My fascination with books started early; in the summers of the 70’s, I would look forward to the bi-weekly visits of the Bookmobile to my tiny Wisconsin town. I guess it was literary outreach for the distant corners of the county with no library branches. (Do bookmobiles even still exist?)
This beloved bookmobile would park in the bank parking lot a short walk from my house. I can picture the inside of that Rolling Bus of Books as clearly as any other memory of my childhood. In retrospect, it is amazing how many pounds of books a 57 lb. girl could carry home by herself. The titles themselves aren’t as clear in my memory; I read so many books, back to back, that they eventually became onelongsummerstory.
It is possible that I should have spent more time playing outside with real people.
Fast forward to another century, and my fascination for children’s books has not faded. Before my kids were born, I was collecting books for read-alouds and looking-throughs. Books that had received the Caldecott Medal for Illustration always seemed like a good place to start. Then started the early readers and beginning chapter books. Soon, I was collecting Newbery Medal winners and Newbery Honor Books. Oh, the world of YA novels! There is a great list of award winning titles here, including 1922-present. Of course, sometimes I will pick out children’s books simply because the title, or the cover art, or the subject will jump to be chosen. Many of our most-thumbed copies have no award other than “Our Favorites”. There are so many organizations that recognize talented children’s book authors and illustrators; peruse this list to see many more. Buy books for kids!
My kid book library is now quite extensive. I am so lucky and proud to have voracious readers of my own. As they grow older, it is still a joy to share books with them, albeit in a new way (they read the book first, then recommend it to me). Someday we will have to decide which books they want to keep for their own libraries, and which ones we will donate. Or, maybe, I could be the little old lady driving my own bookmobile…?
My cuckoo clock went bananas. Every day, I am supposed to reset the winding mechanism by pulling the chains to the top, where they slowly wind down and through some miracle of clock-making, make it run all day (even if it does not keep proper time).
The state tournament for the FIRST Lego League Robotics program was this past weekend in Dayton, Ohio. I coached an elementary school team this past fall (rookie coach + first time team = probably not the ideal choice). I did not plan to be a Lego Robotics coach; I did not attend the back-to-school “information meeting”, which was probably my first mistake. I did not know it was the Coach Nomination Meeting. Had I been there, I could have provided an animated and persuasive argument for why I was NOT the person to take on a team, no matter how badly the school needed just one more parent volunteer coach. After all, I made it through a decade of legos strewn around the carpet of my home without ever developing the tiniest inkling to actually build something out of them myself. As it was, I sent my engineery husband instead. I promise you, this was the logical choice, given the two people involved: hmmm, let’s see… science, technology, math, engineering, team emphasis, coaching experience — he was perfect!
Because when it all came down to it, here’s the deal: the organization has an impressive mission, and one that I want to celebrate. The FIRST Lego League Robotics Program provides kids an alternative avenue to hear the cheers of a crowd. Of course, youth athletics are an outstanding, well-recognized way to learn teamwork, dedication and the payoff of hard work; but there are other alternatives for kids to learn equally valuable life skills, and this program is one of them. The vision expressed on the FIRST Lego League website from founder Dean Kamen — “To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes” — says a lot in a world where sports heroes are repeatedly shown to be great athletes, but not necessarily great role models for kids. Any chance we have as parents to develop and challenge the whole child, whether through athletic or academic programs, is worth celebrating. Having experienced a gymnasium packed full of fans cheering loudly — about teamwork-based science! — it is an exciting scene to witness.
I’m proud to have been a part of the whole thing. My team, Team G.E.E.K., did not qualify for the recent state tournament, but we sure had fun. (Not that that means that I am already volunteering for next year, because I am not ready to commit…) By the way, our G.E.E.K stood for Global Energy Engineering Krew. At first, the kids were not sure about being known as “geeks”, but they soon embraced the slogan that “geek is the new cool”. It’s OK to be smart and other kids can and will respect you for it.
jane, candid 