Photo: Random House

SLJ caught up with author-illustrator Tad Hills about Rocket Writes a Story (Random, 2012), which follows a loveable dog as he tries to write his own book, and is the sequel to the bestselling picture book How Rocket Learned to Read (Random, 2010).

Is Rocket Writes a Story semi-autobiographical or is it meant to encourage kids who have trouble writing?

Both. Rocket Writes a Story is absolutely autobiographical. My (and, I’m sure, many other writers’) experience is very much like Rocket’s. There’s always that proverbial “white page.” There’s always the question, “what happens next?” When I visit schools, I’m always struck by kids’ desire to write stories and make books. They tell me how hard it is to think of ideas. I think they find comfort hearing that it’s tough for me too. They are often surprised to hear that it takes me months and months and draft after draft to write a story. Then, of course, there are the illustrations….

Do you do use a word tree like Rocket’s?

I do see many word walls in classrooms when I visit schools. I don’t have a word tree per se. Generally, I write ideas down on paper or type them into my phone or computer. Sometimes I send them in emails to myself. Then I gather those ideas and sift through them. Some make it into a story right away, some not for years or ever. It’s smart to write them down somewhere though.

I know you studied art and writing in college. Which one comes easier to you?

As a kid, I loved to draw and paint and make things. I also spent time writing or imagining stories, but the art came more easily. It was just simpler and more immediate to sit down and draw a picture or make a clay sculpture than write a story. I think it’s still that way for me. It’s hard to come up with a story and details and then fit them all together.

Prior to Duck & Goose (Random, 2006), you created books without narrative. How did you make the transition?

Yes, Duck & Goose was my first book with a narrative. My wife Lee Wade and Anne Schwartz, her friend and colleague, had encouraged me to write a kids book long before they started Schwartz & Wade Books. I had wanted to write a story for a long time and had thought about plots and characters and details. I started writing three distinctly different stories. Duck and Goose is the one that took shape. The hardest part was sitting down and just writing.

I know you come from an artistic household, but was it something you had always wanted to do?

I never set out to be a children’s book author or illustrator. I always loved making art and writing but wanted to be an actor. I started illustrating novelty books for Lee who was running Simon and Schuster’s children’s art dept. One thing lead to another. I guess the first time I held a copy of Duck & Goose was when I realized that if someone asked me what i did I could say “I write and illustrate children’s books.”

How involved were you in the How Rocket Learned to Read app and what do you think of ebooks?

I was involved with the building of the How Rocket Learned to Read app to a degree. I made suggestions here and there. The app was built by my brother Jonathan’s company, Domani Studios, so I had an insider’s view of the process. I also trusted that Domani would create a fantastic book app. His team worked with Random House, and they really built something special. I feel that the app introduces animation and interactivity that actually enhances the book in interesting ways. To top it off, Hope Davis, who is an amazing actress, narrates the story perfectly.

Are there plans to make Rocket Writes a Story or any other of your books into apps?

As of now, there are no plans for an app. I think it could translate nicely. Maybe someday. I am talking to a company about an enhanced ebook version of The 12 Days of Christmas, a flap book I made many years ago. If all goes well that will release this Christmas season.

What’s the real-life Rocket—and the inspiration for your books—doing these days?

Rocket just had his fifth birthday on July 18. He’ll be going to the beach soon. He loves the water and will dive off a dock of any height. He likes to chase ducks.

What else inspires you and your books?

It’s hard to know where inspiration comes from. You never know when that whiff of feathers and pine needles will hit you. But when it does, it can set off an imagination explosion. Like Rocket, I have a tough time getting started. I often feel like growling when things are not going well but when the writing flows, when I feel like I’m sharing the space with my characters and I can sit and listen to the characters’ conversations in my head, I—in my own way—wag my tail like Rocket does.

What role did libraries play in your life growing up and do your kids like the library?

I spent many hours in a library near the town where I grew up. A family friend, Phyllis Lindsay, was the librarian there. She had a passion for books and kids and loved finding just the right book for each reader. Over the years my kids have spent much time in their school library. Their school has a very active library scene and getting to go to the library is a very exciting and special time for the kids.

