Tag Archives: reading

Making the Most of the Library

It’s National Library Week! All sorts of celebrations are happening in libraries across the country, including book giveaways, special guest events, and more. Now, it’s no secret that I love libraries. My dad was a librarian for most of his life, my uncle is a librarian, my wife is a librarian, I have lots of librarian friends, and I even worked in a library for over a year and a half.

In fact, it boggles my mind that so many people don’t use their library. There are so many valuable resources at a library useful for children and adults–books; magazines; computers; genealogical material; dvds; audiobooks; music; both fun and educational events and materials; and best of all, the masters of finding whatever information you need, librarians.

Behind that smile lies a mind ready and able to find whatever information you need–even if what you need is the connection between medieval siege warfare and Paris Hilton. Not that I have ever needed that information. No sir.

The public library is a valuable resource for anyone, but particularly parents. Here are a few ways you can use that resource well.

1. Make use of story time. As a parent of a young child, you probably already know about story time, but it still bears repeating. Go to story time. It’s one of the highlights of Sam’s week! He loves going to the library and seeing the librarians and all the other kids that attend. There are songs, games, dances, puppet plays, and of course picture books read by expert readers. It’s great for your children to see and play with other kids, plus they will definitely have fun with the activity itself.

You can enjoy summer reading programs anywhere.

2. Join summer reading. Every public library in America is going to have a summer reading program. These can be great fun for your kids, even if they’re not old enough to read themselves yet. Parents can read to children and participate that way, winning prizes and having fun while enriching their minds. Furthermore, many summer reading programs also include special guests and events for children. There might be a special touring puppet show one week, a concert by a kids musician the next, a magic show the week after that, or even more. One year while I was working at a library, a truck-based aquarium came and parked in our parking lot for the kids to enjoy!

Although they’re not as well known, most public libraries will also hold an adult summer reading program as well. You should definitely participate! There are still prize giveaways, special events, and more for you to enjoy as well, so plan to join in this summer.

3. Ask about other children’s programs. As I just mentioned, libraries have lots of great programs they put on themselves, like story times or summer reading. However, there are even more great opportunities for your child that you might never know about without asking. These could include Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, after school programs, arts enrichment classes, and so much more. It’s a librarian’s job to know about these sorts of things, so ask away!

I don’t think these kids think a library is boring, do you?

4. Socialize. If your idea of a library is a musty place where people will shush you for speaking above a whisper, it’s time to reevaluate your conceptions. Libraries are a great place to meet and talk with new people or just spend a nice afternoon playing a game. Although board games would be a great idea–I’ve got a few suggestions for you too–many libraries now even have video games for kids and adults to play.

5. Check out materials. This may seem obvious, but it bears repeating. Libraries are a great way to find great reading, listening, or viewing material. You can try things you might never have tried before–new genres, styles, authors, musicians, and more. Check out both fiction and non-fiction, books and dvds, audiobooks and music–you never know what you’ll discover, but your life will definitely be better for it.

If you’ve never been to a library, give it a try. Spend some time at your local library this week. Wander through it. Ask a few questions. Check out something new. And above all, remember to thank your librarian. They work hard for you, whether you know it or take advantage of it or not. Enjoy your time there! I know you will.

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REVIEW: Chu’s Day

To finish my month-long series on childhood literacy, I thought there would be nothing better than to look at a great picture book that was just released: Neil Gaiman’s Chu’s Day.

Chu’s Day is the story of a small panda with a big problem. Whenever Chu sneezes, bad things happen. Over the course of the book, Chu appears to be in danger of sneezing a handful of times, first at the library (dusty books), then at the diner where he has lunch (lots of pepper in the air), but it is actually at the circus when nobody is paying attention to Chu that he needs to warn everyone else about his impending calamitous sneeze.

Knowing Gaiman, it would not be outside the realm of possibility for monsters to appear–or more likely, that we realize the worst monsters of all are ourselves–but that doesn’t happen here, and this book stays within a light, cheerful sensibility that any parent can appreciate. The book is designed for very young children, with appropriately simple short sentences and a preeminence given to the artwork.

Speaking of Adam Rex’s artwork, it is beautiful.

One of my favorite images, featuring Chu and his father at a diner

Every page of the book is filled with the gorgeous, deeply colored, and highly characterized art represented on this page. In all seriousness, this is one of the most beautiful picture books I have read. And it only gets more fascinating when Chu finally does sneeze and everything gets blown around!

