Deborah Wells-Clinton: Books and reading

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 16:29:08 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: September 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

Collection Development Tool for Secondary Libraries

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 12:30:04 GMT

I have long been a fan of an excellent tool that has come across my desk every year, University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries. Published by the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), this free volume contains hundreds of books that have been reviewed and selected by representatives from the AASL and PLA divisions of ALA. I have always found material in these lists that would be valuable for high school students, especially those doing AP and IB level research, but they also give grade ranges from elementary on up.. I was thrilled, therefore, to see that this publication is now offered online at http://www.aaupnet.org/librarybooks.

A joint project of AAUP, AASL and PLA, this bibliography is a popular and trusted acquisitions resource. The almost 500 books listed in the 2004 edition include works on a wide variety of subjects -- Eskimo architecture, zinfandel, camembert, Spanish-language science fiction, The Simpsons, dragons, mummies and the American presidency to name only a few.
The selection committee was chaired by Ken W. Stewart of Blue Valley High School, Stilwell, Kan., for AASL and Rex Miller of the Petoskey (Mich.) Public Library for PLA.

[AASL Hotlinks, Sept. 2004]

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 21:25:43 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: August 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

Forced Reading

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 23:22:43 GMT

Forced Reading. Hindustan Times - Juniors
Portuguese author Jose Saramago, a Nobel literature laureate, said Sunday he believed the world would be a better place if adults were forced to read children's books.... [ACHOCKABLOG]
I love this. You're right, Mr. Saramago. And young adult books are pretty good, too, since they tend to lay out the issues that our young people are dealing with.

Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:23:43 GMT

Bill's Best Books: July 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

Anybody Reading?

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 22:07:17 GMT

NEA reports decline in reading. A new research report from the National Endowment for the Arts finds a dramatic decline in book reading by U.S. adults. The steepest drop over the last decade was for the youngest adults (18-24). A 60-page pdf of Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America is available here, and the NEA's press release is here. [LISNews.com]
One of my sons pointed out the New York Times article about this report to me and commented on how sad it is. It's really very frightening because of what I believe are the implications for the ability of our young people to think criticially and creatively.

Carnegie Scooped by an American

Sun, 11 Jul 2004 11:51:11 GMT

Carnegie Coverage. American beats British writers to child book prize
"Jennifer Donnelly, a little-known American author, beat the cream of British writers to win the Carnegie Medal for children's literature yesterday..." A Daily Telegraph report on the Carnegie... [ACHOCKABLOG]

Summer Reading

Fri, 25 Jun 2004 15:10:22 GMT

Poynter Online Summer Reading Lists. An Anonymous Patron writes to tell us about this article on summer reading lists. "Summer reading lists are in season on the Internet. Here's a sample, Readers all over the Web tell what books are on their nightstands this summer." [LISNews.com]
Last spring I started to put together an article on summer reading lists for students, from a school librarian's perspective. Like many of my projects, it remains unfinished, but this article inspires me again. Maybe an aritcle on how to put together a personal reading list? I know there are already some out there, but perhaps a new perspective would help someone (like me)? Anyone have a comment?

Passing on the Love of Reading

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 12:11:26 GMT

Teachers and Loving Reading. BBC -- Pupils 'not taught to love books'
According to author Michael Morpurgo, "We are giving teachers really an impossible brief: we say you have to teach the children literacy, but what we are not doing is teaching the teachers to love reading in the first place." A list of ten recommended books to inspire kids to love books is appended to the end of the article.... [Kids Lit]
A good list of books at the end of the article. I haven't read all of them, but now they'll go on my "to read" list. Thanks.

Read On, Teenagers of the World!

Sun, 13 Jun 2004 20:35:28 GMT

Reading 'turn-off' for many teens [BBC News]
"A third of Scotland's teenagers do not read for pleasure and one in five say books are a waste of time, Scottish Executive research has revealed." [Library Link of the Day]
Of course this article takes the negative view (i.e., half-empty glass). Isn't it wonderful that two-thirds of Scottish teenagers do enjoy reading? More interesting to me are some statistics buried near the end of this article that indicate that young people who read anything -- magazines, newspapers, fiction, internet articles -- score higher in reading tests than those who don't read, and "only the reading of comics failed to have a positive correlation with reading scores." I wonder if graphic novels count as comics. The ones I've read have fairly sophisticated vocabulary, even if not as much of it as a regular novel. In any case, read on, Scottish teenagers, and may your American, Peruvian, Nigerian, etc., etc., contemporaries do the same.

Sun, 13 Jun 2004 20:04:18 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: June 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

International Children's Author Awards

Tue, 04 May 2004 12:25:28 GMT

As a follow-up to my earlier post about international children's literature, here are the winners of a couple of those awards: Lygia Bojunga for the Astrid Lindgren Award , and Martin Waddell for the IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Carnegie Shortlist

Sun, 02 May 2004 21:59:23 GMT

I don't know why I am always so interested in the winners of the Carnegie Medal. Maybe it's because the winning books are often for slightly older readers than the Newbery winners are, so I know I'll have an easier time promoting them to the middle school and older students I work with. Maybe it's because I always find them to be a pleasant surprise, since I usually haven't heard of them until they're nominated. I'm looking forward to reading this year's shortlist, which was announced last week. The BBC article points out that "this year's shortlist showcases writing that is as enjoyable for adults as it is for children and young people." I know that Nate enjoyed the Haddon book, which I obviously have heard of but which I haven't read yet.

