Children's Literacy Round-Up: January 26

This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub. Terry Doherty has done her usual excellent job in sharing "ideas for helping families raise readers and ... tools that promote literacy."

I especially agree with Terry on this point raised in an article from the Denver Post. The article said that “a study conducted for Reach Out and Read shows that fewer than half of American parents read to their children daily.” (emphasis mine) I'm 100% with Terry that somehow, some way, that statistic has to change. The article (original source Reading Today Daily) about how libraries are helping bring urban calm to Colombia is also fascinating. But please do click through for the full round-up at Terry's. You won't be disappointed.

Comments

[Terry]

Thanks Jen. I debated about delaying publication until the post-Awards buzz died down, but then I realized that with books, conversations can go on a longtime.

[Jen Robinson]

Definitely a valid point, Terry! I think there will be people by the end of the day who are tired of the hooplah already, too.

[Cheryl Rainfield]

Yes--it's so very important for parents to read to their children; I like your pointing that out, Jen. How else will kids learn to love reading?

[Sally Murphy]

Reading to kids is just SO important. Last eyar, when I did some school visits as an author, I asked kids aged between 5 and 12 whetehr they were eietehr read to by an adult now, or whetehr they remembered being read to when they were younger. The results were depressing. Less than half of them, and in some classes only a handful, were being read to, or rememebred being read to.
I'm with you, Jen, it has to change. I wish I knew how.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, Cheryl and Sally. I wish I knew how to change this, too. I feel like in this day and age of blogs and facebook and twitter and all of that, that there has to be a way to get this message out. But how to do that without being annoying ... that I'm not sure. Something to think about, I guess.

[Book Chook]

I hear you on that Jen. Sometimes, it feels as if I'm preaching to the converted. I love being part of this enormous global library of ours, but how can I reach out to the parents who aren't reading to their kids? Why on earth would they visit my blog anyway?

I believe that all we can really do is keep plugging away, keep building the best resources and blog network we possibly can, so that when the people who are a tiny bit interested arrive, it is easy for them to find something that might intrigue them.

My vision is of a frazzled Australian mum with six boisterous kids, who is googling chicken recipes so she can make dinner. She happens on the Book Chook and sees a book review. She remembers the title because it's Horrid Henry and she has an uncle like that. She resolves to borrow it from the library sometime. (And the youngest child goes on to become an avid reader and writes the next Great Australian novel - my visions tend to be schmaltzy!)

[Jen Robinson]

Susan, I am with you 100%. It's a sad irony that most of the people who read our blogs already know this. But all we can do is keep repeating the message over and over again anyway, so that, as you say, it's there if anyone else should happen to stumble upon it.

I am hoping to reach a more broad audience through the blog that I'll be working on for PBS (in addition to, not instead of, this blog). But still ... something in me says that there's more to be done. I'm just not sure what it is. I struggle with the fact that I'm not, philosophically, someone who believes in telling other people what to do. But I feel like if more people understood how important this is, they would CHOOSE to read to their kids. Wouldn't they???

Anyway, thanks for making me smile with the vision of your Australian mum, though. Maybe she'll find Chicken Spaghetti, too (a blog that you really should be reading, if you aren't already).

[Book Chook]

Giggling at this poor Aussie mum wanting chicken and all she gets is books!

You know Jen, I think you have a really high profile on the net. The work you do here at your blog, in your newsletters, your commenting, networking, kidlitosphere - it has all worked to "brand" you so that when someone asks, your name will come up for sure. I know how hard you work to keep this all going, but I hope you realise it really IS paying off, and if anyone can reach those bookless kids, you can.

The PBS blog sounds like a wonderful way of gaining a broader audience.

One kid at a time, Jen.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, Susan! Your comments mean a lot. I didn't mean to sound discouraged. It's more that I just care about this so much that I wish I could make more of a difference. Thanks for the reminder that what we're doing here does make a difference, even if it's slow going.

One kid at a time, indeed. I've really enjoyed our discussion.

[Holly]

I'm a little behind in my Google Reader so I'm late commenting on this. But, it just blows my mind that less than half of American parents read to their kids! Okay, I'm not surprised, just saddened. I cannot believe any parent in the world wouldn't read to their children. How can you not?! But again, my kids have more books than I do. I just don't understand how someone cannot see the importance of reading and books to children. But this is exactly why my girls and I contribute to any book drives we come across that donate books to children.

[Susan Frankenberg]

Reading Aloud to a child for just 10 minutes a day for the first 5 years of life will give him 300 hours of language enrichment. On that first day of kindergarten he enters with a whole lot more than a new backpack!

[Jen Robinson]

I don't know how people can do that either, Holly. But that's why I'm working to spread the word.

Susan, that's a useful statistic, I think. I agree that reading aloud to kids is one of the most important things that caring adults can do!