News and best practices for creating information literate kids and teens from School Library Journal
‘Click, Clack, Moo’ in the White House Library? By Debra Lau Whelan - 11/10/2008
Chances are you won’t see Click, Clack, Moo (S & S, 2000), TheTale of Despereaux (Candlewick, 2003), and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Abrams, 2007) in the White House library. But if students at Milton Terrace South Elementary School in upstate New York have their way, these and other children's books will be on the library's shelves by the time President-elect Barack Obama and his family move in. More
Wanted, Male Models: There's a good reason why boys don't read By Gail Giles - 12/01/2008
If you think this is one of those scholarly articles packed with facts and percentiles and references to government studies, stop reading. This piece is full of anecdotes and opinions. And it comes from a lifetime of teaching and writing for the “I won’t read” student, who, the majority of the time, ends up being a boy.
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We’ve Got the Technology: But our today's schools ready for a radical transformation? By Marc Aronson - 12/01/2008
“We are 20th-century teachers using 19th-century methods to reach 21st-century students.” That’s what I heard a bright, committed teacher tell her fellow educators at a recent educational technology conference. That terse, powerful statement reflects what many people, including myself, have often voiced or thought.
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No Blind Child Left Behind By SLJ Staff - 11/17/2008
While librarians love to promote literacy, there’s one kind we don’t hear much about: Braille literacy. That’s why the National Federation of the Blind has recently named former NFL quarterback and Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw and blind professor, evolutionary biologist, and paleontologist Geerat Vermeij as National Ambassadors for Braille Literacy.More
Singer Reba McEntire Teams with Reading Rockets By SLJ Staff - 07/30/2008
Country singer Reba McEntire is teaming up with PBS’s Reading Rockets to host a new show about how to make the most of the years before a child starts school.
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Get Ready for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record By SLJ Staff - 07/16/2008
Jumpstart’s third annual Read for the Record event, which it bills as “the world’s largest shared reading experience,” is set to take place October 2.
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Kanye's Mom Lives On 07/01/2008
A library and literacy center in Sierra Leone will be named after rapper Kanye West's late mother, Donda West, to honor the contributions she made to the children there. The Los Angeles-based charity Shine On Sierra Leone says the Donda West Library & Literacy Center is scheduled to break ground this fall in Bongema.
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Still Wild About Books 07/01/2008
Although they love technology, 75 percent of kids ages five to 17 say they still want to read books, says a new study. “The Kids & Family Reading Report” (www.scholastic.com/readingreport) also says that 62 percent of kids prefer reading printed books rather than those on a computer or a handheld device.
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PreS-K–A five-year-old (rabbit) awakes one morning to discover that there will be no school, no daddy flying home today, and no going outside–until the snow stops.
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The staff of Salinas Public Library (CA), aka The John Steinbeck Public Library, pose with Lewis Buzbee, author of Steinbeck's Ghost, a middle-grade novel that centers around the threat of the library's closing in 2004. After a difficult struggle, the library remains open and has just extended its hours to seven days a week.
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