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.

In the LA Times, there is a fantastic article about the importance of reading to children at home.  It is important that we realize that it is not economic status that impacts children’s literacy but the number of books they are read to at home. 

The best part of the article is its call to action.  How do we as caring adults, involved citizens and librarians get our communities investing in literacy, educating parents and really addressing this monumental issue?  Well, it can’t be to sit in our comfortable offices and work cubicles and moan about it.  We have to be out working with Headstart children, WIC families, and visiting those areas of our community where we worry about safety.  If children live there, then we can venture there. 

This doesn’t speak to the larger issue of parents modeling reading to their children.  It’s not enough to read books to children at bedtime and spend the rest of the evening in front of the TV.  What are you telling children is important then?  What are you saying about reading as an adult?  As parents, we need to model the joy of reading, especially fathers.

Perhaps literacy starts at home, but action starts with us.  We need to broadcast our message, model what needs to be done, and embrace those in need in our community.  What else are we here for as libraries?

I always love seeing what VOYA has dubbed the best science fiction, fantasy and horror books.  Will my favorites make it?  How about yours?

Take a look at the list.  It is a pdf file and may require patience to load.

 

Here are ones I am glad to see on the list:

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke (I wish this had been a Cybil nominee!)

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Yes!  The best of the year!)

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (Hurrah!  Love this one!)

The Chaos King by Laura Ruby

 

But there are so many I didn’t read and so many that were never on our list to consider for the Cybils!  Any other must-reads on the list?  Some of my favorites are missing.  Where is Epic?  Where is Wildwood Dancing?  Any others that should be on such a lengthy list?

Spatulatta is a cooking site for children that has recipes for foods that are real.  So the recipes are child-friendly and so is the food, but adults will want to eat it as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have a great cookbook out right now too:

 

 

Check out the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs recipe to get your kids loving turkey meatballs with their spaghetti.  Even better, they get to smush the mixture together with their hands, something my 6-year-old considers the essence of culinary skills.

I think that any of us who are interested in books for children are also interested in children having childhoods rich in imagination.  NPR has an interesting piece on creative play for children and its importance in forming “executive function” such as self-regulation, cognitive flexibility and working memory.

The advice is common sense: children should be encouraged to play games where they dream, wish, pretend and invite.  Free play should be an integral part of their lives.  My youngest son has a way of pretending that he has done since he was tiny.  He whooshes around running, talking to himself and making loud explosive noises every so often.  He won’t tell any of us what he is doing, and we have learned to just enjoy his orbiting.  I wouldn’t rob him of that time where he is obviously in another world all his own for anything.  In fact, when teachers tell us that our sons are both daydreamers, I take it as a great compliment.  Means that I did something right.

How about you?  Any daydreaming children?  Any who have such rich imaginations that they don’t need anyone else around to have fun?  Tell us!

Oo la la!  I adore the beta Lookybook site!  The site offers all sorts of children’s books that you can page through online!  And these are not books you have never heard of, they are top-of-the-line and recent children’s books.  The paging works seamlessly and smoothly with an intuitive interface, plus you can embed the Lookybooks onto your blog or website, even without registering for the site.

Registration gets you your own bookshelf, the ability to comment on books, and other bells and whistles. 

You can browse the books by highest rated and most looked at.  Here is an embedded book so you can see how it works:

 

http://www.lookybook.com/embed/1309-embed.swf

What do you think?