TubTalk

Go figure ... I have the Reading Round-up ready to go first thing this morning and LiveJournal kept timing out. Happy  Monday!

Given the amount of stressful, down-right awful noise filling the airwaves,  you might think the only news is bad news. Well, I am a glass-is-half-full kinda girl, so today we are sending some good news your way. Updated to fix typos ... they were getting to me.
In the spirit of Halloween ...

I'm including my daughter's painting of The Wild Thing from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  Out of the blue, this weekend, she wanted to paint. And she surprised us with this one.

Okay, now we're back to a "normal" week ... at least until tomorrow. We had a teacher workday yesterday, so it was a long weekend. Catherine was very disappointed to learn that the kids got to stay home and the teachers were in school. "Don't they get days off, too?"

Over the coming weeks, I am probably going to transition this to a bi-weekly post. It's getting to be that busy time of the year. "Maintaining balance" is one of my goals for the year, so with only two months to go, I better get started.

UPCOMING EVENTS & CONTESTS

 

Now ‘Til 10 November 2008 Class of 2K8 is sponsoring a contest that gives school librarians a chance to win books, gift certificates, or a 2K8 author visit. We read about it at Elizabeth Bird’s Press Release Fun post at A Fuse #8 Production. You can also go to the Class of 2K8 website.

1 November 2008 The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) is hosting 13th Annual Multicultural Children's Book Festival. From the website: “bring the entire family to meet your favorite authors, listen to celebrity book readings, and enjoy performances, participatory workshops, illustration demonstrations, and more.” This is a FREE event that starts at Noon and ends at 6 PM.

19 November 2008 City National Bank is now accepting applications from educators for grants to support its Reading is the Way Up program that funds literacy-based projects at elementary, middle and high schools in California, New York, and Nevada. The Literacy Grant Application is available online, and must be submitted by 19 November 2008. You can read more about Reading is the Way Up in Brian Scott’s post for Literacy and Reading News

“Nevermore” after 21 November 2008. On 19 January 2009, Edgar Allen Poe will be 200 years old. To commemorate the event, READ magazine (a Weekly Reader literary publication for middle and high school students) is sponsoring an Edgar Allan Poe Video contest! The deadline for entry is 21 November 2008. You can get all the details in this article on TeacherTube.

BOOK DRIVES

Filling the Shelves Jim Davidson of the Log Cabin Democrat (Conway, AR) wrote a neat article about a local book drive. They are collecting gently used children’s book for their annual Bookcase for Every Child project. At the first drive in 2005, they collected more than 6,000 books. As the article reminds us “statistics tell us that 61 PERCENT of low-income families in our nation do not have any books at all for their children to read.” You can read the article to get details about creating your own project, or to contact the organizers.

The Buzz from New Orleans The Hornets (NBA pro team) has partnered with Read to Achieve, a nonprofit for literacy. Here’s the skinny, as published on the Hornets 247.com website. “In conjunction with Read to Achieve, the Hornets created a life-size Bookmobile bus that travels year-round with over 2,000 children's books to encourage reading and literacy. During the 2007-08 season, the Bookmobile made 73 total appearances, passing out more than 35,000 books to local children.” Click here to read the article.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

A Late Halloween Volunteers are needed to help out with Family Literacy Fun Day, Cambridge City Hall (Cambridge, MA) on 1 November 2008. There are lots of ways to help, and adults are needed to take turns wearing costumes of different children’s book characters. Get more details at the EventBrite.com website.

“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen …” Reach Out and Read Kansas City is seeking volunteers who “love books and have the gift of gab” to represent the organization at Reach Out and Read KC events in the Kansas City metro area. You can creadthe complete announcement at the VolunteerSolutions.org website.

OTHER NEWS

I will keep the News Section light this week, as Jen Robinson has a lot of great stuff in her Children’s Literacy Round-Up: October 19, so there’s no need to repeat.

Need Glasses? The 2008 Cybils Nominations are in, and now the panelists begin their work of winnowing the collection down to the finalists over the next two months. We have LOTS of reading to do. You can read a category-by-category list in this post over at the Cybils blog. I’m very excited to be part of the Easy Readers Panel. In the next few days I’ll be posting links to books we’ve reviewed (across all categories) over at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub.

Kid Picks Tuesday Today's carnival at 5 Minutes for Books is a round-up of blog posts about the books we’re reading with kids. Kid Picks is an easy, centralized way to find new books to share with your favorite audience.

Achoo! (Salud) Linda Jacobson had an article in last week’s Education Week about a new study that looked at school absence and student progress. Her article, Absences in Early Grades Tied to Learning Lags presents findings of a new study by the National Center for Children in Poverty (Columbia University). Here’s a stat: “Among poor children, chronic absence in kindergarten predicted the lowest levels of educational achievement at the end of 5th grade.” For more detailed analysis, read Present, Engaged and Accounted For. You can also participate in Chronic Absenteeism in Our Nation’s Schools, a live chat, on 27 October 2008 3 to 4 PM (EDT).

Priceless! Through a Google Alert, I found a new blog. Literacy is Priceless is a blog for Reading Teachers. It offers “reading tips and links to free K-6 literacy resources on the Web.”

New Twist on Old News Yesterday, John Micklos posted Libraries Thrive as Economy Falters at Reading Today Daily (IRA blog). The post summarizes a Boston Globe article about increased library use. Earlier this spring, we covered the same subject in several June 2008 Reading Round-ups.

Have a good week everybody. My condolences to the Red Sox fans...

Happy Monday! First it has been great catching up with all the happenings in the Second Annual Kidlitosphere Conference last weekend in Portland, Oregon.  Given the number of posts rolling in this morning, it looks like everyone had a terrific time and safe journeys home. If you want to have one-stop reading, head over to the  Portland Kidlit blog, where everyone is adding posts and pictures from the weekend.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program ...

Literacy Events, Activities, and Book Drives

Banned Book Week Every year, we observe (and remind ourselves about) the opportunities reading gives us in an event called Banned Book Week. It is always the last week of September, and it starts this week.  I've seen lots of posts already, but my favorite is this one by Little Willow I Read Banned Books:  Celebrating Intellectual Freedom and Literacy. You need to head over to the post and ask yourself Have I ever said that?

Grab Your Corduroys! This Thursday, October 2, is Read for the Record. It is an annual event (this is the third one) to promote literacy by having the greatest number of people read the same book on the same day. More than 400,000 underserved youth will read/listen to Don Freeman's Corduroy.  You can get lots of links to events around the country in this post at Christine Louise Hohlbaum’s Mama’s Musings blog.  You can also register to participate on the Read for the Record website.

 

More for your TBR Pile Over at the Hidden Side of a Leaf, you can find the official clock counting down the days/minutes/seconds until Buy a Friend a Book Week, which kicks of 1 October 2008. Dewey has already announced her giveaway in this BAFAB Week post. You’ll also find all the details about how to participate, too.

Ready? Action! On Wednesday, 8 October 2008 2:PM to 3:PM (EDT), School Library Journal is hosting a FREE webcast, sponsored by Capstone Press. The event features a panel to talk about “best practices to engage struggling and reluctant readers, discover multi-level reading resources for classroom and school library integration, and pick up techniques and programming ideas that will encourage the use of fiction and nonfiction.” The panelists are the people who know the most about reading, media center services, and children’s literacy: school librarians, educators, and publisher reps from Captsone and Arch Books. Go to the SLJ Event webpage to learn more or register. Our thanks to Denise Johnson and the Joy of Literature blog for the lead.

Read Aloud Event Here in the Commonwealth, Read Aloud to a Child Week is  19 to 23 October 2008. If, in this age of shortened attention spans, you don’t have the time or energy to read Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook, then

• Jump over to Small Town Insights blog and read K. Moore’s post The Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children; and
• Head to Becky’s Young Readers blog to see her post Sara Dobie Shares Tips on Reading, which covers audiences from infants and toddlers to independent readers.

In Need of Books YA Author Devyn Burton is sponsoring a book drive to get YA books to local hospitals in lower east Michigan (Lenawee County). Her goal is to give these hospitals a book transfusion of much-needed YA material. I’ll let her explain. “I created Book Transfusion because I am the teen who is stuck in the hospital, awaiting a blood transfusion, dreading surgery, trying to avoid the painful shots … [T]eens in the hospital had two options A) color and do crafts meant for a six year old or B) 'suck it up' like an adult watch TV all day.” Devyon needs all books – or donations – by 10 October 2008. Click here to learn more about Book Transfusion. Our thanks to Cynthia Leitich Smith and her Cynsational News & Giveaway post for the info on this event.

A Little Jazz, A Little Blues Blue Cypress Books will host the One Book One New Orleans event where residents ages 16 and up are encouraged to all read the same book at the same time. Everyone will be reading Tom Piazza’s City of Refuge for the 18 October 2008 event at Blue Cypress Books. The event begins at 2:00 PM. We read about it in this untitled post on the Blue Cypress Books blog.

Read-a-Thon in Quebec The Quebec Division of the Multiple Schlerosis Society has sent its invitations to elementary and secondary schools for the 31^st Read-a-Thon. Last year, more than 5,000 at 86 schools read 34,000 books and raised more than $131,000. This year, the winning school can win $300 in books from Scholastic. Schools can participate anytime from November 2008 to April 2009. You can read more details in Brian Scott’s post for the Literacy and Reading News blog or go to the Read-a-thon website.

Literacy Grant – December Deadline Go to grantsandfunding.net to read the announcement about the Toyota Family Literacy Teacher of the Year Award. US teachers can apply for the award, and the winner receives a $7,500 grant for their program.

Ah-Ha! It’s an award! The official name is the Frances Mottey Beck Middle School “Ah-Ha” Reading Award. It is a new award this year, and its purpose is to recognize “a middle-school educator or team of educators who has designed an effective, replicable program for advancing reading/literacy.” Recipients receive a $2000 cash award. Go here for the application (the deadline is 10 February 2009).

News, Updates & Other Tidbits

An Apple a Day Last week, Donna contacted me about her new Website, Meet Me at the Corner, a non-profit that hosts the Big Apple Book Club. What I loved about the site is that it offers video reviews and interviews by kids … and also has a video on how to write a review.

The Cat in the Hat Over at the Printable Coloring Pages blog, you’ll find this post that lists seven free, printable coloring pages with the Cat in the Hat as the theme. There are links to just-plain-fun pages, as well as printable coloring pages for literacy and phonics skills.

TTYL In the current edition of The View from Here (online) magazine, Mike French posts the first of a two-part interview with Nikki Heath, the 2008 School Librarian of the Year (UK). She offers some great insights on YA books, their audience, and how to keep them reading. Here’s the link to Part 1: Young Adult Reading (and Writing) Guidance: An Interview with Nikki Heath.

When Good Things Happen to Great Teachers You may remember we posted a plug for I.N.K.’s Book Blast Giveaway in our 8 August Reading Round-Up. Well, the winner is … Lelac Almagor, English 7 Teacher at KIPP DC: AIM Academy. Linda Salzman included about the winning entry in her Winner’s post on I.N.K. Inspirational reading and a video link of her class, too.

Flexible Reading In the current edition of the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook (online), Donalyn Miller has an article that talks about how one-size-fits-all reading lists. Her article, One Size Does Not Fit All, offers some ideas for engaging readers when you’re “stuck” using a curriculum-mandated list.

Very cool, eh? There are 153 nominees for the 2009 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, described as “the most lucrative award in children’s literature.” Bryan Doyle (YA novelist in Ottawa, Canada), Marie-Louise Gay (writer-illustrator in Montreal), and Read to Me! Read to Me! a literacy program in Nova Scotia, Canada are among the nominees. I couldn’t find a website for Read to Me! Read to Me!, but you can read the summary article in the Canadian Press (online) Two Canadian writers and a Nova Scotia literacy program up for rich children’s ....

She Gets My Vote – No, not her. I am voting for Anne-Marie at My Readable Feast. We don’t need to infuse a political agenda in the process of getting kids to understand our history and the political process. In her post Election 2008: More Books for Kids on Politics and American History, Anne-Marie makes it easy for you to find books and activities that will engage kids in exploring the republic, with liberty and justice for all.

Something to Give I’ve been holding on to Sherry’s post about the 10 Day Give. I read about it at Semicolon last week. It has a simple purpose: “The 10 Day Give is a challenge that is designed to help us get our minds off of ourselves and start thinking about how we can help others…There really are hundreds of opportunities that we overlook each day. My goal is to just grab hold of one of them each day.” The Challenge doesn’t start until 10 October, so you even have some time to look around and think about things you might be able to do. Why not stop in the library and volunteer to read a book with a child?

You’ll Want to Underline This In the midst of trying to find Read to Me! the literacy program, I found a software program, also called Read to Me. This is a software download for IE that can read your webpage for you. What I LOVE about the idea is that it underlines the words as you go, which has great read-along value. You can choose male or female voices, and modify the highlighting pattern, too. You can download a free, 30-day trial from Steve Foxover Software. What I DON’T LOVE is that I can’t find pricing information.

Too Cool for School On the 21^st Century Connections website, there is an article by Allyson Parks about how Technology Affects New Forms of Writing. Here’s the pitch: “A recent article from Cleveland-based wkyc.com reports that the Westlake City School District in Westlake, Ohio, is having success at improving children's literacy skills through the use of blogging and podcasting.” Students are TAUGHT to create blogs and podcasts of their curriculum-based reading. How cool is that? We found the lead in this post the MHRIC WDUG blog.

• You might also want to read 21^st Century Skills, Education and Competitiveness, a new report by the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills. We found the lead for this in Dakarai I Aaron’s article for Education Week.

Inspired Writing Late Friday afternoon, Brian Scott wrote a post on the Literacy and Reading News blog saying a New Kidspiration Lesson Plan Book Helps Teachers Use Visual Learning. The post has a press release feel to it, so it is full of little grabbers, like this one: “Elementary teachers can help students start as early as kindergarten to learn the importance and process of writing well.” Although billed as a tool to help elementary school teachers in the classroom, it is available as a single-copy purchase, too. Go to the e Kidspiration website to see Chapter 4, “Forms of Writing.”

