None of the ideas are novel, but I think it's good to keep talking about the importance of reading aloud, modeling reading behavior, visiting the library, etc. I also find, via Book Dads, ten tips for helping your child learn to read from Michael Levy at Literacy News.
Last but not least, at Reading Rockets, Joanne Meier responds to a question from a parent looking for practical tips for those times when kids just don't want to read. Joanne says: "if I were to pick one piece of advice to help during those times, it would be this: make sure your child is reading at his or her independent level at home. A child's independent level is the level at which the material is relatively easy for the student to read, and can be read with at least 95% accuracy."
Have you run across any interesting articles about encouraging your readers? I'd love to hear about them.
I usually forget to talk about Halloween books until it's too late for parents to find them at the library or bookstore, but not this time. With the candy and costumes in the stores for weeks, it is getting hard to ignore what used to be a one day event with homemade costumes and sugar-frenzied children. So if we're going to extend the festivities, let's get a little reading in there too.
The Hallo-wiener
by Dav Pilkey
This is my absolute favorite Halloween book because it works for preschoolers to fifth graders. It's the story of a dachshund who is always teased by his doggie classmates, but especially after his well-meaning mother gives him a hot-dog costume for Halloween. But when his doggie friends are spooked by a ghoul, it's the little dog who saves the day. It's a funny book, but you can add a little spooky suspense when the ghoul comes into the picture.
The Halloween Book of Facts & Fun
by Wendie Old
This weekend I was introduced to this book, to which I had to say, "Where have you been all my child-rearing years?" What I love about this book is right there in the title - it's facts and fun. There are instructions for carving a pumpkin and having a Halloween party. There are safety tips and riddles. There are chapters about traditions, witches, jack-o-lanterns, Dracula, and more. There's even a full page bibliography. A perfect book for the classroom or home, maybe doling out a chapter a day in the build-up to the Big Event.
The Squampkin Patch
by JT Petty
Speaking of build-up, you'll find it in spades in this suspenseful, creepy and sometimes scary book for older kids. In the story, the Nasselrogt children hide from their parents, and end up getting shipped off to the Urchin House. When their parents show up to find them, their odd last name makes the files lost to the director. After a horrible time at the Urchin House, the children escape and end up at a mysterious house surrounded by a pumpkin patch -- or so they think. It turns out that patch holds something strange and frightening that is coming to a head on Halloween. Filled with dark humor and interesting characters, the book shows a very strong Lemony Snicket influence in the writing, which should make it a natural pick for lovers of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. A little odd, but certainly unforgettable.
From preschool through second grade or so, my son loved to read about volcanoes. A while back, I rounded up some of our favorites, most of which I read aloud. For all of you with young scientists (aged about four to seven) in the house, here's our list, with some notes:
Why Do Volcanoes Blow Their Tops? by Melvin Berger. Picture book, lots of facts, Q. & A. format. Includes directions for making a grand baking soda/vinegar/dish-soap explosive concoction using an empty soda bottle. Because of this book, "magma" has been a part of my vocabulary for the last seven years.
Hill of Fire, by Thomas P. Lewis. Illustrated beginning reader about the farmer who stumbled across a volcano (the beginnings of one) while plowing. About the 1943 eruption of Mexico's Paricutin. A Reading Rainbow selection.
Volcanoes, by Stephanie Turnbull. From the Usborne Beginners series, a nice introduction to the subject, short bits of text, index, glossary, recommended web sites--all in 32 pages.
The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top: A Book About Volcanoes, by Gail Herman, with illustrations by Bob Ostrom. You can't go wrong with Ms. Frizzle, the extraordinary science teacher, and her class.
An Island Grows, by Lola M. Schaefer. A colorful picture book for preschoolers and early-elementary kids.
Magic Tree House #13: Vacation Under the Volcano, by Mary Pope Osborne. Early chapter book about Pompeii, from the popular series.
Volcanoes! Mountains of Fire, by Eric Arnold. Advanced beginning reader about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
Volcanoes! by Jeremy Caplan. Another advanced beginning reader, with photos.
Volcano, by Nicholas Harris. Pompeii from the Ice Age into the present, with tabbed pages. Picture book for older readers. Part of a series called Fast Forward. Vesuvius included, of course.
For older readers, there's Seymour Simon's Volcanoes, a Smithsonian picture book with vivid photographs.
Mom Betsy's pick for Where the Wild Things Are comes at a good time, with the movie making its debut last weekend. She loves the book because "Max was a wild child like me!"
Betsy nails a big reason why Maurice Sendak's book is such a classic -- we all have a little (or a lot) of Max in us. Anyone else out there identify with Max? And what about the movie? Should true fans avoid it or give it a try?
Lots of people responded positively to my recent post about favorite fictional towns from children's literature. A number of people commented and Twittered to share their favorites. Carol Rasco (from RIF) mentioned Misselthwaite Manor from The Secret Garden. And I thought "great suggestion, that's one of my favorite houses from children's literature." And that, naturally enough, led me to thinking about my other favorite fictional houses. In the interest of fairness (or at least of not being overly repetitive), I've excluded any authors who I previous mentioned in my favorite fictional towns or favorite fictional rooms posts. And yes, that excludes Hogwarts, because I've already mentioned Hogsmeade, and Green Gables, because I've already mentioned Avonlea, and the many great houses created by Elizabeth Enright and Zilpha Keatley Snyder. There are still lots of wonderful houses to choose from. In each case, I've decided to let the author describe the house in question. After all, they can do this far better than I could.
1. Misselthwaite Manor from The Secret Garden (with thanks to Carol Rasco) by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
"Not but that it's a grand big place in a gloomy way, and Mr. Craven's proud of it in his way--and that gloomy enough, too. The house is six hundred years old and it's on the edge of the moor, and there's near a hundred rooms in it, though most of them's shut up and locked. And there's pictures and fine old furniture and things that's been there for ages, and there's a big park round it and gardens and tree with branches trailing to the ground--some of them." (Chapter 2, Mistress Mary Quite Contrary, description by Mrs. Medlock)
2. The Hall family's house in Concord, MA from Jane Langton's The Diamond in the Window (reviewed here).
"All of the other houses on the street were neat square white buildings with dark shutters and simple pitched roofs. Out from among them mushroomed the Halls' house like an exotic tropical plant in a field of New England daisies. It was a great wooden Gothic Byzantine structure, truly in need of painting. Big as it was, it looked airy and light, as though the wind might pick it up and carry it away. Screened porches ballooned and billowed out of it all around, and domes and towers puffer up at the top as though they were filled with air." (Chapter Two, The Hidden Chamber)
3. Bag End, Bilbo's house (later Frodo's house) from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
"It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats -- the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill -- The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it -- and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another." (Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party, The Hobbit)
4. The Professor's house from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.
"It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armor; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up, and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out onto a balcony, and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books--most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church." (Chapter One, Lucy Looks Into a Wardrobe)
5. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods. (This house is technically not fictional, but since the series is generally shelved as fiction, I'm going to allow it.)
"Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.
The great, dark trees of the Big Woods stood all around the house, and beyond them were other trees and beyond them were more trees. As far as a man could go to the north in a day, or a week, or a whole month, there was nothing but woods. There were no houses. There were no roads. There were no people. There were only trees and the wild animals who had their homes among them." (Page 1-2)
I think it's telling that all five of the passages quoted above are from the first chapter or two. These houses play a central part in the books in question. In thinking about these houses (and the ones from my other posts), it's clear that my favorite fictional houses fall into two basic categories: big houses with lots of corridors and cupolas and hidden surprises, and homes that evoke a cozy, safe feeling. How about you? What do you look for in a favorite fictional house? Do you crave turrets and long passageways to explore? Or do you care more about finding a cozy nest?
For the last day of National Hispanic Heritage Month, here are three books for preschooler to tween.
What Can You Do with a Rebozo?
By Carmen Talfalla, illustrated by Amy Cordova
Bright, lively pictures show the many ways you an use a rebozo - a traditional Mexican woven shawl - from a cradle to a cape. The rhymes are a little labored, but the cultural portrayal is well-done and the feeling is fun. The artwork won the 2009 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor, and the book contains a brief historical discussion about rebozos.
Armando and the Blue Tarp School
by Edith Hope Fine and Judith Pinkerton Josephson; illustrated by Hernan Sosa
This book is based on the true story of a teacher who set up a school in Tijuana, Mexico with only a blue tarp. The poverty of the children is harsh, and their garbage dump surroundings vile. But with hard work and hope, the children begin to go to school. This is a picture book, but due the the theme and length is intended for school-age children. Interesting and inspirational, it manages to teach without being preachy. The real story is included at the end of the book, as well as a glossary of Spanish words.
Confetti Girl
by Diana Lopez
With lots of Spanish words and Hispanic culture, this isn't an issue book about being Latina. It's just the world that Lina Flores occupies with her boy-crazy best friend, her quiet, studious dad, and her own school worries. Gentle is a good word to describe this middle-grade book. It's gentle on conflict, issues, humor, and culture. Sweet and fun, the book also shares dichos - little sayings - that form the chapter titles and appear through the book, like "Los amigos majors son libros." Books are your best friends.
Mom Jessie loves the classic Eloise, written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight, and she's in good company. This memorable character, who first saw publication in 1955, has captured the hearts of millions, adults and kids alike.
"My favorite book is Eloise, because of the whimsy and she's naughty," Jessie says.
What naughty book character has stuck with you? And are there any books where you've preferred the crafty villain to the hero?
Do you know the story of The Cat in the Hat? Not the one about hat-wearing mischievous feline, but how he came to be the world's most recognized cat. In 1954, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist John Hershey wrote an article for Life magazine called "Why Do Students Bog Down on First R?" In his article, Hershey said that the primers given to kids to help them learn to read were "antiseptic." For one thing, the children were "unnaturally clean." He said what they needed were better illustrations ... like the kind Walt Disney and Theodor "Ted" Geisel created.
As a result of the article - and Rudolf Flesch's book Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can Do About It (1955) - publishers Random House and Houghton Mifflin joined forces and hired Ted Geisel (known for his illustrations) to create a primer using new-reader vocabulary. The result was the 220-word story known the world over as The Cat in the Hat. This book catapulted the writing career of Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss.
Through repetition and rhyme, Dr. Seuss' books not only have given us hours of pleasure reading with our kids, but they helped many of us become accomplished readers. Many of the Dr. Seuss books we love sharing with our kids are, in fact, what we now call easy readers.
So what IS an easy reader? They are books designed for children learning to read. These are books with short, simple sentences. Many of them have a banner or label that says "learning to read" in some form, but others look like picture books. Here are some clues. Look for ...
• books sized for the reader's comfort, usually 6 inches by 9 inches.
• lots of white space on the page and the print style is larger.
• illustrations or images that match up with the text so kids can "decode" the words in the story.
You can sometimes gauge the "level" of an easy reader by the illustrations. In the basic books (sometimes called level 1), illustrations are still a prominent feature. Usually they fill most of the page and there is a word or a sentence or two at the bottom. As you "move up," the illustrations shift. First, they may move to one page while the text is on the other. Then there may be half-page illustrations on both pages and then smaller illustration on one page of a two-page spread.
Fifty years later, you can still find "antiseptic" books that take the fun out of learning to read. Luckily, there are authors and illustrators who have followed in Dr. Seuss' path, creating engaging books that help kids grow as readers and have fun learning, too. Here are two places you can go to find some of the best easy readers available.
Visit the American Library Association (ALA) Website and see the Geisel Award Winners. Each year, the ALA sponsors the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award to recognize and celebrate the legacy created by Dr. Seuss. The award, first presented in 2006. "recognizes the "the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year." In addition to a medal winner, the ALA commemorates honor books, too. The 2009 medal winner is Are You Ready to Play Outside? By Mo Willems. This is the latest addition to Willems' Elephant and Piggie series.
Check out the 2008 Cybils List . Since 2006, the Kidlitosphere has had an award program to recognize distinguished books for children. The Children's and Young Adult bloggers Literary Awards, aka "Cybils," annually recognizes books that combine the highest literary merit and "kid appeal." For the first two weeks in October, nominated by parents, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, nominate "favorite" for the year in one of nine categories.
Easy Readers was a new category last year. The panel winnowed 31 Easy Reader nominees to a list of 5 Easy Reader finalists to 1 winner: I Love My New Toy (Elephant and Piggie series) by Mo Willems. The 2009 nominations won't close until Thursday, but already there are more than 35 titles in the Easy Reader and Short Chapter Book category.
I could do a whole post on Mo Willems, but I'd have to arm wrestle Pam, and I know I would lose. I'll just say this: I love introducing kids to Elephant and Piggie. The stories are wonderful, engaging, and always have a little twist. What I like best is that they are "built" to give new readers confidence. Willems uses different sizes to help kids visually recognize how the word should be read. They can instantly see the difference between what? And WHAT?
When you are ready to for new stories to sit side by side with The Cat in the Hat and his friends, you can't go wrong using these lists for recommended reading. Do you and your kids have a favorite Dr. Seuss book or easy reader? I would love to hear about them!
This coming weekend, I, along with most of my Booklights cohorts, will be participating in the Third Annual Kidlitosphere Conference, a gathering of children's book bloggers and other interested parties. I'm expecting the conference to be a huge success (the conference organizer is Booklights' own Pam Coughlan, after all). I'm looking forward to chatting face to face with people I usually only "see" across the keyboard, some of whom (like Terry Doherty) I'll be meeting in person for the first time. I'm also looking forward to having discussions with other bloggers, and with authors and publishers, about books, blogging, and the nature of reviewing.
A session that may be of interest to the Booklights community is a panel session that I'll be hosting at the end of the conference. It's called: "Coming Together, Reaching Out, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy and the Reading Message". Panelists include:
- Ernestine Benedict: Reading Is Fundamental - http://www.rif.org
- Gina Montefusco: PBS Booklights - http://www.pbs.org/parents/booklights/
- Pam Coughlan: MotherReader - http://www.MotherReader.com
- Terry Doherty: The Reading Tub - http://childrens-literacy.com
- Jen Robinson: Jen Robinson's Book Page - http://jkrbooks.typepad.com
Here's a quick intro to the panel: "Here in the Kidlitosphere, we blog because we love books, and because we want to share that love and inspire the joy of reading in families, kids, and teens. In this panel, Ernestine, Gina, Pam, Terry, and I will be talking about some of the many ways that people from within the Kidlitosphere have banded together to connect with the larger community and spread the joy of reading."
I've put together a handout containing links to resources that I expect to be discussed during the panel, as well as some links to additional resources from around the Kidlitosphere and the online children's literacy community. I thought that I would share those links here, in case any of you who can't attend the conference might find them useful. (Everyone is welcome at the conference, by the way - there are a few spots still open - see here for details).
Resources Mentioned by Panelists:
- The Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (Cybils) - http://www.cybils.com
- Guys Lit Wire - http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com
- Readergirlz - http://www.readergirlz.com, http://readergirlz.blogspot.com
- Share a Story - Shape a Future - http://shareastory-shapeafuture.blogspot.com
- PBS KIDS Raising Readers - http://www.pbskids.org/read
- Rasco from RIF - http://www.rascofromrif.org
- Kidlitosphere Central - http://www.kidlitosphere.org
Other Kidlitosphere Links:
- Carnival of Children's Literature - http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_209.html
- Anastasia Suen's Kidlitosphere FAQ
- Children's Book Review Wiki - http://childrensbookreviews.pbworks.com
- Poetry Friday and Nonfiction Monday links can be found each week at Kidlitosphere Central
- Chicken Spaghetti's List of Best of Lists
Other Literacy Blog Links:
- First Book Blog - http://blog.firstbook.org
- The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance - http://thencbla.blogspot.com
- NCBLA's Exquisite Corpse Adventure
- The Book Whisperer - http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer
- Literacy Lava, a downloadable digital magazine
- Everybody Wins! USA - http://everybodywins.typepad.com
- National Center for Family Literacy - http://famlit.org/blog
- The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy, an email newsletter
- PaperTigers - http://www.papertigers.org/wordpress
- Reading Rockets Blogs about Reading - http://www.readingrockets.org/blogs
Of course I read many other children's and young adult book blogs, and many other literacy-related blogs. But these should get you started. There's also a nice sampler set of Kidlitosphere blogs available at Kidlitosphere Central.
I hope to see some of you at the conference! If you can't make it, and you have questions for our panel, just let me know in the comments. I'll let you know how the panel session goes.
One Naked Baby
by Maggie Smith
This colorful, playful, lively counting book follows the adventures of one toddler baby through his day, starting with running from the bath and going outside, and counting down from playing outside to ending up back in the bath after a muddy outing. This is a simple and cute book to share with a little one.
Ha Ha, Baby!
by Kate Petty, illustrated by Georgie Birkett
“Today, our baby is not laughing. Not a hint of a dimple or a glimmer of a smile, but a face like thunder!” Though everyone in the family tries to get the baby to smile with tickling and peek-a-boo, bubbles and tricks, the baby won’t smile. Even the dachshund on the unicycle doesn’t work, and we all know how funny wiener dogs are. But when the older brother challenges baby to a staring contest with absolutely no laughing, the baby smiles, chuckles, and laughs. The pictures are have a gentle cartoon quality with soft lines and bright colors. There’s only one thing that I don’t get: What’s with all the costumes on the characters? I mean, the grandma is a fairy princess, the grandpa is a pirate, and there’s no explanation. Though I have to admit the outfits do make the book a little more fun. Great storybook for the preschool set.
City Lullaby,
written by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Carll Cneut
A counting book set in the city, where a baby sleeps through all the noise and busyness around her/him. Bright and detailed pictures make this a fun counting book with city themes — dump trucks, taxi horns, and such. The art is on one side of the page, all lively and sometimes silly (notice the dog on the cell phone for nine annoying cell phones ringing.) On the other page, the text and a simple sketch of the baby’s sleeping face (line eyes with lashes, curved lines for nose and mouth, dots for freckles, and sometimes a curl). A fun title that would be especially perfect for city kids.
"Here we go round the mulberry bush, / The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush; / Here we go round the mulberry bush, / On a cold and frosty morning."
On your next jaunt to the library, add Here Comes Mother Goose to your list. Young children will love thumbing through the pages of this big, beautiful book of nursery rhymes. Some of the poems, like the one above, may be familiar to parents and caregivers, but Here Comes Mother Goose also includes some lesser-known (at least to me) gems:
"My Aunt Jane, / She came from France, / To teach to me the polka dance; / First the heel, / And then the toe, / That's the way / The dance should go."
Published ten years ago by Candlewick, the handsomely illustrated classic is still available at online booksellers and, of course, at public libraries. Rosemary Wells, of Max and Ruby fame, is the artist, and many of the colorful pictures, bustling with funny animal characters, take up a whole page. (The large print is especially easy on the eyes, too.) The children's literature expert Iona Opie compiled the rhymes.
Wells and Opie also collaborated on My Very First Mother Goose (1996) and Mother Goose's Little Treasures (2007).
Jyl from Mom it Forward picks P.D. Eastman's classic picture book "Are You My Mother?" This 50-year-old tale follows a newly hatched baby bird as he tries to find his mother, asking several different animals.
Jyl says, "When my oldest was a baby, I read him Are You My Mother? every day. I focused on intonation. He loved how I'd raise and lower my voice and make interesting sounds. It's still one of his favorite books six years later."
What books have been your children's favorites year after year?
With some help from Terry Doherty, I have been saving up recent children's literacy news with an emphasis on raising readers. I hope that you find these articles useful!
Terry found a nice little article at YourBabyGuide.com by Jennifer about how it's never to early to start focusing on children's literacy. She offers "a list of ways to help your small children become more effective readers." I liked: "Read everywhere - make reading a fundamental part of your children's lives. Have them help you read menus, point out road signs, read game directions, weather reports, movie and television time listings, and other practical everyday information. Also, make sure they always have something to read in their spare time when they could be waiting for appointments or riding in a car." [Image credit: photo by Taliesin, shared via MorgueFile.]
Education World's Wireside Chat recently featured an interview with Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer, about cultivating young readers. While the article is aimed at teachers, I think that parents can benefit from reading Donalyn's thoughts on learning to read, boys and reading, and the importance of kids reading every day. This part especially resonated for me (on why Donalyn thinks that fewer children are reading for pleasure these days): "Children do not realize that the same story arcs they love in television programs, movies, and video games exist in books. Schools do a good job of teaching children how to read, but provide little motivation for students to read outside of school. Reading becomes a school task for many children, not an activity they enjoy."
Of course one of the major tips for parents to encourage young readers it to read aloud to them. Via a tweet from Mitali Perkins (first discovered by Terry), I found a wonderful "how to" resource by Mem Fox (author of Reading Magic), complete with audio examples. Here's a snippet: "Reading aloud is an art form in which the eyes and voice play important parts. Here are a few hints about how to make the most of both, as well as some general advice on how to read all stories aloud in a more entertaining manner."
At Literacy Launchpad, Amy wrote recently about the importance of reading role models, including but not limited to parents. She offers concrete and enthusiastic suggestions, like "Encourage others' children to read, not only your own. We need to be role models for many! Ask your children's friends what they're reading. Volunteer to read at your child's school. Host storytime playdates. Be seen reading!" I always like to think of myself as a reading role model, don't you?
At Great Kids Books, librarian Mary Ann Scheuer reviews a brand new book for parents by Diane Frankenstein: Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read. Mary Ann says: "Reading Together explains that it is through reading for pleasure that children will read more, enjoy reading and become better readers. The first step for parents is to help your child find books that they enjoy and can read successfully - a book that is at their reading level and one that engages them." I haven't seen this book yet myself, but it certainly sounds like a resource worth checking out. She recommends it for parents of four to 12 year olds.
I linked earlier to Susan Stephenson's two-part series about Literacy in the Playground. Recently, Susan published Part 3 at the Book Chook. After recapping several chanting and clapping games, Susan says: "Kids are hot-wired to enjoy play. The motivational factor involved in games with accompanying chants, means that children will repeat them many times. This allows language to become internalized. Judging by the looks on the faces of people I've asked about these games, and the tone of their emails, adults remember them very fondly. The words stay with us (in my case!) for an amazing number of years."
For parents interested in encouraging middle school and high school readers, Cathy Puett Miller has some suggestions at Parents and Kids Reading Together. Cathy specifically addresses the laments of parents whose children used to love reading, and don't anymore. She says: "Certainly you can't expect that 13 or 15 year old to want to sit with you and read like they did when they were small. But you can keep whetting his/her appetite for reading by exposing your young person to reading materials (books, magazines, Internet sites, how-to manuals, vacation brochures, etc.) that connect to his interests." She offers several concrete tips.
I also found an article by Pam Krueger in the Bismarck Tribune about the decline in reading skills among adolescents. Although the article talks primarily about schools, Kruger concludes with recommendations for parents. She says: "School is not the only place where literacy can be the focus. There also are things that parents can do to improve literacy in adolescent children. Continue doing the things that help younger children blossom into readers, such as modeling reading, providing an assortment of reading materials that adolescents enjoy, encouraging daily reading, make reading a part of the family's everyday life, and continuing to read out loud to older children."
I'll have more children's literacy news in this week's children's literacy and reading news roundup (prepared by Terry and me) at my personal blog. What about you all? Have you run across any recent posts or news stories aimed at helping parents to grow bookworms? I would love to hear about them.
1. National Book Festival
I packed my pockets with tissues and cough drops, and went to the National Book Festival on a chillly, rainy day certain to exacerbate my cold. Totally worth it. The fifth grader and I went to the Mo Willems signing, while the teens tried for Rick Riordan's autograph waiting in a line that defied description. After missing out on his signature, the teens went to his author session early to make sure they didn't miss that too. The fifth grader and I went to see Mo Willems' presentation.
My daughter was picked to go up on stage and read/act the book Today I Will Fly, with her as Piggie, Mo's daughter Trixie as the dog, and Mo as Gerald the elephant! My heart was bursting with pride as my daughter turned in a wonderful performance for a packed house, and now we can't wait to see the webcast on the National Book Festival site.
The whole bunch of us also saw Jeff Kinney, who was delightful, funny and truly humble, and Rick Riordan, who shared the news of his upcoming books. Patrick Carmon talked about his new titles along with The 39 Clues Series. Judy Blume held the crowd mesmerized just by being there. My whole story is available in at MotherReader in two parts.
2. Banned Book Week
With everything I've got on my plate this week, I've let others carry the online efforts for Banned Book Week. Fortunately, they've done a wonderful job. While a Wall Street Journal op-ed questioned whether you can even call a book banned in this country, Colleen Mondor wrote a reply at Chasing Ray that amounts to the world's most eloquent Yes. My good friend Lee Wind has a exceptional two-part interview with authors of challenged books. A letter posted last year at MyLiBlog (and tweeted by Neil Gaiman this year) offers an incredible answer to a patron who wanted a picture book removed from a public library. I also can't help returning to the Banned Books Week manifesto, a jarring poem of Ellen Hopkins, "Burn every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible."
3. The Cybils
Nomination season has begun for the 2009 Cybils, also known as the Children's and Young Adult Blogger's Literary Awards. If you have a children's or teen book that you loved that was published in 2009, you can nominate it at the Cybils site. You can submit one book per genre, and nominations are accepted from today through October 15th. At that point, a panel for each genre reads, analyzes and discusses the books to come up with a shortlist of finalists on January 1, 2010. Then a second round of judges take those books and in the course of a month an a half come up with a winner for each category. With all the genres and judges and rounds, the Cybils involves many bloggers in the KidLit and Young Adult online communities making it a festival season for book lovers. This year I'll be the organizer and a panelist for the Fiction Picture Book category, so I'll be bringing you lots of the best picture books over the next few months. Of course, you don't have to look just to me. Check out the Cybils page for reviews of great titles across the genres.
As I mentioned at the end of last month's posting, I traveled to Glasgow, Scotland in September to attend an international symposium on picturebook research. What a thought-provoking meeting it was! I want to share some of what I learned as it relates to the September postings on Booklights.
One very interesting presentation dealt with the end papers of picture books. As you are reading to your children, be sure to talk about the entire book....the cover, the title page, but also notice the end papers. More and more frequently, illustrators are using the inside of the front/back covers to tell part of the story.
For example, in Mircea Catusanu's new picture book The Strange Case of the Missing Sheep, Catusanu includes hands for counting sheep.This serves as a preface to the actual story. A book created for children ages three and up, the humorous text and illustrations will also keep the adult reader entertained
You may remember that Susan T. included in her introduction her latest favorite book, The Chicken - Chasing Queen of Lamar County, by Janice N. Harrington, pictures by Shelley Jackson.The end pages of this book cleverly lead the reader to know that feathers will fly as the chickens are being chased.
