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The Children’s Librarian: A Necessity, Not a Luxury is one of those articles that urges me to declare: I couldn’t say it any better myself! Please take the time to read it and pass it on to those who might not quite “get” what a children’s librarian is all about.
A few comments:
- I love how Blackrose includes children’s librarian in the category of “Early Childhood Professionals!” That’s what we are and what we will continue to be more and more in the years to come (as long as communities keep us employed and library schools provide the proper training).
- Speaking of training, I want to brag on two of our library schools here in Denver, Emporia State University (where I teach the children’s services class and built it around child development) and Denver University, which just began an early childhood library fellows program within its MLS.
- And I can’t help but brag a bit more: Unlike in Australia, my class does include storytime and storytelling training, even down to how to use your voice properly so you don’t burn it out over the years.
And a wonderful quote from Blackrose:
“But public libraries are also about people. Statistics do not reflect the contentment of shared reading experiences, the satisfaction of successful social interactions, the excitement of appropriate group responses, the wonder of discovery, the joy of connected learning. These are what public library storytimes provide through the work of the children’s librarian. “
In less than 24 hours, I’ve had two people thank me for my help: One was a young mom of five children who was so frustrated with homeschooling she was ready to quit. She brought the kids to the library that day, and while I don’t recall our time together, she says it made all the difference.
The other was a grandmother who has started a library of children’s books on death, dying, and grief in her nursing home for residents and family members (isn’t that a neat idea!). She asked me for suggestions. Today she came in with tears in her eyes to tell me about how one book was perfect for a grandmother and her grandchild who had had a school friend die.
We can make such a difference if we are given the time and support to do so!
Thanks to Morgan Schatz Blackrose for such a thoughtful review of what a good children’s librarian is all about!
Talk with you decision makers. Let them know what your children’s librarian has done for you and your family,
Babette
Like this:
I’m not wild about computers and children. It’s up there with TV as one more
screen that it’s just too easy to sit a kid down in front of. Yet there are times when kids want to play and they want to play on the computer.
It’s especially hard to find “places” where little ones can go and can “do something” successfully, just like older kids. CLEL.org pointed me to the site Chateau Meddybemps and it looks like a winner.
The home page is here but I like this page where there are picture links to all the activities. You can also see what skill each activity encourages. Many of them are language, math, and thinking based.
As you visit around in the site, notice how often comments encourage playing, keeping things fun, moving on when tired, and doing things together with your child. If one follows those guidelines and keeps time online limited, Meddybemps can be a fun place to visit.
Have fun,
Babette
You know it’s going to happen. Sometime over the holidays, when you just 
can’t do, play, or eat anymore, someone’s going to sit down with their laptop and start playing videos.
I know it happens at our house. And we do have a good time with it. And believe it or not, it can be good family time between generations and even good literacy building time.
How, when there is no reading going on? Family building and literacy building can both happen if the viewings spur conversation.
So here are a few that are fun, intergenerational, and sure to get everyone talking.
Laurel and Hardy Meet Santana: Oh my, how this made me laugh! What a generational mash-up!
Around the Corner: Motorcycle acrobatists and differential gears? What? Just watch it; honest, it’s worth the minutes.
Why the Other Line Moves Faster: If you’ve found yourself stuck in impossible lines this season, this will throw a whole ‘nother light on it. (I make no promises that it will make the experience better though.)
Star Wars vs. Star Trek: On oldie but a goodie.
Twelve Days of Christmas/Africa: My favorite holiday or anytime group and one of my favorites of their songs. This is the original 1998 version.
Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, may your holidays be blessed! See you in the new year!
Babette
It’s taken several weeks to get the following posted, but I’m afraid getting storytimes back on track and finding my desk again under the piles took precedence! 
I presented More than Eensy Weensy Spider: Early Literacy Storytimes and Your Library at the Association for Rural and Small Libraries conference in October in Denver. With an understanding of the basics of early literacy, it’s possible for any library, of any size, to adapt their current storytimes into early literacy storytimes–with no extra staffing, time, or money needed.
The links will take you to presentation slides and the handouts. Handouts include addresses for all the links used in the presentation, books referenced for each early literacy skill, references for statistics used, planning sheets for two age groupings, and a flow chart to show the changes from “regular” to “early lit”.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to drop me an email. And permission is granted to use and share for educational purposes with credit given.
