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April 24, 2008

No Child Left Behind @ your library?

I am back on my early literacy soapbox, thanks to the checklist someone passed to me of how library staff in one library system are being rated on their storytimes. The checklist is entirely based on Every Child Ready to Read standards. It includes things like: "Presenter makes connections between letters in children's names and in alphabet book or book title".

Reading is important. Building reading skills is important. Getting young children ready to read using the six skills of early literacy is important. But the most important thing is story.

Schools have to implement No Child Left Behind styles of teaching reading to get funded. But I think many of us in Youth Services would agree that focusing too much on the mechanics of reading is a huge mistake. Are we falling into that same trap in libraries?

It's the stories that count the most. Story is fundamental iin humankind--it's why we pass them along for hundreds of years. It's why we tell them to our children over and over. Stories help children become loving, connected, ethical human beings by what they tell about how people relate to each other. (Often the "people" are animals in picture books, but it means the same thing.) Stories are also how children can broaden their experience out of their own family into the whole big world out there of the past and the present and the potential future.

I love building early literacy elements into the library space. And any good storytime provider is going to work the six early literacy skills into their story programs naturally, because books are made out of words and words are made out of letters and leading children into talking about the stories and predicting what's going to happen are just the sorts of things you do while reading with children.

But you have to start with good stories. In my Storytime for Big Kids program this week (ages 4-K) these kids, like so many others I have worked with over the years, were amazed and delighted by Keiko Kasza's The Wolf's Chicken Stew. I could have spent a lot of time talking about how the wolf was making 100 of each food to feed the chicken to fatten her up; we could have speculated on whether the foods were nutritious or discussed if one of the children in the room had a name that began with W, same as Wolf....but all of that would have sidetracked the surprise that makes children burst out laughing, when the Chicken introduces "Uncle Wolf" to the 100 chicks he's been inadvertently feeding.

It's the story that counts. It's the story that provides the foundation, and the phonological awareness, letter knowledge, print motivation and so on get swept in with that great belly laugh and the longing to read the story again and again. So please, put "Did the presenter use some great stories" on your storytime checklists. Otherwise, all we are providing is No Child Left Behind @ Your Library.

Posted by susan at 12:58 PM | Comments (5)

September 14, 2007

Love of Stories vs. Phonemics

A friend recently commented that her son had his first day of Kindergarten and they tested his reading. (Right there, that makes me sad.) His mother asked how he did, and he said that he couldn't really read the words, and that puzzled both of them because he knows quite a few words. Another friend was able to explain that the school was probably using the DIBELS Nonsense Word assessment, one where the children are tested in their fluency in reading words that don't actually mean anything. In other words, they're being tested on how well they can sound things out while completely ignoring meaning.

Yes, let's get rid of those pesky words. They just complicate everything. This is why I am beginning to worry that libraries are beginning to go off-track where our mission is concerned. I think we have a vital role to play in getting "Every Child Ready to Read," but it feels to me like too much of the emphasis in the discussion of storytimes now sounds an awful lot like the same things kids are being taught in school that passes for reading. I see our role as making sure children are exposed to great authors and great art, and to the stories that people have been passing along for generations as well as the amazing new books being created daily. When you do it right, when you pick books that are magical and find fingerplays and songs that match those books, and you include nursery rhymes and poetry, and you invite the children to predict what's happening next in the story...those are all the same skills they will need to learn to read.

They are going to spend way too much of their school years focusing on the mechanics of reading. We can incorporate ABCs and the sounds of letters while not losing sight of the story. Am I all alone on this?

Posted by susan at 2:07 PM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2007

Dear Ingram: Where Are My Harry's?

Friday afternoon, 2:00, the Niles Public Library District still has not received their promised 30 copies of Harry. The book processors are leaving for the day, and we still have no Harrys for them to process.

Next time there's a big book that people want instantly when it's open for distribution, I am ordering direct. Ingram, you have let me down, and I say that while still assuming that the UPS truck will be rolling up any second now. It's not like I didn't order the copies several months ago...

