I was mesmerized by the two-hour launch of PBS Great American Read campaign. While I believe choosing one book is impossible and not actually the point of this celebration, I was enchanted by one compelling little book talk after another. And it was delightful to listen to people talk with such passion about their books. Yesterday, I discovered When […]
It’s back! Now in its 9th annual season, Audiobook SYNC just announced its free book pairings for teen listeners for this spring and summer. You can dig into the first of the weekly pairings on April 26th. at 7:00 PM Eastern. Each week from April 26 through July 25, SYNC will release two high-interest titles for young adult readers. […]
This time of year is ripe for resolutions. It’s a good time to resolve to read and, perhaps, to resolve to change things up a bit. The new year may be the perfect time to invite your kids to read a little differently–to suggest they build personal challenges based on their own passions, as well as an […]
Fun fact: You may know I was an English major. You may not know that my serious focus was 16th century poetry and drama. My favorite course ever was Shakespeare’s Problem Plays. Not every student I’ve met over the years felt the same draw to Shakespeare. The play is just not every kid’s thing. The […]
In his history of the digital revolution, The Innovators, Walter Isaacson reveals Ada Lovelace’s significant legacy–that the humanities and technology could happily coexist as a poetical science. This particular coexistence, he notes, does not usually exist in our schools. Many people who celebrate the arts and the humanities, who applaud vigorously the tributes to their […]
I LOVE audiobooks! They make it possible for me to always be reading. But for kiddos, access to audiobooks represents far more than a simple, hands-free convenience. Audiobooks allow children to build vocabulary, to attack sophisticated text and ideas beyond their current reading levels, Audiobooks can introduce children to new vocabulary, improve reading comprehension and fluency, […]
Perhaps it’s an inside librarian joke, but I so love this idea. I think it was Topeka Library that started the #READTransformed meme. If you’ve collected ALA’s Celebrity READ posters in your library, your students and faculty may just jump on board to help you reinterpret and remix these classics. So, pick a hero. Strike […]
Some wonderful news! First Lady Michelle Obama’s video below announces a significant new initiative designed to address the challenge of providing children living in low income households with equitable access to digital reading materials. Open eBooks, is a free app, offering thousands of popular and award-winning titles, available without checkout or cost. It targets all […]
I love the idea of expanding the reading experience–of making it a special, social, connected experience even when the kids we love are not in our laps. Parents, grandparents and read-aloud buddies of all flavors, will want to take a look at Kindoma. Available for iPhone and iPad, the free app allows two users to […]
How do you find just the right book to recommend for a kid? It’s trickier than discovering that they like mysteries or even a very specific type of science fiction. What makes a certain book a yes for one kid reader and a clear no for another? The question deeply troubled former independent children’s bookseller […]
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