Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundup

As you HOPEFULLY have seen, Jen Robinson is hosting the mid-October Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundup! This twice-monthly shapshot of all things literacy is brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page, Rasco from RIF, and me.

Oy vey! My blogging partners are going to fire me if I don’t get my act together … and as excuses go, I think the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards is a pretty good one. We had a flurry of new nominees late last week just before the nomination period on Saturday. I am thrilled to report that my Easy Reader / Early Chapter Book panel is now settling in to read 35 Easy Readers and 38 Early Chapter books … and I’m still trying to find a few of the titles so I can follow along!

So what else is happening in the literacy and reading world? So glad you asked …

Jen found a really cool piece about a free library in Germany. In an article for the Associated Press, Kirsten Grieshaber describes this part-lending/part-bartering system for finding and recommending books.

Reading is FUNdamental (RIF) is about to turn 45! You can bet there is going to be one great celebration of reading on November 3 when RIF officially turns 45 on November 3. It’s going to be a virtual birthday party with none other than Lilly of purple plastic purse fame! My calendar is marked – is yours?

It seems that over the past few months, there is a growing “voice” for the need to reach parents who struggle with literacy. Reading Works, a joint effort of the Detroit Free press and several other organizations is one example of several initiatives to create readers of all ages. I loved the quote Jen excerpted: “Adult literacy is inextricably tied to child literacy. Parents who can’t read don’t read to their children, don’t fill their houses with books, and can’t be that all-important first teacher who not only builds young literacy skills but submerges kids in a world of words and sentences, bindings and pages.”

Brenda Powers’ Big Fresh, the Choice Literacy Newsletter is always filled with great content … much of which she shares with all of us, not just members. Here are two items that came in this weekend that I particularly loved …

Cathy Mere shared her list of Books Struggling Readers Can and Will Want to Read; and
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan show how the “why and watch me” strategy can make the abstract concrete for struggling readers.

Thanks for reading, and for caring about children’s literacy. Carol will be back at the end of September at Rasco from RIF with the next roundup, but I’m sure that Jen will have tidbits for you in the meantime at Jen Robinson’s Book Page. You can also find us talking literacy on Twitter and Google+.

Things will be quiet in the Tub this week, as I am out and about doing my other volunteer work for a Women’s Health Initiative.