Driving to work this morning, I was lucky enough to catch this piece on NPR about holiday reading.  While the holiday theme is great, I particularly loved the part about how important reading aloud is for children of all ages.  Here is the quote that had me cheering aloud:

But some parents feel self-conscious when they read aloud, says Judy Freeman, the author of a guide to read-aloud books called Books Kids Will Sit Still For. Freeman says they should get over their inhibitions.

"Your kids don’t know the difference. They just want to be warm, and they want to hear your voice, and they associate the words with you," she says. "It turns them into readers. If you want your kids to read, you have to read to them."

Yes! In fact at the end of the piece the father in the family reads aloud a bit from Twas the Night Before Christmas and in that moment evokes the warmth and holiday magic of families reading together. 

The NPR website also has a list of great holiday books to share aloud with your children. 

The Wall Street Journal has a front page story today about getting boys to read by using the grossest subjects possible, including putrefying wounds, farting, rats, toilets, and lots of blood. 

I am glad to see Captain Underpants still on the list of popular books for boys.  But I think the WSJ story misses one key element: humor.  Boys want humor in their books and the lower and sillier the humor, the better.  Even the gross books have to have a sense of humor about the subject to work best. 

Captain Underpants works because of the silliness, not the gross-out factor.  Jeff Kinney’s very successful Diary of a Wimpy Kid works because of the humor.  And even older funny books like Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing will be adored by modern kids.  It’s the giggles that keep them reading, especially in the summer.

The New York Times has a fabulous article by Margo Rabb, author of Cures for Heartbreak, that talks about what makes a book YA.  Answer:  the marketing department.

One of the most fascinating parts of the article is her list of other authors who thought they were writing for adults and had their books marketed for teens. 

I soon learned that I wasn’t the only writer who’d written a book with adults in mind only to have an agent or a publisher decide to market it as Y.A. Peter Cameron, A. M. Homes, Francesca Lia Block, Meg Rosoff, Stephenie Meyer, Linda Sue Park and many others have found themselves in the same situation.

Rabb goes on to write about the stigma of being published as a YA author, especially in the U.S.  Fascinating stuff.

The fabulous Wisconsin Public Radio program Here on Earth is doing a program with the equally fabulous Megan Schliesman from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Jean Westmoore, NeXt Editor and children’s book reviewer for The Buffalo News.  Sweet!  If you miss the live show this afternoon, you can find past programs in their archive.

The focus is on using children’s literature to create an understanding of world citizenship in children.  Both guests have provided lists of books and they also have links to other great online resources.  As always, the CCBC does a wonderful job of focusing on books that are multicultural.

Great news on the age labeling of British children’s books!  Philip Pullman is leading the protest against the labels.  According to the latest news, over 80 authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers have joined together in protest.  Good golly, one would think there would be hundreds of British librarians joining in!

You can support the cause by heading to No to Age Branding and signing the petition.  Their list of reasons to oppose the branding alone is worth the click to visit the site.  The petition has grown incredibly since the new article was published with over 200 signatures waiting to the posted!

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.

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!

There is something glorious about paging through children’s books from the past.  And in this case, I mean the way-back past like the 19th century.  The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature has been digitized.  It contains so many books, including alphabet books, series books, periodicals for children, moral tales, fairy tales and many more.  Understand that you are going to be looking at books that reflect a different set of social values that we use today.  This is not a collection to set your child in front of and allow them to browse.  Rather it is for those of us who enjoy paging through old books without the mildew scent and dust.

LISNews reports on research into teacher reading habits by the Centre for Literacy and Primary Education which finds that many teachers do not regularly read children’s literature and therefore tend to select books from a narrow band on authors.  The following is a quote from the article:

"There are so many reasons why children are not enthusiastic about reading, so the role of teachers in encouraging them to read is critical," said Olivia O’Sullivan, project director. "If teachers are not enthusiastic about books and reading, it misses a valuable opportunity to influence and encourage a child."

Well, I had often wondered why teachers would select Robert Munsch for classroom use rather than some of the great, artistic and interesting books newly released.  Guess I understand why they make the decisions they do, but I can’t fathom why they don’t read children’s books! 

This is a place for school librarians and children’s librarians in public libraries to excel and to insert their own knowledge.  Maybe a recommended book list put out by public librarians focusing primarily on books to be used in various classroom levels?  Hmm.