My Winter Reading Challenge

Two years ago, in a frenzy of good intentions, I listed 10 goals on my Winter Reading Challenge sheet. Big mistake! This year I have one, simple reading resolution: Slow down!  I’m currently reading Slow Reading in a Hurried Age by David Mikics, distinguished faculty member at the University of Houston. Slow Reading is a guidebook that lists 14 rules to better reading and includes tips on how to read short stories, novels, poetry, and plays. It's addressed to people who love books and want to get the most out of reading them. I’m only on page 39—remember, I’m trying to read slowly—but, so far, I’m hooked.

Mikics's prose is accessible and his message timely. “It’s easy," he writes, "to fill the day (when you’re not working, doing chores, or talking to friends, family, and coworkers) by surfing the Internet, skimming the headlines of news stories, and checking e-mail—not to mention television and video games."  This online grazing, he asserts, is not real reading. "Scanning an e-mail or a text message is fundamentally different from the activity of reading. . . . Reading is a craft, a practice." Slow Reading in a Hurried Age offers a concrete program to help people tune out digital distractions and become better readers. You can listen to Mikics talk about his book on WNYC.

Stop by the reference desk in Teen & Adult Services, on the second floor, to sign up for the Library's 2015 Winter Reading Challenge and receive a free book!

Introducing….Donna!

A little lady with a lot of heart!

 For those of you who are frequent Library visitors (and we hope that means you!), you may have seen this friendly face shelving media on the second floor every Monday and Wednesday.  Donna is just one of our many wonderful volunteers who graciously donate their time to help out at the Library. 

Donna has been volunteering here for over 3 years!   What keeps her coming back?  She says that it is the people who work here, and the people she comes in contact with, that she enjoys the most.   Some of her other interests include listening to music - “Any, in moderation,” she says - and dancing to salsa music.  If you are lucky enough, you may be able to strike up a conversation with Donna at the Library or get her to show you a few of her salsa steps.   Donna enjoys reading and frequently checks out library books to read aloud to her friend Angie who resides in a memory care unit.  Amazingly, she also finds time to participate in the ZUMC choir.

All of our terrific volunteers will be recognized later this month at a luncheon in their honor.  Last year, Donna was given special recognition as she logged the most hours among all of our volunteers!

Feeling motivated to volunteer now?  For more information, look at our volunteer opportunities page here.  There are a wide assortment of opportunities to suit your interests and time availability.   Simply fill out the application and return it to us.  We would love to have you join our team as volunteers really do make a difference!

I don’t know about you, but when I grow up, I want to be just like Donna!

 
By Jackie J.

Distracted Walkers! Youths "Cited" Reading Books

Books, cell phones and e-Readers can cause youths and adults to walk with that familiar head tilt  and casual pace. One mom shared, "Emily's friends thought it was funny watching her pace up and down the side walk trying to finish a book to record for summer reading".  I have seen people reading a lot while waiting in lines, around the library, exercising, and at parks! They are reading books in print, on phones or e-Readers. Our summer reading statistics and survey confirmed my hunch that more children read this summer than last summer. If you were not able to promote much reading at home this summer then maybe you can learn some tips from "big readers" who answered our survey.

We experienced record high participation in our summer reading program "Let's Read 50!". The drought and high temperatures may have influenced kids choice of free time activity. The freedom to choose an attainable goal of 50 books, hours or days generated excitement. Regardless of what motivated participation I would love to see if teachers notice improved reading scores of these returning students and  if the routines of reading continue on passed our program ending in July.

A Wall of 731 Big Readers Reaching "50" Hours, Books, or Days!

We have survey results from over 10 percent of the 1,770 participating this summer.We asked parents of "big readers" to share their tips on promoting reading at home. The following are some excellent reminders and new ideas.  If your child is struggling and not interested in reading, try some of these ideas from your library friends so that they may be "cited" reading.