The More Things Change … It isn’t often that a report remains accurate for 25 years. A Nation at Risk, is one of those rare reports. Education Week has two articles that both contrast/compare current issues with that landmark study.

• Catherine Gewertz writes that the key finding of the study is as relevant now as it was “back then.” Read Interest in Expanding Hours for Students to Master Academic, Social, and Workplace Skills is Mounting.

• Debra Viadero has a fascinating article about how school interruptions (like snow days) affect learing. One researcher showed “in a year with five lost school days, which is the average number for Maryland, the number of 3rd graders who met state proficiency targets was 3 percent lower than in years with no school closings.” Read Research Yields Clues on the Effect of Extra Time for Learning.

I Can’t Hear You! The Center for the Book (Library of Congress) and the Read it Loud! Foundation have announced a new literacy program, called (what else) Read it Loud! The goal is to inspire 5 million parents and caregivers to read daily to their children by 2014. You can read the blurb in John Micklos’ post for Reading Today Daily (IRA blog) or visit the Read it Loud! website. Sidebar: Many moons ago I created a group over at Goodreads call Read it LOUD. The goal is to chat about books that are fun, exciting, and engaging read-alouds. We’d love to hear your favorite!

Happy Autumn! It was a glorious weekend here, and the blue skies and crisp mornings just begged us to go apple picking. So we did! In full disclosure, the lure was also hot-out-of-the-fryer apple cider donuts, too! 

Mark Your Calendar

Put Me In Coach! In Reading Today Daily (International Reading Association blog), John Micklos has a post about a Literacy Coaching Summit in the US. This is the first time such an event has been held, and it is planned for April 3-4, 2009 at Texas A&M (Corpus Christi). One topic bound to be mentioned is the results of a Rand Corporation study about the value of reading coaches in Florida middle schools. These coaches are intended to be school-based “master teachers” who provide on-site support, preferably in the classroom. While coaches have been widely used, it is uncommon to use them in middle schools. Here is a tidbit from the study: “middle school coaches were particularly effective when they spent time with individual teachers reviewing student data and devising strategies for meeting student needs.” You can read Kathleen Kennedy Manzo’s article Middle School Coaches Found to Build Teacher’s Skills in the September 11, 2007 online edition of Education Week to get more details.

te necesitamos (We Need You) DC Learn is a non-profit family services and literacy organization in Washington, DC. They need volunteers to translate a website from English to Spanish. Read the VolunteerMatch.org posting to get more details.

News, Tidbits and New Finds

A Novel Algorithm in Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine, Gene Weingarten’s Below the Beltway column caught my eye. This one is titled “Illiterature: Can a Computer Judge Fiction.” Weingarten’s essay opens with this: Zirdland.com, a software company, is seeking manuscripts to test a “software system that can electronically analyze the quality and commercial viability of a work of fiction and prompt changes that will make it better.” Go to the Zirdland News page to get more about the beta test of their software. 

Hump Day Every Wednesday, you can find SoCalVal’s Weblink Wednesday post at her Homeschooling with Encouragement blog. Thanks to a Google Alert, we found out we were the Weblink. That let us to two new places.

• SoCalVal runs Weblink Education, a website “designed to help provide helpful information on all educational subjects through weblinks.” UPDATED to include link to website.
• In her Weblink Wednesday post, Sonshine told us about the EasyTestMaker website. This is a free, online test generator that helps you create questions that range from fill in the blank and matching to short answer and multiple sections. You can read more at the Glimpse of Sunshine blog.

A Picture is worth … The American Library Association has posted its new, basic standards for the “21^st Century learner.” Yes, you can read them on the ALA website, but I personally recommend Cloudscome’s Wordle version … much more effective, and far more 21^st Century!

Failure Rates: Failing our Kids I found three distinct articles talking about high school students. The bottom line is nothing new: kids need to finish high school.

• John Micklos’ post Diplomas are key to economic success (Reading Today Daily, IRA blog, 18 September 2008) draws on analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education. The Alliance just published a report, Dropouts, Diplomas and Dollars: U.S. High Schools and the Nation’s Economy.
  

• Christina A. Samuels has an article in the September 3, 2008 edition of Education Week that focuses on the high school drop-out rates of students with behavioral problems; 32% of emotionally disturbed students graduated from high school in 2002, and 56% of those students dropped out. The graduation/drop-out rates haven’t changed in ten years. The problem is significant enough that a group of seven universities have received a (collective) $9.6 million, 5-year grant from the US Department of Education to assess the problem. You can read her article, “Behavior Disorders in Teens are Focus of New R&D Effort” in the online edition of Education Week. LehighUniversity, JamesMadisonUniversity, and the University of Missouri (Columbia), will pilot a number of programs for the first two years of the grant.  Once pilot studies have been finished, researchers from the University of Maryland (College Park), University of Kansas (Lawrence), University of Louisville, and Miami University of Ohio will roll out the strategies to about 500 students.

• When I first saw Debra Viadero’s article Returning Dropouts Said to Face Too Tough a Road to Graduation (Education Week Online 17 August 2008) , I thought about my cousin who, after having a baby, was ridiculed by her teachers (yes, more than one) for even trying to come back to graduate. A study by the Regional Educationsl Laboratory at WestEd looks at the push-and-pull factors that influence these students’ decisions. The study, Reenrollment of High School Dropouts in a Large Urban School District, slices and dices the drop-out/reenrollment data a number of ways: gender, grade, ethnicity, and language ability.

Become a Teacher A new survey by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation finds that 42 percent of college-educated Americans (ages 24 to 60) would consider becoming a teacher. The deterrent is the same as it has always been: the salary. Maybe we could mail them a poster of Al Roker and his favorite teacher. TeachersCount.org has an ongoing public service campaign, “Behind Every Famous Person Is a Fabulous Teacher.” Visit the Teachers Count website to learn more about the campaign, get posters, and last but not least … find out how to become a teacher. We found the survey results in John Micklos’ post Celebrating the Impact of Teachers (Reading Today Daily, 17 September 2008)

Brrrr! Thanks to Meredyth Kezar for her post in the Late Literacy blog for introducing us to a new blog, the Joy of Children’s Literature and a new (at least to us) online magazine. Beyond Polar Bears and Penguins is an “online polar and literacy magazine” for elementary teachers (Kindergarten to fifth grade)

Yum, Yum! Last week, if you ate out in Seattle, you had the opportunity to support Page Ahead, a non-profit that distributes books to readers-in-need throughout WashingtonState. By partnering with restaurants, the organization’s Dish Up Literacy! Campaign raises funds when you eat out. You can also visit Page Ahead to get ideas on how to help promote reading.

Still Superbowl Champs I am a New York Giants fan (by marriage), so when I saw the link to Justin Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy in Jen Robinson’s Children’s Literacy Round-up: September 22, I had to (pun intended) rush over. Sixth- and Seventh-grade students from four Title I middle schools in New York City are participating in a reading challenge, where they read one book a month during football season. They are also required to write a book report, which will be submitted for review and judged by a panel that includes Tuck and his wife.

Learning is Universal In a post this morning at Reading Today Daily (IRA blog), John Micklos summarizes an article about working with learning-disabled (LD) students. A report by the National Center for Learning Disabilities suggests that “[b]y making broad changes to how information is presented to all students and the ways in which all students are able to show what they know, the horizons for students with LD will be expanded from a "student deficit" approach to a "student success" approach. You can read the article, Universal Design for Learning on the NCLD website and/or participate in a talk on the subject 24 September 2008 at 1:00 PM (EDT).

Kumon, not Cumin Brian Scott has a fascinating post called Kumon – Teaching Children to Learn (Literacy and Reading News, 18 September 2008) I loved how he opened the article: “The fad of creating super-genius children may be out, but concerned parenting will always be in.” At Kumon learning centers, visit twice a week and work on lessons in reading in math. Unlike school, where their papers are corrected and the kids move on to new material anyway, at Kumon, the kids will continue to work through a lesson until they do it without error. There is no set schedule, so the kids learn at their own pace. There is a Jr. Kumin for preschoolers and kindergarteners … that sort of hints of a desire for super-genius, no?

Education Grants In June, Sylvan Dell announced its new educational resource grant to promote math and science. We mentioned it in a previous round-up. So far, 1,000 schools have applied in this program to grant one elementary school in every US district “a free, one-year site license, providing unlimited access to all 35 Sylvan Dell eBooks, featuring flipviewer technology with selectable English and Spanish text and audio.” The first 25 private schools in a district can also apply and receive a grant.  Here’s the online application. We read about the update in John Micklos’ post at Reading Today Daily (IRA blog, 19 September 2008)

 Thanks for Sharing I just love great finds!  So here are my thanks ...

• to Franki at A Year of Reading for letting us know the Literacy Connection has a new website. Stop by to check out this page, with ideas about the “many natural, everyday opportunities parents have to talk, tell stories and share books with their children.” You can learn about the Literacy Connection workshops in Franki’s post.
• to Katherine at A Girl Walked Into a Bookstore for telling us about HistoricalNovels.info. You’ll find information on 3,500 historical fiction novels, sorted by time and place. Fifty of the books have been reviewed, and more are planned.
  

Great Kids, Great Books Tomorrow, the Kids Picks Carnival for September kicks off at 5 Minutes for Books. This is a chance for everyone to share the books they’ve been reading – and which their kids loved – in the previous month. Mr. Linky is set up so that bloggers tell you the ages of the children so you don’t have to go to every connection to find reviews of books you’ll want to share with your kids.

"The average kindergärtner has watched 5,000 hours of TV before s/he gets to school.
That's more time than it takes to earn a Bachelor's degree."

US Department of Education

 

For years I have used that quote as part of my Email signature line, so it seemed only fitting to use it on Day 2 of my entry in Weekly Geeks Challenge #17. Between TubTalk and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub (where all my BBAW posts will be) look for some of my favorite quotes about reading and books.

 
EVENTS AND OTHER BLOG TOURS de FORCE

Today opens Book Blogger Appreciation Week. You'll find events and giveaways all over the book blogosphere. The Reading Tub is going to have it's first-ever book giveaway. So stay tuned.

Vote for Your Favorite Story Share your opinion on what children’s books get published. Head over to the ABC Book Competition website between 21 September and 5 October to vote. The winner receives a publishing contract with a 2010 publication date. Thanks to the Write4Kids Newsletter (September 10, 2008 edition) for this information.

 
Volunteer Opportunities - Helping Communities Raise Readers
Late, But Not Too Late Last week we learned about a training event sponsored by Book’em, a local literacy organization in Nashville (TN). Book’em hosted RIF training for its Reading Guides for the coming year. We missed the training, but you can visit Cool People Care website to get contact information if you want to volunteer.

 It’s Never Too Late … To Commemorate celebrate Literacy Last Monday was International Literacy Day, but the ability to read is something to be celebrated – and shared – every day! The United Nations General Assembly declared that 1 January 2003 is the kickoff of the UN Literacy Decade. You can read more in the International Literacy Day post at The Children’s Study Initiative blog.

How SMART Is This? Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) is a volunteer organization that works in Oregon elementary schools. We learned about SMART in this posting for a Site Coordinator in Portland (OR). Here’s the pitch: “Your support is vital in helping to reverse the statistic that 38% of Oregon fourth graders read below the basic level.”

 Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay On the PR-GR.com website, we found this California Schools Use Volunteers to Help Boost Test Scores. The most valuable nugget for us was the description of Reading Partners, “the fastest growing children’s literacy non-profit” in the Bay Area. Here’s the quote: “Reading Partners provides tutors to students who have fallen behind one to two grade levels in reading. After its 2007/8 assessments, Reading Partners showed that with thirty hours of tutoring, on average a student in its program will advance an entire grade level.” To learn more about Reading Partners or become a volunteer in the Los Angeles or Bay Area, visit the http://www.readingpartners.org website. [NOTE: There is also a www.readingpartners.co.uk.org.]

Let ‘em Ride Ride for Reading is a non-profit organization in Nashville (TN) whose sole purpose is to get books to kids who don’t have them. They have just posted an announcement on Volunteer Match requesting books for kids reading at a Kindergarten through fourth grade level. Click here to get more details.

Highlights and Other News
Reading (groan) My favorite post of the week was Learning About Our Students as Readers over at the Reading Zone. Sarah spent some time one morning priming her kids for some great books they might find at the school library. Everyone came back with a book and when reading time was done, there were groans …about half the class wanted to keep reading. Here’s the best part: “One boy said, ‘This has never happened to me before!’” (emphasis mine).

 In Praise of Work There is an interesting post about how and when we praise our children’s accomplishments over at Open Education. The title (To Raise Smart and Successful Children, Focus on Developing a Work Ethic) says a lot, but doesn’t say it all. Essentially, to help kids succeed – and grow as learners – recognize the effort put into the work, not the intelligence used to get there. It is definitely worth a read. We found this at Jen Robinson's Sunday Afternoon Visits: September 14

Set the DVR Tonight on PBS Judy Woodruff hosts Where We Stand: America’s Schools in the 21^st Century. The show airs at 10:00 PM. You can see a trailer at the WNET New York website. We saw the lead at Reading Today Daily (the International Reading Association blog), in a post by John Micklos.

Book Distribution The US Department of Education, First Book, and Random House launched a 2008 Summer Reading Initiative to donate books to promote literacy and supply books to kids in need. So far, 500,000 books have been distributed to schools, libraries, and literacy organizations. The remaining 300,000 will be distributed later this year. Schools, libraries, and organizations interested in receiving the books must register on the First Books website. We saw this in a post by John Micklos for Reading Today Daily (the IRA blog).

Vroom, Vroom Over at Mamanista blog, Debbie wrote Star Your Reading Engines, a post about trying to close the “literacy gender gap,” particularly for boys. I loved this quote: While I've been reading Dr. Seuss, Mother Goose, Richard Scary, and other children's classics, I've caught my husband reading Car and Driver Magazine and the Wall Street Journal to the baby with far greater enthusiasm than I've ever seen him muster for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.” But then she added this: “As exciting as Car and Driver Magazine is, I'm trying to encourage my husband to read more child-friendly books.” It is important to read a variety of materials (not just books). Enthusiasm about what you’re reading is also key. Be sure to check out Mamanista’s list of transportation-themed books.