Graphic Novels Heating UP

Sun, 02 May 2004 21:35:43 GMT

Boom time for manga books. One From The NYDaily News reports on Japanese manga - edgy, graphic novels with translated storylines steeped in mystery, fantasy and the surreal. They say the books are multiplying in bookstores, as well as in video shops and other retailers. The $100 million U.S. market for these paperbacks - focused mainly on 'tweeners and teeners, 12 to 17, but with many older fans - is booming and drawing in new players, including mighty Random House. [LISNews.com]

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:22:02 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: April 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

Kings and Queens

Sat, 20 Mar 2004 13:41:23 GMT

Artist's Response. Co-author of controversial children's book speaks out: "The uproar over an elementary school library book in Wilmington is now international..." There have been complaints in America about the picture book King and King by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland. In this article, the illustrator responds. [ACHOCKABLOG]
I've read this book, and it is cute and funny, but America is just not ready for this sort of thing yet. I was curious about a quote in another article from the parents who started the outcry: "My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it's not in our beliefs," Mr. Hartsell said. Oh, dear, there's so much I could say about children's books and beliefs, but I'd just be adding to the noise. I just think this whole controversy is sad.

Update 3/27/04: Here's a follow-up article. I guess the parents won, but, really, everyone loses.

International Book Award

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:51:15 GMT

Astrid Lindgren Winner. CJAD 800 : News: 71-year-old Brazilian author Lygia Bojunga has won the second annual Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature, for dissolving "the boundaries between fantasy and reality." [ACHOCKABLOG]
Congratulations to Ms. Bojunga-Nunes. This announcement points up to me once again the insularity of children's literature in the United States, where such a tiny percentage of the publications are translations from other languages. It is such a shame that authors like Bojunga and others who have long been honored internationally with awards like the Hans Christian Andersen Award are so little known by children in the States.

Ask Them What It Means

Mon, 15 Mar 2004 16:48:53 GMT

Reading a lost art [The Denver Post] [Library Link of the Day]
This article by Heather Grimshaw has the subtitle "Comprehension drops, causing teachers to rethink instructional plan." I was interested to see once again a call for instruction that includes questioning, discussion, and analysis, rather than just regurgitation. The article talks about "fake readers," who must be related to "fake researchers" -- the ones who copy and paste and otherwise plagiarize their papers.

Every Book Digital?

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:48:58 GMT

Book Scanning Machine. There is a neat article in USA Today about a book scanning machine that scans 1200 pages an hour without damaging the book. From the article, "This process is actually gentler on books than the human hand." Article is here. [LISNews.com]
This article caught my eye because I marveled at this machine when I saw it at ALA in January. It's an amazing piece of engineering, and I'm not surprised that the Library of Congress is considering buying one, as the article claims. It seems that it would be useful to any institution that is concerned about preserving fragile and decaying ancient documents. What worries me, however, is the other part of this article that refers to Amazon digitizing all the books in its inventory. Here we go again with the idea that printed books will soon disappear. On the other hand, I recognize the potential for research. So what bothers me about this? Maybe it's the trend toward letting computers and search engines do all the thinking for us -- all the information is there and just needs to be gathered up. That's a very seductive trend for young people who should be learning to think carefully and critically on their own.

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 11:34:15 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: March 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

New Award Highlights

Sun, 29 Feb 2004 18:41:45 GMT

2004 Schneider Awards. Schneider Family Book Award recipients named
The winners of the new Schneider Family Book Award have been announced. The award, donated by Dr. Katherine Schneider, honors a book that "embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences." The award is given to three books a year, one for grade school age, one for middle school and one for teens. The picture book winner is Looking Out for Sarah by Glenna Lang. A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass won the middle school category. The teen winner is Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements.... [Kids Lit]
I've been watching for this announcement since the mid-winter ALA conference, when I ran into my friend, Patty, who was on the committee for this award. I think it's a great thing, and I'll go look for these books right away.

Online Book Clubs

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 21:12:56 GMT

A Different Way to Select Books for Your High School Library. Deb Waugh writes "The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library offers many excellent resources for high school librarians. Sign up today for their Online Book Clubs. You'll receive the first few chapters of new books in your e-mail, giving you a chance to form a first-hand opinion of them." [LISNews.com]
I've signed up for a couple of the book clubs offered, and I'll be interested to see if I can actually keep up with the reading. It will be a great way to get some ideas about new teen books, as well as good reads for myself. This service is not unique to Buffalo, however, but comes from Suzanne Beecher who runs DearReader.com. Every library should look at this.

UK Author Gets Wider Exposure

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 17:19:54 GMT

TIME Article About Malorie Blackman. Malorie Blackman's Knife Edge is featured in a 2 x half-page spread in the current edition (Feb 23) of TIME Magazine. The article is headlined "Sharper Image - with Knife Edge, writer Malorie Blackman tests the outer limits of kid lit"... [ACHOCKABLOG]
Of course as far as I can tell, the article is only in the international edition of Time...

Wed, 11 Feb 2004 10:31:40 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: February 2003 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]
It's a good thing I finished the new John Grisham book quickly, so now I can get back to trying to catch up with some of these great YA books.