Spending the waning days of summer vacation with my boys.  We will make a trek to Chicago to visit some of our favorite museums and have some lazy days too. 

Posting will be sporadic at best.  See you in September!

Today is the seventh anniversary of when this blog started!  Unbelievable that I’ve been doing this since my 9 year old was a toddler and since my 13 year old was in first grade.  The years fly by not only when looking at my children but when blogging.  I think it’s because I love both so very much.

Thank you for continuing to read, for commenting about the recommendations I make, for taking this journey of reading and books with me. 

You all are the reason I do this.  Once I thought that blogging was a lonely pursuit, but no, it is a community pursuit and I am so happy to be part of the vibrant blogging community that is the kidlitosphere. The only problem is I can’t have you all over for cake.

Librarians have depended on anecdotal evidence when speaking about the positive impact of summer reading programs.  Now Dominican University with a grant from IMLS has proven that summer reading has a very positive impact for children who participate.  Here are some of the facts from the study about students who participated in the public library summer reading program:

• Scored higher on reading achievement tests at the beginning of the next school year.
• Had better reading skills at the end of third grade.
• Scored higher on the standards test given during third grade.
• Included more females, Caucasians, and lived at a higher socioeconomic level.
• Had more books in their homes.

So after applauding and crowing about what we have always known, here’s what we can do to improve:

• Engage families in public library programs.
• Invest more money in summer reading programs – especially in communities where families are economically depressed.
• Market and promote much better.
• Provide more books and materials.
• Work with schools to reach out specifically to students who are in need and under performing.
• Reach out to more boys.
• Help children in lower-income families build home libraries.

Check out the full report here.  I salute each and every children’s librarian out there who has such an important role in their community.  Well done!

I’ll be taking a week off of blogging to spend some time with my kids.  Plenty of books, baking and general relaxation are planned.

See you after the July 4th weekend!

The beauty of technology that is blogging can sometimes also have a very frustrating side. 

What happens when you change blog platforms, it changes your URL, but you can’t tell anyone about it because you are posting to the new platform? 

You inform the peeps and then they blog about it for you!

So if you are missing the amazing Betsy at Fuse #8, head to her new URL and subscribe to her new RSS feed:

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production

See you there!

MotherReader is once again hosting her 48 Hour Book Challenge.  This will be the fifth time she has held this event.  Here are some of the details:

The weekend is June 4–6, 2010. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the fourth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday the sixth. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday… or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row. That said, during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine.

You can head to her blog to find out more about the books you can read, how the winners are selected, and much more.  Now to take a look at my calendar and see if I can finally participate!

Big thanks to TeacherNinja for this idea!  I have bolded the ones I have read:

 

100. The Egypt Game – Snyder (1967)

99. The Indian in the Cupboard – Banks (1980)

98. Children of Green Knowe – Boston (1954)

97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – DiCamillo (2006)

96. The Witches – Dahl (1983)

95. Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren (1950

94. Swallows and Amazons – Ransome (1930)

93. Caddie Woodlawn – Brink (1935)

92. Ella Enchanted – Levine (1997)

91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School – Sachar (1978)

90. Sarah, Plain and Tall – MacLachlan (1985)

89. Ramona and Her Father – Cleary (1977)

88. The High King – Alexander (1968)

87. The View from Saturday – Konigsburg (1996)

86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling (1999)

85. On the Banks of Plum Creek – Wilder (1937)

84. The Little White Horse – Goudge (1946)

83. The Thief – Turner (1997)

82. The Book of Three – Alexander (1964)

81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Lin (2009)

80. The Graveyard Book – Gaiman (2008)

79. All-of-a-Kind-Family – Taylor (1951)

78. Johnny Tremain – Forbes (1943)

77. The City of Ember – DuPrau (2003)

76. Out of the Dust – Hesse (1997)

75. Love That Dog – Creech (2001)

74. The Borrowers – Norton (1953)

73. My Side of the Mountain – George (1959)

72. My Father’s Dragon – Gannett (1948)

71. The Bad Beginning – Snicket (1999)

70. Betsy-Tacy – Lovelae (1940)

69. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Stewart ( 2007)

68. Walk Two Moons – Creech (1994)

67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher – Coville (1991)

66. Henry Huggins – Cleary (1950)

65. Ballet Shoes – Stratfeild (1936)

64. A Long Way from Chicago – Peck (1998)

63. Gone-Away Lake – Enright (1957)

62. The Secret of the Old Clock – Keene (1959)

61. Stargirl – Spinelli (2000)

60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi (1990)

59. Inkheart – Funke (2003)

58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Aiken (1962)

57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Cleary (1981)