Hope these are a help!
Babette
Here’s an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal on the gap between boys and girls in reading and what to do about it.
I, like Mr. Spence, am the parent of boys, both voracious readers at ages 14 and 21. They have always been 
readers. And my experience matches with the “science” he quotes. They both have grown up with strong limits on screen times, be that TV, video games, computer time, or handheld screen games.
Screens are very easy to turn to as a kid when you’re bored and don’t know what to do. Finding something to do takes some time rattling around. Eventually if the house is full of constructive “stuff” (blocks, pots and pans, legos, dress up clothes including swords and capes, books, etc.), they will find something to do. I found it takes about 20 minutes.
They will not choose these other things, though, if screens are always available first. Especially boys. (I believe there is something different about boys and their brains that makes screens especially attractive to them.)
Mr. Spence leaves out a few important points though.
First, reading at early ages must be enjoyable. That means not insisting (or even asking) that your boy hold still and be very quiet while you are reading together. Boys are wigglers and squirmers and little noise makers. They can still listen while doing all this. My youngest at age seven was still falling off the back of the sofa during our reading times. He also could tell me everything I had just read aloud to him.
When an experience is pleasant, enjoyable, or fun, we as humans want to do it more. When we fuss at boys while reading, they associate the fussing with the reading and who wants to be fussed at? So no more reading. When we ask boys to do something they physically are incapable of at that developmental point in time, we put them in an untenable position. Who wants to be in that place? So no more reading.
We set the stage for loving reading early, early on, well before a boy ever starts school just by those simple actions, words, and attitudes from the adults boys want so much to please.
Second, I’m with Mr. Spence on the mistaken reliance upon grossology. Yet without stooping to it, there are books that boys like better. Most girls will sit and listen or will read most anything they are handed. Most boys will not. At least not until they are hooked on reading.
Boys like action. They like “big things” whether those are trucks or explosions. They like voyages, adventures, struggles, quests, and good vs. evil. They like heroes, monsters, and legends. They like to know how things work. They like dinosaurs and guns; they make them feel powerful and boys must learn over time what power is about. They like stories that show boys learning to be their best and boys becoming men–as long as that is not the point of the story; the story must come first. They like stories about boys doing the things they would like to–climbing trees, building rafts, getting chased by bulls, and generally getting into innocent trouble.
Turn off the screens. Get good “boy” books in your house. Get your adult attitudes out of the way. And watch your boy grow into a reader.
Here’s to reading for all, including those marvelous boys!
Babette
Some things we want for our kids: 
- That they are healthy,
- That they are learners and thinkers, and
- That they can form good relationships.
That’s a short list. It looks pretty simple–until you start thinking about how to make it so especially in today’s world.
Yet it is simple.
Give them:
- good food,
- good exercise,
- time with caring adults, preferably parents.
- And make some of that time be with stories and books.
Well, yeah, you’re saying. But it can’t be that simple!
Many things in life are simple. But life throws so much at us–distractions, busyness, even real problems.
Children still need what children need. It may be simple but it’s also so important. As a culture, we have a hard time holding simple and important together in our minds and lives. If it’s important, it has to be complicated and difficult and very, very time consuming–maybe even expensive!
Just simple and important. Give your kids food, exercise, and loving care.
(Here’s a terrific article from NYT on kids, exercise, and “brain power,” well worth the read.)
Feeling a bit like Pooh Bear,
Babette
One area of children’s books that often gets overlooked by parents and librarians is the emotional. Being a kid and growing up have never been easy. Trying to help a kid be a kid and navigate its particular waters has never been easy.
We forget as adults how hard it was to figure it all out. We forget that it’s all new for kids. And we forget that learning takes time and takes multiple tries. What is this feeling I feel? What do I call it and what do I do with it? If there’s a problem here to be solved, how do I do that? If it’s not something to be solved, how do I live through it? How do I process, understand, and make some meaning out of what’s happening to me?
It may be as “simple” as learning all the in’s and out’s of potty training (think about it, it involves way more than just getting it in the pot–there’s hand washing and door closing and seat lifting and on and on). It might be as “complex” as learning to cope with the death of a parent.