Another picture book with fabulous end papers is Peter Sis' Madlenka's Dog. Madlenka's neighborhood is "in the universe, on a planet, on a continent, in a country, in a city, in a house on a block where everyone is walking a dog." The end papers start narrowing the story in by showing the view of the universe, with the planet. Sis then zooms in closer on the page opposite the book's title page. So the end papers actually start to establish the book's setting.
When reading this book with your child, also be sure to remove the cover and look at the front and back illustrations. Sis has even used the covers to help describe the setting for Madlenka's search for a dog.
This month's postings have provided many great suggestions for books to read aloud to older children. A book by Brazilian author Ana Maria Machado that would be an ideal read aloud for sixth/seventh graders is From Another World. The book won the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000. It reminds us all that the horrors of slavery were not limited to the United States. Brazil shared many of the same brutalities toward African slaves that our own history includes.
Finally, I can't help but add a penguin book from South Africa to Pam's September 3rd Thursday Three. Peter, Pamela and Percy in the Big Spill relates the oil slick off of Cape Town that harmed many sea birds in 2000. I think that reader Terry who posted a comment and must enjoy nonfiction will also like this link that supports the story told in picture book format.
Happy Reading, Ann
P.S. It is not only our nation's capitol with a fabulous fall book festival; Nashville has many of the same authors visiting us the weekend of October 9-11. I hope that all of you in the area will come visit us for the Southern Festival of Books! And like Pam, I'd love to host you.
For a book that was originally published in 1964, Harriet the Spy, written by Louise Fitzhugh, remains remarkably relevant and readable. Nate Eagle, a designer for PBS KIDS Interactive and unabashed book (and movie and philosophy) aficionado, says this about his favorite children's book:
Harriet is one of the greatest characters in young fiction. She's a spy: insatiably curious and brutally honest. And she writes down everything she sees and thinks. When her notebook gets discovered by classmates, they banish her. Harriet has to wrestle with how and when to be honest, and how and when to compromise that honesty for the sake of friendship. Seeing Harriet pass through this gauntlet is heartbreaking in many ways -- the compromises of relationships are frequently painful -- but it's also movingly human. Above all, the story's a reminder of what tremendously complicated, fascinating inner lives all children lead, inner lives that adults sometimes forget or dismiss.
What is your favorite character from children's books? Or does Harriet take the cake?
One of the great riches of our country is its people. For five centuries people of different cultures have come to the United States, bringing with them experiences and traditions that enrich our communities.
One way to share those experiences is through stories. Before there were books, history and customs were shared through storytelling. You may have even heard a story or two from a favorite relative. Within these stories you can find the history, traditions, customs, and beliefs of a society or group of people. Thankfully, authors and illustrators have collected generations of these histories, folktales, myths, and legend in children's books.
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15, I pulled together some of my favorite picture book tales. Some are oral histories; some offer original interpretations of well-known stories; and still others show the universal tradition of myths and legends.
Burro's Tortillas
by Terri Fields / Illustrated by Sherry Rogers
Now that the corn was tall enough to make tortillas, a burro called his friends coyote, bobcat, and jackrabbit to help him. This picture book builds Spanish words into a story, which offers a twist on the Little Red Hen.
Juan Quezada
As told to Shelley Dale / Illustrated by Shelly Dale
A young boy asks his grandfather to tell him the story of Juan Quezada, a famous potter. Quezada comes across some clay pots. Curious, he wants to learn how they were made and he begins to experiment. Eventually he figures out how to replicate the process. The entire village helps make the pots. Quezada becomes a famous artist, and his pots are displayed in museums. This bilingual picture book biography introduces kids to primary sources, as Juan Quezada tells his life story.
Nacho and Lolita
By Pam Muñoz Ryan / Illustrated by Claudia Rueda
Nacho, a rare pitacoche bird, lives in a mesquite tree at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. He is a lovely but lonely bird; so when the swallows arrive in spring, he enjoys a wonderful life. In the fall, his friends must fly south, and he is lonely again, uncertain that they will return. He wants to do whatever he can to assure they come back to the Mission. This is a picture book built around a Mexican legend.
Paco and the Giant Chile Plant / Paco y Planta de Chile Gigante
By Keith Polette / Illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba
When Paco's mother runs out of money, she sends him to the market to sell la vaca (the cow). On the way, Paco meets a man who trades him a bag of magic chile seeds for the cow. Paco plants the semillas de chile and waits. When the plant erupts from the ground, Paco immediately grabs some chiles and climbs to the top ... only to be discovered by el gigante terrible. This is much more than a Spanish-added version of the classic story.
The Miracle of the First Poinsettia: A Mexican Christmas Story
by Joanne Oppenheim / Illustrated by Fabian Negrin
It is Christmas Eve (la Noche Buena). Everyone is happy ... even Papa, who just lost his job. Juanita is sad. True, there are no extra pesos for toys or candy, but more importantly, she doesn't have a gift to bring to church for the Baby Jesus. When everyone went in for services, Juanita stayed outside. A stone angel in the garden helps her find the perfect gift. She is skeptical of carrying weeds into church, but she does as the angel suggests. Will people laugh at her? This is a picture book story with a folk legend about how the Poinsettia became part of Christmas.
There are a number of wonderful online resources for exploring Hispanic culture through books. One of my favorites is Colorín Colorado, a PBS-affiliated website that provides resources, ideas, and activities that bridge the Spanish-speaking and English communities with bilingual resources. I regularly use their Books and Authors page and the underlying booklists to help me discover new books to share with my daughter.
Picture books give us an opportunity to visit places and learn new things without the inconveniences of luggage fees or jet lag. Through these stories we can immerse ourselves in the rich traditions of our personal, family, or community's heritage. Where have your picture book travels taken you? Leave a comment to share your journey with us!
Last fall, inspired by a post at Charlotte's Library, I wrote about my Five Favorite Fictional Rooms from Children's Literature. That post remains one of my favorites, because it makes me happy just thinking about these favorite fictional rooms (like the chocolate room from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
This weekend, I got to thinking about some of favorite fictional towns from children's literature. These are towns described so perfectly on the page that they feel real. Town that stand out in my memory, and that my childhood self would have loved to visit. Some of my favorites are realistic towns. The only magic that you'll find there is the magic of community. Others are clearly fantastic, from a town for wizards to an underground city to a city in the clouds. But they're all special, in one way or another. Here are my personal top five fictional towns from children's literature, with a couple of honorable mentions at the end.
#1: Avonlea, Price Edward Island, Canada. Avonlea is home, of course, of Anne Shirley of Green Gables. Avonlea is a fictional community, albeit one closely based on the towns of L. M. Montgomery's childhood (or so Wikipedia says). Avonlea features Green Gables, Mrs. Rachel Lynde's farm, the school where Anne was first pupil then teacher, and Marilla's church. Avonlea really shines in Anne of Avonlea, as you might expect. Remember the village improvement society, and their mishap with the wrong color paint? I think that my fondness for Avonlea is a side effect of my general fondness for Anne, Marilla, Matthew, Diana, and, of course, Gilbert. When I started thinking about favorite towns from literature, Avonlea was the first to come to mind.
#2: Gone-Away from Elizabeth Enright's Gone-Away Lake books. I wrote about the second Gone-Away book, Return to Gone-Away, recently at Booklights, and also reviewed it here. Gone-Away is a former summer community, located on the shores of a lake degenerated into a swamp, populated by two elderly residents. Here is the reader's first glimpse of Gone-Away: "They both climbed up on the little hulk and looked out over the tops of the reeds, a sea of reeds, beyond which, and around, grew the dark woods. But that was not all. Portia and Julian drew in a breath of surprise at exactly the same instant, because at the northeast end of the swamp, between the reeds and the woods, and quite near to them, they saw a row of wrecked old houses. There were perhaps a dozen of them; all large and shabby, though once they must have been quite elaborate, adorned as they were with balconies, turrets, widows' walks, and lacy wooden trimming. But now the balconies were sagging and the turrets tipsy; the shutters were crooked or gone, and large sections of wooden trimming had broken off. There was a tree sticking out of one of the windows, not into it but out of it. And everything was as still as death." (Chapter 2, Gone-Away Lake). Of course the children learn that Gone-Away is far less forbidding than it first appears. Gone-Away epitomizes summer for me. It will always have a special place in my heart.
#3: Hogsmeade from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Hogsmeade is a magic-filled town, located adjacent to Hogwarts. It includes the Three Broomsticks pub, Honeydukes sweetshop, Madam Puddifoot's tearoom, and, of course, the Shrieking Shack. Hogswarts students aren't allowed to visit Hogwarts until their third year, and even then they need permission from a parent or guardian (a sore spot indeed for a boy with toxic guardians). Millions of children around the world would go to the same lengths Harry does, if it meant that they could drink some butterbeer, or pick up magic tricks at Zonko's joke shop. Happily, they'll have a chance to visit a theme park version of Hogsmeade at Universal Studios next spring. I'm sure that's going to be a huge hit. Though me, I always picture Hogsmeade in the snow.
#4: Ember from Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember (with an honorable mention for Sparks, location of the second book in the series). Ember is an underground city, built as a last-ditch effort to protect humanity from a nuclear holocaust. The people living in Ember don't know that there ever was an outside world, and are completely dependent on light bulbs. Here's the opening description of Ember: "In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark. The only light came from great flood lamps mounted on the buildings and at the top of poles in the middle of the larger squares. When the lights were on, they cast a yellowish glow over the streets; people walking by threw long shadows that shortened and then stretched out again. When the lights were off, as they were between nine at night and six in the morning, the city was so dark that people might as well have been wearing blindfolds." (Chapter 1, The City of Ember) Who could read that, and not want to know more about Ember?
#5: Green Sky from the Green Sky Trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Green Sky is a city build high up in the branches of an enormous forest. The people there wear "shubas", which are garments with wide, wing-like panels. The shubas allow them to glide gently downward in Green Sky's heavy atmosphere (they use ladders and stairways to climb back up). Here's a hint of what Green Sky is like: "He stood on the narrow grundbranch, looking down hundreds of feet, through vast open spaces softly lit by filtering rays of greenish light, bordered and intersected by enormous branches, festooned with curtains of graceful Wissenvine. Shaking out the wing panels of his shuba, the long silken robe worn by all except the youngest infants, he launched himself downward into space." (Chapter 1, Below the Root) I've never forgotten Green Sky, first encountered when I was probably 10 years old. I reviewed the Green Sky Trilogy here.
And finally, here are a few honorable mentions: L. Frank Baum's Emerald City, Astrid Lindgren's Noisy Village, and Laini Taylor's Dreamdark. My fondness for these fictional towns is a testament to the power of literature.
How about you? What are your favorite fictional towns from children's literature? What other "favorites" should we discuss here at Booklights?
I've got a sore throat and sniffles, but I refuse to get sick because I am not missing the National Book Festival this year. If I have to wear the swine flu mask - so hip this season - or if my family has to bring me in on a stretcher, I am going this Saturday.
Due to circumstances beyond my scheduling control, I have had to miss the last two years and it was torture each time to know that celebrated authors were hanging out in my backyard while I was not. This time the weekend is clear, the weather looks good, the author list is golden, and I have to be there.
So what's got me so excited, other than the fact that its free, fantastic, and festivalicious?
1. The Children's Tent
During the day I can attend readings of children's authors Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, Kate DiCamillo, Shannon Hale, Craig Hatkoff, Lois Lowry, Megan McDonald, Sharon Robinson and Kadir Nelson, Charles Santore, Jon Scieszka and David Shannon, and Mo Willems. Let me repeat that last one. MO WILLEMS! I'm sure many of these other folks are wonderful speakers, and I am in awe of many of them as writers and/or illustrators. But if you haven't seen Mo Willems speak, then you have missed something pretty special. I'm a huge fan of his books and kinda him personally - though I've been trying to stay on the right side of the stalker line for a few years now. I can't help it if I keep running into him - accidentally, I swear! - at Book Expo America or the previous National Book Festival. (Probably my favorite author story ever.)
2. The Teens and Children's Tent
Here's where I'll find Teens & Children authors Judy Blume, Pat Carman, Paula Deen, Carmen Agra Deedy, Liz Kessler, Jeff Kinney, Rick Riordan, James L. Swanson and Jacqueline Woodson. These readings run at the same time as the ones in the children's tent so I'm going to have to make some tough choices. At this point I'm pretty sure that I'm going right from the Mo Willems' reading (could I ask for a photo op first? Not sure.) and going for the Rick Riordan, Jeff Kinney, and Judy Blume line-up. Yeah, you read it right - JEFF KINNEY! Kidding, all three of them are superstars in children's literature and I'm stunned that I'll be in their presence. I do have a fondness for Jeff because I've actually met him before and have my own Jeff Kinney Story. (Okay, I have two favorite author stories.)
3. The PBS Raising Readers Pavilion
Hello? Cause that's who I'm blogging for! Apparently PBS is featuring Elmo, so it looks like I'll be meeting him before my Booklights colleague Susan. They'll also have celebrity readings all day long, to which I was not invited. Okay, I'm not a celebrity but they should only hear my rendition of How Chipmunk Got His Stripes. They will also feature Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Between the Lions, plus book-based PBS KIDS favorites Clifford the Big Red Dog, WordGirl, Curious George, and Maya & Miguel
Oh, The National Book Festival also has amazing authors of adult books too. You know, ones like John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, Julia Alvarez, John Irving, Nicholas Sparks, Azar Nafisi, Michael Connelly, Gwen Ifill, Sue Monk Kidd, David Baldacci, Mary Jane Clark, and James Patterson. And I mentioned that this was all free, right? If you are in the area - and by that I mean a two hour radius - you should not miss it. Actually, forget that two hour radius guideline. If you live farther, stay with a friend. Bring some homemade chicken noodle soup and you can stay with me.
In my town, Miss Annie has a following. A big following--of babies, chess players, chapter-book readers, and parents who can chant "Alligator Pie" along with her.
Miss Annie (her real name is Annie Reuter) works in the children's department at the Westport (CT) Library. Some years back, my son and I took part in many of her toddler story times. A fifth grader now, he stops by to chat with her. So do I.
Recently, after she finished up supervising the Wednesday junior chess club, I asked Miss Annie for her latest read-aloud recommendations. Here's her list. Each book works for a group or one-on-one.
For first and second graders: Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers
For kindergartners: The Moonglow Roll-O-Rama, by Dav Pilkey
For three and four year olds: Preschool to the Rescue, written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
Miss Annie is one of a fabulous staff of book lovers in the children's section of our library. They all know information like this!
What are your local librarians recommending these days? Stop by and ask. You'll get lots of good ideas.
P.S. The full text of Dennis Lee's poem "Alligator Pie" is online at the University of Toronto Library. Click here to read it.
Stay-at-home dad Charlie, a former library assistant, shares his love of books and music with his toddler daughter. His pick is This Jazz Man, written by Karen Ehrhardt and illustrated by R.G. Roth.
Charlie says, "My soon-to-be three year old and I have fallen for This Jazz Man, a clever riff on the "This Old Man" nursery rhyme (you know, "This old man he played one...") Karen Ehrhardt's lively text offers great opportunities for kid participation, and R.G Roth's beautiful collages, in a cool, "Mad Men"-era style, feature portraits of real jazz greats like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Little capsule biographies of each of the musicians portrayed close out what is surely the grooviest counting book out there!"
Do you have a favorite book about music, or even one where the words just sound musical?
Pam and Susan K. have both written recently about reading aloud with kids (here and here). Pam asked readers about their favorite read-aloud chapter books, and received some excellent suggestions. I thought that this would be a good time to talk about the E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, another great source for family reading titles.
The E.B. White Read Aloud awards are awarded by the Association of Booksellers for Children. Here's the description from the ABC website:
"The E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, established in 2004, honor books that reflect the universal read aloud standards that were created by the work of the author E.B. White in his classic books for children: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. In the first two years of the award, a single book was selected. In 2006, in recognition of the fact that reading aloud is a pleasure at any age, the award was expanded into two categories: Picture Books, and Older Readers. Books are nominated for their universal appeal as a "terrific" books to read aloud."
The books are selected and judged by ABC Booksellers. And I, for one, think that they've been doing an excellent job. Here are the recent winners (note that the award is given for books published during the previous year, so the 2009 winners were published in 2008, etc.):
The 2009 Award for Picture Books: A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (Candlewick). A Visitor for Bear is one my all-time favorites. It's about a grumpy bear, dragged reluctantly into friendship by a determined mouse. I reviewed it here. I said: "what really made me LOVE the book is the tremendous read-aloud potential. By the second page I was reading aloud to myself in an empty house. The use of repetition, the presence of informal asides, and the varying font sizes to indicate emphasis all contribute to what is nothing less than a compulsion to read this book out loud."
The 2009 Award for Older Readers: Masterpiece by Elise Broach, illustrated by Kelly Murphy (Henry Holt). I read Masterpiece in part because it had won this award. It's about an unlikely friendship between a boy named James and a beetle named Marvin. While Masterpiece is about art forgery, and Marvin's adventures out in the wide world, at it's heart it is a story of friendship. My review is here. I said "Masterpiece is wonderful! It's the type of book that ought to become a classic over time, set alongside The Borrowers and A Cricket in Times Square... This is a must-read title for children and adults."
The 2008 Award for Picture Books: When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach, illustrated by David Small (Simon & Schuster). This one, I must confess, I have not read. But fellow Cybils organizer Kerry from Shelf Elf reviewed it back in 2007. She said: "All kids love free stuff. A lot of kids love dinosaurs. So, for many kids, a world where dinosaurs came free with everything would more or less equal total bliss. A picture book that is cute, clever and charmingly illustrated is for me, more or less total bliss." It sounds fun, doesn't it? I'll have to give this one a look.
The 2008 Award for Older Readers: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). This book is an exciting adventure story, filled with puzzles, for middle grade readers. It's about a group of talented children recruited to work as investigators for a mysterious benefactor. As I noted in my review, the book has a bit of an old-fashioned feel, but it's also funny on multiple levels. My review of this title is here, and of the sequel is here. I am eagerly awaiting book 3.
The 2007 Award For Picture Books: Houndsley and Catina by James Howe, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay (Candlewick Press). I haven't read this title, but another book in the series, Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time, was shortlisted last year in the Easy Reader category of the Cybils, for which I was a judge. I liked it very much. Cybils panelist Andi from A Wrung Sponge reviewed it, saying: "Howe's language is so poetic in spite of the limited vocabulary and concrete imagery that beginning readers require... I find this book to be a gem that will hold readers of all ages in the magic. It's as sweet as a read-aloud as it is a beginning reader. You must find this and snap it up!"
The 2007 Award For Older Readers: Alabama Moon by Watt Key (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). I read Alabama Moon earlier this year, because one of my blog readers recommended it to me. It's about a 10-year old boy named Moon who is raised alone in the woods by his survivalist father. When his father dies, he has to learn to interact with other people. It's an excellent adventure story, great for boys, one that is also genuinely moving. I think that what makes this book a good read-aloud title is the strength and uniqueness of Moon's voice. My review is here.
As you can see, the ABC Booksellers have an excellent track record in picking fine titles for this award. To see the E.B. White Read Aloud Award titles from 2004-2006, click here. What titles do you think will make the E.B. White Read Aloud shortlists for 2010?
When I opened my Email on Tuesday to find Gina' invitation to be a guest author at Booklights, I was giddy. What an honor it is for me not only to be a Booklights blogger, but also to rub (virtual) elbows with the women I consider my blogging mentors and idols.
As you might expect, I love books and have been a lifelong reader. It wasn't until my daughter was born, almost eight years ago, that I rediscovered children's books. More specifically, that special daily connection with my daughter over a story (or two or three). Ironically enough, I don't have any memories of listening to bedtime stories. My first reading memories come from trips to the library. I remember my elementary school library exactly. If the school still existed, I could take you straight to where the Lois Lowry books were! Ditto the Encyclopedia Brown books in the Arbutus branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.
My dad is the book lover, and nearly every room in the house has at least a handful of books. My mom has never been a big reader - though she'll read the newspaper or pick up a magazine. My brothers, like my mom, have always taken a more functional approach to reading: we read because we need to. My brothers didn't like it, and at times they struggled, but they knew it must be important because Mom and Dad said we needed to do it!
Each of those reading personalities are never far from my mind, whether I'm helping a new reader or thinking about the "ideal reader" for a book I just finished reading. Those same experiences are the underpinnings of the Reading Tub, a children's literacy nonprofit I launched in 2003. Learning to read begins at home, so our goal is to help adults engage kids with books even before they recognize their letters.
Literacy and paying forward a love of reading is a rewarding vocation for me. I love volunteering as a reading mentor and sharing news, book reviews, and reading ideas at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, the Reading Tub's blog. While I'm here at Booklights, I will share ideas for helping developing readers; ways to use classroom strategies at home; tips for exploring (or exploiting) the library; and a book recommendation or two. I welcome your thoughts, ideas, and feedback, too.
Thinking about Susan's post on reading to a wiggly preschooler, reminded me that there's an easier time ahead in reading to a snuggly elementary schooler. After a long day at school being a big kid, there's nothing better that getting book time with mom or dad. Picture books remain wonderful choices, but now chapter books become a healthy part of the reading menu. Certainly any book is fine. But there are some that practically beg to be read aloud, especially those where the reading level is a bit high for the intended audience. Here are a few of those classics:
Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne
I still hold onto a memory from fifth grade where a teacher saw me reading House at Pooh Corner and complimented me on choosing such a challenging book. These days we think of Winnie-the-Pooh as a preschooler thing, an idea pushed forward by the whole Disneyfication of the characters. It's a crying shame. The watered-down versions of the classic books ruin our appetites for the real thing. Fight back by reading aloud the true version with it's melodious language, gentle illustrations, and sophisticated story-telling.
Jenny and the Cat Club
by Ester Averill
When New York Review Children's Collection republished this book among other classics, I felt like I had found an old friend. I can't say that I had been searching dusty old bookshops for a copy. To be honest, I had forgotten all about this book until I saw the cover. And there was Jenny, the shy black cat with the red scarf. Oh, how I had missed her! The story follows a shy, little cat who wants to be part of the Cat Club and finds friends, adventure, and courage in their world. This book and the other Jenny books are perfect read-alouds for the younger set because the language and plot are simply - yet wonderfully - done.
Paddington Treasury
by Michael Bond
Paddington Bear has also received the Winnie-the-Pooh treatment in recent years (what is it about bears?) with a ton of simplified boardbooks and adaptations. Again, you need to go back to the original to capture the heart of these stories of a bear found at a train station who goes on to make every day into exciting adventures as he bumbles along. The tales are wonderful for elementary school children, but the old-fashioned language and references can make reading the books a struggle. As a read-aloud, however, it's magical.
What are your favorite read-aloud books?
Greetings, Booklights readers! What fun it is to be visiting here over the next few weeks. I love talking about books and reading. Here's a little bio:
Susan Thomsen writes about children's books at her blog, Chicken Spaghetti, which she named after a favorite Southern casserole. Once upon a time she worked at The New Yorker in the Goings On About Town section, and later reviewed New York theater for an online city guide. She is the author of Elvis: A Tribute to the King, a gift book in the shape of a record. A member of the Authors Guild and PEN American Center, Susan lives in Connecticut with her husband, 10-year-old son, and various pets, including an orange tabby cat, two chickens, and a garter snake named Snakey. Her latest favorite children's book is The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County, and she is thrilled to be guest-blogging for Booklights.
What's your latest favorite kids' book?
We have an artist to thank for this week's Show and Tale pick. Chris Bishop, painter and PBS KIDS Interactive Creative Director, is a long-time fan of the 1943 classic The Little House, written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton and winner of the Caldecott Medal.
Chris says, "My mother, Carol, was a teacher so we had many great books growing up. As I kid I loved the colors and fine detail of the illustrations of the changing world around the house. I think it's what made me become an artist."
What books have inspired you, either by the illustrations or the colors or style of the work?
As school starts, and summer reading season draws to a close, I've run across a number of articles from around the Kidlitosphere (the universe of children's and young adult book bloggers) that I thought readers here would find of interest. [Special thanks to Terry Doherty from The Reading Tub for pointing out some of these links.]
First up, Susan Stephenson (aka The Book Chook) and her team have produced a new installment of Literacy Lava, an electronic magazine dedicated to encouraging young readers. Here's the description of the second Literacy Lava from Susan: "Literacy Lava 2 is a free magazine that will bring you ideas: for motivating reluctant readers, for literacy on the go, for developing the imagination muscle, for linking math and literacy, for having a pirate party and a book picnic, for rhymes, games, activities and more!" You can download Literacy Lava from here.
Booklights' own Gina Montefusco brought to my attention a recent article by Phuong Ly from Catalyst Chicago. Here's the gist: "In libraries and bookstores, African-American boys are missing, both as characters in books and as readers. The two absences are related and feed off each other, according to literacy experts: If young African-American males don't see themselves in books, they aren't inclined to become readers, and if publishers perceive that black boys don't read, they won't approve books that might interest them." Also important: "Many librarians and teachers say that publishing more books for African Americans isn't merely a matter of political correctness. It's crucial to lowering the achievement gap."
Speaking of boys, Trevor Cairney at Literacy, families, and learning shares some thoughts about getting boys into reading through non-fiction. He says: "For many boys (like girls) the narrative form is the best way into literacy, but some boys are reluctant to read narratives... So we should seek to explore any textual form available to introduce them to reading and then gently push them to explore other forms of reading, as well as to read in more sustained ways and for all imaginable purposes." He gives several suggestions. He adds, however, "our aim in using factual forms of reading isn't meant to be an alternative to reading literature. Eventually, we should aim to have our boys loving literature too." Trevor continues with another post about encouraging kids to read what he calls "environmental print", or non-book sources of literacy. He suggests keeping an eye for print in your child's world, and pointing it out when you run across it. [Image by Taliesin, shared at MorgueFile.]
At Getting Kids Reading, Joyce Grant has a nice little post about respecting the reading bubble. She says: "When kids are actively reading, they create a quiet bubble around themselves. It's a bubble they fill with the fantasy creations they imagine as they read. It's a bubble so necessary for a reader, and yet so easily burst. If you catch your child reading, remember that bubble." I know I love my reading bubble, and find it very irritating when anyone disturbs me when I'm deep into a book.
Dawn Morris at Moms Inspire Learning writes about why parents should read young adult fiction, in the context of a review of a particular title. She says "Sometimes, books raise issues parents are not comfortable with, but they can be used to discuss important topics that never would have come up otherwise. Open communication is important, especially these days... We can't live our lives for our children. They need to make their own mistakes. But we can and should find ways to open the lines of communication, and to share our thoughts, emotions, and values. A great way to do that is to keep track of what your tweens and teens are reading. It's a wonderful way to make connections that otherwise might have gotten lost in your busy lives." I completely agree with Dawn on this point.