Here’s a Great Plug Plugged-In to Reading has launched a new website: http://www.pluggedintoreading.com/. Plugged-In to Reading is a reading program for middle and high school students. You can get to Plugged-In to Non-Fiction from the site. We saw this in Brian Scott’s post for Literacy and Reading News.

Books on a Theme If you’re looking for new material and you’d like to have a theme, check out the Read-Write-Think website. They’ve already posted the October calendar of ideas for reading-related and general interest events. You can also link to these items via Louise Ash’s post on Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog.

Downloads at Your Library According to Sarah  More’s article in the Christian Science Monitory, more than 7,500 public libraries are becoming digital lending sites. They offer a digital process for accessing books, music, and movies via download, using special software … and their library card! You can read John Micklos’ summary at Reading Today Daily, or More’s complete article, “The Next Phase of Libraries Rolls Into Town.”

Readers Are Happy People A survey by the National Literacy Trust (UK) found that half of the men with low literacy skills were satisfied with their life. In contrast, 78 percent of the men with good reading skills were satisfied with their life. The original article in Press Association offers more stats. In the summary  post by Louise Ash (Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog) you will find links to the Press Association article, as well as the Literacy Changes Lives report.

Worth Repeating Sometimes it is nice just to have a short list of blurbs to remind you about the value of reading. In his post Reading Tips for Parents of Preschoolers, Brian Scott keeps it short and sweet with just seven ways to promote reading. We read about this at the Literacy and Reading News blog. In her International Literacy Day post, Jen Robinson has some links to resources with great literacy activities and ideas.

Speaking of Ideas … Stop by Sycamore Stirrings to learn about Muffin Tin Mondays. Essentially, you pick a theme and then fill a muffin tin with a collection of items that go with the theme. What caught our eye (as it did Jill’s at The Well-Read-Child) was Children’s Literature Monday. Moms filled the tins with items that somehow connected with a children’s book. Check these out. Thanks to Jill for her Children’s Literature and Muffin Tins? post.

From Picasso to Rowling Those scribbles you see (yes, even the crayon on the wall) are your child’s way of building their writing skills. What looks to you like a wobbly circle could be a bird’s nest or a black hole; and those squiggles may be “I love Mommy,” or your order the waitress wrote down at the Toddler Restaurant. In his most recent post, When Do Children Start Writing? Trevor Cairns explains that young children attribute meaning to their original works very early. Visit Literacy, Families and Learning to read the full article.

Great Question Last week, Dewey wrote a post called Character Questions over at The Hidden Side of a Leaf. She found the questions in an old journal, and thought they’d be helpful for writing book reviews. They would also be great conversation starters when you’re talking with kids about books. Just pick one and let the conversation take off from there.

I Before E, Except … At the Times Online site, there is an article about how the emphasis on spelling (and all those spelling tests) are affecting kids’ overall literacy. Here’s the quote: “The teaching of literacy in schools is a major worry. It seems highly likely that one of the reasons Britain and other English-speaking countries have problems with literacy is because of our spelling and the burden it places on children.” You can read the original article (which will let you test your spelling); or you can read the summary, Abandon spelling rules, says academic (John Micklos, Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog). If spelling tests are a must, then stop by to read Sarah’s post Preparing for a New Week at the Reading Zone. This is an update on her previous post about differentiated spelling lists.

[untitled] Last week, the Yemeni Minister of Education announced that the ministry is going to be “hiring” 30,000 university graduates as part of the Eradicating Illiteracy project. The goal is to reduce Yemen’s illiteracy rate from 43% to 20% by 2013. You can read the full article in the Yemen Times or Louise Ash’s summary post in the Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog.
 

Happy Monday ... even if my Colts did lose! If that's the worst thing, I'll be happy. The computer guy is on his way to see if my computer problem is the hard drive or the registry! So I better get moving ...

Sharing a Story As part of the celebration of our 5^th anniversary, the Reading Tub, Inc. will be creating a directory for people to donate books that can be shared with children. That is what we're all about, after all.

• If you are a teacher, school librarian, public librarian, or KNOW a teacher, school librarian, or public librarian, let them know I am creating a space on the website for their wish lists. These are the books you would like to have if you had the budget to buy them.
  

• Just last night, I read Brian Scott's post at Literacy and Reading News about the Gold Star Registry. It's a place where teachers can create a registry (aka wish list) with resources they'd like to have for their classroom, from bulletin board sets and banners to free-time reading books and tools in Spanish. If you set up a registry, we're happy to include it.
  
• Use this form to add your name and needs to our searchable directory. The only requirement is that you have a FORMAL Wishlist that is publicly accessible.

Between the Lions The New York Public Library's Book Fest 2008 will be held  on Saturday, 1 November. This year, the NYPL's new Offices of Children’s Programs, Young Adult Programs and   Education Outreach in the Department of Education, Programs  and  Exhibitions  joins with School Library Journal to host the event. For more information and to register online, go to the Book Fest page on the NYPL website.

Sunshine on Literacy Last year, Florida Governor Charlie Crist proclaimed that September is Literacy Month in Florida. To commemorate the second anniversary, the Florida Parks & Rec folks have joined in the fun. This week you can visit WakullaSpringsState Park or OchlockoneeRiverState Park for free …but you need to bring a library card, library book, or a new or gently used family book. You can read more at the Wakulla County website.

Living La Vida Loco In the 24 August 2008 edition of the Los Angeles Times, Sonja Bolle published her interview with Ambassador John Scieska, who offered his perspective on what it takes to get kids to read. With his usual flare and sense of humor, Scieska suggests that we need to think in broad terms about what constitutes reading, particularly in a digital age. If you can't get enough of the Stinky Cheese Man, you might also check out Brian Scott's post How Many Medals Would Boys Win if Reading Were an Olympic Sport, which is full of Scieska quotes about boys and reading, and has a link to Scieska's Guys Read website.

Ask Your Librarian I keep seeing articles that (in essence) say that somehow, some way, we need to get kids engaged in fun reading, even during the school year. One way to do that is to let them relax by listening to you read. I liked the list of favorite read-alouds, broken into three categories: picture book, fiction, and non-fiction. It is all part of the Kids @ Your Library Campaign® Toolkit.  Thanks to Nancy Snyder, Children's Services Manager, Public Library of Charlotte and MecklenbergCounty, for letting us know about this on CCBC-Net.

Let the Library Come to You Like Sara at Read Write Believe, I had no idea that there was such a thing as a Digital Bookmobile. Leave it to the bibliophiles in Fairfax County (my old home town) to come up with something that invites people to learn more about books in a non-paper format (eBooks, audio books, digital books). The bookmobile will be in Centreville this weekend, but you can go to the Burke Centre Library on 9 September to learn how to download audiobooks and podcasts to MP3 players. You can learn more by visiting the Fairfax County library website.

Buzz-Buzz, Ring-Ring, You've Got Mail Sarah Houghton-Jan (San Jose Public Library) wrote a wonderful article about information overload. Her emphasis is really on overload for librarians, who are information gurus/fanatics by passion and trade. When I read her tips, I immediately thought of students. Why not teach them some of these strategies now? You can read Being Wired or Being Tired: 10 Ways to Cope With Information Overload in the July 2008 edition of Ariadne (UK) We found the lead in Louise Ash's post for Reading Today Daily.

Answer: Because I can't Drive Myself The question: Why don't kids go to the library more often? "Because my parents don't take me" was the number one reason in six focus groups (2^nd to 4^th graders) that were part of a survey to explore how kids view the library. See the summary here. You might also check out the new Voice of Literacy podcast series. These are going to be biweekly broadcasts on literacy research. You can listen on the site and download them from iTunes, too. In the inaugural broadcast, Julie Coiro discusses the skills middle-school readers need for effective reading online. You can read John Micklos' summary at Reading Today Daily, or go to the Voice of Literacy website to learn more.

Shhh! Donalyn Miller wrote a nice piece in her Book Whisperer column (Teacher Magazine) about how her student's reacted to the classroom library at this year's Meet the Teacher night in her 6^th grade classroom.  First this: "One student entered my room and headed straight for the bookshelves, pulling out titles, stroking covers, flitting from bin to bin. It was as if she was reunited with old friends."  Then this: "One former student introduced me to his brother, who will be in my class this year, then shyly asked me if he could check out a book. We go forward, but we go back, too."  You can also read her 3-part series Creating Readers, which answers readers' questions about transforming "dormant" readers into rabid readers. Pair this article with The Rush of a New School Year at BookMoot and you'll be truly energized. Thanks to Franki at A Year of Reading for the lead in Great Post for School Librarians.

FIVE Stars Thanks to a Google Alert, I found this great post about matching celebrities with children's books as a way to promote literacy, multiculturalism, or both.  Notice I didn't say ask a celebrity to WRITE a children's book.  [For that, stop by A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy to read Liz B's rant/dialogue.] With just a commitment of 8 hours, a celebrity could receive, read, and then record a children's story (in any language). The publisher then takes that recording and builds a promotional platform. The publisher ALSO goes to a community organization that promotes literacy to help promote the product. Yes, the lawyers would have to get involved for copyright and all that, but still, it is a neat idea, no? We found the post at the Arts and Entertainment blog.

Way to Go! Courtesy of Jen Robinson's Children's Literacy Round-Up: September 4, I found Dodie Owen's article, A Captive Audience – Bringing Books to Teens in Detention (School Library Journal, 9/3/2008). Essentially, volunteers lead a bookclub at the Mecklenburg County Gatling DetentionCenter (Huntersville, NC). The boys read and talk about books (some of which they select) and they get to keep them.  This quote by one of the volunteers particularly struck a chord: "For some it is the first book they have ever owned. Some of them now have quite a personal library!”

It Takes a Village Tuesdays are Community Day at 5 Minutes for Books. On any given Tuesday, you can join Jennifer D and her team for a children's-book-related carnival. This week (September 9^th, join the discussion of Children's Classics – Picture Books. Read the Join Our Community post to see the full schedule and learn how to participate. Jennifer is also looking for someone to help create buttons for the two new carnivals: Kids' Picks and I Read It!

A-B-C-D-E-F-G Are you singing the alphabet song yet? Great! Head over to join ABC Storytime, MotherReader's new weekly preschool program where each week she will post books , rhymes, and songs that focus on a letter of the alphabet (in order, of course). This one gets an A. To save you time, here's B.

One, Two, Ten Tips for You Look in  Carma's Window to read her 10 Tips to a Terrific Picture Book. She has reprinted author Emma Walton Hamilton's article about crafting a terrific picture book. Although the emphasis is on writing a book, many of the tips also apply when you are picking a book to read. For example, look for books with short sentences. Kids neither have the attention span nor vocabulary for long, wordy sentences.             

La-Di-Dee, La-Di-Dum Sorry, I was daydreaming, er, I mean thinking. Turns out, daydreaming is important. At Educating Alice, I found this post, which excerpts Daydream Achiever, Jonah Lehrer's article in the Boston Globe (8/31/2008). Here's my quote:  '[Scientists have] demonstrated that daydreaming is a fundamental feature of the human mind - so fundamental, in fact, that it’s often referred to as our “default” mode of thought." We encourage it in preschoolers and call it using their imagination. Then, they go to school and we tell them to turn it off so they can focus. [Reminds me of hugging: when they're toddlers, we encourage them to hug friends and tell them it is so sweet. Then Kindergarten comes and we tell them to keep their hands to themselves.]

Get Real First, let me say I'm not a reality-TV kind of gal. But one of the candidates in this cycle of America's Next Top Model used to babysit a neighbor's kids, and she hosted a party for "opening night."  I had to laugh when a recent Harvard graduate – an English and American Lit major – could not name five authors, English or American. She just stood there, mouth agape, as Tyra started listing books for her. Call of the Wild got shrugged shoulders, as in don't know that one. E gad.

An Apple and a Book Recent studies suggest that eating apples improves one's health (and waistline). So why not munch on an apply while reading? Why? Because the most effective way to promote a child's health is to raise the literacy level of his mom.  Here's a quote "43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty and that illiteracy is a major barrier to employment for 47% of people receiving public assistance. Further, illiteracy is self-perpetuating: half the children born to illiterate parents will grow up to be illiterate adults." Although the emphasis of Brian Scott's article is on a local literacy organization, he has invaluable information about why we need to help parents AND kids. See the post at Literacy and Reading News.

New Resource This week, I found the Learning Ladders Society blog and a post about teaching strategies that can help children with diagnoses on the autism spectrum (FWIW– ADD is an autism spectrum diagnosis). The list emphasizes the importance of literacy, as communication is one of the "speed bumps" for autistic children. Children build vocabulary, comprehension, and (depending on the story) social skills lessons that can help them succeed. What I particularly liked about the article is that it goes beyond the stereotypical sensory/communication-averse child and also recognizes the sensory seeking child. 

Phew! Made it with no crashes!

 

Happy Labor Day! Putting together the Round-ups is a labor of love, so it is only fitting that we publish today. It's also the first day of September. Ah, autumn will be here soon. Bye-bye greasy sunscreen. I guess because everyone is wearing their back-to-school outfits that we seem to be heavy on the education-related news this week.

Among this morning's Google Alerts were several references to Mem Fox's speech where she characterizes childcare (really infant care) as a form of abuse. I'm sure it will continue to grow in fervor, but if you want an early look, here is the post at the Australian Politics  blog (you'll need to scroll down). 

FIrst up ...

What's in Your Wallet? September is Library Card Sign-up Month. The library card – the only card where you can borrow against it and NEVER run up debt … in fact, the more you borrow, the richer you are. Priceless. 

Dates to Remember

PBJ& B(ooks)  Smuckers, Jif and Scholastic have come together for a reading contest. Write a 200-word essay that explains "why you want to feed your family's need to read" and you could win a Scholastic Library for your family (up to $3,000) and a $3,000 Scholastic library for your school. The contest opened 24 August 2008 and ends 30 November 2008.

