Pete the Cat strikes again.

As frequent blog readers know, I love a good Read Together book.

I introduced a client to Pete last week and sent her off with the book for some weekend fun.

When I saw her this morning, the child’s smile was enormous.

“I read Pete the Cat this weekend.” she said.

“Oh good.” I responded.

I wasn’t surprised. That is, after all, the point of a Read Together book. The grown up reads the bulk of the book but the child is able to read along with decodable or repeated text.

“No.” she said. “I read the whole thing!”

So we say right down and I opened the cover, ready to help her read.

But there was no need. The sweet little things read the whole darn book with only the tiniest bit of help.

Clearly buoyed up the confidence of reading together, my little friend and her mother read Pete the Cat again and again and again. Until she was able to read the whole thing by herself.

Did she essentially memorize the text? Yes. But with some instruction and finger pointing, was she able to use her new found knowledge of beginning letter sounds and sight words to demonstrate some true reading skills when memory failed her? Yes.

And that right there is the point of Reading Together books, repeated reading, a fun story and a likable character.

Thanks Pete!

 

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I often save ideas for future blog posts on scraps of paper, in the back of a notebook, or at risk of loosing said idea, in my head.

Just the other day, I remembered an idea I had for a post about our local independent children’s bookstore.

I go to Books, Bytes and Beyond often under the guise of buying gifts for the girls to bring with them to birthday parties. While I do this, I also get to browse the aisles and pour over new titles. But even better, I get to talk with the staff and hear their recommendations, the books that make them laugh out loud or keep them up late in the night reading.

Just the other day when I was there, one of the sellers said, “And of course, you know about the Fancy Nancy chapter book.”

Uhm. No I don’t. For all the reading I do of blogs and journals somehow I had missed this. A Fancy Nancy chapter book.

Genius really. All those little girls who grew up loving Fancy Nancy are now ready to read independently. Enter Nancy Clancy, mystery solver extrodinaire. While I believe that the writing was better in the picture books, the story held Katherine’s attention and mine. It was fun to watch a character who we had known only over 32 pages expand her personality in the chapter book form.

So just as I was thinking about my pro-indpendent bookstore post, I get an e-mail from my most amazing friend, Jules of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast about Ann Patchett, author of my latest favorite book, State of Wonder. She told me about the wonderful independent bookstore that Patchett opened in Nashville upon the closing of two bookstores in their town. It had become an independent bookstore kind of day.

To read about Patchett’s decision to open a store in the face of multiple store closures, click here. And really, what a brave women.  According to the American Booksellers Association of Booksellers, there are now 1900 independent bookstores as opposed to the 2400 stores in 2002. Why would someone open a store?

The reasons she gives for opening Parnassus Books are compelling.

My favorite though is this:

Ms. Patchett said that she is counting on her store to drive home a sharp, tough-love message to book lovers: buy books at independent stores, or the stores will go away.

And then there are the reasons she gives during an interview on the Colbert Report. Priceless. Definitely worth watching.

So off you go. Read the article, watch the video and then find your local independent bookstore and get shopping… Ann Patchett says so.

 

 

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The spring sports season is getting the best of me. Between travel soccer, recreational softball and kindergarten t-ball, our evenings are busy with practices and our weekends with games.

I realized the other day, that our library bag has sat empty for a few weeks for the first time since the girls were born. We haven’t sat on the couch and worked through stacks of new books. We haven’t interrupted play time to hear that one, “just one more time.” We haven’t talked about our favorite new character over breakfast.

I already knew that this was a problem. Then I read a compelling post that made me realize I have to stop knowing this is a problem and do something about it.

Thanks to Jen Robinson, Carol Rasco and Terry Doherty‘s amazingly wonderful Children’s Literacy and Reading News Round-Up, I was directed to this post.

The post highlights a study conducted by  the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The study states that

children whose parents regularly read aloud with them in the first year of primary school performed substantially better in reading at age 15 than children whose parents rarely, if ever, read to them. The results underscore the need for effective family engagement strategies as part of any plan to improve children’s language and literacy development.

And of additional interest is the fact that

even when comparing students of similar socio-economic backgrounds, those students whose parents regularly read books to them when they were in the first year of primary school score 14 points higher, on average, than students whose parents did not…

Sure sounds like I need to take my own medicine and start prioritizing reading again…

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Last week, Caroline took her first standardized test. For four days, her mornings were full of reading and writing passages and multiple choice questions. Fortunately, all the children came out of the testing feeling confident in their performance. Many of them, my daughter included, rather liked the week because it meant no homework.