56. Number the Stars – Lowry (1989)

55. The Great Gilly Hopkins – Paterson (1978)

54. The BFG – Dahl (1982)

53. Wind in the Willows – Grahame (1908)

52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)

51. The Saturdays – Enright (1941)

50. Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell (1960)

49. Frindle – Clements (1996)

48. The Penderwicks – Birdsall (2005)

47. Bud, Not Buddy – Curtis (1999)

46. Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls (1961)

45. The Golden Compass – Pullman (1995)

44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Blume (1972)

43. Ramona the Pest – Cleary (1968)

42. Little House on the Prairie – Wilder (1935)

41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Speare (1958)

40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Baum (1900)

39. When You Reach Me – Stead (2009)

38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling (2003)

37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor (1976)

36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret – Blume (1970)

35. HP and the Goblet of Fire – Rowling (2000)

34. The Watson’s Go to Birmingham – Curtis (1995)

33. James and the Giant Peach – Dahl (1961)

32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – O’Brian (1971)

31. Half Magic – Eager (1954)

30. Winnie-the-Pooh – Milne (1926)

29. The Dark Is Rising – Cooper (1973)

28. A Little Princess – Burnett (1905)

27. Alice I and II – Carroll (1865/72)

26. Hatchet – Paulsen (1989)

25. Little Women – Alcott (1868/9)

24. HP and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling (2007)

23. Little House in the Big Woods – Wilder (1932)

22. The Tale of Despereaux – DiCamillo (2003)

21. The Lightening Thief – Riordan (2005)

20. Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt (1975)

19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Dahl (1964)

18. Matilda – Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee – Spinelli (1990)

16. Harriet the Spy – Fitzhugh (1964)

15. Because of Winn-Dixie – DiCamillo (2000)

14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling (1999)

13. Bridge to Terabithia – Paterson (1977)

12. The Hobbit – Tolkien (1938)

11. The Westing Game – Raskin (1978)

10. The Phantom Tollbooth – Juster (1961)

9. Anne of Green Gables – Montgomery (1908)

8. The Secret Garden – Burnett (1911)

7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)

6. Holes – Sachar (1998)

5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Koningsburg (1967)

4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Lewis (1950)

3. Harry Potter #1 – Rowling (1997)

2. A Wrinkle in Time – L’Engle (1962)

1. Charlotte’s Web – White (1952)

Whoa!  I did better than I expected.  Somehow I think I was just the right age to hit most of the classic reads.  We even read some of them like Johnny Tremain in school.

Here are the most challenged books of last year.  In 2009, ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom received reports of 460 efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula or library shelves.  However, many of the challenges go unreported.  The OIF estimates that only 20-25% of challenges are reported. 

Amazing to see Tango no longer in the top place.  Welcome Lauren Myracle whose books are edgy, modern and great fun to read!  Equally amazing is to see older titles like The Chocolate War continuing to offend over decades of time.

Here are the most challenged books in those 460 that were reported:

1. “TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee
Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

6. “Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. “My Sister’s Keeper,” by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

9. “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

10. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

 

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Over the next week, I will be off on spring break with my kids and taking a break from the computer as well. 

Hope everyone has a spectacular start to their spring!

The blog and I will return on Monday, April 12th during National Library Week.  Even that week posting may be sporadic thanks to our local Book Festival.

 

When I first posted my review of Magic Under Glass earlier in the month, I could not find an online version of the cover on the left.  They appeared to have been pulled in favor of the one on the right.  I breathed a sigh of relief because I had so many issues with the one on the left.

Those issues have been fully aired by others.  You can read a great roundup of the issues at Chasing Ray. 

Now it appears that the book was released with the Caucasian cover.  And that is wrong.  Period.  This book is fantasy yes, but clearly in the novel, Nim is described as having long black hair and darker skin.  Her nationality, because it is fantasy, is not clear, but I loved the way that it was left vague, so that we could each decide if she was Asian, Middle Eastern, African on our own.  It became a book that celebrated diversity that way.

And now to have a cover that denies that is horrible.  Nim is a strong woman of color in the novel.  Her pride in her heritage shines throughout and is an important theme in the book.  So Bloomsbury denies it with their cover?  Why not celebrate it?!  Why not embrace what made this such a special novel? 

Only Bloomsbury can answer that.  Only Bloomsbury can explain why they have had two of the largest cover controversies over people of color in the last year.  And only they can decide to do better.

It is our job to be outraged, to insist, to demand that they do better.  Some bloggers are looking to boycott them.  I stated something similar last year about a different publisher and learned that it is not that easy, not that simple.  I believe it is far more powerful to not boycott them, but to continue to demand that they fix it.  FIX IT.  NOW.