Tag Archives: books

open the windows

11 Monday May 2009

Posted by in good reads, Motherhood, Photography

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CBW09_PosterToday marks the beginning of Children’s Book Week, May 11 – 17.  What a perfect week to celebrate the tradition of reading with our children and out loud to our children.  Surprise them with a new book from library or for them to keep!  (Ideally, let’s make our purchase at an independent bookseller — they need our support.)

Click the tab “For Kids” on the website, and find a downloadable bookmark and door hanger designed by artist Dan Yaccarino; and story starters by authors such as Mary Pope Osborne, Barbara Park, Jon Scieszka and more — they provide the opening paragraph to encourage younger kids to write their own tales.

Teens are encouraged to write their own book reviews and post them.

From the Children’s Book Council:

“A celebration of the written word, Children’s Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes and bookstores. Through Children’s Book Week, the Children’s Book Council encourages young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books.”

Even GeekDad, a Wired Magazine blog, is on board.  I love their tagline, “raising geek generation 2.0”.  Read on, geekdads!

This is also the week that the Children’s Book Council announces the winners of the Children’s Choice Awards.  The list of books nominated for the Children’s Choice Awards is broken out by age group, through teens.

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I love books.

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Reading opens new windows into the world for all of us.

window to another place

biblioburro

04 Monday May 2009

Posted by in good reads

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I have a warm spot in my heart for the bookmobile of my youth.  To me, it was a rolling candy store, a literary ice cream truck without the canned music and creepy tattooed guy handing out melted treats.  Just a nice lady with loads of books.  Yum!

This quiet video made me smile, with the story of one man and his mission to bring books to even the most remote areas of Columbia.

Luis Soriano has two donkeys, 4800 books, and what must be a big heart.  Biblioburro, a truly off-road bookmobile.  Because every child needs books to read, and someone to read to them.

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bookish

16 Monday Mar 2009

Posted by in good reads, Motherhood, seasons

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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…?