At Literacy Launchpad, Amy suggests that when families go on vacation, they make an extra effort NOT to take a vacation from reading. She's looking in part for inspiration from others, because she finds that she has trouble keeping up her son's reading routine when they travel. She says: "In the future I would like to be much more intentional in making books a part of our vacations, just like they are a part of our normal, everyday life at home", and shares some ideas. Literacy Launchpad also ran a recent guest post by Adrienne Carlson about ways that parents can help children to improve literacy at home.
At Throwing Marshmallows, homeschooling mom Stephanie recently wrote in response to a School Library Journal article about graphic novels. She notes: "Graphic novels (along with comic books) are wonderful for emerging readers, especially for right-brained kids. The visual aspects of the book help them formulate the picture of the story in their minds, which helps ease the process of translating the words. Not to mention that they are just plain fun." Stephanie's post isn't long, but it's a nice reminder to try out different types of books, in search of books that work well for your kids.
On a related note, another homeschooling mom, Becky from Farm School, recently mentioned that her sons are so taken with Calvin & Hobbes books that she's devised a "Calvin and Hobbes Spelling and Vocabulary" lesson plan for this year. She shares a sample vocabulary list from the comic strips, and it's remarkably advanced.
In case any of you missed it, there was a nice New York Times article by Motoko Rich a couple of weeks ago about using a reading workshop approach (in which kids choose their own books to read) to encourage young readers. While the approach itself isn't new, it was great to see these ideas discussed in the NY Times. I've seen various responses to the article, the most recent one by Karen Strong at Musings of a Novelista. Karen says: "I do like the idea of kids being able to choose some of the books they read. It can help them become life-long readers. Maybe a lot of the kids and teens think of books they read in class as "boring." Maybe it turns them off from reading as adults. Giving the choices may help them enjoy books more."
And, of course, Pam and Susan both had excellent posts about nurturing young readers here at Booklights last week. On Wednesday, Susan wrote about the ups and downs of reading aloud. She offered practical advice for parents who might be disappointed by their young kids' unwillingness to sit still for read-aloud. Her conclusion: "Go easy on yourself and your children when it comes to reading aloud. And enjoy the wonderful moments when they happen." Then yesterday, Pam used her Thursday Three feature to offer reading help for "the three people involved in your child's reading development - the teacher, the child, and yourself." I especially liked her strong suggestion that parents try to avoid The Reading Game (parental competition over kids' reading levels and books).
I hope you find some of these links useful. If you'd like more children's literacy and reading news, I hope that you'll check out this week's Children's Literacy Round-Up at The Reading Tub (scheduled for publication today).
My kids went back to school this week - finally - and it made me think about how parents could help their child's reading during the school year. I've broken it down to the three people involved in your child's reading development - the teacher, the child, and yourself. Here are ways to help each.
1. Helping the Teacher
With class sizes growing and budgets shrinking, teachers need the help of parents more than ever. While you can't present the state-regulated curriculum, any parent can help with building reading skills. If you're good at reading aloud, offer to come in and read to the kids once in a while. Better yet, ask about that state-regulated curriculum and find books at your library that can support it. When my children were studying Native Americans, I brought in folktales to read. How Chipmunk Got His Stripes is one of my favorites. When they learned about insects, I brought in Farfallina and Marcel. You can also use the storytime to bring more depth to issues the teachers don't have time to cover in class. During the 2008 election, I was happy to share Grace for President.
There may be other ways you can help if you're not comfortable being a storytime presenter. Our school had a pull-out program for children who needed a little extra help with reading. Volunteer parents would bring the kids out in the hall for fifteen minutes, select beginning reader books, read along with them, and send the books home for them to practice in the week. This take-home reading program worked very well in giving kids a little extra attention and needed very little training. Volunteer parents also came in on occasion to help the children write stories, to run small book groups, and to prepare materials.
2. Helping Your Child
Other than potty training, I've found nothing that has tested my patience on a continual basis more than the beginning reading stage. There are wonderful successes, often followed by the third laborious rendering of the word then. It can be very frustrating for both of you. So you can help your child by remembering that she will benefit most in her reading growth by mixing up the type of reading she does. Books that are easy for her will reinforce the feeling that reading can be just pure fun. Books that are in her comfort zone will give her confidence of her skills. Books that are a challenge will push her learning to the next level. In fact, while this approach seems somewhat natural for the early reading stage, it applies throughout a person's reading life even to adulthood. It is one of many reasons that kids (and grown-ups) are never too old for picture books. Please don't be one of those parents I see in the library telling their first graders that they can't bring home a "baby book." A better approach is to let that first grader bring home some books that he chooses, and some more challenging books that you choose.
3. Helping Yourself
My last sentence leads nicely to one of the main ways that you can help yourself, and that is to avoid The Reading Game. You know it. It starts with something like, "We can't tear Jacob away from Harry Potter. What is your child reading?" This parental competition starts early ("Lizzie was smiling at us at two weeks) and goes on ("Jamal made All-Stars again!") and on ("Well, Reggie is going to Harvard, but I'm sure that's a good school too."). You'll find the competition in many factors of a child's growth, but verbal skills and reading level seem to dominate. In my thirteen years as a parent, no one has ever asked me if my kids can do long division or sing in tune or climb a tree. But from the first year, I've been asked to compare what words they were saying and then what words they recognized and then what words they were reading until it was all about reading and levels and books.
There is only one way to win this game, and that is not to play. Don't let yourself get sucked into the competition, don't let yourself feel bad, and don't let yourself push your kid based on these conversations. Also, don't let yourself get too proud either, because kids have a way of surprising you. My oldest daughter had a slow start to reading, made methodical progress in first grade, and suddenly made a huge leap in reading level. Now at thirteen, she's an excellent and voracious reader. My younger daughter started reading at four years old, and plodded along thereafter. Now in fifth grade, she's still a slow reader which has made her much less interested and less strong a reader than her sister.
My point is that The Reading Game is pretty meaningless anyway, so it doesn't pay to take it seriously. To be fair, there are a lot of honest exchange between parents about what their kids are doing that is helpful in knowing when to give a little push and when to wait it out. But I trust that you know the difference. One makes you feel connected to another mom or dad, and the other makes you feel like a failure as a mom or dad. Looking for those connections and avoiding those competitions will be one of the best ways that you can help yourself.
What's my favorite part of the day? That's easy.
It's at night, when I get to read books with my son. I love when he snuggles in close to listen. I love when he asks questions. I love when he discovers a book for the first time. I love spending time with him in such a special way.
But, it wasn't always that way. And that's okay too.
When he was younger, he wouldn't hold still for anything, let alone a book. He wiggled. He squirmed. He was totally uninterested. It was tough on a parent like me who had been waiting for years until she had kids of her own to read to. It was hard not to feel like I was doing something wrong.
All kids develop differently, even when it comes to reading aloud.
I frequently hear from parents of kids under three years old who are trying to read to their children but find it extremely frustrating. Children at that age are wiggly, active and have trouble sitting still for anything.
Instead of reading regular picture books, try ones with only a few words per page. Read only one or two short books a night. Songs, nursery rhymes and short poems work very well with that age. So does singing a book. Also, give touch-and-feel and lift-the-flap books a try. Those kinds of books engage children directly and help teach them about books and what they're used for.
As much as you may have dreamed of reading The Cat in the Hat to your children, it's okay to wait a few years until they're ready to hear it.
The main thing to remember is to do what works for your kids. Some three year olds can sit still for a lengthy picture book, while others can't make it through anything much longer than a board book. If you have a seven year old who loves to hear picture books, go right ahead. If your four year old is enjoying chapter books, then by all means, give them a try. If your twelve year old wants to listen to you read a chapter a night, take advantage of that. There aren't any rules or rights and wrongs to reading aloud.
And recognize that it won't always go perfectly. Sometimes your child will be in the mood to be read to and it will be a magical moment for you both. Others times they might feel tired, sick or bored (or you might) and it just doesn't work out as well. And if you're a working parent like me, there are nights where you're just not going to be able to have that time together. That's okay too. Last night, I worked late at the library, and came home to find my son sound asleep. His dad read to him, and I'm glad they got to share that.
Go easy on yourself and your children when it comes to reading aloud. And enjoy the wonderful moments when they happen.
What have your reading aloud experiences been like? I'd love to hear about them.
If a garbage truck could talk, what would it say? Make friends with a smelly, sassy garbage truck with I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan.
Mom-blogger Laura's a fan: "A night in the life of an NYC garbage truck, including an alphabet of gross trash ('P is for puppy poop!'). My boy loves it. Also an eco message. Best book for an urban mom like me!"
What books with unexpected main characters do you love? Any other truck books to recommend?
Continuing my post on favorite series from last week, I've spent a bit of time thinking about two types of series books. The first type of series consists of multiple books that follow one primary story arc. Examples include the Inkheart series, the Percy Jackson books, and the Lord of the Rings series. While there are, of course, multiple plot streams within each of these series, the books are meant to be read together, to tell a single, epic, story. Clues are planted in one book that aren't explained until the end. There are sometimes major cliffhangers between books. When I wrote about series books last week, I limited my discussion to series with more than three titles, to keep the number of favorites under consideration manageable. But obviously, most trilogies fall within the spectrum of these single story arc series. In general, many fantasy titles fall within this single arc, multiple-book format.
The other type of series is more episodic. Susan alluded to this in her original post, when she talked about kids who need to read even the Magic Treehouse books in order (even though there's no strong continuing arc across the books). An episodic series (like the Captain Underpants, Junie B. Jones, and Encyclopedia Brown books, to name a few) might have dozens of titles. While the books generally all feature the same primary characters, each book has an independent storyline. This is commonly observed in mystery series (for kids and adults). The same characters solve each mystery, and the story is usually wrapped up within the course of each book.
Of course the difference between these two types of series is not always black and white. For example, in many episodic series (though by no means all) the characters experience personal growth and/or changes in their personal lives from book to book. This keeps the series from becoming flat, and adds an additional incentive for readers to pick up the next title. Still, there's nothing stopping a reader from picking up and reading a title from the middle of the series - the plot won't be confusing.
Also, just because a series ends after a few books doesn't mean that it was a single arc series. All of the books might be only loosely connected, and able to be read out of order. The end point of the series could be arbitrary. It's also not uncommon for something to start out as a standalone book, and then have one of more sequels added. By definition, such books weren't originally published to tell a single story. I don't think that we can expect them to hold up together as one, consistent story arc when they weren't planned that way (though the books may still be wonderful as individual books).
Still, despite some blurriness in this classification, I do think that this breakdown of single story arc vs. episodic is helpful in thinking about series books. The different formats serve different needs. Episodic series are a huge part of various markets, from early readers to adult mysteries. There's something satisfying about reading bite-sized books, at one's own leisure, and then having new books, with familiar characters, become available later. But there's nothing like a tightly-connected continuing series for generating excitement among readers. Harry Potter and Twilight together have created thousands upon thousands of avid readers, in part because of the suspense from book to book, the compelling need to know how the series will end.
I've always remembered something that Rick Riordan said about this. He wrote on his blog, on the eve of publication of Harry Potter 7: "The series is still wonderful and I will be sad to see Harry go. On the other hand, I hope Rowling sticks to her guns and ends the series at seven. Nothing should go on forever. Even the best series must have a solid, strong ending. Again, I know many would argue with this. There are readers who would happily buy Harry Potter #28 years from now, but I think seven is plenty."
It seems to me that Riordan is talking more about the single story arc series than about episodic series like the Magic Treehouse books. For new readers who want to read 50 books from the same series, I would argue that it's great to have those 50 books available. And for me as a reader of adult mystery series, I hope that my favorite authors will keep those new mysteries coming.
But for series based on one primary story, like the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books, I think there's real value in limiting the number of books. One of my favorite things about the last Harry Potter book was the way that Rowling hearkened all the way back to events from the first book. She made it clear that she had planned out the whole series in some detail. Stephenie Meyer did the same thing with the last Twilight book. This approach makes the reader feel cared for and respected, in a way that a more haphazard approach to ending a series can't.
What do you all think? Have you noticed this divide in series books? Do you favor one type or another? Or do you like different ones for different times? And do you have any suggestions for a better name for these single story-arc series that I'm talking about?
Penquins ABC
by Kevin Schafer
If you're ready for a break from the ABC books with apples, balls and cats then have I got a treat for you. Real photos of penguins and their habitat fill this educational boardbook with A for Antarctica, B for Baby, and C for Chinstrap Penguin. Beautiful photos of the world's most amusing birds make this title more fun for adults than your standard boardbook.
The Emperor's Egg
by Martin Jenkins, illustrated by Jane Chapman
A story of the world's best father, the Emperor penguin, who incubates the egg of his mate for two months in the harsh winter of Antarctica. Oh, and can't leave his duty to eat since he's holding the egg on his feet. And you thought you had it rough at the mall with only a stroller and a pack of fruit snacks. Amateur-time. Anyway, the book is educational but in such a fun way that no one will ever notice. Kid-friendly text and beautiful illustrations make this book a delight.
Playful Little Penguins
by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
Cute story about penguins playing on the ice, complete with their sleds, scarfs, and hats. The refrain has a songlike quality: "Playful little penguins in the wintry weather; that's how penguins like to move, waddling 'round together." The last part changes as the penguins do different things along the way. The drama comes when they find a baby seal and keep her safe until her mama arrives. An interesting narrative choice given that seals, ahem, eat penguins. But not this time. In case the scarves didn't clue you in, there's nothing nonfiction about this penguin title, but it's a fun book.
As your kids head off to school, make sure they have one very important school supply: a library card.
A library card is more than a piece of plastic. It's usually the first tangible thing a child has in their own name. It gives them a sense of ownership and independence and it opens doors for children in so many wonderful ways.
One of my favorite parts of being a children's librarian is giving out those very first library cards. I love watching their faces light up with pride as they receive something that's all their own. Here's what I say:
"Take a good look at the children's reference desk. You're never interrupting a librarian at the desk... we're sitting here waiting for you to ask us a question. Come to us if you need help with homework, or the computer, or finding a book. We'd love to recommend a good book or series for you. No question is ever silly or unimportant."
September is National Library Card sign-up month. It started in 1987 to meet a challenge proposed by then Secretary of Education William Bennett who said: "Let's have a national campaign... every child should obtain a library card- and use it."
Does everyone in your family have a library card? Do you remember getting your first library card? How old were you? How about your children? When did they get theirs?
What would you say to a child getting their first library card?
Anything by Shel Silverstein is pure magic, but his classic The Giving Tree holds a special place on a lot of bookshelves. Today's pick comes from mom Leigh:
"I love the message of the book and sharing it with my own kids," Leigh said.
Is The Giving Tree a favorite of yours? What Shel Silverstein gems have stuck with you over the years? My favorite of his is Where the Sidewalk Ends, and I always think of the girl who wanted the pancake in the middle of a huge stack, and the wonderful welcome to the book: "If you are a dreamer, come in ..."
It has been another fun month of reading the many, many suggestions for great books for kids recommended by the Booklights gang. Jen started us off with several delightful fractured fairy tales. These are great for children who already know the original versions, as they best understand the humor in the new versions. 
My personal favorite modern fairy tale is Sleeping Ugly, by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Diane Stanley.
And Susan's suggestion of reading a book for a second time that you loved during the first time you read it got tremendous response! The novels/chapter books that were suggested also provided us with a wonderful list of books to read aloud to children. Just because you have a child who is able to read on his or her own, please don't stop that habit of reading aloud. There is little more reassuring to a child than the time spent with a parent over an engrossing story.
Many of the books that were mentioned have also been recorded on tape or digitally. Check them out from your library for the family to listen to as dinner is being prepared or you drive to school.
I love Gina's new Tuesday feature of Show and Tale. I have been traveling in the Pacific Northwest over the past few weeks and have asked folks all along the way about their favorite children's books. Now, you must realize that my southern accent caused a bit of a snigger when I said "Show and Tale!" But I initiated wonderful conversations with the simple question.
One of my favorites was the visit with author Jean Davies Okimoto. She talked about The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, by Dubose Heyward and illustrated by Marjorie Flack (who later won a Caldecott Honor).
Although first published in 1939, this is a very progressive book. Jeanie remembers how she knew this was a tale with a truly feminist perspective. She noticed the ranges of bunny colors and the inclusiveness of the story.
And if you check out Jeanie's favorite children's book, also check out the latest book she wrote, Winston of Churchill: One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming, written by Jean Davis Okimoto and illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell.
The book brings forward concerns for the environment in an interesting way for children and their parents.
Next week, I head to Glasgow, Scotland to attend the symposium "Beyond Borders: Art, narrative and culture in picturebooks." I hope to return home with lots of new insights into picturebooks and to be able to introduce some international favorites.
Happy Reading, Ann
I enjoyed Susan's recent post about reading by number. Judging by the comments, lots of people have a strong preference for series books. Personally, I am compulsive about reading series books in order, because I hate having any surprises spoiled. When I read adult titles, I enjoy mystery series. Even though each book might wrap up an individual puzzle, I don't like the character development to be spoiled for me, so I'll rarely read those out of order. And of course for a series like the Harry Potter books, that follows a dramatic arc across all of the books, I think that it's critical to read in order. I tend to prefer the original order in which a series is published over any arbitrary changes to follow chronological order - I'm happy to take in the information in the order that the author intended.
Susan's post got me to thinking about my favorite series reads. For the sake of simplifying the discussion, I'm going to define a series as having more than three books (trilogies are a topic for another day). After mulling this over, I came up with a few simple rules for identifying a series as a favorite. I just ask myself, did I eagerly read through all of the books (either during a short time, if the series was finished when I came across it, or as the books became available, for series that were in progress)? Did I rush out to the store to get any new installments? Did I, if applicable, buy the books in hardcover, or go to the trouble to reserve them from the library? Do I ever re-read the books? If so, then this was (or is) a favorite series.
Using this as a guideline, my favorite series as a child were:
- The Five books by Enid Blyton
- The Trixie Belden series by Julie Campbell/Kathryn Kenny
- The Melendy Family books by Elizabeth Enright (see reviews of the first two books here and here
- The Maida books by Inez Haynes Irwin
- The Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
- The Anne of Green Gables books by L. M. Montgomery
- The Borrowers books by Mary Norton
- The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Of more recently published series for children and young adults, I've enjoyed and eagerly read all of the books of:
- The Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins (reviews here, here, and here)
- The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane (review here)
- The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- The Tomorrow series by John Marsden (series review here)
- The Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer (reviews here, here, here, here)
- The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan (see reviews here and here)
- The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
I may not consider all of these books great literature, though many are. A few of the childhood favorites, in particular, haven't held up for me as an adult. But all of these books met my stated criteria above for favorite series at the time that I read them. I distinctly remember grabbing up multiple Trixie Belden books from the bookstore as a kid. I still have all of my copies of the Maida books. And I'm certain that 40 years from now, I'll still have all of my Harry Potters. Other series are on target for inclusion in future favorites lists, but don't yet have more than three books published (The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins comes to mind, for example). See also the books in my series books featuring adventurous girls post. I'm expecting great things from Theodosia Throckmorton.
In case any of you are interested, I've posted a list of some of my favorite adult mystery series on my personal blog. I can think of several other series (for both adults and children) for which I went through three or five or ten books, but have let the last few books sit, unread. I'm not listing those here.
But that made me wonder: what is it that keeps a series from losing my interest? Obviously, I have to care about the characters. No matter how good the plotting is, no matter how interesting the setting, I'm not going to follow characters that I don't care about through more than 2 or 3 books. And the books have to keep surprising me in some way. Humor helps, too, though it's not 100% necessary. But I think that what it really boils down to is that the author has to have captured a world that I want to visit. This world can be anything from an old-fashioned house in the country to a camp for half-blood Olympians. But if it feels authentic, and feels like a place where I want to spend time, and is populated with people I care about, then I'll come back. There's a whole other discussion to be had about series books that have a dramatic arc, and are planned to end after five or seven books, vs. ongoing series that have no particular end in site. That, too, is a topic for another day.
What about you all? What are your favorite series titles? What makes you come back to a particular series time and time again?
This month Color Online asked book bloggers to read and review books featuring people of color. The Color Me Brown Challenge has pulled together more than eighty reviews so far, and hopes in this last week to reach one hundred titles. Well, here are three more:
Minji’s Salon
by Eun-hee Choung
This book comes to Kane/Miller publishing from South Korea, but it could just as easily be set in any of the bustling Korean neighborhoods in America. While her mother is getting her hair colored and styled, Minji follows suit with her own customer — a black dog — and in her own way. The child’s desire to do grown-up things is universal, and is captured well in this simply worded picture book. The illustrations are engaging, especially when capturing the expressions of Minji and her mom. Enjoyable, lovely book.
The Secret Oliva Told Me
by N. Joy, illustrations by Nancy Devard
Olivia tells her friend a secret, and the friend lets the secret slip out. From there the secret passes along and gets bigger and bigger. In the end, the friend has to tell Olivia the truth and apologize, because it was the right thing to do. The story is good, though I could have done without the rhyming couplets. The cover is gripping with its black silhouettes with white accents against the red brick wall. The silhouette style continues throughout the book with the addition of a red balloon that gets bigger and bigger throughout —representing the secret that is also growing. The end of the book includes a section to discuss the story —including what secrets kids shouldn't keep. The artwork is simply wonderful, especially in capturing a diverse group of children only in silhouette.
Mama’s Saris
by Pooja Makhijani, illustrated by Elena Gomez
As a little girl turns seven, she watches her mother unpack saris to wear to her birthday party. While helping her mother choose just the right one for the special day, she pleads to wear a sari herself. Knowing that young girls like her aren’t old enough for the lovely garments, she reflects on their beauty. But sometimes birthday girls get special treats, and in this case it is getting to dress up like mama. A sweet book universal in a daughter’s desire to be like her mother —whether it's walking in her high heels or wearing her bindi. Reference is made to the mother’s every day working clothes, implying the that the story takes place outside of India. A helpful glossary makes the Hindi words accessible to all readers, while beautiful illustrations bring magic to the story.
For more choices, take a look at this list of 50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Read put together by the Cooperative Children's Book Center.
A few weeks ago I wrote that I was a little jealous of a young patron who was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Truth be told, it wasn't just that he was reading it for the first time... it was that he was able to read it at all. He had started the series only a month earlier and had already worked his way through nearly all seven books. It was such a contrast from all the years I waited for the entire series to be published.
Would the series have been so successful if the books had been published closer together or farther apart? I don't think it would have mattered. Series books are episodic by their very nature. At one point in time, nearly every series ever published is unfinished... but we tend to forget that when we have the whole series in front of us. For example, I remember mentioning the torturous wait for Harry Potter 6 to my boss at the time. She responded by telling me how difficult it had been for her to wait for the whole Lord of the Rings series to be published.
I think that the long agonizing wait actually made me appreciate the Harry Potter series more. I analyzed, thought about and puzzled over each book for years while waiting for the next one. Each book was a treat to savor, because I knew it would be years before I would get the next installment. (All of this is in retrospect, of course. At the time, the waiting made me crazy.)
On the other hand, there's also the sheer joy of being able to pick up the next book in a series (any series) right away. It lets you continue living in the author's magical world for just a bit longer and it helps with continuity. My mom read the first few Harry Potter books as they came out, but they didn't do much for her at the time. She kept forgetting the characters and plot lines... and reached the fourth book without being quite sure she knew who You-Know-Who was. After all the books were published, she read the whole series together and found it a far more enjoyable experience. The intricacies of the story were much easier for her to follow.
Sometimes, we may not even realize we're reading a series. A teenage patron recently showed me her summer reading log, and I noticed she had given a very low rating to Dark Whispers by Bruce Coville. I asked if she had enjoyed the other two books in the Unicorn Chronicles. She replied by saying she had no idea Dark Whispers was the third in a series... but that it would explain an awful lot.
I've also talked to people who claim not to mind reading out of sequence. There are kids who will read whichever book happens to be on the shelf at the library. For some series, it really doesn't matter which order you read them in. Usually, I just recommend reading the first book published before reading the rest. But I always wonder about kids who read, for example, Harry Potter #6, then #2, then #7. Are they getting anything out of the books? Does it make any sense?
On the other end of the spectrum, I frequently see kids who love to read in order. No matter the series, whether it's the Magic Tree House or Geronimo Stilton, they want to read every book according to its number. For these kids, there's nothing more valuable than a good series database.
Sometimes, the numbers themselves aren't entirely straight forward. Let's take the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder as an example. When I was reading the books, they were numbered in this order: #1 Little House in the Big Woods, #2 Little House on the Prairie, #3 Farmer Boy... etc. That has since changed, and the current numbers on the sides of the books are: #1 Little House in the Big Woods, #2 Farmer Boy, #3 Little House on the Prairie.
I had a young patron tell me recently how much she had enjoyed Little House in the Big Woods, but #2 (Farmer Boy) made her stop reading the series. Sometimes, I think in the quest to be chronological, publishers can sometimes leave a good story by the wayside. As for how to number the series, I think this list is the best.
How do you like to read a series? Slowly and methodically over time, or in one big gulp? In order or out of order? Has chronological numbering versus publication date ever been an issue for you in a series you've read? Have you ever waited for a series to be fully published before you started it?
Today's Show and Tale comes from Kathleen, a mom who picked Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny. Brown and illustrator Clement Hurd, well loved for Goodnight Moon, created another classic with this sweet tale.
"It's a wonderful way to let your child know that you'd search to the ends of the earth for her," Kathleen said.
Have you read The Runaway Bunny? What are some other comforting books that you and your child love?
I've run across several recent posts from around the Kidlitosphere about encouraging young readers. I thought that I would share some of them here today.
At Moms Inspire Learning, Dawn Morris has a post about learning from Cinderella. It's actually a two-part piece, but the second part is the one that talks about books and reading. Dawn recaps the reasons why she feels "that reading is the most precious gift you can give to your child", and explains "if your daughter plays with princesses, you might be concerned that she'll focus on outer beauty alone. However, if your child reads a lot, she'll be a lot more likely to focus on the interaction between the dolls instead." I have to tell you, when I was a kid, I played with a set of US President figurines whenever I was at my grandparents' house. I didn't know anything about the Presidents, but I made my own paper dolls (of girls) in similar sizes, and just made up my own stories using my paper and plastic figures. For me, a reader pretty much from birth, it was always about the interactions.
Speaking of playing, the Book Chook (Susan Stephenson) has a nice two-part post about Literacy in the Playground (part 1, part 2). Susan notes: "Recently, I became concerned that some of the games (that kids play on the playground), particularly the skipping and clapping chants and rhymes, are not as prevalent as they used to be. I know there are many kids who enjoy them, or would enjoy them if they had access to them, so I decided to search for, and publish some." With help from friends around the Kidlitosphere, she shares a variety of suggestions (games, chants, etc.).