To a child, it’s all new, it all takes time, and it all can be supported by a book.
I’m always on the look-out for books that are authentically supportive of kids and their learnings, transitions, and struggles. I discovered the blog, Books That Heal, yesterday and look forward to following its reviews and tapping it for ideas for books for my library’s collection and my community’s kids.
Be Aware,
Babette
from Cincinnati.Com, Reading Gap Can Be Closed: lots of good, mostly research based, ideas and tips for parents, librarians, and teachers.
from OregonLive.Com, How to Prepare Your Toddler for Reading: summary of early literacy tenets.
from The Globe and Mail, Letting Students Choose Books: to require classics or not?, best of the article is found midway.
from Science Daily, Words Influence Infants’ Cognition: the power of words in the first three months of life.
Be Thoughtful!
Babette
I did better than average on this quiz concerning Google searches, but I also learned a few things I didn’t know.
It’s quick to take and would be handy for teachers, school librarians, and homeschoolers to use for a lesson on search engines.
Happy Searching,
Babette
President’s Day this week reminded me of this gem I’ve never posted. Click here.
(Yes, I know Ben Franklin was never a President but he was pretty much everything else. 
And he did run with that crowd.)
But there’s more here than Franklin. I dare you to read all the way through and not smile, feel proud, or be inspired.
After relishing those feelings, read it aloud to your kids. Let them share in the good vibes. And if something strikes their fancies, go find a book about it at your library!
Read on!
Babette
In case you’ve missed it, the Winter Olympics open tomorrow, Friday the 
12th. While I enjoy the Summer Olympics, the Winter Games always leave me with my mouth hanging open. Whether it’s the ski jumps, the snowboarding, or the figure skating, “How do they do that?” blurts from my mouth every few minutes. While the athleticism is as great, I just don’t have the same reaction with track and field in the summer.
To this day, though, I still can’t explain how ice skates work. And this NBC site for learning about the science behind the events shows me that there’s more to learn about than just ice skates. SLJ has a write-up here that gives an overview of all the NBC site has to offer. Video-based, it should be fun for families to visit during breaks in the coverage.
Here’s to the wonder!
Babette
There are some movies I remember watching as a kid that I just didn’t “get.” 
Why? Because I was too young. Remember, this was in the days before videos and dvd’s. If you wanted to see a movie, you went to the theatre. And if your mother, father, or grandmother wanted to see a movie, you went too (well, most of the time. I couldn’t get my teenage aunt to let me go with her and her date to see Valley of the Dolls).
So off to the movies I went! And most of what I saw before the age of ten left me with nothing but a vivid image or two. And left me feeling pretty clueless. Here’s a partial list:
- Sound of Music (all I remembered was the graveyard scene)
- Planet of the Apes (all I remembered was the Statue of Liberty at the end)
- Thunderball (watched this one in my pj’s from the back seat of a VW at the drive-in; all I remembered was the cool underwater scooter-thingies)
- Gone with the Wind (all I remembered was the scene before intermission with the rotten carrot)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (I remembered a little more: apes and bones, and the cool talking tv/phone)
What’s this got to do with kids and reading? Conversation, of course! (Hang with me a minute more.)
I have never forgotten the cool talking tv/phone thingie in 2001 over all these years. And in fact, every single time I use Skype to talk with my college kid, I think of it! It still amazes me that we are using something, and using it for free, that was in a movie I saw when I was seven! And it stuck with me then and over all these years (a lot of years, trust me, I know, I have a birthday this week) because it was so fantastic, amazing, and almost unimaginable!
Just a few years later, in 1972, Geoffrey Hoyle, a sci-fi writer of the day, wrote a children’s book, 2010: Living in the Future. And Daniel Sinker has a copy of it, still, and has kindly placed every page online where you can read it with your kids. Click here.
And talk. Lots. About the past. About now. About the future.
About what it was like when you were a kid. About what has changed. And what hasn’t.
About what remarkable things have happened since you were a kid their age. They’ll eat it up. It’s fun for all. (And pssst, you’re building literacy and thinking skills at the same time. But don’t tell them.)
Have fun!
Babette
My Usborne web order page
Your Words