I think that the Rocket books have resonated with librarians because these books are, in a way, about the power of books and stories and words. When a librarian thanks you for writing a book you take it to heart.

You’ve said that your kids influence your work and that you watch and listen to them and their friends. Are there any plans to write a chapter book or a children’s novel?

For a while, I’ve been working on a chapter book about Franny and George, a couple of ducks who live in a little wooden house with a family (and a dog). The dad in the family writes children’s books about the two ducks. Over the years, my kids and their friends have given me a lot of material and you can be sure that they, in various ways, will be represented in this story.

Tell us what you’re working on now?

I just finished another Duck & Goose board book, Goose Needs a Hug, which will come out in December. I’m always thinking about what Duck & Goose and Rocket will do next. No specifics to report yet, though.

Please send your pictures of the week to sdiaz@mediasourceinc.com

The Goleta Library in Goleta, CA, part of the Santa Barbara Public Library System, celebrated a Family Place Workshop on June 1. Hunter Tattle explores his artisitic talent at a fingerpainting activity.

Chas, Dan, and Jesse Bradford (l. to r.) sharing a laugh at the Goleta Library’s Family Place Workshop.

Yoshikawa is the author of a sobering new book called Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and Their Young Children (Russell Sage, 2011). Based on a three-year study of nearly 400 children from Mexican, Chinese, and Dominican families, the book shows the adverse effects of parents’ undocumented status on their offspring. These young citizens are at great risk in their educational development, largely because of their parents’ precarious legal situation.

Yoshikawa and his colleagues visited homes and workplaces, seeing firsthand how fear of deportation and separation affects all aspects of these families’ daily lives. The researchers learned that any kind of service requiring documentation is out of reach for most of the families. It’s difficult, if not impossible, for them to obtain child-care subsidies, health care, checking and savings accounts, and even a driver’s license or a public library card.

The parents in the study work long hours, often for less than the legal minimum wage. They endure poor working conditions but are afraid to complain. They rarely get raises because they’re reluctant to make themselves conspicuous to those in positions of authority. Many live in rundown apartments, fearful of complaining to their landlords. Most compelling to us was Yoshikawa’s observation that the children of undocumented immigrants aren’t likely to receive quality center-based child care, which research shows can greatly improve early development. His findings indicate that at as early as 24 months, these children show lower cognitive and language-skill development than their more privileged peers.

Yoshikawa emphasizes that locally based, nonpolitical organizations are currently the best community supports for this remarkably large segment of our population. We especially sat up and took notice when he mentioned that his researchers were often the first ones to tell these families about pubic libraries and all they have to offer.

Yoshikawa identifies three “principles” that low-income immigrant families use to identify community organizations they believe they can trust: the perceived benefit to their children; a familiar, comfortable setting; and ease of enrollment. He reports that WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) is one organization that has been a “success story” in its service to undocumented immigrants. He cites several reasons for this. Recognizing that Mexicans and some other ethnic groups disapprove of “cash welfare,” WIC doesn’t dispense money. Instead, it provides food and nutritional counseling, which are regarded as directly helpful to the children. WIC often provides its services in clinics and hospitals where the children were born, so their parents trust the location and feel comfortable taking their children there. And enrollment is simple, thanks to social workers who speak many languages and are available for assistance. Additionally, Yoshikawa notes that parents have come to trust that this organization won’t turn them into authorities who can deport them.

We encourage you to read Yoshikawa’s book. For those of us in public and school libraries, there’s so much more we can learn to continue our profession’s long history of helping new immigrants flourish in a challenging new world.

Wall documents her program in a guest post on SLJ’s app review blog Touch and Go:

It’s my supervisor’s fault. Really. She purchased an iPad, downloaded The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, and brought the tablet to work. When I saw those Flying Books swirling around the screen, ideas began twirling around my mind. If I was amazed—and delighted—by the app’s interactivity, how would children react?

I owned an iPhone and had purchased apps, but I’d never considered designing a program around this software until I viewed an app on the iPad. Now that was totally different experience. Tapping money designated for “something special” and funds from a technology endowment, I purchased a number of iPads. My first program incorporating tablets was a story time for one- and two-year-olds and their caregivers. I called it eBabies.