Update: 2:20

Posted by susan at 1:57 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2007

Keeping them reading

It's pretty easy to get kids excited about coming to the library to sign up for Summer Reading during a lively school visit. The harder thing is getting them to keep reading through the summer. Our goals here at Niles are:
~To keep children reading throughout the summer vacation to maintain their reading levels
~To encourage recreational reading
~To encourage library use
~To create a memorable experience

So our games are planned with that in mind--not that they just come through the door once to sign up, but that they keep coming back to the library. I am a big believer in counting the statistic "added visits" along with registrations and finishers, because every time they come through the library door is important.

The way we accomplish that is by setting up a game that is unveiled in stages. This year's game with the theme Mission Read began with astronauts off in a training station. Kids earned a turn on the game for every hour read, and they picked their favorite astronaut and took a turn. About two weeks into the program, an outer space mission was called: We were being attacked by robots sent by Pluto, whose inhabitants are mad that we said they weren't a planet anymore!

Game Board 2--the Outer Space Mission. Librarians and volunteers play the bad guys; kids play the good guys.

Game Board 2, section 2
Two weeks later, another section of outer space opens up with some new game spaces (found under the shiny squares which are velcroed on)

Scoreboard of Alliance vs. Plutonians

This lure of a new part of the story unfolding brings the kids back in droves, and I would really like to think that it also accomplishes the fourth goal--it gives kids a really memorable experience!

Posted by susan at 3:43 PM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2007

Harry Potter and libraries vs. bookstores

New York Times article
There's a lot of buzz in the mainstream press right now claiming that Harry Potter books have not changed the reading habits of a generation--that kids slow down in their reading as they get older in just the same way they did before.

First, I'm not sure I entirely believe it. I think the Harry Potter books clearly introduced a generation of readers to the idea that reading could be worth a certain amount of effort, and that all that practice has to have paid off in their reading skills. There's just no way to measure what they would have been like without Harry.

But it also strikes me--and I'll be the first to admit I'm prejudiced on this subject--that when the whole Harry phenomenon got taken over by the bookstores, some kids lost their chance to become introduced to the library as the source for other books that they might like too. After the second book came out and was SO phenomenally popular, bookstores jumped on the bandwagon in a huge way. Our library Harry Potter parties went from being crammed with excited attendees to having okay attendance, but not more than most other programs. The buzz was all with the midnight parties at the bookstores.

Libraries can't compete with the consumer appetite to get the next new thing NOW, and bookstores can. But it's a shame that some kids who might have found their way to the library through the Harry Potter craze got sidetracked into stores instead. I can't help thinking it might have made a difference for the kids to have formed relationships with library staff that might have helped them find their way to other books they might have liked just as well. Of course there are some wonderful bookstore staffs, but I will put a dedicated children's librarian up against most of them any day. Like I said, I'm prejudiced that way.

Posted by susan at 4:32 PM | Comments (2)

June 30, 2007

Summer Reading: One Month Down, One to Go

Awhile back, I promised to show more of our Summer Reading Game, and this gorgeous Saturday afternoon is about the quietest we've been since June 4th when the game began. You've already seen some pictures of the game being built. This is the first year we have used a wooden frame, and it's given the foamboard games a lot of stability, which with 1500 kids (and counting) using it, it needs.

Little kids game.

Kids get a turn for every 5 books someone reads to them, and they may play any one of 5 activities such as put the ring around Saturn, or digging for moonrocks. The cut paper illustrations were made by our own Lauren Collen.

The circle is a cutout the children look through. One side is a cute space alien; the other side is a rocketship--the little kids put on an astronaut helmet (if they want) and we hold up a mirror so they can see what they look like.

Next week, I'll show the big kids game!

Posted by susan at 3:22 PM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2007

Walking your feet off@your library conference

I'm writing from ALA in Washington, DC. At this point, my fingers are about the only part of me still willing to move!

