Thursday Afternoon Visits: March 5

It's been a busy week in the Kidlitosphere. Here are a few of the many posts that caught my eye:

Carol Rasco put up a nice post at RIF in response to my article about encouraging read-aloud. She links to some resources available from RIF to help parents with this, and particularly highlights RIF's Read Along Stories and Songs. Carol says: "We actually get calls from parents—particularly dads it seems—who say this method really allows them to feel participatory and “comfortable” with reading aloud." The Book Chook, in turn, has a response to Carol's post, saying: "I like these stories as yet another method for parents to add to their literacy bag of tricks... I loved RIF, and hope you will too." The Book Chook also has a lovely post about a 10-year-old girl who started her own literacy program.

There's another response to the campaign for read-aloud idea at Turtle Tales and Tips for Teachers, a blog that I discovered recently. Sandra Rands says that not having been read to may well be a reason "why some students continue into high school without learning to read". She also recaps some local projects from her school.

For a success story on the benefits of reading in the classroom (silent reading, in this case), check out this post from Borderland, by Doug Noon. After introducing 30-40 minutes of free reading in his classroom, Doug reports that the kids "make book recommendations to each other. They read at home and before school without being told to, and they tell me they love to read. I even saw one of my students reading a book walking down the hall the other day. It’s going viral." Isn't that cool? Link via Teacherninja.

Charlotte shares a fun literacy promotion activity at Charlotte's Library: wall demolition. During a household construction project, she had the children write letters to put in the walls, for future people to find. I remember something similar from my childhood, writing and drawing on the walls before new wallpaper went up.

Suffering from a bit of review-writing burn-out, Amy from My Friend Amy asks readers: "Do you ever get tired of reviewing books? Do you get more comments on book reviews or other posts?" She's received quite a few comments on this post, that's for sure.

And speaking of book reviews, Liz Burns has a great two-part piece (part 1, part 2) at ForeWord Magazine's Shelf Space about what advance reading copies (ARCs) are, and how they should, and should not, be used. Part 2, in particular, is must read stuff for anyone wondering whether or not it's ok to sell an ARC, or put it into a library collection (no, it's not).

Displaying her usual thoroughness, Carlie Webber takes on an opinion piece from the Tufts University Observer about Falling for Young Adult Literature. She says that the biggest problem with the piece is that "YA literature is held to a different standard than adult literature", adding: "Truth is, there is no wrong way to read. Books mean different things to everyone and everyone reads for a different reason."

And speaking of people's rights to read what they want, Laini Taylor talks about her own relationship with romantic storylines in books. This has generated quite a bit of discussion in the comments, including some recommendations for books that include romantic themes. Also, not sure if I mentioned this before, but Laini recently revealed the cover of the upcoming Blackbringer sequel, Silksinger. I'm a little hesitant to include cover images on my blog when they aren't on Amazon yet, and haven't been sent to me, but you can see it in Laini's blog header. In other cover news, Kristin Cashore has the cover of the ARC of Fire (Graceling prequel) on her blog. Both of these covers are gorgeous.

Alvina takes on the topic of child friendliness in books at Blue Rose Girls. After some discussion, she closes with a question: "have you ever been surprised by a book, either one that you thought would be a no-brainer in terms of kids liking it, but they turned out to not be interested, or vice versa--a book you were pretty sure they would hate, that it turned out that they loved?"

Over at The Spectacle, Parker Peevyhouse asks what will happen to audiobooks in the future, as automatic text to speech functionality in devices like the Kindle 2 improves. I agree with her that while this is a ways off (narrated audiobooks are MUCH more pleasant now), it's something to think about.

Rick Riordan reports (though I heard it first via email from Little Willow), that Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood have both been cast for The Lightning Thief movie. The young man playing Percy looks very much like I would have expected Percy to look (and Rick says so, too), suggesting that it's a good choice.

Finally, some brief highlights about book lists and awards:

• The National Science Teachers Association recently published a list of outstanding science trade books for students. Over at The Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia shares some additional recommendations for 2008 titles that she finds, based on her extensive reading, "outstanding resources in science."
• Elaine Magliaro shares a huge list of resources for National Poetry Month at Wild Rose Reader.
• The 2009 Golden Kite Awards were announced earlier this week. These awards are given by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, honoring their own. Tasha Saecker has the details at Kids Lit. Some of my 2008 favorites are on the list, including A Visitor for Bear, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and (Cybils winner!) I Love My New Toy!.
• Lee Wind has a new printable booklist for GLBTQ teens. He includes "a handful of books in each category to pique interest, with the hopes that people, if they're intrigued, will come to this site to find out more."
• If you'd like your chance to contribute to a booklist, Betsy Bird from A Fuse #8 Production is compiling a list of the Top 100 Picture books. She asks readers to share their personal top 10 favorite picture books of all time (not just recent titles). This one is already generating lots of buzz. Here's the Book Aunt's top 10, for instance.
• Chris Barton shares a list of nonfiction titles about notable siblings (inspired by the subjects of his upcoming book, the Day-Glo Brothers).

And that's all for today. Don't forget to stay tuned for the Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour, starting Monday. 

Comments

[Carol Rasco]

Jen, I had such a great smile over your memory of getting to write on the walls when new wallpaper was being planned at your home. My two sisters and I to this day (we are all over 55) love talking about the period when we got to write on the kitchen wall! We were amazed our parents actually handed us the crayons...I think there is a good children's book hiding in our memories, don't you?

[Carol Rasco]

P. S. I got so excited over the memory of the "wall writing" I failed to remember my manners and say "thank you" for the lovely shout out in this posting. We have had a "run" on the read-aloud stories since I posted about them and both you and Book Chook have mentioned the post.

[Jen Robinson]

Hi Carol, I think that would make an excellent children's book. Definitely a picture book. I could see setting it 50 years ago, and then having the end be a flash-forward to the 50 year later kids who see the pictures when the wallpaper comes down. I'll have to tell my Mom about this discussion - she'll get a kick out of it.

And of course you're welcome for the mention. The Book Chook and I were both quite taken with the read aloud stories. Anything that gives parents more confidence in reading aloud is a winner as far as I'm concerned. I've been really enjoying this discussion!

[Laini Taylor]

Hi Jen! Thanks for the mention. I keep checking Amazon for the cover, but it's not up there yet!

As for the Percy Jackson casting, I haven't read the books, but I got an email invite from a young reader to join a group protesting the casting. Not knowing the characters, I couldn't tell why they were upset, but I did wonder. Ah well, as I recall there was some initial fury about Robert Pattison (name?) and that turned out alright!
:-)

[Charlotte]

Thanks from me too! I agree it would make a cute book.

Maybe before we close our wall up, I'll buy a cheap copy of Wolves in the Walls, and stick it in, inside an archival plastic bag.

[Jen Robinson]

I don't know what's up with the protesting of the casting, either, Laini. I suppose it's a good sign when fans are passionate about a book. But one has to imagine that it would be impossible to please everyone. Anyway, I'll look forward to the official Amazon unveiling of the new cover.

Charlotte, maybe one that book will make it into the world. For now, I love you including Wolves in the Walls in the walls. Excellent!