National Library Week

Designed by Gene Luen Yang,
an award-winning graphic novelist.

It's National Library Week, April 10 - 16, 2016.

The American Library Association [ALA] sponsored the first National Library Week, in 1958, to share a public awareness for libraries and an appreciation for librarians. The ALA continues to promote the use and support of libraries and library contributions across our nation every April.

Visit your local library and show your support to celebrate libraries. For more information about additional ideas check out I Love Libraries here.

The library is an important institution that offers many opportunities for families to learn and grow together. From wee little ones to *silver people* and every age in between, a library has something for everyone. All you need is a library card. 

Stack of books

National Library Week is a time to recognize the valuable contributions that libraries make for communities throughout the nation. From public libraries to school libraries, bookmobiles, and the Little Free Libraries throughout your neighborhood.

Participate in ALA's #LibrariesTransform public awareness promotion. Create your own Because Statement and fill in the blank by telling your story of why your library is important.

For more ALA celebrations throughout the month of April and throughout the remainder of the year check out this link about promotions and events. 

Remember eight year old RAMONA QUIMBY?

Happy Birthday
Beverly Cleary!

 

This week [and during the entire month of April] in honor of author Beverly Cleary's 100th birthday, let's make reading a priority. Let's Drop Everything and Read, D. E. A. R. with Ramona Quimby and a tall stack of books. 

That's what I am doing.

Mrs. Sue reads
during Literacy Night
at St. Michael's School

That's what my seven sweet and sometimes sassy grands are doing.

Oma Sue loves Johannah, Joshua & Jaxon.

Oma Sue loves Lily & Lane.

 

Oma Sue loves Charlotte.

Oma Sue loves Henry.

Remember to thank a librarian and the many dedicated professionals who work hard to make our libraries special. 

High five for fellow GROG authors and librarians: Todd Burleson, Marcie Flinchum Atkins, Kathy Halsey and Pat Miller. Thank you for the many hours spent in a library, motivating and sharing literacy with library patrons, story time readings, supporting children with independent research, selecting and classifying library sources, making book recommendations to teachers and students, and checking out, shelving many, many titles and much more.

Celebrate the love of literacy. Celebrate libraries.

First Barbara/First Reader by Jan Godown Annino

I like to keep up with my First Ladies.

Maybe this little hobby dates to third grade, when Martha Washington & George were my living history project.

And also maybe it’s because I know that many of them love to write. 

And, to read.

Can you find First Lady Barbara Bush in the book cover? Center front, 3rd from the left, in FIRST LADIES, above. Barbara Bush is the author of four books. One of them is from a dog’s point of view,  MILLIE’S BOOK, which our daughter owned as a middle-schooler.

Mrs. Bush’s father was in charge of the McCall magazine empire. Her parents encouraged reading in the evenings. This and other glimpses of her unusual life are shared in BARBARA BUSH: A Memoir, & also at her comprehensive biography created by the extraordinary resource,
National First Ladies Library in Ohio.

If you are a reader or children's writer, you will likely make time to visit the Barbara Bush Foundation, which is all about achieving a 100 percent literacy rate in the U.S. This hard-charging Foundation recently awarded a grant to a deserving public elementary in our area. If it is anything like the local school I visited weekly during a school year so I could to sit with a little boy in kindergarten, to help him begin his path to reading, those children are needy & will rocket ahead with this BBF project.

I exchanged emails with Liza McFadden of the Barbara Bush Foundation.

Later this month I expect to collect our conversation in one piece at Bookseedstudio. 

Please look for Part Two of this interview on Monday, May 12, 2014.

Part One - Barbara Bush Foundation interview

Q

How might a family whose parents don’t demonstrate reading, affect their children's interest in books?

LIZA McFadden for the Barbara Bush Foundation

 As I talk to moms, I realize many of us have almost a collective memory about reading:  that as children we loved our parents wrapping their arms around us and reading.  We remember our favorites—mainly because we made our parents read them to us hundreds of times.  Those simple rhymes, the shape of those letters, the conversations about the pictures, all of those things were our parents being our first -- and best -- teachers.  