At Literacy, families and learning, Trevor Cairney suggests chapter books for younger children (for family read-aloud). He starts with tips on identifying whether or not your five to seven-year-old is ready to listen to chapter books, and then gets into reasons why reading chapter books together is a good idea. I especially liked this bit: "chapter books will enable you to build an even richer shared literary history with your children. Shared books will become part of your shared history within the family, and more broadly, they will help to connect your children to a literary culture that others will share with them." I think that people who don't have that shared literary culture miss out on things.
Bianca Schultz of The Children's Book Review recently published a lovely guest post from Andrea Ross of Just One More Book!! Andrea, mother of two book-loving daughters, writes from a parent's perspective about "the ways reading aloud to our children benefits ourselves as parents, our families and our relationships with each other." That's right - she focuses not on what's in it for the kids, but what's in it for the parents. For example: "The cuddly intimacy that it prompts is an obvious but overlooked benefit of taking time each day to read aloud to our little ones - regardless of how big said little ones may be!" I consider this a must-read post for parents.
Monica Edinger (who blogs at Educating Alice) recently linked to a New York Times Papercuts Blog post about surviving school summer reading lists. Julie Just reports: ""Summer reading? Good. Assigned reading? Bad." That's how Lisa Von Drasek, a children's librarian at the Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan, sums up her criticism of many summer reading lists: they're simply too short and too weighed down by good-for-you classics." I thought that this paired well with a recent guest post that our own Pam Coughlan wrote for Foreword Magazine's Shelf Space blog about summer reading. Pam said: "To me, a Summer Reading List is a selection of books that parents and kids might not otherwise know about pulled together in an easy format. So when those kids and parents come to the library and are looking for something to read--and they do ask that vaguely--the parent and librarians can direct them to some vetted books that will hopefully hold their interest." I also liked Pam's conclusion: "I believe in Summer Reading and lists and prizes. And I believe in lazy reading and informal book clubs and finishing the latest Gossip Girls book. There's room for both."
At Parents and Kids Reading Together, Cathy Puett Miller shares tips on making up for lost time, and getting into the habit of reading together when kids are older (10+). She begins: "Some families, in the midst of their whirlwind of life, never really got into the reading together habit when your children were young. It's so easy to become distracted and deal with what is most urgent rather than what might be more important. I often hear families say, "we just don't have time". First of all, let me tell you -- it's not too late. Make a conscious decision that this is a forever gift you can give your child."
At Throwing Marshmallow's, Stephanie also has a post about encouraging late/reluctant readers. It's a short post, but it includes a nice summary of "links to provide additional support for allowing your child to come to reading on his or her own timetable (something especially important if you have a right brained learner whose "normal" timetable is different from what is traditionally expected in school.)"
And finally, though not a new article, I would like to draw your attention to Elizabeth O. Dulemba's Coloring Page Tuesdays. Each week, Elizabeth makes a new coloring page available for free download. She encourages teacher, librarians, and parents to share these pages with kids. A classified archive of past pages (e.g. holiday-themed pages) is available. You can also sign up to receive weekly email alerts about newly available pages.
Have you run across any useful articles about raising readers this week? I would love to hear about them.
With the end of summer upon us (Wahhhh!), here are some going-to-school picture books.
Splat the Cat,
by Rob Scotton
A fun, clever book that will be appreciated by a wide range of readers. Scotton, of Russell the Sheep fame, brings his humorous and fantastically off-beat illustrations to the world of cats — plus a mouse. Splat is worried about his first day at Cat School. If you’re not sure that he’s really worried, look at his big, wide eyes. He tries to hide, and stall, and even hang onto the gate, but his mom gets him to school. There he learns that cats chase mice. Hold it! Splat has a pet mouse! That he brought to school! This isn’t going to be good for anybody. But of course it is, and all the cats learn a new lesson. All-around wonderful book.
Jake Starts School
by Michael Wright
When we last saw Jake, his parents were trying to get him to sleep by going everywhere around the house with him. Well, Jake is still having separation issues at school, where he cannot let go of his parents. He literally clings to them through the whole day, making the seesaw hard and bathroom breaks impossible. The teacher is finally able to engage him with a book with the same name as his dog, and Jake finds his school groove. Bright and wacky illustrations fit the silly — and sometimes strained — rhyming text. (“There it was, Room Number 1/where Jake would join his class./It looked so big, he felt so small,/he passed a little gas.”) I can't call this my favorite book, but kids will enjoy the silly take on starting school.
Keisha Ann Can!
by Daniel Kirk
This isn’t Keisha Ann’s first day at school, but she shows how it’s done with cheer and confidence. She catches the bus, waits in line, passes out paints, shares with classmates, and takes turns. This book represents an interesting — and needed — approach to going-to-school literature by focusing on the positive. I also liked that the girl was African-American, as I would like to see more children of color in books. Newest reports say that 44 percent of children in the United States are now minorities. Perhaps we might want to show more of them in books. Not just for them, but so all children can see kids of different races featured in stories. Keisha Ann Can! is simple in language, making it best for the preschool or first day of kindergarten crowd.
Last week I asked this question: "What children's book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?"
The question struck more of a chord than I ever could have imagined. Between responses on Booklights, Facebook and Twitter, my question was answered over 600 times! Being a curious person, I had to find out which books were mentioned the most. The numbers listed next to the titles refer to how many times that book or series was mentioned.
The top ten children's books readers would most like to read again for the first time are:
10. The Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (7 times each). I'm a huge L.M. Montgomery fan, I'd love to read some of her books again for the first time. In the Anne of Green Gables series, the one I'd pick is Anne of the Island.
9. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (8 times) At least half the respondents on this book said they prefered the French version.
8. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (10 times) The trilogy His Dark Materials was mentioned only once. Interestingly, the majority of the votes were specifically for The Golden Compass.
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (11 times). I just found my old dog-eared copies of these terrific books. What wonderful memories!
6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (12 times). I actually just read this for the first time last year. I wish I had discovered it when I was a child.
We've reached the halfway point, and are starting to climb into the big numbers.
5. The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (19 times). Oh, the magic of discovering what's in that wardrobe! Who can forget that?
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (22 times). A perfectly written book. It's amazing what an effect Harper Lee has had on so many generations. I read this book in high school, although I recently had a mom (who hadn't read the book) try to convince me that it was appropriate for her third grader.
3. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle (25 times). This book ranks high on every children's book poll I see such as: "What's your favorite book from childhood?" or "What's your favorite Newbery book?" The answer is always A Wrinkle in Time. Interesting side note: did you know that this book was rejected by over two dozen publishers before it was finally accepted?
The numbers jumped way up for the last two, both of which are series.
2. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (38 times) Great, great books. I remember my first time reading these very vividly. Frodo was climbing up Mount Doom and my mom came in and asked me to clean up my room. I recall telling her in a passionate voice that I had read hundreds and hundreds of pages just to get to that point and I couldn't stop. I had to know what happened next. Fortunately, she took pity on me.
And the books that were mentioned the most... (drum roll, please):
1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (41 times) As a die-hard Harry Potter fan, I couldn't agree more, but I was surprised that Harry beat out Frodo.
I was on the edge of my seat for every single Harry Potter book. Whenever I thought I had figured it all out, Rowling took her story in another direction and surprised me every time. She made me gasp, cry and laugh in a way I never have while reading a book. It was an unforgettable ride.
But as much as I loved that thrilling, spine tingling first time, it was in the re-reading where I discovered the true magic. Rowling planned out all seven books before the first one was even accepted for publication. All the books are full of subtle, deftly hidden clues and wonderful misdirection that are a delight to discover. For more about the joy of reading a favorite book over and over, check out Jen's excellent post on the subject.
Now, on to the runner-ups. Although they didn't make the top ten list, here are the children's and young adult books that were mentioned multiple times. They're in alphabetical order by author.
-Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
-I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
-The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
-Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
-Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
-Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
-The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
-James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
-The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
-Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
-Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
-Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
-The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
-From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
-Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
-The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
-Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
-The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
-The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
-Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
-A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
-Heidi by Johanna Spyri
-Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
-The Polar Express by Chris vanAllsburg
-The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
-Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
-The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Several adult books were also mentioned, but they were far outdistanced by the votes for the children's books. If you're curious, here's the results:
-The hands-down winner was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
-Animal Farm, The Grapes of Wrath, Watership Down, The Princess Bride and Mists of Avalon tied for second place.
-1984, The Foundation Trilogy, Gone with The Wind, Interview with a Vampire and Of Mice and Men came in third place.
All in all, the answers to this question were absolutely fascinating. Here's a few of my favorite comments:
"My third grade teacher read it to us aloud, and every time I read it, I can still hear her sweet voice. I wonder if she has any idea how she affected us." (Charlotte's Web)
"I would love to read Goodnight Moon with my mom and dad again for the first time."
"I can actually vividly remember hiding under the covers when Lord Voldemort made his appearance." (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
"I've read A Wrinkle in Time and A Christmas Carol more times than I can count, but nothing compares to the moment I discovered those worlds. They were more real than reality to me."
"I remember one hot summer when I was about ten reading about life in the Alps. I was hooked." (Heidi)
"To be a child again and reading on my father's lap." (The Princess and the Goblin)
"The first book that got me really excited about reading was at about ten years old: The Silver Crown by Robert O'Brien. Nothing compares to that first book you can't put down."
"I can't leave out the first book I remember checking out from the library: The Fuzzy Duckling.
"I'd like to return to fourth grade so I could hear my teacher Mr. Orr read The Thief of Always out loud again. That was an incredible experience for me."
"So if for one more time, I could be a riveted six-year old, I would like to go sit in my father's lap, and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone just once more."
Thanks so much for sharing all your wonderful comments and experiences.
The best part is yet to come. That will happen when you find a book on this list you've never read before and try it for the very first time. Or better yet, when you read it to a child and watch them experience it for the first time.
Welcome to Show and Tale, a new Tuesday feature from Booklights. Each week, we'll be asking a quick question about books: your all-time favorite, your current read, the bedtime story your kids ask for every night.
We're starting out with a simple but hard-to-pick-just-one question: What's your favorite children's book and why?
Here's what the winners of our recent book giveaway at the BlogHer conference said:
Esther picked Brown Bear, Brown Bear from Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carl. "I've got great memories of my third-grade teacher reading it to our class."
Cindy picked Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus from Mo Willems. "My 2.5 year old loves it because she gets to say 'NO, PIGEON' on every page."
Susan picked Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day?. "It shows moms and dads working in and out of the home."
And Miss Lori, a familiar face to preschool fans of PBS KIDS, named her favorite, The Giving Tree, in this chat with Supersister Kristen:
So what's your favorite and why do you love it? Tell us below for a chance to win free books from Booklights.
Last week Susan wrote about the gift of reading a wonderful book for the first time. She asked readers: "What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?". This post inspired a host of thoughtful and (sometimes) nostalgic responses. The next day, Pam wrote about three of her favorite summer books and asked readers to share their favorites. These posts, in part (along with a post by Charlotte from Charlotte's Library), inspired me to re-read one of my own favorite books, one that is for me the very essence of summer: Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright. I previously listed Return to Gone-Away as one of my favorite children's books, and just reviewed it here. Re-reading Return to Gone-Away last week made me think about something that is, in a way, a mirror image Susan's post. It made me think about the joy that comes from re-reading an old favorite, one in which each character and scene are already familiar.
I was only a few pages in to my re-read of Return to Gone-Away when it literally brought tears to my eyes. It wasn't the content of the book that made me weepy-eyed. It's that I was so happy to be back reading this particular book that my emotions just bubbled over. I can only think of a few books that evoke tears from me, just from being themselves. Return to Gone-Away is one of them. Two others are The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key and Listening Valley by D. E. Stevenson (my all-time favorite book, published for adults). (You can read about some of my other favorite re-reads here.)
I love everything about these cherished books. I love the language, especially when I read particular sentences that I remember verbatim. I love the characters, and the way that they remind me anew of the things that make them special. I love re-visiting my younger self, remembering earlier reads of the same book. I literally give these books a little pat on the cover when I see them on my bedside table - I'm unable to rein in my affection. And why should I? These are the books that made me who I am.
When I read new books, I generally require a considerable amount of plot. The more complex and suspenseful, the better. But I'm reminded by Return to Gone-Away that the books I already love, the books that I read over and over again, don't need suspense at all. The re-reading experience, for me, is all about revisiting beloved characters and settings. It's about visiting old friends. It's about a personal connection between me and the particular book. I don't want the opportunity to read these particular books again as if it was the first time (as Susan discussed). Part of what makes these particular books special for me is the incremental appreciation I've built up over dozens of readings.
I like smiling when Mrs. Blake says, on page 1 of Return to Gone-Away "We'll have to think of a new name for that house right away", because I already know the outcome. I like already knowing whether or not Julian will find the missing safe, and whether or not the rope in the old dumbwaiter will break. I like shaking my head on page 9, because Foster's behavior is just so typically Foster.
This affection for particular books is more than just taking comfort in familiarity (though that's part of it). I don't think that you can just pick any old random book off the shelf, and re-read it once a year for 20 years, and have the book become meaningful to you (though that would be an interesting experiment). I think that there has to be something already in the book that makes you want to re-read it every year. Something that connects you to the book. For those books, the ones that you love enough to revisit throughout your lifetime, the connection just gets stronger every year.
This isn't to say that I disagree with Susan about the wonders of reading a great book for the first time. I envy every single person who hasn't read The Hunger Games yet, because they still have it ahead of them. And I know that sometimes childhood favorites don't hold up at all. But I also think (and I'll bet that Susan will agree) that there's something very special about re-reading a favorite book, one that is loved, in part, because it's so familiar.
I'd like to believe that everyone has books like these, books that they can turn to for comfort reading on bleak days. Books that remind them of where they came from, and what mattered to them when they were younger. Parents, what books will bring tears to your children's eyes when they're 40, because they're so happy to be back reading the books again? Will it be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? The Penderwicks? The Lord of the Rings? Clementine? Will the teens who have read Twilight seven times already re-read it as they get older? Will reading Twilight when they are 60 help them to recapture that feeling of falling in love with a book at 12? I hope so. Because me, I feel blessed to have my favorite books as part of my life. What do all of you say?
I've always enjoyed reading books about summer during the summer. With lazy days, cold pools, and swinging hammocks, who wouldn't want a double dose of the perfect season? With many great books that take place in the summertime, let me share three pretty recent titles.
Lowji Discovers America
by Candice Fleming
When Lowji moves to America from India, he looks forward to making new friends and having a pet. Unfortunately, he and his family arrive in the middle of the summer and there are no kids around the neighborhood. Plus, his longing for a pet is thwarted by the cranky landlady who hates animals. Bright and inquisitive, Lowji doesn't let these obstacles get in his way with interesting and funny results. Sweet and humorous, the book lightly makes the point of keeping a positive outlook. The observations of American ways and slang are interesting from the view of this engaging character. Younger elementary kids can easily enjoy this charming story.
The Liberation of Gabriel King
by K. L. Going
Gabriel King is afraid of everything - spiders, robbers, cows - but his biggest fear is moving up to the next grade, where he'll be in the same school as the bullies who pick on him. His best friend Frita decides to take the summer to liberate Gabriel from his fears one by one. She's rarely afraid, but one of her biggest fears is about to confront the pair head on. Set in the deep south in 1976, this book is a drama, comedy, and historical fiction. It tackles fear, hatred, racism, but ultimately is about courage. And friendship. An amazing book intended for upper elementary readers.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
by Jeanne Birdsall
After their father rents a guest house for a few weeks in the summer, four sisters explore the large estate grounds making friends and having adventures along the way. Absolutely delightful, The Penderwicks has a old-fashioned cover, title, and story, yet keeps a contemporary feel. It could take place anytime - though a few small references do set the tale in the present day - forming a large part of its appeal. The reading level is upper elementary, but would be a perfect read-aloud for younger elementary kids. Simply a perfect summer story artfully told.
Do you have a favorite summer book?
A kid asked me a question at the children's reference desk a few days ago. While I was answering it, I saw that he was holding a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I noticed that his bookmark was fairly close to the end of the book. I asked if he had read it before. He said no. Had anyone told him what happened? Nope. 
At that moment I was struck by how lucky he was. And, I have to admit, I was a little jealous. He didn't know the ending. Millions of people all of the world (including nearly everyone reading this post, I bet) know exactly what happens in those last few chapters. But he didn't and he had the joy of reading it for the very first time and finding it all out for himself. The magic was still his to discover.
To be as spoiler-free as possible, I'll just say that he was at the beginning of Chapter 34 and Harry was starting to walk into the forest. I vividly remember the suspense I felt when I was at that point and didn't know what was going to happen next. He started reading again the second I answered his question.
It's one of the things I love the most about children's literature. Nothing ever really gets old because there is always a new generation to discover it for the first time.
And it's not just the kids who get to explore new worlds. A few years ago, at the first Kidlitosphere conference, there was a dinner table discussion about the upcoming movie version of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. I had been very vocal up until that point but got quiet as soon as that particular conversation started. When I got asked for my opinion about the book, I said I was embarrassed to admit that I had never read it. Someone at the table (Pam, was it you? Or maybe you, Kelly?) told me not to feel embarrassed, but to feel lucky instead. After all, I still had it to look forward to.
Think about all the children who haven't met Ramona yet. Or Paddington. Or Mr. Popper and his penguins. How about those who haven't gone down the rabbit hole? Or through the tollbooth? Or found out where Platform 9 and 3/4 is? Or what Charlotte writes in her web?
They have so many magical people and places they get to discover.... for the very first time. And to them, the books will be just as new as they were to you the first time you read. How lucky they are.
What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time? What book or series are you still looking forward to?
Update: Thank you all for your wonderful and insightful comments! I was absolutely overwhelmed at the hundreds of responses this post generated here and on Facebook. Curious to find out which books were mentioned the most? See this post for a top ten list.
Terry Doherty is the founder of The Reading Tub, a nonprofit "that promotes literacy by encouraging families to read together", and provides hundreds of family-friendly book reviews for kids 0 to 13. Terry is also the founder of Share a Story - Shape a Future, a cross-blog "venue to share ideas and celebrate everything reading has to offer our kids." [Share a Story logo created by Elizabeth O. Dulemba.] Next year's Share a Story - Shape a Future event will be held March 8th to 14th. This past year, Terry and I have been working together on weekly Children's Literacy and Reading New round-ups, which alternate between our two blogs (for example, here). Like the Booklights team, Terry has a strong passion for helping parents and teachers to encourage kids to love books.
This week, Terry as kind enough to interview Gina, Susan, Pam, and me about Booklights on the Reading Tub's blog, Scrub-a-Dub-Tub. She rolled our responses into a combination profile and roundtable interview that covers everything from how Booklights began to where we'd like to go in the future. The interview even touches on Susan's and my excellent experience at last year's Newbery/Caldecott banquet, and Pam's personal quest for mental telepathy. We hope that you'll take a few minutes to check out the full interview, and tell us what you think.
What I think is that I am very much looking forward to meeting Terry face-to-face at the upcoming Kidlitosphere Conference in October. And I hope that we'll see some of our Booklights readers there, too. The Kidlitosphere Conference, now in its third year, is an annual gathering of people who blog about children's and young adult books (including reviewers, authors, editors, librarians, teachers, parents, and literacy advocates). New bloggers, and people who are just thinking of becoming bloggers, are very welcome to attend. It's a relatively small conference, with plenty of opportunities for discussion and socializing, making it very easy to get to know other participants. The conference does focus on issues related to blogging (ethics of receiving review copies, building readership, etc.), rather than on the books themselves. However, as with this week's Booklights Reading Tub interview, what the participants have in common is an enthusiasm for children's literature and a wish to pass along that enthusiasm to kids.
Many thanks to Terry for this wonderful interview. I think that she captures perfectly what we're trying to do here at Booklights.
When my kids were little, I wanted to get them ready to read in a fun way. I looked to all the right books for activities. But if I decided to have my daughter write letters in a cookie sheet covered with shaving cream, I knew that the doorbell would ring and I'd return to a overturned tray on the good carpet and a preschooler with foamy cheeks declaring herself to be Santa Claus. Not like that happened or anything.
Anyway, there were tons of great ideas to introduce reading concepts, but I didn't need great ideas - I needed easy ideas. I have all sorts of respect for the moms who take Junior around photographing items to make a personalized alphabet book with a laminated cover. However, I was a bit energy-challenged, that is to say, lazy, and these are some games that worked for me.
1. Easy ABC's Maybe the shaving cream thing seems a bit involved, but there are many easy opportunities to learn the alphabet. Going to the beach? Take turns drawing letters in the sand and watch the waves wash them away. Need to get outside? Grab a big paintbrush and a bucket of water and "paint" letters on the sidewalk. Stuck coloring again? Draw multicolored letters for your preschooler to name or decorate. Since my three year old niece has been crazy about erasing things, I write letters lightly in pencil and let her erase them after she names them. She also likes scissors, so I draw words for her to cut out. Look for little chances to toss in some ABC's.
2. Storytelling 101 "How was your day, dear?" sounds cliche, but not to a preschooler. Take time to talk about the day's events. What did we do today? Then what did we do? Help your child find the words to describe his day and tell his story. Of course, you can also add some fun elements of your own. A phrase like "Is that when the dancing elephants came in?" can take the story in a whole new direction. Sometimes it can even thwart an oncoming case of the grumps. I've seen it happen.
3. Rhyme Time Even with my daughters in fifth and eighth grades, we still like to make up silly rhyming songs. We're just better at it now. But preschoolers won't judge your imperfect rhymes. In fact, the sillier, the better! Work together to think of the next line as you drive to the grocery store. Giggling is encouraged. While you're checking out, you can try my other favorite rhyme game. Pick a word and figure out which words rhyme with it. You can let them come to you, or you can go through the alphabet sounding out each letter. So, rose leads us to explore b-b-bows and d-d-does. This little time-killer works with phonics and stores up some rhyming pairs for your next silly song session.
Look for many more quick tips at PBS Parents and share some favorite games of your own in the comments.
I rarely write book reviews, but I recently read a book that was so good it made me want to shout about it from the rooftops. But my roof is incredibly slanted, my voice doesn't reach that far and my neighbors would think I was extremely odd. So, all in all, blogging about it seemed like a better idea.
What's the book about? Something really original, right? Something unique, that nobody else has written about? Nope. It's about man landing on the moon, a subject that has been fully explored this year because of the 40th anniversary of the iconic Apollo 11 mission.
by Andrew Chaikin, illustrated by Alan Bean
The research
Andrew Chaikin is an expert on the manned Apollo missions. He's the author of A Man on the Moon, a comprehensive 700 page book for adults that explains every minute detail of the Apollo space program. It was also the basis for the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. Chaikin has done exhaustive research on the missions, read thousands of transcripts, and reports. He's interviewed a multitude of NASA employees including every Apollo astronaut except for Jack Swigert who passed away in 1982. He knows what he's talking about.
The illustrations
Astronaut Alan Bean journeyed to the moon as part of the Apollo 12 mission and was the fourth moonwalker in history. After retiring from NASA, he became a full time artist. The fantastic paintings in the book encompass several decades of his work.
Bean imbues his pictures with details that only the 12 men who have walked on the moon could know. He shows us what it was like to land on the moon, walk in space and conduct science experiments. His captions capture a true sense of the experience and makes the reader feel (almost) if they had traveled into space, too. His pictures of both astronauts and equipment are incredibly detailed right down to the accessories on each astronaut's space suit.
The writing
NASA's universe is very technical, complicated and filled with acronyms. Chaikin and his co-author and wife Victoria Kohl, manage to bring this world to kids with clear and thorough explanations that never become condescending, dull, repetitive or confusing. Also included are extremely informative sidebars that answer common questions and point out intriguing aspects of Apollo. For those looking for more information, check the back for a good overview of additional material.
Take a look at the title of the book again. Mission Control, This is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon. As of right now, the Apollo missions have been the only moon missions. Nobody has been back since December, 1972. I love the optimism and vision in the subtitle that suggests that the Apollo missions are the first of many.
All in all, a great book. As an added bonus, Alan Bean's paintings are currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC through January 13, 2010. Can't make the trip? Check out Alan Bean's online gallery and enjoy your trip from the earth to the moon.
For another excellent book on the subject, I highly recommend Catherine Thimmesh's Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. It shows what a team effort the moon missions really were and provides a terrific behind the scenes perspective. This well researched book won the 2007 Siebert Informational Book Medal.
Got a favorite space book of your own? I'd love to hear what it is.
I've decided to take a page from Pam's Thursday Three posts, and share with you three new picture books that illustrate the wide range available in fairy tale and fable retellings. The first is a straight up reissue of a classic story, made special by the gorgeous illustrations. The second is a multicultural reimagining of a well-known fairy tale, with added humor. And the third is a modern picture book that bears only the kernal of the original fable.
Gennady Spirin's new edition of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a faithful rendion of the well-known story, from "Once up a time, there were three bears" to Goldilocks leaping up and running out of the house (though the bears are surprisingly cheerful at the end). But what makes this book worth a look are Spirin's lavish watercolor and colored pencil illustrations. The bears are dressed in fancy, gold-braided clothing. Their clothes match, in tone, detailed gilt headers and footers on each page, and the bears' fancy carved furnishings. Everything is conveyed with fine texture, from the bears' fur to their clothes to the grass outside. And after breakfast (most days), the bears site, and Mama Bear and Little Bear each read books (while Papa naps). As for Goldilocks - she looks like something out of an old painting, with shining hair, rosy cheeks, and an ornate hat with a feather. In short, this is one that I'm keeping for my own bookshelves. I will pair it with Eugene W. Field and Giselle Potter's Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
The Three Little Tamales is a retelling of The Three Little Pigs, written by Eric A. Kimmel and illustrated by Valeria Docampo. In Kimmel's version, three little tamales, two sisters and a brother, run away from a Texas taqueria before they can be eaten. One builds a house of sagebrush, and another of cornstalks, but the third builds her casita out of cactus. And eventually, Senor Lobo, the Big Bad Wolf, comes around looking for some lunch. You all know, pretty much, how the story goes from there. I like that this book is a celebration of Texas, and Mexican foods, complete with a short glossary of terms. And, ok, I like that the smartest of the three tamales is a girl, and that this is handled in a completely matter-of-fact manner. Docampo's oil on paper illustrations are beautiful, with appropriate colors for prairie, cornfield, and desert. The winds that the wolf huffs and puffs are enchanting swirls of colors and textures. The tamales are adorable, especially the smart one with her big glasses, and the brother with his dramatic eyebrows and mustache (you have to see it to appreciate it). I can really see this one becoming a family favorite. See also Kimmel's book, with Stephen Gilpin The Three Cabritos, a Billy Goat Gruff retelling.