That pilot class taught me a few things; most importantly, that one-year-olds lacked the attention span for this type of program. I also learned that the silly, high-energy songs I love to incorporate in a traditional story time setting did not set the right tone for an iPad session.

Continue reading…

Photograph by Gustavo Devito

While enhanced ebooks engage young children with their interactive elements, print or basic ebooks may be more effective for encouraging literacy, according to a new study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.

The findings, released May 29, are from a “QuickReport” on the experience of 32 pairs of parents reading a print book and ebook on an iPad together with their children, ages 3 to 6. Small sampling notwithstanding, the results do support earlier studies that establish distinct differences in the print and digital experience, particularly with enhanced ebooks. And further investigation is indicated, according to the report.

Noted in the QuickStudy:

• Children who read enhanced ebooks recalled significantly fewer details than subjects who read the same story in print. The features of the enhanced ebook may divert the attention of both parents and children from the narrative, which may have affected the kids’ ability to recall the story, concluded researchers.
• Reading a print or basic ebook with their parents prompted similar content-related actions by children—including labeling, pointing, and verbal elaboration of the story—which can support language development. On the other hand, the enhanced ebook drew activity—e.g. “device-focused talk”—unrelated to the book’s content.

So what’s a parent or teacher to do? Opt for print or basic ebooks to build literacy, recommends the QuickStudy researchers. But it’s hard to beat the sheer appeal of enhanced works, notes the report, which can go far in encouraging the very young, especially those reluctant to engage books at all.

Photograph by sean dreilinger

When she reads on the second page, “Owl Mother was GONE,” all eyes turn toward the book. The owls’ faces may not show much in the way of feelings, but a baby bird’s plea of “I want my mommy!” conveys an emotion that toddlers can easily relate to. “Oh, my. I wonder where Owl Mother went,” says Janie. “Why did she fly away? Do you think she’ll come back?”

Like you, we use many techniques to help children understand a story. One of the most powerful methods is thinking out loud while reading. Thinking out loud—in this case, talking about the owls’ emotions, actions, and motives—encourages children to think about the story.

“Reading is thinking” is a central principle for Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, the authors of Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (Stenhouse, 2007), who work mainly with primary and middle school readers and teachers. They’ve created a toolkit to help educators construct active learning environments that are aimed at boosting children’s reading comprehension.

To learn how libraries can help children think about a story, interact with its text, and, thus, build comprehension skills during storytime, we talked to Barbara Steinberg, a reading specialist here in Oregon. Steinberg believes that when we think out loud in storytime, we are encouraging children to model the same strategies that good readers use, such as predicting events and summarizing. She explained that good readers connect what they know from their own life experiences with what they’re reading. Good readers also constantly ask themselves questions while they read, such as “Why did he say that?” or “Is this important to the story?”

In storytime we ask children the same types of questions that efficient readers might ask themselves. Most of us use these strategies without even being aware of it, but when we think out loud, we are teaching children how to do it, too.

While thinking out loud is a technique frequently used to help students in the elementary grades, reading researchers Lea McGee and Judith Schickendanz have adapted this method for much younger children. Their approach is called repeated interactive read-alouds. How does it work? A storybook is read three times in slightly different ways in order to increase children’s engagement with the text. In the first reading, children are introduced to the story. In the second, they’re encouraged to get to know the characters and their challenges more deeply. And in the final reading, young listeners are invited to pinpoint the characters’ problems and to respond to analytical questions such as, “Who remembers what will happen next?” (To learn more, see “Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten” in the May 2007 issue of The Reading Teacher.) The main idea is to create an active learning environment that promotes interaction with the text and thinking for children of all ages.

When Janie finishes the story, she asks, “When their mother came back, why did the owls bounce on the branch?” One thoughtful toddler says, “I would jump on the branch, too.” Janie gently probes, “Why would you jump up and down?” and the toddler replies, “Because I would be happy, too!”

Successful readers need to do two things well. They need to learn the code and, most importantly, they need to understand its meaning. Librarians like Janie help children clear those hurdles with room to spare.