L is for Library
September 2, 2009 by Lori Calabrese · View Comments
Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning. But how do you get young readers interested in the library? Below is a list of books sure to get young minds curious about all the library has to offer.
Wild About Books (Irma S and James H Black Honor for Excellence in Children’s Literature (Awards))
Librarian Molly McGrew drives the bookmobile into the zoo, and soon the animals are reading, writing, and building their own branch. The strong rhyming text makes this a playful and bouncy tale that is sure to have kids devouring books!
*************************************************
“L” Is for Library
Take an alphabetical tour of the library and learn everything about fiction, nonfiction and reference in fun rhyming couplets . C is for the Caldecott,/awarded for art that pleases the eyes./D is for the Dewey Decimal System,/which helps us organize.
******************************************************
Bats at the Library
Join the free-for-all fun at the public library with these book-loving bats! Shape shadows on walls, frolic in the water fountain, and roam the book-filled halls until it’s time for everyone, young and old, to settle down into the enchantment of story time. Brian Lies’ joyful critters and their nocturnal celebration cast library visits in a new light. Even the youngest of readers will want to join the batty book-fest!
**************************************************************
Tomas and the Library Lady (Dragonfly Books)
This picture book tells the story of Tomás Rivera, who grew up in a migrant family. The book tells a fictionalized version of Rivera’s relationship with an Iowa librarian who introduces him to the many stories in the library’s books. As an adult, Rivera was the Chancellor of the University of California at Riverside.
*********************************************************
Please Bury Me in the Library
There’s nothing like curling up with a good book, but you have to be careful. Before you know it, a minute turns into an hour, an hour turns into a day, and a day may turn into . . . eternity. Inspired by the likes of Edward Lear, X. J. Kennedy, and Lewis Carroll, the author of Arithme-Tickle and Scien-Trickery has created a collection of original poems about books and reading that range from sweet to silly to laugh-out-loud funny.
This collection of poetry, appropriate for both younger and older readers, is a humorous salute to reading and books.
*********************************************************
Library Lion
Miss Merriweather, the head librarian, is very particular about rules in the library. No running allowed. And you must be quiet. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to do. There aren’t any rules about lions in the library. And, as it turns out, this lion seems very well suited to library visiting. His big feet are quiet on the library floor. He makes a comfy backrest for the children at story hour. And he never roars in the library, at least not anymore. But when something terrible happens, the lion quickly comes to the rescue in the only way he knows how. This NY Times Bestseller will find the soft side of all those strict rule keepers.
The most important school supply of all
September 1, 2009 by Lori Calabrese · View Comments
Backpack–check! Notebooks–check! Pens, pencils–check! Chances are you’re stocking up or are already stocked up on school supplies, but have you remembered one of the most important school supplies of all? A library card. September is Library Card Sign-Up month.
Observed since 1987, Library Card Sign-Up Month is a time when the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. The month encourages all libraries to focus for a month on extending its reach and message into the community it serves.
Library cards are generally free to those living in the library’s service area. In most cases, borrowing privileges are granted on the spot. Some libraries may require some form of identification, proof of residency or the signature of a guardian.
Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning.
Young readers can head to the library to check out books, but they can also play games, check out music and DVDS, and use the Internet to help make after school life fun. There’s a lot more happening at the library than you probably think from preschool programs, to arts and crafts sessions, to classes that teach you local history and how to use your computer more efficiently. And the best part of all is that it’s all free with a library card.
Ways to celebrate Library Card Sign-Up Month:
1. Make a trip to your local library to make sure you have a library card.
2. Schedule a library tour to acquaint students with the resources available.
3. Get young readers/ students writing and publishing book reviews.
4. Invite a librarian to your school to talk to students about the advantages of owning a library card.
5. Have students create their own bookmarks.
6. Complete this lesson plan at Read-Write-Think that has students visit library websites from diverse places such as The Bahamas, and Hong Kong to discuss and compare library services throughout the world.
7. Attend pre-school story hour with your child.
8. Get to know your librarian.
9. Ask for a recommended reading list for your child.
10. Find a quiet spot, curl up with a good book, and enjoy!
For more information please visit: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/librarycard/
How to build your child's library on a budget
July 22, 2009 by Lori Calabrese · View Comments
One important job as a parent, as if you didn’t have enough, is building a library for your child. One of the biggest factors to raising a reader is the quality and amount of books you make available for your young reader. However, parents already have many expenses and the average price for a hardcover children’s book is $19.99. So how do you build a library for your child that will encourage his love of reading and provide him with a bunch of titles he’ll remember forever?
