Both Kate Messner in an older post and Mindi Rench in a recent post at the always well written and thoughtful Nerdy Book Club focus on freeing kids to read what they want. Most public libraries do everything they can to let kids find and choose whatever feels right for them - through displays, posters, face-out shelving and games that focus on books like "Mystery Reads" or "Future Book Look" encourage taking a look at something new and different.
And in a brief blog post in School Matters, Stephan Krashen , the father of free reading, argues passionately for kids to choose their own reading rather than getting reading lists for the summer and being tested once back at school. He gives super support to public libraries in the summer and says that is where funding needs to go. Wow.
I think it really speaks to public librarians making sure they keep the communication lines open with their schools and let them know we are here to help bridge the kids reading needs and support their work. Are we ready?
Image: 'Colours' http://www.flickr.com/photos/33990680@N07/4441155157
1 comment:
I was SO THRILLED when I heard a mom tell your kids "now it's summer so you can pick out whatever you want to read!" My town is ruled with the iron rod of Reading Counts and every year it's a struggle to get kids and parents to relax over the summer and pick out books they love, not books based on lexile. (of course I also got a panicked text that morning at home "someone is asking for scary books at a 1000+ lexile? what do i give them?" Me - tell them it's summer. Pick whatever scary book they want.
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