The Joy of Children's Literature

Today, the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, presented author Jon Scieszka with the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Medal as part of the National Book Festival celebration. Announced in January, the position was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. Additionally, an official National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature website has been created for parents, educators and children that includes background information on the Ambassador initiative, Jon Scieszka, and a schedule of Scieszka’s tour stops over the next year. The website features photos from Scieszka’s travels but also provides the opportunity for anyone to upload photos from Jon’s appearances in their city. Most importantly, the “Ask Jon” button allows kids to ask Scieszka questions directly. “The website is meant to serve as an inf

A free School Library Journal webcast sponsored by Capstone Publishers will bring together a panel of experts in reading, media center services, and children’s literacy--including school librarians, educators, and a representative from Capstone Press and Stone Arch Books--to cover a range of processes, programs, and ideas that can bolster reading skills, comprehension, and literacy in the K-6 library and classroom. The webcast will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday, October 8. Attendees will learn 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. Time will be reserved for questions and answers at the end of the webcast. Who should attend: School librarians and library media specialists working with grades K-6, classroom teachers and reading specialists, and public libraria

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Read It LOUD! Foundation have formed a partnership to encourage parents and other caregivers to read to their children daily. The goal of the partnership is to inspire 5 million parents and caregivers to read daily to their children by 2014. “The Read It LOUD! program is a natural partnership for the Center for the Book, which has promoted reading and literacy since its establishment in 1977,” said John Y. Cole, the center’s director. “We sponsor several reading-promotion programs specifically for young people, such as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature program, the Letters About Literature project, the River of Words program, and a lifelong literacy initiative. The Read It LOUD! program will be advertised in shopping malls throughout the United States, through websites, in libraries, and at other locations. Popular children’s characters such as the Cat in the Hat, Curious George, and Clifford the Big Red

The countdown is on! Exactly one week fr om today, I will drive to Washington DC with my husband and son, check into the hotel, and go to Politics and Prose , a bookstore and coffeehouse on Connecticut Avenue. In all the times I've been to DC, I've never been to Politics and Prose , but I hear it is fabulous AND at 4:30 Mary Brigid Barrett, Steven Kellogg, Katherine Patterson, and Lynda Johnson Robb will be there! They are four of over 100 authors an illustrators of a new book titled, Our White House . It is a collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, poetry, and original art that offers a multifaceted look at America's history through the prism of the White House. The next day, we will attend the 2008 National Book Festival ! (See my previous post about the National Book Festival) Over 70 authors will give talks about their books on the National Mall. Just talk a look at the line up of children's and young adult authors: Tiki Barber , Jan Brett , M

Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears is an online professional development magazine funded by the National Science Foundation for elementary teachers which focuses on preparing teachers to teach polar science concepts in an already congested curriculum by integrating inquiry-based science with literacy teaching. Such an integrated approach can increase students' science knowledge, academic language, reading comprehension, and written and oral discourse abilities. The topic for issue 6 is Rocks and Minerals . Each issue include a strategy specific to the topic , a monthly virtual bookshelf highlighting children’s literature that relates to the theme of the issue, a nonfiction article for students, and monthly science and literacy lessons to promote a real and meaningful integration of the two subjects. Check it out! Now, if you want to hit the jackpot on science and literacy, you must check out the "Teaching Physical Science with Children's Literature" series at Open Wide

From the International Reading Association: Adults with low literacy skills are less likely to get married or buy their own house, British research suggests. A National Literacy Trust report looking at the effects of literacy on the nation's happiness found stark differences between those with good literacy skills and those without. The report, which looked in particular at men's happiness, found that only half of men with poor reading skills were satisfied with their life so far, compared with 78% of men with good reading levels. Read the article by The Press Association online or the report itself, available on the National Literacy Trust website .

...are both on September 8! International Literacy Day is sponsored annually by the International Reading Association and is designed to focus attention on literacy issues. The day is marked by many events throughout the world, including the presentation of a U.S. $20,000 UNESCO International Reading Association Literacy Prize . The International Reading Association estimates that 780 million adults, nearly two-thirds of whom are women, do not know how to read and write. They also estimate that 94–115 million children worldwide do not have access to education. International Literacy Day is just one way the Association strives to increase literacy around the world. Spend the day participating in a readathon, kicking off a cross-grade reading buddy program, or making original books to share with others in the community. For additional ideas, visit the IRA’s collection of ideas: Idea Starters! International Literacy Day Activities and Events . And an International Literacy Day Toolkit is

Bookwink "Bookwink's mission is to inspire kids to read. Through podcasting and web video, we hope to connect kids in Grades 3 through 8 with books that will make them excited about reading. The videos are approximately 3 minutes long and are updated monthly. Each video booktalk is about a different topic, and additional read-alikes can be found on the Bookwink website. You can look for books by subject, grade level, author or title. We are constantly updating the booklists with our newest favorite books." Choice Literacy: Successful Groups This week's Big Fresh Newsletter from Choice Literacy is about making small group instruction successful. The issue includes Part II of the interview with Debbie Miller who gives advice on the importance of waiting before grouping early in the year, especially if you are using criteria beyond levels for groups. Starting Out Bright: Early Literacy and Preschool from Reading ockets : "Long before young children learn to rea

This is a picture of Wendy Melzer, a second grade teacher. In the picture, she is presenting her students with a gift. The gift is a writing notebook for each child. What you don't know is that she has already given her students the greatest gift a teacher can give...the joy of reading! Wendy loves to read and her students know this about her. She shares her reading habits and her enthusiasm for reading with them every day. She tells them about the books she is reading at home written by her favorite authors. Wendy reads aloud to her students many times every day, she reads with them during guided reading groups, and she provides time every day for students to read independently. She overwhelmingly sends the message that reading is an important part of her personal life and an important part of her teaching. And it's contagious. By the end of the school year, the students who entered her classroom with less than an enthusiastic attitude toward reading have completely transfor

The Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature by will be held Saturday, October 4, 2008 from 10am-noon in the Mumford Room, James Madison Memorial Building, Library of Congress , 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. The 2008 award winners are Pat Mora (author) and Rafael López (illustrator) forYum ! ¡Mmmm! ¡Qué Rico! America’s Sproutings and Laura Resau for Red Glass . YUM! ¡MMMM! ¡QUE RICO!: AMERICA’S SPROUTINGS by Pat Mora. Pictures by Rafael López. New York: Lee & Low, 2007. 32 pgs. ISBN 978-1-58430-271-1 ―Dad bites green mouth-fire/ laughs when tears fill his eyes, sighs/ ‗¡Mmmm! This heat tastes good.‘‖ A combination of energetic haiku and informational text, this vibrant collection highlights fourteen foods native to countries throughout the Americas. The pairing of dual texts introduces background information about various food origins while providing readers with an opportunity to play with lyrical food descriptions. Blazing images suffused with

Debbie Miller's new book, Teaching With Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action, K-5, is now available from Stenhouse. However, you can read the book in its entirety online! Just click the link above and scroll down to the linked table of contents. From the Stenhouse website, "While Debbie's previous book, Reading with Meaning , chronicled a year in her own classroom, Teaching with Intention brings us into classrooms of teachers and children she has met over the last five years in her work as a literacy consultant. From setting up the classroom environment to the intentional use of language, from comprehension instruction to lesson design, Debbie is explicit about what she does and why. At the same time, she encourages teachers to develop their own belief statements concerning teaching and learning, and includes key questions to guide them in this important process." Listen to an interview with Debbie Miller from Choice Literacy . The Stenhouse