In a time when everyone’s taking a look at ways to be frugal, you can also find some budget-friendly ways to provide books for your young readers.
2. Hardcover vs. Paperback:
Hardcovers are usually appropriate for young children, since they’ll hold up better to the wear and tear, but the truth is, paperbacks cost less. You can create a much less expensive library with paperbacks and often find the same quality titles available in hardback.
3. Thrift stores:
Thrift stores are a great resource to search for books.
4. Dollar Stores and Dollar Bins:
If you peruse the dollar bins at stores such as Target, you’ll often find board books for babies and toddlers for only $1. Sometimes they even mark items down in the dollar bins to 50% off, so you can get books for $.50!
5. Gifts:
6. Garage and Yard Sales:
Many parents whose children have outgrown their books will often try to declutter their house by selling them at garage and yard sales. Since most children like to mouth books and have wet hands while turning pages, turn to a safe non-toxic cleaner and give the books a good swipe.
7. Community Programs:
I recently highlighted Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Available in select communities, this wonderful program provides free books for children until they turn 5. See if any of these programs are available in your area.
8.Book Stores:
Book Stores often have a discount rack where you can find children’s titles appropriate for your child’s library. Most of these book stores also offer reward programs (make sure it’s at no cost to you) and sign up for e-mail alerts because they’ll also send coupons.
9. Used Book Stores:
Used Book Stores are a wonderful place to find used books at a discount price.
10. Book Swaps:
Look in your community for book swap opportunities. You can simply find another parent and trade books your child might not be interested in for others. You can also check at your grocery store, as some stores offer a book swap table where you can donate your used books and take another.
Building your child’s library is an investment that will pay off by instilling a love of reading in your child, and these are just a few ways you don’t have to break the bank to do it. As your child grows older, keep books on low shelves or in baskets where he can see them and get them himself. Also teach a respect for books early on and show children where their books belong, so they’re not covering your living room floor. For example, one great idea is to decorate a large cardboard box with color copies of your child’s favorite books’ covers. You can cover the copies with craft glue, so they won’t rip. Then teach your child to return their books to the box when finished and every few days, play librarian and return the books to your shelves. While building your child’s library, remember that what your child will truly remember is the time you curl up with them to read a good book.
“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
75 Years of Children's Book Week Posters
May 13, 2009 by Lori Calabrese · View Comments
Artist Ian Falconer created the best-selling Olivia series, which is now a cartoon on Nickelodeon. Before turning his hand to children’s books, Falconer created illustrations for The New Yorker and designed sets and costumes for stage productions worldwide. This year, he and Olivia help us celebrate Children’s Book Week with their trademark style and fun on the official Children’s Book Week poster. The Children’s Book Week poster brings the excitement of Children’s Book Week to libraries, classrooms, and millions of homes during April and May.
Every year from 1919 to the present, we have had a national week-long celebration of literacy. The week has grown from a modest grassroots effort to the nationwide annual celebration we know today. But have you ever really stopped to think of all the Children’s Book Week posters that have graced our nation? 75 Years of Children’s Book Week Posters: CELEBRATING GREAT ILLUSTRATORS OF AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS (Horn Book Fanfare H onor Book)
Not only is it a celebration of some wonderful children’s illustrators, but it’s also the story of children’s books in America; and the development and growth of the publishing industry. In 1919, books for children were a marginal part of publishing. Over the years, awareness of the importance of children’s literacy has grown and with the support of The Children’s Book Council, the children’s book industry has become an unstoppable machine.
The posters, which are commissioned and distributed each year by the Children’s Book Council, encourage reading by children and, in turn, reflect a nation devising ways to educate its young readers. The history, social climate, and wider concerns of the country can be traced through the posters, from the idyllic scene of innocent childhood in Jessie Willcox Smith’s poster for 1919 to the heroic stridency of the Petershams’ image for 1940; from the first appearance of an African-American child in Adrienne Adams’s poster for 1963 to the image of children protesting in Emily Arnold McCully’s 1969 poster.
75 Years of Children’s Book Week Posters: CELEBRATING GREAT ILLUSTRATORS OF AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS (Horn Book Fanfare H onor Book)
Additional Information:
Author: Leonard S. Marcus
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 74 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (August 23, 1994)
ISBN-10: 0679851062
ISBN-13: 978-0679851066
Check out these other essential guides to children’s literature:
The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators
100 Best Books for Children: A Parent’s Guide to Making the Right Choices for Your Young Reader, Toddler to Preteen
From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books
Essentials of Children’s Literature (6th Edition)
Choosing Books for Children: A COMMONSENSE GUIDE
Through the Eyes of a Child: An Introduction to Children’s Literature (7th Edition)
Children and Books (9th Edition)
THE ARBUTHNOT ANTHOLOGY OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – REVISED EDITION
Pleasures of Children’s Literature, The (3rd Edition)
Michele Landsberg’s Guide to Children’s Books
Secret Gardens, A Study of the Golden Age of Children’s Literature.