 Oh, No! It's an Invasion of Washington! Thanks to Sarah at Read, Write, Believe for the complete rundown of the authors coming to the 2008 National Book Festival. This year, the authors will be signing books on 27 September 2008.

 Community Programs

 And the Award Goes to …. Yes, I think the Cybils are a community program. Follow along and you will learn about some terrific books. If you are a children's book lover, you should be thrilled to know that there is a new category this year: Easy Readers. If you are actively blog about children's and/or young adult books, and think you might want to be a judge, the official call has opened. Before you decide, first go here to learn more about the requirements. I am particularly excited about the new Easy Reader category (with Anastasia Suen at the helm). Like Jen Robinson and Gail Gauthier, I think books for this group are pivotal for turning kids into lifelong readers.

Brotherly Love: Reading Coaches Philadelphia Reads, a literacy non-profit, is looking for reading coaches. Volunteers will spend at least one a week working in school or as part of after school programs for three months. Philadelphia Reads is hosting three training workshops in September and October. We saw this on KYW News Radio's website. You can click here to get more details and contact information.

Michigan Reads! There is a nice, detailed post at the Michigan State University Library's blog about Michigan Reads! One State, One Children's Book Program. The Librarian of Michigan invites adults and children to read Raccoon Tune by Nancy Shaw. She will be traveling the state reading her books as part of the 2008 Michigan Reads! Author tour. To learn more about Michigan Reads, visit their website.

Bravo! On 1 September, Pittsburg (CA) City Hall opens a new Children's Reading Center. The idea is that toddlers can read while Mom and Dad pay bills. The Reading Center is a literacy project that introduces children to books but also offers resources to improve adult literacy. We found the post of the Contra Costa newspaper article on the Government Innovators Network, Harvard University

New Word: Librainium Isn't that just the coolest word? So much packed into 10 letters. The Early Literacy Libranium™ in the children's room at the Wheeler Taft Abbett, Sr. Branch Library (Pima County Public Library System, Tucson, AZ). It is sorta sad, though, that you have to trademark it.

NEWS & OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

You Go, Girl! I'm a big proponent of ensuring that a child's "reading diet" includes a nice balance of fiction AND nonfiction books. For whatever reason, reading nonfiction comes with a stigma, but as Jill points out in her post at the Well-Read Child, a well-crafted nonfiction book may be just the thing for engaging reluctant readers. She opens with a nice description of why kids may not like reading; continues by offering tips on how to start a conversation to talk about reading; and tips for selecting nonfiction titles. Reaching Out to Reluctant Readers with Non-Fiction has everything you want, including some recommended books. Be sure to check out Anna M. Lewis' post Play – Interesting Non-Fiction Books About and for Kids, which also has some suggested titles, over at I.N.K. (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids).

You Go, Dude. School Library Journal has a nice article by Michael Sullivan about boys and reading. He starts out with "If we want to transform boys into lifelong readers, we need to discover what makes them tick. Equally important, we need to have a better grasp of the kind of reading that attracts them." He concludes (after a number of concrete suggestions and examples): "Although boys often do not become successful readers, the cost is too high to allow this trend to continue. It's time to give boys more options, to respect their preferences. Boys can become readers: I've seen it with my own eyes." We found this reading the Friday Afternoon Visit on Jen Robinson's Book Page.

[Untitled] Autism is a subject near and dear to my heart. So when Jen Robinson had a link to Kelly Parrot's article about storytimes for autistic children, I headed straight over to the ALSC blog to read it. Although Parrot talks about reading in a library setting, the same points work for reading at home or in a classroom. Thanks, Jen. You can read her Friday Afternoon Visits: Labor Day Weekend Edition on Jen Robinson's Book Page. You can also read about bumpybooks, a multi-sensory book series to help kids get a head start on reading, in Brian Scott's post at Literacy and Reading News. Scott mentions children and dyslexia, but I would also add children with diagnosis on the autism spectrum. Sensory seekers need to be able to actively participate in reading to help focus their attention.

Roses are red, Violets … There is a neat article on the School Library Association (UK) website about poetry and kids. A 2006/2007 Ofsted (UK equivalent of Department of Education) report – Poetry in Schools – found that kids enjoy poetry, but their teachers don't know enough about it to teach it well. In a UK Literary Association report called "Teachers as Readers," only 10% of the teachers surveyed could name six good poets; and 59% could name one, two or no poets. This is in the United Kingdom … bastion of poesy for centuries. So Scholastic has stepped in. Literacy Time PLUS, a Scholastic magazine, has named Paul Cookson Poet-in-Residence. Cookson is helping the LTP group build three workshops to be conducted in elementary  schools with limited resources. You can click here to download the full Ofsted Report (Ofsted = Office of Standards in Education)

Out of the Mouths of Babes Children born to moms at St. Joseph Hospital or Southern New Hampshire Medical Center can thank the Friends of the Nashua Public Library (NH) for their first books. The organization runs Books 2 Babies, a pre-literacy effort to introduce children to books as early as possible in hopes of starting a child's lifelong love of reading and learning. We saw the article in the Today's Reading News section of the Reading Rockets website.  You can also read the complete Nashua Telegraph (NH) article.

Speaking of babies … E. McGrew has an informative post at the Library Gremlin Talks Shop blog. She posts about her experience at the recent Ohio Library Conference, but the session that was "hands down the best program" was Literacy and the Teen Parent. In a nutshell: a high school has started a program where teen mothers come on their own time (lunch) to sit and read with their children. There is other great info about the conference, too.

[Q: Pomp and Circumstance]   Over at the EdWeek Maps Website you can find a new tool that lets you review and download detailed reports on the high school graduation rates of every school district in the United States. This is a project of the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center.  In other news, Education Week is hosting an open house, where you can get access to all of their articles free. Just go to www.edweek.org. The Open House begins on September 1, a holiday. Argh!

Map This What would REALLY be useful is if someone would overlay the high school graduation rate data (mentioned above) with surveys of time spent on homework. The results of a survey by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, 21 percent of high school students report spending more than 10 hours a week on homework. This is a 9 percent increase since the 2005 survey. A nearly 10 percent jump in two years? With so much more time on homework, does it surprise you to learn that SAT scores for the Class of 2008 haven't changed? You can read more about the survey and teen stress over grades in Scott J. Cech's article in Education Week. Cech also wrote SAT Scores Flat as Test-taking Edges Upward (Education Week). Shall we try less homework and more learning time?

Elementary, Mrs. Watson According to an article in Education Week, teachers are re-discovering the link between writing and learning. In her article Writing to Learn, Kathleen Kennedy Manzo tells us about workshops sponsored by the Bay area chapter  of the  National Writing Project. In the article, a teacher explains how writing can help kids think more analytically, which helps with not only communication but also math. The article is full of vignettes, as well as links to studies on the importance of writing, such as The Neglected 'R': The Need for a Writing Revolution. I loved this quote from the Citizens Against Government Waste: "The National Writing Project [duplicates the work of the US Department of Education which] already spends $3 billion annually on programs meant to professionally train teachers to hone their writing skills. Hopefully, these teachers learned how to write in college.” (emphasis mine) Wow! Now I know why teachers have such great handwriting! They didn't have to write until they were 18. As for relying on the US Department of Education … I worked for the government for nearly 20 years. I know what their idea of writing is. The operative word is obfuscate, not educate.

Now for Some Good News The National Network of Partnership Schools (Johns Hopkins University) has just published Promising Partnership Practices 2008. NNPS pulled together the best-of-the-best ideas for projects and activities that educators created and found successful. The data is drawn from 77 schools, 18 districts, five organizations and three state departments of education.  We read about the new book in Louise Ash's article for Reading Today Daily. While we were at the National Networks of Partnership Schools website, we found Family Reading Night, a book that "offers clear and practical ideas to help you plan a successful Family Reading Night and engage parents in students' success."

Reading: On a Scale of 100 to 1200 A couple weeks ago (remember, I've been catching up with my reader), Gail Gauthier wrote an interesting post about Lexile scores at her blog, Original Content. A great discussion follows, with comments and observations from teachers, librarians, and parents. IMHO, labeling a book with a reading level is not unlike labeling a kid (ADD, autistic, etc.). Having a label can be helpful for those who aren't experts in the field and can be useful in building a learning plan, but it can just as easily be a crutch or an excuse. As more and more publishers move to create hi/low books (high interest/low readability) the waters will surely get murkier.

Out-testing the Testers Evaluators at the What Works Clearinghouse (part of the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education) didn't have all the data they needed to assess Open Court Reading and Reading Mastery, both commercially-available reading programs published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. The article Studies of Popular Reading Tests Don't Meet Reviewers' Rigor Test (Curriculum Matters, Education Week) looks as much at the Clearinghouse's effectiveness as it does the programs. The comments help put it all in perspective.

Enjoy  the holiday! We'll see you again next week.

Quick Fixed to adjust unseen font snafu!

Okay, so I've gotten the blog reader down under 150! Woo-hoo!  That doesn't count the starred items I want to go back and savor, but that's how "statistics" work. There are posted numbers, then there are real numbers. As I put the final touches on the Round-up this morning, I was amazed at everything tha't packed in here! Enjoy.

Save the Date

Shopping, Kids & Books – Doesn't Get Any Better Than This TJ Maxx is again collaborating with Save the Children to help at-risk students living in poverty to improve their academic success. Save the Children has a literacy program to "build literacy skills and make lasting change in the lives of children." From 14 August until 12 September, TJ Maxx is giving customers a free bookmark. The bookmark invites them to log onto One for Change and play the Great Book Adventure Game. Each round generates a book donation for Save the Children, and TJ Maxx has pledged to donate up to 10,000 books. Thanks to Tanya and her MommyGoggles blog post for the lead.

Sing, Sing a Song – If you're in New York this weekend, then head to Old Carriage Inn in Brooklyn for Kidlit Karaoke. Learn more in Betsy B's post at Fuse #8.

September Love Do you remember what book hooked you on reading? First Book is giving you a chance to share your memory of that magical moment. Vote on your favorite book by September 15 and you can help send 50,000 new books to low-income children. Vote and make a donation now! Be sure to stop by our Read it LOUD! group at Goodreads to tell us about a book your teacher read to you in school that was one of your favorites. Picture books are often natural read-alouds, but what about chapter books? 

13 September - Princeton Children's Book Festival is the place to be to meet up with some great children's authors and some of the KidLit crew. Thanks to Sarah at The Reading Zone for the lead about the festival. If you're interested in meeting up, then head to Liz B's post at A Chair, a Fire, and a Tea Cozy.

 

You Need Corduroy in October Schools across the country will be participating in Read for the Record on 2 October 2008. The goal is to set a world record for the most people reading the same book on the same day. This year's book is Corduroy. We talked about Read for the Record in a previous Round-up, but you can always go to the Read for the Record website.

Chew on This  The theme for this year's Teen Read Week (12 to 18 October 2008) is Books with Bite @ Your Library. The Young Adults Library Services Association (YALSA) sponsors this annual event. This Year, YALSA, Adlit.org, and Mirrorstone Publishing are co-sponsoring a contest with three criteria: (a) at least one teacher and librarian working together; (b) to use YA literature creative way; and (c) to get teens to read for fun. Learn more at the Adolescent Literature website or the YALSA Teen Read Week website. We found this in John Micklos' post at Reading Today Daily (the IRA blog).

More News and Views

Ahoy, Matey! You may recognize David Eggars as the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Well, he has taken "genius" to the next level in co-founding 826 Valencia, aka The Pirate Supply Store, in San Francisco. 826 Valencia is an after-school literacy support center filled with all things buccaneer. The Center is part of a network that includes the Superhero Supply Store (Brooklyn, NY), Greenwood Travel Supply Company (Seattle, WA), and the Batcave (Austin, TX). We found this at the Guardian (UK) blog!

Standing O We don't usually include interviews as part of our Round-ups, but this one is just … well, you HAVE to read it yourself.  Jules and Eisha over at 7-Imp have this incredible interview with Jane Yolen. Jane's muse obviously rubbed elbows with Jules & Eisha (have to read the interview to get the reference). Some people tape pictures of athletes in their lockers, some have inspirational quotes … I have this post on the wall over my desk. I'm not over the top on this one. You can see like-minded posts by Jen on Jen Robinson's Book Page and Betsy B at A Fuse #8 Production, among others I'm sure.

Seems Logical A recent magazinesbymail.net website reveals that in the UK, the favorite place to read is in the bedroom. Well, where did we read the most when we were kids? Yep, in bed. Mom and Dad read them to us! Have some fun, conduct your own survey at home … and let the kids pick. We saw the summarized survey results in Brian Scott's Post at Literacy and Reading News.

It's Not What You Say … Last Friday, Brian Scott wrote a post at Literacy and Reading News about how Teachers Can Command Attention in the Classroom. The answer is the second half of an adage we all know well: but how you say it.  Although Scott is talking about using voice to get kids' attention (pauses, varied tone, etc.), the same goes for reading. Read with a monotone voice and you project nothing but boredom and present reading as drudgery. Do the same thing you did with your toddler: make a duck sound like a duck! If you need some ideas, go to Sarah's List of Possible Read-Alouds in the Reading Zone.

Echo (Echo) Yesterday, I wrote a post about Nancy Schnog's op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post. Obviously, I wasn't the only one struck by the message. You can read Colleen Mondor's thoughts at Chasing Ray. While we're at the Post, be sure to read Drawing Power, Bob Thompson's the cover article in yesterday's Style & Arts Section. He covers the rise of the graphic novel (shall I say it?) in graphic detail.

The (school)House More parents are opting to home school their children, largely because they are frustrated by "government schools." The post by Brian Scott (Literacy and Reading News) offers some points of reference for homeschooling kids but largely reads like an op-ed piece (i.e., light on hard data). Still, it is insightful. About 2 weeks ago, Louise Ash had a post explaining that increases in home schooling go beyond the "domain" of rural families and conservative Christians. See her post about home schooling on the rise among African Americans in Reading Today Daily (IRA blog).