• Be excited about reading with your child! Read together and make it your special time together.
• Have a set time each day for reading. We read before nap or bed to relax our 3 1/2 year old. Let the child pick the book(s) they are interested in.
• I keep books out in the open and in different rooms so they can can just grab a book and read, ask to be read to, or look at the pictures.
• I make sure to keep books right beside the toys. Where there is a basket of toys, there is a basket of books right next to it. I think that this has made them "play" objects for my son and I think this easy access has contributed to his being interested in sitting and looking through his books on his own during the day during his play times. Also, the importance of reading before bedtime cannot be stressed enough! I think this quite time with books and parents at the end of the day has really helped develop my son's attention span for books and stories over time.
• In the evenings, before bedtime, we read together as a family. Each of our children is allowed to choose a certain number of picture books (normally up to 4 each, but this number can be reduced during the day for undesired behaviors). Following our family reading time, each child usually has "extra" reading time, also, until their appointed bedtime; this is when our older child reads chapter books alone and when we work with our younger child on making some progress working one-on-one with leveled readers.
• Just set the timer (20 min) and make it routine. Sometimes she keeps reading past the time we set.
• Let them see you as an adult read. Read to them daily. Go to the library often. Have plenty of books, newspapers and magazines available. As a treat, go to the book store and let them choose a book to buy. Take books on trips in the car.
• must read before you play. each child read aloud to me once a week. discover a series and set the goal of finishing the series for the summer, determine how much to read each day and check off the days, celebrate the end of each book with special meal.
• My boys (ages 3 and 5 yrs old) have been listening to audiobooks the last 30 minutes to 1 hour before bed as a "settle down time" prior to bed time. It helps especially during the summer months when daylight hours are so long! They listen to the stories (Magic Tree House, James and the Giant Peach, Geronimo Stilton, and the Read, Listen & Wonder nonfiction books and CD sets from Candlewick Press) and play quietly in their rooms. They love their audiobook time and as a mom, so do I, since it makes bedtime easier and more enjoyable for all!
• My daughter brings books on errands in the car. It's a great way to pass the time for her. Our daughter also owns mini back packs of different sizes that let her bring along her stuff, including lots of books, no matter where we go. Also, although she can read books herself now, we read to her at night still. There's nothing that can replace time with mom or dad reading a book to her ... still.
• No matter what they are currently "into" check out or buy some books on the subject. It is fairly easy w/Google to find crafts and/or science experiments to go with any book they are reading. Books before movies Rewards for reading at home
• Put books in places that are easily accessible to them. We have a habit of reading before bed and before naps. We actively look for books on topics that my son is interested in.
• Read a chapter or book before bed or for quiet time each day. Write down your child's experiences into story form from age 3 and encourage them to keep a journal.
• Read to them when they are babies and they will continue to want to read when they are older!
• Read to them, let them see you read, make books available even if it's only for picture-viewing or tactile experience (babies)
• Read what they enjoy. That might mean reading "That Bad Bad Cat" every night for two months. You may be able to read it in your sleep. It may be dreadfully tiring. But letting them read what they want will help foster a love for reading. Truly, they will eventually tire of the same book too.
• read yourself, read to your children, ask them to read to you. Listen to them read even if it is not of interest to you. Talk about the stories they read. Ask them to read leaflets and flyers or menus to you.
• Set a timer as a goal. My kids like to know how much time they have, but often read longer to finish the chapter/book they were reading.
• Spoil yourselves! Extra large cuddly chair to share a book in. Hit the books you enjoyed as a kids first and than explore new ones together.
• Start reading to them as an infant. It really does maximize their interest.
• Turn off your TV and your computer and your Smart Phone. If you have time to look at a screen, you have time to read a book. Read after breakfast. Read before a nap. Read before bed. If you go to the doctor's office, read a book while you wait. Don't hand your kid your Smart Phone to keep him busy, bring a book.
• We have books everywhere. There is a book basket in the car that I rotate books each week. We read. We snuggle and read with our kids for long periods of time. Video games are not part of our daily routine and the hand held ones only come out during sibling practices, appointments, we are interested in what they read and often read recommendations from them to show our interest.
• We read aloud together every night before bed. The children look forward to it and see it as a privilege. They are disappointed if ever it is too late to get some reading in before bed.
• We read as a part of naptime and bedtime routines. They expect it and look forward to it. We started that with them as infants.
• We read nightly before bed, at the library special programs and at grandma/gramdpa's house
• We sit down and read at the same time each day and it has to be done before they even qualify to get video game time during the day.
• We start and end each day reading. It's just part of our family's daily routine, and because we do it together while snuggling in bed, my children equate reading with comfort and quality parent time.
• We started reading to our kids every single night before bed since they were babies. They enjoy it so much, they never let us skip a night! I strongly believe regular reading can help a child in so many ways like reading and writing themselves, to better understanding things like science and learning to use their imagination. The list goes on!
• When my 1st grade child wants us to read him a chapter book, we take turns reading. First we read him a chapter, and then he has to read us a learn-to-read book.

Tips for Parents of Babies by Parents of "Big Readers"

Are you having a baby in 2012?
Did you have a baby in 2011?

What tips helped you most in those first 12 months of parenting?  What advice would you give to a parent preparing to add a child into their life?

