Day: June 2, 2008

Horrible Labeling Idea

| Tasha

According to the Guardian, several British authors spoke out at the Hay Festival about the plans for some publishers to begin labeling books with age ranges.  Mal Peet spoke out for reluctant readers and its impact on them.  He also brought up my main concern:

According to Peet the complicated question of whether the books are suitable for children of a certain age in terms of language or in terms of subject matter is "not being addressed at all."

"Sooner or later this age ranging is going to degenerate into a moral code," he said, "which would be terrible."

It certainly would.  Think of teen novels in particular and the age labeling that could happen not on the basis of reading difficulty but of content.  And who decides what is and is not appropriate?  Another hidden panel like the movie ratings?  So nothing can be done?

We recently had a challenge to a couple of books at our public school.  One "solution" was for the librarians to label books with ages.  And this was not for reading level, but solely for content.  When publishers start thinking along the same lines as censors, there is something wrong.

Bully Bib

| Tasha

The CCBC has another one of their wonderful bibliographies up online.  This one is called Thick-skinned, Thin-skinned, the Skin I’m In: Books about Bullying, Teasing, Relational Aggression and School Violence.  Whew!  It has so many amazing titles, several of which caught my eye and reminded me that they dealt with teasing. 

I was going to list some of my favorites from the list, but so many of my favorite books appear that there wouldn’t be room.  Just take a look, what a wonderful bibliography to share with teachers and parents.

Slow Summer Learning Loss at the Library

| Tasha

 

When I was a children’s librarian I always spoke with great pride about the role of the public library in slowing the loss of kids’ educational levels over the summer.  Nice to know that nothing has changed, libraries are still vital, kids still need us.  Wonderfully, the partnership of libraries and families is what leads to stronger communities as a whole.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has some figures to make your case even stronger.  Did you know that the average student who doesn’t read or engage in learning activities over the summer can lose as much as 2.5 months of learning over the course of the summer?!  And how many of our children pass the summer parked in front of a TV in the cool air conditioning or playing video games?  Let’s get them outside, reading, playing imaginative games, engaging their brains and being active learners!  And libraries can help!