Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundup – mid-June 2011

The June 16th edition of the children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page, The Family Bookshelf, a Reading Tub blog, Rasco from RIF, and The Book Chook, is now available at The Book Chook. Over the past couple of weeks, Carol Rasco, Susan Stephenson, and Jen Robinson have collected content for you about literacy & reading-related events, programs, and research.

Because my life is in warp-speed or crossing a mind-bending vortex –  Susan Stephenson graciously stepped up to tackle the mid-June Roundup. Just like the image at the start of her post, the roundup is filled with lots of refreshing news and ideas.

Lovely logo, isn’t it? Look closely and you can see the eyes behind those glasses … which as Susan points out, many of us chooks need these days!

Just as I thought I had caught up with the #YASaves campaign, Susan introduced me to The Light and Round Project. Book afficianado / editor / aspiring author / blogger at From the Mixed Up Files … Jennifer Bertman is creating space for the “lighter” side  of YA lit  with this new project.  Each week, she’ll host a weekly roundup for books young adult and upper middle grade (she explains they tend to cross over) recommendations. I loved this line, particularly as you could substitute many genres or formats for the “YA” (*cough* picture book *cough*)

To give up on YA altogether would be missing out on the rich variety of writing that is out there. The perception that there’s no variety in YA isn’t true. Dark and edgy may be popular, and it absolutely deserves its spot on the shelf, but there are plenty of options and variety for people who are seeking something different.

The first roundup is up, so check it out! There are 34 recommendations … enough to get you started with summer reading, for sure!

It will surprise none of you that the section I lingered on most was the one Susan called “libraries.” (*sigh*) The one that particularly caught my eye was the one posted at Libraries and Transliteracy. What struck me about  Transliteracy in Your Summer Reading is that it is something that we can do at home … albeit with a little planning.  My passport won’t be as professionally published, and we won’t have an iPad to give away, but it is clear in reading the post that the kids see the journey as part of the reward and I’m going to hang my hat on that!

Speaking of transliteracy, this week’s Digital Directions (an Education Week e-newsletter) has a special report on multimedia in schools. This link takes you to a wonderful list of resources that cover everything from digitized historical documents to interactive art and music learning. Education Week also offers an “interactive pdf” version of the Multimedia Transformation Report.

At the end of the post, Susan included the movie trailer for The First Grader. I am not a “trailer” viewer, but with this observation from Susan, I knew it was not to be skipped.

Even watching the trailer moves me to tears, and reminds me what a privilege being literate truly is. May your week be joyfully literate!