Too many people fall away from being in love with books – sometimes scarred by the way books were used in school, and frequently, I think, because watching TV or other activities seem more companionable.  I can provide lots of great physiological reasons to read:  reading has benefits similar to meditating like lower stress, and deeper sleep and lowered memory loss, and I can provide great psychological reasons to read:  a strong working vocabulary is the best defense we have against manipulation -- that’s why lawyers live and die by words.  

In the end, I think we pass on what we love. Having a child is a great time to remember that as a child reading brought you not only those stories you loved, but also, your vital vocabulary that’s helping to ensure you have a good job, and a healthy life.

Q

Should children have to read books that they don't want to? (Outside of school assignments) 

LIZA

I have a confession.  I’m a bibliophile.  In the last few months I just changed our living room into a library.  I’m guessing with Nooks and Kindles, those libraries are passé, but I love my books.  That said, you could guess I strongly believe children shouldn’t “have” to read outside of school but should “want” to read outside of school. 

I have two middle school children and they attend a school where they are required to read a lot.  In fact, the better reader you are, the more “Accelerated Reader” points you have to earn.  The difference between my two children is this: one loves to read, and this boy reads Hardy Boys and 39 Clues and every adventure book he can lay his hands on.  His sister, though an excellent student, is not in love with reading.

But, here’s what I have discovered: she does love books, she just prefers it when someone else reads them to her.  This weekend as we drove from South Florida to North Florida coming back from spring break, I read to them out loud, Waiting For Snow In Havana:  Confessions of a Cuban Boy. Everyone in the car loved hearing the story. It combined a love of killing lizards with a philosophical discussion on the proof of God – not always issues easily aligned.  Anyway, so here’s my belief:  I think reading can some in many forms, and I’m excited that the Nook and Kindle can read out loud for oral learners, as long as they have truly mastered the skill of reading.  
As I recently heard, language defines our palette of thought.  It allows us to be part of the intellectual discussion of our community and our country; it allows us to share memories of killing lizards, and to wonder in-depth about the proof of God. 

Note: Thank you, Liza. We hope our readers will return for more insights from Liza McFadden/Barbara Bush Foundation, tomorrow, Thurs., May 8, 2014

Jan Godown Annino is on twitter @BkSeedStudio. She is the author of an ALA-listed picture book, SHE SANG PROMISE: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper.

Reading is Magical ~By Suzy Leopold

     The Cat in the Hat, Charlotte’s Web, Good-night Moon, Stuart Little and Winnie the Pooh are all beloved children’s books that my Mom read to me fifty plus years ago.  You may recognize the list of classic book titles, may have listened to, or even read the same books as a kid.  I am so thankful that my Mom instilled the value of reading in me.  She modeled for my sister and me the value of learning, as young children.  Visiting the public library and checking out a tall stack of favorite books, and sometimes checking out the same titles numerous times, was a family event that we enjoyed, prior to kindergarten and continued throughout our attendance in elementary school.  Reading picture books to my sister and I was a special time when Mom shared the joy of reading with us.  Reading was part of our daily routine, usually as a bedtime ritual, while cuddling in bed or sitting together in a big, comfy chair. 

     Do you value literacy and the importance of reading everyday?  Do you promote the love of reading everyday?  Parents can help promote their child's literacy and the development of reading comprehension.  Even before a child can exhibit the skill of reading, young children begin to acquire basic concepts about literacy.  The single most important activity for building these understandings and skills, that are essential for reading success, is reading aloud to children.  Board books read to babies from birth develops the infant’s brain that continues to develop during the first year of life. Nursery rhymes read to tiny toddlers, lays the foundation for language development. Picture books read to children during the preschool years, builds success in learning. Reading to and with elementary school age kids, equals expanded vocabulary and builds a foundation for student achievement.  

     Want your child to be a better reader, develop the habit of reading as lifelong learning, and be successful in school?  It is plain and simple; just read.  Reading is magic.

Image:  Scholastic 

Read and Write Everyday!