The Virtual Read-Aloud! Turn your e-Books, blog postings and websites into an audio file. FREE! I ReadTheWords.com allows you to convert any PDF file, Word document, text file, web page, or RSS feeds into computer generated audio. We learned about it in the Children's Writing Update, an online eZine from The Children's Book Insider, at write4kids.com

More Cool Technology In yesterday's Parade magazine, Warren Buckleitner reviewed the Tag Reading System, a pen-shaped gadget designed for elementary-aged students (4 to 8). "[It] can help with reading, expand vocabulary, and drill facts about science and history. Kids move the "pen" across the pages of special books to hear words or whole sentences read aloud." The review didn't mention that it is a LeapFrog product. It looks like this could be particularly helpful for auditory learners and struggling or remedial readers. The review didn't mention that it is a LeapFrog product 

The Government Did It? Over at the Doing What Works website (sponsored by the US Department of Education), you will find a new workshop: Teaching Reading to English Language Learners. "The workshop is specifically geared to techniques and practices for students in elementary grades." We found the info in Louise Ash's post at Reading Today Daily (the IRA blog).

He-e-e-y! This past week, Milwaukee unveiled a bigger-than-life bronze statue of Henry Winkler, aka "The Fonz." Remember the episode where he got his library card? Now THAT would make a cool statue!

Reading: It is like fishing, but on land When you are lucky enough to have hooked a child on reading (think: upper elementary, middle school), you want to do everything in your power to keep them reading. As much as we'd like them to s-t-r-e-t-c-h and find something new, it's not worth the risk of losing them all over again. Thankfully, you can go to this post at Shelf Space (The Foreword Magazine blog) and help kids find books that are close to what they already like, but new material (aka read-alikes). Go to the post and you'll find links to libraries with lists of read-alikes for a number of popular series.

Turn the Tables As Trevor Cairney points out in his post Questioning: A Key Part of Learning, kids ask lots of questions. It is how they acquire information. He has some tips on what to do with those questions … and how to ask good questions yourself. He has some great examples you can use in reading with your kids, too.

Where's Wendy? She's in the Magic Treehouse! Stop in Wendy's, order a kid's meal, and get an audio book version of a Magic Treehouse book. How can you not love that. I've always thought that Wendy and Pippi Longstocking were long-lost sisters! How 'bout you?

Everyday Reading One of the simplest ways to introduce reading is to point out the words kids encounter everyday. They learn to spell Subway because they know the commercial. Thankfully, they can learn more than branding: Stop signs, open/closed signs on stores, Exit signs on the highway … the opportunities are endless. Sara Mead wrote a great post with Sesame Street video that gives you a day-on-the-street example of what you can do with signage. She also shows you what happens when kids DON'T learn to spell. We found it at the Early Ed Watch blog, published by the New America Foundation.

O, O – Only Oprah! Because she reaches every corner of every world, virtual and real, I didn't think I needed to write a post about Oprah's new reading list for kids.  I am glad to see she partnered with the Association of Library Services for Children (ALSC) to offer parent tips, too. On the Reading List homepage, she has "10 Ways to Make Reading Fun" that are simple ideas parents will jump on. Yes, we say them all the time, but we aren't Oprah! Am I the only one that noticed that it says "10" but there are 11 things listed?

Having sorta-kinda gotten caught up, I was all set to post Shelly Tremaglio's article For the Love of Reading: A Book-loving Teen's Perspective as part of tomorrow's literacy round-up. But an article in today's Washington Post pushed (more like inspired) me to post today.

Why? Because Nancy Schnog's op-ed "Readers Left Behind: We're Teaching Books That Don't Stack Up" (Outlook Section) (a) echoes some of the same thoughts that Shelly shared with us this summer; and (b) Schnog will be online at noon, Monday 25 August 2008  to discuss it. And I wouldn't want you to miss that.

You may remember Shelly was our intern. She was a tremendous asset, as she added some much needed fresh thought to how  some of our processes (we now use online document sharing) and tools (new cross-system reading level chart). Most importantly, she gave us feedback on some of the books we receive, as well as some insight on the challenges kids face in trying to read. She also shared some of her own frustrations. Shelly is a voracious reader and had been reading all summer, but she put off until the last minute (12 days before the start of school) working on the books on her required reading list. I love The Kite Runner, so why do I need to journal about it and answer a bunch of questions? It sucks all of the enjoyment out of it. Shelly's thoughts are echoed in Schnog's op-ed piece. In her piece, Schnog has quotes from students about their experiences in her high school English class. I loved this quip:

"The lesson couldn't be clearer. Until we do a better job of introducing contemporary culture intou our reading lists, matching books to readers and getting our students to buy in to the whole process, literature teachers will continue to help fuel the reading crisis."

Take the time to read Schnog's article. It is a nice starting point (or returning point for those talking about updating reading lists).  If you can't catch the discussion live, you can usually get a 'transcript' later.

It was a great week away, but Wow! My Reader outpaced the inbox almost 3 to 1. We have just 2 days of summer vacation left at our house, so there is a heavy emphasis in the Round-up on school and learning-related topics.  I'll be back in full swing next week. In the meantime, here's a short round-up.

Time is Running Out for these Events ...

S-C-H-O-O-L Swap Over at the Reading Zone, Sarah is hosting a Teacher/Kidlitosphere Swap. Teachers, parents, anyone into kids books and reading is invited to participate. You will be matched with a partner who will send you a package based on the theme (school/back to school)… and you will send them a package based on the theme. The deadline to sign up is 21 August 2008! Sign on before the bell rings.

Run for the Borders For the entire month of August, nealy 1,000 Borders and WaldenBooks bookstores are donating books to a designated local charity. Patrons visiting the store are encouraged to buy a book (from a predetermined list); Borders then donates the book to that charity.  You can read Brian Scott's post at Literacy and Reading News. Great idea, I just wish they'd reach out to some of the local charities  who work one-on-one with at-risk readers.

Reading &  Literacy Tidbits

Back to School - U! If you are interested in specializing in reading or literacy, here are some leads you may find valuable.

• This fall, East Stroudsburg University is offering graduate-level courses in literacy coaching. The goal is to give teachers the tools they need to teach kids reading. "Literacy coaches keep abreast of the latest research and successful practices in reading instruction and then help teachers adjust their classroom plans." We saw the lead for the Pocono Record article at Reading Today Daily (summary by Louise Ash).

• Capella University, a fully-accredited online university, offers a masters degree program with a state-approved specialization in reading and literacy. The article at Literacy and Reading News is a lead for a podcast called Inside Online Education 27, but you can learn more about the degree programs here.

Reading in 3D Over at lodiworks.com you can read a detailed (and somewhat technical) post about Mennell Media and its project to create 3-dimensional, interactive learning resource for science and literacy. You can see a sample of the early learning module at fruitphonics.com. Computer-aided learning can be particularly helpful for ADD and autistic children and help them improve focus beyond the computer.

F = Fine, not Failing According to an analysis by Ohio State University researchers, many of the schools assessed as "failing" would actually earn passing grades. At issue is the methodology, which according to the researchers, is biased.  We read Brian Scott's article Many 'Failing' Schools Aren' Failing at Literacy and Reading News. You can also read Louise Ash's summary about how reading/misreading/misusing educational data can harm good programs and kids, too. See Report Examines Assessment of Young Children in Reading Today Daily.

More ABCs on PBS Beginning in September, PBS will launch Martha Speaks, a new reading program targeting at-risk readers from "poor or immigrant families." The series is drawn from Susan Meddaugh's books about her dog. We saw the article at The Money Times, based on an article in Sunday's Boston Globe. The folks at Money Times need to check on PBS programming more often … they mentioned new programs Super Why and Word World, but they forgot (much beloved in our house) Between the Lions! And opted instead to mention Sesame Street.

Smile! You're Reading In the nation's capital, 36% of the population is considered functionally illiterate. Officials at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education want to change that, so they've launched "A Day in the Life of Reading" project where residents photograph others (family members, neighbors, friends) doing what else? Reading. The photos will be used as a photo essay in a district-wide literacy campaign. The cool thing is that since it is DC, Maryland and Virginia will likely benefit from the campaign, too. We read Brian Scott's post at Literacy and Reading News. Go to this OSSE website to get more details.

Avon Calling Kids at Avon Elementary  School (Avon, Colorado) are starting school in August, 15 days ahead of their peers. Why? So the teachers can prepare kids with low English skills for the coming year. We read the article in the Vail Daily (online) thanks to a lead by Louise Ashe and her post at Reading Today Daily

If you are looking for back-to-school books, be sure to visit Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, our book review blog. I've put together an updated list of books with a back-to-school themes.

is that this blog is changing.

I created the blog as a space for me, as the Executive Director, to offer a more personal perspective of literacy and reading. Scrub a Dub Tub is our official blog, and it talks mostly about books and what we're doing as a non-profit organization. This blog was going to be my space ... like the editor's column in the front of a magazine.

Well, it has evolved beyond that and is also now my Op-Ed page. With an expanded focus, What Happens Next  didn't really fit anymore. So now, it's just Tub Talk.  A space to chat about reading and literacy with a more personal touch.

July 21st is the Summer Solstice ... traditionally the hottest day. So what's a girl to do but stay inside and "relax" with her favorite reading resources. I promise that it isn't on purpose that lots of links go back to The Guardian ... we got the leads from other sources. It does make for some anecdotal data on the coverage that literacy and reading is getting in the UK!

Mark Your Calendars

BYOB – Bring Your Old Books I love that! On July 27, 2008, Project Learn in Medina, OH (Cleveland) is celebrating its 25^th Anniversary by inviting the public to BYOB to a party on Public Square. They are hoping to receive 5,000 books. Project LEARN of Medina County tutors adult learners on a one-to-one basis in reading, math and English as a second language. They are opening a bookstore next month. You can read more in Sue Bielawski's article, Medina: New Used Book Store Will Help Literacy Project on Cleveland.com, a blog for everything Cleveland.

Grant Deadline: September 5, 2008 The 2009 cycle for grants via the Barbara Bush Foundation for Literacy closes on September 5, 2008. The Foundation's National Grant Program awards about $650,000 in grants to "develop or expand" projects that support developing literacy skills for primary caregivers and their children. Read more at the Barbara Bush Foundation website.

More News and Views

The Eyes Have It In her article at Education Week (online), Linda Jacobson tells us how states are turning to child-development studies for ways to "best target" their limited (and reduced) budgets. See States eye Research to Shape Pre-K Priorities at edweek.org

Kudos to Plattsburgh State (New York) The Department of Literacy Education at Plattsburgh State offers classes to help students (undergrad and graduate) apply classroom learning to their careers as literacy specialists. They are tutoring children ages 4 to 16 referred to the Literacy Education Center by their schools. You can read Louise Ash's summary at Reading Today Daily (IRA blog), or the whole article at RedOrbit.com.

Asi Asi (so so) Read Mary Ann Zehr's article about reading and math progress in English-Learners Still Lag on Reading, Math in Education Week (online). Her front-end emphasis is on the gaps that continue to exist for ELLs (English Language Learners), though at least 24 states have shown some progress in English language proficiency. We read it at edweek.org

Reading Nightmare: The Series Yesterday, Channel 4 (UK) started airing its series Can't Read, Can't Write This is an eye-opening series on the adult illiteracy problem in the UK, where, according to stats cited by Paul Strange, more than "five million adults have a reading age of 12 or less, or, worse still, cannot read at all." We found Paul Strange's article in the DigiGuide Forums. Will that "reality show" cross the pond, too?

The Movie Reel (It Comes Full Circle) On the International Reading Association Blog (Reading Today Daily), Louise Ash has a summary (and link to) a University of Canterbury (New Zealand) new study on the use of movie subtitles to help improve literacy skills.  This adds more data points to something Jim Trelease has been saying for years – if you're going to let them watch TV, turn on the closed captioning.

TXT-ING 123 I saw this piece several times, and thought I had written about it, but apparently not. There is an article on July 5, 2008 The Guardian called 2b or not 2b. It is a great primer on texting technology, why it is popular, and how it can "improve children's writing and spelling." For more on technology, there is an article about gaming as a positive for literacy in this article, Is Our Children Reading, also from The Guardian last December. Thanks to Alisa at a musing space and Bunneth at Coffee Good, Morning Bad for the leads.

Walking the Talk Yesterday I wrote a post about working together for literacy. The more we know about each other, the better prepared we are to assist those who seek our help. So today, I would like to introduce some non-profits I found this past week. 

• NapaLit is a local resource for literacy support activities for Napa County (California). Not only will you find information and activities on the site, but also there is a bulletin board and calendar with upcoming events for kids from preschool through teens.

• PJ Library is a program that provides books and music to Jewish families with young children. Last week, Barbara Bietz had a wonderful interview with Marcie Greenfield Simons, Director of the PJ Library, on her blog, Jewish Books for Children with Author Barbara Bietz. Go to the PJ Library site to review the list of communities with PJ Library partners.

• Reader To Reader  is a 501(c)(3) that gives books to those places in our community that need them. Here is the profile from their blog "serves the nation’s poorest communities, including inner-city schools, Native American Reservations, and poor rural towns, where the need for books is acute." You can also go to the Reader to Reader website.

• The Reading Site is a great place to find deals on books and links to free reading-related activities (like coloring pages). Allison Diehl is a mom, life-long reader, and self-described "tireless bargain hunter." She's combined those instincts into The Reading Site. Thanks to Memphis Mimi's post at The Cute Things Kids Say and Do for this lead.

Technology for Teachers Yesterday PBS announced PBS Teachers Connect, a new online forum for preK to 12 educators "that supports the advancement of digital media content and technology integration in education." You can read Brian Scott's summary at Literacy and Reading News, or go to PBS Teachers Connect directly.

Not so-o-o Fast There is an interesting article by Polly Curtis about the apparent disconnect between teaching kids to write at age three and their literacy development.  She draws her article from a study by the University of London. Here's a quip worth quoting: "Tutoring children in nurseries to read using basic phonics and write simple sentences does not improve their success once they start school, but encouraging them to talk and communicate does, the unpublished government research has found." (Emphasis mine!) Curtis' article, Early-years Writing 'Do No Good' is in the July 14, 2008 edition of The Guardian. We found the lead through Paula Brown at Happy Tracks in the Snow.