So far, I have:
~Seen Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky from a few feet away--he had the longest line I saw today
~Seen Judy Blume from about 1 foot away, and she looks EXACTLY like Judy Blume
~Seen YA author John Green, who to me these days after several months of watching his video blog Brotherhood 2.0 in which he and his brother Hank correspond seems like a movie star to me (and my 16-year-old and 20-year-old sons as well)
~Managed to pick up and mail back to myself a box of Advanced Reader copies within the first hour of the exhibits opening...now all I need to do is schlep back the ones I picked up after that to the conference to mail them with the ones I'll get tomorrow!
~Heard an interesting session on word-of-mouth marketing, all about getting the people who already think the library is great to tell other people about it
~Decided on the perfect shoes for walking the exhibit hall. I feel sure that if I had been wearing the Crocs I saw someone else wearing, my feet wouldn't be so tired right now. Sure they're ugly...but right now, they sure sound great to me. Good thing I can type without using my feet or you would not be reading this.
~Met an online friend I had never met in person, which I suppose is sort of like meeting a penpal back 50 years ago--very fun to match your online impressions with the living reality!
~Heard David Almond speak in his lovely Northern English accent, which means I will never read his books the same way again
~Was casually introduced to someone a friend/children's book author was talking to who turned out to be Gregory Maguire...yes, that's Gregory Maguire, as in the author of Wicked. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!

I loved PLA and look forward to the next one, but there is nothing quite like ALA. At any given time, there are at least 3 sessions I would like to attend whilst walking around the exhibit hall and perhaps putting my feet up and taking a little snooze. And this was just the first day! More later...

Posted by susan at 8:43 PM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2007

Scieszka and Lane got it right

We're heading into the time of year when children's librarians all around the country start to feel the way Scieszka and Lane's heroes do in their perfectly-titled book, Summer Reading Is Killing Me!

It's fun, we love it, it's great to see the kids back again, the long lines at Circ make us happy...and it's like running a 9-week marathon. We dream about it at night, with phrases like "Every time you read for an hour, that earns you another turn on the game!!!" popping up so that there isn't even complete respite when we sleep.

I was a little dubious about the space theme of "Mission Read: To the Library and Beyond" this year but I must admit that the Summer Reading Committee and the library's graphics whiz and Publicity Coordinator have made it into a very entertaining and beautiful game.

Mission Control under construction

Mission Control, where the kids sign in

Gameboard 1 of 3 under construction

I'll tell more about our game later! Meanwhile, here is my #1 way to tell that you are in the midst of Summer Reading stress: You go to the bathroom and discover that you have put your pants on backward! Do not ask me how I know this.

Posted by susan at 7:36 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2007

Age 12 going on 10 or 18, depending

The new NSLS Fast Facts survey on serving middle grade students brings up a subject I find pretty interesting. It was reassuring to see that many of the public libraries in this area treat the young adolescents as the dual-natured people that they are. You have your kids who are dying to reach the adult world and are 12 going on 18 (at least); you have your kids who are reluctant to leave the child world behind and are 12 going on 10, and then of course thanks to the wonders of hormone fluctuations you have the many kids who are anywhere from age 8 to age 40 all within one hour.

I strongly advocate libraries sharing service to this age group. Let them sort themselves out--let the Too Cool for the Children's Department kids head to Adult; let the I Still Love the Books I Loved Before kids keep coming to Youth Services, and let the staff work together on programming. Let's keep the Newbery medal going up to age 14 while the Printz goes down to 12. Let's not create firm boundaries for our own organizational convenience. Let's keep it nice and messy, just like the kids themselves!

Posted by susan at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

February 1, 2007

July 21, 2007

The seventh and presumably last Harry Potter book will be released July 21, 2007. I can't decide...am I happy, sad, or annoyed? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm

Annoyed is because you could hardly come up with a subject less related to our Summer Reading theme this year of Mission Read: To the Library and Beyond! Space and wizards do not make a very comfortable fit, and if we'd known about the release of HP7 it would have been tempting to switch to a more fantasy-based theme. But too much work has gone into Mission Read already, so that spaceship has sailed...er...blasted off.