The Grumpy Dump Truck by Brie Spangler is quite different from the other two. It's a modern-day story about a dump truck named Bertrand who is good at his job, but constantly grumpy with his co-workers. He is "rude to the backhoe" and "a real pain to the crane", and constantly grumbles about his "itchy axle" and "sore tires". Until... a little hedgehog worker named Tilly sticks him (accidentally) with one of her quills. Plucking out the quill, she discovers all sorts of other uncomfortable things stuck in Bertrand's tire, weighing him down. Once Tilly relieves him of these things, he's a new dump truck altogether. Much like a certain lion and mouse that you might recall. This one is a bit overlay sweet at the end ("I want to do something NICE!" "Horray!"), but I think that the inherent humor of a grumpy dump truck, and a bunch of animal construction workers, outweighs this. And Spangler's digitally created illustrations are bold and eye-catching, almost like cartoons. I think that preschool boys, in particular, will find this one tough to resist.
How about you? What are your favorite fairy tale retellings and reimaginings?
Sharing a story with a child is a true pleasure. But here's something even better: having a child share a story with you.
Reading Rainbow -- a longtime favorite of bookworms -- announced the winners of its 15th annual Young Writers & Illustrators Contest. Nearly 40,000 kids participated, with first, second, and third place winners being named for each of the participating grades (kindergarten through third).
The stories are just as much fun to read as published books. There's Michaela's tale of a nearsighted caterpillar (I can relate, at least to the bad vision), Rachel's industrious spider, Ethan's brave exploration of his mother's purse, and Abigail's tear-jerker "Finding Grandpa." And that's only a sampling. All the stories are well worth your time, and I bet you'll be as blown away as I was by the creativity and imagination of the kids.
This is also a great excuse to have your own child start writing and drawing their own tales. The Reading Rainbow winners narrated their stories. With a tape-recorder or a computer mic, you can do the same. If you're looking for a good story starter, try Dot's Story Factory on PBS KIDS. This month's theme is Carnivals.
ABC’s
by Charley Harper
I certainly don’t need a board book for my fifth and eighth graders, but I might have to buy this one anyway just for the artistic value. The lovely and interesting illustrations of Charley Harper are completely the point of this (mostly) animal ABC book. Alphabet book connoisseurs are probably wondering about “X,” and I’ll tell you that it is not “Ox.” Oh, the suspense.
Charlie and Lola’s Opposites
by Lauren Child
What can I say? I love Charlie and Lola. I love the original books. I love the show. I love the books based on the show. And now I love the board books written from the success of the show based on the original books. The books are very simple in text — big and small, many and few — but Child’s illustrations are wonderful.
Cat and Dog
by Jane Kemp, Clare Walters, and Linzi West
It’s surprising that it took three people to produce books this simple in both words and pictures. I also think that the two books could have been smooshed together — maybe into one of those flip-over books — so you’d get more bang for your buck, because seven pages isn’t much book. That said, they are cute books about, respectively and most obviously, a cat and a dog. Fun, lively pictures.
Sit back. I'm going to tell you one of my favorite children's book publishing stories.
Picture Paris, in June of 1940. All around you is complete chaos as millions of people desperately try to leave the city before the Nazis arrive. Let's focus in on one particular couple amidst the sea of refugees.
It's a husband and wife, both Jewish and both born in Germany. Long before the war started they had moved to Brazil and become Brazilian citizens. They fell in love with Paris on their honeymoon and decided to move there. They were both artists and enjoyed living in the heart of Montmartre. As the German army loomed ever closer, they realized they were no longer safe in Paris. But leaving wasn't easy. They waited in endless lines for updated passports, visas and train tickets.
At last they were ready to go, but they had no way to get to the train station in Orleans in the midst of the rising panic. In desperation for any mode of transportation, the husband went to a bicycle shop where he found that there were no bikes left. But they did have spare parts. He bought these and with no training, he built a bicycle for himself and one for his wife. They put a few of their belongings into baskets attached to their bikes, including the manuscripts and illustrations of several children's books they were working on.
And off they went with all the other people fleeing Hitler's army. They biked through small towns and villages and rode overcrowded trains to reach the south of France. They slept wherever they could including on the floor of a public high school, an empty restaurant, and in a barn with cows.
With their money running low, they finally got permission to cross into Spain. On the train journey, an official checking passports and visas became suspicious of the large amount of paper the couple carried. He demanded to see it and then shoved it back when he found it was just drawings for kids.
They went from Spain into Portugal, and in Lisbon they boarded a boat for Brazil. After a two month wait in Rio de Janeiro, they finally got on a boat bound for America and arrived in New York City in October, 1940. About a year later, one of the manuscripts they had trundled through Europe and South America was published.
Perhaps you've heard of the book. It's called Curious George. The couple that took the perilous journey described above are Margret and H.A. Rey.
I want to tell you another children's publishing story. This one happened just a few years ago. An editor flew to London to pick up a manuscript. She was stopped by airport security on her flight home. Just like the train conductor so many years before, the security officer was suspicious of the enormous amount of paper in the editor's carry-on bag. She looked through it and then eventually allowed the editor to continue on her way.
You may have heard of that book too. It was the unpublished manuscript of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and at that moment in 2007, it was the most valuable pile of paper in the world. The editor's name is Cheryl Klein, senior editor at Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic.) She told me that she was so nervous that at any moment the security officer was going to look down and see the words Harry, Ron and Hermione. Cheryl had a good story ready, though. If that happened, she was going to claim it was her own (rather extensive) fan fiction.
Cheryl wasn't the only one that happened to. In August 2006, J.K. Rowling was flying back from New York after a charity reading with Stephen King and John Irving. She was stopped by security for the large pile of paper she had with her, which turned out to be the handwritten and unfinished manuscript for Harry Potter Book 7. Fortunately, she was allowed to take it with her.
Moral of these stories: don't travel with large piles of paper.
For more about the Rey's incredible adventure, read The Journey That Saved Curious George.
Through exhaustive research, author Louise Borden was able to bring this classic publishing story to life with the help of the extensive archive of the Rey's papers at the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. The book is fully documented with letters, maps, archival pictures and notes from H.A. Rey's diary.
Sometimes the story behind a book can be as exciting and interesting as the book itself.
Susan's July postings about her participation in the annual Caldecott and Newbery dinner reminded me how excited we ALL become when we meet authors of books we love. Children are no different from grown-ups. 
Even my college students find great pleasure in getting to know authors and illustrators, evidenced by this photo of my fabulous student Kelly talking to last year's Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz. Next year's Caldecott/Newbery dinner will be in late June in Washington, D.C., so make plans if you live in the area!
Susan's thoughts about awardees prompts the reminder that the jurists have to make comparisons across a wide range of books, genres, and intended audiences. As Jane Langton said: "These books are apples and oranges, pianos and prunes, washtubs and weasels."
I want to add to Pam's July 9 posting my favorite new book that would fit well with her others about animals. AFRICAN ACROSTICS, by Avis Harley, photographs by Deborah Noyes, is a nice "multi-genre" picture book of poetry and lots of information.
One of the many fun acrostic poems is "Hornbill's Hot Day."
And what child would not delight in 
seeing the photograph of a hornbill?
Pam has continued to give us great recommendations on filling those book bags. I heard from my chum Whitney who said, "Sometimes it feels silly to schlep around a bag of books without knowing yet if we'll like them once they're at our house, but the kids really love picking out books and then pouring over them once we're back in the living room."
Happy Reading! Ann
I've run across a few useful posts about encouraging young readers from around the universe of children's and young adult book bloggers (aka the Kidlitosphere), and thought that I would share them here.
The Book Chook suggests using scary books to engage kids in reading (for those kids looking for chills, of course). After some concrete suggestions, like the Goosebumps series, she concludes: "Don't despair if your child wants to be a beastly boy or ghastly girl. Go with the flow that goes bump in the night, and let them read scary stories. Once seduced by the thrill of books that put them inside a ghost house or monster's cave, it's not such a stre-e-etch to go further along the pathway to reading." [I'd suggest, for kids who have graduated from the Goosebumps books, but are still looking for horror, Killer Pizza, by Greg Taylor.]
At BookMuse, Robin Gibson shares some selections from the Gifted Reader's Bill of Rights (from Bertie Kingore, link goes to PDF). Robin's highlights are focused on making sure that kids are allowed to read books that challenge them. For example: "I have the right to read at a pace and level that matches my ability, no matter what grade I'm in." I think that these rights are great. But personally (as regular readers know), I'd also like to make sure that gifted readers have the right to read books that don't challenge them, but that they enjoy, at least some of the time. I think that Jennie Rothschild from Biblio File would agree. Jennie recently wrote: "Everyone should always be reading something below level, something above level, and something at level. This mixture is what lets us grow as readers."
Dawn Morris at Moms Inspire Learning has a follow-on to her recent YA Books and Bikes post (in which she made the analogy: "Would you let your children ride their bikes on major streets when they were 10 years old? Would you let your children read teen books when they were 10 years old?"). This time, she discusses the need for parents to keep an eye, even if a distant eye, on what their kids are reading, and offers suggestions for book lists and reviews (including my feature on series books for adventurous girls from here at Booklights).
Lori Calabrese shares tips for how to build your child's library on a budget, ranging from the obvious suggestion to use the library to creative ideas like holding book swaps asking relatives to give books as gifts. She concludes with this lovely quote: ""A home without books is like a room without windows ... A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life." ~Henry Ward Beecher." Lori also offers suggestions for helping your child while reading. She explains: "You can prepare your child to read by sharing your time, talking about the world around you, telling and reading stories and asking and answering questions", and offers concrete suggestions. I especially liked #10 "Talk about the stories. Ask and answer questions. Share ideas about the funniest and most interesting characters and events in the stories".
And last, but not least, I found a nice post by Lisa at 5 Minutes for Books about her first-hand experience reading aloud to her daughter from birth. She says: "And now, one year later, I look at my little angel. She is a toddler, busy walking, talking and exploring all the fun to be had in every nook and cranny of our home. The only time I can get her to sit still is when I pull out a book. ... I am glad I read to that little newborn, because somewhere along the way she learned to love books." But do read the whole thing -- it's a lovely endorsement of the benefits that stem from reading aloud.
For more links about children's literacy and reading, check out this week's Children's Literacy Round-Up, written by Terry Doherty and myself, at Jen Robinson's Book Page, and last week's round-up at The Reading Tub.
Pennies for Elephants
by Lita Judge
In 1914 the children of Boston raised more than $6,000 to buy elephants for the Franklin Park Zoo. This is a fictional story of two of those children. And it's a lovely one. In a time when every penny mattered children did chores, had fundraisers, sold lemonade, and donated their birthday money to buy elephants for their zoo. The Boston Post ran daily stories for three months and listed all donors in its pages. Beautiful illustrations take the reader into a time nearly a century ago, when things seemed simpler. Artistically rendered newspaper articles reenforce the history and reality of the day. As the children collect enough money, it's a triumph that echoes through time. The message of personal responsibility and making a difference are shown, not lectured. The concept is inspirational, and is captured well in words and art in this magnificent book. Not to be missed.
The Zoo I Drew
by Todd Doodler
With its unique fluted cover giving the book a tactile experience before you've even begun, it may be hard to get your child to stop running his hands over the surface so you can start reading. Okay, it was hard for me to open the book because I couldn't get over the unusual cover. But once inside, we're treated to a bright and bold trip through the alphabet and the zoo. The artist takes a few liberties along the way, but it's well known that someone needs to name an animal species Xervies to save alphabet books everywhere. Each page tells a little bit about the featured animals in a casual way. Or that's how I'd prefer to read the text, because it's actually set up in rhyming pairs that often seemed forced in rhythm or in rhyme. If you don't try to sing-song the text, the bits about different animals are fun and minimally educational. Kids will be transfixed by the pictures. (Note: libraries are going to have a hard time with this book because the cover is not going to keep its loveliness with check-outs and shelvings. Sorry.)
Pssst!
by Adam Rex
A trip to the zoo like no other is represented in this fantastic picture book. As a girl tours through the zoo, the animals call her over ("Pssst!) and ask her for different things - a new tire, trash cans, and more. Each animal has an explanation for what they need, though the ending of the book presents a different idea. The humor in ingrained in every aspect of the book. In the sketched portions of the book, look for the clever signs ("I Am the Walrus, koo-koo-kachoo") and offbeat artistic representations (a rhino rolling around in a huge hamster ball). As the girl converses with the animals, the pencil sketches are mixed with breathtaking painted illustrations with the drama building in art and story to the funny ending. This book has something for everyone and is one of my personal favorites.
In 1980, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund held a national competition to solicit entries for the design of the Vietnam Memorial. Any U.S. citizen 18 years of age or older was eligible to enter and 1,421 entries were recieved. The names were taken off the entries and replaced with numbers. A 21 year old college student by the name of Maya Lin won the contest with her design, beating out many famed and more experienced architects.
Every time I hear that story, I'm inspired by the fairness of the contest and the level playing field it offered to every participant. I realize this is a Utopian and completely impractical fantasy, but picture for a moment if the Newbery and Caldecott awards were judged that way. What if the committees didn't know the names of the publishers, authors or illustrators of the books under consideration?
Keep in mind that committees can only focus on the eligible books for the current year. If David Wiesner or Marcia Brown have an eligible book, it's irrelevant to the discussion that these illustrators have already three Caldecott medals. And it's irrelevant what the illustrator's race, age or gender is, because the only thing that matters is the book itself.
But is it really possible for anyone (no matter how hard they try) to be completely unbiased? What would the results look like if the awards were truly "blind" like the Vietnam Memorial competition? Such a thing is probably not physically possible, but wouldn't it be interesting if it were?
Usually, I answer my own questions. But, as Roger Sutton mentioned in his recent Horn Book editorial, I think a topic like this merits a good discussion. What are your thoughts about how these two major awards are chosen?
If you're unfamiliar with the process, you can find the Caldecott Medal criteria here, and the Newbery Medal criteria here.
Last week I suggested several current series with adventurous girl protagonists. Commenters to that post pointed out a few notable oversights, and I'd like to share those this week.
Michael Buckley's Sisters Grimm series was suggested by both Stephanie and Laura. I actually had this series on my mental list at one point, and then neglected to include it. I've only read the first two books (reviews here: The Fairy Tale Detectives and The Unusual Suspects), but there are seven books available. This is an excellent series for elementary school readers. It features two sisters who find themselves in the family business of investigating criminal behavior among the EverAfters (fairy tale characters living real lives in a particular town). The irrepressible Puck was my favorite character from the first book, The Fairy Tale Detectives. They're lovely hardcovers, too, excellent gift books.
Diane Duane's Young Wizards series (currently at eight books, with a ninth expected in 2010), was recommended by Deva Fagan. This series actually has two primary protagonists, a boy and a girl who are wizard partners in a society that lies hidden within our own. The presence of a very strong younger sister character makes this series definitely qualify for inclusion. Nita, Dairine, and Kit are all among my favorite characters. This is a series in which the magic is relatively mathematical, and in which real-life family dynamics play a strong part, too. As with many series, the books do get a bit darker as the series progresses, with the later books more suited to middle school and up than elementary school. The only one that I've reviewed is the most recent, Wizards at War, because I read the other books before starting my blog. (And, in fact, this series is one that kept me reading YA as an adult, even when I wasn't blogging.) The first book is So You Want to Be a Wizard, in which Nita discovers a wizard's manual, and is partnered with Kit.
Deva and My Boaz's Ruth also both recommended Tamora Pierce's books (specifically, the Protector of the Small and the Circle of Magic series). I hadn't included Pierce because I think of her books more as straight-up YA, but Deva and Ruth both remind me that these series start with the characters around 10 or so. The only Pierce title that I've reviewed is Wild Magic (#1 in the Immortals Quartet). But I have read the first Circle of Magic book, Sandry's Book. The first book in the Protector of the Small series is First Test. Tamora Pierce is known for writing about strong female characters, and her books are huge hits with teen readers. I personally tend more towards fantasy that is set in and around our modern world, rather than your knights and castles sort of fantasy, which is why I haven't read more of these. But I have read enough to feel quite comfortable recommending these books.
My Boaz's Ruth also mentioned several older titles that feature strong girls (Trixie Belden, etc.). This reminded me of a list that I created on my blog in 2006, 200 Cool Girls of Children's Literature. I started with a list of a few girls from children's literature who I thought were smart, brave, strong, and independent. With the help of many, many reader suggestions, I eventually collected a list of more than 200 cool girls. I later added a Cool Boys list, now at about 175 or so. Mary Lee and Franki from A Year of Reading were inspired to create their own list, of 100 Cool Teachers of Children's Literature, which is delightful. And TheBookDragon collects "Great and/or Infamous Librarians in Children's and YA Literature" in her sidebar. One day, I'll find time to update the Cool Girl and Boy lists with my discoveries from the past three years. Meanwhile, I thought that I would share the links here, in case any of you find them useful.
For me, summer means car trips and lots of them. Our family has gone the portable DVD player route at times, but the kids generally listen to music, read their books, or play Nintendo. But since they were little, we've always had some different kinds of books at hand for when traffic takes its toll or the batteries die.
1) Audiobooks are great for passing the time in the car and feeling like you got some book reading accomplished. I've found that the ones that hold our attention are either funny, adventurous, or familiar. With younger kids in the car, it can be difficult to find the book that works for everybody, so compromise must be employed. Personally, we've had the most success with the Junie B. Jones series. The books are funny, the reader is great, and the stories are familiar. It's also helpful that each book is only about thirty minutes of listening time, so they are perfect for that last hour of a trip when everyone is getting cranky. For older kids, I'd also recommend A Series of Unfortunate Events, read by Tim Curry. Again, these work best when you already know the story as it makes it easier for everyone to follow along.
2) Question books can turn a long car ride into a wonderful opportunity to share stories and memories. Not sure what a question book is? Well, I may be making up the genre as I'm only aware of two such titles for kids, but both are excellent. 
Ask Me features an interesting photograph or illustration on one page and a question on the other. Questions like, "What do you wish you could do really well?" and "Where do you like to hide?" Another title, Could You? Would you?, by Trudy White features whimsical drawings along with the questions. Sometimes the questions are offered alone, like "Would you like to dance with animals or look at plants?" But many times include follow-up questions or a few ideas to start you off. So, "What makes you smile?" lists pineapple and big goldfish in a pond. Both books are wonderful to start you talking to each other.
3) Find It books are very popular anyway if my library requests are any indication, but a car trip is the perfect place for them. You may buy yourself a reasonably quiet hour only punctuated by an occasional "Found it!" 
Where's Waldo? series is famous, and the I Spy series by Jean Marzollo isn't far behind. I've also seen these types of books for TV shows and movies, ocean life and museums. I keep one in the car at all times, because you never know when a trip across town can go terribly wrong.
What books have made your car trips bearable?
The 2009 Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder banquet was fantastic. Wonderful. Sparkling. Funny. Exciting. And it was also something extremely odd (for me, at least): Visible.
Why was this so strange? The vast majority of the tables at the banquet are reserved by publishers for their invited guests. If you buy a ticket through the regular conference registration, the only place to sit is at the unreserved tables near the back and along the sides (and you've got to fight for a decent spot). Here's a picture of David Wiesner's Caldecott speech from the first year I attended. (Keep in mind that I stood up to take this picture).
After doing this for two years, I wanted to find out what was going on in the good seats. Since I knew I'd never be invited by a publisher, I decided to buy a table myself. (Little known fact: any group of 10 attending the banquet can do this, if they purchase the table in advance and by the deadline). I recruited 9 lovely librarians, and this year my table looked like this:
Wondering what is sitting on all the plates? It's the program for the banquet, which always features artwork from the Caldecott medal book plus a CD recording of the acceptance speeches. The first year it struck me as pretty odd to have the speech in my hands even before it had even been presented!
What was more amazing about the table (other than the fact that it had my name on it) was that it was in the center of the ballroom and only two rows from the front. Not only could I finally see the podium, but I was also able to get a good look at all the other people in the good seats.
Jon Sciezcka was sitting directly in front of me. (This picture gives new meaning to the Heavy Medal dinner I mentioned in my last post.)
Brian Selznick was a foot away at the next table.
And I was able to take this picture from my seat, sitting down.
Okay, I admit it, I used the zoom feature on my camera. (But the David Wiesner picture was zoomed all the way in too.) And, um, the flash didn't work and you'll have to take my word for it that it's a picture of Neil Gaiman during his Newbery speech. But still!
The other neat thing about being so close was that I could see who was sitting in the front row. I was able to talk to Beth Krommes' teenage daughter and ask her the only question I could think of: "Is this the best night of your life?" Her face glowed as she answered yes.
And I also was able to see, that during dinner and for the briefest of moments, Neil Gaiman had stepped off the dais. I grabbed my camera and a very nice friend and managed to get this picture:
I did know who I was getting my picture taken with. To prove it, here's the actual transcript of the moment when I first met him:
Neil: "Hi, I'm Neil. "
Susan: "I know."
But I didn't realize he was famous. I knew his children's books and was excited to meet him because he was this year's Newbery Medal winner, and because I loved The Graveyard Book. I posted the picture above on Facebook, and was shocked at the number of people who recognized him. My friends have since informed me (in a very nice way) how incredibly ignorant I am and that I'm the only person in the entire world who doesn't know that he's a literary rock star. That's what I get for reading far more children's books than adult ones.
Despite his fame, I think I deserve more credit for my outfit than he does. I feel I had a much harder time finding a formal maternity dress than he did finding a black suit. Huge thanks go to my sister-in-law for loaning me her beautiful dress.
If you look closely at his suit, you'll see a dagger in his lapel. A member of the Newbery committee had them made for all the committee members and Neil.
But, I think that it's probably a good thing that I didn't realize there was an aura surrounding him or I probably wouldn't have kept talking to him for so long. And if I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten these questions answered, which have been nagging me since I finished reading his book.
Question: How do the ghouls in The Graveyard Book get their names?
Answer: There's been a lot of debate about this, and with good reason: it's confusing. According to Neil, only one line was changed between the British and American editions of the book and it was this one:
British edition: "They told Bod how they had got their names and how he, in his turn, once he had become a nameless ghoul, would be named, as they had been, after the main course of his first dinner."
American edition: "They told Bod how they had got their names and how he, in his turn, once he had become a nameless ghoul, would be named as they had been."
Neil said that his American editor thought the reason for the ghouls names was very obvious and that the rest of the sentence was redundant. The full line will most likely be added back into the paperback edition. But the important thing to understand is that the ghouls are not actually Victor Hugo or the Emperor of China... those are just the names of the first people the ghouls ate.
Question: Why is one of the ghouls named after Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States?
Answer: Everyone I've asked about this has given me the same answer: It is an allusion to the fact that Truman was the one who made the decision to drop the bombs during World War II.
The only person who refuted this brilliant explanation was Neil himself. Here's the actual reason: he wanted to use a president from that era and FDR was just too cool to turn into a ghoul. He thought about Eisenhower, but in the end, he thought the number 33 sounded better than the number 34. There's nothing more to it than that. Moral: sometimes things are really that simple.
Question: Will there be a sequel to The Graveyard Book?
Answer: Possibly, but it's not an immediate priority since he's working on tons of other projects. If there is one, Neil says it'll be the what the Lord of the Rings is to The Hobbit. The Graveyard Book was the initial look at the world, but he said he'd want to develop it much further and explore Silas' universe more fully.
Question: Was Neil nervous before his Newbery speech?
Answer: He said he was absolutely terrified. By the time I talked to him (about ten minutes before the speeches started) he said he felt as if he had already jumped off the diving board and had begun the long descent down.
Here's a shot of him talking to Caldecott medalist Beth Krommes before the big moment. Beth was also terrified (according to her daughter). Who wouldn't be?
After all that wonderful schmoozing, it was time for the main event: the acceptance speeches. Beth Krommes gave a lovely speech about the importance of books in her own family and talked about her inspiration for the book. One of the most poignant moments was when she told the audience about a nine day period in the winter where her town was without power. When she stepped outside in the dark, she finally saw her House in the Night.
Neil Gaiman's speech was funny. And moving. And powerful. And funny again. He hit all the right notes, told us that the Newbery Medal had actually made him cool to his kids and talked about the incredible power of books. One of my favorite moments was when he asked the crowd what the first sentence of A Wrinkle in Time is, and the whole audience immediately gave the correct answer in unison. He hit it out of the park with his speech and I thought it was the highlight of the evening.
As far as Ashley Bryan's acceptance speech for the Wilder Award, all I can say is this: you had to be there. The speeches are written several months before they're given, in order to be printed in The Horn Book. I got a copy of the July/August issue of The Horn Book the morning after the speech. It's hard to see in this picture, but if you look very, very, very closely at the front cover of this issue (between the bird's wing and the tree, under the letter H), you'll see that Beth Krommes has added a graveyard to her lovely illustration. It's much easier to see on the actual magazine cover.
I immediately turned to see what Ashley Bryan had written in The Horn Book. It was a few short pages, talking about what the award meant to him and how his career developed. He did, in fact, say all those words. But that was only the beginning of his speech.
He also devoured poems and let the juicy words run from his lips. He led several sing alongs. He drew the crowd in as if he was a gospel preacher. It was an incredibly uplifting, emotional experience. Later in the evening I told him I'd never heard anyone read poetry the way he did: lyrically savoring every mouthful. He said that's the way poetry should be read, and I agree completely.
I also got to talk to Beth Krommes after the banquet. I repeated what her daughter had said earlier... that it was the best night of her life. Beth gasped and said "Better than the prom?!" and then told me how much hearing that meant to her.
In the end, the banquet was exactly what I predicted last week. It was just me, Neil, Beth and Ashley. Oh, and a thousand or so other people.
To quote Kevin Henkes, "What a night!"
A commenter on my personal blog asked an interesting question the other day about book recommendations for girls. Susan wrote:
"My friend and I each have a son and daughter in the 3rd to 5th grade range. We were talking about what the kids were currently reading. In the course of our conversation, we both agreed it was much harder to find books that our girls were interested in than our boys. Given that I often read about the reverse here and on other kidlit blogs, I thought I'd mention it.
There are some great series that are more geared for boys like The Ranger's Apprentice, The Overland Chronicles and even the Percy Jackson books. While many girls enjoy these books, they have more of a boy bent to them to me. The series books for girls are about fairies or horses or mean girl behavior. In terms of currently popular series books, you've got those subjects or the Clementine/Ramona/Junie B. Jones genre which our daughters loved but have outgrown.
Where are the adventure series with the female main character that have our daughters eagerly anticipating the next book being published? There are lots of good single books, but I find that my kids dig into the series more. I haven't run across a great series that appeals more to my daughter than my son yet."
I responded briefly to Susan last week, but I thought that this might be a topic that other parents would find interesting, so I have expanded on my response here at Booklights. I think that the proliferation of adventure series with boy protagonists happens because of a common perception that boys won't read about girl heroines, but girls will read about boys. This was mentioned in a recent post by Mr. ChompChomp at Guys Lit Wire. He said: "I read somewhere that the reason Disney makes so many more "boy" movies than "girl" movies is that girls will go to see boy movies but boys won't go to see girl movies. "We don't like it. That's just the way it is," Disney executives say. But if you look at the girl movies that they make, it's no wonder guys aren't interested. They are nearly all about princesses."