My children are now old enough to start having children.  I have two baby showers to attend to next month! Since the best parents I know are the ones that walk into our children’s department I want to get your advice.  Please post your ideas or come to the library and help me out!

Some of you have responded in a recent survey about how to promote reading.  Here are some of my favorite tips for parents of babies.

"Make reading books part of a daily/nightly routine.  Start very early as babies!
Set a daily reading goal and an end of summer goal. Setting goals helped to read more."

"find a certain time of the day that is ""story time"" (eg, at bedtime)"

"We always read together in bed first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  Books are the first thing they see in the morning and the last thing they see before they go to sleep at night."

"Start early and make it a habit. We read three books every night before bed to each child. They have come to expect and look forward to that time. They also love going to library to pick out their own books and read them as soon as we get home!"

"Make reading a part of the bedtime routine without excuses.  Bring books wherever you go so the children (and babies too!) can entertain themselves while you are trying to shop, visit, etc."

"Wait until at least age 2 to let your kids watch television. As this becomes harder to achieve with multiple kids, still enforce age appropriate time limits. Also avoid video games and handheld electronics as long as possible."

"read to your young children every day for at least 15 minutes." 

"Instead of asking if they "want" to read, we set aside "book time" and they can choose to read a book, listen to a book on CD or flip through pictures in a book or magazine."

"Start young and model your own reading for them, don't stick to just books (magazines, tv guides, cereal boxes, road signs, newspapers, etc."

"Husband and I will sit on the couch and read in the evenings or weekends.  That is the best advice I could ever give.  Turn off the TV, radio, phone, and internet... then read for yourselves.  The child will pick up on it as easily as he/she will pick up on TV watching."

"Make reading a part of your routine with them everyday. Also let them see you take some time to read as well."

"be a role model, read yourself instead of playing computer games"



My advice for you in 2012-
Start your new year off right!  Set a goal to read with your child regardless of age for 15 minutes a day.  You can join our Winter Reading Program: One World Many Stories and receive a prize for completing 21 days of reading.  It is a fun way to join our Library community of readers and shows your children how much you value our Library and books!

If you have more tips for new parents please pass them along!  

Happy New Years!

October 15 -- what a day for the births of authors!

I'm a huge fan of The Writer's Almanac, a daily blog and email written by a group led by Garrison Keillor, host of public radio's A Prairie Home Companion.

Each issue includes a poem and capsule biographies of authors born on the issue's publication date. I just read the October 15 issue and was struck by the stature and variety of authors born on that date. They include P. G. Wodehouse, creator of the books about Jeeves and his employer, Bertie Wooster; the Roman poet Virgil; novelist Mario Puzo, who wrote The Godfather; Italo Calvino, whom I don't know but I envy for his lyrical name, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose works I've never read but is referred to more than once in Mel Brooks's movie, Blazing Saddles, which I found hilarious when I was an undergraduate long ago.

There she blows! An alternative to Lorem ipsum

If you thought my recent blog post about Lorem ipsum was geeky, check this out: Jason B. Jones, a writer of the ProfHacker blog on the website of The Chronicle of Higher Education, has come across a meaningful -- literally -- alternative to Lorem ipsum. It's called Fillerati and was created by a website designer named Michael, who says, "I made Fillerati because I grew tired of reading 'Lorem ipsum...' on every new design I was working on."

In 48 hours, he claims, this guy designed and built an interactive website that generates filler text from actual works of literature. Instead of the nonsensical Latin of Lorem ipsum, you can fill the white space of your Web pages-in-progress with random excerpts from novels by Herman Melville, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. Wells, or L. Frank Baum.

Of course, the works of each of those authors are worth reading in a non-random fashion. You can do so by starting with a search on an author's name in the Hussey-Mayfield online catalog. Just go to the library's home page, click on the little down arrowhead next to "Keyword" at the top of the page, and select "Author." In the "catalog search" box, type the name of an author. Then click the Search button.

Like Melville's Captain Ahab, you could end up looking at the awesome Moby Dick.

Stumped for a Good Book?

Are all the books you want to read checked-out? Now that the summer is half-way over are you out of ideas for new books to read?

Well come on in and browse through our expanding Book Lists binder. It's right by the New Books.


Into horses? We have suggestions! Want to know what new books come rated highly by kids like you? Check out the Children's Choices lists. Yearning to solve a mystery? Want to read a past Newbery winner? Consult the book of book lists! (And as always, if you need help, ask a librarian! :))

And please, tell us if you've got a topic of interest that we haven't covered in our book of lists, and we'll see what we can do!