ScienceDaily has an article on a study that concluded that children can distinguish between reality and fantasy using contextual cues.
“In three studies, about 400 children ages 3 to 6 heard about something new and had to say whether they thought it was real or not. Some children heard the information defined in scientific terms (“Doctors use surnits to make medicine”), while others heard it defined in fantastical terms (“Fairies use hercs to make fairy dust”). The researchers found that children’s ability to use contextual cues to determine whether the information is true develops significantly between the ages of 3 and 5.”
And what does this have to do with children’s literature? Plenty!
My question is what is wrong with a child between the ages of 3 and 5 or even much older believing in fairies or other amazing creatures like elves, witches, dragons, etc. Why does this demonstrate their ability to distinguish reality from fantasy? Seems to me that there is a lot larger issue that if something is seen as scientific it is real and if it is creative it must be untrue.
Or perhaps I am just a trippy type of person who wants children to read books, internalize them and dream their big dreams. I want children to be children a lot longer than they are in our society. Let’s give them their years to believe in fairies and the fantastical. Let’s allow them to be real for children.

CBS News has some study results that will not surprise any of us: Picture Books Really Do Teach Toddlers. I know that this is one of those, well duh! moments, but I do think that it is wonderful when studies support what we all intuitively know.
So, keep on reading to those kids! Whether they are 18-30 months old or not!

Random Shapes Blog Network features blogs written by teens, focusing on the best writing and posts. This is a great way to see what teens are writing about online.

The Book Standard has an interesting article: Jessa Crispin Pops A Question To Borders. In it Crispin, author of the great Bookslut blog talks about Borders’ choice to not carry Pop, a teen novel by Aury Wallington. They will special order it by request but will not have it on their store shelves. Why? Sex, sex, sex. I guess in this case, sex does not sell?
In the article, the Borders spokesperson pulls out the old no room on the shelves comment. Sigh. Don’t they know that librarians have long perfected excuses about why they don’t carry certain materials. Shelf space is so old hat. Instead try, “The binding is not high enough quality” (used by many libraries when talking about Madonna’s Sex book) or “It would just get stolen anyway.” (used when talking about any book with “sex” in the title and in conjunction with the previous example when talking about Madonna’s book.)
Lame excuse, Borders, especially when your competition has found room on their shelves for it. One would think that a national bookseller would have more courage than this.

Library Goddesses is a fairly new group of blogs that any librarian (retired or currently working) is welcome to join. They have a blog for picture books, one for fiction for ages 5-8, fiction ages 9-12 and nonfiction. You can subscribe to just the blog you are interested in and it can be by email or RSS feed. Very nice.
This is a great opportunity to review books that interest you without having to maintain your own one-person blog. A nice entry-way into the world of library blogging.

ALA has a nice article with recommended holiday titles: Children’s librarians recommend books for the holidays. It offers a gift-giving guide for children from preschool to 8th grade with picture books, fiction and nonfiction. Best of all, it is not overpowered by Christmas books, but offers a wider range of holidays.

ELLEgirl Magazine may no longer be in print, but it has reinvented itself as an online-only teen magazine. In their debut “issue” you can see Marie Antoinette fashions, learn about great costume jewelry, find out about your favorite celebrities, take quizzes, play games, and of course, read about boys.

The New York Times has a surprising story: Married and Single Parents Spending More Time With Children, Study Finds, that shows that today’s parents may work more outside of the home, but they spend more time with their children than any other time in the last 40 years!
I post this here, because though our lives may be busier, we still see families making time to bring small children into the public library. My concern is that when those children enter school, the public library becomes less of a destination for the family. Now that we know that parents are spending more time with their children, not less, we can start to focus more on how to draw those families in.
How do we remain a destination for elementary age children? We know that we have the materials that interest them. We know that when they come through the doors we can lead them right to books that will wow them. But how do we get them through those doors, and more importantly, how do we get their parents to spend their precious time with their children AT THE LIBRARY?

Bookseller Chick is the blog of an anonymous someone who works in a bookstore. While her writing is excellent and great fun, it is her incredible blog roll that outshines all others! It just goes on and on and on and on, with link after link to great children’s lit blogs. Like I need an even longer list of blogs to read! 😉