I do think it's a bit of an unfortunate situation, for girls and boys, resulting in fewer adventures with girl protagonists, and kids of both genders potentially missing out on great books. I also think that this viewpoint is probably why there seem to be more adventure series out there centered around male protagonists.
Fortunately, I have several ongoing series to suggest that feature girls as the hero. In all cases, I've read at least the first book or two. They are listed roughly in age order, from books for elementary schoolers up to books that I think will also work for girls in middle school.
The Gilda Joyce series, by Jennifer Allison, about a young girl who is a "psychic investigator". These are very fun, and set in a more modern setting. Gilda is fun, smart, and a bit wacky. There are four books out, and hopefully more on the way (I wasn't able to confirm that). The first book is Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator (reviewed here).
The Theodosia series by R. L. LaFevers, featuring Theodosia Throckmorton, Egyptologist and adventurer. These are historical / supernatural mysteries, featuring a smart Victorian girl who runs rings around her distracted parents. There are 2 books out, and a third on the way. The first book is Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (reviewed here).
The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer, featuring Sherlock Holmes' younger sister. Enola runs away and starts her own detective agency, and is more than a match for her smug older brother. There are five books currently available in this series, and I would imagine that more are on the way here. The first book is The Case of the Missing Marquess (reviewed here).
Laini Taylor's Dreamdark series, about Magpie Windwitch, the strongest and feistiest of fairies. Currently the first book, Blackbringer, is available in paperback, with the sequel, Silksinger, due out in September. Others are planned for this series. Don't let the books being about fairies fool you - these are excellent books for strong middle grade and middle school girls.
Elizabeth Cody Kimmel's Suddenly Supernatural series, featuring a middle school girl who discovers that she has psychic powers. Despite the supernatural aspects, these books also feature realistic tween friendship dynamics. There are currently 3 books available. The first book is Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit (reviewed here).
Kristen Miller's Kiki Strike books, about a team of tween girls who fight crime in New York City. These books are clever and quirky, with interesting settings (including a city below NYC). There are currently two books available, and I'm hoping for a third. The first book is Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City (reviewed here).
Once they are ready for young adult books, there are tons of series featuring female protagonists, including Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series and Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls spy series. And there are other series books for younger girls that are wonderful, though not "adventures". For example, The Penderwicks books by Jeanne Birdsall and the Casson family books by Hilary McKay.
Readers, can you suggest any other series with adventurous female main characters that will have middle grade girls "eagerly anticipating the next book being published"? And if you're interested in the issue of gendered readers' advisory in general, check out Lisa Chellman's recent post on this subject.
Ten years ago, nonfiction books about animals would feature a block of text on one page with a second-rate photo on the opposite page. Then came the trend -- still popular -- of having several text boxes, a few photos, several captions, and maybe a "fun facts" box -- the busy look catering to the short-attention-span crowd. But recently, a new generation of books is putting more focus on the photos, with amazing results. Here are a few series to look for, each with a representative book featured.
Face to Face with Dolphins
by Flip and Linda Nicklin
Wonderful photos fill whole pages, drawing you into the scene. But with National Geographic as the publisher of this series, we can expect pretty pictures. What is special about this book is how the photographer recounts his experiences taking the pictures — and yes, it makes more of a connection to the photo of the Amazon River dolphin when we know that this was the dolphin that was playfully nibbling at his ankles as he shot the picture. There are lots of the usual facts about dolphins too, but the text has a personal, almost conversational touch to it. The book has little sections throughout — How to Swim Like a Dolphin, How to Speak Dolphin — that allow the reader to copy the dolphin's style for a little fun and games. The series, Face to Face with Animals, also investigates sharks, lions, frogs, penguins, orangutans, wild horses, cheetahs, gorillas, and more.
Parrots (The Wild World of Animals)
by Jill Kalz
The text is pretty standard, informational stuff -- but the photos are spectacular! One huge, stunning, no-borders, full-page picture, with text in a box over the photo itself. Some of the pictures fill up the two-page spread. Now with a subject as colorful as parrots, this style is exceptionally stunning, but you'll also relish the chance to explore many other topics in the series, The Wild World of Animals, including koalas, lions, dolphins, and swans. The series has been around for a while, so you'll want to look at the redesigned books published in 2006 or later.
Butterflies and Moths
by Nic Bishop
Amazing photography, interesting facts, and fantastic design makes these books standouts among the standouts. In this title, Nic Bishop gives us magnified photos of moth eggs and caterpillar legs. Or was it the other way around? Either way, stunning camera work. At the end of the book, Bishop shares stories about how he captured some of the best shots, including a story of a last-minute flight to Costa Rica to see a particularly rare caterpillar before it turned to a pupa. He takes his time with each book, so only two other titles -- Spiders and Frogs -- are available now. Another, Marsupials, comes out in the fall.
I can't wait for dinner on Sunday. It'll just be me, Neil, Beth and Ashley. Oh, and a thousand or so other people.
Where am I having dinner? At the Newbery/Caldecott banquet which recognizes the honorees of two of the most illustrious awards in the children's book world. The banquet is held every year at the American Library Association's (
The winners and the honor books get announced at a press conference at the ALA Midwinter conference in January. I was there this year, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. It was so exciting to hear the applause, cheers, and exclamations of surprise.
What won this year? The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes won the Randolph Caldecott Medal and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman won the John Newbery Medal.
Click here for the complete list of all the 2009 winners and honor books.
The winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Medals get honor, glory, increased book sales, and gold stickers on their books. And an actual medal. But they also have to give an acceptance speech. A speech that will be heard in front of a ballroom full of librarians, authors, illustrators, editors and publishers. A speech that will be published and studied for years to come. A huge, important, career-defining speech. But other than that, there's no pressure.
An interesting note about the Caldecott Medal: the award actually goes to the illustrator of the book. Although The House in the Night was written by Susan Marie Swanson, it's Beth Krommes who gets the medal and has to give the speech.
There's also a third speech this year. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award is given every other year. It honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. This year's recipient is Ashley Bryan and I'm looking forward to his acceptance speech.
Last year, Jen and I went to the banquet together. And we even got interviewed on the red carpet. See this post for more details and an embarrassing YouTube video.
It was an unforgettable night. First, Caldecott winner Brian Selznick wowed the crowd with his intelligent and heartfelt acceptance speech for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, complete with a movie! It was an impossible act to follow, but Newbery winner Laura Amy Schlitz was equal to the task. A storyteller through and through, she mesmerized the crowd and told beautiful stories as she accepted the Newbery for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Her speech looked effortless, but it was much harder than it appeared. 
I recently had the opportunity to hear Laura Amy Schlitz speak about what that night was like for her. She had memorized her entire fifteen minute speech. It had already been submitted for publication in The Horn Book, so she couldn't change even one word as she delivered it.
She said she would love to get those magic, unforgettable fifteen minutes of her speech back. It sounded like a roller coaster ride she never wanted to get off.
This year it will be Beth Krommes', Neil Gaiman's and Ashley Bryan's turn to ride the roller coaster. I wish them joy and exhilaration and hope they enjoy every moment. I'll be cheering them on from the sidelines and will tell you all about it next week.
Last week, I shared links and quotes from a variety of discussions about the power of social reading and the defense of kids reading at and below grade level. This week, I'm continuing my link-sharing theme, and bringing you a selection of posts about the joys of kid-selected summer reading (as opposed to required or extra-challenging books). As with last week's links, these posts are all from blogs that I read regularly - people whose opinions I value. I hope that you enjoy the articles. [Image credit: photo by Gracey, shared via MorgueFile.]
Children's author Kate Messner inspired a flurry of posts and comments when she wrote an article In Defense of Summer Reading. She lists several "compelling reasons for schools to keep their standardized noses out of kids' summer reading". For example: "Summer is a time when our kids actually have the luxury of extra reading time, and if they're passionate about what they're reading, they can read for hours on end. We can't do that in school (as much as it's a lovely thought). But summer readers only show that kind of passion when they have choices. As teachers -- and parents -- we need to respect those choices." It's great stuff - another must-read post. Kate also includes a list of recommended (not required) titles for seventh grades. The list was assembled from student suggestions, and is an impressively diverse collection of books.
Here are some other posts on this topic from the last couple of weeks:
Kate Messner has another brief post linking to several responses and summer reading suggestions from her blogging friends. In that post, Kate also links to a post of Donalyn Miller's (Donalyn wrote The Book Whisperer) from last summer. It's one that I remember, out of the sea of blog posts from the year. Donalyn pointed out the lamentable difference between the light, escapist selections on her bookstore's summer reading table for adults and the classics-heavy summer reading table for teens. While Donalyn's post is certainly still apt a year later, I have been pleased to see a stronger defense of escapist summer reading for kids from around the blogs and newspapers this year.
Librarian Liz Burns takes up this topic at A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy, focusing on the importance of kids learning to make their own selections. She says: "If summer is about freedom --at least, for students if not for the rest of us! -- why not the freedom to pick your own books, including the freedom to fail at picking the right one?"
Teacher Monica Edinger shares a tongue-in-cheek poem about summer reading at Educating Alice.
Dawn Morris at Moms Inspire Learning says that summer reading should be kept fun. Based on the recommendations from her own kids, she shares "some books that have the potential to turn reluctant readers into avid readers" (for readers age 5 to 12).
The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance also has an article about summer reading "for the fun of it". They link to a June 25th Boston Globe article by Lisa Kocian about this, and also quote National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jon Scieszka on tips for getting kids excited to read.
Kate Coombs has a must-read post at Book Aunt about how even "college educated parents in our society" aren't necessarily doing the right things to raise a new generation of readers. She touches on our previously-discussed topic of pressuring kids to read ahead of their grade level, and makes a strong plug for regular visits to the library and trying lots of different books.
And of course, if you somehow missed it, Pam Coughlan had a great post about summer reading here at Booklights last month.
And one final point, which ties back to our earlier discussion about reading and grade levels. If you're looking for book recommendations for early expert readers, Robin Gibson at Bookmuse recently recommended a book called: "Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School by Judith Wynn Halsted (Great Potential Press, 2002)". Robin said: "this book is an excellent resource for those early expert readers discussed a few weeks ago -- not just gifted children. It also includes ideas and book suggestions for readers as they grow." A new edition is scheduled for publication September 1st.
We hope that you and your kids are finding plenty of time for relaxing summer reading this leisurely 4th of July weekend.
I'm heading to the shore for the holiday to see family and fireworks. I can't bring you along, but I can suggest some fun picture books about the beach. Enjoy.
Wave,
by Suzy Lee
I heard great things about this book and I had to see it for myself. As it turns out, I could have waited for the movie. Truly, this is a beautiful book wordlessly chronicling one girl’s encounter with the ocean. The book’s gutter gives a sense of a barrier between the cautious girl and the playful waves. As she gets braver and feels more invincible, she finds that the ocean has many surprises. A lovely summertime book combining light charcoal sketches and brilliant blue-painted sea.
Bebé Goes to the Beach,
written by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Steven Salerno
Bright, stylized illustrations put Bebé and Mama at the beach following their previous shopping trip. Spanish words are used throughout the rhymes, often with context and pictures explaining the meaning of the words. (If you get stuck, there is also a glossary.) For instance, take this couplet: “He’s wearing his gorro with fuzzy jirafas./Mama parks her silla and puts on her gafas.” You could make some good guesses, but it’s certainly easier with Bebé sporting a hat decorated with giraffes as mom puts down her chair and puts on her glasses. In this story, it seems that the baby is a bit of a handful zipping around the beach, but mom still gets a chance to have fun with her son.
Duck Dunks,
written by Lynne Berry, illustrated by Hiroe Nakota
I loved the art of Duck Skates, so I was all psyched for the new title. I enjoyed the cute story as five ducks head to the beach and swim, snack, play, and fly kites in a gorgeous blue sky over an aquamarine ocean. Light and easy sing-song rhymes keep the book fun: “Five little ducklings, hand in hand, skip from the boardwalk, into the sand.” Fun book for preschoolers and anyone who likes really cute ducks. I mean, they are really cute ducks.
There's a magical series in the world of children's books. I've seen kids who hate to read devour these books. The copies at my library keep falling apart and we can never keep the books on the shelf. When I worked in a bookstore, I was always tripping over kids in the aisles who had sat down to read right in front of where these books were displayed. I've watched everyone from 6 to 60 become mesmerized by them. What's the name of this incredible series that casts such a spell?
You thought I was going to say Harry Potter, didn't you? I'll save that series for another post.
Bill Watterson's comic strip about a hyper kid and his stuffed tiger ran in the newspapers for only ten years, from 1985 to 1995. It's been fourteen years since the last strip appeared and Calvin's popularity doesn't seem to have waned for a minute. It's a timeless creation that can be enjoyed by nearly every age.
What does this have to do with children's books? Reading is reading, no matter what form it takes. Popular comic strip such as Calvin and Hobbes frequently sell out in bookstores and have incredibly high circulation rates in public and school libraries. Children and teenagers ask all the time for Calvin, Zits, Foxtrot, Garfield and Peanuts. Unfortunately, at least half of the time I get a request for a comic strip book, I hear a parent tell their child that they shouldn't be wasting their time with comics, and urging the kid to pick out better books.
This pains me every time I hear it. Calvin is somebody kids can relate to. He has temper tantrums, he gets in trouble, he has a huge imagination and he doesn't always pay attention. In short, he's a typical kid. And the books are full of are full of complex words and ideas that challenge readers.
Think about a child who is struggling with reading. A chapter book full of words can be completely overwhelming but a comic strip is far less threatening and full of visual cues. Comic strips can help kids learn to read and develop a sense of humor. Reading a small number of panels to get to the punch line can give kids a sense of accomplishment. A collection can be put down and picked up at any time without interrupting the continuity. And most important, comic strips can show kids how fun reading can be.
Look at the picture below. Doesn't it make you want to read the book?
Comic strips are universal and appeal to a wide variety of people of all ages. A while back, I commuted into D.C. via the subway. Practically everybody on the train bought a copy of the Washington Post before they got onboard. And, every single day, 90% of the papers were open to the comics section.
My husband and I have completely different literary tastes. When we got married and merged our book collections, there was only one series that we both owned. Garfield.
The next time you see your child gaze longingly at Calvin and his stuffed tiger, let them give it a try, even if you think they're too young to get the jokes. Or hand a collection to a kid who's struggling and feeling unsuccessful at school. It might make a bigger difference than you think.
In recent posts at Booklights, I've written about the power of social reading (kids sparking enthusiasm for books amongst themselves) and the joy of light, self-selected summer reading (as opposed to heavy required reading lists). The latter was in the context of a larger discussion about letting kids read what they enjoy, instead of pushing them to read at ever more advanced reading levels. We've had some wonderful discussions here at Booklights, in the comments on both posts. Parents, teachers, librarians - quite a few people have taken the time to share their experiences. These comments are well worth a read, and I will certainly be revisiting them for insight. [Image credit: photo by Taliesin, shared via MorgueFile.]
I've also run across a number of posts on these topics around the Kidlitosphere. I'd like to share some of those links with you here at Booklights. These posts are all from blogs that I read regularly - people whose opinions I value - and they are pretty much universal in their encouragement of letting kids read what they enjoy, regardless of reading levels. This week, I'll share some posts about social reading and reading ahead of grade level. Next week, we'll focus on the defense of self-selected summer reading.
Sarah Mulhern has a follow-up post about social reading at The Reading Zone that is not to be missed. She describes a specific example of a series of books that spread like wildfire through her class, sparked by one boy's enthusiasm. She also shares some concrete recommendations for getting kids to talk together about books. One point that I particularly enjoyed from the post was when she said, about a previously dormant reader, that "He talked (a book) up way better than I could have, because he genuinely loved the book." No adult is going to be crazy about every book. Recommendations from their peers have the ability to reach more kids, simply because each person is going to love a different set of books. But do go and read Sarah's entire post.
Here at Booklights, children's literature professor Ann said: "research done in the early 1970s on how children make their choices of what books to read. And while these findings were taken from studying children who likely now have little readers of their own, it may still be relevant to our discussion. It turns out that when making the decision of what book to choose, children rely on the recommendations of others, the availability of books, and returning to the same author or illustrator whose work they have enjoyed in the past. Sounds a lot like adult readers, doesn't it?"
See also this two-part post in which former teacher Kristine from Best Book I Have Not Read addresses the question of kids reading above grade level. She says: "I am embracing the idea put forth by Lucy Calkins in The Art of Teaching Reading regarding independent reading... Calkins recommends that "every teacher of reading starts the year by steadfastly directing children toward reading a lot of easy book, and reading these books fluently and smoothly, with clear comprehension, and at a good pace" (p. 339)... so clearly puts in words what I have known about students, but had a hard time explaining to parents who fret about their fourth grader loving Babymouse or insisting that they are ready to reading Twilight at the beginning of fourth grade." [Image credit: photo by Gracey, shared via MorgueFile]
Librarian Bibliovore at Kid Tested, Librarian Approved chimes in with her "greatest objection to pushing kids to read farther and farther above their grade level. Not that kids will encounter sex and violence, but that they may be in the presence of genius that they're not ready for, and in missing it, dismiss it for the rest of their lives."
Middle school librarian Paige Y. from Reading and Breathing shares her thoughts on reading above grade level and re-reading, lamenting the fact that "books on grade level (or above grade level) is the answer, according to many. I can preach until my lips fall off that reading below grade level improves fluency and comprehension, but to no avail." Paige also makes a neat point in defense of kids re-reading books, sharing her own personal experience: "I also go back to books whose characters show me the person I want be. I have learned much from Atticus Finch and Marmee and Elizabeth Bennett, among hundreds of other characters." It's certainly been like that for me, too.
And finally, Daphne Lee at The Places You Will Go writes a defense of picture book reading for people of all ages. She adds: "Author/illustrator Anthony Browne feels that way too. Browne has just been chosen as Britain's new Children's Laureate. He takes over from poet and picture book author Michael Rosen, and will hold the post for two years. Browne is looking forward to championing picture books which he said, in an interview with The Times, "are being marginalised and forgotten about"." It's great stuff!
I hope that you found some food for thought in these excellent blog posts. Next week, I'll share a smorgasbord of posts dedicated to keeping summer reading fun.
I am delighted to join the Booklights bloggers Jen, Pam, and Susan. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading their posts....what wonderful resources they are for parents, teachers, and children's booklovers everywhere! My role will be to provide an end-of-the-month summary, reaction, and share the ideas that Jen, Pam, and Susan have prompted. To quote E.B. White, "A once a month column gives three weeks of off time to devote to a sustained project like shingling a barn or sandpapering an old idea." While I do not plan to shingle a barn, I will be spending this next year sandpapering a lot of old ideas as I will be on sabbatical from my work at Vanderbilt University.
Jen's latest post about the power of social reading reminds me of the research done in the early 1970s on how children make their choices of what books to read. And while these findings were taken from studying children who likely now have little readers of their own, it may still be relevant to our discussion. It turns out that when making the decision of what book to choose, children rely on the recommendations of others, the availability of books, and returning to the same author or illustrator whose work they have enjoyed in the past. Sounds a lot like adult readers, doesn't it?
So Jen's suggestions of parent-child book clubs and encouraging kids to talk to each other about the books they are reading are great. Teachers are also very valuable resources for making book recommendations. And the lists of favorites that were provided in May make fabulous suggestions of picture books that will be enjoyed by readers of every age. Many of you will want to grab a book bag and go to your local library to check out their favorites:
Pam (May 7)
Susan (April 27 and May 6)
Jen (April 24)
As I read their lists, I felt compelled to mention my own "Top Ten".....for this moment in time, anyway!
1. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, by Mem Fox (ill. Julie Vivas)
2. I'm in Charge of Celebrations, by Byrd Baylor (ill. Peter Parnell)
3. The Library, by Sarah Stewart (ill. David Small)
4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar (pop-up version), by Eric Carle
5. Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen (ill.
6. Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney
7. Time for Bed, by Mem Fox (ill. Jane Dyer)
8. Truman's Aunt Farm, by Jama Kim Rattigan (ill. Brian Karas)
9. Pink and Say, by Patricia Palacco
10. Animalia, by Graeme Base
The second finding from the research I mentioned above is about availability of books to read. On June 11, Pam talked about bringing home books. The second most frequent memories of early reading my university students have is that of bringing bags full of books home from the public library (the first most popular memory is that of their family reading time at night before bedtime).
It is particularly important that children have lots of books available to them in the summer. By the way, I think that summer is the perfect time for reading LESS challenging books! Try new genres of literature. Check out the latest nonfiction picture books. Take the time to look very closely at the illustrations.
And on June 10th, Susan provided us with a very nice example of how to discuss the illustrations of Where the Wild Things Are (by the way, the movie based on this book is scheduled to come out on October 16). It has been said that a child's first introduction to fine art is through the picture book. Spend time this summer talking about the art that you and your child will enjoy together in many of the picture books we have recommended.
Please, please do not encourage children to stop reading picture books too early. Show your children how much you enjoy the art of the picture book. As Susan mentioned, Brian Selznick's Caldecott winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a picture book with a much longer format....544 pages rather than the usual 32! While it may seem daunting at first, 9-12 year olds will quickly discover the illustrations must be read just as carefully as the text in order for the book to be understood.
The professor in me loves Arthur Rackham's belief about illustration: "The most fascinating form of illustration consists of the expression by the artist of an individual sense of delight or emotion aroused by the accompanying passage of literature."
Looking forward to another month of wonderful posts....Ann
Today's Thursday Three is actually Thursday Six as each of the books has a related sequel. Enjoy these tributes to cuteness.
"I'm Not Cute!"
by Jonathan Allen
As all the animals talk about how adorable Baby Owl is with his big eyes and downy feathers, the little chick insists that he is not what they see but instead a "hunting machine," among other things. Of course, the illustrations are soooo cute the reader can't help but agree with the animals. Fortunately, Mama Owl is there to see her chick the way he wants to be seen - and tuck him too. Fun, cute book. See also: "I'm Not Scared!"
Me and My Dad
by Alison Ritchie
Sweet simple rhymes chronicle the day between a daddy bear and cub. "My dad wakes me up every morning, like this - He tickles my nose and gives me a kiss." It's nice that the cub could be a boy or girl, since text nevers says. The illustrations are lively with bright yellows and greens and blues. The artist makes the brown fur feel golden and so touchable you'd swear that you could reach into the pictures. See also Me and My Mom
Kittens! Kittens! Kittens!
written by Susan Meyers, illustrated by David Walker
Just. So. Cute. Lots of kittens everywhere doing the things kittens do in a soft lovely art style and sing-song rhymes. "Finding tails to stalk and chase, Washing whiskers, ears, and face. Pouncing, bouncing, mewing kittens, Busy, up-and-doing kittens." There may be a story involved of a family raising the kittens and at least one child getting his new kitten, but honestly, with all the kitteny cuteness, I lost track of a plot. See also: Puppies! Puppies! Puppies!
-What's the title of the new Percy Jackson book?
-What are the names of the series Beverly Clearly has written?
-What's the name of Magic Tree House book #17?
-Can you give me a full list of all the original Nancy Drew books in order?
-I've read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Which book is next?
-What's the sequel to The Name of this Book is Secret?
-How many Babysitter's Club books were written before they went out of print?
-I'm looking for funny books. Can you recommend a good series?
I get these kinds of questions at the reference desk all the time. And I'm guessing that you and your kids have them too. Are you frequently trying to figure out what book in a series to read next? Where should you look for the answer if you don't have a handy children's librarian around?
Try this fantastic (and free) Juvenile Series and Sequels database created by the Mid-Continent Public Library in Missouri. It's got the answers to all the questions above, plus many more you never even thought to ask.
The database is organized in four different ways. You can view it by series title, by author, by subject and you can do a book title search.
Here's the answers to the questions above with the links to where I found them (in case you're curious).
-The Last Olympian
-Series by Beverly Cleary: Beezus, Henry Huggins, Jimmy and Janet, Ralph S. Mouse, Ramona Quimby and Ribsy
-Tonight on the Titanic
-List of the original Nancy Drew books
-Would you like to read the Narnia books in chronological order or the order in which they were published?
-If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
-131
-Try these humorous series
This database is a librarian's (and a parent's) best friend. Enjoy!
A post that I read recently at The Reading Zone inspired me to write about "social reading" for kids. Blogger Sarah Mulhern is "a 6th grade Language Arts teacher who strives to instill a love of reading and writing in her students". Recently, Sarah wrote about a book club that she observed in her classroom between two best friends. The two girls decided, on their own initiative, to read the same book (Gone by Michael Grant). Sarah observed:
"They talk about the book with each other and with me, coming to me to share their responses and exclamations. I LOVE IT! ... It's amazing the power that social reading has. Why don't we harness this in more classrooms and use it? Students reading, recommending, and talking about books is more powerful than any literacy kit, basal reader, or literature set."
I certainly agree with that. I don't remember much about what I was reading in the classroom in 5th or 6th grade, beyond a vague memory of workbooks and reading comprehension questions. But I DO remember talking about books with my friend Holly. We especially enjoyed a book about Gnomes, Fairies, and Elves, and we were thrilled to discover a hidden path to an island of sticks in the swamp behind my house. Surely there was magic there! Holly moved out of the country after fifth grade, and for quite a while we took turns writing a shared story, sending chapters back and forth by airmail. I think that our shared experience with books worked a dual magic - it strengthened my friendship with Holly, while at the same time reinforcing my love of books. And I've been fortunate to have that dynamic with friends in my adult life, too. We benefit from the recommendations that we share with each other, and our friendships grow while we discuss the books.
In The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, Donalyn Miller talks about the importance of her own shared reading experiences with her husband, her children, and her best friend. Talking about her classroom, she says:
"By setting the expectation that reading is what we do, always, everywhere, it becomes the heart of a class' culture. Even the most resistant readers can't fight if all of their friends comply." (Chapter 3)
I know parents who have had good success with parent-child bookgroups (see MotherDaughterBookClub.com, for example, or read Heather Vogel Frederick's book The Mother-Daughter Book Club). I think that bookclubs are a great idea. There's no doubt that by talking about books with their kids, parents can have a tremendous influence. Last summer, our own MotherReader hosted a wonderful summer book club for her rising seventh-grader's Girl Scout Troop. (You can find all of the posts here.)
I also think that when kids talk about books on their own, and make recommendations to one another, great things can happen. I'm not sure what can be done to encourage this social reading, exactly. I'm sure that the best response comes from the spontaneous bubbling over of genuine enthusiasm, and you can't orchestrate that. But I would be willing to bet that kids whose close friends are avid readers are more likely to be readers themselves (and vice versa).
