It's Memorial Day!  

I am continually grateful for the sacrifice, honor, and love for country of our soldiers.  

Memorial Day is a lovely reminder to say it out loud! 

I am grateful for the many freedoms we enjoy and our soldiers protect.   Here at The Literacy Alliance, we are particularly thankful for our right to read, to write, and to learn!  As we visited daycares and schools this season with our Book Buster program, we shared our love of learning through books, puppets, science, and song!  As I watched our audiences, filled with smiling, laughing, and motivated children, my heart swelled.  

Thank you to all who protect our right to provide these programs! 

Thanks mom for reading to me

I was visiting my brother at his office yesterday and I noticed this quote embroidered on a pillow on his desk: "Richer than me, you will never be, for I had a mother that read to me." It caught my eye and I remembered that the pillow had belonged to our mother. It was a bittersweet memory for she passed away several years ago. But, ultimately it was a joyful one. I will forever be grateful for her unconditional love, her unfailing support, and she read to me!

Mom - Margie Johnson

My mother surrounded her children with literature. As children, we were read to, and encouraged to read and write on our own. She also involved us in the creative process. When we were little, she wrote stories, dressed us up in costumes, created sets inside and outside our house, took pictures of us acting the story, put the pictures and text into a book, and presented it to grandparents as a gift. She encouraged us to write our own plays. One summer visiting grandparents in NY, my siblings and I turned the basement into a theatre and performed (to rave reviews) our own version of The Three Little Pigs. During Christmas, we always provided any visiting relatives with a silly and enjoyable play. She taught us to play charades and enjoy being creative as we acted without words.  

During my childhood, the TV was off (there were no video games) and it was up to us to have fun. My siblings, friends, and I created worlds in our backyard tree house, down by the pond, in living room forts, down by the muck farms, wherever! I even created a library world - I spent the day turning the family room couch into a library and bugging my family to come check out books. One time I became a reporter for the day. Using an old manual typewriter, I wrote an entire newspaper (maybe 4 pages) on the exciting and crazy lives of my grandparent's mobile home residents in Tavares, FL. I rode around on my grandmother's three wheeled bicycle (basically spying on her neighbors) and recording it for posterity.  

As I grew, books and stories remained in my life. I tried to follow my mother's example. The Christmas plays were now written by my mother and myself, and the grandchildren were the performers. I read to my children and encouraged them to enjoy creating. During summer vacations, we all read one book together each night before bed. My children created worlds that they recorded on film. With their friends and cousins, they found props, made sets, wrote dialogue, and created original movies. They have grown into intelligent, loving, and curious individuals!

Now that I'm all grown up and a children's librarian, I am surrounded by stories even more. Every day I have the great privilege of sharing these stories with children in my community.

So, thanks Mom, for reading to me. I love you. Happy Mother's Day,

Diane

Puppets are Star Motivators!

There are those who have asked, "Puppets!?! What are they good for?" Goodness, so, so much. Let's focus on motivation. Children of all ages who get excited about books and stories are motivated to read. Research shows that motivation is absolutely essential because learning is hard work. The motivation has to be there. Puppets are star motivators. Whenever they are on the scene, it's pure fun and children want more.

Here's an example. Several months ago, in a middle school program, I booktalked Flying Blind by Anna Myers. It was moderately successful. However I reworked the booktalk and added a puppet - Murphy, a macaw and central character in the book. I was thrilled with the reaction to the new booktalk. When I brought Murphy out with a loud, "caw, caw," the students definitely noticed. They smiled, laughed and paid attention. And, in the thank you letters I received after the booktalk, many students mentioned that they were excited to read the bird book.

So dust off those puppets. Retrieve them from storage. Have puppet time in your classroom or home, visit your library and bookstore storytimes, encourage  children to use puppets in their book reviews or booktalks. Bottom line - let puppets help you motivate children to read. Share your favorite puppet story with us!

Children’s fiction - perfect for the bathroom!

“Reading is important. Books are important. . . . Children’s fiction is the most important fiction of all. We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write.” The Horn Book Magazine, July/August 2009. Quote from author Neil Gaiman's (http://www.neilgaiman.com/) acceptance speech for the 2009 Newbery Medal Award winner, The Graveyard Book.

Children's literature is the beginning of a love of reading. Expose your child to literature early and often. Convey to your child that books are a treat and a fun way to spend time. Surround him with books; in the bathtub (I'm not kidding, look for plastic books in book stores), while potty training (a great way to spend time while sitting and waiting for something  to happen), in the car (have books in car pockets for easy access), in strollers (along with a favorite stuffed animal, be sure to store favorite books), at grandma's house (be sure relatives and babysitters have books available). 

And choose with care the books to surround your child. Spend time in the library browsing through the books. Choose authors your friends, librarians, or educators have recommended. Authors such as Eric Carle, Jan Thomas, Mo Willems, Leah Wilcox, Quentin Blake, and Mary Ann Hoberman. But also pick books at random and let your child choose the books. You never know when you will stumble upon a real treasure.  

But suppose a random book turns out to be a dud? Not to worry. Not every book speaks to every person. Show your child that she does not have to read everything and anything.  If she begins a book and it isn't of interest, let her put it down. Perhaps she'll come back to it later or perhaps just return it unfinished. Let her know that starting a book does not mean it must be finished. Do not worry, a book of worth will always hold her attention. Soon she will learn that books are stories that bring hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort and let her view other lives and other places. If a book is taking her somewhere she wants to go, she will finish that book.

The photo at the beginning of this article shows a young girl reading in a most amusing location. I once found my son reading under the dining room table. I loved it, it was adorable. Where is the oddest place you have found your child reading?

Maurice Sendak and art in children's literature

"You can forget the story," says Amanda Craig, "but the image is there forever." She continues, "An embattled headmaster recently told me that all his life he'd carried with him a vision of mountains soaring up to the sky, which consoled him in moments of crisis. He believed he'd invented it, or seen it in a dream. It was only when he read Beatrix Potter to his grandchildren that he realized it was a picture from The Tale of Mrs Tiggywinkle."  

Kate DiCamillo, a Newbery Medal winner and the author of Because of Winn-Dixie wrote, "The first book I read by myself was Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear. The illustrations were by Maurice Sendak. Those first words that I read by myself are intimately and forever bound to the art that appeared above them. It was as if the art were the doorway and it ushered me toward the words waiting on the other side. I entered the text through the art. It was one of the most powerful moments of my life."  

Maurice Sendak, author of over a dozen books and illustrator of more than 100 books has sold millions of books and won every top honor in his profession, including the Caldecott Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award. When I heard the news of his passing I went to my bookshelf and pulled down my copy of Where the Wild Things Are, his most notable work. The book had been given to me when I first became a children's librarian. In the front my friend wrote, "For all the new little wild things. Congratulations!" A wonderful beginning. 

Mauice Sendak will be missed. "And now,"cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"