Sad is of course because it's the last Harry! Bad things will happen in it, and at the last page the story will be over. That is really sad. I read the first Harry Potter as an advanced reader copy and fell in love back then. And the ending of the last book was so sad that when I was reading it out loud to my family we had to stop for awhile because it's hard to read and cry at the same time.

But I guess I'll try to focus on happy. Yippee, a new Harry to look forward to! And also, it will be very interesting to see what Rowling does AFTER Harry. Wonder how many years that will take?

Posted by susan at 7:40 AM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2006

Difficult, or impossible? Fall planning during Summer Reading.

We're now in the time of year when somehow in the midst of Summer Reading chaos we're supposed to have planned our Fall programming, which amounts to planning our whole year's programming because of the programs that continue through the school year. How is that possible? How are you supposed to think coherently about how many storytimes and which kind of storytime and when are the school holidays and do you have time to add more reading patches and who can you book for your outside programs and oh yes....Children's Book Week is in November.

It's more than a little frustrating, isn't it? The solution is clear, though. All we need is one more month of summer. We can have two months of Summer Reading--June and July, say. Then we'll have another July where Summer Reading is over, and August to get everything ready, and voila! Prepared for Fall! So if anyone can let me know where to find a second July, I would really appreciate it.

Posted by susan at 9:13 PM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

Alas, poor Harriet

I'm sorry to have to report that Harriet the Spy was the first character voted off of the ship in our summer reading game. Still onboard our ship The Barnacle are the Pigeon, Olivia, Captain Underpants, Harry Potter, and Arthur.

I for one am sad to see Harriet go. She's one of your pricklier characters in children's literature, but her grouchy tendancies remind me a lot of the real-life kids I know and the real-life kid I once was. Ol' Golly's sensible advice sticks with me today, and few books offer such a truthful depiction of the adult world. On the bright side, all of our copies of Harriet are checked out, so at least a few more kids may come to know the joys of a good tomato sandwich!

Posted by susan at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2006

Is Summer Reading worth the bother?

I know, I know, you're supposed to wait until July before you start having thoughts like that! We are 18 days into our program, with 1200+ signed up, and already we are getting a little tired, a little cranky. So it might be a good time to think just a moment about why we go to all this trouble.

Sure, there's plenty of research to show how important it is for kids to keep reading during the break from school. The Alaska State Library put out an excellent list of articles on reading over the summer. Intuitively, we know that kids who stop reading over the summer will lose ground, and increasingly we can't assume that reading is one of the things families automatically do when they have time. As parents devote less time to reading, so do their kids. So keeping up reading skills over the summer is important, but is it enough to make all the effort worthwhile?

Frankly no--developing reading skill is more the domain of the school reading specialist or media specialist, and I am a public librarian. What I want is for kids to love reading, and I'm not nearly as interested in scores and reading levels.

No, the thing that makes it worth the effort for me is I want kids to come into the library over the summer and for that experience be one of their fondest memories of growing up. I want them to remember as adults that feeling of walking into a cool library on a hot summer day. I want them to remember talking to the nice librarians and volunteers. I want them to remember that feeling of abundance when they walk out of the library with a stack of books that look exciting. I want them to recall signing up for summer reading as a treat to look forward to each summer. I want them to make memories that they will treasure.

It does take a ton of work but yes, it is worth it. I may have to read this over again by mid-July just to remind myself, but summer reading is definitely worth the bother.

Posted by susan at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2006

Hinges for Coconuts

When you're the head of a Youth Services Department, some odd things pass over your desk. Over the months of getting reading for this year's Summer Reading game Voyage to Book Island, one staff member turned in a receipt for "hinges for coconuts". Another wrote up a task list including "find flotsam" and "buy birdshot". We polled both staff and patrons on their favorite book characters to send them off on a ship to be kidnapped by pirates (the characters, not the patrons). We begged our local stores and restaurants for donations, and came up with the right wording for imprinting on ducks. Now it has all turned into a big, glorious Summer Reading game which has turned the department into nonstop gratifying, glorious, exhausting activity.

On my own task list: buy chocolate for staff!

Posted by susan at 7:32 AM | Comments (0)