Surely social reading has been a big part of the Twilight phenomenon, with girls reading the books because their friends rave about them. It was clear when I attended the signing for The Last Olympian this spring that part of the reason that kids were so excited about the Percy Jackson books was because OTHER kids were so excited about them. And that's great. J. K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and Rick Riordan deserve every iota of success, as far as I'm concerned, because their books have turned kids into readers. But what I'd also love to see more of is kids recommending books back and forth that aren't necessarily huge bestsellers. A kid recommending The Magic Thief or Alabama Moon to his best friend because he loves it, and he wants his friend to read it so that they can compare notes, and discuss it. I'd like to peek into Sarah's classroom, just for a moment, to see those two girls, heads bent together over their matching books. I think that social reading is a beautiful thing, something worth cultivating.
What do you all think? Have you observed social reading between your kids and their friends? In their classrooms? Teachers, is this something that you've been able to harness? Do you have any suggestions for how to do it? I would love to hear your feedback.
Father's Day is right around the corner, and while I can't suggest the best DVD to buy for Dad - though I'm pretty partial to Lost - I can recommend three picture books to share.
I Love My Pirate Papa
written by Laura Leuck, illustrated by Kyle Stone
Here's a nice story about a boy who loves his daddy, who happens to be a pirate. The rhyming text outlines a day on the high sea with plenty of pirate antics. A sample: "I love my pirate papa! He's the bravest buccaneer. He helps me put my earring on and buckles up my gear." The illustrations are clever and interesting with lots of funny bits to catch in the pictures. Little pirates will eat it up.
You Can Do Anything Daddy!
by Michael Rex
A boy's version of the would-you-do-anything-for-me books. Like The Runaway Bunny without the separation issues. As the father tucks his son into bed, the boy asks his dad if he would save him from bad guys. Bad guys who get more elaborate as the bedtime ritual goes on. As the challenges escalate, the illustrations show how one middle-aged dad would save his son from robot gorilla pirates from Mars. The cartoon illustrations are fun and lively, and it's also a nice touch that the boy never looks concerned as he's carried off, but has a slight knowing smile. A great book that gives a guy's touch to "I love you so much."
Building With Dad
written by Carol Nevius, illustrated by Bill Thomson
First of all, this book opens top to bottom instead of side to side. You may wonder why, until you open the first full page of picture and text and then...wow! You're treated to this perspective looking up to a man with a boy on his shoulders. The next page is a bulldozer, starting right from the pile of dirt on the ground. Then a dump truck dropping rocks that seem to almost spill off of the page and into your lap. And on and on. Rhyming couplets tell of being on the construction site with dad while they are building the kid's new school. Definitely would be a hit for truck lovers, but the fantastic illustrations will create adult fans too.
For tons of great ideas, check out Book Dads, an amazing website featuring books with a positive view of fatherhood. And, of course, use the comments here to share and find more favorite picture books about dads.
Try saying the words "Peggy Babcock" five times fast. Can you do it?
Don't feel bad if the answer is no. Peggy Babcock is one of the hardest combinations of words to say in the English language.
I've been having a lot of fun with tongue twisters lately. They're great to read aloud with kids. Here's a recent favorite of mine from Orangutan Tongs by Jon Agee. I was amazed that I was able to mesmerize several 5th grade classes merely by saying the words below out loud (very, very fast).
Walter Witter called a waiter: "Waiter, over here!
I want some water, waiter. Water, waiter! Is that clear?
The waiter brought some water. Walter Witter shouted: "WRONG!
This water's really watered-down! I like my water strong
The waiter brought more water. Walter Witter was upset.
"This water's dry!" said Walter. "I like my water wet!
Bring me wetter water, waiter!" Walter Witter said.
The waiter brought a pitcherful and poured it on his head."
Did you find that one difficult? It's just a warm-up for Bubble Trouble, a terrific tongue twisting poem by Margaret Mahy. 
It was recently released as a picture book with illustrations by Polly Dunbar and it's probably the hardest book I've ever tried to read aloud. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's a sample:
"Little Mabel blew a bubble, and it caused a lot of trouble...
Such a lot of bubble trouble in a bibble-bobble way.
For it broke away from Mabel as it bobbed across the table,
where it bobbled over Baby and it wafted him away."
And that's just the first page!
For more great tongue twisters, look no further than the good doctor. Seuss, that is. Open up Fox in Socks to one of my all time favorites, and "let's have a little talk about tweetle beetles:"
"When beetles fight these battles
in a bottle with their paddles and
the bottle's on a poodle and
the poodle's eating noodles...
they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle."
If you've mastered Fox in Socks, you can graduate to Dr. Seuss' Oh Say Can you Say? Amazingly, it's got even harder tongue twisters: 
"Fritz needs Fred and Fred needs Fritz.
Fritz feeds Fred and Fred feeds Fritz.
Fred feeds Fritz with ritzy Fred food.
Fritz feeds Fred with ritzy Fritz food.
And Fritz, when fed, has often said,
"I'm a Fred-fed Fritz. Fred's a Fritz-fed Fred."
For the true classics, try Alvin Schwartz's book: A Twister of Twists, A Tangler of Tongues. (It's out of print, but you can find it in a library.) In addition to lots of fun tongue twisters, he also provides great notes and folklore history. I love the great tidbits of information he's uncovered. For example, Peter Piper originally appeared in an undated pamphlet called Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation. Here's the one from that pamphlet that we all know (there have been some slight variations over the years):
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.
A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
Where is the peck of pickled pepper that Peter Piper picked?
Each tongue twister in the pamphlet was about an unusual occupation and began with the a different letter . Here's the entry for Q. It's done in the exact same format as Peter Piper.
"Questing Quidnunc quizzed a queerish question.
Did Questing Quidnunc quiz a queerish question?
If Questing Quidnunc quizzed a queering queerish question,
what's the queerish question Questing Quidnunc quizzed?
I don't know about you, but I'm kind of grateful that Peter became more famous than Quidnunc.
Schwartz also provides a sample of one of the earliest known written tongue twisters, published in 1674, in Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae by John Wallis:
"When a Twister, a twisting, will twist him a twist
For the twisting of his twist, he three times doth intwist.
But, if one of the twists of the twist do untwist,
The twine that untwisteth, untwisted the twist."
For some great tongue twisty additions to well known classics and nursery rhymes, take a look at Ira Trapani's Rufus and Friends: Rhyme Time. Here's a new stanza for Peter Piper:
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
But Patty Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers quicker.
Into a pickled pepper pot she packed the pack of peppers,
For Patty was a quicker pickled pepper packer-picker."
Enjoy tangling your tongue! And in the words of Dr. Seuss:
"Now is your tongue numb?"
I posted on my blog on Friday about the question of whether or not it's a good idea to encourage kids to read above their grade level. I was inspired by an excellent post on this subject by Dashka Slater at Babble. I discovered very quickly that quite a few people have opinions on this, as you can see in the extensive comments of both of the previous two posts, and the cropping up of other posts like this one at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, this one at Here in the Bonny Glen, and this one at Best Book I Have Not Read. I decided, based on this response, that it was a worthwhile topic to bring up here at Booklights. This is also, I think, a logical follow-up to Pam's post from last week about encouraging summer reading. Pam talked about the importance of bringing home a variety of books from the library. She said: "Don't overrule a book your child picks as being too young for him, but also reserve the right make some selections yourself." Like Pam, I'm not a reading specialist, but I do have something to say about this topic.
As all of the above discussions make clear, there is, in some circles, a bit of competitive pressure going on regarding kids' reading levels. I've heard about the five year old who likes the unabridged version of the Iliad, and the six-year-old reading at a sixth grade level. Melissa Wiley writes about a woman who discouraged her four-year-old from reading picture books, in favor of "something more challenging". An elementary school librarian commented on my earlier post: "I have some students who are "weightlifting" in second grade, carrying Eragon and Inkspell around rather than reading it." The Babble article says: "I hear parents dropping the names of children's books as if they were designer labels. "Junie B. Jones?" one might say witheringly. "My daughter loved that in preschool, but now she's reading the sixth Harry Potter." [Image credit: photo by ToymanRon, shared at MorgueFile. And no, I don't know exactly what this girl is actually reading.]
I can see how it would be easy to caught up in all of this. The parent who reads aloud to her child from the womb, provides lots of books, and is a role model for the importance of reading might be understandably thrilled when said child becomes an advanced reader. Particularly if teachers are encouraging the child to read ever more "challenging" books, and other parents are all talking about what tremendously advanced material their children are reading. A recent Sydney Morning Herald article says (in the context of homework, but I think there's a clear parallel), "Parents who cannot remember homework when they were in kindergarten now help their five-year-olds with up to 45 minutes a day of sheets filled with literacy and numeracy problems. Even those who doubt the wisdom of homework at such an early age reluctantly go along with it, driven by fear of their child falling behind." I know that the "fear of their child falling behind", in our competitive society, is significant.
BUT, there are problems with the relentless progression towards ever-more-advanced reading material for kids. The short-term problem is that children can miss books that they would enjoy reading. Books about kids their own age, having relatable experiences. Fun books. Books with pictures! Instead, they can end up reading books before they are ready for them, which often leads to not appreciating the books, and never going back. The long-term problem is that if you turn reading into a competition, you run the risk of turning it into a chore. You run the risk of having that bright-eyed five-year-old advanced reader grow, in the blink of an eye, into a fourth-grader who won't read anything beyond what's strictly necessary for homework. And that is a tragedy.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't ever let your kids read books that are above their grade level. If they want to do that, and if you deem that books aren't too mature for them thematically, then by all means let them read ahead. Kids usually have a pretty good notion of what they can manage. If they find a book too difficult, they are likely to get bored with that book, and move on to something else. (As Stacy Dillon commented on my post, "I'm bored" is often code for "I don't understand"). So, I'm not saying that the occasional first grader reading the first Harry Potter book is a problem.
What I am saying is that it's not a good idea to pressure kids to read above their age level. Reading, especially in the summer, should be fun. It isn't meant to be a race. It's a pastime, a journey, a way to teach kids to love books. You don't instill a life-long love of reading by belittling the eight-year-old who wants to flip through picture books on a rainy afternoon. You don't encourage reading by turning down your nose at Goosebumps or comic books or (for teens) the Twilight books. Just because your seven year old CAN read at a sixth grade level, you don't have to deny her the joy of reading about Clementine, Ramona, Pippi Longstocking or Ivy and Bean. Just as we adults sometimes want to read recreationally, it's ok for kids, too. More than OK, in fact, it's something that can help them to maintain the joy of reading. That's what I think, anyway. And it's what many of the authors of and commenters on the posts above think, too, though I've only been able to capture a small amount of that discussion here. [Image credit: photo by Gracey, shared at MorgueFile]
What do you all think? Have you felt pressure, from teachers or other parents, to keep your children reading above grade level? How do you handle this? Or have you found it to be more of a problem the other way, with your library not letting kids read above grade level?
Yesterday I was talking with a friend about reading over the summer vacation. She called to ask about the public library, but we ended up discussing how to help her son improve his reading skills over the break. Having been in a similar situation with my younger daughter, I had some ready solutions that I offered her and now you. I should mention that I'm not a reading specialist, but am suggesting a plan for summer reading that worked and made sense to me.
1. Make the Time
I am asked often enough how I find time to read. My answer is more like a mission statement: You don't find time to read, you make time to read. Reading needs to be part of your schedule like eating or bathing, because in its own way it's as important. Sure, you can go a day without reading, but why would you want to? I prefer bedtime as the ideal reading time. It's easily remembered, and it's a great way to wind down. The evening hour can also offer a spouse or older sibling an opportunity to participate. In the summer perhaps morning will work better, and that's fine, but make the time every day.
2. Bring Home the Books
Even if you have tons of titles on your shelves, summer offers a wonderful opportunity to explore the public library. Having something new to read that you have for a limited time, is more exciting. The library also gives you the chance to try something different. Pick out some folk tales from other countries. Try the new horse series. Investigate life in China or under the sea. Don't overrule a book your child picks as being too young for him, but also reserve the right make some selections yourself.
It's often said that boys are more interested in nonfiction than stories, so head over to the 500's of your Dewey Decimal system. It's rich with science books for kids including topics like space, dinosaurs, insects, snakes, and mammals. And these aren't the boring books you might remember from your childhood with long pages of text on one side, and one second-rate photo on the other. Today's children's nonfiction works with innovative layouts, multi-level text, and amazing photography. Ask your librarian to direct you to other nonfiction sections as well, including poetry, art, history, and biographies. Bring home a variety of books and plenty of them. (If you're worried about keeping track of them, our library books live in a basket by the couch and that's where they are read.)
3. Mix It Up
I love reading, and yet there is a stage of learning to read that makes me clench my teeth. It's exciting when your child is first sounding out words. Later, it's wonderful when you are reading together and she asks the meaning of a particular word. The part that is hard for me is a particular middle phase, where my daughters would sound out the same word for the third time within five pages. We each made it through this period (successfully) and I held my tongue (mostly), but it led me to my greatest discovery of mixing up our reading time.
As my youngest daughter was in the easy-reader stage for a long time, we learned to keep it interesting and fun. She'd read one book to me, then I'd read a picture book to her. Sometimes we'd take turns with her easy reader book. Sometimes she'd sound out words in the picture book. Other times, I'd read a chapter book to her and we'd discuss what happened in each chapter before moving on. There were even times when she would read to herself, and I'd read my own book alongside her. Occasionally, her older sister would step in to do the easy reader part while I washed the dishes. (A dollar payment most well spent.) We used this time to improve other reading skills besides sounding out and word recognition. Picture books are great for discussing art and illustration cues to the story. With their concise stories, picture books are wonderful to reinforce the concepts of story arcs, prediction, and comprehension. We'd talk about our favorite picture or the funniest part. I might remind her of a similar book or a personal connection, and soon she was doing the same thing. What could have been an exhausting stage for both of us, turned into a wonderful time of exploring, discussing, analyzing, and yes, reading.
Let's take a new look at a book you've probably read a hundred times.
Go to your bookshelf and pull out your copy of Where the Wild Things Are.
Can't find it? Don't worry. I'll wait here while you go to the library.
What took you so long?
Got the book in your hands? Great. Now follow me.
Look at the picture of Max making mischief. Not the picture itself, but the size of the picture. It's pretty small, isn't it? Most of the page is taken up by white space. And on the left hand side, there's only that one line of black text to break up all the white.
Beep. (That sound means it's time to turn the page.)
As Max chases the dog (notice the Wild Thing picture on the wall), the size of the illustration gets bigger.
Peeb. (Beep spelled backward. Turn the page back.)
Do you see how much larger the box is than the page before?
Beep. Now go forward again.
Now turn the pages without reading the words. Watch as the box gets bigger and bigger. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Are you on the page where Max's ceiling is hung with vines? Good. Do you see how the picture takes over the entire right side of the page? The box is gone. Beep.
As Max sails in his private boat, the illustration can't be contained to one page. It starts spreading out and breaks into the white space on the left side of the page. Beep. The illustration gets a bit bigger as Max sails in and out of weeks. Beep.
When he comes to the place where the wild things are, the illustrations take over until they're covering the entire top of both pages. Look at how much white space is left on the bottom for the words. Beep.
The white space shrinks lower. Beep. And lower still. By the time Max is made king of wild things, there's only a thin space for the words. The white space has been reduced by half from the picture where Max arrived. Beep.
The wild rumpus has begun and lasts for three pages. Words are no longer adequate to tell the story. Beep. Beep. Beep.
When Max cries "stop," the illustrations start to recede. Beep.
As his boat sails off, there's the same amount of white space as there was when his boat landed. Beep. As he sails back over a year, the picture retreats even more. Beep.
When he arrives in his room, the picture only covers the right side of the page, but it covers it completely. What a contrast to the first page in the book, where the picture only took up a small amount of the page. Beep.
For the line "and it was still hot," the illustrations have faded away completely. We're left with five small black words in a sea of white. Beep.
Take a look at the endpapers, and then close the book and look at the cover. Beep.
The illustration takes up most of the space. But, the words are there, above and below, surrounding the image. When you're holding the book in your hand, the image is even more powerful. The edges of the book act as a physical frame to keep the pictures in.
Does the front cover image mean something different to you now than it did a few minutes ago? Sometimes, it's worth taking a look at something familiar from another perspective.
Why does the design matter so much? Take a look at this quote from Brian Selznick's fantastic Caldecott acceptance speech for The Invention of Hugo Cabret:
"Think about the wild rumpus in Where the Wild Things Are. The pictures grow until they take over the entire book and there is no more room for words. Only the reader turning the page can move the story forward. We are put in charge at the exact moment Max himself takes charge. We become Max, all because of the page turns."
Isn't it amazing how much power the turn of the page gives the reader? To see this play out in a much longer format, pick up The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Don't worry, I won't go page by page with you (too many beeps!) but take a close look. It's incredible.
Never underestimate how important book design is to a picture book.
This weekend, in a 48-hour period, I spent 29 hours reading and blogging about books. I was participating in the 4th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge, hosted by our own Pam Coughlan, MotherReader. This is a wonderful event held in celebration of reading. More than 100 people participated, and scores of others followed along, and commented to show support. You can find links to wrap-up posts by all of the participants here. My own detailed wrap-up post is on my blog. Here, I'd like to highlight a few of the books that I read, the ones that I think will be of particular interest to the Booklights audience.
Laurel Snyder's Any Which Wall (illustrated by LeUyen Pham) is an homage to classic children's books about magic, especially to Edward Eager's books. It's also a celebration of childhood, and a reminder not to turn away from the joys of everyday life. It's about four children who discover a magic wall, one that can wish them away to other places (including Camelot). I concluded: "I highly recommend Any Which Wall to anyone who would like a return to reading about magic, a return to old-fashioned stories in which children ride their bikes around unsupervised and eat cake with new acquaintances. It's Laurel's gift to readers, and to the ghost of Edward Eager. I think that he'd be pleased." My full review is here.
Masterpiece by Elise Broach (illustrated by Kelly Murphy) just won the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for older readers. It's the story of an unlikely friendship between a beetle named Marvin and a quiet eleven-year-old boy named James. It strikes a perfect balance between mystery, world-building, and learning, with fascinating details about art theft and forgery. I think that it's a must-read title for children and adults, and an excellent choice for families reading aloud together. My full review is here. Also, don't miss this year's picture book winner for the E.B. White award: A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker (illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton). This is a wonderful read-aloud for toddlers.
Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinaire, by Brenda Ferber, is the perfect book for tween girls about to head off to camp for the first time. It's about eleven year old Jemma, who is excited to spend the summer at camp with her best friend, Tammy (who moved away at the start of the school year). Everything changes, however, when Tammy brings a cousin to camp, and Jemma is left fighting with the other girl for her friend's attention. This classic tween drama is set against a backdrop that shows all of the best attributes of summer camp. ("... the camaraderie, the friendships, the personal responsibility and teamwork. The songs and campfires and 'smores and swimming.") My full review is here.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is a coming of age novel about a girl living in Central Texas in 1899. Calpurnia is a tomboy and a scientist by nature, taught by her grandfather. She struggles to balance the expectations that society has for girls against her own desires. This is the best kind of historical fiction, a novel that conveys plenty of important information about the time period, while keeping everything organic to the story. And Calpurnia is a great character, a girl that readers will root for whole-heartedly. Although this is billed as a novel for young adults, I think it would work for strong readers a bit younger, too. My full review is here.
I also reviewed The Ghosts of Rathburn Park by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Ghost Huntress Book 2: The Guidance by Marley Gibson, Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (an excellent summer read for teen boys), If the Witness Lied by Caroline Cooney, and Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (adult mystery). But if you're looking for other book recommendations, do take a stroll through some of the other wrap-up posts from the 48 hour book challenge. It is a treasure trove of books selected by avid and discerning readers.
Here are a couple of other articles that caught my eye this week that I thought would be of particular interest to you all:
I mentioned Susan Stephenson, The Book Chook, in last week's post. This week, she had a post that simply cried out to me to be shared here. Susan is responding to a letter from a Mom who is worried because she knows about the importance of fathers as reading role models, but her husband has refused to read bedtime stories to their son. Susan shares a number of suggestions of other ways that the father could be a reading role model. She responds to possible objections that the Dad might have (timing, discomfort with fiction, etc.), and suggests alternatives. It's a nice positive, constructive post, with nuts and bolts suggestions, well worth checking out.
I also thought that you all might be interested in a recent post by Dawn Morris at Moms Inspire Learning, about using games to enhance literacy. She suggests options for kids of different age ranges, from packaged games to simple ideas for playing word games in the car. This post is just in time for summer vacation. Dawn has lots of other great posts, too, including a three-part (so far) series about Ways to Raise an Avid Reader. This one started as a top 10 list, but has grown.
For more news like these last couple of items, check out this week's Children's Literacy Round-Up, which will be available at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, the Reading Tub's blog, sometime today (Updated to add: here is the direct link). Happy reading!
Last weekend I attended Book Expo America (BEA) and had a blast. I met some wonderful authors, got tons of signed books, and shipped home a forty-pound box of goodies. For today's Thursday Three, I'm covering the hottest titles in Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Picture Books.
Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
People lined up in the early hours of the morning to get a ticket to Suzanne Collins' book signing. Others scouted out the 10:00 a.m. Scholastic distribution of the Advance Reader Copy (ARC), not wanting to wait until the September release to read the sequel to Hunger Games. But I didn't realize how hot this title was until I came home and saw bids on ebay reaching over $100. (ARC's specifically say that they are Not For Sale, often on the cover.) A few book blogs offered their copies to readers in random drawings and pulled in over two hundred comments. This book is Twilight-hot. And I picked up an abandoned copy off a lunch table at the convention. Crazy.
Meet Rebecca
by Jacqueline Dembar Greene
American Girl released a new historical character, Rebecca Rubin, a Jewish-American immigrant living in New York City in 1914. Contrary to the Catching Fire fever, this new series by American Girl slipped under the radar for most people I talked to, but it was an entirely pleasant surprise. At the book signing on Sunday morning I was very excited to meet the author and express my delight at a series chronicling the Jewish immigrant experience. I brought the book home and can't wait to read it. The doll is super-cute too. Forget my kids, I want her myself. Seriously.
Big Frog Can't Fit In
by Mo Willems
Another hot ticket was for the new Mo Willems' title, even though it's not available yet. Folks stood in long lines to get Mr. Willems signature on the promo piece for the new pop-up book. I can appreciate the excitement as I'd buy it if Mo illustrated the AIG collapse. (Actually, that might help me understand it.) So not seeing the book yet, all I can say is that the frog is apparently large and doesn't "fit in," one may guess both figuratively and literally. Hence, the pop-up.
I hadn't made it to New York in time for Mo's signing, but as chance would have it, I ran into him on Saturday on the exhibit floor. We talked a bit, and I got my signature and he said the first frog doodle. Or maybe he meant the first frog on a T-shirt. Either way, I'm happy.
I love cake. I love children's books. So, when my friend Kathy sent me this wonderful blog post from Cake Wrecks of culinary creations based on beloved children's books... naturally, I loved it.
It inspired me to try and find other fabulous cakes. Here's a few of my favorite ones. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. All the pictures are from Cake Central, unless otherwise noted.
Attention Fancy Nancy fans: check out this amazingly fancy cake.
Have you ever wanted to curl up with a good book and a yummy desert? Take a look at this cake.
This cake was made for a children's librarian who was retiring to stay home and take care of her grandchildren. Very artistic and spunky, just like Olivia .
This is a great cake based on Where the Wild Things Are.
I love the creativity in this 1st birthday cake. The top tier was made for the birthday kid to smash. The baker made a model of her son who looks like he's actually crawling up the cake (and wreaking the inevitable damage).
You've got to say no to this terrific cake based on David Shannon's No, David!
This one's a little harder to turn down. But Don't Let the Pigeon Eat the Cake!
Check out this cake of the Three Little Pigs.
These houses are made out of gingerbread!
I like this cake based on the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It's so simple and yet it tells the story perfectly.
The details are amazing on this cake modeled after Guess How Much I Love You. Even the author's and illustrator's names are on the cake.
These Dr. Seuss cookies look delectable.
Dr. Seuss cakes were easy to find, but I thought this one was particularly exceptional. I was so impressed with the vertical hat covered with iced sketch marks and the clothesline strung between Truffula trees.
The top of the hat is the kicker.
Here's an excellent cake based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
I lost my heart to this caterpillar cupcake mosaic.
Take a closer look, and then check out the step by step photos on the baker's blog.
And, of course, I had to find a Harry Potter cake. After quite a bit of searching, I found this fantastic cake of Hogwarts. Truly breathtaking. And it's made from Rice Krispie treats!
The moral of this post is: you can have your cake and read it too.
Something that I do quite a bit on my own blog is collect news from around the literary and literacy blogospheres. I work with Terry Doherty from The Reading Tub in providing weekly children's literacy round-ups (this week's roundup is available on my blog today - the next roundup will be at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub on June 8th). I also publish regular (usually once or twice a week) round-ups of other news and interesting posts from the Kidlitosphere.
What I've decided to do on an occasional basis is publish some of the more parent-focused of that Kidlitosphere and literacy-related news here to Booklights instead. I'm calling these items Literacy 'Lights from the Kidlitosphere (encompassing highlights, spotlights, etc.). I welcome your feedback.
At The Book Chook, Susan Stephenson recently announced a new endeavor. She says: "It's called Literacy Lava, and it's a digital magazine (in pdf format) that you'll be able to download and use, share with others, or print and keep. The contributors are bloggers and parents who are passionate about children's literacy. This first issue is erupting with great tips for parents and suggestions for literacy activities to share with kids." I will certainly be staying tuned for this one. Susan was one of the tireless organizers of the 2009 Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour, which I've mentioned previously.
Jill T. over at The Well-Read Child also recently launched a new feature -- a weekly What My Children are Reading Meme. She explains: "Thanks to Sandy at Stories Are Light for giving me the idea to create this weekly feature. Want to share what your kids are reading or get ideas from other bloggers for other books to read with your children? Create your own post on your blog, and then come to The Well-Read Child every Thursday to submit your link". The first week's post already includes 18 links to summaries from other blogs, a smorgasbord of children's reading updates. Even if you don't have a blog, these weekly posts will make a great starting point for book ideas. And (though I haven't actually asked Jill this) I'm sure that your own family's recommendations would be welcome in the comments.
Five Minutes for Books, edited by Jennifer Donovan, has a similar feature, that one hosted once per month (and representing a different set of bloggers). You can find an archive of past Kids' Picks carnivals. See also an interesting discussion on Five Minutes for Books about the difficulty for parents of (and techniques for) holding back kids from reading books for which they might not be emotionally ready. Be sure to read the comments. There's definitely anecdotal evidence to support one of my personal recommendations: that parents try to read the books that their children are reading, when possible. (See a longer post that I wrote about that here).