However, Caroline hadn’t felt so positive in the weeks leading up to the testing. Precisely because our amazing school has a fantastic reading and writing program, the students required explicit instruction in test taking. For example, the students needed to learn how to write a passage in 30 minutes not over days as they, and real writers, often do.

One night, the week before the test, through tears, Caroline said, “Mom. Reading and writing used to be fun. Now it’s not at all.”

I feel relatively lucky because our school takes only a few weeks out of the year for test preparation. There are many schools in our nation, those at risk of failing, who are forced to spend nearly their entire year prepping their students for state tests. These students have no sense of comparison between the good days of reading and the bad. It is all bad.

Sigh.

I had almost blocked this whole terrible conversation out of my mind, when the latest copy of Language Arts, a journal of the National Council of Teachers of English arrived yesterday. Within it’s covers is an article titled, “Reclaiming Pleasure in the Teaching of Reading.”

Big sigh.

Something seems pretty obvious to me. If we don’t change something about our education system, and change it fast, we are at risk. We are at risk of losing a generation of teachers and worse, a generation of readers and writers.

Big huge sigh.

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Sometimes I know we, as adults, make things really complicated.

On the way to school this morning, Katherine and her two carpools friends were in a super silly mood. The two in front were sharing high fives and making faces at each other when I caught the eye of the one in back row on his own. He was looking pretty sad. But only for a moment.

Katherine said, “Hey. Come play with us.”

And all was right in the world.

Really, it’s all anyone wants. To be included. To be part of the fun.

How simple.

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If for some reason you have not yet read State of Wonder, clear you day and read it. I mean it.

The writing is gorgeous and the story if gripping.

I had borrowed this book when it first came out after loving Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto. Somehow, at that time, I didn’t finish it in time to get it back to the library. How I read this book slowly that first time, I just don’t know. It’s funny, isn’t it, how books can be different to different people at different times?

Fortunately, State of Wonder is my book club book this month so I began reading it again last week.

I didn’t pause enough to underline very often but here’s one quote to give you a taste…

There was no one clear point of loss. It happened over and over again in a thousand small ways and the only truth there was to learn was that there was no getting used to it.

Now go, clear your day and read.

 

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I had set a goal to blog every week day. And I was there. I really was. And then our entire family got the stomach flu. Young and old alike. And then, and then, and then…

Because, I don’t want to let another day go by and because I just don’t have time to write anything new, I am going to do my next favorite thing. Post a book list.

Summer book lists are coming out and Horn Book, my favorite children’s lit magazine has posted theirs. Click here to find great summer reading for children and grown ups- if you’re a grown up who reads children’s lit, of course…

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A carpool book club has begun.

Katherine dropped her book bag out of her backpack on the way to school this morning and so began the carpool book club.

Katherine read aloud two books about Tiny the dog and a true discussion followed. Katherine and her six and four old companions talked about why Tiny was named Tiny when he is, in fact, huge. They talked about how Tiny is a lot like Clifford. And they laughed at Tiny’s antics.

Not a bad way to start the day if you ask me…

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My sister in law called me this week with a great question. Which is better for kids? The Nook or the Kindle?

Her school district allows children to bring e-readers to school so she is debating which to get for her boys. Now, a topic for another day would be all the amazing forward thinking things my nephews’ school district does with technology but as I said, another day…

When I use an e-reader, it’s a Kindle but I realized I honestly didn’t know which was better for children. I turned to all my favorite tech blogs and am still confused.

So… I’m going to put this one out there to my readers. Any experience with e-readers for children? And if you are a reader but not a commenter, feel free to e-mail me instead.

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I think you will be hard pressed to find a children’s lit blog that does not feature the death of Maurice Sendak.

While I have always loved Where the Wild Things Are and all other things Sendak, I somehow did not realize what a part of me he was until I learned of his death. I heard the news on MSNBC on XM Satellite in the middle of a show about politics. And I almost had to pull over. How had the The Wild Things man died?

I have spent a lot of the day trying to figure out why this whole thing is so important to me and I think I finally get it. Maurice Sendak had become a rock star in the world of children’s literature. Almost everyone knew his name. When he was on The Colbert Report recently, clips of the interview went viral.

In today’s day when it seems reality tv stars and people who are famous simply for being famous command so much of the airway, I love knowing that Maurice Sendak, a children’s author, was a household name. I love knowing that he was loved.

And I can’t help but imagine Max and all the Wild Things welcoming him with open arms right now…

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