Don’t Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children’s Literature
Innocence and Experience: Essays and Conversations on Childrens Literature
Ten Activities for Children's Book Week
May 13, 2009 by Lori Calabrese · View Comments
Celebrated since 1919, Children’s Book Week is dedicated to spreading the word about children’s literature and encouraging the joy of reading. Children’s Book Week is celebrated nationally in schools, libraries, bookstores, clubs, private homes-any place where there are children and books. Children’s Book Week encourages children to enjoy new authors and books, and celebrate children’s literature with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other literacy events in your school and community. There are so many ways to celebrate this special event. Here are a few…
1. Create your own books and stories. Use the Story Starters at the official Children’s Book Week website or begin from scratch in a blank book.
2. Somehow, “book review” sounds better than “book report.” Hold a contest asking students to submit 75-word reviews of their favorite books. Post the reviews in the library, on the class website, or in the school paper.
3. Celebrate children’s books by holding a ’study an author’ day, pick a favorite book to discuss for the week, or arrange for a local author to visit.
4. Dress up as children’s book characters. Be a favorite Dr. Seuss character or even a wild thing!
5. Have a poetry festival. Each student can bring in and read a favorite poem, or create one of his/her own.
6. Hold a Story Writing Contest. Students can even design their own book covers with the book cover creator at ReadWriteThink.org.
7. Donate books to a local family shelter or children’s hospital, or take a trip, so students can read to patients in a hospital or residents in a nursing home.
8. Raise money to help a library, school, or day care center in your area to buy books. This is an excellent way to strengthen your town through community involvement.
9. Create a book swap. Do you have any children’s books your kids don’t read any more or have outgrown? Consider swapping with other parents who might also be bored with their collections.
10. Check out the winners of the Children’s Choice book awards who will be announced today!!
Celebrate Children's Book Week
May 12, 2009 by Lori Calabrese · View Comments
What children’s book changed your life? Most of us have one book we have fond memories of, sparked a love of reading, or just gave us a good laugh. The idea that children’s books change lives is how Children’s Book Week came about, which is celebrated all this week (May 11- 17). In 1913, Franklin K. Matthiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, began touring the country to promote higher standards in children’s books. He proposed creating a Children’s Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups: publishers, booksellers, and librarians.
With the help of two influential people in children’s publishing, Frederic G. Melcher and Anne Carol Moore, Matthiews’ proposal began to take shape. In 1916 the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association cooperated with the Boy Scouts in sponsoring a Good Book Week.
At the 1919 ABA convention, the Association committed to the organization of an annual Children’s Book Week. Since then, Children’s Book Week has been celebrated nationally in schools, libraries, bookstores, clubs, private homes-any place where there are children and books. Children’s Book Week encourages children to enjoy new authors and books, and celebrate children’s literature with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other literacy events in your school and community.
In 1944, the newly-established Children’s Book Council assumed responsibility for administering Children’s Book Week. In 2008, Children’s Book Week moved from November to May. At that time, responsibility for Children’s Book Week, including planning official events and creating original materials, was transferred to Every Child a Reader, the philanthropic arm of the children’s publishing industry.
Throughout the week, the Children’s Book Council will be putting on events in locations all over the United States. Click here to see if the events will be held in your area. However, if your city is not involved in any of the events, don’t worry — there are numerous ways to celebrate! You can test your skills with Children’s Book Week puzzles, help authors finish their stories, download the official Children’s Book Week bookmark, and more!
A digital toolkit, aimed at teachers, librarians and booksellers, provides suggestions for celebrating Children’s Book Week, as well as advice on how to hold a “Book Week Party,” “Read-In,” or “Book Exchange Day.” It can be downloaded at the Book Week Web site. Links to “Story Starters,” or the first few lines of stories written by children’s book authors, are also available for teachers to use with students.
But remember, it doesn’t need to be Book Week for you to find great books: the Children’s Choices list is available all year round. Kids across the country pick their favorite books each year, and about 100 books make the cut. You can find the lists from other years, too–so find out what other kids think are the best books of the past few years!
Follow Lori
-
Grab the Fish for a Free Book Button!
Places I Support
Networking