One, Two, Three? Too Soon In his post Your Baby Can Learn to Read, Trevor Cairney offers his thoughts – logically presented and supported with data – about a specific reading program for infants and toddlers. The post, at Literacy, Families and Learning responds to a reader question, but also offers some practical ideas for alternatives to structured learning at age 2.

Clap-Clap-Clap According to a new study in the UK, kids don't use their hands enough. The Ruskin Mill Educational Trust commissioned a report that has concluded that there is a direct connection between a child's brain development and their use (or failure to use) their hands at home or in school. Maybe there is something to be said for getting your hands dirty! Gardening anyone? You can read Louise Ash's summary at Reading Today Daily or go to the full Reuters article on MSNBC.com

Literacy, by the Producers In the past few days I have found two posts about literacy written by the people who write and publish for children.  They are meant to help book producers, but they offer great insight on how to connect books with kids (and vice versa).

• Do You Write for Reluctant Readers? Carma describes herself as a reluctant reader. Then, it happened: "I can’t remember the author or the name of the book that piqued my interest in reading but I do remember it was about a girl my age who knew how I felt and liked what I liked." Read her post about writing for hi interest/lo reading level readers at A Look at Children's Writing Through Carma's Window.

•  Growing Tomorrow's Readers – Spotlight on Literacy Annie Galvin-Teich, New Day Publishing president wrote this article about how publishers can promote reading. Here is the summary (available on the homepage): "One of the easiest things that publishers can do (to encourage reading) is to create books that encourage parents and children to read together…so children can associate reading with warmth and pleasure…[We need] books that bring up the big questions in life in a relaxed informal setting that provide opportunities to have life-forming talks between parent and child.” You have to register with New Day Publishing to see the full article. Registration is free.

•  Kids are Reading Non-Fiction: A Look at the Data Over at Interesting Non-Fiction for Kids (I.N.K.), Linda Saltzman has a great post (titled A Bit of Controversy)  about non-fiction books for kids. They like to read them, so create something they enjoy reading. Linda  has done your homework for you! Now it's up to you.

There is no Reading Round-Up next week. With swim season about to end, we're taking our first break: a long weekend away!

Yesterday I decided to extend my birthday celebration and enjoy my transformed kitchen, thanks to all the pink crepe paper my daughter strung on the kitchen cabinets and light! So here's the round-up. You might want to get your calendar, this edition is front-loaded with lots of events. They should be in (roughly) date order.

Book Giveaway Over at the Power of Books ~ Literacy for Everyone blog, leave a comment for your chance to win a collection of children's books published by Barefoot books. Hurry! The contest closes July 18, 2008 at midnight (PDT). Win the books for yourselves or your local library.

Book it On July 19, 2008, there is a Write for Charity event at the Salt Lake City main library. Bring 15 pages of your novel or picture book manuscript for this hands-on workshop. The entrance fee is $45 and 100% goes to The Wheelchair Project. Go to Squeetus to learn more.

Save the date: July 21, 2008 Drop by the Huckleberry Bar (Brooklyn, NY) to enjoy a panel discussion with female graphic novelists and cartoonists. The event supports Behind the Book, "a home-grown nonprofit that promotes literacy and strives to cultivate a love of reading for low-income students in New York City public schools." You can read about the event and Behind the Book in Eleanor's post at the Creative Times blog

Gimme a slice If you are 16 or under and live in the Puget Sound/Seattle area, you can participate in a reading challenge that will earn you free pizza. Four companies have come together promote children's literacy with the Book Your Summer reading program. The partners include Papa Murphy's Seattle franchisees, Borders® bookstores, 103.7 The Mountain FM, and ParentMap Magazine in Seattle. We read the Franchise News Wire press release.

Math and Science – Awesome Sylvan Dell Publishing produces picture books with lessons in math, science, and nature. All of their books come with educational ideas in the back and a teacher's guide on the website. The company has just announced a resource grant for a one-year site license for schools and school districts (2008-2009 School Year). We read Brian Scott's summary of the press release at Literacy and Reading News. You can go to Sylvan Dell site for the application.

DC is Bookish September is a busy month in the Nation's Capital when it comes to children's literacy and reading. 

+ On September 8, 2008, the International Reading Association is hosting an event to celebrate International Literacy Day. The "Reading Across Continents" event will link students in Washington, DC, with students in Nigeria and Ghana through shared reading of two novels. See IRA Plans literacy celebration in Reading Today Daily. Get all the details on the IRA website.

+ The US National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, will be held Saturday September 27, 2008. Rain or shine. First Lady Laura Bush is hosting the event, which will include 70 authors and illustrators. You can get an abbreviated list of featured authors, illustrators, and poets (poets aren't authors?) in John Micklos' post at Reading Today Daily or visit the official National Book Festival website.

Sweet Home Alabama Cathy P. Miller, the Literacy Ambassador (and a member of our Board of Directors) is participating in JumpStart's Read for the Record campaign. You can donate to her Book Drive … OR … if you are in (or near) Huntsville, AL, on October 2, 2008, you can participate in Read for the Record event by reading to preschool children. Contact Cathy directly at cathypmiller [at] Comcast (dot) net. We wrote about Read for the Record in this Round-up.

Reading is Fundamental SOS. Reading is Fundamental needs $26 million to get books to the more than 4.5 million underserved kids and their families in Fiscal 2009. Click here to get to the RIF site and their campaign page. If you work in government, you know that *Fiscal 2009* begins October 1, 2008! You also know that Congress will be heading home for vacation soon; they will also have a short fall session because of the upcoming elections. We read this post in the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance (NCBLA) blog for this lead.

Picture This In the old school, what we now call graphic novels were comic books. In the new school, they are viewed as a tool that just might keep kids reading. Over at Web Comic List, you can read about the Create a Comic Project. Thanks to a Small Neighborhood Grant they will sponsor Make a Comic Tournament III, a contest where children apply their imagination to creating "sequential art masterpieces." The contest is a means of promoting creative writing and literacy for underserved children in New Haven, CT.

Let me in! The May 2008 edition of Canadian Psychology has an article "Unlocking the Door: Is parents' reading to children the key to early literacy development?" by Linda M. Phillips, Stephen P. Norris and Jim Anderson. You can pay $11.95 to read the complete article, or you can read the abstract on PsycNET, the American Psychological Association website.

BOOKMARKS Reading is a universal commodity. No one should have to pay extra to find a great book. So when we find a great site or blog, we are happy to share, Here are some new places we visited this week.

In Need of Books Have you visited Kids Need to Read? PJ Haarsma and Nathan Fillion created the Kids Need to Read Foundation as a way not only to promote reading, but also to draw attention to and garner funds for school and public libraries. What I found particularly cool was the open call for teachers and librarians to state their book needs.

Knock Knock Through the Magic Door  is an online resource and bookseller. Like us, they want to help parents create a pathway toward a lifelong love of reading. "Our primary objective is to make it easy and fast for parents (grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents, etc. as well as teachers and librarians) to locate books that their children are most likely to enjoy." Search tools on the site give visitors the chance to search by author, title, subject, or keyword. There are a number of discussion forums and links to other resources. Thanks to Charles for introducing us to this great site via a Kidlit reading list thread.

Down on the Corner Go to the Step-by-Step Reading Corner to find children's books in more than 30 languages. They are single-language titles, not bilingual books. Here is the scoop (from the Reading Corner homepage): "[This site] creates an international community of authors, illustrators and readers through its publishing network. We are excited to be partners in the process of developing and supporting new children's literature which originates from the 26 countries where the Step by Step Program is active, thereby making it possible to offer children, teachers and their parents a great variety of stories across many cultures and languages." Bravissimo! Thanks to Anil at Big Universe for sending this lead!

More Books for Free We found Page by Page Books, a self-described resource for reading classics online for free. You will also find original source material, like the inaugural addresses of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and others. My Daily Domestic Diigolet.

Bienvenido, GutenTag, as-salaam-o-aleykum Check out the International Children's Digital Library. Click on the globe and you'll get a collection of books on that part of the world. When you click on a book, you can select the language you want to read it in (some have just one, others many). You can also hook the site up to a standard computer projector and share the book in a classroom. What a great way to promote reading and help kids become members of the international community. We found this at My Daily Domestic Diigolet.

It is in the Mail To make it simple: Paperspine is to books what Netflix is to movies. You create a list of the books you want to read. They send you the books, you read them (take as long as you want), then return them. If you sign up as a frequent, avid, or family reader, shipping is free. Thanks to Dewey at the Hidden Side of a Leaf for this lead.

TOMGIRLZ R KEWL Macky Mack (of the Tomgirlz book series) has launched a new community service program. Bringing Books to Life for Literacy is an author/character visiting program. The first stop is the Holtz Children's Hospital (south Florida). We read about this at the Tomgirlz blog.

Write On! Dallas Woodburn is a senior at USC. She also founded Write On, a non-profit for writing and literacy. Through the Write On! website and her blog, Dallas encourages kids to explore and discover literature not only through reading, but writing. Each year, Write On! sponsors a book drive to get books to kids who need them. Given her schedule, the best way to keep up with Write On! is the newsletter. You can sign up on the Write On! website.

Murder: TV lifeline Unplugged In a post called Kill Your TV, the Babysitter lays out the effects of TV on our kids' intellect and health (not to mention the exposure to violence). Some of the facts we're all familiar with, but she puts some benchmarks in place by adding the dates various laws went into effect. We found this at the Babysitter Writes blog.

Tell Me a Story Over at the Adventure Author blog Cathrin Howells has a post Learning about 21^st Century Storytelling. Even though this is for an academic audience, you can substitute the word "parent" for "teacher" in this quote. "As teachers, we are going to have to bone up on changing views of literacy if we are to keep pace with our children; we are going to have to find out as much as we can about the interplay between word and image as children increasingly create narratives using both, with both modes carrying valid and often sophisticated meaning."

More Stories to Tell Also check out MLocke's post about her search to find information about storytelling and its impact on readers on the Storytelling in School Libraries blog. Over on the right side you will also find links to podcasts about the art of storytelling. For a different search, click over to the TWU Library Science Blog for the results of a search on "reluctant reader" in Books in Print.

A Minute of your time Your child's future is worth that, right? Over at YubaNet, you'll find this article by the National Center for Family Literacy. The article offers lots of ideas about the things you can do in just 60 seconds to help your child expand their vocabulary and expand reading skills. It probably won't take you more than two minutes to read the article, either! If you have 15 minutes, then read 15 minutes keeps the brain drain away in the Forest Park Review (IL). We saw this lead in Louise Ash's post, Reading Today Daily.

Reading: the Play Be sure to take another five minutes to read Trevor Cairney's two-part series Stimulating Language, Literacy and Learning in Holidays (vacation for those of us in the States). They are both on his Literacy, Families and Learning blog. Here is the link to Part One; here is the link to Part Two. If you want to read more about the importance of playing, check out Don't teach boys to be like girls by Nicola Pearson in the Guardian online. We found this through Reading Today Daily and Louise Ash's post Boys will be boys if we let them.

Keep Reading Over at A Year of Reading, Franki has put together a post with links to a list of books for kids who like the Captain Underpants series. You will find her article and the list at the Choice Literacy site. She makes a point that is always worth mentioning: to get a kid to love reading, find out what the kid loves to read.

Game On! A 10-week project at Charles Darwin University (Australia) is designed to test Abracadabra software and its effectiveness in teaching basic literacy skills to 4- to 8-year-olds. Abracadabra, developed in Canada, looks like a game, but it is built around very specific educational goals. We first read about it in Reading Today Daily. You can also go directly to the Australian online. In last week's Round-up we had a blurb (The Reading Game) about a $1 million Verizon grant to the American Library Association for a similar study.

New Report The National Center for Learning Disabilities has just released this new report, Challenging Change: How Schools and Districts are Improving Performance of Special Education Students. The study looks at two schools and three school districts in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas. We found the article in John Micklos' article for Reading Today Daily.

Let's hope I did better with the typos this week!

 

I love Blogistan, and I particularly love the state of KidLit in Blogistan.  As my straining blog reader can show you, there are plenty of wonderful, thoughtful discussions going on.

But there are moments when I feel like I'm late to the party or decided to wear purple when everyone else is wearing yellow.  These are the moments when I have a question that I would love to ask, but the question seems too small. These are not big ideas that are going to get a lot of discussion (like Summer Reading Lists) or encourage commentary (like paying for As).

And so it was last night. I was in the kitchen chopping celery as I listened to my daughter recite (with dramatic flare and various character voices) Finklehopper Frog for her Dad as part of their bedtime-story ritual. We started reading Finklehopper Frog to her when she was four. She'll soon be turning seven and entering first grade. I have no doubt that her recitation is based on memorization, but she also tries to devour every syllable she can. But then a series of questions filled my head:

Does memorizing a book help a child with their reading? Will they move toward recognizing these words as part of their sight vocabulary?
Should we discourage dramatic readings and encourage her to sit with the book and practice reading with her "best pointing"?

They are the questions of a Mom who wants to make sure she's helping her daughter become an independent reader.  Does it really take flashcards or ritual reading and rote practice with sight words? Or can it be something as subtle as creating a positive reading environment, encouraging a joy of books, building vocabulary based on stretching an existing interest in words, etc.

I don't know the answers, but sure would love some thoughts.

Happy Monday. Hope it was a great holiday weekend. I though this might be a small collection of posts given the holiday, but there was lots of literacy and reading news. Yesterday, Jen Robinson posted a Children's Literacy Round-Up filled with lots of links to newsworthy items. She has a nice collection of good-news stories, including a School Library Journal article about a children's librarian who left more than $1 million to libraries (public and school) in her community and a newly built literacy school that opens today in Rochester; NY. There is a lot more. I dropped some of my articles because she has already covered them.

