Books, Reading, Libraries–Still Awesome! by Pat Strobel, a National Board Certified School Librarian

“Books, Reading, Libraries–Still Awesome! by Pat Strobel, a National Board Certified School Librarian”–guest blogger for Linda Martin Andersen

“A Writer’s Playground”–A place to find wordplay, writing, and monthly calendar activities for kids and those young at heart.

April is School Library Month.  I am very honored to have Pat Strobel, a National Board Certified School Librarian, here to visit with us.  Hold up your favorite book to greet Pat.  Now, place it gently on the table and give a big round of applause!

Welcome, Pat.  Please share thoughts on libraries today.

Books, Reading, Libraries – Still Awesome!

A second grade boy recently exclaimed “Wow! That was awesome!”   Had he won a game?  A prize?  No – he had found his first book all by himself after searching at an electronic computer catalog in our school library.   I see the thrill in children every day when they find a book they want to read.    New research shows that even if we have electronic book readers, the majority of us do most of our pleasure reading with print books!   The Scholastic/Harrison Group Study found that “eighty percent of kids who read ebooks still read books for fun primarily in print.”   http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/new-study-kids-reading-digital-age-number-kids-reading-ebooks-has-nearly-doubled-2010

April is School Library Month.  The American Library Association sponsored the first School Library celebration in 1985 with the theme “Where Learning Never Ends: The School Library Media Center.”  This year’s theme is “Communities Matter @ Your Library.”   Libraries have changed, but the teaching and learning that goes on there is still vital to every child.    School librarians collaborate with classroom teachers to teach needed literacy and technology skills.   They do a variety of lessons and activities to encourage independent use of libraries and to instill a lifelong love of reading.   Chris Mercogliano, author of In Defense of Childhood and Teaching the Restless,  has stated that getting kids to read is a problem with a simple solution –  read compelling literature aloud to young children—and don’t stop until they’re teenagers.  “Reading for pleasure becomes an old friend they never want to part with.”

Reading stories online has become a favorite as well.    One of my favorite sites is   http://www.storylineonline.net/  with stories read by celebrities.   Tumblebooks has hundreds of animated books to watch and if you’re lucky, your local public library may carry the subscription.    And of course, download ebooks to your electronic devices and enjoy those.   Talk about what is read – children are often amazed that some of their favorites were your favorites too!    Perhaps some of their favorites will become your new favorites.  

If you’re wondering what to read next, try one of these sites:

http://www.readitlovedit.com/home.html  –  search by gender, then age, then genre

http://www.marylaine.com/bookbyte/index.html  –  “Book Bytes” – lots of recommendations!

http://www.bookspot.com/  – many ways to search and most of the links work

And for the artistic side in you, look at the really cool book murals painted on buildings around the world!  http://flavorwire.com/372562/books-on-buildings-20-bookish-murals-from-around-the-world/view-all

Enjoy reading, talking about books, and exploring libraries and their activities! 

Pat Strobel

School Librarian, NBCT in Library Media

Pat, your insights and research are so “spot-on.”  As always, trust a librarian to be a great source of information.

Readers, how will Pat’s information make a difference for you?  Write us a comment.  Share your thoughts and responses.  Don’t forget to visit your community or local school library regularly and frequently.  Thank you!

As always, I look forward to your return visit to  “A Writer’s Playground.”  Please come again soon and bring a friend.

Copyright © 2013 Linda Martin Andersen