Reading the books your children read also crops up in Tim Shanahan's suggestions at Literacy Learning for Encouraging Summer Reading. Tim is Professor of Urban Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he is Director of the Center for Literacy. He says: "Encourage your children (teens, too) to read over the summer. It's one of the most loving things you can do for them!". His suggestions include: "read the same book they are reading for class over the summer so you can discuss it. The point is to share the reading experience... Even if you are not reading the same books they are, talk to your children about what they are reading." But do click through for lots of additional ideas.
In Missouri Passages (the Missouri Humanities Council e-Newsletter), Julie Douglas calls upon parents to: "Be extraordinary. Read to a child." She also discusses the Dean's speech at her daughter's graduation ceremony: "He reminded them (the graduates) that we, the parents, had most likely gotten the students started on this educational journey by doing the one thing that was so vital to their learning....we read to them when they were very young." Reading aloud makes a life-long difference.
Speaking of reading aloud, Trevor Cairney has a post up at Literacy, families and learning about how to listen to children reading. He warns: "There have been many young readers demoralised by the comments of a listener while they are reading, and the stress of performing in front of others", and then offers a host of positive suggestions. For example: "After the reader makes a mistake you pause for about 3 seconds and say nothing, this allows time for self-correction."
And last, but not least, if you're looking for children's book recommendations, next weekend will be a prime time to find them in the Kidlitosphere. Our own Pam Coughlan is hosting the fourth annual 48 Hour Book Challenge at MotherReader. The idea is to choose a 48-hour period over the course of the weekend, and spend as much time as possible reading books (and blogging about them) during that window. This will be my third time participating in the 48HBC. I've found these challenges an amazing excuse to prioritize reading for a few days. I'll report back next week, and let you know which books I read. Even if you don't have a blog of your own, you could certainly participate in spirit by making reading a priority between June 5th and 7th.
That's all for this week. But I'll be keeping an eye out for other parent-friendly news items from around the blogs to share with you in the future. Happy June!
Tomorrow I'll be on my way to New York City for Book Expo America (BEA). I've never been to this yearly event, but I understand that it's like being a kid in a candy store, except for bibliophiles. At BEA, the publishers reach out to booksellers, librarians, bloggers, and authors hoping to create buzz and collect purchase orders for their newest releases. They give away Advance Reader's Copies (ARC's) and posters and bookmarks in the hopes of launching the next Harry Potter series. Or in this economy, to make a decent profit.
Perhaps the best part of the whole convention is the author signings. Publishers bring in tons of authors to make appearances and sign books. There are thirty special signing tables set up where authors rotate through the schedule in one hour blocks, and there are also times when authors are signing at the publishers booths. The schedule is maddening. Will I be able to fit in both Scott Westerfeld and Katherine Paterson at 3:00 p.m. on Friday? Jon Scieszka at the Simon & Schuster booth and Rosemary Wells in the autograph area at 4:00? I'm already missing my favorite, Mo Willems, because I'll be on the bus ride up to the city. Ah, Mo. I shouldn't be greedy, having been to several of his signings and a few of his presentations, but a Mo opportunity shouldn't be missed if at all avoidable.
Adult books and their authors actually dominate BEA, but focusing on the children and teen books is one way for me to keep this event manageable. A few authors who are normally associated with adult books will be signing their children's titles, and I'm curious about the reception they will receive. For instance, James Patterson is signing at the Little, Brown booth, but for a new teen book Witch & Wizard. Meg Cabot is there, not for her adult books or the Princess Diaries series, but for her newer middle-grade series, Allie Finkle. Personally, I'd like to see both, but am less willing to wait in a long line than perhaps their other fans.
I have a list of authors and illustrators that I'm hoping to see including: Suzanne Collins, David Lubar, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Peter McCarty, Sharon Draper, Linda Park, Maureen Johnson, Jon Agee, Peter Reynolds, Barry Lyga, Bruce Lansky, and Jerry Pinkney. I have many other favorites who are signing books when I am otherwise engaged. How about you? Which authors and illustrators you would want to meet?
I love when I get comments that inspire posts of their own. Let me share with you a comment that Andromeda made on this post about board books:
"I am interested in finding out what board books you and other readers enjoy that include diverse characters. I have spent quite a bit of time looking for board books that feature black and brown faces and families, as well as multi-ethnic groups and families. I don't think there are enough of these books, particularly for infants and toddlers. I like Jabari Asim's books and Andrea Davis Pinkney's. What else have you found?"
Excellent question! There are lots of old and new board books that fit the bill. Plus, it gives me a chance to talk about some of my favorite board books that I haven't mentioned yet.
For starters, take a look at two classics: Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang and On Mother's Lap by Ann Herbert Scott with illustrations by Glo Coalson. They're both great to read before bedtime. For an intriguing story about the creation of Ten, Nine, Eight, check out Molly Bang's website.
Busy Fingers and Busy Toes written by C.W. Bowie and illustrated by Fred Willingham are both fun and engaging books.
Rachel Isadora's Peek a Boo Morning was recently released as a board book last year. Hopefully, her picture books Peek a Boo Bedtime and Uh Oh! will be in board book format soon.
Cheryl Willis Hudson has several board books illustrated by George Ford: Let's Count Baby, Goodnight Baby, and Animal Sounds for Baby.
My Aunt Came Back by Pat Cummings is sadly out of print, but a library is a good place to look for it.
Be sure to check out Baby Dance by Ann Taylor. I love the exuberance and joy that radiates from both the father and his beloved daughter in Marjorie Van Heerden's illustrations.
I'm not usually a fan of books written by celebrities, but I like the rhythm and beat of Please Baby Please by Spike Lee and Tanya Lewis Lee. The illustrations by Kadir Nelson always make me laugh and empathize with the parents. It's available in hardcover and paperback too.
Babies love to look at pictures of other babies, and there are a number of books that do that extremely well. If you take a look at the various board books that show baby faces, you'll find a rainbow of beautiful faces.
Helen Oxenbury has four wonderfully simple and adorable books: Tickle Tickle, All Fall Down, Clap Hands and Say Goodnight.
Take a look at the delightful Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers. I love Marla Frazee's playful illustrations. Also, there's Roberta Grobel Intrater's Baby Faces series. For an international perspective, look for Global Babies by the Global Fund for Children.
If you're not familiar with the authors Andromeda mentioned above, Jabari Asim's books are great: Whose Toes are Those? and Whose Knees are These? And check out Andrea and Brian Pinkney's Family Celebration Books: Pretty Brown Face, Watch Me Dance, I Smell Honey and Shake, Shake, Shake.
I've had a particularly tough time finding Asian American characters in board books (except for books of baby faces.) Hopefully, someone like Grace Lin will get into the act.
Thanks for getting me started. I'd love to see additions to this list. Does anyone have suggestions?
Happy Memorial Day! In honor of the holiday that marks (in the US, anyway) the start of summer, I'd like to talk about outdoor reading. I was inspired in this by a recent post at Australian blog The Book Chook. Blogger/reading advocate Susan Stephenson (one of the organizers of the Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour from earlier this year) shared several of her favorite childhood reading spots (including "halfway up our huge jacaranda tree"). She closed by asked her readers "Where do you read?".
Part of my response (in the comments) was: "when I was a kid I read in the car (for even the shortest of drives), up in a tree in my yard, on the roof of our house (love those dormer windows), and on a raft in the lake (you have to swim with one arm holding the book up, it's a bit awkward, but worth it)." I SO wish I had photos, especially of the skinny little kid swimming out to a raft, holding a book up in the air.
What the most memorable of my childhood reading spots have in common, I realize now, is that they are all out of doors. It's been quite a while since I climbed up into a tree to read. But reading out of doors, particularly in some scenic location, remains one of my greatest joys. I'll go a step further, and say that it's how I recharge, how I heal myself, how I do what I love while remaining connected to the world. (Image credit: photo by taliesin, made available for use at MorgueFile.)
One of the best days that I have ever spent was during a vacation to Bar Harbor, Maine not long after college. We stayed at a tiny hotel with individual cabins, right on the ocean. After several days of hiking together, I sent my boyfriend off on his own one day to tackle another mountain. I spent the entire day on a chaise lounge on a little peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by water and trees, reading. Even now, when things are stressful, I travel back in my head to that oasis of a day. It continues to make me happy. And it's perhaps not a coincidence that on the day, quite a few years later, that the same boyfriend asked me to marry him, he left me sitting on a deck facing the Pacific Ocean, reading, while he was off making preparations.
Something about the outdoor reading actually sharpens my memories of my surroundings. I can still remember what beverages I drank that day in Bar Harbor, and what books I was reading. I can feel the wooden raft on Echo Lake, in New Hampshire, and picture the gray water. I can sketch the way the branches came together on the tree in my side yard. I can smell the tar on the roof. And I'm not a person who is generally blessed with a good memory. Reading and spending time out of doors are far from incompatible. And in fact, they can enhance one another.
Summer is here, and that means that it's time to start talking about summer reading programs for kids. You can find resources about summer reading here at PBS, at Reading Rockets, and all over the Kidlitosphere (I'll follow up with more links in a future post). But to me, summer reading for kids is about much more than lists of recommended books. It's about more than having time to read books outside of school (although that is a wonderful thing). To me, summer reading is about reading out of doors, on a beach, on a raft, on a sun-warmed rock, in a weathered rowboat, or up in a tree. Summer reading is about the smell of sunscreen and salt and chlorine. It's about feeling the sun on your shoulders, and having to angle the book to reduce the glare. It's about shaking the sand out of your book, and having the lower part of the pages get warped from resting on your wet bathing suit. (Image credit: photo by Carool, made available for use at MorgueFile)
One of the marvelous things about books (as Susan mentioned in her post) is how portable and sturdy they are. You can take them anywhere. You can read them in bright sunlight. If you're careful, you can even read them in the middle of the lake. Might I suggest, then, as you plan your family's outdoor events for the summer, that you think about bringing along a book or two. Or ten. Wouldn't it be nice, thirty years from now, for your kids to be able to share their memories of the fabulous places that they read books as children? (Image credit: photo by Wallyir, made available at MorgueFile.)
What does summer reading mean to you? Did you ever read outdoors when you were a child? Did you have a favorite spot? Does your child? I would love to hear your feedback! Happy Memorial Day!
Since Jen talked about the Cybils awards on Monday, I'm making my Thursday three about the Fiction Picture Book, Nonfiction Picture Book, and Easy Reader winners.
How to Heal a Broken Wing
by Bob Graham
A pigeon is hurt on the city sidewalk, and everyone walks by -- except one boy and his mother. They bring the bird home, take care of it, and let it fly away. I'm keeping the plot simple, so that I can leave room to say that I have not shown this book to one adult yet who hasn't been deeply moved by it. Kids may see the simple story first, and then the kindness beneath. Adults can see the deeper levels of helping others, healing wounds, and letting go. Or even, as I told my seventh grader, "that sometimes we're the bird." Bob Graham's illustrations are wonderful, and truly tell the story more than the simple text. Look for the way the pictures gain color as the decision is made to Do the Right Thing (see a hint of it on the cover). It's an amazing book.
Frogs
by Nic Bishop
The brilliant cover will draw you into this nonficition book, and the fantastic photos will keep you there learning more about frogs than you ever thought you wanted to know. This guy is the Monet of nature photography, drawing out the color and essence of all the creatures he captures on film. The text is pretty simple, making it perfect for the late preschool to early elementary crowd. While those with arachnophobia may want to skip an earlier title in this series, Frogs shouldn't raise any alarms -- especially when the deadly poison dart frogs are so cute!
I Love My New Toy!
by Mo Willems
Mo Willems has found continued success with his early reader series featuring Elephant and Piggie, and deservedly so. This is a man who can convey more humor and emotion with four pen strokes than an entire season of SNL. In this title, Piggie has a new toy, but doesn't know what it is. In trying to identify it, Elephant breaks it. In the end, everything is fixed -- the toy and the friendship. The expressions and situations are funny, but what wows me about this title is the entire range of feelings captured in one little easy reader book. There's pride, delight, remorse, anger, embarrassment, irritation, forgiveness, and love. That's packing a lot in! If you haven't seen this series yet, you need to. (Um, now might be good, since the book is bargain priced at Amazon to reduce inventory.)
Picture book author Mo Willems writes that "books aren't temples; they're playgrounds. They're meant to be played."
Since I talked last week about picture books that didn't turn gracefully into board books, it seems only fair to show the other side of the coin. I picked these two books because I think they are successful adaptations, and also because they're lots of fun to play with.
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
The spare text and lush illustrations make this book a surefire winner. You could read this book again and again and still not discover everything that makes it so special. Here's a few fun things to look for in this deceptively simple book.
On the first page, under a crescent moon, there's a pink balloon wrapped around the door of the gorilla's cage with a banana attached to the bottom of the string. The mouse gnaws a hole in the string and releases the balloon, but he takes the banana with him. Can you find the mouse and banana on every page? How about the pink balloon? Or the moon?
(Note: it's easier to find the objects in the hardcover or paperback editions because they are bigger, but it's possible to find them in the board book too.)
The color of each key matches the color of each animal's cage. (For example, the gorilla's cage is orange, so it is opened with an orange key.) Once the cage is opened, the key stays in the lock. The zoo keeper's wife collects all the keys when she locks the animals back in their cages. When she gets back into bed, you can see the ring of keys on the floor.
Each animal has a doll in their cage (with the exception of the lion, who has a bone.) My favorite is the elephant who has Babar lying on the floor of his cage. And, there's a well known Sesame Street character in the armadillo's enclosure.
As the animals walk through the hallway in the zoo keeper's house, take a close look at the walls. All of the family photos have the zoo animals in them. And take a look at the photograph on the zoo keeper's bedside table. (You can see it best on the last page). It's a picture of the zoo keeper, his wife and the gorilla.
Aside from all of that, one of the things I like about this book is that there are so many different ways to read it. You can narrate what's happening in the story. Or not. You can make up silly animal voices when they all say good night. Or not. You can spend the whole time looking for the hidden objects. Or not. The book is your oyster.
Freight Train by Donald Crews
Don't be fooled into thinking that this Caldecott Honor book is simply a list of parts of a train. The magic comes in the second half. The train speeds through the book and makes the reader feel they are really watching it go by.
This book translates well into the smaller format and no illustrations were harmed to make the board book.
Try playing with it. Make train sounds while reading it. Or sing it. Or clap your hands to the beat of this extremely rhythmic book. Or let your child show you the colors on each page. Or count the railroad cars. The possibilities are endless.
Now that I've got you looking for hidden things in books, take a closer look at the tender and the engine. 1978 on the side of the tender refers to the year the book was published. The letters N & A on the black steam engine stand for the initial of the authors' two daughters: Amy and Nina.
For more ways to have fun with books, check out the great suggestions in the Mo Willems article I quoted above.
Looking for more on board books? Stay tuned.
Are you, as a parent, teacher or librarian, looking for well-written, kid-friendly books to recommend to your kids? If so, I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to learn about the Cybils awards. The Cybils are a series of book awards given by children's and young adult book bloggers in nine categories. The Cybils awards highlight books that have both literary merit and kid appeal. Anyone can nominate books (one nomination per person per category), resulting in a wide array of nominated titles (see the 2008 nomination lists here). Nominated titles in each category then go through a rigorous two-round selection process, the first to identify a short list of five to seven titles, and the second to select a winner. The judges for this process are children's and young adult book bloggers, including parents, teachers, librarians, authors, and literacy advocates. People who read, review, and recommend children's books every day.
The Cybils awards were founded by Anne Boles Levy and Kelly Herold. More than 80 participants are involved each year from the Kidlitosphere, in addition to many members of the public who nominate titles. I've been on the organizing committee for the Cybils since the awards were launced in 2006. My current title is Cybils Literacy Evangelist. Booklights' own Pam Coughlan was the organizer for the Fiction Picture Books category this year, while Susan Kusel was a tireless promoter for the Cybils (especially the new Easy Reader category) at Wizards Wireless.
The Cybils winners and short lists are an excellent source of well-written, engaging titles. They've been called the "organic chicken nuggets" of the children's book world. One of the best things about the Cybils is the range of categories, fiction and nonfiction for different age ranges, along with poetry, graphic novels, and fantasy and science fiction titles. The Cybils short lists have something for everyone!
Here are the Cybils winners to date:
Easy Readers
2008: I Love My New Toy by Mo Willems, Hyperion. This is the first year that the Cybils has included an Easy Reader category. You can find the full list of nominated titles here.
Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction
2008: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins.
2007: The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, Disney/Hyperion.
2006: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud, Hyperion: Miramax.
Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction
2008: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic. My review.
2007: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, Bloomsbury USA Children's Books.
Fiction Picture Books
2008: How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham, Candlewick Press.
2007: The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County, written by Janice N. Harrington and illustrated by Shelley Jackson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2006: Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, Kids Can Press. My review.
Middle Grade Graphic Novels
2008: Rapunzel's Revenge written by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale and illustrated by Nathan Hale, Bloomsbury USA.
2007: Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel written by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin and illustrated by Giovanni Rigano and Paolo Lamanna, Hyperion.
2006: Amelia Rules, vol. 3: Superheroes by Jimmy Gownley, Renaissance Press.
Young Adult Graphic Novels
2008: Emiko Superstar written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Steve Rolston, Minx.
2007: The Professor's Daughter written by Joann Sfar and illustrated by Emmanuel Guibert, First Second.
2006: American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, First Second.
Middle Grade Fiction
2008: The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd, David Fickling Books. My review.
2007: A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban, Harcourt. My review
2006: A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz, Candlewick. My review.
MG/YA Nonfiction
2008: The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby and John Busby, Bloomsbury USA. (I nominated this title!) My review.
2007: Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2006: Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Holiday House.
Nonfiction Picture Books
2008: Nic Bishop Frogs by Nic Bishop, Scholastic Nonfiction.
2007: Lightship by Brian Floca, Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books.
2006: An Egg Is Quiet written by Dianna Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long, Chronicle Books. My review.
Poetry
2008: Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose by Naomi Shihab Nye, HarperCollins.
2007: This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, Houghton Mifflin.
2006: Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes, Houghton Mifflin.
Young Adult Fiction
2008: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, Hyperion.
2007: Boy Toy by Barry Lyga, Houghton Mifflin.
2006: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Knopf Books for Young Readers. My review.
You can find printable lists of the Cybils short lists for the past three years on the Cybils blog (in the right-hand sidebar), along with blurbs about each title. I think that these short lists are a tremendous resource. Think about it. Five to seven high-quality titles in each of the above categories, from each year. I think you'll find the lists well worth a look. And when the time comes for nominations for 2009 titles, I'll be sure to check back in with you for your input. Happy reading!
For the most part, I'll be using my day of blog posting to introduce three new or newish picture books. Sometimes there will be a subject theme, but not always. Today I have some of my new favorite cat books to share.
Grumpy Cat
by Britta Teckentrup
The plot isn't uncharted territory, but it doesn't matter. A loner cat finds his personal space invaded and grows to accept the intruder, even as a friend. The bright colors, the simple text, and the cutey cute cuteness of the kitten intruder make this book special. The large broadly drawn pages and big print make it a good storytime book - no danger that someone can't see the pictures here. There's some wonderful expressions to the simple illustrations - especially the Grumpy Cat's angry face. A fun book, probably best for the twos and threes.
Cat Jumped In!
written by Tess Weaver, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
On a warm summer day, Cat jumps in the window of the house and gets into all kinds of messes through the day. At each untidy encounter, he is met by a pair of legs (that we can assume connect to a person) and the repeating phrase, "Cat? Out!" I like how the phrase "Tip-tap, pitter-pat came footsteps, closer and closer" gets steadily more tips and taps and pitters and pats and there's a growing urgency to the "OUT!." The illustrations are perfect for a book about a cat, lively and soft at the same time. Great for all ages.
Katie Loves the Kittens
by John Himmelman
First of all, gotta love the cover of a happy dog plowing through three kittens and their surprised expressions as they flip through the air. Katie, the dog, is excited that her owner brought home three kittens. So excited that she howled like crazy - and freaked those kittens out! Being scolded for scaring them, she tried to control herself (with a priceless picture of her tail wagging until her whole body is shaking), but couldn't. Katie is so sad that she scares the kittens, that she goes back to bed. There, where she is quiet, the kittens come to her. Wonderful book about kittens, dogs, and yes - patience. Personally, I've seen this book read and enjoyed by both a toddler and a teen, so I'd say this title has certainly got some range.
So, you can't wait to start reading to your baby. But your audience tends eat everything they can get their hands on including the books you're trying to read.
Not a problem, board books are the answer! They are smaller, durable, and should stand up to the average book-eating child. They're perfect for babies and toddlers, right? Well, the answer tends to vary.
Typically when hardcover books are reformatted into board books, they are abridged and changed from the original. Not every picture book transfers to a board book edition gracefully or effectively.
The board book version of Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney cuts out many of the original illustrations and combines several pictures together. The hardcover edition is much easier to read and the pacing works far better.
Chicka Chicka abc is an abridgement of the wonderful Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The poor lowercase letters never recover from their fall from the coconut tree the way they do in the original. Plus, we never get to meet the uppercase letters.
But all adaptations aren't bad. Goodnight Moon makes a delightful board book that preserves all the charm of the original. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? has just the right mixture of white space, rhyme and repetition to be a great board book for babies.
Also, there are many wonderful board books that were written as board books from the start. Sandra Boynton is an author that writes almost exclusively in board book format, with funny, effective, and enjoyable results.
Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy: a touch, skritch & tickle book is one of my favorite examples, because it's truly written for babies. It's slightly larger than typical board books, which makes it easier for babies to see and turn the pages. The pictures are simple, bright and straightforward. There's something to touch or feel on every page, which is a big hit with babies. And best of all, it's funny, something Sandra Boynton was able to accomplish with a mere 26 words. 
The version I own currently looks quite different from the publisher's picture. (That's just the outside, the inside looks worse). Which goes to show you, even board books can't always withstand the love and rough handling of a baby.
I'm going to be posting a longer list of board book recommendations, but first I want to know which board books you like. Are there particular authors you enjoy? Are there board books your children are fascinated with?
This weekend, I attended a book signing by Rick Riordan at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, CA. The event was in honor of the publication of the fifth and final book in the Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian. Despite the best efforts of the Kepler's staff, it was a complete madhouse - some 600+ people crammed into a single store, all with books they wanted signed.
But it was amazing, too. Hundreds of kids choosing to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon at a bookstore. Kids waiting more or less patiently in line for hours, that eager to meet an author. Kids treating said author like a rock star (my friend Camille, who blogs at Book Moot, calls him Rockstar Rick Riordan). It was a beautiful thing. (The pictures to the right were taken about 30 minutes before the signing, and give you some idea of how mobbed this event was.)
The event stared with Rick speaking to a packed crowd for just a few minutes, and then answering questions from the kids. He talked about his time working as a teacher in the Bay Area, and how the first seeds for the Percy Jackson series came from experiences that he had in California. It was a nice tie-in for the local crowd.
Here are a few highlights from the Q&A:
Rick's favorite characters from the series: Grover and Tyson. (I agree. I especially love Tyson)
Greek parent that Rick would like to have, if he were a Half-Blood: Poseidon.
Greek parent that Rick thought he would actually have: Dionysus, or someone else like that.
Rick's favorite myth: Orpheus
On whether the movie set for The Lightning Thief accurately represents Camp Half-Blood: The best pictures are always the ones in your head, so it's always hard to see the movie at first (though he was in general wowed by the movie set - see here for details).
And the two pieces of news that elicited screams of excitement from the crowd:
1. Rick is working on a second series about Camp Half-Blood, with the first book due out in late 2010, featuring next generation characters. He promised that some of the characters that we know and love will be there in the background, though not the major focus of the new stories.
2. He is also working on a new book based on Egyptian mythology, and promises that next spring, "the Gods of Egypt will be invading the modern world." Boy, is that series going to be huge.
You could tell during the Q&A that the author was a former teacher. All of his attention was for the kids. The signing portion felt like a parade, with people everywhere, and everyone there had books in hand. They even had a wheel that you could spin, to see which of the "Big 3" gods was your father. (The picture shows my better half, spinning the wheel. He landed on Hades. But we thought that the wheel was rigged - most people seemed to land on Hades.)
We had to wait in line ourselves for about an hour, but it was time well spent. I was impressed by the many parents who took time out on a Saturday afternoon to bring their kids to a celebration of books. Seeing kids, and their parents, treating any author like a rockstar is an inspiration.
Other links:
- Rick Riordan's description of the Kepler's event.
- My interview with Rick from November of 2007 (part of the Winter Blog Blast tour series of interviews).
- My review of the first Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief.
- My review of the fourth Percy Jackson book, The Battle of the Labyrinth. (I "read" the middle 2 on audio, and didn't review them, but I have enjoyed the whole series).
- A recent Wall Street Journal article by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg about the Percy Jackson series.
My favorite joke:
Me: Ask me what makes me so funny.
You: Okay, what makes you so f--
Me: TIMING!
I love this joke. It's pure in its simplicity, it conveys an important truth about humor, and it's my father's favorite joke. Whenever I tell it, I think about my father telling it to me and laughing so hard he could barely speak (we were a little punchy that day). But it's a joke that doesn't work well when written.
A funny book takes on the challenge of conveying humor through written word, thus ridding itself of many of the ways to make something funny -- inflection, timeliness, personal connection, and... timing. And if that isn't enough, it has to find the right audience.
What makes something funny is different for every person, depending on taste, gender, experiences, and age. A baby finds peek-a-boo to be the funniest thing in the world, but is uninspired by knock-knock jokes. A kindergartener will insist on telling knock-knock jokes until you run screaming from the room, but doesn't follow the humor of Seinfeld. Mom loves Seinfeld, but can't understand why her son laughs so much at farting. The son laughs at fart sounds, and his father laughs along with him. Some things don't change.
Humorous books for preschoolers focus on funny situations and wordplay. The gender difference in humor isn't as noticeable, and many of the life experiences are the same. But as the kids get older, all of the factors of humor become relevant. There is more separation of girl books and boy books. Gross-out humor and situational humor. Funny real-life situations and funny things happening in completely crazy ways.
Since I'm all about the punchline, here are some of my favorite funny chapter books. I haven't listed ages, but the list starts with books that are better for younger elementary school set and continues on from there.
Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business
Kids get the joke of the mixed-up language and bad situations Junie B. gets herself into, and parents can too. This series is a comedy gem. Try the audiotape too.
Judy Moody
A moody, mouthy eight-year-old girl gets into funny situations in this series of early chapter books. Her little brother Stink has his own series as well.
Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci
One of the later books in the Time Warp Trio series, where a group of three boys travel though time and into wacky situations.
Clementine
A curly-headed girl who tries to do the right thing, but it often ends up wrong - in a hilarious way.
Birdbrain Amos
Every hippo needs a bird to pick the bugs off his skin. But Amos got more than he bargained for with his bird, who builds a nest on Amos's head.