KidLit Blog Events and other Tours de Force

Buy a Friend a Book Week. Back in 2005, Debra Hamel created Buy a Friend a Book Week. There are actually four BAFAB events each year: the first week of January, April, July, and October. There is one catch: you can only buy a book for no good reason. Not for birthdays, new babies, graduation, etc. Dewey is taking the opportunity to give away five "future books" (must read the post at The Hidden Side of a Leaf to learn more) and has links to other BAFAB giveaways. We read about it at The Hidden Side of a Leaf.

Summer Fun: Family Reading Challenge Over at the Well-Read Child, Jill is hosting a reading challenge and a book giveaway. There is a book for every age group. Jill is giving away a copy of Sergio Makes a Splash by Edel Rodriguez (we reviewed it in the Reading Tub), A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (on our to-read pile), and The Birth House by Ami McKay. Visit Jill and you can link to her reviews of the books. Thanks to Jen Robinson for letting us know about it in her Sunday Afternoon Visit: Holiday Weekend Edition.

Vote Yes! Becky at Becky's Book Reviews has posted a Presidential Reading Challenge. You can read one book, three books, or five books … all in a set amount of time (Election Day, Inauguration Day, and Independence Day 2009, respectively). The one I think would be the most fun is reading original documents (speeches, testimony, legislation proposed by the candidates). [I don't remember president Poke, though – LOL). This is very cool and would make a great Social Studies/English competition.

Other News and Highlights

Book-a-neers! I joined my daughter this morning to watch Sesame Street. I admit, it isn't one of my favorite shows, but she was following our house rule (without parental reminder): choose a PBSKids program from either of the (two) PBS stations. Ahoy! There was a really cute skit with pirates (one human actress-- I think from NBC's The Office; and two Muppets). They were not buccaneers, they were book-a-neers because they love books. Shiver me timbers! I got an idea: a book-a-neer party. It's a subtle, easy twist on the pirate theme that could be fun "just because" or in lieu of a traditional birthday bash.

Books on Wheels Bo Kinney wrote a great post about Bookmobiles for the Seattle Public Library's ALA 2008 Blog. Bo is the CLA for the Seattle Public Library's Mobile Services, and he offers a great synopsis of all the mobile-library-related discussions at ALA this year. When you link over to the Seattle Public Library site, go to the bottom of the Mobile Library Services page. There is a short item about the Kindergarten Readiness Program "supporting early literacy for children from birth to five years." Mobile Services launched this program in 2006.

Summer Reading: Take 4 Over at The Reading Zone, Sarah wrote a Summer Reading Rant about how summer reading lists are often filled with outdated titles. These lists send shivers down more than a few parents' spines who probably remember the drudgery of summer reading. She also offers some suggestions that you can take to your child's teacher or your local librarian. If you would like to see Sarah's favorites, check out her Amazon store. You can also see my own, serendipitous wander through old book lists in this Summer Reading post earlier today.

Another Look at the Economy "Fewer Students Read Between the Lines," is an article in the Tampa Tribune about Florida's efforts to promote reading comprehension in high school. She opens with this quote from the newspaper article: "Despite a decade of education reform, tens of thousands of Florida's high school students don't read well enough to survive in the work force." We found this in Louise Ash's 1 July 2008 post for Reading Today Daily, the International Reading Association (IRA) blog.

More Free Reading Kathleen Kennedy Manzo and Sean Cavanagh, both of Education Week have launched Curriculum Matters, a new blog that covers the waterfront on what else, curriculum matters. Access is free. We read about this in John Micklos' post "Education Week Staffers Launch New Blog," for Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog.

A History of Reading Over at the Learning is Fun blog, Mark Garry wrote a post about the History of Education, an interesting timeline of the evolution of education from the Garden of Eden to the late 1990s. What I found particularly fascinating is when and when reading became important and how that affected the levels of and access to being educated.

A+B-City School=SAD Matthew Yglesias presents some interesting data and charts in this post about urban school systems and whether 8^th graders are "failing" in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. The comments to the post add to the conversation, some focused more toward parsing the data, others about how sometimes it is the people (read: teachers, principals) make the difference. We found this through a post at the Century of the Common Iowan blog.

I [heart] New York Yes, there are creative ideas in the city! The Harlem Children's Zone has several programs to help families prepare their kids for the rigors of school and learning. The Baby College and Harlem Gems. Both programs offer activities and workshops to fulfill the goal of "[helping] children and families address the issues of failing school and unsafe streets while undertaking the challenge of rebuilding this Central Harlem community." You can read more details about the programs here.

Lost Books Go to ABC.com to be part of the Lost Book Club. On the site you can get a list of all of the books that have appeared or been referenced on the show Lost, by season or use a master list. Hmmm … kids watch Lost. Kids love Lost. Can kids get lost with Dickens and Henry James? Thanks to Katherine for this lead in her Book News post at A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore.

Discover the World I would never have made it through elementary school if it weren't for the World Book Encyclopedia. (Back then it had shiny paper with gold trim – ooohh!) Now, World Book has launched World Book Discover, a dynamic reference tool "designed specifically to meet the needs of students who read below the level of their peers." We learned about this in Brian Scott's post New World Book Aids in Differential Learning, in Literacy and Reading News, the LiteracyNews.com blog.

Trading Pages I have been meaning to write an article about trading books, but I am a couple pages behind. Trevor Cairney has a great post about Book-Swapping websites and other forms of book recycling in his Literacy, Families and Learning blog. Trevor looks at the idea of book exchanges on several levels, from environmental to financial. Exchanges are a great way to stretch your book-buying dollar, but I would also add that they are a fun way to share great stories and let the kids decide what they want to read. There aren't as many choices as a bookstore or library, so it isn't as overwhelming; and they get a chance to read what their friends recommend.

Good News and Bad News The good news is we now have self-help medical books for parents written at a third-grade level. The bad news is there must be a big market for adult books at a third-grade reading level. Two registered nurses have sold more than 2 million copies of their book What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick. The purpose is to help reduce the number of unwarranted emergency room and doctor/clinic visits. What does reading have to do with health care. Read this: "It is estimated that low health literacy adds $73 billion annually to US health care costs in unnecessary medical expenses." You can read more details in Brian Scott's post (Literacy and Reading News) to get summary details or visit the Institute For Health Awareness website.

Reading into the Future The National Council on Adult Literacy has published Reach Higher, America: Overcoming Crisis in the U.S. Workforce, a report based on a two-year study of adult literacy and education programs. I will quietly point to my Round-ups from 11 June and 30 June and the post above this one vis-à-vis economic impact. Please remember: these adults were children who didn't get the skills they needed. We can change that. Read the full summary in Brian Scott's post Literacy Crisis in American Workforce Readiness in Literacy and Reading News, the LiteracyNews.com blog.

The Reading Game Louise Ash summarizes a new American Library Association (ALA) project to study the effect of gaming on literacy. The project, funded by a $1 million Verizon grant, will track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy. You can read Louise Ash's summary at Reading Today Daily, the International Reading Association blog, or visit the School Library Journal site to read about the proposal in detail.

Statistics – Yuck! I always thought of statistics as "sadistics." Now I have even more reason … Despite our best effort to keep the kids busy with other stuff (camps, swim team, etc), their TV viewing spikes 150% during the summer. Ouch! Anne-Marie has some suggestions about how to Outsmart the summer TV viewing spike at My Readable Feast. She has a link to the Smart Television Alliance and their pledge to demand more educational and age-appropriate programming for kids.

It's going to be a busy week, as we gear up for our Book Bag reviews over at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, so I thought I'd get this done today. Even though it's only been a few days, there is lots of noteworthy news.

Online Journals, eMags and other Literary Tours de Force

Edge of the Forest The June edition of The Edge of the Forest is now up. There is too much good stuff to mention, so I'll follow Jill's and Jen Robinson's leads and post Kelly Herold's index.

• An interview with singer-songwriter—and author of Middle Grade fiction—Dar Williams, by YA author Carrie Jones.
• Poet J. Patrick Lewis graces The Edge of the Forest with a bittersweet original poem.
• Sarah Stevenson (a.fortis) and TadMack (Tanita S. Davis) talk vampires in Fiction with Fangs.
• Not one, but two Summer Reading features: Julie M. Prince takes reading to the pool and Sarah Mulhern suggests summertime reading for kids of all ages.
• Gail Gauthier is this month's Blogging Writer.
• We have three great columns this month: Candice Ransom considers The Long Summer for A Backward Glance, teacher Stacy Dillon gives us her students' picks for Kid Picks, and Little Willow tells us What's in Teens' Backpacks this summer.
• Reviews in all categories—from Picture book to Young Adult.

Book a Tour If you live in the Washington-DC area (or more specifically in the Fairfax County area), check out the Public Art Sculpture series. The Fairfax Library Foundation commissioned life-sized books and artists decorated them. Plan your trip so you can browse the "indoor galleries" and pick up a book or two. Go to the Foundation's photo gallery to see the finished works and find out where they're located. If you truly want some fun, then join Sara's Challenge at Read, Write Believe to see how many references to children's and Young Adult books you can spot!

Conferences and other Save the Date Events

24-Hours of Fun Thanks to Rebecca Adler at the Inside Cover blog for the nudge to post a reminder about Dewey's upcoming The 24-hour Read-a-thon! We mentioned it in a previous Round-up, but we need all the (virtual) reminders we can get. The Read-a-thon begins June 28 at 9 AM (Pacific time), and you can sign on as a reader or cheerleader. Here are the answers to your questions. The charity for this year's Read-a-Thon is Reading is Fundamental (RIF).

Library Conference The Children's Literacy Foundation has announced its third-annual conference for small libraries. The conference, titled "Turning Your Library into a Community Center," will take place September 19, 2008 in White River Junction, VT. We read about it in Amy T's post on the New Hampshire Library Association (NHLA) blog.

Early Literacy Conference On September 26, 2008, Beginning with Books is sponsoring an Early Literacy Conference. The Community College of Allegheny County North Campus is hosting this event. The featured speaker is Mary Renck Jalongo, Ph.D., and the featured author/illustrator is award-winning children's author Candace Fleming (Gabriella's Song, Ben Franklin's Almanac, Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, et al). We read about it at in this post at Story Pockets, the blog for the Children's Department at the Carnegie Library, University of Pittsburgh. You'll need to go to Story Pockets to get contact information; there is nothing posted on the Beginning with Books site yet.

Read for the Record October 2, 2008 is the day to help set a new world's record for the most people reading the same book on the same day. This year's book is Corduroy, a Penguin Young Readers classic. A special edition has been created for the event, with celebrity input and reading tips. This is the third time JumpStart (the non-profit, not the software company) has sponsored the Read for the Record event; and this year's goal is to highlight early literacy. According to Brian Scott's post, the Pearson Foundation (co-sponsor) has launched a Spanish-language version of this event. We read about the event in this post at Literacy and Reading News, the literacynews.com blog.

Other News and Highlights

Monday Monday Finally, there is something good about Monday! On Monday evenings, Metro riders can get a handout worth having: Bit O'Lit, a booklet-sized magazine that has excerpts of both fiction and non-fiction books. The timing could not be better for a group that wants to "addict new people to reading." Because of gas prices, metro rider-ship is WAY up. All this bookishness in DC. Almost makes me want to move back ~ not! The rest of us can read the current issue online. Thanks to Sara at Read Write Believe for her post Sounds Like Candy but it's Not: Bit O'Lit … that's how we learned about it.

Balancing the Books Over at Erin's Musings, Erin wrote an interesting post about Boys and Literacy. Her brother noticed that most of the books in her collection of children's and young adult books were written by women. As a teacher, she wants to better balance the collection. She started by reading and following the leads in Jane McFann's article, Boys and Books, at Reading Rockets. How do your bookshelves weigh in?

Ready to Read Charity Navigator, a non-profit that works to promote a "more efficient philanthropic market place" has a nice narrative about the Children's Literacy Initiative, a Philadelphia-based program whose goal is to improve learning readiness for children in low-income families. CLI has worked in several public school systems in a number of major cities, including Philadelphia, Camden and Newark, New Jersey; Baltimore, MD, and Boston, MA. We found the Charity Navigator profile through a Google Alert.

Two Claws Up! Thanks to some networking and a little bit of fate, I have recently connected with Lobster Press, another think-beyond-tradition independent publisher. Check out these these two articles on the Lobster Press blog. Thanks to Stephanie for pointing them out.

• In Mitigating the Reading Crisis One Book at a Time, Mahak Jain (Marketing Assistant) overlays three widely talked-about surveys/reports about kids and reading for a great summary of the state of reading. Even though there are four years (and several Harry Potter books) separating the surveys, the data seems to remain consistent. Jain looks at Scholastic's 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report.; the 2004 National Endowment for the Arts survey Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading; and Deborah Lau Whelan's article "Librarians Respond to Decline in Reading," in School Library Journal (September 2004).

• In Get the Pages Turning, Claire Fripp (Rights & International Sales Manager) takes an if-at-first-you-don't-succeed approach to helping parents keep reading this summer. In addition to working for Lobster Press, she teaches English at the elementary and middle school levels.

Better than a Frat Party?! This is a nice counterpoint to Scholastic's analysis about reading declines. Alex Finlayson offers some great man-on-the-street vignettes to test this analysis: according to a new report by Pew Internet and American Life Project, Generation Y (18- to -30-year-olds) is the group most likely to use the library. "No Shushing in This Library" is the cover article for the June 18, 2008 edition of San Diego Weekly Reader (online). We found it by reading Louise Ash's post in Reading Today Daily, the International Reading Association (IRA) blog.

… Speaking of Libraries Jamie LaRue has some interesting tidbits about library relevance, public policy, and library patrons in his post Private sales, public elections, at his MyLibLog blog. The post responds to a patron question about the need to continue (public) funding for libraries because the Internet has made them (cough) irrelevant. LaRue frames the Douglass County library's activities as thought it were a for-profit business to offer an insightful comparative analysis. He closes with this quip: "[O]ne argument on behalf of library funding is this: until all children have independent incomes sufficient to enable their learning to the extent their natural curiosity and ability permit them, we need public support. Unless, of course, ignorance is more important to us." Love it!