Of course, it doesn’t really matter how much I like the book. What matters is how much children like the book, and in my particular case, what matters is how much Sam likes the book. Let me tell you, he loves it! We borrowed this from the library and read it regularly while we had it. He is usually pretty good about sitting still and listening to stories, but even so, he did as well with this book as any other book I have ever read to him. What’s more, he seemed to enjoy it every time we read it!

I don’t think I can praise this book highly enough. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors already, but I know this book will be one my whole family will enjoy for years to come, and I have no doubt that it will soon become a classic book read to children for many years to come.

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How to read with your child

Continuing last post, it’s important to recognize not just the importance of reading to your child, but also how to do it effectively. Reading is a skill that has to be learned, and reading aloud to a child is no exception. It’s easy to assume that reading to a child is just like reading to yourself, but there is a lot more to it than that! Reading to a child requires you to be an actor, a teacher, and a friend all at the same time. Let’s take a look at what that means.

Reading as an actor doesn’t mean you need to be like this guy:

Instead, it just means that you have to put some feeling into your reading. It’s very easy to become monotone while you read to a child (particularly when you’re reading a child’s favorite book. Again. For the fifteenth time. This morning.), but they will enjoy the story far more if you try to stay engaged. When something surprising or sad happens, put that into your voice so it matches what is happening on the page. If you feel inspired, try making some special voices for different characters. You might not think you are doing a great job, but I promise your kids will love even the worst attempt at you making a special voice like a turtle!

Similarly, reading as a teacher doesn’t mean you have to teach the moral lesson from the story (if there is one) or diagram the sentences–unless that’s your sort of thing of course. As a former English major, I always approve of diagramming sentences! Instead, I just mean that you should think about what you’re reading and engage with the child. For example, ask the child questions, or answer their questions. For example, you might ask, “What color is that dog?” or “How do you think they feel right now?” or maybe “How many clouds are in this picture?”

Finally, don’t forget to be a friend to your child while you read. There are many times throughout the day where we have to be the adults. We have to make sure children eat well; stay clean, healthy, and safe; and do things children need to do. But while you’re reading, just make the time to enjoy the book and the story together. Laugh together, talk about the story together, go back or jump ahead to a favorite part of the book, even stop reading for the moment if it’s not something that your child is enjoying. This is one time of day where you get to be on the same level as your child. Enjoy it!

These aren’t the only ways of reading with a child, and different books and different children call for different styles. I know that I forget to do these things from time to time as well, and it’s ok if you do too. But I hope these tips will help you think about how you can read to your child more effectively, and ultimately that you will both enjoy reading even more than you already do with these ideas in mind.

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Planning Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

It’s been a while since I last talked about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a fantastic non-profit dedicated to developing childhood literacy by giving children under 5 age-appropriate books at no cost to the children or their families. If you remember, I am working with a group to begin an affiliate in our county in Kentucky, and I wanted to give you all an update.

This project began close to a year ago, when my wife, Emily, and I were talking with someone at church who also happens to work as an early education professor at the local community college. She asked if I would be interested in working with her on a literacy-based event, and I mentioned to her that I was interested in starting the Imagination Library in our community. She had heard of the program before and was excited to bring it to our town as well, but none of us were ready to jump in with both feet yet, since we were still expecting Samuel and in the middle of a school semester.

So, about six months later, we began talking about this again and pulled the children’s librarian at our local public library into the loop, and we began planning in earnest. Our public library’s foundation agreed to be our “champion”–the non-profit entity that officially backs the program–and we began to talk to local business people and other community oriented groups to see who would be interested in serving on our board and donating funds.

This has been tremendously successful, and we even discovered that one of our local rotary clubs was already working on starting the program themselves! We quickly and happily joined forces and funds and we are now planning a kick-off event for May, when we begin enrollment.

We have a great deal of support from our local public library, rotary clubs, and chamber of commerce, plus we have begun talking to local businesses and government officials to continue raising funds and awareness of the program. I tell you this partly because I am so excited about our prospects and how this has progressed so quickly, but also to encourage you to become involved in your own local affiliate, or found one yourself. This is not terribly hard. People get excited about the program, in part because it’s so great on it’s own terms, but also because it’s an easy sell: Give kids books.

Here in southern Kentucky, we’re excited about what we’re doing, and I guarantee that people will be/are excited about in your area too. Let me know if you have any questions by commenting below, and I encourage you to share literacy with the children in your life today.

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