Celebrity Quote worth Reading Last week, Feel Free to Read had a post called Danny Glover Says. It is filled with nothing but Danny Glover quotes. Here's one that shows at least one celebrity understands that literacy means more than just writing a picture book or being the centerpiece of a PhotoOp titled "Star turning page." We found this through a Google Alert. Here's the quote:

If we talk about literacy, we have to talk about how to enhance our children's mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative, and involved lives. ~ Danny Glover

Good Question Michael Arnzen, Ph.D. posed the question Is Reading to Students Bad? in a recent post about whether/not teachers should read aloud to their students. Arnzen, Associate professor of English at Seton Hall University, opens the post by letting readers know about the discussion at Teacher Magazine based on an incident where a school administrator had taken issue with an English teacher reading to a high school class. I liked this passage: "Students can learn what we might call "audience literacy": how to be a good, attentive, ethical listener. I would toss in, however, that the method can create a teacher-centered environment in the classroom, and that one shouldn't dominate the class or treat it as their own private rehearsal hall."

Star Light, Star Bright … The summer 2008 edition of USAA Magazine has an article about Mark Bent. Bent is a USAA member who, having retired from government service, worked with the Department of Energy, American universities and NASA to produce SunNights, a solar flashlight that "allows refugee children in Africa to learn to read at night without exposure to kerosene fumes." His company, SunNight Solar, has a Buy-One-Give-One program. For every flashlight ($25) purchased, he donates a second light to nonprofits that distribute them where they are needed.

Thanks Mom! Book Mom in Texas wrote to Dear Abby with a letter for parents looking for ways to entertain their kids. She has an idea that she says is "no cost" (she forgot about the gas!) … take them to the library and let everyone in the family participate in the summer reading club. Many libraries have adult programs. Why not take the approach they recommend for exercise: get a buddy (your kid) and do it together! Bet she wishes she lived in Fairfax, VA! We read about it Friday's edition of the Daily Progress (right under the crossword puzzle)!

It was a dark and stormy night … If you're still looking for a reading incentive program this summer, you might check out Reading Adventure, a Huntington Learning Center program that builds on themes of discovery and exploration. We read about it in Brian Scott's article "Reading Adventure, a New Summer Reading Program" for the Literacy and Reading News blog (readingnews.com). Note: I couldn't find a direct link to the Reading Adventure program.

Adventure #2: A Family Tree Head over to Wonder Years Radio to read this booklet about researching your family tree. You'll find great information about getting started (written for kids to understand); get a list of books for reading and activities; and link to a virtual tour of Ellis Island.

Small Steps on Top Louise Ash has a short summary of an article about what the No Child Left Behind Act has done for readers who aren't struggling. Essentially, the lowest-performing students have made great strides. Evaluators aren't seeing the same level of increase for students already at the top of the curve. You can read more in the Baltimore Sun article by reporter Liz Bowie, or catch the summary in the June 18, 2008 edition of Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog.

Listen up! Take a minute (Okay, 3 minutes and 23 seconds) to listen to this podcast of Amber Gibson's report "Three Books for Teens Who Hate to Read" which was selected for the Three Books feature on NPR's All Things Considered (June 17, 2007). Amber writes for teensreadtoo.com. There's a nice list of resources with library partners, award-winning book lists, contests, and more. It's worth exploring … but it will take more than 3 minutes and 23 seconds! We read bout this in Louise Ash's post at Reading Today Daily, the IRA blog.

My Word! Rebecca recently went to the library to pick out books with her 8-month-old son. As she describes the trip, a woman approached her and offered her opinion that her son might be too young for books. Giving this patron the benefit of the doubt, maybe she doesn't read with or have children in her life. But she was in a library, so she must read, right? Even if she doesn't there is TV! So how can she miss article-after-article about study-after-study saying that we need to share books with children every day, long before they even recognize letters? Thanks to Jill's post at the Well-Read Child for getting my adrenalin going on a Saturday afternoon!

The Last Word This week it goes to Jill. I love her opening line in this Well-Read Child post: "Literacy is much more than being able to read a good book...it's a survival skill." For the post, Jill is reviewing Everyday Literacy: Environmental Print Activities for Children 3 to 8 by Stephanie Mueller. Like the book, she reinforces the idea that literacy is more than reciting letters or sitting with a book … it's a natural part of our day, like breathing with our eyes. We read the review at the Well-Read Child blog.

Another Nugget from Down Under Last week I linked to Trevor Cairney's blog (Literacy Families, and Learning) because his article about Children's Choice Awards caught my attention. Well, this week Trevor has another terrific, very thoughtful post about Comic Books. It has some history of comic books (now called graphic novels) and he talks about them as a supplemental literacy tool. Comics, are they still relevant? is worth a read. (You might just have the right question for Jeopardy).

No surprises here According to a study by Scholastic, as kids get older, they are less interested in reading. Loise Ash has a summary of the 2006 Scholastic report (just released) that says that the decline in pleasure reading begins at age eight and continues through their teen years. Read Louise 's post at Reading Today Daily, the International Reading Association Blog. When you go to the Scholastic Website for the whole report, the first thing that catches your eye is "Kids ages 5-17 believe technology will supplement -- not replace book reading and say they will always want to read books on printed paper." (emphasis mine)

More Boy Buzz...Barbershop Style The National Institute for Literacy and Mocha Moms have joined together to launch an "innovative partnership to boost children's literacy skills." The initiative is aimed at getting (and keeping) boys reading. For those who don't know Mocha Moms, it is a national support organization for stay-at-home moms of color. As part of their effort to promote reading for/with boys, they have been opening reading areas (they call them nooks) in barbershops across the country. The Boys Booked on Barbershops (B-BOB) initiative was launched in 2004, and is growing. Brian Scott has press-release type information about two upcoming launches in his post at Reading and Literacy News. Check out the reading statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics (paragraph 6). They are sobering.

Literacy Conference The US Department of Education has announced that the 19th Annual Literacy for All conference will be held November 16-18, 2008 at the Northeast K-8 Literacy Conference & Reading Recovery Institute. To learn more about the conference (deadlines, goals, etc.) click here. Now, if we could just get government educators to trim their use of language so it wasn't so overwhelming to interested but not technocratic parties!

Librarians DO have a phonetic sense of humor Here's the title of this Father's-Day-themed post on the Burbank Library Blog: Lĭt / uh / ruh / sē Äw / fĭs . The post (dated Friday, June 13, 2008) describes and links to articles and programs that encourage males to serve as reading role models in a boy's life. I had seen the article at Reading Rockets, but I didn't know about FRED (Fathers Reading Every Day), a program developed by the Texas Agrilife Extension Service, which is affiliate with Texas A&M University system. The Burbank Library Blog post will also link you to an article about dad's need to read in this Head Start bulletin.

In Other News In my first Reading Round-Up (April 28, 2008), I highlighted Big Universe as a resource for reading picture books online. Publishers have partnered with them and you can browse their collection of 400 titles (and growing) to read the complete book online. The Reading Tub, Inc. has begun linking our reviews to those books. If we have a book on the Big Universe site, we have a button in the Tub that says "Read This Book on Big Universe." Will it replace actually reading the book? No. Will it give you a chance to preview the book yourself? Most definitely. It will also let you put what we say in context of your own reactions to the book. Now THAT'S transparency!

Well, it seems that the round-up has slipped to Wednesday. Before the year's out, I'm betting that each day of the week will have had a chance to host a round-up. You just never know!

This week I'm opening the Round-Up with an idea. One way that you can add some fun to your child's summer reading and writing is to find the author's website or blog and then ask your child to write them a note. More than likely you'll find links to interviews on their site (or just Google their name). Thanks to the various blog tours, you'll find a slew of interviews with authors of every genre. Interviews are a great way for them to "connect" to an author, learn more about the book and maybe get answers to their lingering questions.

Summer Reading (the movie). Head over to Becky at Becky's Book Reviews to get a summary and see the WABC clip about summer reading. Authors in three age groups offer their tips to keep kids reading. Thanks to Kelly at Big A little a for the lead.

Summer Reading (the magazine). Anne-Marie at My Readable Feast has a great post about children's magazines as a way to interest kids in reading.

You Go Girl, OMG and WWUT? Angelina at New Literacies has pulled together her analysis of a couple of studies that look at the how popular culture affects reading. It's a little bit technical, but if you're a teacher or curriculum developer it's some food for thought.

Thanks, Dad! John Micklos wrote an article in Monday's Reading Today Daily that summarizes the results of a national PTA poll. According to the poll, more men are getting involved in their kids' education than ever before. Read the summary (with a link to the press release) and read about MORE, a new initiative to keep the momentum going.

And the Award goes to ... Trevor Cairney. This week I found Trevor's blog, Literacy, Families and Learning. He hopes to "help Children Choose Books offers links to practical advice for helping kids pick books." In this post, he talks out Children's Choice Awards. Although his emphasis is CCAs in Australia, the ideas are universal.

Speaking of Awards ReadWriteThink.org has been nominated as the Best Site From Which You Can Download Free Lessons and Materials in an Edutopia's Readers' Survey 2008 conducted earlier this year. We read about it in John Micklos' article for Reading Today Daily.

Where are You Huck Finn? On May 31, 2008, author Max Eliot Anderson released a bottle into the Rock River, near his home in Rockford, IL. Inside the bottle is a self-addressed stamped postcard offering the finder a set of his middle-grade adventure series for boys. We've interviewed Max in the Reading Tub ... he's a self-proclaimed reluctant reader who writes for the boy he used to be. Learn more about Max, his books and get updates about the adventurous bottle at Books for Boys.

Time in a Bottle. Sorry, couldn't resist. Charlotte has started Timeslip Tuesday over at Charlotte's Library. Here's Charlotte's definition: A timeslip story is simply one in which characters pass from one time to another, either forward or backward, generally without a mechanical device such as a time machine. I count ghost stories when the ghost characters are in fact characters traveling in time, and not just spooky special effects. If anyone reading this has a timeslip story they reviewed on their own blog, leave me a link, and I’ll make a list! Kids love time travel, so head over to Charlotte's Library and search her "Timeslip Tuesday" tag to get a list of books and read reviews.

Jumping Jack and the Beanstalk. In last week's Round-up, I had a short piece about the new Children's Room at the Toronto Public Library. This week, I found an article at the Education in the News blog about the Living School initiative in Ontario schools where kids get more exercise ... and have seen reading scores climb 18%. Our neighbors to the north are so smart, eh?

SPLNG RFRM In today's edition of Reading Today Daily, Louise Ashe offers a summary of a Guardian article about the 800 words that 11-year-olds have seen that cause reading problems. Why? Because they do not sound themselves out phonetically. Was is easy; it's on the word wall in every Kindergarten and First Grade classroom. I hadn't thought of stomach or spinach. But telescope? Wouldn't have thought of that.  Read her piece here. Then head over to read Brian Scott's left-handed compliment in a post about the apparent link between poor spelling, good phonetic skills and being right-handed.

It's not just US. Brian Scott posted a lengthy article in Literacy and Reading News about the results of an adult literacy survey in the United Kingdom. The title says it all "Two Thirds of UK Adults Fail Basic Literacy Test" No, it's not about us, but yes, it is about us. We don't have any room to be throwing stones across the pond. It's worth the read ... especially when he draws out the information about the personal and collective economic impact of illiterate populations. Louise Ash had a similar post about the how "poor literacy skills take their toll on health, and the economy" in the May 28 edition of Reading Today Daily. Read it here.

Here's to you, Jen Robinson! [Can you guess the Muzak tune in the background?] Last weekend, I had moved this this post from Jen Robinson's Book Page to my short list because there was something that I wanted to highlight here in the round-up. Now, five days later, I can't remember which wonderful tidbit it was. I'm including the whole post because it is full of great stuff!

Free writing software! I found this post at the Children's Writing Web Journal. This is a blog for children's writer, but this piece about software caught my eye ... actually it was the colorful diagram. Even if your child doesn't aspire to be an author, this is a tool that may help him organize his thoughts, even for simple school projects. And if he is a visual learner, then it might REALLY help him make sense of what he reads and writes. It also looks like it has value as an organization tool. Anything that makes that can help them see that a 15-page term paper is a collection of smaller projects is a good thing. Did I mention it's free?

Until next week ...

How can we get kids to read more? It's a question I ask myself a lot. It is one of those questions that pops up while I am weeding the garden, stirring the spaghetti, sitting in traffic ... all the great "thinking" spots. Here's my answer: better pricing! Fewer hardcover editions, more paperbacks.

For the record, I love the library. It is one of my all-time favorite places. I like it more than the bookstore. I know libraries need hardcovers (hence library editions). But I am wearing my parent hat when I try to tackle reading questions. If I suggest that kids read more, I know have to answer questions like "who can afford to buy books?" and "when will I find time to take Susie to the library, not to mention find time to return those books?"

Rare is the day that we don't have new books arriving from authors and publishers asking for review. Clearly, each one of these titles is intended to be "just" what kids want ... or at least something that will make them want to pick up THIS book in the same way they devoured A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket) and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter.

Many of the young adult titles are some version of an advance reader edition, from uncorrected proofs to formal Advance Reader Copies (ARCs). Most of these are destined to be hardcovers, with a "tentative price" of $16.99. Okay, how many teens are buying that book? Like most everything else in their world, books are (a) fairly dispensable; and (b) not high on their priority list. Why would they spend nearly $20 on something they might read one time? From their perspective, there are a lot more "fun" things they can do with that $20!

Yes, if asked (a big if), Mom and Dad may buy the book. But will they buy more than one? If the last two months are any indication, there is a lot of "beach reading" on the horizon. And many of them deal with subjects that most parents avoid. Beach reading and books that move fast are great ... but do you see more hardcovers or paperbacks at the pool?

Are there exceptions? Yes! But the exceptions are the kids who already like to read. They aren't the ones who need to be coaxed into understanding why we need to build and practice our skills.

I love it when I get a middle-grade chapter book or a young adult novel that's destined to be published in paperback. I am always hopeful that it's really good. If we're going to buy books, why not get more for your money? When a book is more accessible for the kids (who might buy just one), then it's more palatable to the parents (who might buy two!).